THE MASTER MUSICIANS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 30, 28 April 1927, Page 14

THE MASTER MUSICIANS

GREAT SINGERS PAST & PRESENT

MADAME EMMA EAMES.

Madame Emma Eames, who was one of the most popular operatic soprano's of her day, was born of American parents in Shanghai, August 13, 1867, and was taken to Bath, Maine, U.S.A., at the age of five by her mother. Her mother taught singing, and from her she received her early instruction. Then she was sent to Boston, where she studied for three years, after which *he went to Paris, where she studied under Mme. Marchesi, in 1868-88. Through Mme. Marchesi she was introduced to Gounod, who was at the time looking for a singer to create the role of Juliet in his “Romeo and Juliet.” Gounod was so delighted with her voice that he secured an engagement for her at the Grand Opera, and on March 3, 1889, she made a triumphal debut as Juliet, the entire Paris Press singing her praises the next day. For two years she remained at the Opera, of which she was the chief ornament in every sense of the word. In April, 1891, she made her London debut, appearing as Marguerite in “Faust,” and at once established herself as a favourite with the more musical part of the public. In December, 1891, she made her first appearance in America, where she at once justified her European reputation. The opera was “Romeo and Juliet,” and with her in the cast were Jean and Edouard de Reske, two of the greatest operatic artists the world has ever produced. Other operas in which she excelled were “Faust,” “Otello,” “Falstaff,” “Cavalleria Rusticana”; and it was largely owing to her that “Aida” at last began to be appreciated as the best of all Italian operas. At one time in her career it was often said that while her singing was beautiful it was lacking in warmth. Doubtless at that time it did give that impression, but this was not due to a lack of temperament, but to defects in her vocal technique, which she gradually overcame. “I used to be accused of coldness,” she said to a writer for the “New York Times” in 1897, “but it was simply restraint. I did not dare to sing with abandon because I was not sure of myself. Now I am, and the result is that critics say I display greate; warmth and breadth of style.” For years she spent her free months near Florence, Italy, where she live? in a picturesque castle resembling a tower. Concerning this life she sail that “the health gained when, clad in my short skirt and shirt-waist, a gooc stout stick in my hand and hobnailed boots on my feet, I climbed the mountains near our Italian home, helps me all through the season of work, make the struggle easier, because I needn’t take time to look after my physica well-being.” There are, however, ailments that resist all hygienic measures, and ii was because of such that Mme. Eames retired from the operatic stage in February, 1909, just 20 years after her Parisian debut. She sang “Tosca” at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, as her swan song, and received an ovation which must have warmed her heart. In response she said: “Thi: is good-bye. Whatever is good in me you have brought out. You have been very exacting and have insisted always on the best that is in me. In the eighteen years that I have sung here I have endeavoured to give you my best. My love 1 leave you. Good-bye.”