Back Aa

Peeps at People - Being Certain Papers from the Writings of Anne Warrington Witherup

<h2>THE DE RESZKES</h2> On my return to London I received a message from my principals at home suggesting that, in view of the possibilities of opera next winter, an interview with the famous brothers De Reszke would be interesting to the readers of the United States. I immediately started for Warsaw, where, I was given to understand, these wonderful operatic stars were spending the summer on their justly famous stock-farm. I arrived late at night, and put up comfortably at a small and inexpensive inn on the outskirts of the city. Mine host was a jolly old Polander, who, having emigrated to and then returned from America,[Pg 140] spoke English almost as well as a citizen of the United States. He was very cordial, and assigned me the best room in his house without a murmur or a tip. Anxious to learn how genius is respected in its own country, I inquired of him if he knew where the De Reszkes lived, and what kind of people they were. "Oh, yais," he said, "I know dem De Reszkes ferry vell already. Dey haf one big farm back on dher hills. I gets my butter undt eggs from dhose De Reszkes." "Indeed!" said I, somewhat amused. "They are fine fellows, both of them." "Yais," he said. "I like dem vell enough. Deir butter is goot, undt deir eggs is goot, but deir milk is alvays skimmed. I do not understandt it vy dey shouldt skim deir milk." "I presume," said I, "that their voices are in good condition?" "Vell," he replied, "I dondt know much apout deir foices. I dondt effer speak to dem much. Ven I saw dem[Pg 141] lost dey could make demselves heardt. But, you know, dey dondt needt deir foices much already. Dey keep a man to sell deir butter undt eggs." "But of course you know that they are renowned for their vocal powers," I suggested. <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/ill_030.jpg" width-obs="297" height-obs="400" alt="" /> IT WAS A SUPERB BUILDING</div> "I dondt know much apout 'em," he said, simply. "Dey go avay for a year or two every six months, undt dey come back mit plenty ohf money ohf one kind undt anodder, but I subbosed dey made it all oudt ohf butter undt eggs. Vot is dose focal bowers you iss dalking apout? Iss dot some new kindt ohf chiggens?" I gave the landlord up as a difficult case; but the next day, when I called at the castle of the two famous singers, I perceived why it was that in their own land they were known chiefly as farmers. "The De Reszkes?" said I, as I entered their castle, some ten miles out of Warsaw, and held out my hands for the brothers to clasp. It was a superb building, with a façade[Pg 142] of imposing quality, and not, as I had supposed, built of painted canvas, but of granite. To be sure, there were romantic little balconies distributed about it for Jean to practise on, with here and there a dark, forbidding casement which suggested the most base of Édouard's bass notes; but generally the castle suggested anything but the flimsy structure of a grand-opera scene. Their reply was instant, and I shall never forget the magnificent harmony of their tones as they sang in unison: "Miss Witherup—Miss Wi-hith-hith-erup?" they inquired. "The sa-ha-ha-hay-hame!" I sang, and I haven't a bad voice at all. "We are glad," sang Jean, in tenor tones. "We are glad," echoed Édouard, only in bass notes, and then they joined together in, "We are glad, we are glad, to see-hee-hee-hee you." I wish I could write music, so that I could convey the delightful harmonies of[Pg 143] the moment to the reader's ear, particularly the last phrase. If a typographical subterfuge may be employed, it went like this: "To see— hee— hee— hee you!" Start on C, and go a note lower on each line, and you will get some idea of the exquisite musical phrasing of my greeting. "Excuse me, Jean," said Édouard, "but we are forgetting ourselves. It is only abroad that we are singers. Here we are farmers, and not even yodellists." "True," said Jean. "Miss Witherup, we must apologize. We recognized in you a matinée girl from New York, and succumbed to the temptation to try to impress you; but here we are not operatic people. We run a farm. Do you come to interview us as singers or farmers?" [Pg 144] "I've come to interview you in any old way you please," said I. "I want to see you at home." "Well, here we are," said Édouard, with one of his most fascinating smiles. "Look at us." "Tell me," said I, "how did you know I was a matinée girl? You just said you recognized me as one." "Easy!" laughed Jean, with a wink at his brother. "By the size of your hat." "Ah, but you said from the United States," I urged. "How did you know that? Don't English matinée girls wear large hats?" "Yes," returned Édouard, with a courteous bow, "but yours is in exquisite taste." Just then the telephone-bell rang, and Jean ran to the receiver. Édouard looked a trifle uneasy, and I kept silent. "What is it, Jean?" Édouard asked in a moment. "It's a message from the Countess Poniatowska. She says the milk this morning[Pg 145] was sour. Those cows must have been at the green apples again," replied the tenor, moodily. "It's very annoying," put in Édouard, impatiently. "That stage-carpenter we brought over from the Metropolitan isn't worth a cent. I told him to build a coop large enough for those cows to run around in, and strong enough to keep them from breaking out and eating the apples, and this is the third time they've done this. I really think we ought to send him back to New York. He'd make a good target for the gunners to shoot at over at the Navy Yard." "What are the prospects for grand opera next year, Mr. De Reszke?" I asked, after a slight pause. "Pretty good," replied Jean, absently. "Of course, if the milk was sour, we'll have to send another can over to the Countess." "I suppose so," said Édouard; "but the thing's got to stop. I don't mind losing a little money on this farm at the[Pg 146] outset, but when it costs us $1500 a quart to raise milk, I don't much like having to provide substitute quarts, when it sours, at sixteen cents a gallon, just because a fool of a carpenter can't build a cow-coop strong enough to keep the beasts away from green apples." I had to laugh quietly; for, as the daughter of a farmer, I could see that these spoiled children of fortune knew as much about farming as I knew about building light-houses. "Perhaps," I suggested, "it wasn't the green apples that soured the milk. It may have been the thunder-storm last night that did it." <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/ill_031.jpg" width-obs="400" height-obs="295" alt="" /> READY FOR THE STORM</div> "That can't be," said Jean, positively. "We have provided against that. All our cows have lightning-rods on them; we bought them from a Connecticut man, who was in here the other day, for $500 apiece, so you see no electrical disturbance could possibly affect them. It must have been the apples." "I suppose I had better tell Plançon[Pg 147] to take the extra quart over himself at once and explain to the Countess," said Édouard. "Plançon here too?" I cried, in sheer delight. "Yes; but it's a secret," said Jean. "The whole troupe is here. Plançon has charge of the cows, but nobody knows it. I wouldn't send Plançon," he added, reverting to Édouard's suggestion. "He'll stay over there all day singing duets with the ladies. Why not ask Scalchi to attend to it? She's going to town after the turnip seed this morning, and she can stop on her way." "All right," said Édouard; "I imagine that will be better. Plançon's got all he can do to get the hay in, anyhow." Édouard looked at me and laughed. "We are hard workers here, Miss Witherup," he cried. "And I can tell you what it is, there is no business on earth so exacting and yet so delightful as farming." "And you are all in it together?" I said. "Yes. You see, last time we were all[Pg 148] in New York we were the most harmonious opera troupe there ever was," Édouard explained, "and it was such a novel situation that Jean and I invited them all here for the farming season, and have put the various branches of the work into the hands of our guests, we two retaining executive control." "Delightful!" I cried. <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/ill_032.jpg" width-obs="375" height-obs="400" alt="" /> MELBA, THE DAIRY MAID</div> "Melba has charge of the dairy, and does a great deal of satisfactory rehearsing while churning the butter. You should hear the Spinning Song from 'Faust' as she does it to the accompaniment of a churn. Magnificent!" "And you ought to see little Russitano and Cremonini rounding up the chickens every night, while Bauermeister collects the eggs," put in Jean; "and Plançon milking the cows after Maurel has called them home; and that huge old chap Tamagno pushing the lawn-mower up and down the hay-fields through the summer sun—those are sights that even the gods rarely witness." "It must be a picture!" I ejaculated, with enthusiasm. "And Ancona? Is he with you?" "He is, and he's as useful a man as ever was," said Édouard. "He is our head ploughboy. And Calvé's vegetable garden—well, Jean and I do not wish to seem vain, Miss Witherup, but really if there is a vegetable garden in the world that produces cabbages that are cabbages, and artichokes that are artichokes, and Bermuda potatoes that are Bermuda potatoes, it is Calvé's garden right here." "And what becomes of all the product of your farm?" I asked. "We sell it all," said Jean. "We supply the Czar of Russia with green pease and radishes. The Emperor of Germany buys all his asparagus from us; and we have secured the broiled-chicken contract for the Austrian court for the next five years." "And you don't feel, Mr. De Reszke," I asked, "that all this interferes with your work?" [Pg 149] [Pg 150] "It is my work," replied the great tenor. "Then why," I queried, "do you not take it up exclusively? Singing in grand opera must be very exhausting." "It is," sighed Jean. "It is indeed. Siegfried is harder than haying, and I would rather shear six hundred sheep than sing Tristan; but, alas, Édouard and I cannot afford to give it up, for if we did, what would become of our farm? The estimated expense of producing one can of pease on this estate, Miss Witherup, is $300, but we have to let it go at 50 cents. Asparagus costs us $14.80 a spear. A lamb chop from the De Reszke Lambery sells for 60 cents in a Paris restaurant, but it costs us $97 a pound to raise them. So you see why it is that my brother and I still appear periodically in public, and also why it is that our services are very expensive. We didn't want to take the gross receipts of opera the last time we were in New York, and when the company went to the wall we'd have gladly compromised for 99[Pg 151] cents on the dollar, had we not at that very time received our semi-annual statement from the agent of our farm, showing an expenditure of $800,000, as against gross receipts of $1650." "Sixteen hundred and thirty dollars," said Édouard, correcting his brother. "We had to deduct $20 from our bill against Queen Victoria for those pheasants' eggs we sent to Windsor. Three crates of them turned out to be Shanghai roosters." "True," said Jean. "I had forgotten." I rose, and after presenting the singers with the usual check and my cordial thanks for their hospitality, prepared to take my leave. "You must have a souvenir of your visit, Miss Witherup," said Jean. "What shall it be—a radish or an Alderney cow? They both cost us about the same." "Thank you," I said. "I do not eat radishes, and I have no place to keep a cow; but if you will sing the 'Lohengrin'[Pg 152] farewell for me, it will rest with me forever." The brothers laughed. "You ask too much!" they cried. "That would be like giving you $10,000." "Oh, very well," said I. "I'll take the will for the deed." "We'll send you our pictures autographed," said Édouard. "How will that[Pg 153] do?" "I shall be delighted," I replied, as I bowed myself out. "You can use 'em to illustrate the interview with," Jean called out[Pg 154] after me. And so I left them. I hope their anxiety over their crops will not damage their "focal bowers," as the landlord called them, for with their voices gone I believe their farm would prove a good deal of a burden. <hr class="chap" /> [Pg 155] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.