Show = I AMONlf NOTED I SINGERS The JCffect ef Eating Upon Prima Ban uas What They May Eat ami AYlmt They May Sing The following interesting paper writ ten by Clara Louise Kellogg appears in the Critic The recent trial of the suit ol Mme Scalchi against Henry E Abbey has provoked more or less discussion ol the question Under what conditions may a singer sing My testimony on the witness stand in that interesting case showed that believe the singer to be a creature of conditions and I have been asked a number of times since then to give fuller expression to my views on the subject I may say at once that although al-though the public see a great deal of a singer they really know very little of the inner ifethe life which she has led to become a singer or the life she must I lead to sustain her reputation on the boards It is hard for people outside the profession of music or the kindred arts to appreciate the requirements of a singers life and for that reason they are not always ready to make allowances for the occasional shortcomings Let me I tell you something of t I TIlE LIFE OF A SINGER And you will see that it is not a path of roses Roses are scattered at her feet before the footlights to be sure but there are a great many thorns in the path she treads before they are won A singer beginsher preparations for a life of song at a very early age When other young people are amusing themselves at balls or routs she is running her scales and taking care of her health She must not do this and she must not do that for it is bad for her voice and that is the one consideration of her life After she has entered upon her career as a public singer she has even tnore sacrifices to make for upon her care of herself her I reputation depends Everything must give way to her art and she must go into training as rigorous as that of a pedes trian or oarsman preparing for race In TIlE CASE OF MME SCALCHI The question was Could she sing so exacting a role as Fides in The Prophet Pro-phet either after eating a hearty meal or upon an empty stomach I contend that in either case she could not have done herself justice A singer cannot sing after eating because when you sing you draw the blood up to your head j your motions are excited and that carries car-ries the blood away from the stomach to the brain before the stomach has done its work Managers over here have not sufficient respect for a singers organization organiza-tion They expect that an artist can do equally well under all circumstances In Europe where art is better understood less is demanded of a singer in respect to quantity though more perhaps in respect I to quality Here the audience and the box office are too often more account to the manager than the reputation of his prima donna I argue that singers should not be obliged to sing when they cannot do their best They are not machines that can be set running by a touch A singer does her WORK nEST UNDER INSPIRATION Yet she is expected to be inspired to order or-der and is the only artist of whom this is required A painter goes to his canvas can-vas when the mood is upon him The poet takes up his pen when moved by the divine afflatus but the singer must find inspiration in the turning on of the footlights It must be admitted that she does find a good deal in this simple process pro-cess There is certain excitement about the very atmosphere of the opera house She arrives at the stage door feeling out of sorts and less like singing than anything any-thing in the world but by the ftime she reaches her dressing room and the preparations prep-arations for her appearance in the mimic world have begun she is ready for her audIencethat fa ss far as nervous force is concerned though her voice may not be in the best condition ADELINA PATTI Is a brilliant example of what may be done by care and training To take care of herself is the study of her liCe or at least that of the people around her and she makes sacrifices to her profession that the women of society would stand aghast at The result is that she seldom or never disappoints an audience from indisposition indispo-sition She is always ready for her I whole time is Spent in getting ready You may observe that she is not willing to wear her voice out by singing four or fife times a week She has European ideas on this subject and they are the best for the singer It is a pity that they are not more common over here It would be better for the singer and better for the public too if they were Singers have the reputation of being capricious because they are exacting iif the matter of food The average landlord thinks that what is good enough for one of his guests is good enough for all making no exception of the artist Mme Patti has encountered this landlord so she travels with her own chef who PREPARES HER MEALS FOR HER This is not caprice itis necessity It is not that she wants such a variety of elaborately prepared food but that she wants what she has to be thoroughly nutritious nu-tritious and digestible If she suffers from indigestion it affects her voice Colds are not the singers only enemies Illy prepared and unsuitable food is as injurious to her voice as a draught of I cold air A celebrated professor Rome told Charlotte Cushman that there were three things necessary fora prima donna to doeat sleep and sing Not a very intellectual programme you say and I quite agree with you I When a singer 13 singing she has to live the most regular and systematic life She eats her dinner at 3 oclock in the afternoon or 4 at the latest and it is two or three hours before she goes to the theater and another hour and a half before she sings or four hours in all between eating and singing AFTER TEE OPERA She may eat a little supper that is so I J highly prized by all professional peo for it because or its conviviality not v pie uui be ucvuutis simple and light but must very with the rather because it can be eaten knowledge that there is plenty of time for highlyspiced food of Sweets digestion kind and nuts must be carefully any the singer and even ice water avoided by for the worst things of the very is one It should never be drnnirjust throat f i i before sin nm for it leaves thesingeras hoarse is if she had caught LL violent nD cold nt tne exercise ui cannot drink yet 1m She makes her want something to singing her throat with Different sing moisten the different drinkafor refreshing I ers use has I according as their experience s throat taught them I have found beeftoa be of great service I have known SOME SOWERS TO USE A GAKGLE his high famous for the tenor Lo Franc The and water gargle 0 used a salt depended a of past generation a singers sulphur and dothose deal great upon take smaller doses of today only they Patti I take it homeopathically They ey of depondence told puts a great deal am and so heparsulphur I use it too upon who are homeopdthists other singers do for and most of them ave homeopathists find that prevention is i the best treat I I they for their ailments Nine hours aI ment than eigtit are or never less l Iiglt7Qr for a singer to sleep for her necessary isTieavily taxed She must nervousforce make her exercises fora certain length > r = of time every day lor to paraphrase Liszt when she fails practice one day she observes it herself i jyheu she fails for two days her friends observe it and when she fails for three days the public observe it If what I have said will make the readers of these few notes LENIENT TO TUB SINGERS Who are not always at the best or better still if even one will be manager convinced con-vinced that it is not always the wisest thing to urge an artistto sing when she is not in condition they will not have been written In vain I remember once having ell announced to sing in a town Borne three hours distant from New York Traveling in badly built cars I caught a severe cold and was ill in bed with it on the day of the night I was expected to sing I could not raise a note and I sent word to the manager to that effect He came to my hotel and sent in word tome to-me that if I did not sing he was a ruined manthat he had a run of hard luck and this would be the last straw I told him that I could scarcely speakthat I was sorry but therewas reallynohelp for it He almost wept I could HEAR HIM WRINGING HIS HANDS In the next room In a moment of weakness I said II Very well I will do my best I had ten minutes dress in and as many more to ca ch the train The result was as I expected I could not make a tone The audience were not slow in making the discovery Those who had never heard me before went away saying that I was a very much overrated singer and thOse who had heard me under more favorable circumstances circum-stances said that I had no business to sing with my voice in such a condition They were right but the injustice to myself my-self was greater than to them It was a good lesson however though dearly bought Perhaps you will think after I reading this that there is not much I pleasure in the life of a public singer Well there ia not a great deal beyond that which comes from giving pleasure to others |