THE LIFE OF SIMS REEVES WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7214, 27 November 1888, Page 3

THE LIFE OF SIMS REEVES WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

• The gifted artist who for forty years has held the position of England's foremost tenor will, during the coming week, issue an autobiography that can scarcely fail to interest the many legions of his admirers. An advance copy of the work, says the London Suxday Times, lies before us and we quote a few extracts from those portions which relate more especially to Mr Sims Reeves personally, premising that he purposes enlarging his reminiscences in another volume during 1880—the Jubilee year of his professional career as a vocalist. Like the prologue of a melodrama, Mr Sims Reeves' opening chapter contains a murder, though in what manner the event here graphically described affected the subsequent life of the vocalist is not alto, gether apparent. He next describes his early youth, and how he was treated by his first singing master as a baritone, and. after recording his debut, at the age of eighteen, as the Gipsy Boy in " Guy Mannering," at Newcastle-on-Tyne, says:— " This wa3 followed by my as Count Rodolfo, the travelling nobleman in 'La Sonnambula.' Some years afterwards learned enthusiastic applause for singing aud acting the tenor part in this same delightful pastoral of Bellini's. " There have been instances of singers coming out as tenors and finding afterwards that they had baritone voices; Lablache, for example, is said to have played the part of Count Almaviva in the ' Barber of Seville,' before relinquishing it for that of Figaro—which he in turn gave up for that of Dr Bartolo, thus descending from tenor to baritone, from baritone to bass. " But other than myself I am not aware of a vocalist commencing as a baritone, then rising to the rank of tenor, and holding a foremost position as such for upwards of forty years." Here comes an account of Mr Reeves studies and debut in Italy in 1843. " The part I chose for my debut (at the Scala) was that of Edgardo in ' Lucia di Lammermoor.' "In that famous part, composed for Duprez, and which Duprcz and the still greater Rubini had both performed with striking success, I may fairly claim to have been applauded to the echo. "Thus though proud to be called an English singer, it ought not to be forgotten that my first operatic triumph was gained in Italian Opera, in the presence of an Italian audience at the first lyrical theatre in Italy. The evening in which I made my first appearance at the Scala theatre, I was visited in my dressing-room by the distinguished tenor, who had so often sung the part in which I had just achieved such signal success, and who during his engagement at the Scala had occupied the same apartment as that placed at my disposal. "Rubini warmly complimented mc on my vocal and histrionic attainments." In 1847 Mr Sims Reeves returned to London and joined Jullien's English Opera Company at Drury Lane. Here he says. "I made my first appearance before a London audience in a leading operatic character. 'Lucia di Lammermoor' was first brought out in an English version, and my Italian success was fully renewed in London 'Lucia'was, after a time, set aside for the production of a ! new opera by Balfe, in which I had accepted the tenor part. This was the ' Maid of Honour, based on a subject which had already been treated with success—and not in one form alone—by the composer Flotow." After an account of somebody else's account of a railway tragedy in which the eminent tenor himself did not happily take any part, Mr Reeves mentions his first appearance in oratorio at Exeter Hall in 1813, when he sang the tenor part in " Judas Maccabaeus." In the following chapter he describes how he rescued a lovely girl from a terrible fate :— " On the opening night of ' Fra Diavolo' (at Her Majesty's) I nappened during a " wait" to be near one of the side scenes ; and my attention was at once arrested 'by a female chorus singer whom I had not previously noticed. She was a girl of very striking appearance, with a lovely face, and tall, classically moulded form; her nervous amateurish manner only seemed to make her beauty more remarkable. " I listened with some curiosity for her voice, and was surprised to hear, as it blended with those of the other singers, that it was a rich and resonant contralto of great power. That there was something mysterious about the young girl I instantly divined, and that it would be a duty to shield her from evil was also clear, for in the manager's box were Mr Moncrieff and his friend Lord Fitz Ordinary, both closely watching her. .... Subsequently I went into the green room, and there stood the young chorus singer with downcast eyes, and blushing painfully, while Lord Fitz Ordinary was apparently Saying her the most devoted attention. [r Moncrieff hovered in the background with an expression on his face which made mc long to thrash him there and then. I crossed over to the girl, unheeding the scowl which knitted the brow of the wretched little sprig of nobility at my approach, and said to her: • You have a beauMful voice; would you not like to become a leading singer f " • Oh, Mr Reeves, , she replied, enthusiasm overcoming for a moment her nervous shyness, 'it is my one ambition.' "' Have you sung in public before ?' "'No,' she said, while her would-be admirer fidgetted angrily at my temerity. " 'Have you ever been on the stage? "' Never, until to-night.'. "' Your voice has been trained though. , '"It has,' she admitted with an embarrassed air. "' May I ask by whom ?' "' Stage waits, Mr Reeves, , shouted the call-boy; and I hastened from the room. . At last the curtain fell, and as I was leaving the stage I happened to encounter the ballet mistress. Whispering my suspicious, and taking some money from my purse, I said : ' You understand now, and will let mc know anything that happens.' "' You are very kind, Mr Reeves, I'll do what I can.' " 'I rushed to the dressing-room, hastily changed my stage costume, and hurried downstairs, I found the ballet-mistress waiting for mc; she whispered, 'The manager's carriage is standing in Bedford street, with LorcFF. and.the lady inside.' '''Come with mc at once,'l said. Aβ we reached the spot Mr Moncrieff was leaving the vehicle, which was on the point of starting. I ran to the horse's head, and the coachman instantly pulled up, while, taken completely aback, Mr Moncrieff remained speechless as I opened the door. " When she saw mc the frightened girl leaned forward eagerly, saying in an appealing voice, ' Take mc away; oh! do take mc away V " 'What the devil do you want here, , shouted his lordship, in a fury. I made him no answer, but merely saying' Come' to the girl, I helped her out of the carriage before be could detain her. "' Will you tolerate this audacious intrusion , Moncrieff?' said he, savagely, to the manager. " His confederate, who was as enraged as himself, endeavoured to seize the poor, scared creature, and to threaten mc; but placing her in charge of the ballet mistress, I turned to him and said, ' I do not fear you or any other man, and if you have any grievance in the matter, bring it into a court of law.' " Happily J entered to her parents, the deluded girl has never since attempted to follow a theatrical career." Referring to the season of 1850, when he was again singing at Her Majesty's, Mr Reeves says:— " The happiest event in my life now took place. Hitherto, like the characters I impersonated, I had been a bachelor; there is no example, I believe, in operatic history, of a composer assigning to a tenor the part of a married man. But it is only on the stage that the tenor is condemned to celibacy; and on November 2,1850, I took for my wife Miss Emma Lucombe, who, after a brief and brilliant season at the Sacred Harmonic Society, had joined the company to which I belonged at Covent Garden ; where, besides takingthe leading soprano parts in several other works, she appeared with remarkable success as Haydee in Auber's charming opera of that name. Four or five years after our marriage my wife retired from the Ptage, but she is still my constant companion on artistic tours." Further qd he saya :— " Of late years I have appeared but little on the operatic stage, having confined myself chiefly to concert singing and oratorio * " Sims Reeve 3: His Life and Recollections, Written by himself." London: Simpkln, Marshall, and Co., and tha London Music Publishing Company, 1883.

performances. In opera, in oratorh In simple ballads I have been unlfc successful. .. . , "Braham, like myself, had a suet. which was many-sided; indeed, It is not little remarkable that Braham took h, farewell of the public in the very yeat. 1839, in which I appeared before the public for the first time. Reference must be made to my efforts in English ballad-opera, such as the before-mentioned 'Begjrar's Opera , and the * Waterman.' Moreover, that in 18601 sang in Macfarren's ' Robin Hood' at Her Majesty's Theatre." In his last chapter Mr Sims Roovips speaks of his efforts to resist the abnormal pitch, and recalls his having declined to sing; at the Handel Festival of 1877 on this account. He then goes on to write of contemporary tenors and remarks— "Of the numerous tenors who have lately appeared at our two opera houses, there is not one whom the public would go specially to hear, as they go to hear the prima donnas, and as they went formerly to hear Signor Mario, ftor, indeed, hat any really attractive tenor ini-roduced himself to the world since the retiremonl of Signor Mario. Even now the comparative merits of Patti and Albani, o? Gerstei and Nilsson, in the same parts, are discussed very much more warmly than those of Nicollni and Campanini, of Gayarre and de Beszke. But that proceeds from the fact, that of great tenors just now there is an absolute dearth. There has been for, some time past a decided fall in tenors ' not that there is no demand for the article' but because the demand, which really ex ists, cannot be supplied." We read further:— "It is undeniable, too, that oporatie vocalists abound, and that their numbers, counting only those of more than average merit, are constantly increasing. Yet, If all Mr Harris's and all Mr Mapleson's singers were put together, it would be impossible to select from among them such a quartet as that for which Bellini composed 'I Puritani' (Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, Lablache), or that almost identical one (with Mario in the place of Rubini) for which, some years later, Donizetti composed ' Don Pasquale.' " Italian lyric tenors, says Mr Reeves, in conclusion, are now of no account whatever :— " The prima donna is assuming vnoro and more everyday the position which, immediately before the decline and fall of the ballet, was held in a sister art (though doubtless an inferior one) by the premiere danseuse. Tenor, baritone, and uass are still desirable and almost necessary, though perhaps not absolutely indispensable for her complete success. Bub she—her singing, har acting, and in some measure her personal appearance—seems to be accepted as the chief end and object of operatic performances.