The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-09
PRIMA D0NNAS' THRIFT.
singers Less ImprOvident Than Some
People Think.

From. the New York Sun.
The poverty of Amelia Materna,
which has compelled her to sell her
chateau at Gratz. will seem to many
an illustration of the traditional ini-
providence of the artistic temperament.
1t is usual to say that the successful
singers, who receive large sums duer-
ing their active careers. spend the
money as fast as it comes in.
But this theory is not so true to-day
as IL may have been in the past. Great
artists are. as a rule, very prudent
persons. In some cases even parsimony
of an aggravated type takes the
place of hberality as the controlling
factor.
There is evidence of this in the case
of Ernesto Tamagno, the noted Italian
tenor, whose economies are famous.
and, again, in that of popular prima
donna. who receives a large salary at
the Metropolitan and lives in the most
modest manner. AS a rule, the singers
of to-day are quite as prudent as any
other class of professional workers.
The popular misconception as to the
amounts they really earn is In part the
cause of the idea that they are reck-
reer and her expense of living in Eu-
rope could not have been large; but
neither were her salaries.
At the Imperial Opera House in VI
emma, where she sang for a quarter of
a century her compensation could not
have been great. Here her earnings
were inconsiderable, as she sang only
occasionally in concert. So that her
savings could never have been very
1ar hot he 81 To-, &l.s-
country was lost in unfortunate spec
ulation.
The cases of women who have earn
ed large amounts of money and kept
ii are nearly as many as the instances
of those who have won a reputation
for improvidence. Adelina Patti has
always been called the richest of the
prima donnas, and there is no reason
to doubt that she is.
Her career has been longer than
that of any of the others and her
compensation has been more than
any other woman singer ever receiv-
ed. She began to sing at 16 in. 1859
and is still at 1t. So she has had
an advantage over her colleagues in
the length of her services we'll as in
in her phenomenal gifts.
Christine Nilsson, her rival. is also
a woman of great wealth to-day. Her
SttOilu nuSDdnQ, OOunl 0dS0 mlrdnud,
who died last month, helped her to
spend some of il. but she carefully
limited his allowance in later years,
although her fortune was too great to
be much damaged by the Counts eff
forts.
Madame Nilsson sang from 1864 I'M
til about 1885, Her concert tours here
were always very profitable and she
was able TO appear regularly four
times week. which alone would have
made her the envy OF the modern prima
donnas. who are rarely equal to sing
ing more frequently than ten times a
month.
Another contemporary OF Nine. Nils
son who earned a fortune and kept IT,,
is Minnie Hauck. who is known in
private life as Baroness Wartegg She
sang from 1869 until 1857 and lives
now Ia comfort on the earnings of her
professional career.
To this same period belonged Clara
Louise kellogg, who II now Mrs. carl
Strakosch. She had a career OF about
twenty-five years, having begun here
az the Academy Of Music as early as
1867
Her industry may be understood