Memoirs of an American Prima Donna Part 9

Yet read what the critics said about it. The musicians picked it to pieces, of course, and so did the critics, much as the German reviewers did Wagner's music dramas. The public came, however, packing the houses to more than their capacity. People paid seven and eight dollars a seat to hear that opera, an unheard-of thing in those days when two and three dollars were considered a very fair price for any entertainment.

Furthermore, only the women occupied the seats on the _Faust_ nights. I speak in a general way, for there were exceptions. As a rule, however, this was so, while the men stood up in regiments at the back of the house. We gave twenty-seven performances of _Faust_ in one season; seven performances in Boston in four weeks; and I could not help the welcome knowledge that, in addition to the success of the opera itself, I had scored a big, personal triumph.

[Ill.u.s.tration: =Clara Louise Kellogg as Marguerite, 1864=

From a silhouette by Ida Waugh]

As I have mentioned, we took wicked liberties with the operas, such as introducing the _Star Spangled Banner_ and similar patriotic songs into the middle of Italian scores. I have even seen a highly tragic act of _Poliuto_ put in between the light and cheery scenes of _Martha_; and I have myself sung the _Venzano_ waltz at the end of this same _Martha_, although the real quartette that is supposed to close the opera is much more beautiful, and the _Clara Louise Polka_ as a finish for _Linda di Chamounix_! The _Clara Louise Polka_ was written for me by my old master, Muzio, and I never thought much of it. Nothing could give anyone so clear an idea of the universal acceptance of this custom of interpolation as the following criticism, printed during our second season:

"The production of _Faust_ last evening by the Maretzek troupe was excellent indeed. But why, O why, the eternal _Soldiers' Chorus_? Why this everlasting, tedious march, _when there are so many excellent band pieces on the market that would fit the occasion better_?"

As a rule the public were quite satisfied with this chorus. It was whistled and sung all over the country and never failed to get eager applause. But no part of the opera ever went so well as the _Salve dimora_ and the love scene. All the latter part of the garden act went splendidly although nearly everyone was, or professed to be, shocked by the frankness of the window episode that closes it. It is a pity those simple-souled audiences could not have lived to see Miss Geraldine Farrar draw Faust with her into the house at the fall of the curtain!

There is, indeed, a place for all things. _Faust_ is not the place for that sort of suggestiveness. It is a question, incidentally, whether any stage production is; but the argument of that is outside our present point.

Dear Longfellow came to see the first performance of _Faust_; and the next day he wrote a charming letter about it to Mr. James T. Fields of Boston. Said he:

"The Margaret was beautiful. She reminded me of Dryden's lines:

"'So pois'd, so gently she descends from high, It seems a soft dismission from the sky.'"

CHAPTER IX

OPeRA COMIQUE

To most persons "opera comique" means simply comic opera. If they make any distinction at all it is to call it "high-cla.s.s comic opera." As a matter of fact, tragedy and comedy are hardly farther apart in spirit than are the rough and farcical stuff that we look upon as comic opera nowadays and the charming old pieces that formed the true "opera comique" some fifty years ago. "Opera bouffe" even is many degrees below "opera comique." Yet "opera bouffe" is, to my mind, something infinitely superior and many steps higher than modern comic opera. So we have some delicate differentiations to make when we go investigating in the fields of light dramatic music.

In Paris at the Comique they try to keep the older distinction in mind when selecting their operas for production. There are exceptions to this rule, as to others, for play-houses that specialise; but for the most part these Paris managers choose operas that are light. I use the word advisedly. By _light_ I mean, literally, _not heavy_. Light music, light drama, does not necessarily mean humorous. It may, on the contrary, be highly pathetic and charged with sentiment. The only restriction is that it shall not be expressed in the stentorian orchestration of a Meyerbeer, nor in the heart-rending tragedy of a Wagner. In theme and in treatment, in melodies and in text, it must be of delicate fibre, something easily seized and swiftly a.s.similated, something intimate, perfumed, and agreeable, with no more harshness of emotion than of harmony.

Judged by this standard such operas as _Martha_, _La Boheme_, even _Carmen_--possibly, even _Werther_--are not entirely foreign to the requirements of "opera comique." _Le Donne Curiose_ may be considered as an almost perfect revival and exemplification of the form. A careful differentiation discovers that humour, a happy ending, and many rollicking melodies do not at all make an "opera comique." These qualities all belong abundantly to _Die Meistersinger_ and to Verdi's _Falstaff_, yet these great operas are no nearer being examples of genuine "comique" than _Les Huguenots_ is or _Gotterdammerung_.

It was my good fortune to sing in the s.p.a.ce of a year three delightful _roles_ in "opera comique," each of which I enjoyed hugely. They were Zerlina in _Fra Diavolo_; Rosina in _Il Barbiere_; and Annetta in _Crispino e la Comare_. _Fra Diavolo_ was first produced in Italian in America during the autumn of 1864, the year after I appeared in Marguerite, and it remained one of our most popular operas throughout the season of '65-66. I loved it and always had a good time the nights it was given. We put it on for my "benefit" at the end of the regular winter season at the Academy. The season closed with the old year and the "benefit" took place on the 28th of December. The "benefit" custom was very general in those days. Everybody had one a year and so I had to have mine, or, at least, Maretzek thought I had to have it. _Fra Diavolo_ was his choice for this occasion as I had made one of my best successes in the part of Zerlina, and the opera had been the most liked in our whole _repertoire_ with the exception of _Faust_. _Faust_ had remained from the beginning our most unconditional success, our _cheval de bataille_, and never failed to pack the house.

I don't know quite why that _Fra Diavolo_ night stands out so happily and vividly in my memory. I have had other and more spectacular "benefits"; but that evening there seemed to be the warmest and most personal of atmospheres in the old Academy. The audience was full of friends and, what with the glimpses I had of these familiar faces and my loads of lovely flowers and the kindly, intimate enthusiasm that greeted my appearance, I felt as if I were at a party and not playing a performance at all. I had to come out again and again; and finally became so wrought up that I was nearly in tears.

As a climax I was entirely overcome when I suddenly turned to find Maretzek standing beside me in the middle of the stage, smiling at me in a friendly and encouraging manner. I had not the slightest idea what his presence there at that moment meant. The applause stopped instantly.

Whereupon "Max the Magnificent" made a little speech in the quick hush, saying charming and overwhelming things about the young girl whose musical beginning he had watched and who in a few years had reached "a high pinnacle in the world of art. The young girl"--he went on to say--"who at twenty-one was the foremost _prima donna_ of America."

"And now, my dear Miss Kellogg," he wound up with, holding out to me a velvet case, "I am instructed by the stockholders of the Opera Company to hand you this, to remind you of their admiration and their pride in you!"

I took the case; and the house cheered and cheered as I lifted out of it a wonderful flas.h.i.+ng diamond bracelet and diamond ring. Of course I couldn't speak. I could hardly say "thank you." I just ran off with eyes and heart overflowing to the wings where my mother was waiting for me.

The bracelet and the ring are among the dearest things I possess. Their value to me is much greater than any money could be, for they symbolise my young girl's sudden comprehension of the fact that I had made my countrymen proud of me! That seemed like the high-water mark; the finest thing that could happen.

Annetta was my second creation. There could hardly be imagined a greater contrast than she presented to the part of Marguerite. Gretchen was all the virtues in spite of her somewhat spectacular career; gentleness and sweetness itself. Annetta, the ballad singer, was quite the opposite. I must say that I really enjoyed making myself shrewish, sparkling, and audacious. Perhaps I thus took out in the lighter _roles_ I sang many of my own suppressed tendencies. Although I lived such an essentially ungirlish life, I was, nevertheless, full of youthful feeling and high spirits, so, when I was Annetta or Zerlina or Rosina, I had a flying chance to "bubble" just a little bit. Merriment is one of the finest and most helpful emotions in the world and I dare say we all have the possibilities of it in us, one way or another. But it is a shy sprite and does not readily come to one's call. I often think that the art, or the ability,--on the stage or off it--which makes people truly and innocently gay, is very high in the scale of human importance.

Personally, I have never been happier than when I was frolicking through some entirely light-weight opera, full of whims and quirks and laughing music. I used to feel intimately in touch with the whole audience then, as though they and I were sharing some exquisite secret or delicious joke; and I would reach a point of ease and spontaneity which I have never achieved in more serious work.

_Crispino_ had made a tremendous. .h.i.t in Paris the year before when Malibran had sung Annetta with brilliant success. It has been sometimes said that Grisi created the _role_ of Annetta in America; but I still cling to the claim of that distinction for myself. The composers of the opera were the Rice brothers. I do not know of any other case where an opera has been written fraternally; and it was such a highly successful little opera that I wish I knew more about the two men who were responsible for it. All that I remember clearly is that they both of them knew music thoroughly and that one of them taught it as a profession.

Our first Cobbler in _Crispino e la Comare_ ("The Cobbler and the Fairy") was Rovere, a good Italian buffo baritone. He was one of those extraordinary artists whose art grows and increases with time and, by some law of compensation, comes more and more to take the place of mere voice. Rovere was in his prime in 1852 when he sang in America with Mme.

Alboni. Later, when he sang with me, a few of the New York critics remembered him and knew his work and agreed that he was "as good as ever." His voice--no. But his art, his method, his delightful manner--these did not deteriorate. On the contrary, they matured and ripened. Our second Cobbler, Ronconi, was even more remarkable. He was, I believe, one of the finest Italian baritones that ever lived, and he succeeded in getting a degree of genuine high comedy out of the part that I have never seen surpa.s.sed. He used to tell of himself a story of the time when he was singing in the Royal Opera of Petersburg. The Czar--father of the one who was murdered--said to him once:

"Ronconi, I understand that you are so versatile that you can express tragedy with one side of your face when you are singing and comedy with the other. How do you do it?"

"Your Majesty," rejoined Ronconi, "when I sing _Maria de Rohan_ to-morrow night I will do myself the honour of showing you."

And, accordingly, the next evening he managed to turn one side of his face, grim as the Tragic Mask, to the audience, while the other, which could be seen from only the Imperial Box, was excessively humorous and cheerful. The Czar was greatly amused and delighted with the exhibition.

Once in London, Santley was talking with me about this great baritone and said:

"Ronconi did something with a phrase in the s.e.xtette of _Lucia_ that I have gone to hear many and many a night. I never could manage to catch it or comprehend how he gave so much power and expression to

[Ill.u.s.tration: Musical notation; Ah! e mio san-gue, l'ho-tra-di-ta!]

Ronconi was deliciously amusing, also, as the Lord in _Fra Diavolo_. He sang it with me the first time it was ever done here in Italian, when Theodor Habelmann was our Diavolo. Though he was a round-faced German, he was so dark of skin and so finely built that he made up excellently as an Italian; and he had been thoroughly trained in the splendid school of German light opera. He was really picturesque, especially in a wonderful fall he made from one precipice to another. We were not accustomed to falls on the stage over here, and had never seen anything like it. Ronconi sang with me some years later, as well, when I gave English opera throughout the country, and I came to know him quite well.

He was a man of great elegance and decorum.

"You know," he said to me once, "I'm a sly dog--a very sly dog indeed!

When I sing off the key on the stage or do anything like that, I always turn and look in an astounded manner at the person singing with me as if to say 'what on earth did you do that for?' and the other artist, perfectly innocent, invariably looks guilty! O, I'm a _very_ sly dog!"

_Don Pasquale_ was another of our "opera comique" ventures, as well as _La Dame Blanche_ and _Masaniello_. It was a particularly advantageous choice at the time because it required neither chorus nor orchestra. We sang it with nothing but a piano by way of accompaniment; which possibly was a particularly useful arrangement for us when we became short of cash, for we--editorially, or, rather, managerially speaking--were rather given in those early seasons to becoming suddenly "hard up,"

especially when to the poor operatic conditions, engendered spasmodically by the war news, was added the wet blanket of Lent which, in those days, was observed most rigidly.

Of the three _roles_, Zerlina, Rosina, and Annetta, I always preferred that of Rosina. It was one of my best _roles_, the music being excellently placed for me. _Il Barbiere_ had led the school of "opera comique" for years, but soon, one after the other, the new operas--notably _Crispino_--were hailed as the legitimate successor of _Il Barbiere_, and their novelty gave them a drawing power in advance of their rational value. In addition to my personal liking for the _role_ of Rosina, I always felt that, although the other operas were charming in every way, they musically were not quite in the cla.s.s with Rossini's masterpiece. The light and delicate qualities of this form of operatic art have never been given so perfectly as by him. I wish _Il Barbiere_ were more frequently heard.

Yet I was fond of _Fra Diavolo_ too. I was forever working at the _role_ of Zerlina or, rather, playing at it, for the old "opera comique" was never really work to me. It was all infectious and inspiring; the music full of melody; the story light and pretty. Many of the critics said that I ought to specialise in comedy, cut out my tragic and romantic _roles_, and attempt even lighter music and characterisation than Zerlina. People seemed particularly to enjoy my "going to bed" scene.

They praised my "neatness and daintiness" and found the whole picture very pretty and attractive. I used to take off my skirt first, shake it well, hang it on a nail, then discover a spot and carefully rub it out.

That little bit of "business" always got a laugh--I do not quite know why. Then I would take off my bodice dreamily as I sang: "To-morrow--yes, to-morrow I am to be married!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Musical notation; Si, do-ma-ni, Si, do-ma-ni sa-rem ma-ri-to e moghi,]

One night while I was carrying the candle in that scene a gust of wind from the wings made the flame gutter badly and a drop of hot grease fell on my hand. Instinctively I jumped and shook my hand without thinking what I was doing. There was a perfect gale of laughter from the house.

After that, I always pretended to drop the grease on my hand, always gave the little jump, and always got my laugh.

As I say, nearly everybody liked that scene. I was myself so girlish that it never struck anybody as particularly suggestive or immodest until one night an old couple from the country came to see the opera and created a mild sensation by getting up and going out in the middle of it. The old man was heard to say, as he hustled his meek spouse up the aisle of the opera house:

"Mary, we'd better get out of this! It may be all right for city folks, but it's no place for us. We may be green; but, by cracky,--we're _decent_!"

CHAPTER X

ANOTHER SEASON AND A LITTLE MORE SUCCESS