… they attack or start the note in the throat. Sooner or later this attack will ruin the most beautiful voice. … But to have the attack pure and perfectly in tune you must have the throat entirely open, for it is useless to try to sing if the throat is not sufficiently open to let the sound pass freely.

– Luisa Tetrazzini, one of the great coloratura sopranoes of the late 19th and early 20th century