Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-07
| LOST OPPORTUNITY

During the past couple of years I've
never heard a man singing that haven't
sort Of flushed up and felt hangdog." said
Washington club man between the acts Of
an operate performance at one OF the thea
tiers the other night 81 shall allow you to
judge whether l haven't good reason for
feeling that way.
Two years ago this winter about half a
dozen of us down here went over to New
York to attend the wedding of lchum We
took suite Of rooms together at one of the
hyphenated hotels. On the night before the
day OF the wedding four Of our party sat
down 70 quiet little game Of draw In the
hotel suite. We hadn't been playing very
long before a man in the suite next to ours
began to sing. He was trying his voice
with q piano accompaniment. First he be-
gan to Timber up his tones by running q lot
OF queer, slurred scales, occasionally hitting
q chord on the piano to keep himself in
line. and then he began to drift into
snatches OF operas. He had fine voice, all
right-anybody with half an ear could tell
that-but his singing annoyed US q whole
lot. all the same People playing poker
like to do 20 with comfort and In peace. and
we took 1t as rather an imposition that this
fellow should inflict his vocal practice upon
us just at the time we happened to be
trying to enjoy little quiet draw. think
we all began to wrtggle about in our chairs
out simultaneously with q .Drat that sing
ing IDIOT
1.-THE singing man started to hum the
Evening Star song from 'Tannhauser,' and
from hummins his tones gradually became
loud and high, and we all groaned.
Some drummer for necktie house.
we said to each other. who thinks he
knows how to sing, and who Is too selfish
to give other folks In a hotel a show FOR
their white alley
From 'Tannhauser' the man doing the
vocal stunts drifted into rendition Of
Lohengrin's' story in the first act of the
opera of that name. and although l wasn't
in a reasonable enough state of mind at the
time to admit as much even to myself, 1
am bound to say that the fellow sang the
difhcult music uncommOnly. well. But hts
performance. under the circumstances,
with our attention wrought up to an acute
point on the poker game which had de-
veloped Into pretty nifty and interesting
affair, the singing was simply an aggrava-
ton OF the worst sort, and all Of us at once
began to bawl limitations Of the singing. 1t
was beastly bad manners, of course, and
objectionable from every point of view, but.
as say, We figured that the singing fellow
wasn't showing much consideration for US,
and we weren't disposed in consequence to
be very lenient with him. So we all took
up his refrains in a horrible, discordant
chorus, and at the top of our voices
we hadn't any sooner done that than
the singing in the other suite and the chord
making on the piano suddenly ceased. We
were just going back to our game with re-
neWed interest when there was a gentle tap
on the door. and a tall, foreignish- looking
man stood in the doorway when one of the
chaps answered the tap. The tall man
with the foreign look had smiling expres-
sion or countenance. and we observed that
ne was very graceful in the way he ham
died his hands-he had. In fact such a dis
tinguished look that confess we were a
OH overwhelmed. A minute later, when he
fol- hall
ashamed Of ourselves, sure enough.
gentlemen said the tall foreigner in a
aecfdedly foreign accent. I fear-that is, 1
lnderIthat my singing anneys you?
On, don't mention it. old man. said a
couple OF US, In unison. We were only jok-
Ing. 60 ahead and sing as much as YOU
ike And overlook our bad manners IF
you please-we were only indulging In a bit
OF deviltry, OF course
The tall man smiled amfab,v again and
bowed himself out Of the doorway.
put 1 snail cease. nevertheless he said.
ana ne was gone.
r,ts I'VE ought lg to be birched for pack of
mighty civil sort Of a auckland. saw.
nasnt ms race something familiar about it
to you fellows? -
ut had, decidedly. Every one of us had
been struck by the mans countenance. and
we all felt as If we had seen him some
Where or other before. We forgot about
the incident in the interest OF the game,
however. until the manager OF the hotel,
WIN whom we were all chummy, came up
to the suite along toward bed time to see
II there was anything he could do for our
comfort.
BY the way said to the hotel man
ager then. the singing incident recurring to
my mind, who is that toppy-looking chap
IN the next suite who amuses himself by
singing" and then I went ahead and told
the manager Of the incident. He amazed
me by exploding into a fit OF laughter, and
then he toppled onto couch and rolled
around We all demanded what the dickens
allied him, but 1T was about five minutes
before he could sufficiently command him
self to speak. Then, between gasps, he
said:
IT suppose you fellows would like to
know the name Of the singing chap, as you
call him, whom you treated so cavaIierry
and Knocked and all that sort Of thing? and
then he fell into another fit
1--WE sure would like to know we re-
piled. not without a certain feeling Of ap-
prehension.
WELL said the hotel manager, in the
most of-hand way, he was only Jean de
Reszke, the greatest and highest-priced
operate tenor in the worlds history-only
Jean de Reszke. gentlemen, that's all, that
ct enthusiasts upon this earth who would
give anything but an arm to have the priv
Aege Of sitting in the next room while he
was limbering up his voice.
I'VE were incredulous at first, but the
manager soon convinced US that he had
been telling the truth, and on the following
day he completed our confusion, not to say
us to M Jean de Reszke, who greeted us
SO cordially and was SO generally pleasant
and decent about the affair that we all felt
like thrashed schoolboys."