RUSSIANS, COMMON AND PREFERRED
The Grand Duke was always very good to me. He liked talking English with
my sister and me, and always referred to the Germans as "they," never as
"we." He asked me to the palace one evening to dinner. We dined in a
room hung with portraits of his beautiful sisters. They looked like fair
angels, the portraits having been painted when both the Czarina of
Russia and her sisters were quite young girls. We were told by friends
that the Czarina used to be perfectly exquisite as a young woman,
usually gowned in pale grey with a huge bunch of violets. After dinner
we went up to the Grand Duke's own private music room where guests were
seldom invited. The piano was set high, on a hollow inlaid sounding box,
an idea of His Royal Highness's which improved the tone immensely.
Behind it on the wall was a life size painting of a Buddha-like female
figure. This was in creamy brown and gold, inlaid with chrysophrases,
and lit mysteriously at will from either side, on top, or bottom. The
lighting he preferred, and which he told me he used when he played for
hours--he knew not what--was provided by four rings of glass, suspended
horizontally from the ceiling, through which a radiant sapphire light
poured. I don't know how it was managed, but it was very beautiful. In
one corner of the room was a grotto, also blue lit with a charming,
quiet, nude figure, and a fountain that drip-dripped as you listened.
I sat down at the piano and played and sang all the negro melodies my
father had collected in the Bahamas years before. I think the guests
were rather bewildered by the swift pattering English, but the Grand
Duke and his cousin, the Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein were
charmed with them. Princess Victoria and her mother, Princess Christian,
King Edward's sister, were afterwards good enough to be patronesses at
my first recital in London.
The Grand Duke loved beautiful Oriental effects, and never seemed to me
to be in the least German. He came to a supper-dance once, given by a
Baronin O----, dressed as an oriental potentate of sorts. He kept the
several hundred guests, and the good dinner waiting over an hour,
because he insisted on making up the whole court himself. His wife wore
a wonderful headdress she made herself, copied from the fresco in his
music room. It was all gold beads and emeralds. Round her neck was a
huge pear-shaped green stone. I was thinking of the chrysophrases I had
seen inset in the wall of the music room, and said: "What wonderful
chrysophrases, Your Royal Highness." "Not chrysophrases, emeralds," she
gently corrected me.
The Baroness had engaged some people to entertain the Grand Duke at
supper, served in the huge new ball-room, but two days before the ball,
she telephoned she was in despair as the people had _abgesagt_, and she
could get no one else. Would I be so awfully kind as I was coming
anyway, to help her out? Every one in town knew all my intimate songs as
I had sung them at various functions where the court was invited, so
Marjorie and I had to put on our thinking caps to find a new "stunt."
Marjorie played the _Laute_, that big, graceful instrument so popular
with the love-sick girl in Germany, and I knew some old French songs
like "Claire de Lune," that I sang to her accompaniment. I went to the
theatre and borrowed the tenor's Pagliacci costume, whitened my face and
dressed Marjorie as a _Pierrette_. At a given signal I sprang from
between purple curtains, put my finger to my lips, turned and beckoned
to _Pierrette_ and led her to the little stage the Baroness had built.
The songs went off very well, and the day was saved. Later I changed to
a _Dalila_ costume, and danced with the Grand Duke, dances he invented
as we went along, a favourite amusement of his. He always held his
partner to the side, with one arm about her waist, and I must say it was
very practical and comfortable. He danced beautifully and his favourite
partner was a tall Fraeulein von B---- a friend of ours. Once returning
from a concert in a little town in the Bergstrasse where I had been
singing, and which had been attended by part of the court, this same
Hofdame and a famous violinist happened to be with us. We took
fourth-class tickets which entitle you to travel with the peasants in
large wooden box-cars, with benches running round the walls. We all
danced to the violinist's playing, while the peasants looked solemnly on
from their benches. I collected _pfennige_ in a hat which the violinist
then put on his head, _pfennigs_ and all. It was a lovely trip.
We heard some of the formal court balls were most amusing. We never went
to them as we had not had ourselves presented formally, though this
could have been easily arranged. The supper usually consisted largely of
ham and spinach, typical of the German Royal simplicity. The dancing was
conducted under difficulties. Reversing was not allowed, and all the
dancers had to go in the same direction. When the Grand Duke wished to
dance, his Chamberlain went in front of him to clear the way, as it was
always dreadfully crowded. The women were not permitted to pick up their
gowns, although trains were _de rigueur_ and no short skirts allowed. As
nearly all the men are in uniform, including spurs, the ladies have to
make frequent trips to the dressing room to repair damages. And yet it
is fatal to wear an old gown, as the Grand Duke has a terrific memory
and will say: "Oh, that is the charming gown you wore at Kiel two years
ago, isn't it?"
All the officers and their wives above the rank of Major must be invited
to the court balls, and, in a small principality like this, those of
lower rank receive invitations too. One Lieutenant, a member of one of
the oldest and poorest Darmstadt families, brought his bride to her
first court ball. She was pretty, but beneath him in social position,
and he had forgotten to tell her the rule about the trains. She lifted
her bridal finery out of the way of the devastating spurs, and was
politely requested by a messenger from Royalty to drop it again. Alas!
She forgot the warning and again switched her train up from the floor,
upon which the oldest _Ehrendame_ (Maid of honour), requested her to
leave the dancing floor. The poor husband felt it so keenly that he
asked to be transferred to a regiment in another town, and his request
was granted.
They have a custom of choosing an _erster Taenzer_ for every big ball.
He is usually one of the young officers of the highest birth, and his
duties are to assist the hostess in every possible way, and lead all the
dances.
Court etiquette is really a most hampering institution. In talking to
the Grand Duke for instance, I might not introduce a topic, he had to
give all the leads. This naturally has a deadening effect on the
conversation. At first the tongue-paralyzing "Yes, Your Royal Highness,"
"No, Your Royal Highness," even more paralyzing in German, "_Ja wohl,
Koenigliche Hoheit_," "_Nein, Koenigliche Hoheit_," had to be gone
through with, but after a few minutes' conversation I might follow the
simple English custom in talking with Royalty, and say "Yes, Sir," or
"No, Sir." When the Grand Duchess left a crowded ball-room it was
painful both for her and for us. As she advanced, modest and
self-conscious, one made a low _Knix_; to one lady she would give her
hand, always bristling with rings, and you had to kiss the back of it,
risking cutting your lip on the rings; to another merely a glance of the
eye, or a nod of the head, and so the slow, tortuous exit was made. In
the town on muddy days, you might come on the Grand Duke suddenly in a
narrow street and you had to back up against the wall to let him pass,
at the same time dragging your best skirt in the dirt in the
knee-straining curtsey.
I often thought how immensely popular would be the Prince or Grand Duke
or King, who would one day say, "Oh, stop it, all of you, and give me
your hands and your eyes like human beings." But _what_ would the Kaiser
say?
Before we went to Darmstadt the Grand Duke had had a tragedy from which
they said he had never recovered. His adored little daughter Elisabeth
was the idol of every one, and the town children's fairy princess. She
was asked to visit her aunt, the Czarina, at Petrograd. While there she
died very suddenly, though in perfect health when she left Darmstadt.
She is believed to have eaten some poisoned food prepared for the Czar's
own children. A monument to her in the _Herren Garten_ at Darmstadt,
shows a glass coffin of the fairytale type; in it lies sleeping
"Snow-White," with the gnomes around her. Above, a weeping willow
brushes soft fingers over the sleeping princess.
We had several _Backfisch_ admirers; the English "Flapper" comes nearer
to translating this strange word than anything I know. These girls
followed us closely in the streets for a year and finally met us. At
first my sister had her band and I had mine. Finally they dwindled to
just two, very sweet, charming young girls, of whom we became very fond.
Marjorie's was the daughter of a colonel, a count, who was very strict
and military with his delicate flower of a girl.
As I have said, strange revealing glimpses of the Hun element came to us
now and then, the spirit which now seems to engulf all the better German
people. Two of our girl friends were daughters of a famous noble house.
Their father was a very old General who lived in great seclusion. His
pretty, fair daughters L---- and E----, were often at our house, and
were very fond of my mother who lived with us then. The old General
finally died, and the girls were worn and bent with grief from his long
illness and the trials of nursing him. Their brother was with his
regiment, and for some reason could not get to them in time to make
arrangements for the funeral. The girls were left badly off, and could
not afford a pretentious ceremony. When they tried to explain this to
the undertaker, he was incredulous, but finally said with a brutal
sneering laugh: "Of course you can have a _pauper's_ funeral if you want
one." Everything was done in a way to make it all as hard as possible
for the poor girls by these brutes, and they used to come and tell us
with floods of tears of the insults they had to swallow. At last the
brother arrived, and of course as soon as he appeared in _uniform_ he
was bowed down to and served as only a uniform is served in Germany by
such brutal types.
During the second year in October word came to us that the Czar of
Russia was coming to rest with his family at the Grand Duke's hunting
lodge, just outside Darmstadt. We were nervous at the thought of all the
Russian students who always throng the Technical School at Darmstadt. It
seemed such an easy thing to bomb a man in such a small quiet town. They
took great precautions, however, and nothing happened.
I sang many times for the Czar, in "command performances" of _Dalila_,
etc. When he left he was good enough to send me a brooch "as a
remembrance of his wife." It is the Imperial crown, with sapphire eyes,
surrounded by a laurel wreath. He used to sit in a box nearest the stage
with the Grand Duke. In the next box were the little Grand Duchesses,
Olga, Tatiana and Marie, and sometimes Anastasia, the littlest one of
all. They would call in the intervals, "Papa, come in here; _do_ Papa
dear." They always spoke English together. He would go to them and they
would climb all over him, petting him and playing with his hair. It was
rather charming to watch.
Prince Henry of Prussia was there too, as these three, the Grand Duke,
Czar, and Prince Henry are, or were, fast friends. When they left the
theatre a curious crowd always gathered to see them, but we never had so
much as a glimpse of them, for five black, mysterious motors, closely
hooded, left in a procession, and no one ever knew which one the Czar
was in. The Czarina never came to the theatre; she was intensely nervous
just then, and went nowhere.
The Czar was to leave Darmstadt on the Monday, and on Sunday we were to
sing "Meistersinger" for him. The day before I had felt frightfully ill,
and suffered as I had been doing for several weeks with pains in my
side. Sunday morning I sent for a doctor, the pain being so bad I was
afraid I would not be able to get through the performance that night.
The doctor in turn sent for the surgeon, who packed me off in an hour to
the hospital for an appendicitis operation. The next morning I was
operated upon, and they told me the Grand Duke had sent to ask how I
was, as the Czar wished to know if the operation was successful before
he left town. I thought it showed a charming, kindly thoughtfulness of
others.
The nurses were all most kind to me in the hospital, but the surgeon was
utterly uninterested in anything but the healing of the wound itself,
and paid absolutely no attention to the other rather distressing
occurrences of my illness. One could see that a highly strung, nervous
American woman would have fared badly with him.
Sazonoff was with the Czar's suite, and I remember the Darmstadtites
were much insulted because he always took the train to Frankfurt half an
hour away, or to Wiesbaden (one hour), for luncheon or dinner, as he
said there was nothing fit to eat at the local hotels. I secretly quite
agreed with him.
We often went ourselves to Frankfurt for tea, or a wild American craving
would come over me for lobster or chicken salad, and we would up and
away to Wiesbaden for supper. Darmstadt was very conveniently situated
for short trips, surrounded as it is by interesting towns--Heidelberg
only a short distance south of us, or Mannheim close enough for a day's
visit. I sang _Niklaus_ in "Hoffmann" in Mannheim for the first time
without a rehearsal, having learnt the part in my room at the piano
without a Kapellmeister to give me the _tempi_, and never having seen
the opera. That was a trying experience, not helped by the tenor
knocking me flat down in the Venetian scene as I rushed on to tell him
that the watch was coming. He weighed about two hundred and fifty
pounds, and colliding with him in midcareer, I gave him right of way by
going down flat on my back.
At Frankfurt we heard a wonderful performance of "Elektra" with Richard
Strauss conducting and Bahr-Mildenburg as _Klytemnestra_. I shall never
forget her in it, nor the orchestral effects Strauss produced. I felt at
the end as if I had been watching an insane woman, so marvellous was
Bahr-Mildenburg's portrayal of the half-demented creature. Her large
face, pale, with haunting, sick eyes, her scarlet, gold-embroidered
draperies, the clutching, bony fingers on her jewelled staff, the
swaying body she seemed barely able to keep erect, the psychology of the
queen's character, all this together combined to give the exact effect
she wanted, and to convey it strongly and clearly to the farthest seat
in the big theatre.
We grew to know very well a Russian boy, whose family had interests in
Darmstadt. He told us much of Russia and he and his sister seemed
creatures of a different world to us. She was frail and exotic looking,
with very curly, bronze hair, a skin like a gardenia petal, and the
tiniest full-lipped, blood-red mouth I have ever seen. At home she spent
most of her time in the saddle or in the stables. She had men's uniforms
made, and rode out with the officers dressed as they were. They could
both drink enormous quantities of _Bowle_ and follow it up with
champagne and Swedish punch, and never even flush pink. Only S---- used
to become very talkative and spout Greek verses by the hour. At that
time we lived in a pension, and every Saturday night or after a big
performance of mine, say "Carmen," he would arrange an elaborate fete.
Sometimes we all had to appear dressed as Romans in sheets and wreaths,
before he was satisfied. One night I remember I grew tired of our all
being so monotonously beautiful, and came down dressed as a Suffragette,
with the false nose I wear as the _Witch_ in "Haensel und Gretel,"
flowing grey locks, spectacles, and some ridiculous costume, half Greek
and half witch. S---- was so horrified that he never once looked at me
during the evening and I finally saw that he was so genuinely unhappy
that I changed to something more esthetic.
He had as much spending money apparently as he desired, but his sister
never had a cent. She had no evening gown and only shabby clothes. She
seemed blissfully unaware of any shortcomings of her wardrobe, however,
and only once felt the lack of a party dress. We arranged something for
her that time, as she had no money to spend, and her brother did not
seem to think it necessary to give her any. After a particularly
successful fete, S---- would wander the deserted streets and kneel
before fountains in the public squares, dipping water from them with
his derby hat, and pouring it on the earth as libations to Pallas
Athene, as he always called me. And he was not in the least drunk, if
you will believe me, only fearfully Russian.
When they left the pension their luggage at the station consisted of a
pile of shabby hand-baggage, mostly newspaper parcels. The girl had no
purse but a soldier's little coin case of goatskin, so Frau von A----
emptied her own bag, and stuffed L----'s possessions into it. Their
indifference to all these things which would all have been regulated and
in keeping with their position if they had belonged to any other country
than Russia, I believe was quite typical and seemed to me rather
sublime.
S---- afterwards made a trip round the world. Goodness knows how he
found out whether I was singing or not, but some night after singing one
of my big roles I would receive a monstrous basket of red roses, or an
armful of orchids, cabled for from Honolulu or China. He even remembered
my _Dachshund's_ birthday, and cabled the baker to send Peter a
wonderful _Torte_ with birthday candles.