Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 93
93.—A SINGER'S SENSE.
Santley, the English baritone, is a man of wide musical experience and of great operatic ability. But more than this, he is a man of solid nerve and good sense.
This was shown by his cool actions and language one night in 1865, when he was singing the part of "Papageno" in Mozart's "Magic Flute." In the same cast were Titiens and Di Murska.
The London theater was crowded with an enthusiastic audience. In the last act some gauze, which had been used to represent clouds, caught fire from a gas jet behind the flies. Immediately one of the stage hands ran out on a narrow strip of wood over the stage and with a knife cut away the burning material which fell blazing on the stage.
The audience, seeing the fire, would quickly have lost all presence of mind; but Santley, who was on the stage at the time, walked to the front and called out to the audience: "Don't act like a lot of fools! Its nothing."
Then he immediately took up his interrupted song and went on with the scene. This quieted the people and a panic was doubtless averted by the singer's presence of mind.