The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-12-11

was raised to complete her musical
education abroad and who took her
stage name from the city that had
played so prominent a part in her
career when she was still Marie
Louise Emma Cecile Lajeunesse. Each
of these had her first training here
and in this generation would probably
have received most, if not all, of her
musical education without crossing the
ocean.
Emma Eames American-BOrn in
China.
In the present generation of singers
there are equally notable examples
Emma Eanes is an American, though
she was born while her parents were in
Shanghai, China, where her father was
a lawyer in the international court.
She learned to sing in Boston and her
first work was in the choir of the Uni
tartan Church in the suburb of New
ton. She, too, however, must go abroad
for the opportunity to enter grand
opera in which she made her debut in
Paris 1889. David Bispham, nov Slak
ing a concert tour of the country, is
generally thought of as an Englishman,
but he is a Philadelphia and his ca
reer has been largely American,
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Covent Garden Opera, London, and he
has, for professional reasons, made
England his place of residence for
some years.
Boston may almost lay claim to Su-
zanne Adams. for she was born in
Cambridge, near the Harvard yard, 81
years ago; Sibyl Sanderson was a San
Francisco girl Winfred Golf, another
Covent Garden principal and one of the
leading BASES in Colonel Savage's COM
pany that sings grand opera in Eng
fish, though he is best known abroad,
graduated from the New England Con-
servatory of Music, as have so many
distinguished singers of the day.
NOrdica, American in Every Way.
Perhaps the best known and the
most popular of all the great sopranos
of the Metropolitan Opera Company
one of those foreign song BIRDS" who
fit back to Europe each year as soon
as the professional season closes on this
side of the Atlantic-is Lillian Nordi-
ca, and Mime. Nordica is an American
If ever there was one. She was born in
harrington, Maine, her parents of the
good American name of Norton. Not
only was her talent first discovered in
this country but the whole foundation
of her musical education was laid here.
1t was by the advice of her teacher,
John O'Neill who early saw the Won
derful possibilities in his young pupil,
that after her graduation from the
New England Conservatory of Music
in 1876, she went from Boston to Milan
to perfect herself in the Italian style
that she might find the opportunity for
an engagement in grand opera that
was then to be sought only on the con-
t1nent. Very soon she had appeared at
Brescia, Italy, then in London, Paris,
st. Petersburg, and other European
capitals, and now she is probably the
best known Wagnerian singer in the
world while her repertoire includes,
altogether, forty operas and all the
standard oratories.
Other American Singers.
Nine. Homer, or as Americans still
prefer to call her, Mrs. Louise Homer.
long the contralto prima donna of John
Grau's opera company in London and
one of the best known European vocal
ists-for she has been a prominent fig
ure in opera at Vichy and Brussels
and now principal in Herr Conreid's
Metropolitan Opera House Company,
IN New York. came originally from
Pennsylvania and got all her training
at the Conservatory of Music. Gerald
inc Farrar. who has never been heard
in this country but has been the SEN
sat1on of two seasons in Berlin, and
promises to become one of the stars
among stars" is the daughter of the
Farrar who was once "crack'' first
baseman of the Philadelphia league
nine. and was brought up in the town
of Melrose, not five miles from the
Massachusetts State House.
Tennessee has given the Italian stage
Miss Marguerite Norri-her plain Am
erican name is Freeling-though she
has never been heard by her fellow
countrymen since she left the Conser-
vatory in Boston: and Ralph Osborne,
who went from the operatic school two
years ago, first to Palermo and then to
Madrid, is already one of the favorites
of Southern Europe, though he is yet
to have his American premiere.
Home Singers the Thing.
1t is only within a few years that
the American vocalist felt it possible
to find a complete education in this
country or to appear in public under a
plain American name. 1t is safe to
say that to-day much more than ever
before American audiences are looking
to American singers for their concerts
and operate performances. One result
has been the remarkable increase of
interest that has made possible sue
cessful enterprises in the field of light
musical opera, and of such important
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