sity of a quiet,
absolutely free body for the best expression of a high note, until
having gained a certain physical freedom without singing, she takes a
high note and is made sensitive to the superfluous tension all over the
body, and later learns to reach the same note with the repose which is
natural; then the contrast between the natural and the unnatural
methods of singing becomes most evident,--and not with high notes
alone, but with all notes, and all combinations of notes. I speak of
the high note first, because that is an extreme; for with the majority
of singers there is always more or less fear when a high note is coming
lest it may not be reached easily and with all the clearness that
belongs to it. This fear in itself is tension. For that reason one must
learn to relax to a high note. A free body relieves the singer
immensely from the mechanism of singing. So perfect is the unity of the
body that a voice will not obey perfectly unless the body, as a whole,
be free. Once secure in the freedom of voice and body to obey, the song
can burst forth with all the musical feeling, and all the deep
appreciation of the words of which the singer is capable. Now,
unfortunately, it is not unusual in listening to a public singer, to
feel keenly that he is entirely adsorbed in the mechanism of his art.

If this freedom is so helpful, indeed so necessary, to reach one's
highest power in singing, it is absolutely essential on the operatic
stage. With it we should have less of the wooden motion so common to
singers in opera. When one is free, physically free, the music seems to
draw out the acting. With a great composer and an interpreter free to
respond, the music and the body of the actor are one in their power of
expressing the emotions. And the songs without words of the interludes
so affect the spirit of the singer that, whether quiet or in motion, he
seems, through being a living embodiment of the music, to impress the
sense of seeing so that it increases the pleasure of hearing.

I am aware that this standard is ideal; but it is not impossible to
approach it,--to come at least much nearer to it than we do now, when
the physical movements on the stage are such, that one wants to listen
to most operas with closed eyes.

We have considered artistic expression when the human body alone is the
instrument. When the body is merely a means to the use of a secondary
instrument, a primary training of the body itself is equally