and feelings
by means of the voice is one of our most deep-seated instincts. For this
use of the voice to take on the character of melody, as distinguished
from ordinary speech, is also purely instinctive. Singing was one of the
most zealously cultivated arts in early Egypt, in ancient Israel, and in
classic Greece and Rome. Throughout all the centuries of European
history singing has always had its recognized place, both in the
services of the various churches and in the daily life of the people.

But solo singing, as we know it to-day, is a comparatively modern art.
Not until the closing decades of the sixteenth century did the art of
solo singing receive much attention, and it is to that period we must
look for the beginnings of Voice Culture. It is true that the voice was
cultivated, both for speech and song, among the Greeks and Romans.
Gordon Holmes, in his _Treatise on Vocal Physiology and Hygiene_
(London, 1879), gives an interesting account of these ancient systems of
Voice Culture. But practically nothing has come down to us about the
means then used for training the voice. Even if any defined methods were
developed, it is absolutely certain that these had no influence on the
modern art of Voice Culture.

With the birth of Italian opera, in 1600, a new art of singing also came
into existence. The two arts, opera and singing, developed side by side,
each dependent on the other. And most important to the present inquiry,
the art or science of training voices also came into being. In _Le
Revoluzioni del Teatro Musicale Italiano_ (Venice, 1785), Arteaga says
of the development of opera: "But nothing contributed so much to clarify
Italian music at that time as the excellence and the abundance of the
singers." A race of singing masters seems almost to have sprung up in
Italy. These illustrious masters taught the singers to produce effects
with their voices such as had never been heard of before. From 1600 to
1750 the progress of the art of singing was uninterrupted. Each great
teacher carried the art a little further, discovering new beauties and
powers in the voice, and finding means to impart his new knowledge to
his pupils.

This race of teachers is known to-day as the Old Italian School, and
their system of instruction is called the Old Italian Method. Just what
this method consisted of is a much-discussed question. Whatever its
system of instruction, the old Italian school seems to have suffered a
gradual de