SINGER'S TRAGIC END.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 106, 28 January 1908, Page 4

SINGER'S TRAGIC END.

Tho tragic death at Bayreuth of Herr (Theodor Bertrum, the famous Wagnerian baritone, who -was often heard at Covont Gsrdeil, lias created a doqp melancholy im.prossion throughout Germany. Ho was tho victim of despomlenoy over tho death of his wife, who was drowned .in the Berlin disaster at the Hook of Holland. Herr Bertram, who received £3000 for a season at tho Berlin Opent House, and commanded £300 a week when on tour, died in distressing poverty, actually dependent on charity during the last few months of his oxistence. : During- ,a period of twelve years—ho wns only thirty-eight at the time of his death— ho lived extravagantly, and contracted dobts estimated at £20,000. When his wife was drowned ho lost all their joint luggago aboard tlio Berlin. 'Everything fcft him was soon afterwards' seized by creditors. . Tho singor appealed to numerous wealthy friends in Berlin for financial assistance,''hilt received only rude rebuffs. In tho times of his prosperity lie. had bfen tho most generous of men, and now in despair hp applied to tho proprietor of the railway hotel at Bayreuth, where ho had often occupiod apartinonts during his artistic triumphs iii Wagner productions. Alt-hough Herr Bertram had no claim on the hotel proprietor beyond tho fact that ho had been an. extremely, profitablo patron of tho'establisliment in bygone times, he was taken in and lodged and fed free of charge. Moreover, the proprietor advanced considerable sunis : of money which were required for medical-, attendance. • Tho singer's intense unhappiness was still j further augmented by the fear that ho would loso his voice. . Chronic, throat trouble prevented him following his profession, aud led hiiiK'to bclievo that ho might never again bo ablo to appear-on fho stage. Ifo_ became a veritable, wreck of his former self, and during the last, few months used to sit and weep for hours (together bemoaning liis fate and praying for death. Ono morning -passers-by noticed tho body of a man dangling from a window of the railway hotel. Herr Bertram had ended his lifo by hanging himself from tho woodwork. Herr Bertram recently expressed tho wish to be buried beside tho remains of his wife at tho Hook of Holland.