New-York tribune., 1919-12-28

? his colleague twelve wears and out
lived him eleven.
Student Years
Mrs. Rogers's story of her student
years at the Leipsic Conservatory wa,
ike that of many which we have read
Snd heard-The lessons from Plaidv
and Moscheles, the stern conservatism
prevalent in the institution founded bv
MendelsS0hn, the evening cntertain-
ments and the solemn functions at-
tendlng the examination concerts. She
touches humorously, but in kindly
spirit, on the sclf-apprcc ciation, not to
call IL vanity, OF Nloschcles, who had no
disposition to forget that he had been
great virtuoso, a popular composer and
an intimate friend of Beethoven. We
might tell here of what Beethoven
thought of him when he first heard
nm play In Vienna, but we forbear.
Enough that the great master of the
symphony once rebukcd an affectation
common among the composers of that
day. Moscheles brought composition
10 nm with the superscription, Com
pleted on the day Of - with
Gods help" "Man, help thyself!o was
what Beethoven scrawled across tho
page.
Forty years ago, We do not care
to be exact, VIC listened to operas per-
formed by the Parepa-Rosa Opera Com
pany Mrs. Rogers was a member of
that company. which sang a list of
works IN manner which would make
the present day English opera com
panies stare. We used then to hear
the joke, apropos Of the difference in
physical amplitude between Parepa and
her husband, that when Rosa wanted to
embrace his wife he used to put his
fo
reach, make chalk mark there and
begin again. Mrs. Rogers relates:
That Parepa's choice of husband
should have fallen on him (Carl Rosa)
was always a good deal of Joke to
me when in after years was member
OF the ParepaRosa Opera Company.
because of the contrasted massive
structure and dark coloring of Parepa.
VINO was compelled to look down upon
him from her altitude. Parepa her
self, who had strong sense of humor
was fond of telling us how. after hav,
ing made up her mind that she would
never marry a man shorter than her
self, that nothing would induce her to
marry blond, and that she would
rather remain single all her life than
marry German. she had, by the irony
OF fate, married all three embodied in
Rosa's person!"
After the Leipsic Conservatory period
Mrs. Rogers studied singing in Berlin,
then in Italy and there began her
operate career, which was brief and
ended ended in America when she became
church and concert singer in New
York, Brooklyn Gas substitute for
Emma Thursby), and finally in Bos-
ton. On voyage to visit her English
home she met Mr.. Rogers, and with a
tribute to the happiness which do
mestic life has brought her she ends
her book; but not before she has en-
tertainingly sketched the social and
musical life of Boston in the seventh
decade OF the nineteenth century.
Opera in Italy
What she says about operate life in
Italy IS as true picture of the present
as of half century ago. She once
asked an Italian friend and Instructor
Why the singers of the Teatro ALA
Scala Had no social standing in Milan.
Signor de Lorenzo answered:
Here any one who happens to have
good voice is taken in hand BY some
toperatlc agent; contract is signed
by the parents by which the agent or
lmpresario agrees to furnish both in
struction in singing and maintenance
Tor given period, say six or seven
years. AS soon as the singer has been
eoacneu III lew operas She Is launched
on the stage in some second or third
rate theater to try her prentice hand
and gain experience, and whatever
salary she receives goes into the pocket
or the agent or impresario until the
period OF the contract comes to an end.
ne generally sees to it that the course
Of teaching Is made as brief as pos
sible in order that the earnings of the
singer may quickly reimburse him for
his output. Thus large numbers of
crude prima donnas, who know nothing
about music, who have received little
or no education and who have but too
often not been we'll brought up or fur
nished with any moral standard. ara