It was a most fortunate thing that the Directors of the Royal Italian Opera Company, Covent Garden, Limited, had thought proper to dispense with my services the previous year by reason of my having, in conjunction with their own general manager, engaged Mdme. Patti. Otherwise I should have been obliged to hand them £15,000, being half the net profit of this last American tour, to which, by the terms of our agreement, they would have been entitled.
I ascertained on my return that for want of £2,000 the Company had collapsed.
CHAPTER X.
MY COVENT GARDEN SEASON—PATTI'S LONDON SILVER WEDDING—RETURN TO NEW YORK—DIFFICULTIES BEGIN—RIVAL REHEARSALS—GRAND OPERA AND OPERETTA.
ON my return to London I opened Covent Garden for a series of Italian Opera performances, in which Mdme. Patti was the principal prima donna, and but for Mdme. Patti's twice falling ill should certainly have made some money.
On the opening night I was notified as late as seven o'clock that Mdme. Patti would be unable to appear in "La Traviata," having taken a severe cold. This was a dreadful blow to me. On inquiry I found that madame's indisposition arose from a morning drive she had taken on the previous day over some Welsh mountains during the journey from her castle to the station. Signor Nicolini, either from fear of the bill at the Midland Hotel, where they were to put up, or from some uncontrollable desire to catch an extra salmon, had exposed la Diva to the early morning air; an act of imprudence which cost me something like a thousand pounds.
The season nevertheless promised to be unusually successful. But within a few days I met with another misfortune, la Diva having taken a second cold, of which I was not notified until seven p.m. There was scarcely time to make the news public before the carriages were already setting down their distinguished burdens before the Opera vestibule.
I had no alternative but to introduce a young singer who, at a moment's notice, undertook the difficult part of "Lucia di Lammermoor." I allude to the Swedish vocalist, Mdlle. Fohström, who afterwards made a very successful career under my management. Of course, on this occasion she was heavily handicapped, as people had gone to the theatre only for the purpose of hearing Mdme. Patti; whose two disappointments caused me considerable loss.
I ended my season about the third week of July, when Mdme. Patti appeared as "Leonora" in Il Trovatore, renewing the success which always attends her in that familiar impersonation.
On this night, the final one of the season, Mdme. Patti concluded her 25th consecutive annual engagement at Covent Garden. Numbers of her admirers formed themselves into a committee for the purpose of celebrating the event by presenting her with a suitable memorial, which consisted of a very valuable diamond bracelet. At the termination of the opera I presented myself to the public, saying—