Dr. Hanslick
remarks, "the artists who sing 'Tristan and Isolde' by heart, if they
do nothing more than sing the notes correctly, deserve our most sincere
admiration. That they can do to-day what seemed almost impossible
twenty years ago is indeed Wagner's achievement, an achievement which
has hardly been noted hitherto." Let me add that in modern German
music, _everything_ is difficult to the singer--the consonants of the
language, the unusual intervals and accents, the necessity of being
actor and singer at the same time, etc. Hence we ought to be charitable
and condone an occasional slip. But the average opera-goer in this
country is anything but charitable. If one of these dramatic singers,
thus hampered by difficulties, makes the slightest lapse from tonal
beauty (which may be even called for) he is judged as unmercifully as
if he were a representative of the _bel canto_, whose art consists in a
mere voice without emotion--_vox et praeterea nihil_. This is as unfair
as it is to judge Wagner's dramas by the music alone, and is, indeed a
consequence of this attitude.

It has been too much the habit in America and in England to sneer at
German singers; and it is customary if a German singer has a good
mellow voice to attribute that to his Italian method, while his
shortcomings are ascribed to the German method. This, again, is as
absurd as it is unjust; for, as I have endeavored to show, the real
German method, by insisting on an equal treatment of all the vowels,
develops a richer and more sonorous voice than the Italian method;
and, indeed, the reason why powerful dramatic voices are so rare among
Italians, is because of their one-sided preference, in their
exercises, for the easiest vowels.

When Mendelssohn travelled in Italy he noted that there were very few
good singers at the opera-houses, and that one had to go to London
and Paris to find them. To-day few of them can be found even in London
and Paris; and, indeed, I could easily show, by giving lists of the
famous singers of the past and present, that the Italians constitute a
small minority as compared with the German, French, and Scandinavian
singers of the first rank. The custom so long followed by singers of
all nationalities of adopting Italian stage names has confused the
public on the subject. And, finally, I could name a dozen German
singers who have won first-class honors in Italian opera; but where is
there an Italian _Tannhaeuser_ or _Bruennhilde