Evening Star Newspaper, November 20, 1921, Page 67

The Su . MAGAZINE s | SECT ION w Sthat. Part 4—6 Pages 1 i 5 Pditor's Note.—In the firat of thik weries of articles by Miss Iast Sun- dany’s Sta work and training in prepara- tion for ome of the most re- le careers that have been enjoyed by opera ouly nineteen ployed by the Opern House to appear in prine cipnl rolew, and_her concert tours have been’ a weries of mukical triumphs. Today Miss Bra theugh =till one of ] the gest of the grent aing- &rw, in looked upon as America's | premier contralt At the cloxe of her previous artiele Mise Srasinu told of the oppor- tunity that came to her to ap- 1] ‘pear an a substitute for Mme. Louine Homer at a great mu- sical festival held in Richmond, Va. ITH the experience that has come to me since my first appearance on the concert stage, 1 look back with a rense of wonder at the calmness with which I approached that ordeal. Perhaps I was too young to know any better (for I was only eighteen). Perhaps I was nerved up to a state of exaltation through realizing that this music festival at Richmond repre- sented the parting of the ways. If 1 succeeded, fame and fortune .ln»)' REHEARSAL. ahead of me. consigned to oblivion come. No girl who lacks courage can become a great singer—the courage to endure and work and suffer. and above all else, the courage to rise to any emergency and to meet the test with confidence. Some of my man friends who are interested in sports tell me that this characteristic of courage is as appar- ent on the ten court, or on the Dbase ball field, a t is upon-the oper- | 1 J ' AT REAR: ORVILLE HARROLD AND SOPHIE BRASLATU, GROUND: HAGERMAN, FRANCESCO DADDI AND LUCY GATES. PHOTO- GRAPH TAKEN DURING A PAUSE IN THE METROPOLITAN OFERA It 1 failed, T would be | artists. for years to| | fused to be downed and mischievous- | Jefterson.” | slight sigh of relief as he begged me. Miss Braslau his deep pleasure and | gratitude. atic or concert stage. The great play- ers are those who are able in a mo- ment . of crisls to rise to an emer- gency and play better than they ever played before. This same ability, I know, must be possessed by a great singer. There Is more_truth than fiction in the story of Pagliacci, for many a singer has had to face her audi- ence under conditions about which the audience knows nothing, but which require a supreme courage to overcome. IF ever T had need of all the cour- age 1 possessed It was that day when I got off the train at Richmond with Mr. Adams’ letter of introduction to the manager of the musical festi- val firmly clenched in my hand. The letter read as follows: “In answer to your wire apprising me of Mme. Homer's sudden indispo- sition and requesting a substitute for her to sing at the big festival con-} cert, I am sending you Miss Sophie | Braslau, a_contralto of extraordinary powers, who, I am certain, will not disappoint your large audience.” * ¢ * As the white-baired southerner to whom I nervously presented the note reached that point, he looked up quickly and asked In that southern drawl T have always loved: “Where is Miss—er—Braslau?" I couldn't help smiling. After all, s . he could scarcely be expected to sur- mise that the siight young miss, her hair scarcely.on the top of her heaa, that stood before him had the temer- ity to present herself &s a substitute greatest for one of the of living | IN FORE- ‘With all the seriousness of the situation my sense of humor re- y I replied: ‘Miss Braslau is stopping at the The manager seemed to breathe a most courteously, to express to “Unfortunately,”” he added, “there no longer time for a rehearsal. Decoratioh these—- cease. Now trivial prideful tive. day, The absorbinf task, the still; achiever Our hearts’ thanksgi P | | | A Sonnet By "Marj “Give us,” we' worldly” cry, “O give and give. We hold forth haughty hands for luxuries. We godless grow while begging boons like Soft ease and gofd and power—indicative In very deed of how we vainly live. Yet nears a time when craving, sl Fill not oy thoughts, but thanks contempla- ‘l‘h;i{nks for 'xhc “common round of ‘day on Of noonthe stir; of “soul "the height jto lay, For homery things that human needs fulfill, ‘Today we gratetul plead Thou wilt reccive. \ WASHINGTON; ‘D. C., SU DAY MORN NOVEMBER 20, 1921, rst Appearance Before Audience of 8,000 First Role. Will you request Miss Braslau to come to the hall for her perform- ance. There is time if she arrives at 8:30. I am so sorry there is no time for rehearsal - “Oh,” I interrupted, amazingly bold, as I look back upon it all, “there is really no need for rehearsal. Miss Braslau has been told the songs you wish her to sing and happens to know them well ‘What presumption! But actually I did know them well, and 1 could just as readily run them over with | the accompanist 1 had brought with ‘me, who was waiting for me at the hotel. I little knew then what was in store for me. But I was soon to know, and as I think it over and my later experience has taught me the awful pitfalls that I so blandly ignored, a chill runs along my spine as I think of my amazing v:onflcl_ence.{ * ok ok X 7HEN, that night, I presented my- self, a bit more timidly, at the stage door of the great auditorium with my accompanist, a\ much older woman, it was the same white- haired cavalier who met us. “Ah! so this is Miss Braslau!” he exclaimed, advancing gallantly to- ward my accompanist, holding out his hand. am glad to meet so emi- nent and distinguished an artist! The astonished Miss Elliott, star- ing panic-eyed at me, submitted her hand to be shaken vigorously. The | cavalier manager proceeded with his compliments. “We have admired your pictures so often,” he blurted, “and we have o] long wanted to hear your golden voice. Richmond welcomes you!" The dear, dear liar! I could have kissed him. but I refrained from do- ing anything but tremble in my boots. My silly joke was turning out badly. My head whirled. Out- side I could ar, through the wing the babble a vast throng and the tuning-up of a large orchestra. It quickly came to me that when the time came for us to go on, Miss Elliott and I could go together, I in the guise of accompanist. Once on the stage we could reverse positions, and if the manager didn't expire when he heard the demure little ‘accompanist” burst into song he might live to forgive us! But sud- denly that castle of hope was shat- tered into small splinters! “Of course you will not have need for your accompanist.” said the man! ager, waving his hand at me; “you will sing with orchestra accompani- ment.” Orchestra accompaniment! 1 had never sung with an orchestra in my lifel, I literally saw stars! Frighti seiz®d and shook my knees, and it's a luck thing for me that the short skirt was not en vogye at the time! Before any of us could say anything the mighty orchestra outside burst into a rendition of the lovely “Poet and Peasant” overture. But it didn't sound lovely to me. Angel harps at that moment would have sounded like instruments of im- mortal doom. The manager S ECOND Article of a Series by Metropolitan Opera Star on the Subject, “The Making of a Prima Donna"™—Substituting for Louise Homer When Only Eighteen Years Old, Miss Braslau Sang at Richmond, Va.—Overcoming Stage Fright—First Try-Out at the Metropolitan—A Full-Fledged Prima Donna at Nineteen, With a Three-Year Contract at World's Greatest Opera House—The was | whispering last instructions to Bras- | lau, alias Elliott, who, as I looked at her, seemed- about half conscious and growing worse every minute. I.sud- denly felt a strong impulse to laugh, which happily I restrained. due to a full realization that the situation was a good deal more tragic than funny. ‘But oddly enough I found surging within me some quieting, confidence- giving force, a mysterious quality which has never left me, even in the orie Wilson by R J. Scott. hamed, does prayers of caprice Eried friends; of night ving, God, for food, for A. PHOTOGRAPH OF MISS BRASLAU AT THE TIME still more trying situations that later years were to bring. I pulled myself together and listened to the instruc- tions being given, which lack of re- hearsal made necessary. In my ex- citement 1 slowly began to forget that 1 was about to undergo the or- deal of singing classical songs to orchestral accompaniment before an "audience of 8,000 or so people for the first time in my life! * k¥ k UDDENLY the music stopped. There was a rain of applause. Then an agonizing two minutes of waiting. Then a red light suddenly glowed over the entrance to the stage, & signal from the conductor's .| stand that the soloist should enter. “All right!” whispered the cavalier to Miss Elliott. “Goodby!” I whispered back, and fled .onto the stage before he could catch at my sash! ‘Whatever did happen between the manager and Elliott I shall never quite know! Of that vivid, exciting night many ineradicable memories remain with me. I recall my terror—a momentary terror \only—upon hearing the tre- mendously loud outburst of the in- troduction to my song and wondering it my voice could possibly rise above it and fill the great hall. "I recall the thowsands of curious eyes bent upon the small, girlish figure that dared replace’ the {llustrious Homer. I Te- call the warm burst of applause with which the audience rewarded me, which swelled and swelled, until th dear folk of Richmond were en sconced in my heart for all time. Above all do I recall the most re- liable reward of merit to an.artist, the cordial tapping of violin bows against music racks by the apparent- 1y pleased musicians, a testimonial that is rarely accordsd, and that stamped my debut an artistic as well as_popular success. The direct outcome of what hap- pened in_Richmond, the news of which had spread in musical circles, was a recommendation by several of my closest advisers that I attempt to obtain a contract with the Metro- politan_ opera company. It was Buzzl Peccia, maestro of Alma Gluck, wlo had had an early hand in my vocal training, who said: “Sophie, don't waste time in doing preliminary concert work. Secure an audition from Gatti if you can and get the greatest of all training in ad- dition to the big reputation any one gets - by being connected with the e Mot ook the advice. A few weekn later I sat with about twenty other aspirants, men and women of all ages, on the bare stage of the Metro- politan Opera House. The body of the house wos covered with huge dust cloths, to keep its chairs immacu- lately clean for the smart gowns that made it radiant at night. Very few llllh!q 'enh"tt‘l uull) (ihle ?cen: was singularly. ghostly. Out in. fron a few rows from the orchestra pit theczelotk had been thrown from the 9 make.room for that.might- E MA LOUISE HOMER. ING FOR MME. jest of musical dignities, the always interesting Signor Glulio Gatti Ca- sazza. Beside him sat a stenog- rapher, ready to record his judgment, | as important a matter in the world of song as that of an emperor. The director of the Metropolitan Opera House holds within his hands the| fate and career of every song-bird that aspires to fame in America. One by one the candidates arose to | sing. Some had marked weaknesses of tochnique or lack. of power or| <> in their vofces. but for the| art the matedal seemed re- bly good. It seemed to me that 3 e a director T would try to find something for them all, for I could not help but peer behind the curtain of the brave show they were e DE HER RICHMOND, VA, DEBUT, o Yo sSiqe q 25 (Copyi, making and behold there and sacrifices, the work and that mark the path of « dis pract his op to the era le of song. He was listening for what company | human equation amounted to nothing ~HERE weré more men, and of the former the great Contraltos, But Gat needes * * ko majority were sopranos. luckily perhaps for aves, espec Iy adequate range timbre for the me, ontralto: and difficult women o a7 the d. and |in the conclusions that he whispered shorthand empress | next to him. that are s with a the necessary contralto . Qlibeat of his baton was relayed to me trials hopes rnest more the sat than rarae By So roles that have been written. I was seventh to sing. Seven is my lucky number. It is the total of the letters in my last name. It was the date of my Richmond debut and has been the date, oddly enough, of almos my every signally successful inci- dent throughout my career. In th particular instance it also played i traditional part. For, when the last singer had finished and we had all turned apprehensive eyes toward the king in the aisle, he rose quickly and announced: Every one is dismiesed but No. 7 She will come with me at once into my office. Ten minutes later my signature and Gatti's had been aflixed to an im- posing-looking - contract calling for my services as a singer of principal roles at the Metropolitan Opers House for a period of three years! It was over so swiftly as literally to take my breath away | 1t seemed incredible that the goal I had borne in mind from the start had actually been reached—that, too, 80 speedily and simply. And, if I dwell on this now, it is lar by way of encouragement to the thou- |sands of vocal students who fighting their hard fight with the vista of the ultimate triumph reced- ing farther and farther away. Ac- tually I have found that it lurks nl- ways just around the corner, waiting to reward unexpectedly = genuine merit _and - conscientious hard work With these last two the world is truly ours, in singing as in every other field, and the failures who speak of | success as something to be reached— if one is a woman—only by the sale of their bodies, li For an American girl of twenty, which was my age when I actual entered the opera to begin my duties there, suddenly to find herself behind the scenes at the famous Metropoli- tan is an awesome experience. In effect. it is singularly like being transplanted to an opera house in Milan or some other Italian city, for never by any chance does one hear anything but Italian spoken. The war, added to the directorate of Gattl, put the final Italian stamp on our na- tional opera house. In the former, days, under Conried, I am told it was | { thoroughly German. But now, in al¥| events, it is the lyrical tongue of Caruso and Scotti and Toscanini and Muzio that prevails, and lonely and unlucky the American girl who found herself among them and had neg- lected to master it. Veritably the huge palace on Broadway between ! 39th and 40th streets i a slice of the | beautiful Italian peninsula. 1 While the language and atmosphere of the Met are Italian, as is most; natural considering the preponder-| ance of artists, directors and attaches who come from.that land of gong. yet it is not to be thought for an instant there is any hostility to American artists or aspirants to mu- ! phie Braslau were astounded at my lack of ner- " exclaimed one, an old woman who had seen many, many debuts in her day, “you have no fear, no_trembling? No,” 1 answered simply, surprised that they should expect it She shook her head doubtfully, as oth vatched dubiously. 'Ah! That is bad, ve # hould be frightened unto death Which is right. 1 should have been. But I was too foolish. I was soon to learn my error! the In the magazine of next Sun- day's Star Miss Braslau will tell what happened when she appeared in * ris Godounoff,” going deeper 1to the opera house and its personalities. [l ‘ First Bathtub. first house in Washington city THE 10 be piped for running water, hot and cold, was the VAR N sion, which was torn down {n 1808 to make room for the Pan-Amesican building. It is believed 11 it cof tained other plumbing fixtures and a bathroom, but this is not known, and if there was a bathroom in that old house it was not a bathroom in the sense that we understand that term today. The great house was built abeut 1820 by John P. Van Ness. In the square in which the Van Ness mansion stood and in which the Pan-American buiiding stands was the log cabin, or log “cottage” of David Burns, whose farm occupied\ a large paft of the site of Washing ton at the time the survey and d sign of the proposed capital wer made. His daughter Marcia, in 1802, became the wife of John P. Van Ness, of an old New York Knickerbocker amily, who had come to Washington rof the first meeting hington—as a rep- resentative from New York. He built for his bride a good brick hous® which still stands a few yards west of the H Department_building, 120015 and 1202 D street. Their only child, a daughter. urned from boarding school in 1820, and immediately entered societ: and it wa about that time that v moved into the had built this which was one the log the Van ) great hous: house in the square, big garden. in ®hich stood, in which Marcia Burnes Sical fame. To the contrary, it can be truthfully stated thal Gatti Casazza has during his tenure of | office made constant, whole-hearted ! efforts to encoyrage and develop ha- tive talent. A casual glance at the Americans who have sung principal roles at the Met is sufficient proof of this. To| mention merely a few of the tenors, | Riccardo . Martin, _Paul _ Althouse Charles Hacket, Raffacle Diaz, Orville | Harold and Lambert Murphy have held their own with foreign artists To enumerate the woman artists mean a lengthy list. The Italian artists, too. are unfailingly kind to young Americans. The great Caruso time and again coached young temors. and person- ally paid_for or interested others in singers. whom he had deemed worthy of furthpr musical education. * % % X MERICANS who have had con- tracts at the Metropolitan have | without exception made good. If any had failed it would have been their own fault, ment and practical aid of their fel- low artists there is very little ex- cuse for falling down. Disgruntled singers of other na- tionalities have made disparaging re- s it was Italians, but in all c found wanting. Art. like love, knows no natlonality. And that holds at the Metropolitan. Outstanding the woman is with- doubt Geraldine Farrar, our as Americans love to call The other artists are always delighted to be cast with her, her cheering words stirring them to their best work. All speak of her as a great artist and a wonderful woman. And her reputation for hearty and courteous co-operation has been car- ried to every opera house throughout the world. Being at the Met the longest, she is alone among the woman artists in having her own private dressing room, with a brass name-plate on it. which is kept locked when she not in it. It s right next to the stage on the left, which is the side of the wings entirely given up to the women, the men being on the right. There is nothing “Gerry™ cannot have, nothing she cannot' do. Even with he# public this is true. “Gerry's” artistry and entrancing personality make her undoubtedly the most in- teresting feminine figure now with the opera. My first official appearance at the Met was really not an appearance at all! I sang the “Voice in Parsifal”— sang it from the heavenly” height of some forty feet, balanced on some | tenuous scaffolding in the wings! T !could not see the conductor. so the ameng artists of the Metropolitan out is| n by several assistant conductors, placed so that they could see each other. In this way did I send Parsifal his divifie guidance! 1 was so scared of tumbling down from heaven onto the unethereal stage below that I quite forgot to be scared about the fact that it _was my operatic debut. A critic the next morning_commented on the fact that “the ~Voice .really gave the effect of-coming from Para. dise both in tone and in height. Small wonder! 1 * ¥ * x BUT a8 a result of that performance I was accorded the interesting role of the boy prince in *Boris Co- ldounoff.” It was in this role that I was Yo sing to an operatic audi- ence who could see me. I remember so well being dressed for the part— the wigmakers fussing around me, | Ness jthe Eng! would | for with the encourage-| marks about partiality being shown | the | old story of having been tried and! was born and in which mother and father died The cabln was built in 1748 and torn down in 1894, If there was a bathroom in this great mansion, whic ost $60.000, it was not furnished with a stationary bathtub, or one into which you could turn water from a pipe. Following sh custom. the great houses of America did not have a special iroom for the bath bathtub, very {much like a plain wasitub, and often wothing more than the family wash- tub, was brought to the sleeping room and filled with water from buckets I by a servant. The bath was taken in i that way " There was no bathtub In the White House until 1550, and it was installed v President Fillmore soon after the ath of President Z The story goes that he bathtub ‘in Cincinnati, tested it taking a bath in it. found that it w a remarkable innovation and ordered that a duplicate of the strange device should be set up in a special room in he White House. An authority bathtub—that into which water wa stalled in ( nnati one Adam Thomps coffin-like affair and lined with sh that he gave a p: that they might nd_ that of them said that the first a regular bathtub 1842, by as a large mahogany t lead. It is said ty to his friends amine the inven- to prove its worth took a bath in the of several new The bathtub caught popular fancy, but it had a hard time with the legal and the medical professions. 1t was such a useless luxury that the tax thorities got after it; it required so much water to fill that the wa companies disapproved of it, because of the waste it entailed; and the doctors condemned it because it en- couraged toa frequent bathing, which th claimed. was bad fer one’s h th. The bathtub idea.spread to the south, and in 1843 the Virginia legislature laidia tax of $30 a year on every such tub. The city of Boston ordinance in 1845 that there be no bathing in the advice of a ph ordinance. which seem been enforced. was repealed in 18 In 1843, because of the growing pe ularity of taking baths in bathtubs the Philadelph common council had before it a bill to prohibit bathing between November 1 and March 15 and the bill was defeated by onl two votes. V. cities laid extra heavy water rat s own, bathtub: never to have New Use for Cherry. TTHE bright red cherry which was thrown out of employment as as- sistant to the cocktail has turned to another line of industry. It is now giving its merry services to comfec- tioners and pastry cooks. All per- sons who knew this cherry in its field of wider activity will wish it happiness in its present less exciting calling. You now come upon it in the cakes and sweet rolls on the counters of those places called “quick lunches,” and which sometimes sacri- fice elegance and dignity to speed Many of our acquaintances were on terms of friendship with this red cherry. Some of them perhaps were on terms of Imtimacy and familiarity To them’ it was a genial fruit, so swee It floated in that ancient thing called “a Manhattan.” with a piece of lemon rind as its companion As the tide in the thin-stemmed and wide-bowled glass went down. the pretty cherry sank, and, when the fra- grant tide was altogether out, the rosy crimson berry full of juices that many men thought captivating’ rested on the bottom of the glass. Some of your friends would spear it with a toothpick: some would get at it with their fingers; some ‘would hold the glass aloft, open wide the mouth, tilt back the head and lure the en- chanting berry to its fate. Nearly always that cherry was called a Maraschino, which is an Ttal- my maids smoothing out the wrinkles of my tights. I was as fearfully embar- rassed at having to appear in tights and.did everything I could to hide as much of them as possible! It was this shyness which won for me my opera house nickname, “The Child’ which has never left me! Of course, I forgot all about them when I began to sing,. but the feeling that.came over me as I stood before the great audience I shall always remember. 1 was strangely calm and confident as I waited in the dressing. room for ian word from the Latin “amarus,” meaning bitter. It was a cherry that was a little bitter, or bitter-ish, and was soaked in a liquor called also Maraschino, which was made by fer- menting and distilling the juice of the bitter cherry. Very often the Mara- schino cherry was not a Maraschino but a plain white cherry turned red by artifice and “put up” in sirup as preserved cherries are put up. But whether it was a Marasching or was not a Maraschino, it aid its work. The occupation of the Maraschino cherry being gone. bakers gave it a job. ‘They did not aek it to go into 2 ple because other kinds of cherries my “call” The overture had started and wondrous strains_-of Rimsky- Korsakov’s = music: floated ' back through the closed curtain and the wings. My dressers were becoming more and more nervous. They knew it was my debut and were nervous for me... I smiled quietly at.them. . They would be just as useful In a cherry pie.. They gave it'a place .in cakes and now one meets the old, and more or less famillar Maraschino cherry in, little fancy cakes and in sugared rolls - in ‘quick lunches”™ bakery lunches, dairy lunches and the like.