The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-02-17
music LOVERS PLEASED AT
: ADVENT OF SCHUMANN-H
Copper Country People to be Civ
Msz en- Opportunity to Hear 81
.C----1s Great Singers.
LIFE STORY IS INTERESTING

Every person in the copper country
who likes a good song we'll sung s.
interested iu the coming 10 the Kcr-
rcdge theatcr on Decoration Day OF
Madame Ernest tine Schumann- Heink
who is conceded by many musical crit
les TO be the greatest singer in the
world and almost without exception
do the judges ~ things musical, ac-
claim her as the greatest contrllto.
1t is not necessary for you to know
the difference between "a symphony
and AN aria to get great enjoyment
from "a Schumann-Heink recital The
great contralto says she sings be-
cause she loves to sing and some of
the songs she hvcs To sing are simple
compositions some of them well
known am-ns the children on the
streets
one of the greatest impressions Ma
dame Schumam- Heink ever made was
when she sang Way Down Upon the
SWuucc River" On the American en-
bassy at Berlin a couple of years ago.
IT was at the request of Ambassador
Hill that she sang and her audience
was a large one made up almost en-
tirely of Americans.
In speaking of this occasion later
The great conralto said, TT was the
most remarkable concert I ever gave.
] managed TO get through the first
verse, when tears seemed TO be I'm the
eyes Of everyone. 4 wave Of home
sickness passed over the audience. II
started 10 sing the second verse broke
down completely. and left the plat
form weeping. All I'm the audience
were likewise weeping and we We're
Completely overcome with tears. The |
next day we all attended services in
the American chapel at the invitation
OF the ambassador and I'm the course |
Of the service the minister said that /
we should pray for the dear ones al |
home You can imagine that the
whole body Of Americans never pray /
ed more fervenuy than in that hour
for the loved ones across the big /
ocean"
She Is An American Now.
Just before starting on one Of her |
tours of the United states recently |
the Diva was approached at her New |
Jersey home by a representative Of
the New York sun and asked 10 tell /
something Of her early life and strug-
giles. She consented To the interview
and began it with the following state
ment, "My father was an Austrian.
my mother was an Italian; I have
spent most Of my life ON German soil.
hut today I am an American citizen
and all my eight children shall become
American citizens
She then recited to the interviewer
the facts of her life She was born in
1861 at small place called Liebcn I'm
Bohemia, near the Prague. Her IA
Their was am officer OF low rank i'm
the Austrian army and there were
three other children. Her name was
Ernestine Rocsslcr and when she was
Zen years old she was placed I'm the
convent of tho Ursuliro Nuns at Pra-
que and sang ion the choir thus get
ting her first training In music. In
Speaking OF this period Of her life Ma
Glmc Schumanu-Hciuk s1if "When
sang well received. MS "a reward.
'kipfcl, or sweet cooSy with raisins pn
the top Ir mudc q slip ! got my
ears boxed. Thus my early musical
training consisted of kiprcis and 7
sIaps'"
Later her father was transferred TO
Graz and here Marietta Won L. Clair.
hearing the child sing offered to teach
her free. This teacher kept the girl
pm exercises FOR two years md then lc-
her sing some songs by Schubert and
when she was IS years
bid she presented herself 20 an opera
director I'm Vienna on tho rccommcn-
dalton of "a singer who had come To-
Graz to render an opera. I'm telling of
ihis madame said. II was thin.
gcrawny-looNng girl and my clothes
were of the poorest material and i'll
fitting. The director heard me sing
ard afsr looking me over sai7, You
had better go home and get fed up and