Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-21
SOME oPERATIC SECRETS.
The Mother fATiss Clara Louise KeIIogI
with a Charming Frankness.
81. Louis Post DISPATCH

81. AOUt8 f1OSt- dispatch.
The mother of Clara Louise Kellogg,
whose recent concertiZing experience
was anything but cOnsOling, is talka-
tive old soul, who gives everything she
knows away under the presumed ban Of
secrecy, and the writer earnestly believes
| that when she was talking to him she did
not imagine that her utterances would
| ever appear IN print.
Some reference being made 10 Scalchi
and her husband, Mr.. eye, the reporter
remarked that during some operate
! troubles in st. Louis last winter, Mr..
| Napleson had declared that the contralto
| was a scrub-woman in London when eye
| ran across her.
ssDon't you believe IT, the old lady said
/ Its only another of their advertising
/ tricks. They 90 to the utmost extremes
to excite and work up the public. Every
little disturbance of that kind is intended
only for the outsiders; inside peace reigns
as beautiful as a summers day. | re-
member the quarrel in St. Louis many
! years ago, that the papers wrote so much
about between my daughter, Marie RoZe,
and somebody else. There was column
after column af that stuff, and not a word
of truth in it. The women were fast
! friends all the time, and if they did talk
against each other it was only for the
sake of the advertising, and not because
was said. Gye and MaplesOn and Abbey
| will not hesitate to say the bitterest things
against each other If they think they can
get it and themselves into the newspa-
pers.''
"What do you think Of Nine. Scalchi;"
''They make great fuss over her, but
she can sing only in one or two operas.
! She does not begin to approach Annie
/ Louise Cary. Patti sings as sweetly now
/ Cba did fxvpDfV uporG on ond che iG
( the only one of the old-fashioned favorites
who has preserved her voice. The secret
| is that she does not strain it. She has
| only four or five operas in her repertoire,
| and Will not sing outside of them. She
! keeps her music cuddled up in her throat,
and nothing in the world can get her to go
! beyond the range of her organ. Do you
! know why she is in this countryW
The reporter acknowledged his igno-
rance.
because" said Mrs. Kellogg, ''she can
| not sing in Europe. They are tired of her
! over there. They have been listening to
| her for 20 years, and they are not willing
! to pay the high price she asks for singing.
/ We saw her in England before she made
the contract with Mr.. Abbey, and she SAID
| she would not come to America unless a
| tour she was about to make through South
| ern Europe failed. 1t did fail. Even in
| Madrid, where Patti was bOrn-yOu know
| that was the place of her nativity-she
was born on the stage, or so close to it
there isn't much ditference-even in Mad
rid she couldn't draw, so she came here,
and Americans, like the great fools they
| are, went crazy over her.
"Do you think she gets the salary Mr..
| Mapleson is generally credited with pay
ing her, $4,000 a ight?"
II guess she does"
"And NilssOn-do you think she gets
! $4,000 a night?'
''Pshaw, mop said Mrs. Kellogg, turn
/ ing her head away. 81 saw the contract,
which calls for only 81 800 a performance,
| but that was the contract gotten up for
/ outsiders. You know these singers have
| two prices, one they get, the other they
! talk about. If Nine. Nilsson gets 81 900 a
night it's as much as she is worth. She
cannot sing any more. 1t amuses me to
see the rapturous way in which the
! critics write about her; but, poor things,
what do they know about music, and
! particularly about Operatic music? Do
| you know how Nilsson lost her vOiceY'
! Once more the reporter was obliged to
/ shake his head.
"Well, when we first heard Nine. Nils
! son, in England, she had a beautiful
| voice. Clara and | sat in the box that
night. Artists don't like to see dead
heads in the boxes; it kind O. gives the
pad business away Fhe performance
was The Magic Flute and it was an
nOunced that Nine. Nilsson would sing
the second aria in the original key. This
! is something that has often been prom
ised, but never done. Nobody has yet
| sung that number in the original key,
and nobody ever will. When Nine. Nilsson
| came on she saw us. She sang the first
number all right; but when it came to the
next it was entirely cut out, owing, as the
manager said, to Nine. Missions illness.
| Well, she came to America and sang in
concert with great success. Then she
came again to sing in opera. Her success
was not so great. She wondered why.
'Pll tell you,' said Mapleson. You can't
please the Americans in opera unless you
thrash around the stage. In the old coun-
try, you know, they do not call upon
artists to act; here you want dramatic as
well as operatic ability to succeed So
| Nilsson 'thrashed around and by over
| eXertiOn lost her voice.