The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-16
How Famous Prima Donnas En-
joy Their Vacations.
Most of Them Seek Quiet Cor
ners in Europe.
MELBA ON THE THAMES
Besides n Country Seat MAIN
tains a London Home.
Nine. Nordica Only One Who Re-
mains I'm America.

No one class of persons fits more
quickly or unanimously to Europe
than the great prima donnas- one
night the curtain goes down on the
opera season. The next day the
singers are on the bounding pillows
When they return in the autumn Tor
a fresh installment of American dol
lars they tell you how dearly they
love America But they get away
from it Just as soon as they can after
the last installment of their salary
for the season has been added to their
bank accounts
Though these singers are paid from
seven to ten times the amount here
that they get abroad. and might pre-
fer to stay in this country between
seasons. they recognize the above facts
and hasten away with the end of the
season.
Most of them own handsome villas,
and Nine. Melba maintains, besides a
country seat on the Thames, hne
house in London at No. 80 Great Cum
berland place, Hyde park. This Lon
don home is richly and deliberately
furnished, as may be judged from the
fact that her own bedroom contains
a toilet set of gold. The prima donna
however. prefers her much less pre-
LenLOuS seat SLAdAAJ
near Great NARROW, on the Thames.
Here she has her sister and little
niece as frequent visitors
One of the prima donna's methods
of amusing herself is boating on the
Thames. Part of the time she glides
along the waters in an unusually swift
and weIl-finished electric launch she
also is fond of the punt, the typical
When the white flag with the
double-tailed red lion is hoisted over
the Tore di Campiglioni, near VAL
lombrOSa. in the ApennineS, and over
looking the valley of the Arno, the
dwe1lers in the valley and on the
hillside know that Nine Emma Games
and her husband Mr. Julian story
will soon be at their castle for their
summer outing. The prima donna
calls the castle Julian Story's Baby
because he planned the structure and
watched its building with such keen
Nine Eames is so fond of 1t that
although she always plans to go to
some fete or on a visit or two during
pigIfoni she stays there until her holt
day is over. Usually she puts in thir-
teen solid weeks there.
The famous singer says that at her
castle nothing is too good for dogs,
and that during the summer she al
most lis buried under dogs She
has three deerhounds. three dachs-
hunds and two of the famous Marem-
ma sheep dogs
Mime. Games life at Campiglioni
is one of perfect freedom. After her
mornings vocal exer cises (all her later
roles have been studied at the Torre)
and her long walk in the afternoon.
the sense of freedom is not allowed
TO depart For dinner is served out
on the Ioggia with a full view of the
long and beautiful sweep of the Val
d'Arno. where the river passes through
the hills of the famous woods of VAL
lombrosa on its course toward Flor
ence.
If Nine. Eames at Campiglioni is
buried under dogs Nine. Schuman-
Heink in her pretty villa near Ores
den is buried under babies Such a
lot of children (eight), especially for
a prima donnal She dotes on them,
says it does her voice good to have
them; adds that If she ever feels her
voice giving out she'll have another.
Her name is Ernestine, and her
villa is called Villa TIM. 1t is at
Koetzschenbroda, near Dresden. Her
her large family Indeed, this fam
lily is in her thoughts even when she
is singing in America Once when at
a rehearsal of "Rheingold," at the
Metropolitan opera house, the appa-
ratus for hosting and lowering the
Rhine Daughters got out of order and
Nine Schuman-Heink. who was one
OF the trio remained suspended high
in the air, she called to the stage
manager well. this is a nice posi-
ton in which to leave the mother of
eight CnllQIen-
Youngest and smallest, but by no
means least, among her pets at Villa
TIM is her American boy" George
Washington Schumann, who was born
in New York during her first Ameri-
can season The great contralto
losses him up on her shoulders and
rides him Dickaback or seats herself
in a children's wagon and allows
George Washington and Maria Theresa
to drag the wagon, while Ferdinand
shoves from behind Nine Schu-
mann-Heink is domesticity itself.
Mime. Sembrich spends about two
months all told in her villa in the
garden district of Dresden The rest
of the time she and her husband,
Professor Stengel. who has known her
since she was a child and has had
charge of her musical career since she
was very young, spend their holiday
in mountain climbing, chiefly in Swift
erland. Nine Semi rich does not take
part in the Covent Garden season.
But, Wilhelm" exclaimed a Ger
man manager last summer when Pro-
fessor Stengel declined all continental
engagements for his wife, has Mar
celia become wholly American p"
1t would seem SO. The Russians
among whom she made her early rep
utation and with whom she is as pop
ulsr as she is here. have tried many
times to induce her to return to St