The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-16
WHEN CALvE FAILED
THE PRIMA DONNA ONCE ALMOST
GAVE UP HER LYRIC AMBITION.
Became Famous in "a Night on the
same stage where She Had Been
"a FiascO-Music Notes.

Nearly all great artists have known the
time when they fell far short of success.
Tic following is a brief and almost for
gotten story of Calves first appearance in
opera in Paris. There was a time-and not
so very long ago, either-when the great
ness Of Emma Calve was an unknown and
rather uncertain quantity; when, in other
words. the question who is CaIve?'' was
perfectly excusable. There comes from
Paris a story of a debut at the Opera Com
iaue. The name of the "debutante" was
Emma Calve. The opera was Bizet's Car
men" And the result was a glazing fasco.
That story is almost forgotten now. Calve
had then been studying for years, and also
singing, in Belgium and at Nice. She had
come to Brussels from Montpelier, the old
French city, where she had received her
education in the convent of the Sacred
Heart. At Brussels she had studied with
N. Puget, who was also run in
bringing about her debut outside of France.
"I was a big, dark-eyed girl, with dark
hair and fair complexion" said Nine. Calve
one day. speaking of herself about that pc
riod. II did not know how to walk prop
erIy on or off the stage. And as to music,
] was impressed by the most conventional
types"
Her first appearance was in 1892, when
she was eighteen years of age. Her voice,
it's beauty and It's range secured recogni-
ton, but that was all. The world did
not go crazy about her. Years of study
ing followed, years when she received in
s~truction from such world-fanous teach
ers as Nine. Viardot Garcia and Nine. Mar
chest. A premature debut at the Opera
Comique, already referred to, caused her
to go to Italy, where she sang for several
years, gaining very little reputation and
probably less money. Those years were
hard ones, but without them she would
probably not have been the singer she is
now. She was learning all the time, train
ing and strengthening her voice and gather
ing a stage experience which was of the
greatest value.
\ failure at la Scala made her so tired
of Italy that she returned to Paris once
more, sick at heart, despairing, ready al
most to give up her song for good. She
spoke in all eaTnestness of devoting her
self to the dramatic stage. AT that critical
moment she was offered another oppor-
tunity at the opera Comieue in the same
failed.
Paris outdid itself that memorable even
ing. Calve was a star at once. No words
were TOO strong to sing her praise. The
world that only Il few days previously
had cared SO little for her and her voice
now battled for a chance to hear her.
Since then her career has been a riumph-
ant tour. Having laid Europe at her feet.
she let herself be tempted into accepting
an American engagement. In America
Gounod's Faust" to her repertoire. Be-
fore every one knew that the great Emma
Calve was greatest in Carmen" Now
there is some question about that. many a
great II not greater as Marguerite.
Rose Ettinger is the name of a young
American girl who has recently achieved a
great success in Berlin. She is an Tli-
Hois girl who studied two years in Chi
Cago with Mrs. Clarence Eddy, who took
her to Europe and placed her with the
famed Marchesi. She is now only twenty
years old. She Will make her appearance
Il the Opera Comique, in Paris, next winter,
and the Royal Opera, III Berlin, has also
Efered her a lattering engagement. The
Berlin Post, in reviewing Miss Ettinger's
tebut, said: The unpretentious announce
ment on the programme, Song by Rose Eft
finger would hardly have led anybody in
the audience to imagine what a splendid
treat was in store for them, and when
mat unostentatious young lady of but nine
Jeen summers appeared upon the stage
iEere was hardly a hand lifted in token of
encouragement. But no sooner We're the
urst notes of the bell song from Delibe's
'Dakme' warbled out than a peculiar COM
motion rCstled through the house. AS if
moved by some mysterious agency the
AAAoAly iNIINt1 GUS PICSCilL 4OOhC0 d CdCn
other as ii to satisfy themselves whether
their ~neighbOrS had experienced a like
pleasant surprise at these charming sounds.
anu JheI Il profound st4.4nesS cTepC over
the house which made every oscillation of
the singers trills and staccatos clearly au-
dlble, and only then, when the aria ended
with the high Il sharp, executed in almost
inconceiVable certainty and purity, one
could notice that there were other people
present besides the little nightingale and
her finished accompanies, Herr Brake. And,
indeed. Miss Rose Ettinger is a phenom-
anal artistic UheGa cha rms . ire already in
resistible, though her complete development
is, to some extent, reserved for the future.
The most captivating notes of this artistic
lie al lne present in the very highest pitch
which with her only begins there where
the voice of other sopranos ends. On the
high ID sharp. which IS reached by but very
few singers, Miss Ettinger executes the
purest and most exquisite trills, and on the
high & sharp, which even in the ~staccato
is heard in extremely rare eases, she holds
the closing note with wonderful power and
finish. Whether or not this youthful ar
tiste is endowed with a genius for dramatic
im~persOnatou can, OF course, not yet be de-
termined, but we may safely expect it of a
lady who executes Schubert's Haideroes-
lcin' with such intense sentiment, and who,
despite her youth, Is possessed of so much
VIII power 10 perfect herself IN the tech
meal requirements of her art
Mr.. William Armstrong. of the Chicago
Tribune, known TO many in this city by his
readings before the Contemporary Club and
the Matinee Musicale on Unpublished In
T. AINE anu 4tB aAAE OAAiOi4 last
week, for a brief lecture tour there, has an
article in last weeks Musical Age on the
question of high salaries in opera, in which
he says: Whatever plans form the foun-
dalton OF the next grand opera season. high
salaries 10 the artists engaged will not be
the swapping feature. The difference in
the salaries granted in this country and
abroad has long been a matter of
As long as audiences continued to pay high
prices of admission, either complainingly or
otherwise, all went smoothly enough. The
managers failed or were retired from BUSH
ness with clockIike regularity. But some
others sprang up in their places, armed
with self-sutticient confidence that they
would be the exception. TIL managers and
the pCo Ike have suffered, not to men,
ton the .Jnditions of musical art and the
hludrance of its advancement.
In reviewing the situation from an i'm
partial point of view an advance on Euro
peau salaries should be granted to singers
i'm this country for various reasons, but not
I'm the fabulous fashion which precedent has
too long maintained. Singers not unnat-
urally prefer 10 ill engagements where
they are least subjected 10 the fatigue of