Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-06-19

philosopher and friend" and under
his instructions and influence she be-
came a singer of rare excellence. Her
beautiful voice was modulated, her
intonation perfected, and ventually,
she broke away from the restrictions
imposed upon her by Sir Henry Bishop
and started on a tour of the world,
under the direction and management
of her teacher, Bochsa, who from the
first established such complete control
over his pupil that she became mere
marionette in his hands.
She sung. as it were, because he
willed her to sing. She left her bust
ness as entirely in his hands as if she
were child and he her father. With
out him she was nothing; with him
she was great prima donna On the
few occasions when her master was
lnoapacitated by illness from filling
the conductor chair, and his place
was filled by another, her singing lost
its style, tone and truth of execution.
Though she did not break down so
absolutely as Trilby did on Svenghalis
sudden death, she showed plainly that
her inspiration came from her conduc-
tor and not from herself
Bochsa was a very aged man, SUBJ
ject to complication of diseases, and
the last person in the world to attract
young and beautiful woman's fancy,
save only in his professional capacity
as great musician and man of such
extraordinary will power that with
him to order was to be obeyed. She
was of weak will, a calm, equable
disposition. one of the most amiable
of women and utterly devoid of passion
or personal vanity. Even in her at
tempted rivalry to Jenny Lind in this
city during that great singers season
of triumph in New York she was never
actuated by jealousy or ambition. She
simply sung because Bochsa willed her
to sing, and troubled herself not at all
about the matter.
'Il ne Sc baignait jamais," and his
taste in costume led him as it does
most of his country men to furred and
braided overcoats. with barrel buttons
and elaborate frogs. In other respects
he was exceedingly careless in his per.
son. He had also Svengali's aptitude
in speaking all Languages equally
incorrectly. He used to say:
81 vos porn zu Prague. und I cannot
spik Cherman I lif many years zu
London and cannot spik Anglische
In Paris pass oh ferry long taime und
l cannot spik Verntch! hat no lang.
witch can not spik, nozzing at all but
une deux dhree Tower und DAM" and,
indeed, his instructions to the band
when he was conductor were couched
in language weird and wonderful. II
was common remark in the orchestra
that to look at or listen to the conduc
tor meant ruin. But as singing
master and organizer of musical enter
tainments he was without peer and
many years beyond his time. Is moi
this Svengali to the life?
There was resort ON the Strand,
where Terry's theatre now stands,
celebrated by Thackeray as the "Black
Kitchen" in which Jack Sharp, the
we'll comic singer of the time,
used to sing his own songs, some OF
them not as savory as they might be.
There was and is still the "Cheshire
Cheese" in Wine Tavern court, off
Fleet street, where the print of DR..
Johnson's wig can still be seen on the
panels, and which is still celebrated
for its beefsteak pies and toasted
cheese. In such places Du Maurier,
then very young man, used to meet
with other fellows, and their converse
ton often ran upon the extraordinary
influence exercised by Bochsa over
Anna Bishop.
Du Maurier, then young man about
town, knew Nine. Bishop we'll, and
was greatly impressed with the strange
hypnotic influence Bochsa had over her.
Du Maurier commented on it. and
declared that it was an admirable
theme for a novel.