Memories of a Musician: Reminiscences of Seventy years of Musical Life

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She has had a pretty little bijou theatre built in the castle, which seats over three hundred persons, and where she often performs little plays and pantomimes. On one occasion she asked me to arrange a performance of La Traviata, as her husband, Baron Rolf Cederstrom, had never seen her on the stage. I had engaged some singers from London, and a small orchestra from Swansea, which I conducted. It was a memorable performance, and I never heard her sing better, nor with more pathos, than in the last act, in the dying scene, when everybody was moved to tears and felt as if, in the death of Violetta, they had lost a personal friend. The audience consisted of her friends staying at the castle, and the rest of the stalls were filled with the families of her neighbours, while the little gallery contained her personal attendants and tenants. Of course the applause of the audience was most enthusiastic. A performance of Grand Opera in a private house, under such circumstances, was most interesting.

excerpt from 'Memories of a Musician: Reminiscences of Seventy years of Musical Life' pp. 201 (174 words)

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