The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 8, 1901, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1901. e —————— BELLINI’'S DEATH PROVES Truth of an Old Prophecy THAT GENIUS By Blanche DIES EARLY. Partington. o e T is owing to a prepossession that peo- ple say genius must dle early. I think thai from the thirtieth to the thirty- fourth year has been inGicated as the | most dangerous period for genius. | How often have I bantered poor Bellini on this subject and prophesied that, be- ing & genius and having reached that Ca.:\- | gerous age, he must soon dle.” | It is Heine speaking to the white, love- | ly, dream-friend of the “Florentine Nights,” Maria. Bellini is just dead at 32, and Rossini, the “Swan of Pesaro,” | has been mysteriously silent for ten| iy | )e‘?srhl.rdlar! in spite of the playful tone, } he tormented himself about this proph- | ecy,” Heine dreamily recalls. “He called | me his jettatore, his evil eye, and al-| ways made the jettatore sign. He 8o/ wished to live, he had an almost passion- mte batred of death; he would hear noth- | ing of dying; he was frightened of it as a child who is afraid to sleep in the dark. * » * He was a good, dear child, often Tather naughty, but then one only had to | threaten him with an early death and he | would -immediately draw in and retreat and make with his two fingers the jetta- tore sign. Poor Bellini!” *So you knew him personally? Was he handsome?” “He was not ugly.” “You see, we cannot answer affirmative- 1y when any one asks us such a question about our own sex. He had a tall, slender | figure, which moved in an elegant, I| might say coquettish, manner; always & quatre epingles; long, regular face, with 2 pale rosiness; very fair, almost golden hair, put into small curls; very high, no- ble brows, 8 straight nose, pale bjue eyes, & beautifuily chiseled mouth, a round | chin. His features had something vague and characterless; something like milk, | 2nd in this milk face often mingled, half sweet, half bitter, an expression of sor- rcw. This expression of SOrrow compen: sated for the want of soul in Bellini's face. but it was a sorrow without depth; it_glistened in the eyes without poetry, it played passionless about his lips. The young maestro seemed anxious to makei this flat, languid sorrow conspicuous in his whole person. | | | |— His hair was curled in | such a fanciful, melancholy way, his clothes sat 8o languidly about his frafl | body, he carried his little Spanish cane in g0 idyllic a way, that he always re- minded me of the affected young shep- | herds with their beribboned sticks and | bright-colored jackets and pantaloons | that we see In our pastorals. And his| gait was so young-ladylike, so eleglac, o | ethereal. The whole man looked like a | sigh en escarpins. * * * Later on, when | 1 had known him a long time, I felt some liking for Bellini. This arose after I had observed that his character was certainly thoroughly noble and good. His soul was certainly pure and unspotted by any hate- ful contagion. And he was rot wanting in thet good-natured, childlike quality which we never miss in men of genius, even If they do not wear it as an outside show.” ok ‘We have heard again during the last 'week at the Tivolli the principal work of this rosy-pale young genius, “Norma,” with 1ts broad and dignified melodies and | thin, bald, weak harmonies and orches- tration. And “Norma” has much life yet to live. The name role is a tempting one for dramatic sopranos in spite of its ardu- ous and exacting nature. Barbareschi exhibits in it both her strength and weak- ness. Bhe has both power and presence, 2nd her phrasing is always delightfully | artistic, but the upper notes are rather out of her range and become sometimes thin, sometimes harsh, and her tone in the mezzo voces has a wavering quality, that epproaches the insidious tremolo. ‘Where is it one reads in Thackeray of Venus in high-heeled scarlet shoes and French corsage? I can add a chapter from the Tivoll on Druld priestesses in corsets, with tight brass belts to accentu- ate the anachronism. Much better than that was to be expected of Barbareschi after her thoroughly artistic Aida make- up, end Pollettinl (whose name I am proud to have at last learned how to epell) has no comparable preceding sin. It completely robbed both figures of their natural grace and the opera of a large part of its illusion. Pollettinl’s Adalgisa was a sweet and sympathetic effort oth- erwise. There is & placard in some public con- servatory that the Tivoll management would do well to plagiarize, in this fash- don: “Gentlemen will not smoke here dur- ing the d opera season; other persons must not.” For the perennial callow youth, dependent for his reputation as a male on a cheap clgar, still invades even the grand opera precincts with his char- ecteristic odor, and the occasional man careless of the rights of singers still as- saulis their vocal apparatus with the eough-provoking fumes in spite of the | o+ CALIFORNIA MUSICIAN WHO HAS RETURNED AFTER SUC- CESS IN EUROPE. 3 - courteous request of the management to the contrary. The ladies to & man seem to have denied themselves the tempting indulgence. Collamarini’s Carmen comes this week, beginning Tuesday, and “Faust,” with Agostini, Montanar! and Dado, will be the alternating bill. B8 s The modest and enthusiastic little band of clever young women who have peared for some seasons under the title of the Saturday Morning Orchestra will shortly take up their work again. Mr. Weil, their able leader of last year, has called the girls to order, and a first meet- ing was held yesterday at Sherman & Clay Hall. By some accident—it has been laid on the cat—last vear’s list of the young ladies’ addresses has been lost, and some therefore have unavoldably been left without Invitation to the new course. If they will kindly consider this as a pre- liminary notification and apply for later news to Oscar Well, at Sherman & Clay's musle store or at 1514 Sacramento street, thefr conductor will esteem it a favor. The first rehearsal will probably be held next Baturday morning, and I should advise any girl with a reasonably good technique and a reverent desire to know something T the great domain of orchestral music 0 become a member of the modest little coterie. e e ] I am in doubt as to the kindness of ad- vising the public of Miss Marie Withrow’s return to San Franciseo, as the gifted teicher is busily occupied in completing & mwanual of singing: But Miss Withrow has already had a few qulet weeks with her book, which she expects to finish | within the three months’ limit of her stay, 2nd meantime there are not a few musical folk still in ignorance of her return. It is four years since Miss Withrow left San F:ancisco for London. Since then she has been doing all kinds of good work In the | English capital, teaching, lecturing and penning things about her art. Among her puplls is Mrs. Randegger, wife of the famous vocal teacher; Marie Tempest, who gratefully accords her instructor the cradit of having restored a voice that was all but completely ruined; W. Talleur An- drews, the clever Californian, who is earn- ing fiattering reputation for himself in Lordon, and many others that have been worthily heard from. It is even amusing to think of a teacher from far California acquiring such place in the English me- tropolis as Miss Withrow has now, but surprise at such happenings ceased long ago. et There is a pleasant weicome to Dr. H. J. Stewart to his new position as organist of the Trinity Church, Boston, in the Bos- ton Evening Transcript of August 29. The Transeript devotes a half-column to Dr. Stewart’s history. The California organ- ist (for so he may be regarded, having seen fifteen years' service as organist in California) succeeded Professor Horatlo W. Parker in Boston, who goes after eight years at Trinity Church to devote himself ertirely to his work at Yale University. It was at the instarce of the rector of the_church, Rev. E. Winchester Donald, D. D., who heard Dr. Stewart play at the Pan-American Exposition, that the organ- ist was invited to assume the post of mu- sical director of Trinity’s forces, and that California lost another good musiclan. I see that the Boston churches “go in” for summer vacations and Dr. Stewart will not therefore enter upon his new dutles for some weeks to come. . e After the long silence of the summer vacation the concert season begins with two good programmes to be glven Tues- day and Thursday evenings of this week. With the valuable attraction of the Tiv- oli’s fine barytone, Salassa, also their good tenor, Castellano, and the Knickerbocker Quartet, in addition to the college or- chestra, a concert will be given at St. Ignatius Hall next Tuesday evening under the patronage of the San Francisco Relief Soclety and the Training School of St. Ig- natius Church. The concert is in aid of the Christmas charities of the church. On Thursday evening a programme of much interest will be given at Sherman- Clay Hall by Herman Genss, at the piano; Harry Samuels, with his violin, and Miss Teresa Ehrman as accompanist. . THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. SUNDAY .. Address Communications to W.'S. LEAKE, Manager :::..SEPTEMBER 8, 1901 CEEEEE ... Market and Third, S. F. = BRAZEN H{(POCRISY. Publication Office. N Friday morning the Examiner reproduced from its Eastern twins, the Journal of New York and American of Chicago, a coarse and vulgar cartoon, representing Presi- dent McKinley as a negro minstrel with blacked face, singing a coon song in which he was made to avow bitter enmity to the common people. Within seven hours after that libelous attack appeared, a viper, professing that his fangs were poisoned to strike for that same common people, had struck the President down. We predicted that the Examiner would attempt by sniveling hypocrisy to condone its in- citement to the President’s murder, which it has continued ever since his last election. True to its instincts that noisome sheet vindicated our prediction. On Saturday in a cringing editorial it said: “William McKinley is loved as an American citizen, an American soldier, a simple man earnestly devoted to the interests of the nation. Honest effort to obey the will of the people, a life devoted to that noblest of human pursuits, the duties of government, is rewarded b.y the bullet of the assassin,” and so on through black letter and light runs this hypocritical expression. The reader will ask why, if the Examiner uttered its real sentiments on Saturday morn- ing, has it for months maliciously maligned’ the President? Its cartoons, over which was the line, ostentatiously displayed, “Copyrighted by W. R. Hearst,” have sought to identify Preside‘nt McKinley with every sinister and sordid scheme which could be thought of to oppress and dis- tress his fellow-citizens. The Examiner .invented a pathetic figure to represent the “common people,” and then beset that effigy with every kind of affront, wrong and oppression, and accom- T panied it with a caricature of the President rapturously applauding the sad plight of the victim. Its Saturday editorial was the result of a fear of popular vengeance, for maligners are always base cowards—or it was a sincere expression. If the latter, it was a confession that for months it had vulgarly lied about and maliciously incited the murder of the man, “loved by. the people, de- voted to their interests, who honestly sought to obey the popular will.” That vicious sheet may take either horn of its dilemma. I is either a craven and lying coward, or a feculent slanderer, with the instincts only of the ape, which has no reason for its rage. Mr. Hearst has industriously used his three pernicious papers to represent the President as the opposite of its fervid characterizations of Saturday morning. Mr. Hearst has played upon the passions of the ignorant, has represented the President as standing between the people and their happiness and welfare, the arch enemy of liberty and prosperity, and has invited the cowardly assassin to the bloody work that was the logical and necessary outcome of such teaching. The connection was made apparent between its characterization of the President and the potent passions incited by the labor strikes here and in the East. The Examiner, by all the chem- istry of hatred and falsehood, created an atmosphere of lawlessness and murder. It pointed the finger of rancor at the victim, and when an imported assassin, breathing that atmosphere, exe- cuted the purpose which has been in all that Hearst has hired to be written and pictured, he pro- fesses to deplore what he encouraged and weeps crocodile tears over the victim. The sequence and connection of events prove Hearst to be a coward, and his papers to be the enemies of Amer- ican institutions, of law and order. It is not pleasant to have to say these things, but they are commanded by loyalty to the truth. This man is not admonished by events. He is ready to do the same thing over again. The shameless Examiner and its two Eastern promoters of assassin- ation cannot change. Their habit of pandering to the lowest passions of man is fixed in those papers. It is their hideous and disfiguring birthmark worn where all men must see it. In no sense does newspaper rivalry enter into the spirit in which we find it necessary to state these facts. Nor is partisan opposition a part of it. The political party which has such an advocate is to be pitied and commiserated.. It is the victim of a misfortune the most serious that can befall an organization. When President Cleveland was asked to appoint to office a newspaper man who by defaming Blaine had attacked the character of Mrs. Blaine, he said: “I will not appoint that man. He deserves only my contempt. He attacked the character of Mrs. Blaine, a lady and a mother. The party was not responsible, and would be disgraced by his recognition.” That uttered the proper and manly spirit of wholesome partisanship. In this community the blackguard, murder promoting, riot exciting policy of the Exam- iner will not be condoned, though it snivel never so tearfully. SENATOR PLATT’S MISTAKE N his comments on the work of the assassin against the President, Senator Platt committed a great mistake in saying it was a case in which lynching is justifiable. Americans are shamed and humiliated by the occurrence. It is the lifting of the hand of murder against government and law. Men bow their heads in sorrow that the republic can be the scene of such a crime. The person of the President is the symbol of lawful, consti- tutional government. The bullet aimed at him is aimed at law and liberty. Let these vindicate themselves in line with their high purpose. Lynching is a blow aimed at the law. To lynch this miscreant would add to the shame that is upon the country. Let us learn from the high restraint shown by the Government of the kingdom of Ttaly. There death is not the penalty for murder. It would have been easy in the uproar of passion that followed the murder of King Humbert to have wrenched the law so as to have executed his assassin. But this was not done. The defiant wretch was sent to the galleys exactly as if his victim had been a peasant and not a king. So let it be here. If the President die, let the law take its course and this assassin go to the electric chair and die as the lightning sears his black heart, just as if his victim had been a laborer on the Ex- position grounds instead of the President of the republic. Then let the experience apply to the safguarding of our national honor and life. Let us declare that this country must cease to be an asylum for these anarchist murderers who spell their names with consonants. Here is liberty, but not liberty to incite murder and do bloody deeds. Let the nests of anarchists in our large cities be cleaned out. Let these cold-blooded serpents be hunted from the country and refused shelter of laws they come here to destroy. *The legal hanging of a good lot of them in Chicago had a deterrent effect that was unfortunately changed when an anarchist Governor, Altgeld, par- doned those of the gang whom a mistaken mercy had favored with life imprisonment. But let us have no lynching. Let us show the world that American law carries a remedy for every wrong. We have another duty, and that is to starve back into the gutter, whence it crawled, the journalism which is the advance guard of such crimes. The citizens of Hanford in this State took the right view when they smote such journalism by burning Hearst in effigy. In his cooler moments Senator Platt will acknowledge his mistake and recall his unfor- tunate speech. -LAWLESSNESS' MUST CEASE. T is time to put an end to lawlessness in this city. Men must not any longer be held prison- ers in union headquarters. and then taken out and be beaten and robbed. If the executive authority of San Francisco will not or cannot protect men engaged in lawful pursuite, a power will be found that will protect them. Patience is exhausted. The law must be vindi- cated. 3 On the 17th of this month New York is to hold a primary election under a new primary law, and the papers have begun to urge good citizens to pay attention to it, but the chances are the result will be much the same as it was in San Francisco. If Kitchener had anything like Cleveland’s command of language he would have a splen- did opportunity now to denounce the Boers for pernicious activity and warn them to get them- selves into innocuous desuetude. Al e It is stated that the King of Belgium is desirous of resigning his throne so that he can go to Paris and lead a quiet life. but there are people who believe he would not live so very quiet if he had his desire. —_——— It is announced that a New York: publishing house intends to issue 100,000 copies as the first edition of a new novel, so it looks now as if we have reached the era of big things even in L4 . "N A trash factories. vt S o P % —-—— BEST PLAY OF THE DAY | Tells a Pretty Love Story, } WRITTEN IN By Gu isard. HAPPY VEIN. | 1 h.“-v—r B TV — POPULAR YOUNG ACTRESS WHOS o+ OF “A VOICE FROM THE WILDERNESS” AT THE CENTRAL THE. TER GIVES PROMISE OF A BRIGHT FUTURE. —_— E WORK IN THE BIG PRODUCTION A~ HEAR there has not only been stand- ing room at the Columbia Theater on occasional nights this last week, but also that some chairs have been va- cant, and that at the best play of the day we have had here. This could be un- derstood if Mr. Marshall's comedy were of the kind that is caviare to the multi- | tude, hut, on the contrary, its appeal is | universal. Children cry for it and the | aged grandame dreams again after seeing | “A Royal Family.” The litterateur affects | it and its brilliant English is no bar to the enjoyment of its limpid story by the unlettered. The man of the world gloats on the delicious political predicaments of the royal family and the young girl—and every one with her—revels in one of the | sweetest, prettiest, wholesomest love stories that was ever told. Wise parents delight in the gentle Machiavellian tactics | of the worthy Cardinal, and daughters are | encouraged i® obedience by learning that | it is the royal road to their own sweet way. The actor joys in the incredible cleverness. of the acting and the play- wright wonders at the play’'s balance, poise, characterization and crystalline | clarity of construction. There is satire for the cynic, illumined with brilliant kindiiness for the good of his mind and heart. There Is poetry, there is philos- ophy, there is wit. In short the play makes appeal to almost every worthy in- stinct one possesses. It is true the rival | attractions have been more than usually | numerous and worthy this week, and that the later days have seen better houses | at the Columbia, but every empty seat | betokens a particular and peculiar delight | lost to all play lovers that had the neces- sary penny to see the fine show and I'm sorry for them. i The modest Mr. Frohman announces the organization as “Annie Russell, with a supporting company,” but it is what the circus folk would call a “stellar organiza- tion,” and the Dunne & Ryley manage- ment an “all-star cast.” The players have been cast for their parts with aptest | intelligence, with a result of absolute sym- metry and vraisemblance. Who could imagine, for example, that Mr. Thompson is any other than the genial, politic, wise old Cardinal he plays so brilliantly? He reminds one of Coquelin, both in manner and method, has the same marvelous facial play, the same eloquent humor, the same finish, and complete identity with the character. Laurence a'Orsay, too, debonair and gracious, is a most kingly King of Arcacia, looks, in fact, as If he had never done anything else. Mr. Mar- shall’s illumined lines are delivered with superb ease and tact and the whole im- pression left is of a kindly, court’y, decent sort of fellow, who is trying manfully to do his duty by the country of his in- heritance, and finding said duty something of a bore at times, as we all do. Both Mr. Marshall and Mr. d'Orsay suc- ceeded admirably In enlisting sympatny for the man who happens to be king and in impressing one with the undeniable fact that he has troubles of his own, in spite of a life position at an assured in- come. Orrin Johnson’s lover, the Prince of Kurland, is also pitched in-happlest key, a model of ardor, refinement and good taste. He is also conspicuously bet- ter looking than the average scion of roy- alty. The young priest of Richard Ben- nett also falls gracefully into the picture. 8 et e What a persuasive {llusion of the com- edy is that of Annie Russell's relationship to Mrs. Gilbert! There is really a re- markable “family” likeness between the young star and the veteran genius who plays her queenly grandmother in the story, the same delicate, pointed chin, clever, rather melancholy nose, luminou: deep eyes, and utmost mobility of coun- tenance. And what a princess and queen are thess! A princess every lissome Inch of her is Annie Russell, and the very spirit of winsome, ingenuous girlhood. It is a gossamer-dellcate picture, gay and tender, fanciful and exquisitely dainty. Her volce lends rare charm to the part, fine, sweet and flutelike, and her move- ments are grace itself. She reminds of flowers and birds and fair May mornings and all the glorious, ridiculous realities of youth’s springtime. Mrs, Gilbert has the piquant, vivacious note by way of contrast. She is the Dowager Queen, ing better than this. Miss Sanford, a for- mer Oakland girl, and Mabel Morrison also add to the felicitously high-bred at- mosphere that reigns, and the settings and costumes are alone worth the price. i e At the Central Theater they are cutting, polishing, reshaping and gererally mak- ing over to its entire advantage Edward Elsner’'s play, “A Volce From the Wil- derness.” Its own father will not know it when they are through with it up there, and what is of considerably more impor- tance we shall hardly recognize it our- selves. With the wealth of picturesque materfal at hand Elsner certainly could hardly escape finding useful situation for his drama, and has also been happy enough to hit upon a dramatic central ir- cident, but further than that he has not gone. His play is no play. There is no dramatic sequence, no connected story. simply a series of splendid, thrilling pict- ures and Incidents. His English is flat, vulgar and hopelessly commonplace, and the marvel is that it passed the censor at the Central at all. But “A Voice From the Wilderness” has again amply demon- strated among other things the gorgeous- Iy picturesque quality of biblical history, and its adaptability to dramatlc treat- ment. It has further demonstrated that we have in Messrs. Belasco and Thall managers with the courage of their con- victions, and a grit and enterprise that will carry them on to big things for them- selves and us some near day. Again we have found that the local artist in scenes has all the hecessary genius for mounting a big production, and that we can dress a play just as well as the next town, even if that happens to be New Yorik. There is a large diversity of opmfor about Mr. Downing’s John the Baptist, and certainly appearances are against him. Even to the most imaginative he can hardly suggest John's dlet of locusts and wild honey, but I still clatm for him g certain dignity—intermittent, and con- siderable sympathy for the part. But the gladiator habit still sticks, and he 1s occasionally brutal where he should be merely firm, nolsy where he should be gentle, harsh where he should be mild, until one can get up quite a respectabld sympathy for the rather badly berated Herodlas. In Miss Marshall, who plays H there is another discovery. She is & new comer here, but has already made mark. She has a striking presence ln3 personality, temperament and truth of inspiration. Her Herodlas is an almost completely convincing performance, lack- ing only in shading and subtlety, Mr. Downing’s daughter, who is cast as Huldah—a too small part—is anothes pleasurable surprise. Miss Downing made her first appearance this week and made a gratifying success. She has an elocu- tionary finish most grateful to the ear, is dramatically talented and is a pretty girl besides. Oza Waldro; gracstul. charming Salome and should hav’o b!eez brought in earlier in the play. The play is crowding the house in a most encouras- ing fashion and there is every prospec: that the management will not lose by iis enterprise. —_— —— “Drummer, isn't he?" “Yes; confirmed. Why, he has been or the road so long that when he gets home and his wife hands him the biscuits at the dinner table he Immediately begins to fit with her.”—Puck. 43 —_—— Choice candies, Townsend's. Palage Hotel® CalL f glace fruit S0 per Ib at Townsend's.t * Spectal information supplied dafly teo business houses and publlc men by the Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont- Somery street. Telephone Main 1042 utilized by the po- ff Auto cars are to be lice in Paris to overtake cars driven at excessive speed. Several policemen ares nOW being trained to drive the motor cave, —————————— Are You “Of the 0ld World”? pertaining to the New World may be easily and cheaply seem at the Pan- American and the best way to get to Buffalo is by the comfortable trains of the Nickel Plate Road, carrying Nickel Plate Dining Cars, In which are served Amer- ican Club meals from 35c to 31 each. Book showing pietures of exposition bufldings. reserved, JAY W, butlding,