Grand Opera in San Francisco [pp. 279-284]

Grand Opera in San Francisco
"That was a night never to be forgotten.
When Campanari, the Barber in the opera,
came on the stage some one in the audience
hissed him, and no one of us behind the
scenes knew what a reception we would
get as the Spanish opera proceeded. You
must remember the patriotic excitement was
at fever heat, and it needed only a slight rise
in temperature to make an audience capable
of almost any unlooked-for happening. I
know how I felt myself, for only that afternoon I stood at the window of my apart
from all parts of the house. Finally, I did
manage to collect myself to the extent that
I was able to strike the keys of the piano
and the first chords of the great war-song.
How I got through the verse I shall never
tell you, nor will I attempt to describe to you
what followed. If you are an American,
and particularly a Bostonian, surrounded by
all the traditions of your country's independence, you will certainly know better than I
can tell you.
"Yes, we are to repeat'La Boh6me' on
Mlle. Zelie de Lussan
ments at the Palace Hotel and watched the
noble Boys in Blue start away for war.
"In the second act of the Barber you will
remember the Lesson scene occurs. I had
sung'Sevillanla,' by Massenet and'Matinale,' by Tosti, which I usually interpolate at
that point, and for an encore had sung the
'Suwanee River,' but the audience waited
for something else, and continued their applause.
"Suddenly some one called,'Sing the StarSpangled Banner,' and before I could think
the house was in a tumult. I was so frightened I scarcely knew what to do, but the
audience had taken up the cry and it came
Monday of next week, and if the second
hearing of the opera is as succesful as the
first-what more can I ask?"
And no San Franciscan who was fortunate enough to hear the wondrous burst of
feeling that followed Melba's rendering
of the national anthem will fail to join in.
the quotation from the Nurse in "Romeo
and Juliet," An I should live a thousand years
I never should forget it.
So Madame Melba will come to greet a
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