The Washington herald., 1914-06-01
HISTORY BUILDERS.
The Man Who Was Sponsor for -Four
Great Singers.

Inc Man Who Was Sponsor for rour
Great Singers.
written Expressly for The Herald),
By DR. e. ,. EDWARDS.
When the late Col. James H. Maple
son was in the United States for the last
time as the impresario Of an italian opera
company had frequent opportunities OF
meeting him. Although his season was
not very successful. since he had. ven-
tured to compete With the Metropolitan
opera Company. nevertheless he at no
time permitted himself to be despondent.
saying that he was doing the best he
could and that no man could do more
than that.
IF I can't do anything else" Col.
Mapleson said, II can at least have q
good time in writing some "Reminiscences.
have plenty OF them. Some Of them !
would not dare tell. because they would
furnish too vivid an aspect of some feat
ures Of the life ana characters Of persons
who were fond Of calling themselves
great operatic artists. knew them all
and / learned that most Of them had q
little more human nature than the aver
age man or woman. 1t took me some
years to learn the characteristics Of this
redundant human nature.
BY the way, 1t gives me real gratifica-
ton to recall that II was under my man
agement that four really great Ameri-
can sopranos, operatic sopranos. / mean.
were introduced to the United States.
When think of these four great singers
/ am more and more persuaded that.
with the exception of Patti at her best.
and Christine Nilsson. these American
girls were not surpassed by any of the
great prima donnas Of their time.
81 brought back to the United States
four American girls who. at one time or
another. gained very high regulations.
The first was Annie Louise Cary. A year
or so after Cary made her American de-
but with me I brought out valleria, a
Baltimore girl who had . wonderfully
sweet and highIy-trained voice. She was
a little thing. but she could sing charm
ingly.
Another was Minnie Houck. Through
her the Americans first became familiar
with Carmen and I still think she was
the best Carmen of her time. Yet I had
a strenuous time In persuading her to ac-
cept the role at the time proposed pro-
ducing the opera in London. She would
not believe me when told her she would
make a great hit in 1t. and it required
all my powers Of diplomacy to induce her
" dCCtpl tHe part one uiu Hldhe tue NIT
THE fourth American girl whom I in
troduced In opera to the United States
WAS Nordica. never would have
thought 1t possible when I first engaged
Nordica that that slip Of girl. who was
then a brilliant coloratura singer, would
completely change her style and become
one of the greatest dramatic opera prima
donnas of her time. When introduced
her she sang brilliantly such light So
prano roles as those In 'Traviata' and
'Sonnombula.' and she was especially sue
cessful in the part of ritiana In .Mignon.'
In some respects Nordica was the most
extraordinary woman whom I ever en-
gagged. She had brains. and was going
to say an overplus Of brains. She also
had energy and industry. She was taught
how to make the best use of her voice,
and yet l always thought she adhered un-
to a single standard. both in
her acting and in her singing. I never
saw her depart in the slightest either in
action. in gesture. in modulation. or in
any way from her manner of singing and
acting In the first performance of any
opera in which she was cast. She was
always exactly the same. How different
she was from Annie Cary, who never
went through a part without changing
some of the features of her acting, /
suppose that is what Is called tempera-
ment.
These four American girls were very
great singers, and am sure that 1t was
their success which has so strongly
tempted American girls since their day
to study for an operatic career"
Copyright. .s4, by n. Z. J. Edwards. All risho
reseTved.l
Tomorrow DIR. Edwards will tell How
Charles A. Dana Became Editor Of the