Music Trade Review

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VOL. V.
NEW YORK, JANUARY 5TH, 1SS2, TO JANUARY 20TH, 1882.
No. 1 1 .
these matters were remedied she could not and logg is very grateful to the American public for
would not sing. The Colonel could not remedy the favor she has received at their hands. At
Leavenworth, for instance, the other day, the
URING the past few weeks T H E MUSICAL these things with Campanini, and, as a matter of Fort
officers
in full uniform gave her a reception at
course,
Mile.
Hauk
would
not
sing,—and
as
an-
CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW lias received
noon, and escorted her to the railroad depot."
other
matter
of
course,
"Carmen"
was
not
given.
complaints from various sources, in reference to
"It is imported that the late Col. Stebbins, who
the treatment and remuneration which the mem- We now hear that since Fred. Rullman has suc-
bers of the chorus and the ballet girls receive who ceeded in transferring his contract with Mile. spent a fortune on Miss Kellogg's musical educa-
mismanaged trust funds that belonged to
have been imported by Mapleson t\vis season. Rossini to Colonel Mapleson (which brought him tion,
During the opera season we refrained from pub- in a snug little sum), that the Colonel feels him- her. Is there any truth in that statement?"
lishing these complaints, and, instead of giving self independent of Mile. Ferni, and that she has, "None whatever," replied the Major, with em-
" I t ' s a falsehood out of whole cloth.
the matter in detail, the complaints which have in consequence, really severed her connection phasis.
an hour ago, Miss Kellogg was saying to me
been made will now be found in the details enu- with the company and has been negotiating with Only
how happy she was because all her affairs were in
Strakosch.
merated in this article.
such excellent condition. Referring to Col. Steb-
Probably
there
is
much
trutli
in
this
report.
In the first place, Col. Mapleson imported a
bins, she expressed satisfaction at the manner in
very incompetent chorus. The first night of the Mile. Ferni has peculiar ideas of her own, and the which he had discharged his trust for her. You
season ("Lohengrin") offered sufficient evidence Colonel is under the impression that her success can rely upon it, there is no truth whatever in that
that the chorus consisted of a combination of very has been very equivocal, and the acquisition of story."
ordinary singers, picked up in London ad libitum. Mile. Rossini makes him independent of Mile.
The Colonel knows that a good chorus can be Ferni, and he consequently drops her.
Such are the peculiar methods pursued by the
THE WOOD MUSICAL COLLEGE.
secured in New York, but he is also aware that
such a chorus will cost him from twenty to twenty- Colonel, and the people here, in a kind of good--
DECISION
was rendered on December 19, by
live dollars per person a week, while the chorus he natured ignorance or indifference, take most any
Surrogate Calvin, in the contest over the
kind
of
treatment
he
thinks
fits
to
impose.
The
imports costs him fifteen dollars per person a
codicil to the will of the late Samuel Wood, who
week. We can therefore explain the very mediocre season has been another series of fiascos, such as died in 1875 a reputed millionaire, and provided
would
ruin
Mapleson
in
any
provincial
town
of
work of the season.
by his will and codicil for the founding of a free
Signor Zarini, the chorus master, was so ntterly Europe, but which seem to increase his chances college of. music, to be called, after him, the Sam-
disgusted with the chorus ensemble during the re- for further success here.
This resume may offer a cue why the j)romised uel Wood Free Musical College, or the Samuel
hearsals of "Lohengrin," that he told the maca-
operas
have not been rendered thus far. It is well Wood Free College of Music. By a will dated
ronies that they were not eligible for street sing-
July 17, 1872, Mr. Wood made certain minor be-
known
that an efficient chorus is required.
ers, using a very opprobious epithet in Italian.
quests to relatives and friends, and then left the
However, the Colonel, fully aware that the
remainder of his estate to the founding and sup-
ALL
ABOUT
MISS
SELLOGGL
audiences of the Academy are more intent upon a
port of a sort of hospital or asylum, to be known
high C than any kind of genuine artistic work, /"1LARA LOUISE KELLOGG came to New as the Wood Benevolent Institution. By a codicil,
gnve the chorus but little attention, and the sub- \_J York to spend Christmas with her mamma, dated March 25, 1875, he directed that instead of
sequent disasters were of no consequence to him. at the Clarendon Hotel. As she had not finished founding a benevolent institution, the executors—
He may be perfectly correct in his j udgment. Time her Western tour, the local scribes wrote her up Abraham Hewlett, A. L. Simonson, Martin Wood,
is the only thing that will prove it.
as having made her farewell appearance before and Dr. William Elmer—should devote the resid-
uary estate to the founding and maintenance of a
During the provincial trip of the company, the becoming Mrs. T. B. Whitney, of Philadelphia.
Colonel charges each member fifty cents to remove
Miss Kellogg was very coy when reporters of free college of music.
a trunk to the hotel or boarding-house where the the daily papers called at the hotel. Her mother
The will and the codicil were both admitted to
owner may be stopping. This reduces the actual sent down word to each reporter that her daughter probate, but soon afterward, iipon application of
pay to fourteen dollars and fifty cents. No com- was "engaged"—a fact pretty well known to news- some of the relatives, the order was revoked as to
petent chorus singer can be employed at such in- paper men generally.
the codicil, and they were allowed to come in and
significant pay. Those whom the Colonel employs
Major Pond, her handsome agent, was more contest or offer evidence with a view to showing
are very decidedly incompetent, the altos having communicative. He was found in his office at the that he was mentally incapacitated and unduly in-
been very flat during the season, and no leading Everett House last week, and talked with, enthusi- fluenced at the time of executing the codicil. The
tenor or bass has been found in the whole chorus. asm about Miss Kellogg to a representative of contestants showed that the testator's mind was
Strakosch paid from twenty to twenty-five dol- THE MUSICAL CRITIC AND TRADE REVIEW.
very feeble, his mental and physical condition
lars each for chorus singers, and never made any
"Miss Kellogg," he said, "returns at once to very much prostrated, and that he spoke usually
charges for small outlays during the provincial Ohio, to finish her engagements there, and then I in a whisper. Most of the testimony as to his men-
trips. The chorus which Strakosch has this sea- shall take her to Memphis on a Southern tour. tal unsoundness was given by experts. But it was
son is of better quality than Mapleson's, as we The folks down that way have been anxious to shown by the evidence of Charles O'Conor and
have personally convinced ourselves during a trip hear her for many years, and now they will have others that he appeared fully to understand the
to Baltimore and Philadelphia recently while the a chance. I think she will make a big success in nature and number of the changes ho was making
in his will; that he held the will in his hand while
Stakosch company was giving operas in those the South."
he was directing the form of the codicil. The
cities.
"What about Miss Kellogg's season, go far?"
Since the advent of the Colonel's heavy brigade,
"It has been the most successful she has ever alleged undue influence, it was attempted to be
much cutting has taken place; but we are of the known. Everywhere she has been received with shown, was exercised by Dr. Elmer and Mr. and
opinion that Strakosch pays much better prices, the greatest enthusiasm, and she has never sung Mrs. Simonson, Dr. Elmer frequently urging the
endowment of a medical college, instead of an
and consequently has much better chorus singers better, nor enjoyed her singing more."
than those we heard at the Academy this season.
"They say, Major, that Miss Kellogg is going to asylum, and Mr. and Mrs. Simonson concurring in
the proposition. The Surrogate decided there was
The ballet girls represent the most menial fea- get married. Has she made you a confidant?"
ture of a Mapleson Opera Company. These girls
"Well, she has formally notified me that she nothing to show that Dr. Elmer was a material
are brought over here, for the purpose of will not sing in public after her season ends in beneficiary under the will or the codicil, while the
rehearsing and dancing, for the enormous pay ofj March, and there is no doubt that she is going to substitution of Hewlett and Elmer as executors
ten dollars per week. There exists, however, an marry Mr. Whitney, of Philadelphia. He is a gen- under the codicil still left Mr. Schenck a trustee
arbitrary rule, which permits the Colonel to de- tleman of wealth, and is pretty well known under the will. There was no evidence that this
codicil was the result of the operation of another
duct three dollars—say three dollars—in case one throughout the country."
mind. Mr. Wood had this subject of the change
of these girls should miss a rehearsal.
"Miss Kellogg must have made a few dollars, in his will under consideration from January \xntil
Daring several of the late performances we too, Major?"
March, and it was frequently discussed and re-
noticed a diminution of the size of the ballet.
"She has never told me whether she made a dol- ferred to, yet he was not shown to have dissented
This was due to such a deduction. The poor lar, and yet I believe she is worth to-day $500,000. from it. For these reasons the Siirrogate has sus-
girls were standing within the Fourteenth street She has made a fortune by judiciously investing tained the codicil and admitted it to probate.
entrance of the Academy and weeping, when they the money she has made by singing. While she
were informed of this deduction from their paltry was in Europe last summer she made a great deal
A representative of T H E MUSICAL CRITIC AND
pay, and they refused to dance. The consequence of money in this way. Her present season so far TRADE REVIEW called recently on Dr. William
was, the small ballet to which we referred.
has netted from twenty-five to thirty thousand Elmer, at his residence on Fifth avenue, to learn
what plans had been decided upon in regard to the
No doubt lively times exist in the company, due dollars."
to the laxity and indifference shown by the man- "Will Miss Kellogg positively retire from the college. Dr. Elmer said that until the meeting of
the trustees had taken place, he could not speak
agement. Campanini is the virtual dictator, and stage next season?"
whatever he orders is effectually done.
"Yes, she says so; and I believe she is thor- definitely on the subject. The original board of
The last Friday night opera of the season was oughly in earnest. She thinks it is best to retire trustees consisted of Henry G. Stebbins, as Presi-
to be " Carmen," but "Martha" was substituted. in the maturity of her powers, and while the pop- dent, and the Hon. Marshall O. Roberts, William
No reason was assigned for this change, but we ular momory of her singing will always remain H. Vanderbilt, the Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, the
can tell our readers that Miss Hauk had presented pleasant. Too many singers, you know, find such Hon. Edwin D. Morgan, Hugh J. Jewett, Charles
a certain ultimatum to the Colonel which embodied a fascination in the stage that they will not retire Tiffany, Alfred L. Simonson, and William Elmer;
the overbearing points of Campanini's "business" when their powers are failing—in fact, until they and the vacancies caused by the deaths of Messrs.
in this opera, and she told the Colonel that unless are only wrecks of their former selves. Miss Kel- Roberts and Stebbins would be immediately filled.
MAPLESON'S COMPANY.
SOME BITS OF INSIDE HISTORY.
D
A