The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-02-05
PATTI AND HER HUSBAND
THE COURTSHIP OF NICOLINI AZ
TOLD By MIME. LAUW.

Aversion First Felt by the Prima Donna
Toward the Tenor-Fervor of Nioolint's
Love-Making as Romeo-B Behavior As
cribed to the Maquis de Caux Before His
Divorce.
1t has been said that the private life
of Nine. Adelina Patti and her hus-
| band Ernest Nicolini, who died on
| Tuesday at Cannes, was always happy,
and no word indicating different
state of things has ever reached the
outside world. AS to PATHS first mar
| riage, contradictory statements have
been made. In book written by for
mer companion of the singer, Nine.
Patti is described as having been ard
emily in love with her first husband,
the Marquis de Caux, after their mar
riage as well as in the years preceding
it, and the influence OF Signor Nicolini
is given as the cause of the separation.
But it is known that her aversion to
Nicolini led Louisa Lauw to leave
Nine. Patti after fourteen years of in
innate companionship; so her descrip
lions of him are not generally believed.
They are part of a book called -Four
teen Years With Patti" which was
published in Germany after the author
and Nine. Patti brought their long as
ISOLATION to an end. One Of the first
reference she makes to Signor Nicolini
is in these words:
The Marquis de CauX had learned,
in consequence of the for France so
unhappy war, to yield to the newt
able. He put some restraint upon his
hate of the Germans, and permitted his
| Wife-not as Frenchman, but as a
husband consulting her interests-to
go for the season to Homburg. We oc-
cupied then once more the Victoria viii
Ia and had for our next neighbor the
tenor Nicolini, with his wife and five
children. Adelina had, indeed, already
in Paris and London, made the pro-
fessional acquaintance of this gentle
man. She was unable, however, to find
his manners to her taste, and it always
cost her a certain effort to sing with
him. Although possessed of a fine
voice, Sgnor Nicolini was unable to
rise above the ranks OF so-called
dozen tenors,' and however much he
exerted himself, especially in London,
to replace the great Mario-going so
far as to copy the later in his cos
tunes, in his gestures, even in the
cut of hair and the form of his beard
the London public, surfeited by the
| enjoyment of the first rank only rec
ognized in Signor Nicolini, the mere
shadow Of the great singer and actor
Mario. Signor Nicolini appeared to us
as lady of winning and amiable man
ners. The little, shrewd wife was tor
mented, however with a boundless
jealusy, under the daily outbreaks Of
| which poor Nicolini, whom she de-
clared without ceremony to be a verit-
able Don Juan had not little to suf-
fer. Notwithstanding the frequent ex-
citing scenes-between the pouting
pair, we got the impression that Nico-
lini was passionately in love with his
wife, who, moreover, skilfully drilled
him in the theatrical performance of
his roles, for he did his very best to
make everything good with her When
he had succeeded in this, he ordinarily,
to celebrate the reconciliation, let off a
great quantity of fireworks. We, in
deed, returned the visits of Sgnor Mic
olini, but Adelina avoided any further
intercourse with her so unsympathetic
colleague
Mme.Lau shows her feeling against
the tenor here in describing what was
in reality the first meeting between the
two. This was in the summer of 1871.
1t was not until two months later that
Nine. Patti again met the man des-
tined to be her future husband. In
these words Nine. Lauw described that
meeting:
, I'm st. Petersburg we again met Sig
nor Nicolini, who was there engaged
for the season and, with his wife and a
, 6-year-old little daughter, had taken UP
quarters in our hotel. The usual cour-
tesies were exchanged, but it cost Ade-
, lima a great effort to sing with to her
so disagreeable a colleague, and especi-
ally in Romeo and Juliet. Too vivid
i ly did her memory recall the picture of
Mario, the unapproachabe Mario
| WHO'LL NlCOllHl was now 10 replace
She would have shrunk from no pc
cuniary sacrifice in order to avoid sing
| ing with Nicolini; her contract, howev-
err, made it her imperative duty to al
| low herself to be made love to, if only
for the space of a few hours. The OPP
era was brought out and made Juror
A more glowing passion, a more ardent
love languor than Nicolini disclosed in
: the balcony scene, could scarcely have
glowed in the heart of the original
I Romeo. The most enraptured among
the enraptured at the performance OF
Romeo (NicolinD was the Marquis dc
Caux himself. He found not only that
Nicolini's voice admirably supported
| Adelina's, but he also maintained that
the two made a handsome couple upor
the stage. The Marquis, who seemed
to experience an especial pleasure ir
, seeing Adelina with Nicolini upon the
stage, patronized him in every possible
way"
At the close of this engagement
Nine. Patti went to Vienna and the
closing pages of Nine. Lauw's book are
devoted to an account of the manner
in which Signor Nicolini continued his
fervent courtship of the singer. Al
that time, Nine. Lauw said she was
devoted to her husband, the Marqis de
Caux, and when he was too i'll to ac-