The Mapleson Memoirs, 1848-1888 Volume Ii Part 14

The following day I received this, other epistle:--

"February 10th.

"DEAR SIR,

"My client, Baron Hesse Wartegg, has applied to me for advice concerning the indignities which Signor Ravelli, of your troupe, has offered to Mdme. Minnie Hauk on the stage. Signor Ravelli has uttered serious threats against the lady, and has on several occasions in presence of the public a.s.saulted her and inflicted bodily injuries, notably on Monday evening last, during the performance of _Carmen_. My client wishes me to invoke the protection of the law against similar occurrences, as Mdme. Hauk fears that her life is in imminent danger.

Under these circ.u.mstances I am compelled to apply to the magistrates for a warrant against Signor Ravelli, in order that he may be bound over to keep the peace. The law of this State affecting offences of this character is very severe, and should the matter be brought to the cognizance of our courts, Miss Hauk will not only have ample protection, but Mr. Ravelli will be punished. It is her desire, however, to avoid unpleasant notoriety, which would doubtless reflect on your entire troupe, and on your undertaking to execute a bond for 2,000 dollars to guarantee the future good conduct of Ravelli I shall proceed no further.

I respectfully invite your immediate attention to this, and beg you will favour me with an early reply. Should I fail to hear from you before to-morrow evening I shall construe your silence as a refusal to secure proper protection for Miss Hauk and proceed accordingly.

"Miss Hauk and her husband are actuated by no other motives but those which are prompted by the lady's own safety. Please favour me with an early answer.

"Very respectfully yours,

"(Signed) WILLIAM VOCKE,

"Attorney for Miss Minnie Hauk."

I had no option but to give the bond.

That evening Signor Arditi, on leaving the theatre, caught a severe cold, which confined him to his bed, developing afterwards into an attack of pneumonia. The a.s.sistant conductor, Signor Sapio, was attacked by a similar malady; also Mdlle. Bauermeister, who was soon indeed in a very dangerous condition.

The following evening Mdlle. Fohstrom appeared as "Lucia di Lammermoor,"

and met with very great success.

With much persuasion I induced Miss Hauk to reappear as "Carmen", replacing Ravelli by the other tenor, De Falco.

During the ensuing week Arditi's condition became worse and worse. As we were engaged to appear the following evening at Minneapolis we were compelled to leave him behind as well as various other members of the Company, who were also indisposed. Prior to my departure I saw the doctor, who informed me that he considered Arditi's case hopeless; on which I prepared a cable for his wife asking what was to be done with his remains. This I left confidentially with the waiter.

I managed to get with the remnants of my Company to Minneapolis, where a severe attack of gout developed itself, which confined me to my bed; I in turn being left behind whilst the Company went on to St. Paul.

On the Company leaving St. Paul I managed to join the train on its road to St. Louis, where we remained a week. On the last day of our stay there I was pleased to see Arditi again able to join the Company, though in a very delicate state. Mdme. Hauk arrived at St. Louis the last day we were there. The following week we performed in Kansas City, where for the opening we gave _Carmen_ with Minnie Hauk, followed by _Faust_ with Mdme. Nordica as "Margherita." The following night at Topeka we played _Lucia di Lammermoor_ with Fohstrom.

During these lengthened journeys across the Continent to the Pacific Coast the whole of the salaries ran on as if the artists were performing regularly.

As a rule we all travelled together; but occasionally, when the distance between one engagement and the next was too great, and the time too short, we separated. Sometimes one town in which we performed was four or five hundred miles away from the next. In that case the train was either divided into two or into three pieces, as the case might be. For instance, when we left for Chicago the engineer saw that he was unable to get to that city in time for our engagement the same evening. He therefore telegraphed back to Pittsburg, and the railroad officials there telegraphed on to Fort Wayne to have two extra locomotives ready for us. Our train was then cut into three parts, and sent whizzing along to Chicago at a lively rate, getting there in plenty of time for the evening's performance. It was wonderful, and nothing but a great corporation like the Pennsylvania Railroad Company could accomplish such a feat. By leaving at two o'clock in the morning we arrived at four the same afternoon at our next destination, in ample time to perform that evening; my hundred and sixty people having travelled a distance of four or five hundred miles with scenery, dresses, and properties.

We afterwards visited St. Joseph and Denver, opening at the latter with _Carmen_ on a Sat.u.r.day at the Academy of Music. Early the next morning we decided to give a grand Sunday concert at the Tabor Opera-house; but as no printing could be done, and no newspapers were published, the announcements had to be chalked upon the walls. With some difficulty we got a programme printed towards the latter part of the day, but notwithstanding this short announcement, so popular was the Company that the house was literally packed full. We played at Cheyenne the following evening, afterwards visiting Salt Lake City, where we presented _Carmen_. The irascible Mr. Ravelli again showed temper, and by doing so caused great inconvenience. I replaced him by one of the other tenors of the Company.

Of course I was blamed for this. Ravelli, however, had declared himself to be indisposed, and I at once published the certificate signed by Dr.

Fowler.

The opera went exceedingly well.

Immediately after the performance we started for San Francisco, where we arrived the following Sunday afternoon, opening with _Carmen_ on the Monday night before a most distinguished audience. Signor Ravelli performed "Don Jose," but in a very careless manner, omitting the best part of the music. He made little or no effect, whilst Minnie Hauk, who had not recovered from her previous fatigues, obtained but a _succes d'estime_.

Meantime a sale of seats by auction, which had been held, was an entire _fiasco_.

The second evening Mdlle. Fohstrom made a most brilliant success. The third night was devoted to Ma.s.senet's _Manon_, in which Miss Hauk did far better than on the opening night. The following evening we performed _La Traviata_, in which Mdme. Nordica made her appearance, Signor Giannini undertaking the _role_ of "Alfredo." During this time great preparations were being made for a production of _L'Africaine_. The whole of the scenery and dresses, even to the s.h.i.+p, had been brought to the Pacific coast, at a considerable outlay; no less than 900 being paid for overweight of baggage through transporting this costly vessel across the plains.

The performance was a fine one, and the work was rendered admirably throughout, the great ballets and the processions gaining immense applause.

In the meantime a great deal of unpleasantness was going on in the Company, which greatly crippled my movements, besides diminis.h.i.+ng my nightly receipts.

Although Ravelli, who was really the cause of all the trouble, had been ill for nearly three weeks, he refused to sing any more unless his full salary were paid him for the whole of the time. This, of course, I refused, and law proceedings were the consequence.

De Anna, the baritone, had an engagement for the whole six months of our American tour; and there was a clause in his contract which provided that during the interval of eight days, about the latter part of December, whilst the Company was idle, the salary should be suspended.

But on our resuming the tour Mr. De Anna immediately notified me that unless I paid him for those eight days he would stop singing. This was the commencement of my trouble with him. Prior to our arrival his salary was handed to him, half in cash, and half in a cheque payable at San Francisco. He presented his cheque at the bank before the money had been placed there, and notified me that in consequence of non-payment he refused to sing that evening. Thereupon the treasurer went down to his hotel with the money, which was only a small amount of some 50 or 60.

But he refused to accept it and surrender the cheque. The money was again tendered to him, and again refused.

De Anna, following suit with Ravelli, immediately inserted an advertis.e.m.e.nt in the daily papers setting forth that the part of "Nelusko" in _L'Africaine_ was one of the most arduous _roles_ in the _repertoire_ of a baritone, and that he alone was capable of performing it; while he at the same time respectfully informed the public that he did not intend to do so.

In the production of _L'Africaine_, however, Del Puente undertook the _role_ of "Nelusko," and met with signal success, so that the recalcitrant baritone was left out in the cold and not missed. This tended still further to rouse his ire, and he resorted to a series of daily statements of some kind or other with the view of discrediting the Opera.

It was, indeed, a trying matter to me. The baritone, De Anna, refused to sing, and Ravelli was in bed with a bad cold; so, too, was Mdlle.

Fohstrom. News, moreover, arrived from Minneapolis that Mdme. Nordica's mother, who had been left there, was at the point of death. Nordica insisted on rus.h.i.+ng off at a moment's notice to make the journey of five days in the hope of reaching her while she was yet alive; and the rest of the Company were in open rebellion.

The season, however, despite these almost insurmountable difficulties, was a complete artistic success; and the Company I presented to my supporters in San Francisco was one that would have done honour to any European Opera-house. But, again, the name of _la Diva_ being missing, the patronage accorded me was of a most scanty kind. The wealthy and luxurious inhabitants of the suggestively named "n.o.bs' Hill" remained carefully away.

I managed, however, to give the twenty-four consecutive performances promised, together with three Sunday concerts, the penultimate performance being devoted to my benefit.

CHAPTER XII.

THE RETREAT FROM FRISCO--HOTEL DANGERS--A SCENE FROM "CARMEN"--OPERATIC INVALIDS--MURDEROUS LOVERS--RAVELLI'S CLAIM--GENERAL BARNES'S REPLY--CLAMOUR FOR HIGHER PRICES--MY ONWARD MARCH.

San Francisco, or Frisco, as the inhabitants pleasantly call it, is at the end of the American world; it is the toe of the stocking beyond which there is no further advance. For this reason many persons who go to Frisco with the intention of coming back do, as a matter of fact, remain. It is comparatively easy to get there, but the return may be difficult. It is obviously a simpler matter to sc.r.a.pe together enough money for a single journey than to collect sufficient funds for a journey to and fro; and the capital of California is full of newly-settled residents, many of whom, having got so far, have found themselves without the means of retracing their steps.

At the period of the operatic campaign conducted by me--which, beginning most auspiciously, ended in trouble, disaster, and a retreat that was again and again on the point of being cut off--contending railway companies had so arranged matters that access to San Francisco was easier than ever. The war of rates had been carried on with such severity that the competing railway companies had at last, in their determination of outstripping one another, reduced the charge for carriage from Omaha to Frisco to a nominal sum per head. 20 (100 dollars) was the amount levied for conveying a pa.s.senger to Frisco direct; but on his arrival at the Frisco terminus 19 was returned to him as "rebate" when he gave up his ticket.

The rates from Frisco to New York had also been considerably reduced; and it was not until, after a series of pecuniary failures, we were on the point of starting that, to our confusion and my despair, they were suddenly raised. I had a force of 160 under my command, with an unusual proportion of baggage; and this hostile move on the part of the railway companies had the immediate effect of arresting my egress from the city.

Ravelli, possibly at the suggestion of his oracular dog (who always gave him the most perfidious counsel), had laid an embargo on all the music, thus delaying our departure, which would otherwise have been effected while the railway companies were still at war. They seemed to have come to an understanding for the very purpose of impeding my retreat.

Ravelli suffered more than I did by his inconsiderate behaviour, for he was entirely unable, with or without the aid of his canine adviser, to look after his own interests.

It must be understood that in America a creditor or any claimant for money, _bona-fide_ or not, can in the case of a foreigner commence process by attaching the property of the alleged debtor. This may be done on a simple affidavit, and the matter is not brought before the Courts until afterwards.

All the foreigner can do in return is to find "bondsmen" who will guarantee his appearance at a future period, or, in default, payment of the sum demanded; and it has happened to me when I have been on the point of taking s.h.i.+p to be confronted by a number of claimants, each of whom had procured an order empowering him either to arrest me or to seize my effects. I used, therefore, on my way to the steamer, or it might be the railway station, to march, attended by a couple of "bondsmen" and a Judge. The "bondsmen" gave the necessary security, the Judge signed his acceptance of the proffered guarantee, and I was then at liberty to depart.

Once, as I have already shown, I had to suffer attachment of my receipts at the hands of a body of "scalpers," who, when I had liberated the money through the aid of two friendly "bondsmen" and a courteous Judge, abandoned their claim; though when next year I returned to Frisco they could, of course, had it not been absolutely groundless, have pressed it before the proper tribunal.

Among other extraordinary claims made upon me immediately after the affair of the "scalpers" was one for 400 gallons of eau de Cologne. Some such quant.i.ty had, it was alleged, been ordered for fountains that were to play in front of the Opera-house; but the dealers, in lieu of eau de Cologne, had furnished me chiefly with water of the country. They swore, however, that I really owed them the money they demanded, and an attachment was duly granted.

It was through the treachery, then, of the dog-fearing Ravelli that our misfortunes in Frisco were brought to something like a crisis. In seizing the music in which the whole Company had an interest the thoughtless tenor was, of course, injuring himself and preparing his own discomfiture. The effect of his action was in any case to stop for a time my departure. We had evacuated the city, and now found ourselves blocked and isolated at the railway station. The railways would not have us at any price but their own. The hotel keepers were by no means anxious for our return, and some of the members of my Company had a healthy horror of running up hotel bills they were unable to pay. This may in part at least have been inspired by the following notice which, or something to the same effect, may be found exhibited in most of the Western hotels:--