Inferior Decoration

Blonde and beautiful Maria Jeritza, Austrian soprano, golden star of the Metropolitan in the winter and the Vienna State Opera Company in the summer, last week grew angry. She had recently gone to Paris with the Vienna company and had sung there in several performances. Medals and decorations were awarded to several members of the troupe, among them the great Jeritza. Jeritza's fury, which newsgatherers for no valid reason regarded as unjustified, resulted from the fact that she had been given, not the medal of the Legion of Honor, but the insignificant one of "Officer of Public Instruction."

Jeritza said she had gone to Paris against her will, at the pleading of: 1) the director of the Vienna Opera Company; 2) her mother-in-law, Baroness von Popper of Paris; 3) the Austrian Government. But when she reached Paris no Austrian delegation met her train; no critics were invited to her performances; her operatic stature was in no way suitably emphasized. Jeritza refused the little medal she had been offered. She said:

"I shall never sing again in Viennese opera. . . . I shall sing again in Paris if they ask me. I was received there enthusiastically by the public, but I don't know why I deserved the insulting treat-ment accorded me by the Austrian Legation and Director Schneiderhahn of the Vienna Opera.

"If any decorations were to be given, I certainly could reasonably expect one worthy of my rank. I didn't ask for the Legion of Honor, but only said the decoration should correspond to my position in the musical world.

"I don't want people to think me pretentious, but I have received such high tokens already, for example, the Golden Plaque for Art, given me recently by the King of Denmark, that I am not able to accept inferior decorations."