Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-01-21
ABOUT GREAT TENORS.
Some Striking Peculiarities of
 the Genus.
MOST OF THEM WERE ACCIDENTS.
How Lefranc, CampanlnI and Jean de Reszke Became Great Tenors-TamagnO's Frugal Habits, Which Have Resulted In the Reorganization of a Fortune.

NhC UA a
 w. s. Gilbert, the lihrcttist of "Pina-
 fore. ""The Mikado" and n scoro of other
 good things, once said after q comic opera
 rehearsal, When the Almighty puts a
 tenor voice into q man throat, he always
 takes the brains out of his head in pay
 ment." Tho great satirical writer, him.
 self particularly disaGreeable man, was
 probably suffering from slight attack of
 dyspepsia when he gave vent to that opin- ion, but it must be admitted that tenors
 are, to say the least, very peculiar set of
 fellows, as rule. Besides those whose
 voices have made them world famous were
 in nine cases put of ten the merest acci- dents-that is to say, they were not edu- cated with the special object of melting the world with burning melody. The i natural gift has in most instances never been suspected until they wcre well along in life.
 Lefranc, the phenomenal tenor who made quite stir in this country about 20 years ago, was railroad porter at Mar
 seillCs and was singing to his fellow work | mon at the depot at MnrsCilles one night when Gounod arrived on the train and
 happened to hear him. He invited him to his hotel and advised him to cultivate his voice The result was that the railway porters at MarScillCs contributed small 1 sum weekly to send him to Paris There Gounod got an entry for him at the Con
 servatoire, and the result the world knows
 He was probably the greatest favOrite Mar seillCs ever knew, and it Is a great opera town.
 Campanini was lOwly born He was at one time a blacksmith. His voice at traCtCd somebody's attention, and he be- ! came perhaps tho most popular tenor in the world for few years. Jean de RCszke ] was never intended by nature to be a tenor | at all. I'p to middle life he was a bari | tone and attracted no particular atten- | tiOn. He may be said to have 8lmOst forced | his voice into q tenor register. For many | years he sang in the small towns of Flu
 rope without particular notice, and it was his sister, Mile. de Reszkc, who made the first hit of tho family at the Grand Opera
 House in Paris. She was soprano of | great gifts. She is now dead, but her in
 flucnCe got the De Reszkes to Paris, and | thcro Jean made his first hit singing with l Patti. Tho papers at tho timc praised the | tenor moro than they did the great prima | donna, and it Is matter uf OperatiC his 1 tory that when she was in New York un- 1 der the management of Abbey she refused l to sing With Jean.
 l TamagnO was the son of an innkccper 1 near Turin, in Piedmont, Italy, and he used tu serve a* his father : tables, It Is
 curious fact that there arc two men at , present in the chorus of the Metropolitan l Opera House, New York. where TamagnO
 Is now singing. who have in their time l given him tips as a waiter Tamagno is | a wealthy man He k computed to bo
 worth 7,UOU, uu0 francs. or about $l, 4O0 | GOO He has never been ablC to get over
 his original habits of frueality. which l largely accounts for the great sum of mon | Cy Ec k worth today He looks into the
 smallest expense and loves tho acquisition
 of money All sorts of stories, many of ! them douhtloss grcat CxaggCratiOnS, are ! told uf Tnmagno'S cluscncss. One of
 these is tu thr effect that a few nights ago
 at the Metropolitan he was thirsty after
 the first act and gave a boy 9 cents to go
 and get him somc beer The boy came ! back with a bottle of Milwaukee and 10 | cents change Tamagno would not hear
 of suchO thing Only that for l5 ccnts,"
 he exclaimed ''Go hack and change it.
 He gave the lay his water pitcher, which