When I went to the opera for my hearing or _audition_, Gounod went with
me and we sang the duets together. The director, M. Gailhard, refused my
application, claiming that I was a debutante and could not expect an
initial performance at the Grand Opera despite my ability and musical
attainments. It may be interesting for aspiring vocal students to learn
something of the various obstacles which still stand in the way of a
singer, even after one has had a very thorough training and acquired
proficiency which should compel a hearing. Alas! in opera, as in many
other lines of human endeavor, there is a political background that is
often black with intrigue and machinations. I was determined to fight my
way on the merit of my art, and accordingly I was obliged to wait for
nearly two years before I was able to make my debut. These were years
filled with many exasperating circumstances.
I went to Brussels after two years' study with Marchesi, having been
promised my debut there. I was kept for months awaiting it and was
finally prevented from making an appearance by one who, pretending to be
my friend and to be doing all in her power to further my career, was in
reality threatening the directors with instant breaking of her contract
should I be allowed to appear. I had this on the authority of Mr.
Gevaert, the then director of the Conservatoire and my firm friend. The
artist was a great success and her word was law. It was on my return
that I was taken to Gounod and I waited a year for a hearing.
Gounod's opera, _Romeo et Juliette_, had been given at the Opera Comique
many times but there was a demand for performances at the Grand Opera.
Accordingly Gounod added a ballet, which fitted it for performance at
the Opera. Apropos of this ballet, Gounod said to me, with no little
touch of cynicism, "Now you shall see what kind of music a _Ga Ga_ can
write" (Ga Ga is the French term for a very old man, that is, a man in
his dotage). He was determined that I should be heard at the Grand Opera
as Juliette, but even his influence could not prevent the director from
signing an agreement with one he personally preferred, which required
that she should have the honor of making her debut at the Grand Opera in
the part. Then it was that I became aware that it was not only because I
was a debutante that I had been denied. Gounod would not consent to this
arrangement, insisting on her making her debut previously in _Faust_,
and fortunate it was, since the singer in question never attained more
than mediocre success. Gounod still demanded as a compromise that the
first six performances of the opera should be given to Adelina Patti,
and that they should send for me for the subsequent ones.
In the meantime I was engaged at the Opera Comique. There Massenet
looked with disfavor upon my debut before that of Sybil Sanderson.
Massenet had brought fortunes to the Opera Comique through his immensely
popular and theatrically effective operas. Consequently his word was
law. I waited for some months and no suggestion of an opportunity for a
performance presented itself. All the time I was engaged in extending my
repertoire and becoming more and more indignant at the treatment I was
receiving in not being allowed to sing the operas thus acquired. My
year's contract had still three months to run when I received an offer
from St. Petersburg. Shortly thereafter I received a note from M.
Gailhard announcing that he wished to see me. I went and he informed me
that Gounod was still insistent upon my appearance in the role of
_Juliette_. I was irritated by the whole long train of aggravating
circumstances, but said, "Give me the contract, I'll sign it." Then I
went directly to the Opera Comique and asked to see the director. I was
towering with indignation--indeed, I felt myself at least seven feet
tall and perhaps quite as wide. I demanded my contract. To his "Mais,
Mademoiselle--" I commanded, "Send for it." He brought the contract and
tore it up in my presence, only to learn next morning to his probable
chagrin that I was engaged and announced for an important role at the
Grand Opera. The first performance of a debutante at the Grand Opera is
a great ordeal, and it is easy to imagine that the strain upon a young
singer might deprive her of her natural powers of expression. The
outcome of mine was most fortuitous and with success behind me I found
my road very different indeed. However, if I had not had a friend at
court, in the splendid person of Charles Gounod, I might have been
obliged to wait years longer, and perhaps never have had an opportunity
to appear in Paris, where only a few foreigners in a generation get such
a privilege. It is a great one, I consider, as there is no school of
good taste and restraint like the French, which is also one where one
may acquire the more intellectual qualities in one's work and a sense of
proportion and line.