The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-07
GRAND OPERA in
OLD TIMES AND NOW
Singing Was Better Then but the Acting Was
Not So Good

Of the singing, as such, by reason of
the greater attention paid to the act
ing, Is more than offset by the In
creased interest given to the piece by
the acting.
Even from the purely musical stand
point, the new is better than the old,
because of the vast improvement in
the modern over the old-ti orches-
ira music, while the fairly startling
advances made in the way of scenery,
transformations and the like, and the
magnificent costuming now in vogue,
produce picturesque and beautiful eff
tects, such as were not dreamed of
even twenty years ago.
Spent Her Salary for Clothes,
Mention of the magnificent cos
tunes worn on the modern operatic
stage brings to mind the circumstance
that by far the greatest expense of the
modern prima donna is incurred in
the purchase and care of her ward
robe. .
This is especially severe at the out
set of a singers career. 1t is accepted
and authentic tradition that in the first
three years of her singing career Mel
ba spent every cent of her salary in
acquiring the necessary wardrobe, and
the same experience has been under
gone by practically all the prima dom
mas of these times.
Even after the prima donna. has tar
rived" and would be heard with ran
ture by thousands were she to an
pear on the stage in a simple cotton
gown, she is prone, and is expected.
10 dress literally like a princess. Sem
Drlch, Tor instance, likes to wear at
least one new costume at each per-
formance when she appears, and some
seasons has done so.
one OF her some talked of gowns a
Veritable feature of the season three
or four years back, was of white satin
covered with pearls and camellias. IT
cost $SOO In Paris, while a gown worn
in Romeo and Juliet" worn by Melba
that same season, cost 5000.
Pay of Prima DOnnas.
The prima donna, even of the sec
onoary order. who would appear to
advantage among the expresses of
song, must get pretty good pay and so
far as New York goes, she does. Yet
the discrepancy between the compen-
sation received by the great prima dom
mas and their lesser sisters is sometimes
made startlingly evident when the role
of musical grand dame has to be
taken by one not so far up on the lad
der of musical fame.
Although some of the prima donnas
sometimes buy many new costumes in
a single season, these costumes, unlike
the often equally costly ones worn in
the audience. are almost invariably
made to do long service.
Nine. Lili Lehman probably has
gone further in this direction than any
of the others: she has been known to
make the costume of a certain role
carry her over a period of twelve
years. Naturally it is only by the
greatest care that even the best made
costumes can be made to do duty for
any such length of time, and nearly
every prima donna sees to it that her
dresser" equivalent of a queens
"tiring woman'-is an adept in dress
preservation.
One famous prima donna has heI
costumes thoroughly cleaned and
pressed after every performance
Everyone who knows how dirty is the
stage, even of the best regulated opera
house, understands pretty well what
a task the dresser of this particular
singer has constantly before her II
experimenting the cleaning and press
ing.