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How Prima Donnas Are Made

How Prima Donnas Are Made image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
March
Year
1874
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Tho American Register gives somo extracts from a letter to tho editor í'rom an American girl in Milan, who is in training for a prima donna. She says : That I havo been thoroughly disappointed in everything 1 must candiclly acknowledge. In the first place, by tho advico of friends, I gave up a position at home in ono of our churches at $900 peí annum, bocause I was told by theni that if 1 went to Italy and studied six months or thereabouts I ahould be a second Alboni or another Lucca, that at the end of that timo I should be able to get engagement anywhere, and that during my stay in Milan I would bo able to live for a mere nothing. In fact, I was influenced and led to believe that everything was to be couleur de rose. Now for the realization of my friends' prophesies : I have been in Milan six months. I have ctevoted all my time to study ; have applied myself in every way to further the object for which I carne ; am told by my teacher that I havo made progress ; and yet 1 am a long way from being able to make my debut. The truth is, that this idea of coming over hcre, and expecting to accoinplish in tho short spaoe of six months what it has taken Patti, Nilsson, Lucca and inany others years to accomplish, is perfectly absurd. Kovertheless, there are tens, yea, hundredsof American girls coming over with that idea. The notion that people can livo here in Milan on next to uothing is another fallacy. - In faot, wherever Amaricans congrégate in Eurape prices are invariably high, and my country pcoplo have themselves to blame for this state of things, for it is all owing to their foolish prodigolity. I pay for my room 40 francs, and for my board 100 francs per month ; fire extra, lights extra, wiue oxtra and w'ashing extra." In my case the extras pinch. Tho price of singing lessons varies, and dependa entireupon the teachers you may employ. The best maestri have eight, ten and twelve francs the lesson. Thcn ono must have a toacher for the lingua, and a teacher for lessons in icena, and unless one is a good performer, it is necessary to employ an accompanist with whom to run through operas. All this costs heavily, but you cannot accomplish a theatrical education without it. After board and instruction, there is still another important item to look after- dress. Unfortunately for people with slim purses, they haveto . lay a sum by, be it ever so littlë, for clothing. üne mustdress, you know. We will suppose, now, by way of illustration, that an American lady has successfully accomplished all that her teacher deemed necessary beforo she appears in public, and that üheis to make her debut. Her Maestro di canta has obtainod for her an engagement in V , or S -, as the case may be. She is informed that it is a small village, with a modest theater, but not to naind that, for it is botter to commetice in small places, and thus work ono's way up till able to sing at the San Cario in N apios, or at La Scala in Milan. The theatrical agont then goes on to inform our young American aspirant that for the first engagement the managers never pay. Of course, she thinks this unjust, but make8 no complaint. She completes her preparations, sponding considerable money iu so doing, undertakes a costly journey to V , S , or D , and finds the " small village" even smaller and more insignificant than she was led to expect, and the theater merely a rough building fitted up for the occasion. Put yourself in her place, and imagine what her feelings aro at the outset of her operatic careor. A stranger, an American in particular, has a great deal to contpnd against in Italy. The Italian singers look upon American singers with very jealous eyes, and they do all in their power to ronder their appearance before an Italian audience a fiasco. That this is not only ungenorous, but unjust, all Americans must feel. Por do we not pay Italian and other foreign singers enormous salaries? Do we not receive them graciously F And do we not laud them to the skies in our journals F The money alone that Americans expend in Italy on their living and musical instruction, and that goes to enrich the teachersand tradespeople, ought to insure them fair troatment from Italian singers, when they make their appearance in public. The audience, which is not supposed to share the petty feelings of jealousy whieh actúate the singers, should treat impartially if not kindly, the young American singers that make their debut beforo them. Instead of this, they exhibit the utmosi coldness and indifference in their regard even when their merit is undeniable.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus