Am operatic refugee

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2465, 19 May 1915, Page 6

Am operatic refugee

FLEEING FROM THE GUNS MADAME LINA NYBERG ON HER EXPERIENCES Madame Lina Nyberg, tho Belgian operatic artist, who has arrived in Wellington from the south, has not a long career and weighty experience to back her—she has something infinitely more attractive. The light of youth and joy in life shines out of her big brown eyes, and she has vivacity, charm, good looks, and' faultless taste as adjuncts to her vocal gifts to help her on lifers and there is in her nature tbat cheerful bouhomie that is as native to a Belgian yoiuig lady as to French. She does not speak perfect English, but can nuke herself readily understood, and when stuck for a word or an expression nils in with the French equivalent, and then .ooks hard at one to learn if she is understood. This makes her conversation somewhat of a guessing competi-' tion—such, however, as one would not readily miss. Madame Nyberg is still ill her early twenties, and has only had two J ears on the operatic stage, during which she has sung three rolesMarguerite in "Faust." Mimi in "La Bohome. and Michaela in "Carmen"— in Mons and Antwerp. Mons is the town where most of the debutantes make their first appearance, and if successful tlicro they graduate into companies playing the larger towns, and finally Antwerp and Brussels. The operas mentioned do not comprise Madamc's repertoire, as she is familiar with most or the soprano roles of modern lvric °P° ras i including "Madame Butterfly," _ Las , T ?sca," "Lakme" (Delibes), "The Pearl of Brazil," "La Traviat;i,' : "Rigoletto.' and could with a little preparaMon sing them. To her the war has meant the hardest luck. Being on. the eve of a successful career, and with youth and ambition as her twin allies, she would probably have come to the front 111 the artistic world—but for the war I Within Sound of the Cuns. j® °nly at the mention of the war that Madame becomes grave. She iv;is at Antwerp, when :ts forts were being bombarded by the German artillery. 'Ah, it was terrible," said Madame. » \ o had all beeu. told by the papers that they could not take Autiverp, and ail thought that was so, aud aid not tako things as seriously as we otherwise might hive done. AVhcu war broke out there were some terrible scenes in the city. German cafes, hotels, and houses were attacked, their windows were smashed, aud their pianos and things were pulled out and thrown into the Scheldt. That was when -our brave army were fighting for their lives at Liege. . . After Liege, I think our men knew it was practically useless to think they could stop the German advance, but they fough ; on, oh so bravelv, against terrible odds Still we did not think Antwerp could be taken. "Then came the Taubos and Zeppelins with bombs, and everybody was told to take shelter in the cellars, and there & lot of people lived, sleeping on mattresses laid on the ground, with brown paper pasted over the windows to prevent any light being seen at night. One big Zeppelin came sailing right over our house and dropped nine bombs. Nobody should have watched tlieni, but a woman in a house about six streets from our place was leaning out of the window when a bomb struck the window, decapitated tlie woman, killed lier husband within the room, but spared tlie baby in the cradle. No olio was allowed Ollt after 7.30 p.m., but from that time until well on in the night the streets were filled with gun-carriages and other vehicles engaged in the preparation for the defence. A Reservoir Destroyed. "One day a German shell struck the reservoir, and we could get no water— we had to manage with the water of the lazy Scheldt. 'There was no gas and. na eleotric light. When we heard the sound of the guns, aud the shells began to get too familiar, people rushed to get out, but there were no conveniences. . All the motors and other vehicles had been seized by the military, and so, in the end, the people had to walk to safety. I and my two littlo boys, aged three aud five years, formed part of a long caravan of people, trudging for Holland aud safety. 1 did not know the way or where tbs road led to, nor did the others with me—we simply followed the crowd. Forty in a Barn. "It took us fifteen hours to roach the border town of Bergen-oivZoom, and consequently we had to spend a night on tho road. Forty of us —men, women, and children —slept in a barn. It was so crowded that no one could lie down, though we were all tired to death, and we just had to sit on the floor ■ with our knees huddled up so (and Madame illustrated). "And all this time all we had to eat was a piece of old bread we had brought from Antwerp—money would not buy food. . . . Wo washed in tho morning, but wa had no soap, and only one towel —oh. it was so wet when it came to my turn that it would not dry at all! No'l My little boys were helped along by men, and thought the whole business a fine joke. So did others. Many of them thought they would only be away from Antwerp for a few days, aud tho only things they brought away with them were their family pets—a canary in a cage or a cat. The tragedy of .tl" Running the Blockade. "In Holland the people were kind. I went from Bergen-op-Zoom to Rotterdam, and from there to Flushing. It was just after the declaration of tho German submarine blockade that I went to Flushing, and I had tho utmost difficulty in getting away. I begged tho shipping people to allow me to cross in one of the meat boats to Tilbury, but without success at first. "When I heard that two French Ministers were going across in one of the meat boats I called on tho inspector for the tenth time, and told him L must go, as I had taken out my ticket for New Zealand. He said ho positively could not allow mo to go, and at length said lio would consent if tho London agents agreed. So I cabled them, aud tlioy consented, and after signing an mdomuity that I alone was to blame if anything happened—l didn't care then if I had to die—l crossed over without mishap."

Madame N.vberg' is to sing at the Grand Opera House on Monday and Tuesday next under the direction of Mr. John Hopkins.