Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-05


never sung during her career.
NJ. Paravey was the director by whom
she was engaged. 1t was impossible for
her. however, to make the manager fix
positive date for her appearance. There
was satisfaction In having been engaged,
but the suspense of having no idea as to
when she would finally get before the foot
lights wore on her until she determined
IN the vigorous style that has always been
characteristic of the soprano, to have the
date definitely settled or to try to make
an arrangement with some other director.
Months had elapsed and she was no near
er debut than On the day she had put her
name to the contract.
She went to the office Of NJ Paravey and
iald her ultimatum before him. She must
know positively the date of her first APP
pearance, or she must be free TO make
other arrangements. She said that boldly,
although her voice was tremulous and she
wondered where in the world that other
debut was coming from. NJ. lie Directeur
stared at her In establishment and tried
10 ADVISE patience. But the resolute young
woman from Maine had come there with a
purpose. In the end she obtained her re-
Iease and was IN the same position as when
she had left Mime. Marchesi's lessons
Ihere was to- be all the struggle over
again, I thought to myself as I left the
Opera Comique," Nine Games saws. when
she tells the story now "and wondered
whether had not been foolish in giving
up chance when nothing else was in
sight. have a habit of never losing
courage In myself, however, and that
thought kept me from being as desperate
as l might have been. 1 came back to my
apartment apartment to find my mother radiant with
delight She saw how gloomy I looked,
out that did not depresS her"
During Mime. Eames' absence a mes
senger had come from NJ. Gailhard of the
opera He wanted to speak to the Ameri-
can soprano about an engagement at the
theater known officially as the National
Academy of Music of France. He hoped
that the young singer had no contract that
1 wi tic T1o
She had not, although only a few hours
before she had been bound to the Opera
Com1que for a first appearance that was
indefinite in the future Charles Gounod,
for whom she had sung some of Juliette's
music, had suggested the beautiful Ameri-
can as the best representative of the
heroine In the Shakespearean opera. Nine.
Patti, who had taken part In the first per-
Torrance of Gounod's work at the Opera,
was about to leave, and Mime. Eames was
to be one of her successors in the part.
Her debut was triumphant, and the rest is
operate history.
And suppose Nine. Eames asks, II
had been willing to wait until the manager
of the Opera Comique was ready to let me
appear, how different that debut would
have been. I have never sung La Ira
viata,' and never want to. Nor would I
have been able to sing first with artists Of
such reputation as the two de ResZkes, or
under such brilliant auspices as only
debut at the Opera makes possible.
How Schumann- Heink Found Herself.
Nine. Schumann-Hein made her debut at
the opera house in Dresden and then went,
In 1889, to the Stadt Theater, in Hamburg,
where she sang for years under the man
agement of Bernard Pollini acting as the
musical maid of all work, that is the fate
Of so many German singers. She was
Prince Orloff in Die Fiedermaus and Or
trud in ''Lohengrin,' and she went to the
dramatic performances at the theater when
singing was needed.
One year while singing in Berlin Nine.
Sembrich urged the director of krolfs to
send to Hamburg for this wonderful con-
tralto. They were beginners together IN
Dresden, but Nine. Sembrich had not
heard her old friend for ten years after
she left the opera company there. They
had met again when the Polish singer went
to Hamburg to give a concert.
Nine. Schumann-He who was then
unknown outside of Hamburg, had begun
to feel that her talents were not appre-
ciated there and that she had better make
an effort to advance herself. So she went
to Director Pollini, who never enjoyed the
reputation of great generosity to his artists,
and told him that the time had come for
some greater material appreciation of what
she was doing
You're not an opera singer" replied the
manager and you will never be heard of
as one. You're a comic old woman"
Those last three words describe techni-
cally the position Of the actress who plays
the part of the old woman in the German
comedies and operettas. Nine. -Schumann-
Heink's contract was drawing TO a close
and she refused to renew it with Pollini,
who tried to persuade her that she was
making a fatal mistake. She was not GER
tain of that herself. She had q large
family was all but unknown outside the
Stadt Theater and had been able to exc out
her meager salary with the sums her hus-
band earned as an actor But she deter
mined to take the hazard. She accepted
the Berlin enga cement on her own respon-
sibility and sang there with Nine. Sem
brich in Die Lustigen Weber Won Wind
sor'
Then her fame began to spread. She was
invited to sing at Bayreuth. Within two
years the ''Komische Alte" of the Hamburg
Theater was Ernestine Schumann-Heink,
the greatest contralto of her day. Yet
when she said goodbye to her eight chill
dren at Hamburg and took the train for
Berlin she was almost sick at the thought
that she might have made the greatest mis-
take of her life, and she was not at all sure
that she might not have to come back to
Hamburg very soon TO beg her former d.
rector for enga cement as comic old