Agnes Huntington
[4][3] Said Huntington:—[3]"If I had indulged in any vanity regarding my musical talent, founded upon my two years' musical instruction in America, my maestro, G. B. Lamperti, scattered it like snow-flakes on a windy wintry day, when he gravely assured me, on my vocal examination, that I at least had acquired no bad vocal habits, and that my voice was in a fair condition for rapid development.
"Huntington made her first public appearance in concert in Dresden, in January, 1884, and a few weeks later, sang at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig with the regular orchestra under direction of Carl Reinecke.
She also sang with the Boston Symphony Orchestra with William Goricke, the Oratorio Society of New York with Walter Damrosch, and in many of the most important festivals under the greatest conductors in the U.S. and Canada.
[4] Next, she sang with the Bostonians, in which she visited the principal cities of the United States and Canada, appearing in the leading roles of the standard operas, for which her commanding presence and contralto voice eminently fitted her.
[5] With the Bostonians, she gained experience in acting, singing in Martha, Giralda, Fra Diavolo, Les Mousquetaires de la reine, The Bohemian Girl, Mignon, and others.
Originally put on for a short run, Paul Jones remained on the boards during 346 nights in the Prince of Wales Theatre, and at every performance the house was crowded.
A dispute with her managers led her to leave the company, and she returned to the U.S.[4] When Huntington's year in London was finished, she determined to become a star and produce her own operas.
She asserted that her short experience convinced her that the public had grown tired of coarse fun and vulgarity and would patronize opéra comique that was clean and pure, with a story to tell, a consistent plot to unfold, and ennobled with good music and well-concerted orchestration, and that her ventures were made upon this assumption.
The ambition of Huntington as a caterer of operatic productions for the entertainment of the public led her to constant novelty and progressiveness, and as a result, she presented Planquette's work, Captain Therese.
The time, the place, and the scene represented, as well as the costumes and properties, must all correspond in detail to produce a perfect combined effect.
When every one who could afford it was at sea-shore or mountain retreat, in a hot, stifling, empty theatre by day and night I was rehearsing with my company, striving to obtain perfection out of seeming chaos.
If she is a strict disciplinarian, she is also generous, and the slightest complaint of any wrong or oversight finds her always a willing listener and quick to rectify any error.
On the occasion of the disbandment of her company in 1891, a list was presented to her of the fines inflicted upon several of the members during its continuance for tardiness and oversights.
[6] Not the least drag upon her time was correspondence involved in answers to the many letters she received from girls about how to adopt the stage, asking her advice regarding the qualifications necessary and the best means of procuring engagements.
Most careful and painstaking in every effort, she abhorred nothing so much as a sham, and would not tolerate meretricious advertising or any tricks of the trade, so often resorted to by actors for the sake of notoriety.
