Show I I Fortunes of Great Singers Recent reports of the loss of the greater part of Mme Ime Melbas fortune have hav been supplemented by that thi th famous prima donna of late lato years ears has b n living In a very v r expensive fashion Her home in London was bunt regardless of cost and she nas another in Paris Her Hei ocia o ia life Ufe n been leen one of association tion with nobility and ana and has cost her er much muchiri mu h iri neA To her fr a foi society in df d is liz ascribed he the fact that she has not no sung so frequently as In former years yearn ears Jj ht t on n occasions she has emerged for a season of brief splendor and for the wor worship I ship if f the British public which contin continues pea ues s to consider her hu the th leading soprano o 0 the world Not yet ct old having been I in in she may recoup a great part parti i of f hi hr r losses if she follows the precedent of f the illustrious Patti Paul who was not only notoriously when in her prime but bat has shown a keen appreciation of the value aTut of her art in her declining years year ike most moat noted nosed singers Mme Mine Melba n never nver ver known poverty She went to Penis Pans to study stud with Mme Marches Marchesi in InIss lv Iss 7 when her father a wealthy Austra Australian ban lun contractor was appointed commis commissioner to the Paris exposition Her lIer fa father fathers father ther s fortune Is reported to be sufficient to t provide well for her evon even should she shen n vcr V r again acquire wealth of her own Of all the great singers of the nine nineteenth t nth century Mme Patti probably reaped the largest financial rewards She Shela la is now how In her th year and be beon bond jond on the probability of even one more farewell tour At her castle In South Wales ales als she lives In luxury with her young oung husband Baron Daron Cedarstrom and is sup supposed posed to have a large fortune fortu e Invested Inv ted in profitable securities under the advice of or Alfred Rothschild from which she draws a large Income Rothschild indeed is Ia credited with having performed the same friendly service for Mme Melba Molba as well as for other singers and artists of dis distinction Christine Nilsson now 66 6 years yeats old and nud known as the Dowager Countess de do MI MIrandi randl randi her titled husband having died in 1302 1202 is said by her friends to have a for fortune fortune tune tunc which may rival Invested In Sweden In one year ear she cleared in tile the United States State and she has been retired from the operatic stage for tor many years Tho The daughter of a laboring man she was educated through the liberality of a Swedish patron After her first mar marriage marrIage marriage Jn in 1872 to M 11 Auguste Bouzard a French merchant she sang little Several years ago she owned much real estate in Boston Mme whose large earnings began when Henry E B Abbey Abb y paid her and her expenses during her first tour of ot the United States In 1883 1833 has been highly paid each season and Is said to have Invested her earnings judiciously Emma Eames who wiio has lately announced ann at Paris that she Is done with the stage forever and will henceforth enjoy life Ute ha hai been a moneymaker for many years yearn and ard Is credited with having acquired a comfortable sum from her twenty years of 01 o work Emma Calve has been high priced for years and with French thrift has Invested much In her native country countr where she can watch it closely she has also bought an annuity for a goodly in income Income income come that will be certain in her old age ageMme ageMme ageMme Mme Nordica of late years has earned earne large amounts and has not yet shown in indications Indications Indications of a tendency to spend it un unnecessarily unnecessarily unnecessarily necessarily beyond projecting a scheme I for a musical was greeted with something of skepticism by the mu musical musical musical world and has not yet et been built Mme Gadski is said to be as asa asa a result of her operatic career Mme Lehmann reputed to have a substantial I fortune has been a favorite of the Ger German German German man public during the seven years since she last appeared in the United States and had a very profitable career In this country She is said to have willed her fortune to the Society for the Prevention Prevention Prevention tion of Cruelty to Animals In Berlin Her Investments have been chiefly In real es estate estate estate tate At the head of the list of singers who nave made and spent large amounts probably should stand the names of the famous brothers Jean and Edouard do de e Jean at the time of his re retirement retirement retirement a few years ears ago the he most famous and tenor in the world lived in an expensive fashion and is said sale to have used up a large part of his Us income as fast as he got It ft Now teacher In Paris he Is said to earn 50 a day ay for about ten months of the year Edouard de the basso sang on every occa occasion occasion occasion sion possible when in the United States during his brothers period of fame anc and earned a fortune but Is said to have lost los most of it in business speculations and andIn andIn andin In attempting to carry carryon on an unprofitable and expensive estate in Poland and a few years ago went to London to teach The Tiie number of singers who saved and Invested their money Is large among the number being Clara Louise Kellogg Geraldine Farrar Mary Garden Minnie Hauck Mme Homer Mme Mine and Olive Signor Caruso aruso the leading tenor of the world has enormous earnings which he heis heIs heIs is generally believed to have Invested well notwithstanding his recent bitter complaint about having to support so many poor relations If the fortunes of great singers have come easily in the main they the have in too many runny Instances gone easily Probably more of them have been prudent than of successful actors and actresses for the reason that success on the dramatic stage has In most cases cost a less amount of time and money for preparation than uc ue cess ceas on the operatic stage Few great singers as compared with actors and 0 actresses have died In poverty The TJI rank and file of singers as of actors are as a arule arule arule rule prudent of ot necessity having no ex extraordinary extraordinary means of acquiring they must be prudent pruden for old age The rule probably holds In stage careers as much mud muchas as liS In business that a love of spend spending spendIng spendIng ing while making means little acquisition of permanent wealth Chicago Record Herald |