STARS OF THE OPERA
Reading edition
A Description of Operas & a Series of Personal Interviews with Marcela Sembrich, Emma Eames, Emma Calve, Lillian Nordica, Lilli Lehmann, Geraldine Farrar & Nellie Melba BY MABEL WAGNALLS Author of "Miserere," "Selma, the Soprano," etc. REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK & LONDON 1909
Copyright, 1899, and 1907 BY FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY Registered at Stationers' Hall, London [Printed in the United States] AUTHOR'S NOTE All the interviews in this book have been proof-read by the singers Published, September, 1907
To those who love music but have no opportunity to familiarize themselves with grand opera this book is respectfully dedicated
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
An Interview With Marcella Sembrich13
"Semiramide"25
A Call on Emma Eames43
"Faust"57
"Werther"79
Calvé and "Carmen"105
"Carmen"117
"Hamlet"143
A Talk with Lillian Nordica169
"Lohengrin"185
"Aida"215
"The Huguenots"239
An Hour with Lilli Lehmann265
"The Flying Dutchman"279
Melba, the Australian Nightingale303
"Lakme"315
"I Pagliacci"337
"Orpheus and Eurydice"357
The Genius of Geraldine Farrar369
"Madame Butterfly"379
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Group of Miniature Portraits, "Stars of the Opera" Frontispiece
Marcella Sembrich15
Sembrich as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville"22
Emma Eames45
Melba as Marguerite in "Faust"64
Emma Calvé107
Calvé as Carmen128
Calvé as Ophelia in "Hamlet"164
Lillian Nordica171
Nordica as Brunhilde in "Siegfried"182
Eames as Elsa in "Lohengrin"202
Nordica as Aida220
Lilli Lehmann267
Lehmann as Isolde in "Tristan and Isolde"270
Lehmann as Venus in "Tannhäuser"276
Nellie Melba305
Melba as Elizabeth in "Tannhäuser"312
Geraldine Farrar371
Miss Farrar as "Madame Butterfly"384
An Interview with Marcella Sembrich
Copyright by Aimé Dupont, N. Y. MARCELLA SEMBRICH.
