Here is a sweet mention of fairies in a 1911 newspaper article involving a opera singer’s success.
DID THE FAIRIES HELP THIS “LITTLEST SOPRANO?”
MAGGIE TEYTE A GRAND OPERA STAR AT 20
New York, Dec. 2. — Once upon a time, when Maggie Teyte was a little girl, with soft dark hair and blue eyes, she dwelt in a mid-England town called Wolverhampton, in the midst of the region said to be inhabited by fairies (if fairies exist at all). The town was not too large to prevent Maggie from wandering out into the country where she might very well have rescued a fairy queen from a wicked imp. And the queen might have granted her three wishes in gratitude.
Her grandpapa had been mayor of the town. Her papa was rich. But there came a crash in stocks.
Maggie was only 11 years old then but her voice had attracted attention, and an agent of Edwardes, the London opera producer, travelled to mid-England to engage her.
She refused the offer; as a child wonder she might have sung her voice to ruin in a short time.
Two years later influential people sent her to Paris to study under Jean de Reszke, and when she was 15, with her hair still in a pigtail, she was sent to Monte Carlo to be prima donna soprano opposite the noted tenor Renaud. Six weeks after that she was engaged by the Opera Comique in Paris.
The 16-year-old girl’s first season in Paris was a failure. She was shunted about for the convenience of her elders. Finally the manager gave her notice of her discharge.
The star of the Opera Comique was Mary Garden, who had created the sensational role of Melisande, from Maeterlinck’s poem.
Did the fairies intervene then by planting jealousy between Mary Garden and the wife of a man powerful in the Opera Comique? Mary Garden left in high rage.
Poor little discourages Maggie Teyte — the fairies seemed to have deserted her. But ambition survived in her. She had memorized the role of Melisande. The management listened to her entreaties and allowed her to sing Melisande in one performance.
What followed is history. She equalled the success of Garden. As one delighted critic said: “Mary Garden acted Melisande; Mlle. Teyte IS Melisande.”
Then, of course, the Prince came. Maggie Teyte’s Prince was Eugene Plumon, a wealthy Parisian lawyer. Her husband has come with her to witness the beginnings of her American success.
Source: (1904, January 29). Did the fairies help this “littlest soprano?”. The Day Book, pgs. 24-25.
