Evening star., 1932-03-06

after more than 80 years in opera
and concert work. retired recently at
the age of so years. She appeared in her last
concert recital in Carnegie Hail. New YORK CITY,
lovely and haunting figure in silver brocade
and jewels, and the entire audience at her en-
trance arose to its feet to do her homage and
to say adieu.
NO" repeats the prima donna of the gla-
morous career, to which she voluntarily has
put the period, there is no tragic element in
relinquishing hold at the right time-at any
rate not for me. The tragic picture is the
prima donna who has outlived her youthfulness
but who persists in going on, long after the
proper time an aging travesty Of what she used
to be-"
Geraldine Farrar retired once luminary Of
the Metropolitan Opera Co. was speaking in the
drawing room of her Park avenue apartment in
New York City. She is that rare human being,
the artistic and the woman who knows how to
grow old gracefully and to accept the inevitable
marks and changes of the passing years with
fortitude and a wise philosophy, the woman
who knows how to let go when her task Is done
She is still radiant and the possesSor of a
vibrant and magnetic personality But her hair
Is frankly gray, softly waved and long. She
wears a simple black crepe gown a lustrous
strand of pearls and large emerald on a white
slim hand. She is what she is-a woman Of
So who has fulfilled her destiny, had her career,
said farewell to the public and now accepts the
less active role of observer instead of participant
on the stage of life. She makes no pretense Of
being anything else.
s'I HAVE arrived at the second phase of my
life she says, thoughtfully, meditatively.
It's sort of rebirth, regeneration, but not Of
the external me- simply of the spirit have no
desire for perpetual youth, false youth. 1t would
weary me, even terrify me, think, to sit before
my mirror day after day, eternally applying the
mask trying on too-youngish clothes, striving
to recapture youth that had departed
But when I speak Of rejuvenation, am
reminded Of the motto of Queen Mary of Scots:
In my end is my beginning
$50 it is with the matter Of my retirement
I shall never sing nor appear in public, on any
stage, In any guise again This is not a recent
decision one made through necessity but
one which crystallized years ago. And it is not
the forerunner of whole series of pseudo
farewellS, either. I told myself many years ago.
at the height of my career, that would retire
from opera at 40; from concert work at So
am SO and have definitely retired Behind
me is long vista Of accomplishment before
me anything but a void. I shall now do all the
things I wanted to do in those years when the
exigencies of my career prevented me from in
dulging in them
al AM very fresh and enthusiastic at my time
of life for the things I did not have the
time to enjoy at an earlier age. Now, without
being blase and bored through surfeit, and
bringing to them q ripe appreciation of what
they represent, I enjoy of the pas
times that were denied me when lived in that
tall tower" of semi-isolation in which every
true artist must hide if she is to succeed In her
chosen career
Take, for example, the matter of travelling
love travel You would think that an opera
singer, visiting the world capitals, would have
must remember that such travelling is matter
of routine ofttimes a hardship and very fa-
tiguing- The opera singer, travelling and sing
ing abroad, must guard herself against changes
OF climate. Catching cold is a nightmare, a
sore throat a major tragedy. There is worry
about baggage, hotels, food. drafty stages suit
aoe dressing rooms the adjustment to differ
eii' hatonalities, language, personalities There
- - no tln.e to visit art galleries, museums or all
eie other fascinating places which the average
aETiSI 80, Vlslts as matter of course. Now I
oiiAi nave time for all of these things
can travel lesurely without worries of any
Aiiiu' MAKE new friends, visit with old ones
Aiiau nave time to 60 to operas music
Ien,4rdIS' 70, concerts In America and abroad and
"n4 oe anie 10 consider art and music from
purify OBJECTIVE viewpoint enjoy 1t, relaxed and
,ree. am very fond Of Salzburg 1 shall go
mer ~
Ihen love the country, gardens, animals,
Ao.SS. nave country home in Connecticut
and take much delight In it ana in cultivating
no"efs there, something for which I had no