The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 23, 1902, Page 22

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 1902, TIVOLI'S IMPRESARIO SAYS MONEY COULD NOT BUY MEMORIES CF RECENT TRIP. BY ../N .- PART N.TON. | | | < "LEVER PIANISTE WHO WILL APPEAR IN A CONCERT SE- RIES IN SHERMAN-CLAY HALL. N intervals of the very production of “The that the Tivoli is now offering I had a chat with our local impresario, W. H. Leahy, the r evening, about his recent visit to in search of talent for the comng grand opers season at the Tivoll. It is by the way, but Mr. Leahy affirms that dollars could not buy the pleasurable memories of his Italian experiences, that spell music, yet more music, and again music. At every street corner, in every restaurant, theater, everywhere it s to be heard, and mostly of excellent quality. The distinguished barrel organists that represent Italian art on our streets are no more to be found In Italy than the aniline grotesques that the contemptuous Jap expprts here are to be found adorning the houses of Japan. Music is in the air. The child is born singing, and the takes to it as naturally as duck- swimming. The advent of a new discussed to the full as eagerly as—say—the democratic trend of King Emmanuel’s recent speeches, and the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker are all competent to take part in the dis- cussion. (Which is all very familiar, but comes with new breeziness from Mr. Leahy's enhtusiastic lips.) A particular instance of enthusiasm for art stands out in Mr. Leahy's Italian memories. A certain millionaire of Livor- no, having been dissatisfied with all of the renderings of “La Tosca”—even that of La Scala—that he had heard, per- suaded Puccini himself to select a cast, and had the opera magnificently staged at his own expense in Livorno, simply to gratify his artistic desire, De Padova, the Scarpla of the cast, Mr. Leahy has been fortunate enough to secure for the coming Tivoli season. La Scala itself, perhaps the most famous | of all homes of opera, is run at a yearly loss of 250,000 francs, which is borne by | some Maecenas of Milan for the service | of the adored art, for .onger or shorter | periods, according to his inclination or capacity. The present Maecenas has been in office for five years. Besides this pri- vate munificence La Scala has a yearly subsidy of 250,000 francs from the munici- | pality, and is also free of rent for the | opera season. It would seem from these | facts as if La Scala were but Indifferently well patronized, but it is only rarely that one of its 3600 seats can be obtained with- out booking a long time ahead, notwith- standing the stiff prices, that range from b to 30 francs. The explanation lies in the splendid finish and costliness of the pro- ductions, that, in the vernacular of the | day and Mr. Leahy, make anything we | have in this country “look like 30 cents.” To begin with, the orchestra numbers 120 | men, picked soloists from all parts of Italy. There are thirty stars, the best ob. ADVERTISEMENTS. r ? ! Easter. We can make you suit that will only fit you to start with, but. will hoid its shape to the end. Our new spring and summer fabrics are Beauties — the swellest in town. All the mew black and white effects are included Call and inspect them. Payments of $..00 a Week | Make it easy for you to get a good suit made to measure. | smallest detail | Verat | cover the barytone roles, and Munez, with | | here, but they bring with them the first important Richard Strauss composition | ever it is it is sure to be vastly interest- ing and the opportunity of hearing some- | genius is dividing the world of music into 5 Je, and an unnumbered chorus, ed to the last efficiency. The stage. 150 feet in width and 320 feet deep—besides nirty-foot apr sometimes com- pletely filled with people. The utmost care is lavished on the productions to the and besides the opera an claborate ballet is afterward given. 'ast- ing freq ¥ fo- tvo hour: and in wh'ch s 1000 ~eople appear. Only s'x oreras ar> sung d"1r'ng the sea son, that lasts fi Dccember 26 to Eas- ter Sunday. This year the operas pro- duced and to b rde “La Wal- kiria” (“Die “Il Trovato: “Linda di C “‘Buryanthe,’ - E and “Germania.” a | Gretel [ a by Alberto Franchetti—all sung in Italian, by the way. | La Scala is not the only opera-house in | Milan. Signor Sonzogno—who is offering the 310,000 prize for the best one-act opera submitted to him by a composer of any nationality. to be produced in Milan In 190—also has an opera-house of consid- erable pretensions. the In‘ernational Lyric Theater. (He may be addressed here or at his music pu ng house, by those desirous of competing for the opera prize.) Sonzogno and Ricordi, who con- trol to a large extent the music publish- ing business of Italy, determine also the ! fortunes of opera In this fashion. Ricordl will ask, for example, on being applied to for “Afda” (he draws rovalties on all the | operas): “Who is your Radames?’ And if Mr Ricordi does mnot like your Radames. and you will not accent a Radames that he considers competent, yvcu are in danger of not getting your opera. So with con- ductors, and even for. the far-away Tivoll Ricord! shook his head over a non-Ital- | ian director, when Impresario Leahy was | arranging for the operas for the coming | season. # Lo v | About the coming season at the Tivoll. | Of the familiar voices only three will be heard this year, the fine basso of Dado, who has made a big hit in “Linda ai Chamounix,” at La Scala; Agostini's cul- | tivated tenor and Collamarini's colorful | contralto. Besides Agostinl there will be} another lyric tenor. Gennario, a favorite | of three years at La Scala, and famed forv a light, sweet, very flexible organ. Vener- | andi, a youngster who touches high C with ease and has a voice that in size. and quality is reminiscent of Tamagno's, will be the dramatic tenor; De Padora, | before mentioned, with D'Albreo, will | Dado, the basso parts. Of the women Inez de Frate, with a fame that reaches from La Scala to the Imperial Theater, St. Petersburg, from Berlin to Vienna, has been secured for the | dramatic soprano roles. She has an im- | posing repertoire, including everything ! from Leonora in “Il Trovatore” to Isolde in “Tristan.” Adelina Tromben, a young Venetian singer, is engaged as the lyric | soprano, and has been heard to excep- tional advantage in the Mozart operas, “Don Pasquale” and “Il Nozze di Figaro.” Mme. Fabbri, a contralto with a brilliant record, will probably be engaged with Col- lamarini for the contralto requirements. New operas to be given will include '‘Andrea- Chenfer,” “La Tosca,” *Fal- ““Manon” (Puccini), and. new to Tivoll effort,” “The Marriage of Figaro™ and “Don Pasquale.” . e . An event of extraordinary musical in- terest will be the Heinrich concerts for next week, to be given by Max Heinrich | and Miss Julla Heinrich at Sherman & Clay Hall. The -artists are well known | that has been programmed in San Fran- cisco, “Enoch Arden,” a setting of the Tennyson poem of the name. The poem is—so to speak—intoned, and Mr. Hein- rich recites it to Miss Heinrich's accom- paniment at the plano. Strauss himself has called it “Melodrama for the Piano- forte,”” the programme expiains, and fur- ther says “it is In reality a series of de- scriptive tone pictures knit together by the wording of Tennyson's poem.” What- thing by this modern magielan, whose opposing camps as successfully as ever Wagner did before him, is to be taken with both ears. Ex. strong hoarbound candy. Townsend's.* g Caateclat ) st b s Cai. glace fruit 50c per 1b at Townsend's.* ——— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen's), 280 Cali- fornia street. Telephone Main 1042. ] Townsend's California glace fruit, 50c a und, in fire-ctched boxes or Jap. bus- s. A nice present for Eastern friends. 639 Market st., Palace Hotel building. * "THE S RANCISCO CALL! Proprictor Publication Offce ... . Market and Third. €. Adaress Communications 1o W. . LEAKE, Manag r casditele .o MARCH 23 100: LIGHT ON THE PHILIFPPINES. - HE quest for information by the Senate Committee on Insular Affairs is at last enlighten- ing the country as to the situation in the Philippines. There is revealed a head-end col- lision between commerce and politic bétween principle and interest. Governor Taft demands the exclusion of the Chincse as a matter of principle. The American Merchants’ i Exchange of Manila demands the unlimited admission of Chinese as a matter of interest. In this dilemma it becomes necessary to decide the purpose for which we are in the Philip- If we are there on a missionary errand, to change the religion of the people and leach their racial characteristics 6ut of them, meantime holding them at “attention” with a gun, we should take Governor Taft’s advice and abolish the only labor that produces a commercial surplus by shutting out the Chinese. 4 It is the testimony of military and civil authorities that the native Filipinos will not work beyond the point of self-support. Like all tropical people they are without commercial ambition. and Will not toil to produce a surplus for commerce. It is the testimony of all Americans and Europeans in business in the islands that Chinese is the only profitable and productive labor there. The dream that poor white men from the United States would go there and by agricul- tural industry make homes and leave families is dissipated. The facts as to the impossibility of white labor in the tropics are becoming common knowledge. The War Department, which has been able to boast justly of the immunity of our troops from acute disease, has been compelled to acknowledge the insidious invasion of their vitality by the climate, and to provide that two vears shall be the extent of their service there. when they must be replaced by fresh men. The civil and military authorities agree that it will require 30,000 soldiers to' garrison the islands and keep the people in restraint for twenty years to come. This means that that service will in that time absorb 360,000 soldiers, who must be transported there and back. In his testimony before the committee Mr. Barrows. who is our Governor of the uncivil- ized tribes, said he did not expect to live to see the day when the Filipinos would be capable of seli-government, “for the Filipino is not born who could control, to say nothing of governing justly, the Philippine Islands.” It seems like a contradiction when, answering a question by Sena- tor Hale, he said: "It would be surprising if the Filipinos, who have been struggling for years for independence and making sacrifices for it, should be able to dismiss the thought from their minds at once.” It has been supposed to be the rule that capacity for self-government and the aspiration for independence go together. But dismissing that. it is evident that we must hold them dependent until they dismiss from their minds the thought of independence That means an autocracy, and autocracy depends on force, and force means the army. So, from this standpoint, we are there for principle and must ex@lude Chinese labor and give up commercial profit. This is a sacrifice aiid all sacrifice is noble. : pines. Turning to the alternative, we have the testimony cf the same Governor Barrows that vhite men cannot do the manual and plantation labor of the islands,” and that of the Américan Chamber of Commerce that the natives will not labor beyond self-support. To this is added the declaration of both of our geneials of the army who have testifiel. that the natives do not even know how to fight. One said that he never attacked them without regret, that it was “like killing women and children; and there was in it neither glory nor honor.” s The other military witness admitted that a great many natives had been slaughtered because when attacked they would huddle together, could not defend themselves, and did not know enough to surrender. Plutarch leaves us to conclude that Alexander, after marching to the Ganges, turned and left India because the people would not fight, and he concluded that a country was not worth conquering whose people thought it not worth defending. ? But it is the opinion of Senator Beveridge that the islands are a sumptuous vision of wealth for our people. This wealth is affirmed by Governor Barrows to be agricultural and not manufacturing. It must be developed by human labor. Taking it for granted that the natives will not work and white men cannot in that climate, there is no resource except Chinese labor, which stoutly resists the weakening influence of a vertical sun and toils in all zones without a task- master. The commercial spirit says admit them. The missionary spirit says exclude them. To exciude them and abandon the profits of commerce will solve one part of the problem. Governor Taft has testified to one fact that was partly known before. The church owns nearly all of the good agricultural lands in the islands, outside the Mahometan group. It is proposed that we buy that land of the church for a sum variously estimated at from $40.000,000 to $100,000,000. In the treaty of Paris we confirmed the church title to this property, and so cannot imitate France and Mexico by confiscating it. Already the church authorities have put the matter in the hands of that wisest of men, Leo XIII, who guards carefully every interest in his charge. Now if we do not intend commercial exploitation of the islands we don’t want to buy the church lands. We prefer the church there as the landlord of a dependent people. But which policy will we choose? If we had known these things in the green stick which we now know in the (l;_v. it might have been different. Even Governor Taft says in his testimony it would have been better for the United States to have had nothing to do with the Philippines. But we have all to do with them, and J. Pierpont Morgan offers to take all the Philippine bonds the island government will issue, and at par without guarantee by the United States, and has told Judge Taft that he can get his money out of the islands. A PROPITIOUS TIME. ORK for the upbuilding of Northern California has begun at a most propitious time. Something of the budding hopefulness of the spring seems to be in it all. From the first the movement has found a sympathetic response from all ¢lasses of people. The commercial associations of San Francisco have readily joined with it; the State Board of Trade has accepted the task of directing and promoting it; county after county has manifested an intention to share in the work as well as a desire to profit by it; and Southern'California. look- ing upon it not with jealousy, or ungenerous rivalry, but as a movement for the welfare of all California, has cordially commended it. The usual festivals of the spring will add a new stimulus to the enthusiasm that is so widespread and so deeply felt. When the street fairs of the interior cities and the flower festivals of the counties draw the people together in large crowds, there will be felt a new inspiration toward harmonious work for the general good. In the abundant evidences that will be everywhere dis- played of the rich resources of the State and of the profitable industries of the people, even the most skeptical will perceive convincing proofs that to attain a higher prosperity for all sections of California nothing more is needed than a co-operative exercise of energy on the part of Califor- nians; and the sanguine spirit thus engendered will be helpful in prompting those who have been hitherto indifferent to unite with their neighbors and urge on the movement which the State Board of Trade has undertaken, It is known that Southern California this year has been overcrowded with tourists. Their hotels and boarding-houses have been barely able to accommodate the throngs of visitors from all parts of the East. It has been a matter of regret that the counties of Northern California could not have attracted thousands of the visitors, so as to relieve the strain upon the south, and hold the visitors in the State after they left that section. Along with the tourists, who are but birds of passage, there come many who are looking for good investments 'ior capital and good places in which to establish homes. California has an ample variety of attractions to please almost any taste that may exist among these pleasure-seekers or home-seekers. If one county do not suit them, another county may. We ought to be able to induce the visitors to see something of every por- tion of the State before they return East. To that end the movement for the upbuilding of Cali- fornia is working, and it is gratitying to note that all conditions of the time are in harmony with the movement. New energies and new harmonies are blossoming in time with the orchards; bud- ding in harmony with the vineyards and the fields, and the harvest promises to be abundant. At a meeting of the Public Education Association in New York a few days ago one of the speakers in discussing corporal punishment said: “I know a boy who was whipped at school al. most every day for six months and has lived to thank his teachers for it. He is now on the police force.” The example is brilliant, but whether it be advisable to do so much licking for the sake of making a policeman is questionable. . G ; ————— A Chicago young woman has devised a new way to earn a liying and is now advertising to furnish “de luxe doughnuts suitable for wedding breakfasts instead of wedding cake.” The dainty is further described as “a hand-tooled doughnut with deckle edge, hand powdered and marked with initials of the bride.” ] L ' THERE IS5 NO WAY OF PREDICTING | WHICH WAY PUBLIC WILL TAKE NEW PLAY. ‘ BY GUISARD, Meas- Lorre DAY Coreman & i I o F this play fails it is because it is bad, i irredeemably bad.” Thus Charles Francis Bryant, stage manager of the Alcazar, on the new play that he has written In collaboration with Mrs. | Lottle Day Coleman. that will be produced at the Alcazar in the near future. | of thelr work, whether it be the making | Ilike to hear people who do things talk | of plays or pies; and therefore when Mrs. | | Coleman was good enough to Invite me to | hear something about the new play I was pieased to go to her flower-filled, pleasant room to hear the story. Mr. Bryant was also there, and his aforementioned remark | was In response to a guess of mine at the Meditatively thumping one of Mrs. Cole- man’s cushious — Mr. Bryant had the lounze—the manager-playwright went on: TOur play— When Hearts Were Young, | we have called it—has everything in the way of production in its favor. It is fit- | ted to the capacities of the Alcazar com- pany and as far as possible to the | ascertained requirements of the Alcazar | audiences. It will be carefully and even | sumptuously staged, is being thoroughly rehearsed and If it fails it is because it is inherently bad.” “But you think?—"" | “Of course we think there is something | in it, or we should not give it,” said Mr. | Bryant. “But we are not the public, and | you cannot bank on the public. There is absolutely no method of prophesying which way it will take anything. I have seen—well, everything but the expected, happen, and it takes only the smallest touch to turn the tide. ,A laugh in the wrong place, and pouf! your whole scene is spofled. There is one thing in ‘When Hearts Were Young,' or rather not in it. The young gentlemen of the gallery. | chances of success for any play. | the lovely herofne’s lips is the usual sig- simply ruins the scene, are going to get left this time. The hero and heroine never quite reach that point, though the play ends happily. Kisses are always dan- gerous, by Jove!” Mr. Bryant thoughtfully | concluded. “Then the play will not offend in the matter of long speeches. Everything that can be told in action is told that way, and there is plenty of it. Then there are no asides, soliloquies, or other artificial methods of relating the story. It has been understood, by the way, that ‘When Hearts Are Young’ is a rural drama, but it is not. But I have done only the car- penter work; ask Mrs. Coleman about the Mrs. Coleman, deprecating Mr. Bryant's madesty, explained that the play is found- | being New England types, with the local | color confined to rural scenes, but not to the haunt of the stage hayseed and un- earthly country bumpkin that decorate the usual rural drama. “It is taken from life, and was studied out during a one- time visit of mine to New England,” Mrs. Coleman says, “and there is no villain worthy to be called ‘sich,’ no gospel is taught, no problem discussed, nor does any one die in the play. There is what we | hope may prove a ‘strong heart interest,’ | as the press agents say, and what we | hope the eritics will fina a ‘good comedy relief.” We have taken four acts to teil the story, and have pared away and sheared things down until I do not think there is an unnecessary word in the whole four acts. I am particulariy pleased with the way the actors at the Alcazar have expressed themselves concerning the play, ! and am sure they will lend their best ef- fort to its rendering. And 1 am delighted beyond measure with the excellent way in which the thing will be put on, Mr. Bry- ant and his staff having done wonders for it. But Mr. Bryant has really done most of the work. The falr playwright comes from Sierra County, by the way, and is well known as a popular magazine writer. After courteously disclaiming any but a carpenter’s share in the work, Mr. Bry- ant smilingly said: “But you have told nothing of our ending—we rather pride ourselves on the ending. The eternal ‘he and she' are divided by seemingly im- passable obstacles almost until the de- scent of the final curtain, and the lady in front of you is going to be puzzled about the precise moment to put on her hat. You should be grateful.” “If I'm still there!” T comment. “But as to the purpose of the play? Mrs. Cole- man has said that it preaches no gospel, and you, Mr. Bryant, have not said any thing about having a mission to the world, the uplifting of art, etc., etc. Jus. ves.” tify yoursel “Frankly, it 1s a vulgar desire for dol- to whom the hero's chaste salute upon | nal for a chorus of deadly smacks that | ed upon New England life, the characters | | - AUTHORS OF THE NEW PLAY “WHEN HEARTS WERE YOU [ 2— — | lars with me—outside of the fun of the | work,” Mr. Bryant confessed. “I want | money, more money most money, and | then T can see about the other things. | Only the rich man is perfectly free to ex- press himself, and has the power so to do. The drama has been written as nearly | as possible, o far as my share of it goes, | with the idea of building a play that will | take, to give the public what it wants, | or seems to want from my experience of it | at the Alcazar. Curiously, too, plays writ- ten in that cold-blooded, mechanical way sometimes succeed.” Mrs. Coleman says that her idea in the play was simply to tell a pretty story, | though she gracefully owns that the pe- cuniary reward, in case of success, that would make it reasonable for her to con- tinue her work, would come not ungrate- “Well,” Mr. Bryant rejoins, “If it is not | a success it is not my fault. I've done my Dbest with the thing, and there isn't time How'is that, Mrs. to worry, by Jove. | Coleman?* “Oh, it makes me shiver to think about | 1t the lady “Curses on my poverty!" exclaimed the man who had failed to break the bank at at Monte Carlo. “My system was just beginning to get its work in, and in & few minutes I would have been winning money by the barrel, when my supply of cash gave out!”—Washington Star. “This,” sald the Philadelphian, patting the old liberty bell fondly, “is the most precious possession we have.” “I don’t wonder you value it,"” observed the New Yorker. “There's such a lot of | your leading citizens who never would get to see anything of our glorious coun- try If it wasn't for an occasional free trip over it with this grand old relic.”— Baltimore Sun. — ADVERTISEMENTS. B et e SR S, S e S GREATEST PIAND Sale ever held on the coast. When you can | buy or rent a high-grade standard make plano tor , 3.75 a Month | Why not have ome? You can get it from us only—no other dealer can afford to do this— because we are the only direct factory repre- sentatives on the coast. Ome profit from fac- tory to consumer. Second grade pianos $u8 up. 50 second-band ln- G PIAN ‘:nrnma. among which are the following: \ | | | | | Knabe $9% 2 Chicker! 165 | 1 Sommer 381 Hene . s |1 Hyde a bt TH= HEINE PIAND | 15 tadorses by all musicians; over 5000 in use In San Francisco. Agents for 10 dierent ‘makes. HEINE HALL, 235-257 GEARY ST. 33 2 Steinway ...... 265