The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-08
LIE rop1os AMOUR TOWN.

Of Its picturesque features. lho mousse Win ~
stretch OF green yard, Its surrounding trees,
and with the old.fashionod iron fence In front,
has long been q familiar sight. Recently 1t has
been the dormitory Of most Of the young doc
tors attached to thehospital, s-although Its more
spacious apartments wcre devoted TO other needs
of the institution. The interior Of the house
was deliberately decorated a the manner OF
three or four decades ago with as much splen:
T with "a room roomipnesS and indiGeronce to questions
Of space not usual in New York houses today.
pending for several years. 1t Is remembered by
old Now Workers as the home of a family once
conspicuous In society and many n9tao,y ievisn
%erations Of tho family were not able to retain IL
and maintain the reputation, which the house
S%truction Of the building will leave the Van
Buren, place on Fourteenth street az the soil
day in which tho wealthy. men OF New. York
surrounded their houses with grounds, II some
s q the So SPtSWyn p sassf would wsfS Si maEo Sl iifus ave-
nue. even handsomer than 1t now In.
Tho evolution of q prima donna can now DO
observed daily at the Metropolitan Opera
House. That is, of course, the usual place for
prima donnas when they come to New York,
but 1t rarely happens that ono 30 completely In
embryo as the young lady who spends several
hours every day on tho stage finds herself
there. She is not alone, moreover, but accom-
panied by her teacher-none other than the IL
l~ustrious Victor Capoul, who, after a brilliant
career as q singer, has settled down to a ouieo
life of teaching, which is interrupted only BY
such episodes as his recent trip to Europe to
urge his claims for the control of the Opera
Comique. The young woman. in question Is an
American with, q fine contralto voice: She Is
dark haired AND nterSsting,iooRing al, ana IL ne ma NJ,
for her daily appearance. The curtain Is raised
only, a few feet. Behind her yaw9s the depth
the background. Chairs are usually, piled up
along the front Of the stage, and the dim audi
poui. and the pianist seem quite indifferent to
these disheartening circumstances. The ac,
Sompanist plays; the young SoIH s woman shod Sildhss no ana
how she should every sentence with
the conventional gesture and expression; in
what attitude she should stand as the King APP
proaches, or she sees her lover, or answers the
taunts OF her rival; how, in fact. she should
approach every situation and express the emo.
plays, the young woman sings and moves, and
shsn a M; SspoSil, s MSppEP Rs does hsf; w siRES the ht" eSr.
rect action. Then the entire, process is repeated
again and probably. several times more before
the teacher goes on to the next measures: Tho
young woman has been admired by Maurice
Grau, and it is rupored that she may be q
next year and sing not in a street gown TO rows
Of canvas-covered seats, but to a large audience.
Her Her name a s, If T ny shaH Ss b %a5ahis n h,u PIt newt "
year. Whether she Is heard or not, anybody
who watches her and her teacher now Will con-
Cludo that the operate career mas ltS dlnncul-
ties.
Although the old Haymarket may go before
inexorable business progress, there are certain
substitutes for the building and what it sup
piled. Two of them have; been lately opened to
the public, and one. on account of its premature
activity, got into trouble within a few days
after its splendors were exhibited to the pub
lie. But the other has made haste more slow
ly, and is winning Its patrons by degrees. 1t
enjoys, moreover, the advantage Of a side
street, thereby avoiding O certain amount of
undesirable attention. But none Of these sue.
its place without some greater outlay than was
expended on the Haymarket. There never
den" than the Haymarket,, and from the first
day of its career to the last 1t was always
wretchedly sordid and cheap: No apparent
attractiveness, and it remained as II began,
shabby and common. One feature Of the place
the order that kept the old Haymarket in Its
most prosperous days n comparatively harm
pocketbooks or bruised heads very rare. At
s shat t,% of t ap,ow MERE rer ssHerai 0 Thers I %es .a h s h,fh
avenue restaurant that furnished the oppor-
tunity without the necessity OF a Journey down
fight, was..praetically certain every evening OF
the week: There We're other places near the
could be got rid Of. Mono Of these remains,
however, and for that reason it is difficult TO
preserve the order which used to BIO character
istic of the only dance house In New York that
ever thrived for a number Of years.
1t is not yet understood why Theodore
Thomas should have written to .say that his
three years contract in Chicago would interfere
with his accepting the conductorship of the
permanent orchestra here. as it has been gen.
orally understood that Anton Seidl was to BIO
the director of tho new orchestra. Mr..
Thomas's letter has provoked speculations as
to who offered the post to him. Some of the
most earnest MEMBERS of the new society are
IN finding, some explanation for that mysterious
letter. The permanent orchestra will certainly
turn out to, be something quite different from
plished Is considerable, in view of the difficult
ties which were in the way Of the project.
The humor Of the first few meetings, at which
1t was gravely proposed to raise 81 1000. 900.
and at which that sum WAS as lightly dis
1t without effort, was not noticeable later
when some really wealthy persons were present.
But there never were many who could have
easily parted with the million, and under the
was possible. Now persons Interested in the
managed as TODD no damage to the permanent
orchestra idea, which may some.day be realized
In its best form.
According to: letters received lately by his
friends in this city, Sig. Cremonini Is well
again. and mis- trouble, which was said to BIO
pulmonary. turns out to have been no more
than a severe cold. He took cold last winter
In Berlin, whore he went to sing at the opera,
and was unable to appear for several days.
When he did mako his debut as Ottario in
Don Giovanni he was still, SO III that he
gained little or no commentator. Since
that time he has returned to the south and re-
time that no was III with consumption and
would not live, long. The report has happily
turned out to be unfounded. Mime. Mantelfi
has lately been singing IN "Falstaf" in several
Metropolitan By Mime. scalchi. Mime. Scaichi is
one Of the singers who do not remain in Europe
merely because they are not engaged at the
opera hero. or owing to the fact that there is
no opera. She is now travelling with n concert
company through the South and West, war.
bling her favorlte arias from Faust" and Lies
Huguenots" to the satisfaction of largeaudiences.
She gives q performance OF the garden scene
from ,Gounod's opera. and interpolates airs
enough to make herself the PRINCIPAL character
highly artistic. Zelio de Lussan, who was 10
l.-I. al go. ..l -