Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-18

vivid and personal, too artistic.
fortunately, to be entirely I'M
selfconscious. It tells the story
of a girl from Melrose, Mass,
in whose way fortune never
placed obstacles: Of a girl who
found herself at once a prima
donna with her first stage ap-
pearance at the age of 10. and
of a girl whose use OF for
tunes favors never seems cloy-,
ing.
First there was a series OF
throat operations at the age
of IA by a doctor who was
IAN authority on singers
throats." These operations
had nothing to do with tom
sils, it seems. as they had
already been out, but what
ever their cause they did Moth
ing to harm young Geraldine's
voice. Then money for the
training of the child seemed
always not too hard to get
from friends and admirers Of
the young singer. whose own
family did not have even the
$500 necessary to launch her
career.
Studied in Europe
She studied with various
teachers in Boston. and after
spending a year here in WASH
ington under a master she
does not name, she went to
Paris in 1900. a 17-year-old
girl who had never sung on
the stage, but who was de-
termined to be a star. With
her went her father and her
mother, who was only twice
her daughters age. From
Paris Geraldine wrote the
famous Lili Lehman many
unanswered letters asking to
become her pupil: it was only
when her mother wrote that
she was accepted and that
she found out her own hand
writing had been undecipher-
able to the great diva.
In Berlin the incredible
became actuality. The UNI
known American sang for
Karl Muck, in reputation per-
haps the Toscanini of his time.
She impressed him favorably
and was cast as Marguerite
in Gounod's Faust" in the
Royal Opera. Her debut was
on October Is. 1901. with DIR.
Muck conducting a meticu-
lousy rehearsed and lavishly-
produced performance. Ger
aldine Farrar found herself
the next day an immediate
sensation, and all her life her
struggle was not to achieve
success but to thwart anti
climax.
Beautiful, Too
A month later she sang
Violetta in La Traviata, !"
then Zerlina under Richard
Strauss. with Distinn as Dom
ma Anna, then Juliette UNI
der Muck. and Angela in Au-
ber's lie Domino Noir," UNI
der Richard Strauss. Nineteen
four found hel singing Mimi
to Caruso's Rudolph in Monte
Carlo, and 1906 Elizabeth in
Don Carlo to Chaliapin's
Philip IL She sang in the
Imperial Theater In Warsaw.
and in the Opera Comique in
Paris. In 1906 she was % years
old.
Not only was she a natural
singer with q light and flexible
voice but also q very beautiful
girl and an opera star to whom
acting was no less important
than her singing. Her personal
charm made q conquest Of
the German Crown Prince
Frederick Wilhelm, and it was
the excitement in Berlin over
the attachment. late in 1901
that brought her tame in the
United States-a fame unques-
tionably unprecedented. anc
as unquestionablg relished
Her father energies from thu
obscurity of a family dom.
mated by two women to forct
his way into the home Of |
Berlin newspaper editor. dras
Herr Kohn out of bed, ant
kick him about the apart
ment until he begs for mere.
IS. and agrees to retract 81
his libelous allegations"
One can only imagine tn
delight Of the young fOreigI
prtma donna at the events