The clause liberating the prima donna from attending rehearsals will be condemned by all lovers of music. During the three or four years that Mdme. Patti was with me in America she never once appeared at a rehearsal. When I was producing _La Gazza Ladra_, an opera which contains an unusually large number of parts, there were several members of the cast who did not even know Mdme. Patti by sight. Under such circumstances all idea of a perfect _ensemble_ was, of course, out of the question. It was only on the night of performance, and in presence of the public, that the concerted pieces were tried for the first time with the soprano voice. The unfortunate contralto, Mdlle. Vianelli, had never in her life seen Mdme. Patti, with whom, on this occasion, she had to sing duets full of concerted passages. At such rehearsal as she could obtain Arditi did his best to replace the absent prima donna, whistling the soprano part so as at least to give the much-tried contralto some idea of the effect. In addition to the clauses in the prima donna's written engagement, there is always an understanding by which she is to receive so many stalls, so many boxes, so many places in the pit, and so many in the gallery. How, it will be asked, can such an illustrious lady have friends whom she would like to send to the gallery? The answer is that the distinguished vocalist wishes to be supported from all parts of the house, and that she is far too practical--high as may be the opinion she entertains of her own talents--to leave the applause even in the smallest degree to chance. There are plenty of great singers--though Mdme. Patti is not one of them--who carry with them on their foreign tours a _chef de claque_ as a member of their ordinary suite. Tenors are, at least, as particular on this score as prime donne; and if one popular tenor travels with a staff of eight, his rival, following him to the same country, will make a point, merely that the fact may be recorded in the papers, of taking with him a staff of nine. Signor Masini, the modest vocalist who wished Sir Michael Costa to come round to his hotel and learn from him how the _tempi_ should be taken in the _Faust_ music, went not long since to South America with a staff consisting of the following paid officials: A secretary, an under-secretary, a cook, a valet, a barber, a doctor, a lawyer, a journalist, an agent, and a treasurer. The ten attendants, apart from their special duties, form a useful _claque_, and are kept judiciously distributed about the house according to their various social positions. The valet and the journalist, the barber and the doctor are said to have squabbles at times on the subject of precedence.