"Confessions of an Opera Singer" by Kathleen Howard. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
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Kathleen Howard. Confessions of an Opera Singer
Confessions of an Opera Singer
Table of Contents
FOREWORD
CHAPTER I
THE WAY IT ALL HAPPENED
CHAPTER II
A STRUGGLE AND A SOLUTION
CHAPTER III
PARIS AT LAST
CHAPTER IV
PENSION PERSONALITIES
CHAPTER V
OPERATIC FRANCE VERSUS OPERATIC GERMANY
CHAPTER VI
PREPARING RÔLES IN BERLIN
CHAPTER VII
MY FIRST OPERATIC CONTRACT SIGNED
CHAPTER VIII
MY ONE LONE IMPROPOSITION
CHAPTER IX
THE MAKINGS OF A SMALL MUNICIPAL OPERA HOUSE
CHAPTER X
MY DÉBUT AND BREAKING INTO HARNESS
CHAPTER XI
SOME STAGE DELIGHTS
CHAPTER XII
MISPLACED MOISTURE AND THE STORY OF A COURT-LADY
CHAPTER XIII
HUMAN PASSIONS AND SMALLPOX
CHAPTER XIV
DISCOURAGEMENTS THAT LEAD TO A COURT THEATRE
CHAPTER XV
SALARIES AND A TENOR'S GENIUS
CHAPTER XVI
THE ART OF MARIE MUELLE
CHAPTER XVII
THE NON-MILITARY SIDE OF A GERMAN OFFICER'S LIFE
CHAPTER XVIII
GEESE AND GUESTS
CHAPTER XIX
RUSSIANS, COMMON AND PREFERRED
CHAPTER XX
THE GRANDMOTHERS' BALLET
CHAPTER XXI
STAGE FASHIONS AND THE GLORY OF COLOUR
CHAPTER XXII
ROYAL HUMOUR
CHAPTER XXIII
COVENT GARDEN AND—AMERICA
REPERTOIRE
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Kathleen Howard
Published by Good Press, 2019
.....
I reached Paris in the beginning of September with "my instrument" in working order, with a smattering of French, a letter of credit for $1000, and a large supply of courage. I found my voice adequate to all my demands upon it, but the money just half enough (it was increased the next year). As for my courage, I have had to go on renewing that ever since, until it has become the largest factor in my success. Emma Juch told me once that she always said it was not difficult to attain success and make a career. Perhaps her success was made at a time when the competition was less keen, but I at any rate could never agree with her.
I arrived in Paris early in the morning and went to a small hotel in the rue Cambon. It quite thrilled me to ask the chambermaid for eau chaude instead of "hot water"; and I felt proud of knowing that the midday meal was called déjeuner à la fourchette. I remember that meal to this day—it began with radishes and butter, those inseparable companions in France, went on to omelette, then cold meat and salad, with small clingstone peaches and little white grapes for dessert. Red or white wine was "compris," and the bread was a yard long, cut half through into sections, and laid down the middle of the table. It was all half-miraculous to me, and afterwards when I went out to stroll under the arches of the rue de Rivoli I thought myself in fairyland. The jewelry, lingerie and photograph shops delighted me, as they have innumerable tourists, and the name "Redfern" over a doorway gave me a thrill. The Place de la Concorde seemed one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen, an opinion which I still hold, by the way, and I felt like a queen when I called an open fiacre and drove in state toward the Arc de Triomphe, stopping to buy a big bunch of red roses for twenty cents from a ragged man who ran shouting beside my carriage. In the evening I went to the opera and wondered at the great stairway and at the big auditorium, and still more at the poor performance I saw there but which I accounted for by the fact that September is the dull season.
