Evening Star Newspaper, December 4, 1921, Page 71

S MAGAZINE SECTION : ¢ [mcrion | The Sundiy St Part 4—8 Pages \ WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, -DECEMBER 4, 1921 Singing for Phonograph Taxes Strength and Nerves of the Artist iNGING ]nto~a Horn for the Millions—An:.nato’s Warning to Miss Braslau— Enforced Rest Amuses Singer—First Impressions of Factory and Recording i Room—the Noisy Orchestra and the Peculiar Instruments—-_—Numerous Tests to Produce One Record—Thrill of the First Product—A Voice in the Far West. AU, WITH SCOTTI AND LUCREZIA BORI IN THE LITTLE | SAN FRANCISCO'S CHINATOWN, “L'ORACOLO.” HOW THE SCENERY FOR GRAND OPERA IS PAINTED. THE PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS BORIS AMISFELT, RUSSIAN ARTIST, PAINTING A SCENE FOR AN OPERA SOON TO BE PRESENTED. By Sophie Braslau {accompanied by silent, unsmiling a huger audience than all the people {wives, fat as butter. Naked, red- | I should personally sing to during my {skinned children rolled in the thick | entire career. dust and screamed. A desire crystalized within me. To . s s 0 BO Ou;, t\'e];)' here, or at least whes- ever could. and % ely for SPIED an adobe shack. The win- New York. but for the world. Nt 16 ! dows were guiltless of glass be satisfied with sending merely the = 4 1d see, ‘canned” Braslau, but to go myself. fu ROOM WHERE VOICES ARE BATHED BY VAFORS. ONE METHOD OF CARING FOR THE VOCAL CORDS, ALWAYS A MATTER OF WATCHFUL |Pine% 3nd though them I could see|was then that I resolved to sav am CONCERN TO THE GREAT SINGER wares spread out to catch the eye of |revoir to opera and seek the concert 5 e o SRNEN. the occasional wayfarer—belts and ‘s]lxse- dTl:ax.hot anfmy txnehrlenfes. wax estined to be. so far in the course P ] sandals and headdresses and more |§Sth troe B unweleome frequency. I couldn't seem | bigger thing for music and makes alwide smiles that captivate one. “I'm name for the peeuliar sort of stage ! belts, all decorated with perhaps the Sy Dk the iveseerhnll mmem; W to grt them out of my mind. What | mightier contribution to f{ts lovers!sure it's nothing like you ever im- fright that artists are sometimes seized d ‘of Dbeads £ hick lht‘ had he meant? I discovered that next|than any conductor of the important|agined it would be.” with when they come here to work!™ “;’m ';‘ d° 1;3\: }‘:'!"’ iy : redmen had sold Manhattan a few A R | American Relics. symphonic orchestras. 1 had to answer: “no, it cer-| It was not before 1 ‘was actuall 3 standing before my own little tin horn|centuries back. The lure was too 6 JPHIE" the genial baritone, |never been granted me, 1 take this Pasquale Amato, said to me, Mmedns of thanking him. the day before I was to go to| Imimediately I got ready to proceed to the phonograph center to | the factory and sing at once. And here make my first record, “you are going | 80t my first of many surprises. My 5 begin work for a mighty tyrant— |escort had politely and firmly told me tiad little tin horn. 1t's the hardest | that I should try to rest well, both that thing to sing to in the whole world.” | afternoon and night and that at 10 the But 1 merely laughed at the idea, forlfo“owins morning he would call for me. and how or why that| I began to wonder if I were being ouldn't unders could be so. 1 was sure he was joking, | made the butt of some stupid joke. though he repeated his warning.| tRest?”Idemanded, “but I don’t need cdless to say., | was enthusiastic | resf.»My voice is perfect at this min- ty of singing for the | ute=as perfect, that is, as it will be ! tainly isn’ wzer the opportu . > : itu ¥ - 10 o'clock 1 gratefully turned off my It was anything but what I had im- | that I understood the full significance | .. - S | ‘DEN \ast multitude the phonograph reaches. | tomorrow morning! at as clliwht a'f;fl h)t I slech - e ! © 1 had pictured to myself (1| of what “horn fever” could be. strong, and I went inside to barter.; STL DENTS of the ancient civiliza~ : ‘e|can't give my reasons why) a some-| There is something singularly cold and [ An old Indian, dignified as any statue tions of America, and espectally Aund | would not have been human, had | The young man smiled—ever so not built castles in the air. So, blithe- | pleasantly—so pleasantly as to be really 1 I 1 ot out for the city where my first | tantalizing. . . . " * 1:c0rding w@s to be made. “It's not only your voice, Miss Bras< Lucky girl that I did, too, gs | was to i a find out before another twenty-four what small, high room, lined to the indomitable about facing a mechanical |of bronze, greeted me and grunted| of the western states, are eager {0 ding ! | fndo ; : hours elapsed’ I was to find out |reached the door Of the :recor celling . with..dark oak panels, on|audience that is to take and keep for-|_ . . b o many things, among them: that my ufl-lroum., And here again my ilusions o hicIwRs hungv-an. occasional fine | ever your every mote, and—this is the{Prices in a voice that would have have the great universities_begin in expected fatigue afose from & sort of {yyffered further destruction. tapestry. From heavy gold and red | terrible part-of it—your every fault. - jdone credit to a Roman senator. In | the Mississippi valley some such subconscious mental hazard that arises |"p "oy ogtra that sounded like | CUrtaind at sne end, of The reom ia-! The voung general director. astisted |a back room a high-pitched squaw | tematic exploration and study in the mind of every artist of no mat- & massive round, wooden horn er and a variety of (3 00K PO B T er squalling | being carried on in oriengal countries. tor how extensive an experience, who | “hundred” disclosed itseif~as being |catch the notes of the artist and her aide-de-camps that suddenly appeared " P ! from nowhere, gave me m! flrgf‘in- brood to be still. They calmed down, | It is believed that the results to be is about to face the ordeal of the “Jittle ; ely twenty players. accompanists. ; P composed of scarcely y play a2’y handsome curtains were | structions how to sing into the horn. 1|and then something happened which | obtained will be of vast historical + arriving T iy receigd like roval- [lau. . It's your ody, your muscles. They ti. A special” representative of the [ must be a little fatigued after the train onograph company._whose duty ‘wastrip even if vou don’t feel it. Every et the operatic stars who came to | atom of you must be thoroughly rested | tin horn.”~ % - I have never seen twenty warmer- ’ gl had had no idea that its tech make records awaited me at the rail- | before—er—before you can do yourself P bl S P R T 2 Dbusinesslike lttle | Extensive. 1 listened patientiy. won: |Sent a thrill along every inch of me| interest. ’ read station. A handsome limousine | justice in the reeording room.” our car ‘drew up before theiyng perched on a graduated series of | Of tin horns of all sizes jutted inele- dering to myself whether the trepidation {from head to toe. For suddenly there | Before the Babylonians had emerged | Zantly! Above them was a little win- | that had begun to steal through my|{came from that back room an unex- | {rom barbarism there were. it is con- whisked us to the fashionable hotel It was now my turn to smile, but I “studio " building” the folloWing|ioo15 that raised each 1ittle group of veins could be cl A WINE | stools v i H assed with {dow pane, through which, mutely, the { veins i Horn | . ted phrase of opening music, fol- morning, my young illusions began|inem above the ome in front of it.iol y 3 .ioperator of the highly secret process | €Tl ’ X is 2 to ‘recelve the first taste of the Se-'i1oc\orked away unendingly on their On the other side regarded me with a | On vour low tones put vour voice[lowed at once by my own voice! Sllinois’ &/ people LOF nerxelpus Y vere shock.they were to experience h | Kindly, “wondering éve. . He seemed,|literally into the very mouth of the! 1 wag uncanny! To be greeted by | chanical skill and strange mythology s e T ot “;h)'brld instruments. I say hybrid| gor )i his nearness, oddly far awa,ghorg.l rzn.\‘ !n?trucior' was saying, “and | o, " gwn voice so far from every-| of whose origin absolutely nothing is 2 little later. because they were actually the queer- | and mysterious. I stared at with | 90 DIE tones lean away. You will “’f‘f“inere. in the midst of people whom: known. In the Chicago gravels are v: a) at stretched on| 4 i {how to do that with experience. W, i vast, mugky plant th: est assortment of melody makers. The | much interest as, apparently, he|pight ‘as well begin to make a first test | O dbood tralin: impels me to think | found paleolithic evidences of glacial unendingly in all directions, throb-1y, 4 i ; : _ | starea at me. { “in X I enges: R o e b umble violin, for instance, was some- | _ ISR B RO o e i eitared, semi-barbaric red- | OF interglacial man, who was the co- g g ithing of a cross between its usual | 5 Sr clambered, -ontoria. dow. i ive warl t v of thi Tt S L _ ¥ A throne bt aamoered jonto & 4o%!skins supplanting thelr native war|temporary of the mammoth and the nival o smt: e an un‘ .h L self 'and a horn, a monstrosity pro- | [N other words, the recording room.|pooth and murmured a few wm,’,fi music with my “Eli, EIL.” T could not| mastodon. All over the state are dio building” had nothing about it tolgyced evidently by the simple ampu- |~ the source of so much beauty, isithrough a little window into the fast- ;ii;’.fisfi;fiex‘nil‘;‘;[:;;l’:vth}‘: ,f:‘:,.,‘,‘,;‘{ earthen monuments and art remains tended by one authority, existing in where T found everything had been ar- | kept it to myself. He didn’t know, this ranzed for my comfort and convenience. | young diplomat, that (perhaps I should A splendidly appointed suite of rooms |not admit it) I am as strong as a pan- Tad been made ready for me. It lacked |ther. It would take more than a beg- rothing from the grand piano ih the|garly two-hour rallroad journey to tire sitting room. and a rack of the music|me! But I said nothing—simply ac- of the songs 1 was to record, to the|quiesced demurely. He was master smallest detail. Here was efficiency | there, with all his nice manners, and th a vengeance! Art with factory|if he said “Rest!” then rest it was! hods! I adored it. It seemed so|When he left me, after tea, at about 6 . S Taal uiterly reliable, so dependable. lin the afternoon, he safd: suggest either art °;’ “’E‘l“;:"h \ding | TAHOD Of its sound box and tne re-|itsell an unexpectédly business-like | "GF ",‘_:fl;’e'd his music rack and his|Joined my real voice to my record|of the race. which held undisputed It was a severe, plain loft building | jjacement of the latter by an awk- | place, wholly in keeping with the UEIY { baton described time. The orehestra | voice. The similarity was too strong|sway for ages, and of which no other * k k x | “Good night” ’ were alive with American| Good night! At 6 in the aftérnoon? 1 of some five or six stories, through|ward-looking horn. It was an easy building and the fuming, thundering|burst into the introductory phrase—!to prevent even their untaught ears| records exist. No other state in the . 1 thought at first that|Deflantly, I seated myself at the piano were the offering of the com- | and began to run over one of the songs which a diminutive passenger eleva- ever o noisily. I did not sce How pos- | from perceiving who I was. With| o005 ol toq by some, is richer i sibly I would ever be able to sing above | eves of the sort he might have turned | FRUAR, oo RENTID o SO e tater tor haltingly bore my companion and e oula v : : ward i ou ; racket! uge horn swung in the | upon one of his ancient gods, he re-| : ¢ juny that was my host. But later 1|1 had chosen to record. After dinner |UPwarce. l::em“'r:“ e last 0";*" i direstionsol :’a%lg;cn(‘);(rallodcngc}v their | garded me for an instant. Tuen, put_ T I T v % vooden 3 stood before a|ting aside his be - Y i . was informed that they he an- |1 would go to the theater, I vowed. yory, top Aot 618 B AonENY 0 1 i < curious emblematic and domiciliary informed that they were the an- | 8 much smaller horn and hummed Iightly | bridies, knelt swiftly at my feet and | FRO TGS S5 SO0 0, (D eg crown the corridor led to a somewhat sparsely!: . " ; : : 2 | the song I would have to sing. Af my {kissed the hem of my sKirl . i = turnished and rather gaunt-looking Tight, before Stll another Hite horn | - o him 1 was the goddess of song. | 2egks ang ridges of [he tiver PRCHe room which served as a waiting place ; 3 sylophone player using bells banged a |come to him from out of the little tin| t,mg of Illinois everywhere from Wis- for the artists. I began to feel I was| |} / : mighty obbligato with all his strength. | horn! Would that I were! Sweel| consin to the Ohio. % * % X X goddess that brings music to all, in The implements and ornaments of on {a venture thet hadinothing tojdo !Xg7E had hardly fini the remotest places, to soothe them.| sione, copper and shell found in the with opera or art. I sensed for per- | WE ardly finished before Mr.!to make them rejoice. to give them, jnnumerable graves and village sites hips the first time in my life the Pasternack was down among us, | new faith, wherever they are, what-| of that vanished race are proof of ! suggesting a f i ever they may be! their modes of life and widespread presence of a mighty machine in ggesting a few changes in orches-| %S0 "1 %Y 45 ressea far from my | commercial intercourse. In mounds on which ], after all, was just one of the tration and giving me a few final|frst experience of record-making, and | the Illinois river are associated ob- infinitesimal cogs! hints. Then, in a flash, he was back |l hope my readers will pardon my |jects finely wrought of shells, coral That mighty machine was the giant on his throne, his b i andering so far from my subject.!and sharks’ teeth from the ocean, fos- |aiacass aton poised in PN CNts of the little tin horn | sil sharks' teeth from the phosphate organization that canned melodies for St A & wafted me a thousand miles away to | beds of Ashley river in South Caro- the milllons for whom music hath ‘S-s-s-sh!” he whispered, and put a!the Indian country! But to get back|lina, mica from North Carolina, cop- 5 {finger on his lips to betoken silence. | 10 the recording room and our solo.| per from Lake Superior, catlinite charms to stir the human breast. And “hebE resord now” - | The song ends. Pasternack holds his| from the pipestone ledges of Minne- 1 was there to be canned! That is| o I i ‘alott to betoken silence while | sota, hematite from southeastern Mis- just ‘about the way I felt. Gone, far| behind, my lovely suite at the hotel, its grand piano, the diplomat who | A double buzz sounded atop the re- | the recording needle scratches its way | souri and obsidian from the Yello counseled rest, and the roses! I was | ol N i , stone or Arizona. In joneer days e the littie booth. The orchesira, re-|pans littered .the hillsides about the waiting for immediate action. L od from the strain of all unneces. | salt springs of Gailatin, Jackson and in's factory now: T was not an artist, | Suddenty 2 loud, seratching noise | sary moire, butst forth agaln Into te] JSLE (N oblatnea salt By not a personality; I was just a_voice | came to us through the horns. The | HATN S0 nds™ calls the same voice, | evaporating the spring water by —a mere voice—that was to be put expertly and wonderfully on hard rubber and sent broadcast to palaces and hovels the world over. And though my personality was to be, us recording instrument was on! Pasternack 100ks elated. Four, sec- | means of hot stones, In Union coub- it were, eliminated, I thrilled at the A single buzs! The baton fell and ' onds to spare: That's the way toty. on Mill ereck, there are, it is said, still to be seen the chert quarries, the orchestra burst once more into|OTSEStTAle & BUMNET, iy wpjie he| from which they obtained the fint for ’ | their fine hoes and spades, and reject. thought of the vast audience to whom my voice would appeal, amuse, soothe, comfort. ice 1 record for the first time .l ' g : i [so strange, singing to an audi pLio it tion of them, and the careful exami- A bombardment of noisy instru-| . : ' e e ::‘:_e must certainly be the eerlest. nation and description of their con- enymous tribute of a well-to-do citizen, | Whether it was hypnotism or mental ahviously a devotee of song and an ad- suggestion, or the fact of having been rer of singers, who had left a stand- | reminded I ought to be tired, I do not ing order with the hotel florist always | know; but gradually, a bit ashamed of i bedeck the suites of visiting artists | facing the truth, I realized 1 was a with flowers. It is a gracious thought, | little tired and I could not have truly and 1 have often wished I might meet [done myself justice after all. And I this unkrown benefactor and thank him |felt my determination to see a show for his gracious gifts. But since up to |gradually weakening. Amato’s words, now that looked-for opportunity has'too, had a bad habit of recurring with the opening passage of the song. We |y m “ove 3 tries to cut a minute or so ‘“over- T P ., 9 & | ed implements and bits of unsatis- were doing “One Faro,” an aria from |time” out of a score. Then all at: @ LT 6 shed work are still the opera “Orfeo,” by Gluck. once, with scarcely no notice, the| {ACIOry or RS e O Aint chips Z | miracle happens. What we have just | {0 be found in the heap D I waited timorously for my cue, <) : | that are supposed to mark the site of . ¥ , MY cue.(Sung and played into the horns comes | (haf A7C SUREOSCH and when it came I sang’ my very back to us through the horn I used!| There are so many of these relics heart into the horn. It was strange, |Of all eerie feelings, hearing your that a systematic Srrey asl exDIOMKE ments down the hall seemed to me to & 3 * X ok X tents is too vast a task for individual indicate the probable direction of that : s S . - theless the largest audience I had 1l listened intently. The over-| effort. In many states the legisla- most holy . of hollies, the recording | il - 5 : N even sung to. V E al Rened finlenty:. le OVEr- | ¢yres have provided for some preser- 3 poweringly loud orchestra had| vation or study of this character. . room, and my womani A : - ; Thorhent ot e and T resotved o find > . : ' 1 had been told to watch my breath- | ; oy 5109 tn tone to Its proper place in ing with ever so much care, because | o out. As I stepped cautiously out of e ; backgrot the room I came unexpectedly—most ; - the least noise of any kind would | e > o :‘::r',," i Erbaleslomclay Curious Antiquities. A\ LOAF of bread more than 600 years old is_something of an an- tiquity. Such a loaf, it is said, is to be found at Ambaston, in Derbyshire, Eng- unexpectediy—face to face with. the | | § : ' - 3 oddest smile and one of the most in-| | . register, faithfully, and an uncon-y ... uingly as it went on, making an tered in my entire career. ,Both be- : sound like a steamboat whistle obbli- longed v ? But it seemed to me as near perfect as onged toz9 man who wes hurrying . y gato when the record was played. Dossible and T began to think it was sanctum sanctorum. It was Mr. Pas- t X, 3 < " 2 land.. It was included in & grant of land ernack, leader of the company's own had such fear of possible fault ob-lgic o' o™ same performance, and |srom the erown in the relgn of King opher and friend to every visiting| [ ] then again and again, through a seem- artist and patron saint of every recordl : o : g e e Do family ever sizcs. = than attempting. to please the little a th ¢ e Mr. Pasternack introduced himself{ MISS BRASLAU IN THE TITLE ROLE OF HER OWN CREATION OF c:,:‘:,‘;: r,::.:a:: m:w xle::nnr:u:m? Almost as great a ‘curiosity as this, and told me something of his duties “SHANEWIS,” AN AMERICAN OPERA, BY CADMAN. tin horn of a recording machine. And ¢ At for habitation, This old dwelling ber. He shouted 8o that 1 could hear o> cod. MiCormmek ‘ail othnce are ] T2 for habitation. n him above the din of the inst: B n 3 somewhat childish performance. It Are) the oldest inhabited house in England; of the instruments. | conjecture that this had been done|factory world that harbors it. 1 missed,|somewhat enlifist Bev ORRHNIe | o0 1said to have made out.of the little: tin get all he was saying. It sounded as|music from the violin strings into the|that lingers about the places where one Mercia. It is octagonal in shape, the if the orchestra must number one 3 & % | ized how- far from being childish the ! of singing to it. Two hundred thousand - . 3 recording Instrument. ~The other in- |ususlly sings and T doubted If I should [zed how tor, How D08, S \eianyic | of inee fo . TRO BT (K | walls of its lower story being of great tent on playing a different tune as|treated. And what a weird-looking | to feel distinctly nervous. a : they waited for our appearance. collection they made! 'A young man—surprisingly young for| I had been singing in Denver, and| ..orgs, 1 thought to myself, has Mc- | At one time the house was fortified and a ke advantage of my be-| cormack had te endure for that? o by iy nei a0t - oot records,” - Mr. Pasternack told me.|for the volume of tone which ema-|eral director of recording—joined us, M e 1t on . Eeallingly. " “i conduct the orcheatral | nated. from these few players. The|and ‘after the customary polite ex- |the Indian ‘pueblos of New Mexico|nated, the final and actual recording is | 13y ‘a few yards from St. Albai's orchestra plays to about a_hundred{one, built square—was lined with nar- ' strangely. nation for me since singing “Shane- | poay. strong usually and tireless as it : Ll N “Any signs of horn fever?” he smiled, | wis.” ‘I moved south to the anclent| s ,‘Lu “ke‘“,,m‘ ’{n. and T returnea| Old bread -n:o nldm &Iboulel grow Ju: are never seen, I am never seen. Isners had been rounded off giving 2 ge: s moustaino z rily to my hotel, io await DI IstounpErison § Snrlage not very sad? tic arran, nt. which | Pasternack. country. Amon; Taos, session for the following day. There was ‘ e o ot yo" replied the latter. . “Scems | pioturesque and isolated nest of In- o need to tell me to rest! I was com- | Which it in existence in the British Mir unjust. And, in fact, as we proceeded | drove it along with the force of|game.” ~ seum. It is the oldest marriage proposal along the noisy but none the less|thunder. - I listened, amaszed, to this meaning-|miles from any railroad. It was an| The next morning a nice, new, shiny B e T ol lonely corridor it did strike me as| Mr. Pasternack must havedivined | less parley. o N O A | o m e or v sagmoval 1 Sonssty;of shout Einety: rather wrong that a man of his crea-|my thoughts as I looked around witl ‘Are ‘you talking about me? 8 I de Seckine . paimter-folk, the sanctuary y L on fhe; e andl Tpiayed. 1l clay tablet made of Nile mud. 3t X Teell is a marriage proposal of a Pharoah for I teresting personalities I have encoun-; | - 5 sciously, noisy intake of breath would | PP 01" o vion and suggestion. along the hall to summon me to his 3 o % A % : § g Never on the concert or opera stagelg i o Byt no! Again we went orchestra, as well as guide, philos- > ; i i sessed me as I sang. There is no o ah s el in A5 ingly endless series of test records. jmade. god of music that lurks in the square 2 house eleven hundred years of age abd, as he led ‘me toward the secret cham- der If even all the vast fortunes that at the time of -doing it it seems a But even then I found it difficult i the time of King Offa. . en I found it difficult tolfor the better precipitation of the|at first, that vague artistic atmosphere | W88 not BAE! S0 PG PPY NS eal” | horn could repay them for the strain was built in the time ng o hundred men, all of whom were in-|struments, too, were similarly mal-|be able to come out of-mygelf. I began % it is in its significance and import. | g ¥ERT T TP way ® How many test | thickness. The upper part is of ok write the scores for all the| It was easy to see, too, the reason |his difficuit and fmportant job as gen-|wanfed to e Ing in that part of the country to see | “HUl";{ 1ast, all flaws seemingly elimi- | known by the name of Bt Germubh accompaniment to all the records. My . room they were ina fairly iarge|changes, regarded me carefully, a bit|which have always had great fascl-|gnnounced. That done, my poor, tired | %45 ¥ million people every year. Yet they|row boards of hardwood, and all cor- : 2 t tainous desert a8 he turned with the question .to|villages of the moun Tt | wearily to my hotel, to await another 1 thirty-four hundred years of s g 1 agreed with him that it was most | caught each little wave of sound and 3 111 seemingly endles: disn: O e e 0 vlstely. Gagzed ont. of waich there is any definite record. It erican civilization, 3 £ outpost of our American record was handed to me. it was mine, | consists of about mACTSEll IS B tive power, and, as I was soon to find | some amazement at'the room of which 0 ng of awe ran through me as I the hand of the daughter of the King. manded. -~ out, remarkable musical' capacities,| I had conjectured.up so many pictures| Pasternack hufh nodded. of the dying tribe of Redmen, Haughty g should’ be so hidden from the puhliclin my imagination. B “Yes,” he rep] le See we al.|but not very clean specimens of In-|listened. This, then, was the personal it_struck. me that “It. s not very béautiful:lhe ‘re- ways have to watch but for *horn fever.’dian manhood stalked the sun-baked, | message that I could send Into every ot Bu!:yloh» It was written about tHe ¢ may be, be does a marked, wita another of ‘aix ihin, Eym ol simeis 2ot it i0s our ' tortupus streets, clad in vivid colors, corner of the world.” This was to find | year 1530 B.C 355 i . CARUSO. THE “GOLDEN THROATED TENOR.” DURING FROM REHEARSAL AT THE METROPOLITAN UPIRA &HOUSE,