The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-08

five years of this sort of thing and my
blood ran cold. The only possible chance
of my ever singing principal roles in
that period was when the first soprano
died, but she was perfectly healthy and
certain to last the five years of my con-
tract. 1 was engaged for leading color
allure roles. My contract stipulated that,
so I was not to be- called upon to sing
secondary parts. 1t was at this time that
! got my offer from Vienna and Budapest
In vain I besought the direction of the
opera to let me know whether or not
they wanted me to sing in order that L
might give an answer to the other thea
ters
1.-The more I thought of what I had
done the more ridiculous it seemed for me
to have tied myself up for five ye% 8
when | was young and most ambitious
For a year or two the people would talk
about me as the American singer in
Berlin, and then they would stop alto
gether. / would be appearing occasional
~ as substitute. and possibly alter a
while my fame would have reached its
height when Nine Cosima Wagner invit-
ed me to come to Bayreuth and sing the
bird music in tSiegf led. That would be
the climax of my German career, and
at the end of five years I should have to
start all over again to make a reputation
outside of Germany, as never would
consent to live in Berlin all my life.
! Out of the salary I received l was COM
PEELED to pay so per cent to agents and
mpresarios together, so 1 determ ned to
break the contract.
Il wrote my views to the committee,
enclosed my letter with the contract in a
registered letter and waited for the re-
Spouse. After one month exactly an an
swer came. saying that / would be al
lowed to leave in accordance with my
wishes This was my experience i'll Ber-
lin, which is more fortunate than nine out
of ten girls ever. experience One Amer
| ioer rs,l f.NV,o A n1N
| Neur,@n of 60 guldens. or $50 mencn
This - an actual fact, because l know
personally the girl that had this expert
ence. Another girl who had been for
hve years in good opera house, re-
ceived last season $50 a week. She had
been there five years and her contract
expired last spring. She had been work
ing ha d, singing nearly every night, and
her voice was already worn. They were
not going to renew her contract They
were going to get in her place a beginner
who would answer their purposes just as
we'll ana come for the price she had
! asked at first.
American singers can get all the en-
! gagements they want in the small thea
| tiers, if they are willing to sing for the
! salaries on which they can barely ex-
list. We do not know you the man
ayers all say, so we can pay you very
| tile. know of at least one royal
theater where there is the greatest cor
| ruptton between the singers and the d.
rector placed there by the emperor. They
! are engaged and retained by the director
if they pay him a part of their salaries.
| Otherwise they go. The artists are loyal
to one another when it becomes ques-
! ton of their common hatred of foreign
ers. That was shown by their attempts
| to make it as hard as possible for me to
get a hearing. On the night I sang
Rosina for the first time, the tenor who
was to have appeared as AImaviva sent
word at the last moment that he was
III, and little Julius Lieban, the buffo of
| the company, who had never attempted
1t before, sang the role. Wasn't that r.
| diculous? 1t was enough to have upset
of which I was very proud at the time,
! and how delighted I am now at the
! thought that I got out of it and out of
! an atmosphere so sitting to real art and
| ambition