The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 20, 1903, Page 46

ALYL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 1903, Adamo Gregoretti Tells Interviewer of Discouraging Conditions for Opera in ltaly, choos: Maesthro s his week, precede As it was certa me that he had s his foot” on Mond “*Trovatore,” so 1 that it was Denis ( coursed so eloguently to me upon song singing last Tuesday. It w him, & born singer of song go for some of it g0 to the Tivoll baryt fish to fry. Therefore ascribe the following song wisdom, deliv- ered in earnest, nervous English except when Ireland’s music came u the to him O'Sul phrase and accent warmed into & cordial, fragrant brogue After the “good mornin was in the offices of the O'Sullivan es 2, where this particular scion of the name doing his un-Celtic be: pme an sentee landlord of —1 ven- tured to congratulate the singer on his fine vocal trim, as it was evidenced at bis recital of last week “Yet.,” he said, sung so well here, I am deplorably ious, as I have sung in London. fortunate in finding I have a throat here. People must think—I feel—the London criticisms of my work awfully exaggerat- ed in their praise.” “That is the last thing the London critic is usually accused of,” I replied, “nor do I belleve there 8 any one to think you overpraised. To me the criticisms are simply just, for—permit me—it is only when a Max Heinrich or some other such rare artist comes along that one gets the body and soul of a song as you give them. But I do want to know a little about how you get at it, if I may? “l don't thought”—no! that must have been Adamo—*1 think I have hard- ly any settled method,” the barytone laughed, “though possibly my experience of ‘finding’ & song is practically the same n most cases. I—"' and the art dream came to illumine the merry, everyday Wy~ € the singer's eve—"1 thiok really I un- for finding a good There i8 something \ll’lllb't magnetism that ms to attract through the very cover: 1 find I buy very little trash, though leagt one or two new Songs For one thing I read very sight—my eyes afe very quick, almost through to the next it &umxl!mnq seems to me, and you how this h(‘lps in getting at the : of & The atmosphere I ot almost immed I really very sel- first reading.” 3ut there is a whole continent between and the final rendering?”’ ‘Jl\( as there is between the negative 1 the finished photograph,” the bary- e put it. “There’s the developing, the ting, the polishing up, everything s to make the finished picture n the spontaneous thing that the first sh of the sun splashed on the glass. Curiously, I'm not conscious of the tech- nical difficulties of the song at first. Those impose themselves later. Then with its every reading there is a loss of spon- until the singing becomes not in- st “11\.4 but purely mechanical. In the the. scng is the me- clous expression of what at first an intuitive perception of its And you act out your songs, I know, dying them?” act too much in singing them?” ullivan quickly queried back. ot for a moment,” I heartily replied I do act while I study,” the singer ghingly confessed, ‘‘shout, throw my arms about, make faces and walk all over the shop. I think it helps you to get the drama of a song for one thing. Then, for another, it frees your muscles from restraint that is going to make it- self felt in your singing.” “It must have been great fun studying n.. \lr«\.\u ‘Fur Funzehn Pfennige'?"’ “It was,” the barytone agreed, then re- marked: ve: difficult, all sorts of queer scales”—and he ran and down one in a rich la, la, until d ears hung in at the door and I wanted to call the Interview off. *‘There’s another Strauss, magnificent thing, that I wanted to sing, “Die Rattenfanger.” In- in Mr. tonal hurdl, up deed, personally, I should like to have made my programme wholly of Strauss, Hugo Wolf, Welngartner perhaps, and, say, some of the less well known songs of Schubert. There's a perfect mine of them—songs of Ossian, Hector's Abs- chied, songs of Sophocles, Agamemnon, a perfect Golconda, intensely dramatic stuff.” “You are very fond of the Hugo Wolf songs?” “I am simply possessed by the ‘Ana- creon’s Grab,’"” the singer said. “It is one of the finest songs I know. Poor Wolf! His fate was like Schumann’s, you know; he ended in a madhouse a year or so ago.” “TI'm not familiar with his work.” “Oh, he is only fairly well known in Germany, practically not at all in Eng- land nor here. He was introduced to London last season by Dr. Wullner— there’s a singer for you! Wullner now,” and Mr, O'Sulliven’s tone blazed with admiration, “to me comprises in himself and Denis O’Sullivan Describes the Bete Noire of the Musician in London. all the 1 dramatic sen intellectual thing in fact ! doctor of pk ins harmony, pl 1if and Is fir gedian in the heater at Meinin- gen. Why, he couldn’t help singing! He brought the other Wolf song, too, the ‘Fuss * 1 gave the other night. That embodies to me the whole spirit of the morning. “You must have some splendid recitals in a1d, “not so ma re are two thing in L(mvlun that mukz‘ a si life not wholly a —that's if he cares for his work charity corfcert is one. There's a perfect plague of them. Some titled this or the other will write a hon- eved note insisting that you sing for the benefit of a home for tongue-tied cocka- toos or hump-backed kangaroos in which she is interested. The dear duchess her- self ‘does mot pull a penny out of her august pocket, by the way. And some- times one cannot refuse. The objects are so ludicrous, too, frequently, a more sentimental! the more succe: remember, for example, a benefit for homeless s that netted a clean £655, while in the same week a benefit for a broken down old singer, Anna Cole, made just £15. It is the same w with actors. Little Dan Leno, the cleverest low com- edian on the English stage, is now in an asylum through overwork, said to be largely due to the excesslve demands made upon h(m by so-called charitable {nstitutions.’ And the other reason why the singer's life s not all beer and skittles in Lon- Th “That is more serious. It is the low tone of appreciation for the best songs that prevails—of course, comparativel And again, happily, it is changing every day for the better. But the indiffgrence and ignorance of the public as to the best of song art is directly due to the vicious system of song royaltles that is ram- pant. Edward Lloyd, for example, got never less than £500 a year for singing “The—Unholy! City.’ Antoinette Sterling used to make an annual £700 for singing “The Lost Chord.” Well,.then, the public naturally said to itself—mot knowing of {his—‘these songs must be good, for these great singers sing them,” and went home to put them on every piano rack in the country. Then the poor song writers, with Albani and such people in such reper- toires, wrote songs to fit them—venal, of course, but, unfortunately, all but inevi- table. The whole song standard is low- ered in consequence. I have the honor to be,” and Mr. O'Sullivan shook a proud head, “one of the smallest royalty singers in England. But there’s Plunkett Greene and a few others to keep up the fight.” “Trust an Irishman to be in some sort of fight,” I laughed. “Ah, I must tell you about the Sligo fes- tival,” the Irishman then laughed. “I go down to sing there every year, and last year at the little affair; they had a ‘thrifle’ of a singing contest, they made me make a ‘spache’ "—he actually said! “Well, T went for the people, starting with his Lordship the Bishoo. ‘You. mv lord Bish- down a priz And thi had band fund a s Mose -nosed girl “they sang the thing more to give the thing to think of besides poli- patriot Gael went on, “to keep men out of saloons and to give the ance to come in contact nd pretty. And it was the factory girls in their simple little dresses singing alongside rich young women with every external refine- the girl children a cb with things fine charming to see ment. Ih\l I nearly blubbered when the school children sang—babies of 12 to 15. It's as n!!vml as bird cry. There's a pathos un ainable about the chiid voice. The only thing that saved me was a joke, and I grabbed for it like a drowning man!” To the Sligo festival,” T said in going. to it,” said Dents O’Sullivan. PR “T am rather r d—is it not?” Grego- retti cried as he came into Mr. Leahy's office at ihe Tivoll a moment or two after I arrived there on my baritone hunt. He held out a fervent Italian hand, and every bit of his dental jewelry beamed on me. “I am very glad know you. T thank you for what you write about me. You have been very kind,” all this with a well-rehearsed and artless fluency. “And you have been very clever,” I echo, smiling back. This is an infectious- Iy good-humored person. To begin, then, 1 asked: “Do you know Salassa? We like him very much here?’ To Gregoretti, the fine old artist's legitimate successor, the question was obviously natural. “No; but by name,” he replied, and I noted then the clean, careful and musi- cal cut of such English as Gregoretti has. “I know you like him. When you write about me, you speak of him, is it not?” and the singer leaned back with joyful pride in himself. ‘“You excuse me if I speak English; I practice with you.” “What parts do you specially like to sing?” 1 asked. “*Specially, 'specially?" Gregoretti quot- ed, bewildered. “Parlez francais?"” A bubbling “Oul! oui!” annwered me. I translated. “I have a predilection, no?”’ Gregoretti looked at me. “ ‘Predilection’ all right,” I nodded. “I have a predilection,” with proud rep- etition, *“for Ernani, Figaro, Ratcliffe, Baron Scarpia, Gerad—oh, I can’t think,” with his hands thrown up. “I have sing forty-six roles.” “Iago, of course?” “Oh, T mooch like Iago. But Maurel you should hear. Vous aimeriez beaucoun “Long lify a s chose him nderful. erdi h He sing . too? me and Gregoretti ith gbove his shin- ain Maurel t Falstaff.” il troppo—too down,’ measuring about a foot to show where he feels as aff., And Amleto I have studied but not sing yet. Je suis trop_en- fant—baby-—to sing un role si grand, si se, si magnifique.” t is the Thomas ‘Hamlet? ¥ “Yes," subscribed the singer. “I think it better for America than for Italy. You serious here. We cannot look like this too much in Italy.” and Gregoretti hunched his shoulders and beetled his brows in true tragedian fashion. “Salvini’'s Hamlet?" “Ah! I have seen, I have heard! Mag- nifique!” “Did you ever sing in concerts, signor?” “Never. 1 like for to move. I cannot sing like this,” and Gregoretti stood up stifly like a little tin soldier. ‘““Then you have always been an opera singer? No; I was once an engineer of me- canisme”—mechanical engineer. I dis- 100! trom \m to Fals much, covered. “I have made a section of study of enginery at a mecanisme establish- ment. For two years I was director there. But I have preferred to sing. I study while I was there, pour l'amour. 1 don’t thought I had a voice for the the- ater when I have begin. But I find I have. Then I throw away the books of— numero, I don’t found the word—" and Gregoretti strode over to Mr. Leahy's desk where I sat to say; “books of 1, 3, 4 of enginery—" “Engineering books you throw away,” I said, in turn throwing away imaginary volumes. “Exactly,” with profound relief, sitting down thankfully. “I am very glad to sing.” “That I'm sure of,” I testified. with whom did you study?” “At Rome I studied, with the sister of Tamberlik, once time greatest tenor of the world! He died now. He was plus grand que Tamagno. Then I have stud- fed also with Bartolinl. He modest, you understand, not much known, but gret knowledge about the singing,” and for Tamberlik’s fame and Bartolini’s modes- ty Gregoretti opened wide his soft and flery brown eyes and lifted his black brows. There is much eye play among his vocabulary and I laughingly mimicked his glance here. His return look showed him amiably conscious of his visual gym- nastics. He is all amiability, and looks it in every healthy, good natured line of his big, fine figure to the incorrigible dimple in his chin. “I wished very much to come here, ouf!” he went on then. “I have been twice to South Amerique, but not North. It is like Russie here. Audiences the same, very enthusiasm.” “I thought that the Itallan audiences were the most enthusiastic.” “Not now, once time,” Gregoretti cor- rected. ‘‘Here much more so. They are— affectionate. expansive. If you are pub. “And lico favorito, you know. In Italy not so. know if I great man there, or lit- polyglot lingo Gregorett oughtful side in an eloquent operatic conditions in Italy. in view of the s declared it- st the subventioning of thea- ters. How there is another clique that is all in favor of the retaining of the subvention traditions How these two parties make themselves evident in the- atrical audiences by applauding and hiss- ing certain singers for no other reason than that the other side does the other thing. How in consequence the independ- ent,” with a Sccialist on one side and a subventionist on the other, one applaud- ing, the other hissing, does not know what to do. How in Rome the great Argentina Theater, once the recipient of 200,000 francs for a four months’ season vearly, now gets nothing. How the the- aters are everywhere closing. “And it is better for the poor when theaters are opened,” Gregorettl con- cluded. “Ladies want the gloves and a new dres: want always to change, n'est-ce pas? And make it better for merchants anG better for theaters and better for “What do the l\h\z and Queen think about the situation?” “No care,” laughed Gregorettf] only automobil MRS. FISKE WINS . HIGHEST PRAISE IN HEYSE DRAMA U Heyse's powerful drama of ancient Jerusalem, in which she appears as the Magdalen, her? fame has grown to a point that piaced her apart from other actresses In English through a succession of remarkable impersona- tions of the most difficult of char- acters, all-of which were modern to a de- gree. It had erroneously been presumed that Mrs. Fiske was solely a great ex- ponent of the modern school of acting. The fact that her earller experiences in the theater were In the classic drama, in association with the great among the players of those earlier years, and that such experiences must have instilled the best inspiration possible, was lost sight of. The error was seen when Mrs. Fiske originated in English the part of Mary of Magdala in the Heyse drama, in which she will be seen in this city during the present season. Willilam Winter, the dean of American critics, said in the New York Tribune on the morning after the produc- tion of “Mary of Magdala”: “Mrs, Fiske, who has not hitherto acted any part that contains so much experience, feeling, spirituality and mournful beauty as are combined in the Magdalen, rises in this embodiment t0 an imopressive altituda of “like P to the time at which Mrs, Fiske produced ‘“Mary of Magdela,” Paul — power—the power not only to comprehend a terrible conflict in a great soul and to form a lofty ideal of moral grandeur tri- umphant over human passion, but t power to embody that seif confiict and that moral grandeur)in a sumptuous image of beautiful womanhood and to ex- press them with intense s)mpzthy afflu- ent vigor and pd‘hel!c grac Richard srsr!mz, a member of Robert Edeson's “Soldiers of Fortune’ company has fallen heir through the death of an aunt, Mrs. Joseph Pettee, formerly well known in Boston and New York society, to a fortune of $150,000. Sterling will not abandon his profession nor does he intend to risk his inheritance by seeking undue prominence for himself as a theatrical celebrity. He has made over the entire sum to his mother and will continue in the rank and file until such times as he is thought worthy of better things. T The company which will support Grace Van Studdiford in ‘“The- Red Feather. De Koven's new opera, is now complet In the cast are Elise Devere, James Sullivan, George Tallman, Louis Casa- vant, Dorothy Gilbert, Margaret Hub- bard Ayer, Mona Desmond, Louise Hol- ysw'r, May Waters, Grace Kimball, Fr . Titus, T. S. Peters and a chorus of eighty, a singing chorus, too, by the way. for this is a real opera. &£ Maurice Maeterlinck’s “Monna Vanna™ is being translated and will soon be pub- lished in this country. This is sald to be one of the greatest plays of modern times. .« s = Fay Davis, the newest of the Charles Frohman stars, is to play Julle le Breton, the heroine of Mrs. Humphry Ward's “Lady Rose’s Daughter,” which has been dramatized by George Fleming. . 8, 79 Dramatic authorship no longer is car- ried on under the circumstances that once drove the talented “Kit” Marlowe to sui- cide. The royalties on “Way Down East,” which is about to begin its seventh season under the direction of Willlam A. Brady, at 5 per cent would alrecdy have amounted to about $50,000. ¥100 a Wilton Lackaye's season in “The Pit™ will begin November 23 at the Walnut- street Theater, Philadelphia. The pro- duction promises to be the event of the year, since the play is a dramatization of Frank Norris’ best-selling book and serves to introduce one of the most promi- nent American actors in a stellar capaeit§, R Adelina Patti will give but two concerts in this city and one In Los Angeles. The great diva goes direct from here to her castle in Wales. The famous sing=r’s ap- pearance will be the greatest event in the history of music in the country. CHD The students of Stanford University have secured Fischer's Theater for the night of the football game, November 14. There will be many novel features intro- duced on that occasion. €500 ¢ At Christmas time Mildred Holland will ha scan sa Catharina the af Rumaia