| OCR Text |
Show THE WIFE OF MASCAGNl. Story of the Origin of the Famous Opera, "Cavalicrla Rnsticana." All the world now knows the story of "Cavalleria Rr.sticana" how it waa submitted to a musical friend, who promptly pronounced it 'rubbish ; " how Mascagni despondently entered it in the competition for the prize of 2,000 francs ($400) offered by the musical publishers of Milan; how he accepted the prize as a windfall beyond the wildest hopes of a man who, with wife and two children, was existing on 2 francs a day, writes Olive May Eager in an interesting sketoh of the wife of the famous Italian composer in The Ladies' Home Journal. The subsequent furore in Rome was a revelation, and in answer to a telegram he hurried to the capital in his usual negligee in fact, his only dress the clumsy handiwork of a village tailor. Apparently a simple, countrified young fellow, he appeared on the stage before that immense and enthusiastic audience, audi-ence, which cheered him all the more that he was awkward, bewildered, even stupefied, at the reception. The transition transi-tion was too great, and he felt his brain reel. Sympathizing, admiring faces crowded about him, but something of his everyday life, something more restful, rest-ful, he must have, and that speedily. Rushing home after the performance, he telegraphed for his wife, and also dispatched dis-patched an incoherent letter imploring her to pick up tho children and come to his aid without delay. ' She came at once a plain, quiet body, who, during those tedious year3 of seclusion and hardship, had deteriorated deterior-ated in appearance and had lost the worldly veneering of her younger days, but nevertheless a true hearted helpmeet for an agitated, fame stricken man. That night she sat in a private box, listening lis-tening to the wonderful strains and still more wonderful enthusiasm, weeping tears of joy throughout the performance and clapping wildly with the rest upon the appearance of the new genius. |
