The Mapleson Memoirs, 1848-1888, vol II

In the early part of January, 1888, I gave forty-two grand concerts in forty-two different cities, commencing in Dublin, where I was placed in a position of the greatest difficu...

San Francisco, or Frisco, as the inhabitants pleasantly call it, is at the end of the American world; it is the toe of the stocking beyond which there is no further advance. For...

For our opening night at San Francisco, as already explained, the opera substituted at Mdme. Patti's request for _Semiramide_ was _Linda di Chamouni_. Of course the house was cr...

Shortly after my return to London I had various meetings with the Directors of the Royal Italian Opera Company, Limited, when, to my astonishment, they informed me they would no...

One of the most extraordinary spectacles ever witnessed in San Francisco was that which presented itself on the evening of our arrival as soon as it got buzzed about that some P...

Although an operatic impresario cannot reasonably count on making his own fortune, it is often a source of satisfaction to him to reflect that he in his lavish expenditure makes...

Notwithstanding the successful performances, which I continued to give, the receipts never reached the amount of the expenditure--as is invariably the case when two Opera-houses...

On getting down to New Orleans we found a great change in the temperature, and although it was the month of January the thermometer stood at about 75 deg.. It had been raining e...

After my departure the Directors of the Metropolitan Opera-house, convinced that they could make no arrangement with me in consequence of my engagement with the Directors of the...

To return to my difficulties at the New York Academy of Music, I was at length compelled to rehearse where I could; one day at the Star Theatre, another at Steinway Hall; a thir...

THE public are under the impression that the closest intimacies are contracted between vocalists in consequence of their appearing constantly together in the same works. Under t...

We opened our Chicago season with a grand concert prior to the commencement of the regular performances in order to let the public know that all the Company was present in the c...

When the Company started for the steamer which was to ferry us across to the railway station, further trouble arose in consequence of the increased sums demanded (now that the r...

I now received an invitation from the Admiral commanding Her Britannic Majesty's Pacific Squadron, whose flag-ship, the _Triumph_, had entered the bay. Several of my leading art...

Shortly afterwards I organized a very strong opera party, determining, during the coming September, to revisit the English provinces, which I had rather neglected during the pre...

On my return to London I opened Covent Garden for a series of Italian Opera performances, in which Mdme. Patti was the principal prima donna, and but for Mdme. Patti's twice fal...

At the conclusion of the farewell morning performance of _Martha_, in which Gerster took part, at St. Louis, she went home to prepare for the journey to San Francisco. I perform...