Famous Singers of To-day and Yesterday

by Henry Charles Lahee

She went to Paris, where at one of Marchesi's receptions she sang and was heard by the manager of the Brussels opera house, who offered her an engagement, and, after only nine months' training, she made her début. She had been previously offered a five years' engagement by Maurice Strakosch, but his death prevented the carrying out of the contract.

It was in 1887 that she made her first appearance in Brussels, and the following year her Parisian début was successfully accomplished. She was rapturously received, and at once found herself classed among the great singers of the century. Her career in Europe and in America was a succession of triumphs. Her voice is rich, sympathetic, and powerful. In flexibility it may be compared with that of Patti, and her trills and[{246}] cadenzas are accomplished with the ease and brilliancy that belong to naturally gifted singers.

Perhaps the most severe ordeal through which she ever had to pass was in 1893, when she made her début in Milan. The Milanese are very jealous of their independence of opinion, and while they will accept leniently a beginner, the artist whose reputation has been gained out of Italy is likely to fare badly at their hands. When it was announced that Melba was to sing at Milan, a feeling hostile to her at once made itself manifest. When Melba arrived, the musicians and critics did their best to keep out of the way and avoid an introduction. Stories went forth, when rehearsals began, that her voice was like a steam whistle, and everything that could contribute towards a failure was done. Madame Melba's friends endeavored to keep all this from her, and for a time they succeeded, but now she began to be[{247}] pestered with anonymous letters making threats of various kinds. This so unnerved the prima donna that it was found advisable to acquaint the prefect of the police with the details of the matter, and the intrigue was stopped. On the eventful evening the house was packed, and there was an air of hostile expectancy. The opera was "Lucia." The singer appeared amidst silence which was interrupted now and then by hissing sounds. Hardly had her first notes been heard when it was evident that a change of opinion had taken place in the audience, and the ovation which she received after the mad scene was tremendous. The press extolled her incomparable singing, and her victory was complete.

Melba is not a great actress; she holds her audience entranced with her marvellous vocalization, and her greatest triumphs have always been in those operas which make the smallest demands upon the dramatic powers[{248}] of the singer. Adelina Patti could not sing in Wagnerian opera, and was too wise to make the attempt. Melba, advised by her friends, once appeared as Brunhilde and was not a success, and she must rest content with being considered the greatest vocalist of the day.

Madame Melba has visited America several times, and during the seasons of 1895-96 and 1896-97 was under the management of Abbey and Grau. After the collapse of that company she became the star of a small opera company travelling as far as the Pacific coast. She makes her home in Paris, where she spends a portion of each year with her son. She is simple and frank in manner, generous by nature, and not given to malice or jealousy.

California added a star to the operatic firmament in Sybil Sanderson, who made her début in 1888, under an assumed name, at The Hague, in "Manon." She was successful,[{249}] and in a few months came out at the Opera Comique in Paris, creating the rôle of Esclarmonde, which Massenet had written for her, and in which she had the advantage of the composer's instruction.

Probably no opera singer has ever had greater advantages in the preparation for the stage than those which Miss Sanderson enjoyed. She is the daughter of a lawyer of high repute, who became judge of the Supreme Bench, and later chief counsellor of the Union Pacific Railroad. She was taken by her mother, at an early age, to Paris, where she and her sisters received the best education possible. She desired to become a prima donna, and had every assistance that the wealth of her parents could provide.

Her voice is of the kind for which American prima donnas have become celebrated, light, pure, and flexible. Its surpassing excellence lies in the upper register, her G[{250}] in alt being in itself a phenomenal production. Miss Sanderson is a finished actress, having received the most careful training at the hands of Massenet, who wrote also "Thais" for her. Saint-Saëns entrusted to her the creation of the title rôle of "Phryne," and, in token of his delight at her performance, presented her with a valuable necklace.

Miss Sanderson became very popular in Paris and in St. Petersburg, but met with less favor in London and New York. Once when she sang in London, Van Dyck was the tenor. At the rehearsal he sang sotto voce in order to save himself, and he supposed that she was doing likewise. In the evening, at the performance,—the opera was "Manon," which Miss Sanderson sang in Europe two hundred and fifty times,—she was overwhelmed by the power of his voice. Van Dyck, hearing her small, clear tones, and thinking that she was nervous, came near to offer encouragement, and urged her[{251}] to "let out your voice." "This is all the voice I have," she replied, and he, still thinking she needed encouragement, sang all the louder. Her great personal charm makes itself felt across the footlights, and while she was heavily handicapped in having to sing with such a tremendous tenor, she was yet able to captivate the audience by her sincerity.

Ella Russell, who made her début in Provo, Italy, is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. Her voice is large, rich, and even, she has an imposing stage presence and much beauty and dignity. She travelled in Europe with success, and finally made her appearance at Covent Garden in 1885.