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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1908)
THE' OREGON ' SUNDAY, JOURNAL., PORTLAND, ; SUNDAY HORNING, MAY 17. 1908 m Mill TlirPvTOI(ABLEtXPEPJM&!JT 7- . A A WOMAN MADEVITII KDAUGH 1 St IN -V, t r 5 believed that there ate in this coun- : try; many children who possess capa bilities, now latent, of becoming operatic stars. Is your child among themf Did you ever realize that it might be pos sible for your own little girl to rise to won derful heights in the realm of song, even though she might not quite attain the plane of Madame A delind Patti, who at one time received $$000 a night for singing, or of Teh razz'mi, who made the most recent conquest of music lovers in America? "Take a child-evcn when it is in arms arid train it, and you may produce another , Patti" remarked a competent teacher of vocal music, the other day, "The divine spark may be given to few, indeed, but the vocal organ can be perfected wonderfully in a most mechanical way in almost any child." You never- knew that before, did you? Perhaps you doubt it. 'Well, the teacher quoted is the mother of a little girl, a living embodiment of her theory, a product of her unremitting care, a child who composed ai melody at 4, and plays Bach, Beethoven and Schubert and sings Wagner at 11. Which recalls a story. WIIXETTE 'WILBOTJRN wai born In Ban Fran ,, Cisco eleven years ago. It wu one cold, day In the winter of 190S that George Henschel. the great teacher, vis ited Madame Rita Wllbourn. the mother, at her home In an eastern city. The great man had been asked to come and hear the "young: lady." Madame Wllbourn wished to set hie verdict on her system of training: of which you shall learn presently and awaited the master's opinion with almost breathless Interest. It was snowing outside. A glowing: fire shot sparks In the (rate. Rubbing: his hands, Mr. Henschel waited. The door opened, and the mother,, beaming' with pride, led a little girl a rather plump little girl with a freckled face and wide-open gray eyes into the room. '.'This is my daughter, WMlette. Mr. Henschel," said Madame Wllbourn. The old man rose, Indignation bristling' from every inch of him. Evidently here was a child of only 9 so evident. Indeed, that Mr. Henschel exclaimed, raising: his hands: "That thelrl that that That the girl you asked me to come to see? Well, Well, well, well " But gently the mother protested that the child could sing. She begged the great man Just to listen only to listen. Well, he was there; he sank back In his chair, im patience on his countenance; he would listen; yes, yes, let the little girl sing; he was there. It would take but a little time longer. Let her sing! ASTONISHED THE .MASTER Ko WUlette sang. She tra-Ia-laed the "Swiss Echo Song," sang "Comin Thro' the Rye," with a cadeoaa, and what was this? arias from the Wagner operas! Like sunshine dancing on leaves the childish voice rippled and played with marvelous flexibility, won drous sweetness and unbelievable clearness. The ut tered notes rose like winged birds, and arias fell from her Hps like Jewels. A perfect coloratura voice waa developed, absolutely free of tension, "Wonderful! Wonderful! The little beak is filled with song." Clapping his hands the teacner listened, entranced, . laughing with the sheer delight of the artist in finding perfect art. He grasped Madame Wilbourn's hand. For such a thing had been unheard of. Most of the great singers began to train their voices when 18 or ZO.' But to begin to train a child's voice when it is yet In arms! When Madame Wllbourn first explained her theory to Henschel he pooh-poohed it; he would not listen. Impossible, foolish. And then WUlette sang Madame Wilbourn's theory Is that the vocal organs of a baby, which are plastic, pliant, can be perfected into pure singing organs or hopelessly marred. Take the baby when It la In arms, train it to utter tones, teach It the scales, and Instead of coaching it in "baby talk" give it song scales and you may start a Tetraz ginl or a Caruso on a career. You mould the singer as the artist moulds clay. Tou take the child and string the cords so they pro due golden notes. Of course you or the person who takes the child must be able to sing. "The reason there are no great alngera In America is because Americana have not learned to train their voices." declares Madame Wllbourn. "There are thou sands of people who sing execrably. Yet if children were taught, almost every child could aing beautifully when it grew up. ''But children are not taught at home nor In most of the schools. Go to a puoiio sonooi; you will hear the children bawling, screaming; 'The Star-Spangled Banner" or 'Columbia, the Gem of i the Ocean.r Thev sin at the tOD of their volcoa: thav itnln thi. to the limit; I shiver when I hear It. This sort of thing would ruin the most talented child In the world. And I am aure countless children who might In time . sing almost as well as Patti-are blasted by this reck less disregard of the voice. ' CLOSE ATTENTION REQUIRED "From the age of 4, children should be given tone study in the schools. The most delicate attention should be given to the vocal cords. Parents with cracked voices should not teach their children to sin however, but should get some one who can sing. "In this country sfnging Is a lost art. Not one per son lit ten uses the vocal cords correctly, even in speaking. Singing and elooution go hand in hand, and the child should be taught to speak as well as to sing: the most wonderful voices are ruined by violent treat ment : . . "If parents, instead of teaching -baby talk and letting children sing the execrable so-called popular songs, would begin teaching them sweet lullabies and good music, wonderful voices could be .developed In -America." And undoubtedly one has been developed In lladama Wilbourn's own little girl. At the age of 3 or 4 WUlette was familiar with the themes of operas, and at 4 composed a number on the piano,. "Birds un a Tree." She sings aarlas from the operas, and after only a year's proper training at the piano plays from Bach, Beethoven, Poldlnl, Schumann, Grieg, Scbar wenka and other composers. WUlette grew up in musical atmosphere, nat urally her soul absorbed it. Her fairy world was that oi me - rvieoemngeruiea, ana ner xairies and child hood gods were Siegfried and Brunhllde. When a child of she was told i the story of how Alberlch stole the magic gold from the bottom of tba Rhine, how he beat aijd mistreated poor Mime.; the forger of the TarnhelnCPAnd the baby girl listened entranced to the story MrBrunhllde, the shining Val kyria, who, because of her pity for Slegmund and Bleg. ' 3i ) CeJ fcxar 2$ hi in' A J -4 llnda, was condemned by Wotan to mortality and to aleep until wakened by the kiss of the lover who was to come to her. This magio world was WUlette Wilbourn's child world, and you may rest assured that she loved Wag ner more than taffy on a stick and spearmint candy. Even her dolls were named after the heroes and N' 'QW and then it is well to "see ourselves as others see. us." The fair ones of earth Jl should certainly be pleased to do this, as . : s deligctiul reflection may usually be ex-' pecicuv HI 9 0 'WS? -ft mm heroines of Wagner. But Just how Madame Wllbourn trained the little child, using ber own theories of development, is what Is particularly Interesting. ' "When WUlette was a baby." she said. "I let her use a nipple. One day, as I stood by the cradle. I no ticed the action of the tongue. I studied it for ten But it isn't well, always, to feed on flattery. Mental and moral indigestion may ensue. Now and then a man appears who is bold enough to an nounce the results of a cold-blooded, scientifically analytical study of woman such as is given be low, for example. Perhaps he has rushed in where angels fear to tread but that is his buainess. Here are his conclusions. By a Man Unafraid "W ' OMAN, lovely woman," has, as a rule, been most generously treated, most extrava gantly eulogised, in the domain of litera ture. In srivate oral discussion she is usually handled In a less rhapsodic fashion, and --n-fined more nearly to her Just dues. Yet, even In this latter, less formal arena., she fre quently carrlea away more than her honest share of the spoils or adulation, gathered in from the generous and unresisting hands of infatuated masculinity, bask ing still in the glow of passion's spring time. Let us see if we cannot supply some of literature's omissions by holding in cold print an unbiased clinic pn certain portions of the moral anatomy of our "gen tle" sisters. Be it understood, however, that we shall be speak ing only of the "middle" and "upper" class members of the sex; that we shall not be making; aniversal, but only fair average generalisations, and above all, that we acquit the management of this Journal of even the slightest complicity in the violation of Chivalry (In the interest of truth) which Is about to be perpetrated. Aftd now, "unto the breach, dear friends!" . Imprimis a our friends, the lawyers, would say woman Is distinctly mercenary in her attitude toward VV "X,. '--in ' ' I . - e A 1:-. , l"'4 i .VfAwiL eJ minutes. I realized that this movement could ruin her voice for life. So I did not give her the nipple. I relate this to show the extreme care that should be taken to that the muscles of the mouth and the vocal organs are not made defective. "From the time the child was 2 to 8 months old I would sing fifteen minutes each day the tune of "Old Aunt Tabby,' Soon the tiny mouth began to grunt the tune after me, and in two to three months the child began to coo the tone. And In six months she had per fected It. By this method I developed the child's ear for music; she got the theme of the melodies, and a a result could carry tones at the age of six months. "Six months later I began to nourish the baby on scale practice, and sang selections from 'Hebenera,' La Boheme' and 'Cavallerla Rustlcana.' From the age of two years I trained the child with scale prac tice, with the Idea of giving pure tone, and by the time she was 3 to 4 years of age she was familiar with the themes of the operas. At 4 she sang Mozart's 'Lullaby.' " With Infinite attention. Madame Wllbourn uttered intonation and tones day after day. tirelessly, until marriage. She looks upon a prospective husband first and fundamentally as a prospective "provider," and appraises his value mainly by that standard. When he appears in the role of suitor, plump down upon his skin, in a figurative sense, goes her littlo, petty, selfish microscope, while she figures out Just now much of money, bow much of fine clothes, how much of theatergoing, and of envy-arousing display she may expect from him, in return for her physical surrender; for the absence1 from the transaction of any but the most attenuated sort of "love" reduces the contemplated relationship very nearly, if not quite, to this crass and material basis. If he doesn't look good to her from her calculating viewpoint, .Iff adieu to his aspirations; but If he as says well things are at once made unanimous, and in return for being "well kept" she will graciously per mit herself to be loved. Moreover, she will even begin, at times, to feel In herself the feeble glow and tepid warmth of an emo tion which she Imagines to be love, but whose main prop is her view of the prospective husband as the source from which are to flow all the tinsel blessings of ease, luxury and fine drees, which to her seem to constitute so large a measure of the things worth having. . - DISCONTENT A COMMON LOT A man-j-the average man approaches marriage with his fountains of affection running over, readv and anxious to glv all. asking only love, fidelity and appreciation in return. Woman, on the contrary, advances willing to re ceive all, nay, expecting and demanding it in ,h,er secret hearty and requiring the moral assurance that she will get it, before she will begin to pass out even the debased coin of counterfeit love in exchange. Even in those more or less exceptional casea where the women of today allow themselves to be- appar ently mastered by a genuine passion.' they will in .. thousands of instances, with Spartan self-control, or : moved oy - the counsels or sophisticated " sisters or mothers, tear the holy emotion from their hearts, or Insult it bv rautimin rialll&nca and delay, rat.-er than fnrearo th "nomna and vanities ef tMra wicked world to enter a meager life Of self-dental wua the objects Of their affections.-. ,i ..i - - How rarely, -t moreover, doe this genuine passion. ' even when it has obtained the mastery still leas that counterfeit presentment of It which U tlie only dowry of y. 4 7 $&3T&3. she was successful, and the child repeated them. - At S years of age Gillette's voice was flexible, clear, per fectly relaxed; she sang scales and trUls and achieve! perfect coloratura singing. " r t: At the age of 18 months Madame Wllbourn pul th little girl at the piano. Oh, no, she did not mean t teach her to play, but she wanted to train the Httl flrrgers, so that the muscles would gain agility on th keys. Taking the tiny hand in her own, Madame bourn would train the baby Angers, and this went a year after year. WUlette naturally took to musio asa duck to water, and at the age of 4 would go to th piano alone and ripple off simple melodies one her own; composition. "WUlette never knew a -popular song,' " aafol Madame Wllbourn. "Once, when quite small, aha went out on the street and heard some one singing There'll be a Hot Time,' and she came dancing home, shouting 'There'll be a Hot Time' with great gusto and gle. Her throat was tightened, and, unconsciously, she had adopted the frightful way of singing she had heard. "I gave her the severest scolding she aver, knew, and then I sang the song as she had. She realised how terrible It waa, and laughed. Then I sang It aof tly and sweetly, and she never forgot that lessen." According to Madame Wllbourn, a child should ha taught tone at from the age of 4, while teaching artic ulation should be begun soon after it Is born. From the age of 13 to 15 there should be an absolute rest and unremitting care, and study should be resumed at 15 or 16. . By this method five or alx yearaT, time would be saved the ordinary singer. The usual period of study is ten years. The average person spends from one to) two years in a studio attaining an ordinary tone. Had training been begun in childhood, it would not require more than two or three months. SHOULD ACQUIRE THE THEORY A knowledge of the theory of music, Madame Wll bourn declares, is essential to the great singer. Chil dren should learn to play the piano. Little mora than a year ago WUlette began taking lessons and pro gressed so phenomenally that at her first recital, short time ago, she played a program of fourteen clas sics. Among them were the "Eighth Invention," byi Bach; Beethoven's "Rondo," Poldinl's "Harlequin, Voni Wilm s "Toccatina," and the "Dance of the Elves," by, Grieg. And there were two original compositions "The Witches' Dance" and "The Pixies Dream" by) herself. j ;' ;;v - Three years ago WUlette was taken to hear Parsifal. and was so moved by the ravishing melody that aha broke down and wept. The following day Madama Wllbourn, on returning from an errand, saw WUletta In the bedroom with her dolls, giving a miniature per formance of "Parsifal." So familiar and intimate are Wotan, Siegfried and Mime to her that she would play with them. Sieg fried was her hero, and when she would become fright ened would excuse herself by saying, "Well, that might have scared Siegfried, too." You ask her about it. and she'll tell you: "I'm going to be Brunhilda when I grow up." WUlette goes to a private school, and although her world thunders with the chariots of Tonner and the fires of Loki and the walling of the Rhine Maidens, she enjoys diabolo and roller skating aa much a any other child. She is a chubby, healthy little' girl, an. I so normal that there are days when she frets because she must practice from one and one-half to tw hours like any other child. . What has been done for this little girl could ba done with many other children, according to the the ories of the mother. "I expect American mothers t awaken to the possibilities of their children." she says; "and when they do beg-In to make singers by teaching them singing at an eariy age, America may lead l.i vocal art. multitudes of women endure through the pi.-al-? course of the later years of married life, when V.it false glow of the honeymoon or, honey-year is pa; when the burdens of children come, and house n cares and enforced economies supervene, and wh. it gradually forces itself upon the woman's mind ti . her husband, though devoted, is doomed to medlocrii , and that there is little or no hope in the future th he will be able to "give -her things like other wome' This mute but ignoble tragedy is written, Jti t streets and in public conveyances, on the features , thousands of married pairs bearing the outward air-'. of a scanty existence. The physiognomies of th . , present an interesting, though not a cheering study. On the other hand, the husband is apt to be sub dued, humbly sctteltous; and mutely apologetlo in de meanor, as though humiliated and depressed by tii fact that he has not been able to pay the full prl which the modern woman demands of a man for th valuable privilege of working for her. But enough of marriage, as many a benedict hat ecrasion to say when too late. The lovely goddess presents Some Other- etrlklr, -contrasts to the "hardened male wretch." She hn iw distinctly lower standard of honor than he; her verac ity and candor are less to be depended on than hi; she bat less of Christian charity and more- of pet! spitefulness than he; and she has a more eontempiihi-j aptitude for prying into other people's business tliam Illustrations 'could be adduced by the hundred if space permitted, which it does not; but for a simple exemplification of the relative standards of honor o the sexes, a fact may be mentioned which the experi ence of thousands will confirm In a game of cards for a prise,' ten women wi' cheat to one man, Women will squirm and eoek i evade the payment of a lost bet, but they are vrn it . shyiocka In collecting. A more unfair and one-t :, ; transaction than a game of cards for value hvt- , mea and women Is hard to conceive, Rome wUi Km this a narrow basis for a broad eoncluxtori, h i know of no better test of the ingrained mural t than thla very one I have Used. Who. will deny, moreover, that deeelt Is - . peculiar weapon? and while men-will lit), tnt, i , without tear or successful contradiction that i'.r man wno win ten a lie aooui some particular n is duplicate can be found in tti t-n t It -r. thousands, yes. hundred of thousand i.( , lie industriously in mattea vpon wM. t-t fnan would acorn to say ausUt l.i ue i . , ;
