Chapter I: Foreword

The name of Clara Louise Kellogg is known to the immediate generation chiefly as an echo of the past. Yet only thirty years ago it was written of her, enthusiastically but truthfully, that "no living singer needs a biography less than Miss Clara Louise Kellogg; and nowhere in the world would a biography of her be so superfluous as in America, where her name is a household word and her illustrious career is familiar in all its triumphant details to the whole people."

The past to which she belongs is therefore recent; it is the past of yesterday only, thought of tenderly by our fathers and mothers, spoken of reverently as a poignant phase of their own ephemeral youth, one of their sweet lavender memories. The pity is (although this is itself part of the evanescent charm), that the singer's best creations can live but in the hearts of a people, and the fame of sound is as fugitive as life itself.

A record of such creations is, however, possible and also enduring; while it is also necessary for a just estimate of the development of civilisations. As such, this record of her musical past--presented by Clara Louise Kellogg herself--will have a place in the annals of the evolution of musical art on the North American continent long after every vestige of fluttering personal reminiscence has vanished down the ages. A word of appreciation with regard to the preparation of this record is due to John Jay Whitehead, Jr., whose diligent chronological labours have materially assisted the editor.

Clara Louise Kellogg came from New England stock of English heritage. She was named after Clara Novello. Her father, George Kellogg, was an inventor of various machines and instruments and, at the time of her birth, was principal of Sumter Academy, Sumterville, S. C. Thus the famous singer was acclaimed in later years not only as the Star of the North (the _role_ of Catherine in Meyerbeer's opera of that name being one of her achievements) but also as "the lone star of the South in the operatic world." She first sang publicly in New York in 1861 at an evening party given by Mr. Edward Cooper, the brother of Mrs. Abram Hewitt. This was the year of her _debut_ as Gilda in Verdi's opera of _Rigoletto_ at the Academy of Music in New York City. When she came before her countrymen as a singer, she was several decades ahead of her musical public, for she was a lyric artist as well as a singer. America was not then producing either singers or lyric artists; and in fact we were, as a nation, but just getting over the notion that America could not produce great voices. We held a very firm contempt for our own facilities, our knowledge, and our taste in musical matters. If we did discover a rough diamond, we had to send it to Italy to find out if it were of the first water and to have it polished and set. Nothing was so absolutely necessary for our self-respect as that some American woman should arise with sufficient American talent and bravery to prove beyond all cavil that the country was able to produce both singers and artists.

For rather more than twenty-five years, from her appearance as Gilda until she quietly withdrew from public life, when it seemed to her that the appropriate moment for so doing had come, Clara Louise Kellogg filled this need and maintained her contention. She was educated in America, and her career, both in America and abroad, was remarkable in its consistent triumphs. When Gounod's _Faust_ was a musical and an operatic innovation, she broke through the Italian traditions of her training and created the _role_ of Marguerite according to her own beliefs; and throughout her later characterisations in Italian opera, she sustained a wonderfully poised attitude of independence and of observance with regard to these same traditions. In London, in St. Petersburg, in Vienna, as well as in the length and breadth of the United States, she gained a recognition and an appreciation in opera, oratorio, and concert, second to none: and when, later, she organised an English Opera Company and successfully piloted it on a course of unprecedented popularity, her personal laurels were equally supreme.

In 1887, Miss Kellogg married Carl Strakosch, who had for some time been her manager. Mr. Strakosch is the nephew of the two well-known impresarios, Maurice and Max Strakosch. After her marriage, the public career of Clara Louise Kellogg virtually ended. The Strakosch home is in New Hartford, Connecticut, and Mrs. Strakosch gave to it the name of "Elpstone" because of a large rock shaped like an elephant that is the most conspicuous feature as one enters the grounds through the poplar-guarded gate. Mr. and Mrs. Strakosch are very fond of their New Hartford home, but, the Litchfield County climate in winter being severe, they usually spend their winters in Rome. They have also travelled largely in Oriental countries.

In 1912, Mr. and Mrs. Strakosch celebrated their Silver Wedding at Elpstone. On this occasion, the whole village of New Hartford was given up to festivities, and friends came from miles away to offer their congratulations. Perhaps the most pleasant incident of the celebration was the presentation of a silver loving cup to Mr. and Mrs. Strakosch by the people of New Hartford in token of the affectionate esteem in which they are both held.

The woman, Clara Louise Kellogg, is quite as distinct a personality as was the _prima donna_. So thoroughly, indeed, so fundamentally, is she a musician that her knowledge of life itself is as much a matter of harmony as is her music. She lives her melody; applying the basic principle that Carlyle has expressed so admirably when he says: "See deeply enough and you see musically."

ISABEL MOORE.

WOODSTOCK, N. Y. August, 1913

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. MY FIRST NOTES 1

II. GIRLHOOD 11

III. "LIKE A PICKED CHICKEN!" 22

IV. A YOUTHFUL REALIST 33

V. LITERARY BOSTON 43

VI. WAR TIMES 55

VII. STEPS OF THE LADDER 62

VIII. MARGUERITE 77

IX. OPERA COMIQUE 90

X. ANOTHER SEASON AND A LITTLE MORE SUCCESS 99

XI. THE END OF THE WAR 110

XII. AND SO--TO ENGLAND! 119

XIII. AT HER MAJESTY'S 129

XIV. ACROSS THE CHANNEL 139

XV. MY FIRST HOLIDAY ON THE CONTINENT 152

XVI. FELLOW-ARTISTS 163

XVII. THE ROYAL CONCERTS AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE 177

XVIII. THE LONDON SEASON 188

XIX. HOME AGAIN 200

XX. "YOUR SINCERE ADMIRER" 212

XXI. ON THE ROAD 227

XXII. LONDON AGAIN 235

XXIII. THE SEASON WITH LUCCA 245

XXIV. ENGLISH OPERA 254

XXV. ENGLISH OPERA--_Continued_ 266

XXVI. AMATEURS AND OTHERS 276

XXVII. "THE THREE GRACES" 289

XXVIII. ACROSS THE SEAS AGAIN 300

XXIX. TEACHING AND THE HALF-TALENTED 309

XXX. THE WANDERLUST, AND WHERE IT LED ME 324

XXXI. SAINT PETERSBURG 334

XXXII. GOOD-BYE TO RUSSIA--AND THEN? 346

XXXIII. THE LAST YEARS OF MY PROFESSIONAL CAREER 357

XXXIV. _CODA_ 370

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG STRAKOSCH _Frontispiece_

LYDIA ATWOOD 2
Maternal Grandmother of Clara Louise Kellogg

CHARLES ATWOOD 4
Maternal Grandfather of Clara Louise Kellogg
From a Daguerreotype

GEORGE KELLOGG 10
Father of Clara Louise Kellogg
From a photograph by Gurney & Son

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG, AGED THREE 12
From a photograph by Black & Case

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG, AGED SEVEN 14
From a photograph by Black & Case

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS A GIRL 20
From a photograph by Sarony

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS A YOUNG LADY 28
From a photograph by Black & Case

BRIGNOLI, 1865 42
From a photograph by C. Silvy

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, IN 1861 46
From a photograph by Brady

CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN, 1861 52
From a photograph by Silabee, Case & Co.

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS FIGLIA 56
From a photograph by Black & Case

GENERAL HORACE PORTER 58
From a photograph by Pach Bros.

MUZIO 66
From a photograph by Gurney & Son

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS LUCIA 72
From a photograph by Elliott & Fry

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS MARTHA 74
From a photograph by Turner

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS MARGUERITE, 1865 82
From a photograph by Sarony

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS MARGUERITE, 1864 88
From a silhouette by Ida Waugh

GOTTSCHALK 106
From a photograph by Case & Getchell

JANE ELIZABETH CROSBY 108
Mother of Clara Louise Kellogg
From a tintype

GENERAL WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, 1877 116
From a photograph by Mora

HENRY G. STEBBINS 122
From a photograph by Grillet & Co.

ADELINA PATTI 130
From a photograph by Fredericks

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS LINDA, 1868 134
From a photograph by Stereoscopic Co.

MR. JAMES MCHENRY 138
From a photograph by Brady

CHRISTINE NILSSON, AS QUEEN OF THE NIGHT 146
From a photograph by Pierre Petit

DUKE OF NEWCASTLE 188
From a photograph by John Burton & Sons

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS CARMEN 230
From a photograph

SIR HENRY IRVING AND ELLEN TERRY AS THE VICAR
AND OLIVIA 234
From a photograph by Window & Grove

FIRST EDITION OF THE "FAUST" SCORE, PUBLISHED
IN 1859 BY CHOUSENS OF PARIS, NOW IN THE
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 240

NEWSPAPER PRINT OF THE KELLOGG-LUCCA SEASON 250
Drawn by Jos. Keppler

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG IN _MIGNON_ 252
From a photograph by Mora

ELLEN TERRY 284
From a photograph by Sarony

COLONEL HENRY MAPLESON 290
From a photograph by Downey

CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG AS AIDA 292
From a photograph by Mora

FAUST BROOCH PRESENTED TO CLARA LOUISE
KELLOGG 298

CARL STRAKOSCH 364
From a photograph by H. W. Barnett

LETTER FROM EDWIN BOOTH TO CLARA LOUISE
KELLOGG 366

"ELPSTONE," NEW HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 370

Memoirs of An American Prima Donna