Chapter I: Front Matter

GERALDINE FARRAR

_THE STORY

OF AN AMERICAN SINGER_

Signature of Geraldine Farrar]

GERALDINE FARRAR

THE STORY

OF AN AMERICAN SINGER

BY

HERSELF

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

MDCCCCXVI

COPYRIGHT, 1915 AND 1916, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY GERALDINE FARRAR-TELLEGEN

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

_Published March 1916_

A DEDICATION

In offering these little sketches of some of the interesting events that have helped shape a career now fairly familiar to the general public, it has not been my intention to weary the indulgent reader with a lengthy dissertation of literary pretension, or tiresome data resulting from the obvious and oft-recurring "I."

From out the storehouse of memory, impressions crystallized into form without regard to time or place, and it was more than a passing pleasure to jot them down at haphazard; in the quiet of my library, on the flying train, or again, beneath the witchery of California skies, I scribbled as the mood prompted, as I would converse with an interested and congenial listener.

It is not, perhaps, a New England characteristic to expand in affectionate eulogy for the satisfaction of a curious public, but the threads of these recollections are so closely interwoven with maternal love and devotion, that this volume would be incomplete without its rightful dedication to

MY MOTHER

G. F.

CONTENTS

I. MY LIFE AS A CHILD 1

II. THE DRAMATIC IMPULSE 8

III. I RESOLVE TO SING "CARMEN" 18

IV. MY FIRST DAYS IN MY DREAM WORLD 28

V. I REFUSE TO SING AT THE METROPOLITAN 36

VI. PARIS 42

VII. GERMANY: THE TURNING-POINT 50

VIII. IMPERIAL ENCOURAGEMENT 59

IX. ON TOUR; MONTE CARLO AND STOCKHOLM 68

X. MY FOURTH SEASON 77

XI. LEAVING BERLIN 84

XII. MY FIRST APPEARANCE IN NEW YORK 89

XIII. MISUNDERSTANDINGS 99

XIV. THE DAYS I NOW ENJOY 108

ILLUSTRATIONS

"_Columbia_" (_From a photograph by Ira L. Hill_) _Jacket illustration_

_Geraldine Farrar_ (_From a recent photograph by Victor Georg_) _Frontispiece_

_Miss Farrar as a Little Girl in Melrose_ 2

_Mr. and Mrs. Sydney D. Farrar_ 4

_Miss Farrar and her First Singing Teacher, Mrs. Long_ 8

_A Young Girl with a Phenomenal Soprano Voice_ 12

_Growing up_ 16

_The Goose Girl and her Flock_ 22

_Calve as "Carmen"_ 24

_Jean de Reszke_ 26

_Emma Thursby_ 28

_Melba as "Marguerite"_ 30

_Miss Farrar and her Mother_ 32

_Dr. Holbrook Curtis_ 36

_Maurice Grau_ 38

_Five Well-known Parts_ 42

_Camille Saint-Saens_ 46

_"I spent the Summer in Brittany"_ 50

_The Royal Opera House, Berlin_ 52

_The Kaiser_ 54

_"My Third Season opened in 'Traviata'"_ 56

_At Frau von Rath's_ 60

_Lilli Lehmann_ 62

_The Crown Prince of Germany_ 64

_Cecile, Crown Princess of Germany, and her Children_ 66

_Massenet_ 68

_Marconi_ 70

_Caruso_ 72

_King Oscar of Sweden_ 74

_"Sans Gene"_ 80

_"La Tosca"_ 82

_Wolf-Ferrari_ 84

_Leaving Berlin_ 86

_Mark Twain_ 90

_"Madame Butterfly"_ 92

_David Belasco_ 94

_Sarah Bernhardt_ 96

_"As Pretty a Flock of Birds as one could find"_ 100

_As the Goose Girl in "Koenigskinder"_ 102

_Kate Douglas Wiggin_ 104

_Miss Farrar and Caruso in "Julian"_ 106

_As "Carmen"_ 108

_Work and play in California_ 110

_Making New Friends in the Movies_ 112

_Miss Farrar and Mr. Tellegen_ (_Photograph Reproduced by courtesy of the International Film Service, inc._) 114

GERALDINE FARRAR

THE STORY OF AN AMERICAN SINGER