The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 18, 1904, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1904. . » W AR/ MUSIC. TOLK s Fannie Francisca sings as S . P most 14 years old—nor at all of the sen- e eha: California Toyal £ -BY'BI .ANCHE Becthoven piaying even Hovey Formin [ lapse into pro- Beethoven playing even Henry Holmes Francisca, once approves, with a delightfully pure and of Ban Francisco, vigorous Bach, with a finely elegant ter an absence Mendelssohn, a romantic and spirited rent away an Bruch, and the dash and bravura neces- ; she returns sary to the right rendering of the Sar- a rflgn of three asate “Zigeuner Weisen,” for example, era-house in Am- with any sort of happy luck is not go- ing to fall of some hearing. And here 1 s has sanctioned her. = sved her. Now only is the best of ]l:l(‘k to you,. Kathleen. e Californian to “make Here is the child’s repertolre: e Max Bruch—Concerto, D _minor, 5%; concerto, G minor, Op. 26: Swedische Tanze, vs does this happen. We books 1 and 2, Op. 62; Romanze, A 1-m“2 o | 42. J. Brahms—Engarisch T boc . ard rashion ef dis 1'and 2. Joachim:. L. BeathovenCone L. s or any other ca- Chinese tea, they er ng the ocean. Still we are gloriously uncon- 1t =0 in Miss Fran- t until the singer made Allemanda, Claconna; _sonata Menuette 1-2, concerto’ A minor, B Allegro; Sarabande. Giga. Preludio, Loure, —Noe- r d to slip a season in Am- turne No. 2, D, Op. A r\'\nrll —Roma £ order to sing a little so- < R o R e did one hear that she D'Otello Fantasti, Op. 11. E. G : o renown Ba: Dhiite T aata F major. Op & Anomymous—Tdyl, o e mmortelle. J. Joachim—Concerto, D minor, ; considerea essentlal that | Op. 11. F. Kufferath—Andante, Op. 10. F. o o know of her triumphs in Mendelssoha—Concerto, & minor. " Op. 6. S = aganini—Caprice, Op. 1. pohr—Concerto s0 not by these achieve. | No. 3_ A minor, Op. 47. C. Saint-Saens— T s by her “Lakme,” “Mig- Izmrm Rondo, Cappriccioso, Op. 28. Sarasaie— 4 Igeuner Weisen, Op. 20. H. Wieniawski— the rest of her pro. Airs Russe, Op. 6; Polonalse No. 1, A ma mes of nmext week will she be Poionaise No. 2, D major; Legende. R to prophesy the mann—Abendelied No. 12 Op. 5, Joa I wventure t favorable, at least vocally. ge of the speaking voloe no more charming note of Miss Francisca. Honey, | g sweét of the flute, ve ch of the oboe—dear | pe | she sings—are all hers ears and a half sl, as the Call- ate enough to have, insure at least some es. They have in- iess of enunciation, nctation, that makes how-dye-do” a delight tally, of course, venture to catalogue und her in my chatting s week, & woman of ex- m, of soft, unconscious s of expression, of gentle and manner—above all, a woman ,L L ncisca was “at home” to flat on O'Farrell all woman, round- stamped all me. Her Here are the programmes for the Francisca concerts for next Weldnesday evening and Saturday afternoon at the Alhambra Theater. Melville Ellis of tha Tivoll will appear both as piano soloist and accompanist, and Louis Newbauer will bring his flute: PROGRAMME WEL SEPTEME Piano solo, * Variations ... Aria, “Le Pardon de @ r B (b) 8 (c) "1 ProTo ey ROGE R~ @ (b) @6\{. TANNE FRANCIICA (a) Aria, “Le Cid (b) “II Baelo (@) “Si Mes Ve ..... Massenet G Arditey week, up to Saturday night, will be glven over to Miss Roberts’ latest suc- cess, “Tess of the D'Urbervilles.” «, ‘Eiite as a wronged child of the people the actress has developed new resources. There is both passion and poetry in her Marta. Possibly more horror, hardix “Oh, slways,” she answered me. “Mozart in Dutch seems odd, n'est-ce- pas? And the language is not so nice to eing in. 1t is guttural, rather harsh. him! I would like to sing him—some- times I think all the time. But he was a cruel man. Imagine, for the colorature soprano he has written not tude’ forelgn as Sem- DBut everything, Wagner, French opera, one part! He has totally neglected “The Serenade,” to be revived by the more pathos, could be got out of the (b “Serenad an, is given In the native tongue.” us. Et mon Dieu, it is not one’s fault Tivoll to-night, will be a production to little tale of Marta's dying mother, for Yarations - .. gt don long is your season?” to be born a colorature”singer! Only look forward te. With the Tivoli re- example—the sightless beggar holding Fiute solo— t months,” replied the singer. that I have some dramatic character sources, to which with this production out her hand almsward all day, and (a) Romance ... entional pri- —this |s .1\7 Romeo, again in in my voice I should never have been will be added the vocal strength of awfully in her sleep at night; then as dence, “you are a spoiled Isn’'t he pret Campbell had invited me to pre- able to sing any of the Wagner music. Imagine!”"—this with much light, ele- gant gesture, much of sudden, whim- Andrew Bogart, an exceptional per- formance can confidently be expected. The plece has been in rehearsal several she lay dead putting her hand out so, as if she were asking something in the other world. I want no more haunt- the usual 1 know it for your- ot at Sist call Francisce before on the same score. sical, altogether charming byplay of weeks, and should: go smoothly as dld ing picture of a beggar, nor would I 3 ;' o s she g Yet hers. So joyfully, with the the eyes. the wonderful *“Toreador.” care for a more piteous suggestion than _ And here is your choige of the Joset Awsie O = of long experience, I dubbed From the neglectful Wagner we got Ao ST Miss Roberts gives. Not at the Homeric Hofmann programmes, the recitals to . SRRt ohoAr tailed, pug-rosed, Afrikander back to the Amsterdam Opera-house | “In the Palace of the King” at the level of passion that Bosworth reaches b€ given at the Al ra Theater on > beast the most beautiful of and then, casually, Miss Franclica re- October 4, 6 and 8, the last a matinee. marked that Queen Wilhelmina is be- as Mannelich does Miss Roberts tfead. But she strikes a true, full note, and of the: X Majestic gives way this week to “The ussian Miss Francisca wasted a ten- Note the fascinating group of R rancisca “nuM was glad to come t she found the e said it was the she had ever been traveled much. for Golden Gate of loveliness, endor of the appreciation for the Pacific avenue. gpt In her Cal- are you going to en- said the singer. home many times, l Ehall not hurry and harkinz an accom- not be so very long in concert tour will last I sing all the way from 4 to hear you in opera—" “I am desolee—desperated”—the sing- laughed at her tongue's entangle- ment in her home speech—"“in despair, that I cannot sing in opera One can give themselves so much more in playing. year, of all years, they tell me { has no grand opera sea- Y, ch, why must this be?” “Just because home,” I laughed. was really because Mr. Leahy thought if we went hungry for a season hould better appreciate the rare ff the Tivoll provides.” t the singer pouted, and I felt somehow personally respon- hat piquant, protesting right vent up. She went on: “And me that they do luch good things there.” my little usual best here as press agent for the home “Metropoll- “I fancy, though, asked Miss Francisca, , instead of bringing over iane, give grand opera in Eng- the people they have perhaps engage an for particular parts, as Henry Savage does? It would be of tremendous value to the Ameri- for Savage cannot engage wondering how the Bavage compares with ours”—I » the opera is not a then of the truly evolved under Mas- of their present re- don, the contralto, able Carmen to Santuzza with Mascagni; y Carr, the tenor, for- { the Metropolitan Opera Com- of the splendid singing chorus; ras at his finger ends; 1, Stage manager un- +ighed still more deep- what of the opera. Did they Amsterdam n give it in Dutch? There are fifty-four men in the orches- tra. There is a tremendous chorus. They sing every evening—no matinees imes change the bill every Miss Francisca herseif has sung—on an occasion when a singer engaged to alternate with her did not please, very prettily she put it, “my friends did not enjoy her o well as me”—no fewer than twenty-four times in one month. Six times a week she has equently. The repertoire n schools, with a special eye to the possible modern masterpiece. “Zaza,” Francisca tells me, is a great favorite with the Amsterdam burghers. I didn’t mind that. too, is warmly approved. The dictum had for me the flattery of agreement. But when I heard of their “Falstaff,” their “Hamlet,” “Herodiade,” “Sapho,” “Louise,” and so on, of an opera of last vear “La Princesse d’Auberge,” by a pe: named Blockx, who has the im- pertinence to be and write stuff that people listened to for fifty-four nights in one season, and never an echo of it or him to reach here—well, I felt then that we were a long way off from things. “And they are really musical, Amsterdam folk?” I asked. “Very musical Francisca testified. “You will hear your butch- er and your baker come up the steps whistling bits of ‘Die Meistersinger,” ‘Carmen,’ all the operas. It is so pret- ty much all over the Continent. You see, the theater entrance fee is so cheap. For 25 cents you can get a good enough seat, and everybody goes.” Rather ruefully I sald: “I've heard our garbage men tooting ‘Trovatore’ and ‘Traviata’ and”—I straightened up then to the faith of California— “we're golng to make-’em here, Miss Francisca.” Gently amused she looked, but del- icately courteous if a Httle doubtful of her native State, asked: “You have much music?” I reminded her that mansions where before there were sand dunes was not the only change that twelve years had brought; told her some- thing of the glories of our last musi- cal season, and of the art leaven in the atmosphere. It was not pleasant to confess that California, mother of much genius, was chary of reward to it in its bloom. “You are at home in Amsterdam,” I concluded. At my inquiries as to her prefer- ence in parts, Francisca had to hesi- tate for a moment. “I like so many roles,” she began, “that one best usu- ally that I am singing. I have had a good deal of success as Santuzza—"" “But I thought you were a lyric so- prano?” “I have a rather useful dramatic quality also,” the singer explained. “still, I am a colorature singer. Vo- cally I suppose my best roles are such as Lucia and Gilda. But I have had much success with La Tosca, Zaza, Sapho—the Massenet, you know—a little Wagner also.” “And what¥ of Wagner?”, “Elsa, Eva and very, very often I have sung Vehus in the ‘Tannhau- ser,’” she replied. Wagner, I am sure, would have mended his man- ners had he heard the following in that liquid jewelry that serves Fran- cisca for a voice: “Wagner, I adore “Andre Chenier,” your band is the most charming man imag- inable. They are perfectly happy to- gether. I-have sung at the palace fre- quently—both at The Hague and the Loo—and they seemed always to be en- tirely hap Yes. The Queen—she's not very musical, but very intelligent—"* asked me about a singing method. I am, you know, a Marches! pupil, and, of course, recommended her. She liked it and wrote to thank me afterward.” “With whom did you study here, Miss Frantisca?” “With old Madame Fabbri,” she re- plied, “but not for very long. After- ward a little in New York and then Paris and Marchesl.” “Your tone tells me what you think of Marchesi,” I said here. It was like Mr. Bellew’s when he speaks of Mrs. Potter. “Ome can only speak of people as one finds them,” the singer said, with her gentle sweetness. “Marches! was like a mother to me.” “And she is thg best teacher in all the world?” “For me,” Francisca sweetly insisted. “I know many American girls go over there and do- not like her. But they are the kind that are trying to become prima donnas and have a good time at the same time. You cannot do that, you know. I was with Marches! for three years and a half and it was just that much of steady inspiration. Let me show you her photograph,” and once again I had the pleasure of look- ing at that witty, cynical, clever, frreg- ular old face, the left corner of the mouth lowered for an epigram, the right lifted a little in anticipatory en- joyment of it. “You study in class with her, don’t you?" “If you are not a millionaire,” Fran- cisca smiled, “and if you are in ear- nest. She has three kinds of classes. Every one goes into the first, the be- ginners, no matter how much they know. There are usually from ten to twelve students in a class. Then there are the concert and opefatic classes into which you go according to your desire. Each pupil gets an individual twenty or twenty-five minutes—she is not particular to time if she is inter- ested in you—and then of course one has all the benefit of the criticism of the others’ work.” ‘And for this how much?” “For this, twice a week, it is just about 300 francs.” “Should you advise an American girl to study. in Paris?” “Not if,” Francisca sald, with more emphasis than she had yet permitted to appear above the soft surface of her manner, “not If she can remain at home and find a good husband. The life, after yoy have won your way, is so hard, and it is so hard to win that way. There are so many ‘thousands of girls there and the American, with all her little savings sometimes, finds hindreds of volces, temperaments, physiques, all so much more splendid than her own, that it means the cruel- est of disillusions to her. Come, yes, if ‘you have extraordinary voice and plenty of money. Money, money, ; money."” “Unpleasant—" “Utterly true. It is almost impos- sible to make your way, even with ex- NOW A PRIMA DONNA. — 3 traordinary genius, without money. There is the other way, extraordinary protection.” All Parisian was the lit- tle shrug that accompanied this. “And Italy?” “The same there. In Italy you pay to be heard, pay for everything. As scon as you get there agents, every one of them owning a newspaper, send in their cards to you. Subscribe to the papers and you are bon enfant. It's all off if you don’t.” “It must have been extfaordinary talent in your case then,” I laughed. “‘Oh, I sang first in Paris,” Francis- ca laughed with me. “I have sung a great deal in Monte Carlo, téo, and in Amsterdam for the last three years, all through the season anfl frequently before. Monte Carlo I like so.much.” “Isn't it rather an awful place?” “The suicides? Oh yes. But one does not hear about them. But it is weird to see the players wandering, wander- ing from table to table. Such people you see. Whom do vou think is one of the habitues, for example? E£he stays and stays through the whole season, playing, playing. It horribie to think of, a once so great singer. She is rich, though. But to have sung and now to care for nothing but the turn of a wheel—" Perhaps Francisca was wondering if tc her might come the same mysteri- ous passion, for she shivered ttle as she whispered: “Christine Nilsson.” And then T left. RS “WIZARD OF OZ ND “MISS MAZUMA” WILL BE PLAYED THIS WEEK Of new things the week at the the- aters includes “The Wizard of Oz, at the Columbia, and “Miss Mazuma” at Fischer’s. - / “The Wizard of Oz” is the first of the season's muelcal comedies, and if the cast is the same as the Eastern cast, it will be one of its chief suc- cesses. It is a fairy speotacle in part, slternating between earth and faliry- land. Gorgeous scenery, pretty girls and plenty of fun are promised. The performance is long and accordingly the curtain will rise at 8 o’clock. O . “Miss Mazuma' at Fischer's is from the pen of J. C. Crawford, clever au- thor of “The Beauty Shop,” and was* written specially for the house. It”is a musical farce, with a visible plot, and the Fischer comedians have all been tried on for their parts. At last hearing these fit like a glove, the ex- traordinary situation of complete sat- isfaction with their opportunities hav- ing been reported by all the burlesqg- uers, from Dorothy Morton to the O'Ramey. The piece is in three acts and the scene is laid in and about San Francisco. The special music s the work of Arthur Delroy, a young Aus- tralian composer, and many of the late song successes of the East are among the list. . s . To-night will begin the farewell week of Florence Roberts at the California, with “Zaza” also to be given on Mon- day, Tuesday, Wednesday nights and Wednesday matinee. The rest of the ous Interest for itseif alone. e’ gtie “Monbars” is the week's bill at the AMazar, with White Whittlesey in the leading role.. Miss Juliet Crosby reap- pears in the cast and will be warmly welcomed. it 3 5 “Fallen by ‘the Wayside™ tral's offering- this week. . s e Mr. and Mrs. Howard Truesdell in “Aunt Louise’s Advice” will star at the Orpheum this week. The rest of the bill promises excellently. . L is the Cen- Eddie Weston and Bessie Beasley are Chutes lights this week. They are comedy sketch luminaries. Georgia O’Ramey will be heard in a _violin solo when she appears in “Miss Mazuma” at Fischer's Theater on Monday night. She has a new spe- cialty, called “Fiddling: Mary,” and sings, dances and piays a solo at the same time. The production of “The Raven,” in which Frederick Lewis impersonates ar Allan Poe, is being rehearsed by Henrietta Crossman. PR Y Angel Guimera is a young voung man? If he is ate at limiting this Spanish dramatist's It hag been freely urged “Marta of the Low- lands” that he is reminiscent. I find him extravagantly so. That Guimera is familiar with his Shakespeare one finds his treatment of the comic re- lief. One wonders, tco, if he is not on geod terms with Hardy. n “Far From the Madding Crowd” there are figures, not forgetting the giant shep- herd Gabriel Oak, much like those in “Marta of the Lowlands. Siegfried again is suggested. Sardou waves a hand through the canvas. There are echoes of "The Sunken Ball,” scraps of symbolism a la Maeterlinck, a tinge of “Cavalleria Rusticana,” a little of everything, in fact, but Shaw and Ib- sen.. Nor has Guimera made these things victotiously his own, as did those great thieves Shakespeare and If only anywhere rchievement. of the author of Handel with their plunder. Yet there is a strong, new note sounding through the melange, like the Bee- thoven note in those first sonatas of the master of Bonn, mere Haydn to care- less* hearing. There is fine poetry in the play—there has been a poet or poets at the translation, Wallace Gil- patrick and Guido Marburg are named. There is audacity in the plot, free, clean, powerful handling of the sex motif, and the central figure, Mannelich, whatever ‘his heredity, is an enic hero. And the thing just yells for a Puccini—as Leoncavello has gone before. The California, as all the world as far as Oakland knows, has given us “Mar- ta” this week—extraordinary enterprise of that extraordinary little woman, Florence Roberts. The performance also has been extraordinary. With a generosity that has perhaps not befere been permitted to her, Miss Roberts has stepped aside to take second place at the giant goatherd Mannelich's elbow. There is even a child’s part, that of Nuri, that almost equals the star's in importance. Yet again. as in her Tess, the young lady's diction, and I do not see where the Nuri could be improved. But these, and the Vierge-like figure of the old man, Tomas, done capitally by ‘William Yerance, are almost only back- ground to the big “blond beast™ Mannelich, gentle goatherd and wolf- killer, friend of children and slayer of his wife's betrayer. And here is where Hobart Bosworth comes in. The more I see of Bosworth the less I understand him. I do not understand how the man that made a painted plas- ter mannikin out of Judas can play the Mannelich with the superb eiasticity, the passionate abandon, that Mr. Bos- worth brings to the latter role. He is magnificent physically—another Sieg- fried, as some one ‘has happily said. He seems a creature of the primeval forests, akin to the you of the world, a demi-god of the mountains. From two-bits up we all listened to the laughter of the glorious youth—boyish, divinely foolish, yet laughed with not at him. We thrilled to his mountain longings like the mountains shook at his wrath; bent, like Marta, to the lash of his passions. Which is to say that Mr. Bosworth was completely convine- ing as the goatherd. I've seen him twice, and I'd pay my way In to see him again if you were to ask me. One foresees fame for the production. The California is unfortunate in having had only one week of it. PR " KATHLEEN PARLOW Yow CLEVER YOUNG “ARTIST WITH EXCELLENT STYLE Last Friday evening left here little Kathleen Parlow, who, Nke Dick Whittington, has heard afar off the chimes of Londontown. Those that do me the grace to read these coluymns will know well who Katbieen 1s. For those that do not she is a Canadlan child that ¢ame here some six or seven years ago with a tiny fiddle tucked under her arm and much music in her heart. Five years and a half azo she went to Henry Holmes, who has ever since taught her for the love of God and music—all honor to him. Under his care the little girl has flowered naturally into a graclous yvoung artist, with an excellent style, an astonishingly mature tone and an extraordinary technical facility. She bas a repertoire that includes—well, I will give it later. Let it be remem- bered that with the exception of the Jeachim Concerto, the repertoire is all memorized. Last Friday then—in the Parlow family “Tuesday is Friday"—little Miss Parlow set out for London to seek her fortune. With her goes her mother, who has been the mother ex- traordimary to the little artist. They go with letters to the London man- agers, a host of good wishes, but with naught eilse but hope and a flddle. How they are getting there—we all know the Parlows are rich only M genius—is a semi-secret. However, It can do no harm to say that it is through the kindly and wise thought of Mrs. Frank Carolan, whom all good music lovers should thank therefor. For myself, I have no doubt of Kath- leen's artistic success. It will not be of the wonder child kind—she is now al- with a de . i 5 . rpephe | Altar of Friendship,” produced here s o . o i s o, fled pat on his pink bow, and ginning to take interest in the national iast season by Nat Goodwin, The the gentle sadness that she excels in nOveltles in the third, the rarely played then returned to Amsterdam. music. piece wiil see the debut of Miss Vera depicting is in much needed evidence. ~OP-22sonata of Beethoven, and the de- s ,’nfi“hfl ','l""‘mha‘e ;“"’ & “Ay refuge Trom-® r 4 McCord, the new ingenue, who comes Little Ollie Cooper has the child's lightful old French groun L ey, Srnd Ober@ “Ah, those are all lies,” the stnger | S4N FRANCISCO GIRL | with many laurels. The pretty uptown part, and a wonderful voungster she is. DAY NIGHT = Pera-house, 5.9 * interrupted. “Queen Wilhelmina’'s hus- theater is still the center of much curi- Take away a Market street tang from I de and Fugue, rale, E minor.. Scarlat Mendels Capriccio, Sonata, op. 53 (Waldstetn (Allegro con bri \I"‘!o Adaglo, Sternberg Rubinstel Lesch Hoftma Joset h Fantasie THURSDAY I NIGE Sonate, Op. 22 . (Allegro con brio, Allegretto.) des oiseaux Le rappel Carneval, Pp (Preambule. sebius, Sphinxe. Chepin talon se allemande, Paganini, A ienade, Pause, Marsch der Davidsbs ) IT. Btudes ........... - - Chopln (E major. C sbarp minor, A flat ma- jor, F major. G flat major, C eharp minor, D flat major, G flat major, C minor.) Melody Gluck- Sgamba#y Contrabandist Schumann-Tausig Morgenstandchen (Hark, Hark! the Lark). Schubert- Lisst Tschamw ky !\TLRDAY u-m\oo\: L Prelude and Fugue, G minor......Bach-Lisst Andante favort, -Beethoven Rondo. G (Dls Wuth uber den verloren Gro- schen) ... +vs.. Beethoven Vecchio Minuetto. Sgambatt Sonate, B minor. . Chopln (Allegro maestoso, Scherzo, Largo, Presto non tanto.) m. (Russian Composers.) Sonata quast una Fant . ..\ Moditn Prelude. C sharp minor. Rachma: En Boheme. .Sternberg Etudes, D sharp minor and D flat major.. 5 -Seriabine Berceuse, G Valse In A... Caprice, in A Intermezzo. Mazurka La Jongle: Tannhauser el it INTERESTING ODDS AND ENDS CONCERNING THR FAMOUS IN STAGELAND Fritzi Scheff is a little bit mystified at times by the idiosyncrasies of the American brand of humor. A member of her business staff told her a story the other day of a rich American un- used to high society who was being entertained at dinner in the house of an English earl. It was one of those stories that are funny to the acute American mind because of their whim- eicality and utter lack of point. This story went on that when the Ameri- can was handed a lettuce salad he took some of the leaves and rubbed them on his head. Of course there was consternation among the other guests, poorly hidden by the charity of good manners. One of the serving medi who could mot contain himself said: “I beg your pardon, sir, but that was let- tuce-salad.” “QOh,” replied the American, *“I thought it was spinach.” Fritzi didn’t laugh but knit her brows and after a moment’s hard thinking gald: “But people don't rub lplnuh on their heads in this coum= try.” The story teller gave it up