A REVOLUTION IN OPERA SINGING.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1255, 15 March 1878, Page 3

A REVOLUTION IN OPERA SINGING.

A late writer says : —Paris has now a processor who is, I think, destined to create a revolution in the world of sou" He is a Spaniard by birth, by name Emilio Helari, and is himself a singer of note, having been the leading tenor at Les Italians a few years ago. Though still in the prime of life and of his vocal powers, he quitted the stage in order to devote himself to the development of his theory, and its basis is common sense. Having 'studied the throat, its conformation and its maladies us a physician, M. "Belari comprehends perfectly the art of emission of sound and the methods by which weak or defective voices may be developed and improved. The progress made by his pupils is something really marvellous. In six weeks the organ is completely changed, as a first-class piano manufacturer might change a piano by a careful and scientific tuning and by replacing every imperfect string or key. Under his training the singer never becomes fatigued, never pants for breath, and, in some instances where the pupil was delicate, the expansion of the chest and the consequent improvement in health was really remarkable. It, is very interesting to see him give a lesson. He stands with bis keen, intelligent eyes fixed upon the scholar, correcting every injudicious manner of drawing the breath, of opening the mouth, or of holding the arms, as well as the style and manner of singing. So rapid is the progress of the pupil under his method that he declares he can train a perfect novice for the operatic stage in eighteen months, the time usually required being three years. He has had wonderful success in repairing and setting to rights the voices damaged by other professors. He is by birth a noble, and wears in Ids button-hole the black rosette of the Order of the Knights of Malta—a decoration but rarely seen, as it is only bestowed upon those who can boast of heaven knows how many generations of aristocratic descent. And what is far more to the purpose, he is an intelligent, cultivated, and refined gentleman. He is quite enthusiastic, about American voices, declaring they, - * to lie among the finest natural organs in the world, and he says his desire ia to make his establishment the Consmatuire of America.