The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 14, 1906, Page 23

w Russell of to-day oice production 8o interest efore very long you will production of the voice X THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY id, 1906. @y @lon A 7o Players and the Ausic POk %M‘é/ ’7—\ At N T o Ao, e -//'u//l. - & Jre v s ' alk %",a 2. - ¥ Jdouard de method as well have g ned it ve: first foreigner upon whom the honor | | owed. ¥ years ago he heard the little American, Alice Nielsen, in London and since then has chiefly himself to in what il “method,” Russell was g W f wa young anarchist, still ur But Mr. v iy “4 Aug. . my master,” He op ng to tell you that I!opera. “My dear, on the girl’s shoulders, be content there. \cides with Jean and ! never sing in public.” we had this al ne of the greatest you her week .what he has done lsen material. consists the celebrated I went to discover. itions. | adly. about to at the piano, head flung m, elegant, fiery-eyed, oriental ve of incarnate temperament! g something,” the man at the plano ca- darling Mine the girl hand- ed over to him. Gravely he heard a poor little voice pipe a few poor little meas- Russell her volcanic fashion to ask after them: ) told you you could sing?” the girl stammered. had told her that she could sing in in a year—she wanted to sing in Believe me, Reszke's, Plancon's, my own and I am really astonis vou redlly understand this hed to do. You must thoroughly and attentively every success, believe me, yours MELBA.” that Henry ons a week ¢ long after er of the amous musical acfdemy in Rome, teaching. We How he has e of his au A tiny, ng. large- Rus- he commanded. jumped up in the man said, gentle hands “go home. Try to you can | “Frighttul, ien't it?” he asked me as |the girl went out; “she is only one of | scores I bhave heard here.” ‘ “That is one of the things I want chiefly |to ask you about,” I said. “How would | you advise a pupil concerning a teacher— | how is she to know that she is being properly taught?” A fat knock at the door, followed by an | elephantine person, interrupted me. The | elephantine person. also wanted operatic | fame. ! *“Sing,” commanded the master, and a { beautiful voice, big as the great body, jrose in a hugely temperamental “Nobil | Signor”—we'll say. Delicately as might be Mr. Russell ad- | vised the singer of her physical limita- | tions and she flounced out. | The next was a more nopeful case—a | handsome girl, with fair voice and large | musical capacity. She wanted grand | opera, too. | “sing an.” { “Ah-aw-aw,” sang the girl | “An! ah! ah!” Russell insisted, in his | own resonant basso; ‘‘not aw-oo-ah”—the | fiexible lips carving out very cameos of | sound. | Then | afraid. | You have never breathed enough. here!” | He was up in an instant, facing the | girl, and in an instant more seemed to | have lost several inches. The chest had | Ssunk to nowhere. “See, little stupid brute that I am, what the filling of the chest box means to me."” | Magically he regained his lost inches, then commanded: “Listen.” An endless trill followed. 'I can do that for forty-five seconds—that is the power of the drawn- in abdomen.” | The girl sang the “Carmen” ‘*Ha- banera” then, provoking a lively storm | of comment on the coldness of the Ameri- | can woman—who does not know how. to i plead for love!—between scraps of bass 'Habanera" uctive as three Calve’ But the girl “was young.” After all, it was a matter only of voice in her case. She was most ‘“‘simpatica,” most musical —and good to look at. He would hear her | again, though he could almost certainly | say that the vocal limitations precluded any possibility of a big career. 2 “Still, you can always remember that Rossini and Garcia told Jenny Lind to go home; that she could not sing,” he told her, as she went out, and to me com- mented, “Oh, the brutality of things! That girl has éverything but the certainty of sufficient voice.” “Now to the teachers”—it was my turn. “You have seen a little this afternoon,” Mr. Russell began, as we drew up to the table as to a battlefield. It was in the lit- tle green reception room at the St. Fran- cis. *“That is only an atom of the trag- edy and heartbreak that I am in contact with all the time. How to prevent it?” I was likely to lose the next in watch- ing the delicate artist hands at their ges- turing of the teaching situation. “First, I should say, perhaps,” he began, “let a girl look for a man who does not téach too many branches of the art. Let her know fully what she wants. I speak, of course, only of the | serious student—then, whether it be | concert or opera, Italian aria or Ger- | man lieder, let her choose her master accordingly. Beware again in the choosing of one who builds upon being the pupil of any one.” I asked elaboration of this. “For this reason,” Mr. Russell ex- plained and instanced: “Say old Garcia taught Malibran to sing. her”—the sensitive fingers flashed the emphasis — “just those things that would enable Malibran to sing, not “Take more breath. Don’t be That's the capital of the singer. Look | taught her how to overcome her own ‘weaknesses, to use her own particular power. This is the analogy. I have a headache. The doctor prescribes for me, cures me and I meet you. You have a headache. I say, ‘Take my pre- | scription,’ but that will not cure yon= kind of a headache.” “The singer taught only to sing can- not teach—" science, tries to mystify you with talk { of the larynx, pharynx and so on. Itis his business to know of this, but— here’'s the doctor again—it is like a hysician telling you how your ailing { liver works instead of giving his pre- scription and curing it. Like the pa- | tient, the puplil is concerned only with results.” “And when you have chosen your teacher?” “Then things begin,” Mr. Russell laughed. “It is a use of intelligence, gommon sense, all along the line. Any method that produces the slightest ir- ritation of the throat, any feeling of fatigue, the sensible girl will of course KNOCKING NOT ists grow artistic Not spirit shown with Rapha birth. The colum the to nd m First Xav are he wall hemian cking wh the pict ! ast o ost Sun of the Clut to hunt Martinez dios one hears less these days but etved in the city of his discussed in detail ay, painters who saw t up upon its arrival was who, pheel, drank inspiration from the same font, up at the School of Design. As you know, don't lie in the subtlety his interpretations. d friend kindlier spirit to-day Martinez is essentially confound this @ low-tone painter, a man whose values and suggestiveness of The picture of his old-time friend that -folk than formerl¥: haq come from over the water was far, ship, rat an of riv- yery far, from the Martinez method. But ness, rather than of upon beholding the canvas, he cried out, joy at successes “Great! That is a great picture! Look concealed envy. And 8t the modeling, the composition, every- s thing!"—and his expressive black eyes truth—that the arl- ge..meq with joy at the triumph of his # spiritually. And as they young friend. “Here's a man,” thought I, so do they grow “that sees merit in work that lies distinct- ly without* his conception of art.” demonstration of this That's the spirit of the artist whose raderie has ever been strength must grow, for his eyes, his a n the warmth ears, and his heart are not hermetically pi of Joseph R. gealed, and who drinks in Inspiration from his receptive attitude toward his fellows and toward nature. in this has been all week it— d, as it hung upon ks room in the Bo- erty of through the a with young Ra- in This Raphael picture, which has set the town by the ears, will be the people—yours! generosity Weill, who wrote out his check for it a or two after he had seen it. The picture will go to the Art Gallery the museum of the Golden Gate Park—unfortunately, not to the Institute of Art, the accepted home of art in®San shook his head, me the prop- and mine— of Raphael POPULAR IN Francisco. Not ich of a wonder is it as a gallery, but it is the best we have, and every worthy addition to it helps to make it better. However, it is not a kind thing to criticise 8o generous an act as has given the beautiful picture to the people of the city. And may the donor find, in his gift, compensation for the pleasure he has ‘given to his fellows, and to the poor struggling artist over there in Paris, to ‘whom the check will mean a fortune—an artist’s fortune. T el g New York has gone Keith-mad. Since John McKim, he of the Metropoli- tan Art Museum, was out here last year, and carried back with him a dozen of Keith's pictures, the Bast has awakened to the fact that the greatest living land- scape painter dwells in California—and that he is a San Franciscan. Then came Macbeth, the astute old Scotch dealer of Gotham, who bought several thousand dollars’ worth of can- vases. Last week the same Macbeth ordered a dozen more pictures, large and small, but Keith—Keith the worker, Keith, who never knows the feel of an idle hour— and the tempting He taught Henry Russell nor Miss Partington, He | “Precisely,” the famous teacher | |agreed. “I should say again, beware jof any man that talks too much | know to be a Wrong ope. The voice should move along the line of least resistance, the whole object of teaching being ease of production.” - Then flashed up those electric hands again, the brilliant brown eyes, to this: “Avoid faddism as you would the devil! The first thing to do—the last—is to recognize nature as queen. No given method ever made a great singer. In fact, there are as many methods as there are great singers. I should advise a girl to seek the ac- quaintance of the other puplls of her master. See how they are being taught. If they are all being taught alike—ONE may be being taught well— not the rest. There are no two throats, no two brains, alike.” “But where, Mr. Russell,” ‘I asked, “are we going to get this eclectic teacher?”. “You are going to get him,” prophe- sied the teacher before me, “where you get your doctors, from colleges, Where the art of teaching as well as sing- ing is taught. Look at it now, dear lady! A bootblack, if he has charming manners, can set up as a teacher of singing! And no one to say him nay!” I began slyly, “In Englahd, of course, where you have your col- leges—" 3 “They’re worthless.”” was the uncom- promising comment, “so far as the sing- ing goes.” There was more of this, piquantly interesting both in its fascinat- ing telling and matter. Along with it came the history of the Russell revolt. As a youth Henry Russell began to study medicine, but his eyes giving out just | before his examinations his oculist, a | great admirer of Henry Russell senior, asked Henry junior if he had not some inclination to a musical career. That began it. He determined to study sing- ing. He went to a teacher first who advised him to “hold wup his palate while"—well, some physiological freak- ery. “I knew it was clotted nonsense from my medical studies,” related the rebel, “and 1 went from one to another teacher, making all sorts of similar discoveries, Then I went to the medical colleges and | studied the throat purely in its vocal significances and from then on. On the artistic side Mr. Russell has had the advice of and the inspiration of ac- quaintance with almost all of the great singers. In London he ht in con- Jjunction: with Tostl arias) and with Henschel (for: lieder): Calve writes of his helpfulness to her, her first letter In English. In Rome he restored the voice of Duse. Caruso in- timately approves of his methods, and so it goes. One learns without surprise that Clark Russell of the sea stories is brother of Henry Russell, *‘Landon Ronald,” also, the popular song writer. 2 I liked this, with which we got back to pupil and master: . “Let the teacher above all be honest, not because honesty is the best policy, but because his honesty matters so much to the pupil. What right has the ordinary | teacher to advise an operatic career?’ he asked. “He has never even been behind the scenes—sometimes little in front. He | knows absolutely nothing of the things that the great, cruel public must have in its singers. Volce is only one thing. There's the personality—oh! personality!-# the temperament, magnetism, the physi- cal appearance, the physical strength and a little matter of brains.” “A very little matter sometimes!” “Hm!” he agreed, *“but here’s your master sitting in his studio dooming a pupil to he knows not what. He has no right, the man has no righ The pupil also, he sald, must-not ex- pect too much from the teacher. The master cannot make a voice, he is a most confounded humbug if he says otherwise. He is only as a diamond-cutter with a jewel to his hand. Neither size. nor quality of it can he alter, only shape what there is there to shape. “And when a girl, fortunate in her teaching, is fairly certain that the oper- | atic career is open to her?” I asked. “Let her go to Italy,” Mr. Russell advised. ! He recapitulated then her equipment, full control of the breath (sixteen weeks | he had kept Alice Nielsen learning to; breathe), properly placed voice, clear ar- ticulation and reasonable executive facil- ity, then—go to Italy. ‘Would I not say, he asked, that of those that have cast most light upon the development of the voice Dr. Holbrook Curtis of New York stands in the highest place? His book is a boon to singers, says his BEnglish confrere, his work of the most distinguished significance. In the con- nection—“Why could not Carnegie equip a college for vocal training in- stead of glving a library or two?” he asked. His own pet dream is the founding of a conservatory in Rome, where the English and American stu- dents may be free of everything. He might have for that, I told him, my first spare million, Grand Opera Singers Heard at Orpbeum It is a long lane that does not lead to the Orpheum. Last week Edwards Davis drew first melodramatic blood there; this week its patient walls echo to compressed grand opera. The Le Brun trio present it, in English, and if the operatic capsules are always as good there will be no rea- son to complain. -They do a “‘turn” from “Il Trovatore,” a solo apiece to the trio, and sufficiept concerted music to cement it into a neat whole. The orchestral side is also ingeniously handled, and hand- some costumes contribute to the general, smartness. " Miss Antoinette Le Brun, leader of the organization, brings a bright voice, dash, and very hahdsome presence to her work, and is ably assisted by Fritz Huttman and James Stevens. Fritz Huttmann will be remembered as the tenor that made so favorable impression here with the Inness band. He has a smooth, full, creamy voice, used with excellent taste, that should bring him to more important things some day. Stevens has a resonant, serviceable voice that does very well by the barytone end of things. » Miss Le Brun is a singer of considerable reputation in the Bast, having been with the Savage Grand Opera Company as prima donna soprano for two years. She also gang in Italy for some time, “Faust,” “Il Troyatore,” “‘Cavalleria Rus- | ticana,” ““I' Pagliacci,” “Traviata” and “Rigoletto” being' among the operas in which she appeared. The singer, though she studied long in Italy, gratefully owns to owing her last schooling to Hugh Angier, an American teacher, himself once very well known among tenors under the stage name of Ugo Angier, in com- pany with Pattl, Christine Nilsson and Melba. He now devotes himself fo teach- ing, and, says Miss Le Brum, there is “none better in America.” Angier himself studied with the famous Trivulzio of strange and pathetic his- tory, for fifteen years teaching from his bed, where he lay incurably ill. A con- temporary pupil of Angier'’s was Lam- perti, the elder, who played Trivuizio's accompaniments for nine years, and at the old maestro’'s death took up his work. Angier was a favorite pupil of Trivul- zio, and Antoinette Le Brun is the favorite pupil o: Al.ll’le: Next Thursday seats will be on sale at Sherman-Clay's for the Calve con- certs, to take place at the Alhambra Theater on Thursday evening, January 25, and on Saturday afternoon, Januar 27. Mume. Calve is the last of the greal singers of the day to appear here in concert. Nordica, Eames, Sembrich. Gadski, Melba, Schumann-Heink have ali favored us, now Calve. The event will be most interesting. The famous contralto was not in best volce when she last sang here. Only in her glori- ous, never-to-be-forgotten Santuzza was she fully herself, and it is said that she is particularly wishful to sing here when she hopes to be ahble to do herself fullest justice. There is a large and promising com- pany accompanying. Bouxmann, the Lasso, will be remembered as one of the personages of the French Opera Com- pany that came here from New Orleans. There is a tenor, Beric von Norden, who has been successfully touring in Ger- many; there is a flutist, a member of the orchestra of the Paris Grand Opera- house, Mens. Fleury (who will play one of the Handel sonatas for flute and piano); there is a violinist, Mile. Verm- orelle, and a pianist, Mons. Decreux. Mme. Calve will give us the Carmen “Habanera” at the first concert, an aria from “Perle du Bresil” and Stances Sapho of Gounod. €3I 0 20 The Minetti Orchestra will give the first of a series of concerts at Native Sons’ Hall on January 26, the concert for the benefit of the library fund of the organization. Mr. Wanrell, the basso, will b& the 'soloist of the occa- sion. 1 Modjeska to Appear " for the Last Time That charming woman and charming actress, Madame Helene Modjeska, will begin to-morrow evening at the Co- lumbia Theater a farewell engagement of one week, during which she and her company will present “Macbeth,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Mary Stuart.” The “Macbeth” gains interest from its contiguity with Nance O'Neil’s, Lady \ ART SET — BY LAURA BRIDE POWERS ofier. He was ill, suffering from a cold, and the tardy awakening of the t to his genius seemed to cheer him but little. Notwithstanding his illness, the wonder- painter has come daily to his studio and worked with an inspired brush. Dur- ing the week, however, he was induced to return homd—going reluctantly. Such a worker! Would that his spirit could animate other painters whose brushes lie inert, and their palettes dry. Palate’s dry, say you? ‘Therein may lle the reason for the dry palettes. gty Eugene Neuhaus, one of the 'mut members of the art colony in the Bohem- ian Club, is exhibiting a picture of much interest at the club. It's a stunning, bru- tal, wonderfully drawn young bull—just the head of him. g 1In the Neuhaus studio at 424'Pine street is an animal picture that strikes my fancy far more than this burly young taurus—which I admire solely for the wonderfully clever technique (I fear I possess the subconscious feminine fear of bulls, even on canvas). L s the picture into a poem. . 7 s s e of “bossies” in a barn, the floor strewn deep witlr golden straw. An odd arrangement of windows— clean ones, too—just over the straw rack, light the barn with a, soft yellow sun- light, and stray sunl filter in from the side, mellowing the homely theme of Jules Pages will visit San Francisco in [prove an admirable medium for Charles | Macbeth also being one of Modjeska's most famous impersonations. The trag- edy will be performed three times—on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday even- ings. ¢ “Much Ado About Nothing” will be given on Wednesday afternoon and Fri- day, and as Mary Stuart in the play of the name the actress will be seen on ‘Wednesdiy and Thursday evenings and at the Saturday matinee. Madame Modjeska’s support includes some excellent people, among whom are Charles D. Herman, Wadsworts Harris, Mrs. H. Vanderhoff and Loretta | Wells. Much interest is being taken in the engagement, the indications be- ing for large houses throughout the week. . v . ‘We shall be again Indebted to the Alcazar this week for the production of # new comedy, this time J. M. Barrie's “The Admirable Crichton,” that will be played for the first time locally to-mor- TOw gvening. “The Admirable Crich- ton"” ‘was used with considerable suc- cess by Gillette in London and should ‘Waldron in its title role, DA Nance O'Neil's farewell week at the Grand Opera-house begins to-morrow evening. The week will be devoted to repertoire, the plays to include “Eliza- beth,” “The Fires of 'St. John,” “Monna Vanna,” “Macbeth.” “The Jewess” and “Magda.” To-night for the last time Juqth of Bethulia” will be given. P “Foxy Quiller,” full of fun, good music, pretty scenes, clever acting and singing, is delighting the Tivoli audiences this week. The Tivoli has done its best in the production, and the appreciation has | been of the liveliest. . . . | Little Ollie Cooper will repeat her extra- | ordinarily clever performance of the dual role In “The Prince and the Pauper” at the Alhambra this week. No one should miss this charming little play. It is for | children old and young and has delighted all who have seen it. e . s . “A Contented Woman, with Miss Amella Gardner in the eminently suit- able title role, will be the bill at the Ma- | Jestic this week. They will give this af- | ternoon and evening the last perform- ances of “If I Were King,” a highly worthy production that has been worthi- | iy presented. | ooy The Central returns to ripe, red melo- drama for its current attraction, with | ““The Price of Honor,” warranted to con- | tain a thrill a minute. D) . The California offers this week the “In- | nocent Maids” Company in burlesque. | s i George Ade will make his debut into | local vaudeville this afternoon at the Orpheum, with a sketch called “On His Uppers,” to be given by Fred Lennox and a clever supporting company. Rice and | Cady, well known here, will also make their first local appearance in vaudeville. Lewis McCord and company will present a sequel to “Her Latest Rehearsal,” said to be the one sequel vaudevlile is hanker- ing for, and the clever Le Brun trioc con- tinues. v e e Earl and Wilson will be at the Chutes as stars this week In eccentric musical | comedy. They head an attractive list of | variety turns. Famous Austrahan Actress on the Way The coming of Nellie Stewart, the Australian actress, for an engagement at the Majestic Theater, promises to be an event of exceptional interest. Miss | Stewart in Australian dramatics is what Ellen Terry is to the English stage, and will make her first bow to | the American public next week. Once | a comic opera singer, the first of her | class, Miss Stewart has since won equal | distinction as a comedienne. She | headed the famous George Musgrove comic opera productions, and appears now under the same manager. Miss Stewart will appear first in “Sweet Nell of Old Drury,” one of her especial triumphs, and afterward: in “Zaza” “Camille,” “Pretty Peggy,” “Mice and ' Men,” “The Country Mpuse” and other plays. Both ends pf the world contribute to the Tting company. Twenty valiant Australlans will accompany South Sea favorite, and George I;P: grove, from his Shaftesbury Theater in Londen, will send four of his best actors. All the scemery will be im- ported, the Majestic furnishing only the bare stage. They are very proud of their theaters down in_ Australia, and particularly proud of Nellie Stewart, so the engage- ment will have something of the inter- national dramatic air. They mean to “show us” in the matter of settings. For “Sweet Nell of Old Drury,” furni- ture faithfully made from designs at the British Museum will be used. in- cluding a beautiful harpsichord. Even the King Charles spaniel that pretty | Nell owns has taken nine prizes! Also, there is to be an orchestra of nineteen pieces, conducted by Herr Slapoffski— whose wife one most favorably remem- bers at the Orpheum as a singer. Mr. Bishop will lay off his players on full salary during the engagement, it is In~ teresting to nete. —_————— LADY RANDOLPH CHURCHILL GIVES ASSISTANCE TO SON Greatly Alds Winston in His Labors in Field of Letters and Politics. _ LONDON, Jan. 13.—It is generally be- lieved that Lady Randolph Churchill is far more devoted to her clever sonm, Winston Churehill, than to her still more youthful second husband, Cern- wallis West. At all events, it is fur- thering the former's interests that she finds her chief occupation. Her frequent appearance n the Bloomsbury district lent some color for a time to the story that she intended to set up a residence in that neighbor- hood, but the fact is it is the British Museum which has been the object of | her frequent visits to that region in the last two years. She has sought this great store house of knowledge to look up historical facts and data for her son to enable him to carry on his literary labors while still attending closely to politics. She is convinced that Winston has sufficient ability and ambition to make him Prime Minister some day and |in that view she Is supported by the more dispassionate judgment of John Morley. “Honest John" is himself a frequent visitor to the British Museum library and on more than ome occasion has assisted Lady Randolph Churchill when in difficulties with regard to the selec- tion of the right author for reference purposes. Meanwhile, Winston Churchill has made the pleasing discovery that the political prominence which he has achieved has greatly advanced the value of his literary products. Only a few weeks ago he was offered $250 for a thousand-word article by a leading morning newspaper. He is now Under Secretary for the Colonies and at that rate may expect to command a higher figure than Kipling when he becomes Prime Minister—If he ever does. SR - Db Consuelo in Role of Cupid. LONDON, Jan. 13.—The breaking off of the engagement of Lady Norah Churchill, sister of the Duke of Marl- berough, to Willlam Walsh, son of Lord Ormathwalite, took place long before the announcement was given out. It was kept quiet by wish of the Duchess of Marlborough, who is moving heaven jand earth to bring the young couple together again. There are many com- plications over the matter, Including a dispute about money matters, which the Duchess tried to-settle by promising an allowance out of her own private purse, but Mr. Walsh naturally objected to such an arrangement and the Countess of Blandford did not care for her daughter to marry on what money they had. Things hung fire for a time, then Lady Norah's health, never very good, | gave way, and in a fit of depression she told her flance the engagement had | better end. The Duchess is said to have been very angry, but neither threats nor plead- ings would make Lady Norah alter her { mind, so Mr. Walsh resigned himself to the inevitable. —————————— D’Ansunsio May Visit Amerien. PARIS, Jan. 13.—Private letters indi- cate that Gabriele D’Annunzio, refused by the Swiss courts a divorce from his wife, the Duchess of Galles, has been consulting an American lawyer in Ta- rin as to whether idence in America would enable him to achieve his desire. He is not indisposed, he says, to study American life and manners with a view to incorporating his impressions in a future work.