The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-12-03
A THORNY PATH.
THE DISHEARTENINa EXPERIENCES
OF AMERICAN SINGERS IN ITALY.

Would-Be Prima Donnas RuthIessly
Fleeced by italian Operate Agents
Debutantes Whose First Appearance
is Their Last-A Word Of Warning.
In the twelve years that have lived
abroad have known hundreds of young
American girls who have come to Eu
rope to study singing Three Of the
number achieved positive and durable
success-namely, Marie Van Zant, Emma
Nevada and Ella Russell. OF the rest
some few are making precariOus hv
ing, i'll paid, working hard, Kissed in ont
Italian town If applauded in another
Others have gone home, tired out witt
the effort to gain foothold where thu
ranks are already overcrowded, and have
settled down to teaching or to choir sing
ing. A well known American baritone
once told me that when he was on q con
cert tour through the west, there wa.
scarcely a town to which the troupe
came in which he did not fall In will
some young girl, speaking Italian ad
mirably and singing with skill anG
finish, the pupil of some one of the great
teachers of Europe, who had made hel
debut i'm some one or other of the pretty
cities of Italy, and had then drifted home
unable to achieve anything further
Such cases are the rule and not the ex
ception. The exceptional instances are
those of the successful singers of the
day.
The American girl who pictures tt
herself beautiful vista of triumphs or
thu lyric stage of Italy, to be won when
she has finished her studies, is revealing
in n baseless vision. Italian opera, ever
in Italy, is practically defunct. There IL
not one of the great Italian cities thai
has a permanent resident opera com
pany, as Paris has for French opera, and
Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, ETC.,
for German. AS in New York, London
aud ST. Petersburg, Italian opera In
Rome, Naples, Milan and Florence has q
fugitive and precarious existence. A
few months at the carnival season, or a
brief series of representations to bring
out some one special work, form all the
opportunities vouchsafed in this time to
the lovers of music in the great cities OF
Italy. And the field thus limited is i'm
mensely overcrowded. The number OF
American girls now waiting in Milan for
an opportunity to appear in opera has
been stated to be 5000. This is probably
an exaggeration, but there are certainly
some hundreds of them. Now and then
an American singer makes her debut at
some such grand artistic center as Imola
o. Ravenna or Tortola or Rovigo, and
thereafter is heard of never more
But if it is hard to win fame and artistic
success Oh the Italian lyric boards, it is
still harder to make any money. In
fact, the one idea of the Italian impress
ari1 and the Italian operate agent is to
extOrt every penny possible out of the
foreign aspirants for a musical career.
The modus Operandi is generally as fol-
lows: The young embryo prima donna is
engaged with the stipulation that she is
to receive no salary, the privilege of
making her debut being considered a
sufficient compensation. Usually an at
tempt is made to eXtort one, or two, OF
three hundred dollars in addition, but II
the singer and her friends and guar.
dials resist, smaller amount, nominally
for the hire of the orchestral score of the
opera in which she is to appear, is de-
manded. She must furnish her own cos.
tunes as matter of course. Then the
chorus demands a pourboire of some SIC
to be distributed among them. II this is
refused their friends will crowd into
the upper gallery and will hiss the de-
butante without mercy.
AT last all matters are arranged. All
demands have been acceded to, and the
American girl makes her debut. She is,
we will say, young and pretty, has a
pleasing and well trained voice and acts
well She makes an instantaneous and
thorough success. She sings for two or
three nights, and then arrives the i'm
presario with fresh series of demands
hundred dollars for this, three hundred
for that etc. Flushed with success, and
wearied with these continued demands,
the prima donna meets them all with a
positive refusal. On the occasion of her
next appearance she is driven from the
stage by storm of boots and Misses
Another prima donna is engaged in her
place. Before the new conner makes her
appearance the impresario again goes to
the American girl. PAY me what
asked and your rival shall be Kissed and
you shall be triumphantly reinstated.' u
Usually our young countrywoman either
has not the funds on hand or retires from
the contest, wearied, heartsick and dis.
couraged.
The following incident took place not
long ago IN Italy: An opera company
was formed by certain agent and sent
to Spain. The impresario telegraphed
for prima donna of note and experience
to be engaged, to appear in one prominent
character The lady was engaged, the
contract was signed and she took her de-
parture to join the troupe. Then the
agent goes to a young Russian singer, who
is known to have money "What will
you pay mes" he asks, Ito have Mile. X.
Missed on the night of her first appear
ance, and be summoned to take her
placer Give thousand francs al ,OOO),
is the reply. every good; it shall be
done" 1t was done, as arranged, the
agent pocketing $500 and the impresario
taking the other half of the sum as COM
pensation for causing the failure of the
artistic he had himself engaged.
The Italian operate agents are, in
fact, veritable bloodsuckers. No sooner
does an American singer make her ap-
pearance in Italy with q view of obtain
scend upon her in swarms like so many
hungry mosquitoes: If she possesses
$500 there will be 500 greedy cormorants
to a percentage or even share in the
future salary; they require to be paid
beforehand in amounts from $50 to 800,
according to the importance of the en-.
gagement. If the American girl is poor,
or for any other reason refuses to pay
over her cash freely, she may as well
pack her trunks and depart forthwith
from Italy, for she will never obtain an
xxvsl 1.a
from one to the other of the agents as
that of person that there is no profit
out of, till the whole tribe throughout
the country becomes interested in never
letting her appear in public. A year OF
two ago young American lady, possess
ing beautiful contralto voice, through
the good offices of her teacher obtained q
hearing in one of the small towns of
Italy, and met with great success. But
owing to her poverty, she was unable to
fee the agents, and till the last few weeks
she was unable to procure an engage
ment. Within the last few months,
however, some wealthy friends have in.
terested themselves in her welfare, and
she is now engaged at one Of the leading
opera houses in Italy, thanks to the
money she has received from her kind
benefactors. Another young American
girl who has been singing for three years
In Italy, has finally given up the task In
despair and has returned to the United
States, having spent, I am told, small
fortune in trying to shape for herself a
career.-Lucy H. Hooper In New York
World.
Aristocratic photographs.
A.