Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1898 — The Head Claquer. [ARTICLE]

The Head Claquer.

Jacob Schontag, for forty years head of the claque at the Vinena Opera House, is dead. He knew all the operas of the repertory by heart, knew the strong and weak points of all the artists, and held a rehearsal of his subordinates in the afternoon before the production of an opera, when he drilled them on the parts of a production where their" work was to be put In. He watched them during the performance from a seat that commanded a view of the whole house, but never applauded himself, save in desperate cases.