ohengrin." She has the feeling, the artistic understanding, which,
combined with beautiful vocal gifts, brings out the most delicate
shading of the part. It is doubtful whether any greater representations
of "Lohengrin" have been given than when Nordica sang Elsa, and Jean de
Reszke the title role.

Her success in such parts led her to devote her attention more
particularly to Wagnerian roles, and in 1894 she sang with great success
at Bayreuth.

Nordica has for several seasons visited the United States as a member of
the Abbey and Grau Opera Company, which contained such singers as Emma
Eames, Melba, Calve, Scalchi, the De Reszkes, Plancon, and Lassalle. In
1897, when Abbey and Grau failed, Madame Nordica was a creditor to the
extent of $5,000. When the affairs of the company were arranged, an
agreement was reached with Madame Nordica, by which she was to receive
$1,000 a night. To her surprise, she afterwards discovered that Melba
was to receive $1,200, Calve $1,400, Jean de Reszke $1,200, with an
additional percentage of the receipts. To add to her humiliation, the
part of Brunhilde was given to Madame Melba, whose health, by the way,
collapsed suddenly after her first performance of that part, and
necessitated a speedy departure for Paris. Nordica left the company, and
in doing so had the moral support of the public, for, while there were
many complaints about the excessive salaries demanded by opera singers,
there seemed to be no reason why Madame Nordica should not insist upon
her share. Statements were also made to the effect that Jean de Reszke
would never again sing with Nordica.

The years 1896 and 1897 were years of much financial depression in the
United States, a fact which does not seem to have been fully
appreciated by opera singers, for the collapse of the season seems to
have given rise to considerable bitterness of feeling.

Madame Nordica took unto herself Madame Scalchi, the contralto, and
Barron Berthald, a young tenor, who in a night achieved fame, and toured
the country giving concerts, but with little success. Whatever truth
there may have been in the reported coolness between Madame Nordica and
Jean de Reszke, either diplomacy or the exigencies of the opera singer's
hard lot brought about an ostensible reconciliation; for in London,
during the opera season of 1898, Jean de Reszke sang Tristan with Madame
Nordica as Isolde, when a critic wrote, "We have so often been told that
this music cann