“This European tour of the American band really was a great and successful venture. American musicians still recall the _furore_ which it created and the prestige which it gained at home. Mr. Gilmore was proud of his leading soloists. In Paris, where the great audiences went wild over my singing, he came to praise me personally in unmeasured terms. ‘My dear,’ he said, ‘you are going to be a great singer. You are going to be crowned in your own country yet. Mark my words: they are going to put diamonds on your brow!’ “At the end of that tour I decided to spend some of my earnings on further study in Italy. Accordingly, I went to Milan, to the singing teacher San Giovanni. On arriving there, I visited the old teacher and stated my object. I said that I wanted to sing in grand opera. “WHY DON’T YOU SING IN GRAND OPERA?” “‘All right!’ he answered; ‘let me hear your voice.’ “I sang an _aria_ from ‘Lucia’; and when I was through, he said dryly: ‘You want to sing in grand opera?’ “‘Yes.’ “‘Well, why don’t you?’ “‘I need training.’ “‘Nonsense!’ he answered. ‘We will attend to that. You need a few months to practice Italian methods—that is all.’ “So I spent three months with him. After much preparation, I made my _début_ as Violetta in Verdi’s opera, ‘La Traviata,’ at the Teatro Grande, in Brescia.” The details of Madame Nordica’s Italian appearance are very interesting. Her success was instantaneous. Her fame went up and down the land, and across the water—to her home. She next sang in Gounod’s “Faust,” at Geneva, and soon afterwards appeared at Navarro, singing Alice in Meyerbeer’s “Roberto,” the enthusiastic and delighted subscribers presenting her with a handsome set of rubies and pearls. After that she was engaged to sing at the Russian capital, and accordingly went to St. Petersburg, where, in October, 1881, she made her _début_ as La Filma in “Mignon.” There, also, her success was great. She was the favorite of the society of the court, and received pleasant attentions from every quarter. Presents were made her, and inducements for her continued presence until two winters had passed. Then she decided to revisit France and Paris. THIS WAS HER CROWNING TRIUMPH. “I wanted to sing in grand opera at Paris,” she said to me. “I wanted to know that I could appear successfully in that grand place. I counted my achievements nothing until I could do that.” “And did you?” “Yes. In July, 1882, I appeared there.” This was her greatest triumph. In the part of Marguerite she took the house by storm, and won from the composer the highest encomiums. Subsequently, she appeared with equal success as Ophélie, having been specially prepared for both these rôles by the respective composers, Charles Gounod and Ambroise Thomas. “You should have been satisfied after that,” I said.