Photo of Kathleen Howard, Autographed

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
KATHLEEN HOWARD BAIRD
Published September 1918

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To
Marjorie

FOREWORD

So many fantastic tales have come to us of students' life abroad, oftheir temptations, trials, finances, successes and failures, that I haveattempted to give here the true story of the preparation for an operaticcareer, and its fruition. My road leads from New York to Paris, toGermany and thence to London, and back to the Metropolitan Opera House.My operatic experiences in Germany are inalienably associated with thelives of the people, particularly with the German officer class, viewedpublicly and privately; in fact in the town where I was first engaged,Metz, I found they were as vital a part of the Opera house life as thesingers themselves. Their arrogance tainted the town life as well, andhere I first became acquainted with the pitiful attempt at swagger andbrilliancy which often covered a state of grinding poverty, or thethwarted natural domestic instincts which were ruthlessly sacrificed tothe "uniform"—the all-desirable entrée to society, for which no pricewas too high to pay. I hope this book will be of interest not only tothose whose goal is the operatic or concert stage, but to those to whom"human documents" appeal. It is a story of real people, real obstaclesovercome, and contains much intimate talk of back-stage life in operahouses.

CONTENTS