Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-31

native land. brings to mind the fact that
1t has been more than q half score Of years
since she was last heard in Omaha and 81
will doubtless be that many more years
before the music lovers OF this city will
have another opportunity Of listening to
her splendid voice.
Unfortunately Nine. Ncyada's manager
could secure only a matinee date for her,
as all the evenings Of last week were filled
by bookings made previous to Ncvada's an
nouncement that she would visit Omaha.
This accounts, in a measure, for the limited
patronage bestowed upon her concert, which,
had it occurred in the evening, would doubt
less have been listened to by an audience
limited in size only by the capacity OF the
theater.
Nine. Nevada was seen after her perform
ance and in answer to the writer's request
for an interview said:
81 will give you an interview with pleas
urc. but it must be contingent on your
granting me one request. DO not begin, like
all other gentlemen Of the press have done,
by asking me to tell Of my Seville expert
cnce, when the Spanish Missed and hooted
me, just because ! was an American. l
was reading In one Of the eastern papers
recently a f]acetious article declaring that
other prima donnas were actually Jealous OF
the advertising I received because of this
distressing incident. Well, ! can assure you
that my confreres would have been quite
welcome to such an advertisement. As for
me It Is the one unpleasant incident of my
career that ! most desire to forget.
81 hope you will never have such a one,
my darling" said the prima donna to her
young daughter Mignon, who sat beside her.
"Mignon, you know is going to be a famous
singer and four or five years from now you
will be interviewing her. Mignon has a
grand voice" added the proud mother, as she
lovingly caressed the golden curls of her
brigbt-eyed girl.
Tell you of what | have been doing
since leaving America? Yes, ! shall be de-
lighted to. more especially because many
people seem to be under the impression
that because l have not sung here in four
teen years l have been doing very little
singing. Such an impression is an altogether
mistaken one. l have been singing con-
~stantly-indeed, since l first appeared in
Omaha, which u know was at the very
beginning Of my Career-I have sung in
everyone of the old world capitals and in
every civilized country of Europe where
they have opera. | have sung in England,
Holland, Germany, France, Spain. Russia
N'NiN va ' val = E' W ihtl 10 a
sort of habit. l made my first steps in vocal
ism there and | love the sunny land. l have
sung in Florence, at the La Scala in Milan,
having given twenty-one performances of
La Somnambula.' l have sung before every
crowned head in Europe. My last appear
ance before royalty was at the close of the
London season, when for the first time l
sang before the queen of England. l sang
first at the state concert and then her
pnniarty ipritoI mo to nrInr,,o Ohio 7 $780,
for her privately. Only the queen and the
immediate members of her household were
present. The queen gave me a beautiful
decoration and asked me to write in her
autograph album. She especially liked my
Russian songs, and although my program
was quite long her majesty asked for more.
Queen Victoria is very musical and asked
regarding the composers of any
songs she happened to like.
al have sung often in a country where
few singers have rarely been. | mean Scan
dinavia. There l met Ibsen and we formed
n warm friendship. l do not know what
impression you have formed of the man
from reading his works, but can tell you
from my own personal experience that he
has a very tender heart and is a most de-
voted and loving husband.
"Oh, yes, the crowned heads-I was wan
dering from them, was / not? Well, you
know there is some excuse for me. because
I an an American. No, not all the crowned
heads are musical, but four or five of the
rulers are particularly so. The king Of
Sweden is devoted to music and plays the
cello exceedingly well. The queen of Italy
sings, and rarely misses an important opera
performance. The queen regent OF Spain
is also musical, and has a very pretty voice.
The emperor of Germany is supposed to be
more musical than any of the rulers, but |
found him devoted almost entirely to mill
tary music. Now, on the contrary, the
little queen of Holland positively dislikes
music. and in this respect certainly does
not resemble her father, who supported
Loyalty the opera at The Hague, The old
king of Portugal was quite fond Of music,
but his particular passion was Shakespeare;
the only edition of Shakespeare they have
in Portugal or rather in the Portuguese
language, was his translation. King Hum
bert is quite Indifferent. The queen of the
Belgians is fond q opera, but the king has
a preference for the ballet. The car of
Russia / do not think is greatly interested
in music, although he likes the drama and
occasionally patroni2es the opera. Tho SOW
ereigns of Austria rarely manifest any in
terest, and only occasionally are seen ut
the opera. When before the late unpleasant.
ness between my country and Spain I visited
the Spanish queen regent, | found her very
deeply interested in the life and habits OF
singers. Indeed, to the embarrassment of
all the others, she conYersed with me all
most exclusively, asking questions as to
what the singer ate and drank, what she
did on the day on which she was to sing
and all other details regarding the lives of