STORIES OF GREAT SINGERS

New Zealand Times, Volume LV, Issue 9970, 3 August 1893, Page 4

STORIES OF GREAT SINGERS

SOME INTERESTING EXPERT-

ENCBS,

Charles Santley, the famous baritone, has told some characteristic anecdotes of noted singers ho has met. At a select musical party at the house of Henry Oreville, before the Duchess of Cambridge and other distinguished guests, Santley and Mrs Sartoris were about to sing a duet, and they were having a little conversation on the subject. Suddenly she exclaimed : ‘ Gracious ! Santley, what shall I do T ‘ What’s the matter V ho said.

‘ My petticoat’s coming down,’ was her response. ‘ Well, I don’t see how I can help

you.’ ‘ldo,’ she said ; ‘stand before me, and spread out your coat tails as wide ss you can.’ Stanley obeyed, pretending to be absorbed in the study of the duet which was lying on the piano. In a few moments she whispered : ‘lt’s all right ; but what on earth am t to do with it. lie looked at the bnundle, and it was impossible to pocket it. At that moment Leighton made his apearanoe, carrying his hat in his hand. ‘Just in time to save me ! ’ exclaimed Mrs Sartoris. ‘ Here, Fay, put that in your hat and keep it till wo get away.’ ‘ What is it 1 ’ ' My petticoat I ’

‘ Oh 1 ’ The following amusing anecdote is told of the cmdatrux Catalina. Shu was one day rehearsing at the Paris Opera llouao an air which she had to sing in the evening, when she found the pitch of the piauaforte too high, and gave instructions to have the instrument lowered by the evening, tier husband, Captain Valabr4que, volunteered to see her order carried out, and immediately sent for the stage carpenter and had the legs of the pianoforte amputated ! The performance took place, and the lady was greatly annoyed at the continued high pitch at which she tiad to sing. She soon sought her husband, and remonstrated with him for neglecting her wishes. Ho, not a little hurt at being thus wrongfully accused, insisted upon calling the person who had performed, and to Catalani’s utter astonishment called the carpenter, and said to him ;

‘ How much did you lower the piano, Charles 1 ’

•Two inches, sir,' was tho prompt reply. . , This story of Adelina Patti will show that the queen of song is not wholly child like end untainted by worldly wisdom. Patti was getting LIOOO a night, and Colonel Maploson, from whom she held the engagement, could only offer her LBOO on account, which her agent, Signor Franchi, refused to take. Presently he returned, saying that Patti for LBOO would bo ready to go on the stage dressed for her part, with the exception other shoos ; the shoes wore to go on when tho remaining L2OO was paid. After tho opening of tho doors Mapleson had another visit from Franchi. By this time an extra sum of Ll5O had come in, and this Maploson handed to the agent, begging him to carry it without delay to tho prima donna, who, having received LOGO, it was thought would be induced to complete hop toilet pending the arrival of tho LAO balance. But tho anticipation was only partly realised. Franchi came back to Maploson with tho intelligence that Patti had got one shoe on. ‘ Send hoc tho LAO,' added tho agent, ‘and she will put on the other.’ Ultimately, the other shoe was got on, but not until the last LAO bad been paid.

Some years ago Madame Nilsson had tho lines of her hand examined by a a palmist, who told her that aho would have trouble from two causes—fire and maniacs. This prediction was verified, for during the Chicago lire she IoatLAOOO, and when Boston was burned her loss was LAO,OOO. When at New York a crazy man addressed her fur a week, believing that tho wordo addressed by Marguerite to Faust were intended for himself. In Chicago a poor student promised to marry her, and wrote passionate letters, to which, of course, he received no answer. One clay he came in a superb sleigh, drawn by four horses, to take his affianced bride to tho church. The manager quieted him by saying, ‘You are late; Madame Nilsson has gone there to wait for you,’ Tho third insane person was her husband, who died in an asylum. As Papageno in ‘II Flauto Magico,’ Santiey once nearly had an unpleasant experience of the mysterious stage drink which some people suppose to be toast and water. The supper which Taraino commands for tho hungry Papageno consisted of pasteboard imitations of good things ; but tho cup contained real wine, a small draught of which ho found refreshing an a hot night in July, amid tiie dust and host of the stage. Ou the occasion in question he was putting tho cup to his iipe when ho heard somebody call to him from the wings. Ho felt very angry at tho interruption, and was just about to swallow tho wine, when he heard an anxious call not to drink it. Suspecting something was - wrong, ho pretended to drink and deposited tho cup on the table. Immediately after the scene ho made enquiries about the reason for the caution he had received, and was informed that ns each night tho carpenters, who had no right to it, finished what remained of the wine before tho property men, whoso perquisite it was, could lay hold of the cup, the latter, to give their deepoilers a lesson, had mingled castor oil with tho singer’s drink I • Few would regard Maclnmo Albani as nervous when singing on the stage. But in a reproduction of ‘ Oberon,’ with Reeves in the character of Sir Hnon, Titiena as Rezia, Albani ns Fatima, Trebolli as Puck, Bottiui aa Ohoron, Gassier aa Babekan, and Smtley ns Soherasmin a moat interesting part dramatically but insignificant musically—his only numbers beingtho quartet, ‘Over tlio Dark Blue Waters,’ and the duet, ‘On tho Banks of the Garonne,’ Albani was decidedly nervous. Tho song in tho third act Bantley could only describe as gorgeous, and yet ho never saw any singer more nervous, though it ssemed impossible with such a physique as hors. When holed her on the stago with his arm round her waist, or aa far round as it would reach, she trembled all over, and tho perspiration dropped from her forehead like beads during the entire scene.

Tho 33 who rend tho Strand Magazine will remember the story there told of Mndamo Albaui and her black cat. It is worth re-telling, especially as it illustrates tho superstitious element which appears to enter into atagoland. The famous singer made her debut in London at Corent Garden on April 2, 1872, in her favourite Amina, and just as she had dressed for her part and was ready to go on tho stage, tho door was slonly and silently pushed open, and one of tho biggest black cats imaginable peeped in and looked at her. Albani was delighted, and a black cat has since been regarded as a lucky object to her. An interesting and puhelic story is told of an incident in Sims Reeves' early dramatic career. Mr Reeves was playing tho Squire in tho pantomime of * Old Mother Gooso,' and at the very moment when ho was walking off tho stage singing

My wife’s dead, thare Ist her lie ; She’s at rest —and so am I.

a man tapped him on the) ehnuldev, and whispered, ‘ You must come home directly ; Mra RooVfS ia deul.* The shock 10 the singer may bo imagined. As soon as it was possible lie hurried home and found it too true. S ; gnor Foli some time ago attended a concert at St Hvlens, and oang Pinauti’s * Rifi.’ Ho had just finished the Brat v» lac, when an ir.fant in arms made the hall resound with its cries. Foli corn* nu’iiccd the second verse, the first line of which was

Hark ! What sound i* that which greetsmino ear ?

Uo could go no further than the end of the line by muon of a fit of uncontrol* lablo laughter. The audience at first /ailed to see the Ctiisoofhis mirth, but prramitly it dawned upon them, and limy all laughed heartily with him. Ho left the stage, hub booh returned smiling, and rendered in Ids inimitable style, * Out on the Deep.’ When Patti was a little girl she took, part in a concert given by 010 Bull in Ohio, Tha notables of the neighbourhood gave the concert party n supper after the entertainment, and there wan present Stanley Matthews, thou President of the Court of Appeal. Supper oyer, Matthews pressed little Adelina to sing. 'Sing, and I'll do anything you like,’ said he. 4 Anything V asked Patti.

* Anything,’repeated the grave lawyer, forgetting tho case of Jeptha, the daughter of Herodias, and other historical precedents. So the future diva sang ( Home, Sweet Horae.* ‘ How,* Bald ahe, when she had finished

the song, ' please, Mr Matthews, stand on your head.' ‘ You’re j-iking, child,’ gasped the president. ‘ A bargain’s a bargain,’ said Adelina plaintively. 1 Well, if you insist, here goes,’ said Matthews, and up he went, his heels in the air, amidst the frantic applause of the company. Some of the sorest trials to which Santley was exposed was duo to the untimely levity of the Dublin gods. His first experience of it was in the scene of Valentine’s death. _ After the duel, Martha, who rushed in at the head of the crowd, raised his head and held him in her arms during the first part of the scone. There was a death like stillness in the house, which was interrupted by a voice from the gallery calling out, ‘ Unbutton his weskit.’ On another occasion, when Santley was playing Plunko't in ‘ Martha,’ at the end of the ‘ Good Night’ quartet, according to the business ar ranged, ho took up a candle and proceeded to light the two girls to their room, but had scarcely put his foot inside the door than a willy individual called out, ‘Ah! ah 1 would ye now !' It was in Dublin, Santley tolls us elsewhere, tlm - , ho was once asked to sing ‘ The Stirrup Cup ’ ns an encore in ‘ll Elauto Magico.’ In Dublin, also, on the last night of one season, the prima donna, after the great air in ‘Oberon,’ went forward to the footlights; an upright piano was wheeled on to the stage, at which a gentleman in evening dress took his place, and accompanied the lady in ‘The Last Rose of Summer,’