The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-05-13
GREAT SINGER PASSES away.
LILLIAN NORDICA DIES At BATA-
VIA, FROM EFFECTS OF
PNEUMONIA.
Was Greatest Singer Born West OF
Atlantic and for Many Years Had
Charmed Audiences OF Europe and
America-StOry Of Her Success.

Batavia. Java, May 1O.-Mme. Lii
lian Nordica. the singer, died here to-
night.
Nine. NOrdica had been i'll since
the steamer Tasman. on which she
was a passenger, went ashore in the
Gulf Of Papua. December 20, last.
Nervous prostratiOn was followed by
pneumonia.
Nine. Lillian Nordica was perhaps
the most distinguished singer ever
born on this side the Atlantic. The
year of her birth, according to the
best accounts. was 1859. She was q
WAY Down Easter" a native of
Pennington, Me. Her childhood days
after a short schooling were spent in
a Boston dry good store.
As she was tidying up the rolls of
calico just after the shop closed one
night she began singing to herself A
customer who happened to be delayed
heard her and marvelled.
What a voice. child! Have you
ever had 1t trained?'
mo. MAN."
"Will you let me give you lessons 2"
And SO Lillian started on her musi-
cal career. By the way. her name was
originally Lillian Norton and she was
q granddaughter Of Camp Meeting
John Allen" a famous Maine charac-
ter in the old days. Her father was
Edwin Norton, farmer. Allen and
Norton were not adjudged fit names
for q diva.
For the first two years Of her voice
culture Lillian was too poor to afford
piano. She did her practising with
the aid of pitch pipe lent her by
her friend and teacher. She even
carried her pipe to the store with her,
1t Is related, and practisea with 1t in
tho meal hour.
Her rise was now rapid. however.
Before she was sixteen she had sung
as q soloist In oratOrio for the Han
del and Haydn societies and had taken
some lessons under Prof. O'Neill of
the New England Conservative Of
Music in Boston.
AT the age of eighteen she went
as solist with Gilmore's Band to Eu-
rope where her first big success came
In the TrocadcrO, Paris. She now be-
came filled with ambition to appear in
opera and forthwith set out for the
Mecca of Operatic students. Milan.
In 1880 she made her operate de-
but at a little theatre in Brescia as
Violetta in ''LaTraviata." Later in
the same year she went to st. Peters
burg and to German cities. Her repu-
tation was thoroughly established.
She became leading soprano of the
Grand Opera, Paris, and made her
debut in the summer Of 1881 as Mar
guerite In Faust"
While in Paris she met Frederic
Cover, an American newspaper man.
They were married in 1883, but in
1885 Mrs. Cover set about procuring
divorce. Her suit dragged and then
came the news that MIR. Cover had
been lost in balloon trip over the
English Channel. At any rate balloon
and Cover disappeared. Some time
later there came a report that he had
oeen seen alive and well y the north
or India. He never troubled the prima
donna. whatever his status of life or
death.
That same year Of Covers myster-
ious taking off his widow appeared at
the Academy Of Music in New York
City. She did not achieve such n bril-
liant success as she did later in con-
cert and oratorio.
Mime. Nordica's most sensational
musical success probably was her APP
pearance i'm the summer Of 1894 as
Elsa in the Wagner festival at Blai-
reuth. She was loaded with praise by
tho German critics and became
known as a leading interpreter OF
Wagnerian roles. She scored another
and perhaps. greater triumph the
Following year as Isolde in Wagncr's
Tristan and Isolde" at the Metro
politan Opera House.
In 1896 the singer married Zoltan
Dieme. Hungarian tenor of medium
vocal ability but undoubted grace of
person. Again Mime. Nordica's ma
trimonial venture proved unhappy.
She obtained q decree of divorce i'm
New York in 1904. the papers being
sealed.
Her third marriage was in 1909 to
George w. Young. a wealthy New
York banker. 1t proved felicitous
Mime. NOrdica had never allowed her
domestic affairs to affect her artistic
career and she now continued to sing
In many countries.
Her earnings were very large. She