[Illustration: CLAUDIA MUZIO]
In tales of romance one reads sometimes of a gifted girl who lives in a
musical atmosphere all her life, imbibing artistic influences as
naturally and almost as unconsciously as the air she breathes. At the
right moment, she suddenly comes out into the light and blossoms into a
full fledged singer, to the surprise and wonder of all her friends. Or
she is brought up behind the scenes in some great Opera House of the
world, where, all unnoticed by her elders, she lives in a dream world of
her own, peopled by the various characters in the operas to which she
daily listens. She watches the stage so closely and constantly that she
unconsciously commits the rôles of the heroines she most admires, to
memory. She knows what they sing, how they act the various parts, how
they impersonate the characters. Again, at the right moment, the leading
prima donna is indisposed, there is no one to take her place; manager
is in despair, when the slip of a girl, who is known to have a voice,
but has never sung in opera, offers to go on in place of the absent one.
She is finally permitted to do so; result, a popular success.
Some pages of Claudia Muzio's musical story read like the romantic
experiences of a novel-heroine. She, too, was brought up in great opera
houses, and it seemed natural, that in due course of time, she should
come into her own, in the greatest lyric theater of the land of her
adoption.
When she returned to America, a couple of years ago, after gaining
experience in Europe, she arrived toward the end of the season preceding
her scheduled début here, to prepare herself more fully for the coming
appearance awaiting her.
I was asked to meet and talk with the young singer, to ascertain her
manner of study, and some of her ideas regarding the work which lay
before her.
* * * * *
"It was always my dream to sing at the Metropolitan, and my dream has
come true."
Claudia Muzio said the words with her brilliant smile, as her great soft
dark eyes gazed luminously at the visitor.
The day was cold and dreary without, but the singer's apartment was of
tropical warmth. A great bowl of violets on the piano exhaled delicious
fragrance; the young Italian in the bloom of her oriental beauty, seemed
like some luxuriant tropical blossom herself.
Claudia Muzio, who was just about to take her place among the personnel
of the Metropolitan, is truly to the manner born,--a real child of the
opera. She has lived in opera all her life, has imbibed the operatic
atmosphere from her earliest remembrance. It must be as necessary for a
singer who aspires to fill a high place in this field of artistic
endeavor, to live amid congenial surroundings, as for a pianist,
violinist or composer to be environed by musical influences.
"Yes, I am an Italian," she began, "for I was born in Italy; but when I
was two years old I was taken to London, and my childhood was passed in
that great city. My father was stage manager at Covent Garden, and has
also held the same post at the Manhattan and Metropolitan Opera Houses
in New York. So I have grown up in the theater. I have always listened
to opera--daily, and my childish imagination was fired by seeing the art
of the great singers. I always hoped I should one day become a singer,
so I always watched the artists in action, noting how they did
everything. As a result, I do not now have to study acting as a separate
branch of the work, for acting comes to me naturally. I am very
temperamental; I feel intuitively how the rôle should be enacted.
"All tiny children learn to sing little songs, and I was no exception. I
acquired quite a number, and at the age of six, exhibited my
accomplishments at a little recital. But I never had singing lessons
until I began to study seriously at about the age of sixteen. Although I
did not study the voice till I reached that age, I was always occupied
with music, for I learned as a little girl to play both harp and piano.
"We lived in London, of which city I am very fond, from the time I was
two, till I was fourteen, then we came to America. After residing here a
couple of years, it was decided I should make a career, and we went to
Italy. I was taken to Madame Anna Casaloni at Turino. She was quite
elderly at that time, but she had been a great singer. When she tried my
voice, she told me it was quite properly placed--so I had none of that
drudgery to go through.
"At first my voice was a very light soprano, hardly yet a coloratura. It
became so a little later, however, and then gradually developed into a
dramatic soprano. I am very happy about this fact, for I love to portray
tears as well as laughter--sorrow and tragedy as well as lightness and
gayety. The coloratura manner of singing is all delicacy and lightness,
and one cannot express deep emotion in this way.
"We subsequently went to Milano, where I studied with Madame Viviani, a
soprano who had enjoyed great success on the operatic stage.
"After several years of serious study I was ready to begin my career. So
I sang in Milan and other Italian cities, then at Covent Garden, and now
I am in the Metropolitan. In Italy I created the rôle of Fiora in _Amore
del tre Re_, and sang with Ferrari-Fontana. I also created Francesca in
_Francesca da Rimini_, under its composer, Zandonai. I have a repertoire
of about thirty operas, and am of course adding to it constantly, as one
must know many more than thirty rôles. Since coming to New York, I have
learned _Aïda_, which I did not know before, and have already appeared
in it. It was learned thoroughly in eight days. Now I am at work on
_Madame Butterfly_.