Outskirts Press, INC.

GOLD WAS THE LURE

Opera in the world’s western hemisphere, whether sung in Italian, French, German, or English, began in the Spanish colonies of South and Central America. Years before operas were first staged in San Francisco, opera companies flourished in Lima, Santiago, Valparaiso, and Mexico City. Gold taken from the earth is what paid for opera houses and performers in the Spanish colonies – just as it would pay for them in San Francisco after the discovery of gold in California in 1848. And after gold was next discovered in Australia in 1851, performers continued there and to Asia beyond. More than anything else, gold discoveries were responsible for spreading opera from its origins in Europe to much of the rest of the world. Opera in Old San Francisco is a lively recital of operatic history in San Francisco from the Gold Rush of 1849 to the Earthquake and Fire of 1906. It tells the stories of such well known singers as Adelina Patti, Nellie Melville, Luisa Tetrazzini, Enrico Caruso, and many others who performed in early San Francisco. They were an incredible bunch. Just getting here was often an adventure, if not an ordeal and a struggle to survive. As their stories attest, the life of an early performer was not for the meek or timid. The book is illustrated with nearly forty historic photographs of singers, impresarios, and theaters.