Long Reign of Melba

Nellie Melba, near her 60th year, still gathers laurels as a prima donna of opera. She was the great star of this year's operatic season in England. Her voice is said to be still astonishingly fine. The season was another essay at opera in English. The vernacular, as usual, did not work so well. The two chief artists were Melba, born British, and Edward Johnson, American, and a Metropolitan Opera star. These two sang in French and Italian, while the rest of the casts sang in English. The English critics patriotically let the grotesqueries of opera in the vernacular down easy, but innocent bystanders had many jeers to make. Melba and Johnson sang in French and Italian because they knew their roles in French and Italian and could do them better in those tongues.

Melba is a very queen in high British social circles. She is received everywhere.