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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
to a Parisian audience. Kalkbrenner con-
tinued the great traditions of the past;
his contemporaries speak of him in the
most glowing terms, and his favorite pupil,
Stamaty, had the good fortune of guiding
the musical genius of Gottschalk.
Q
Sardou's latest play, " Spiritisme,"
which is running at the Knickerbocker
Theatre, this city, with Virginia Harned
in the principal role, cannot by any means
be considered a great dramatic work. It is
far below the Sardou standard although it
has the Sardou directness and perfection of
mechanism. As the title indicates, the
play deals with spiritualism interspersed
with such mundane events as an elopement
and a railroad accident—truly a dramatic
composition. The elements of mysticism
introduced make ''Spiritisme" a novelty
beyond a doubt. This is its chief claim to
notice.
Sardou's methods have always been orig-
inal. In his early days, when hunger and
poverty were his constant associates, he
evolved a most interesting method of study-
ing the art of play writing. Scribe was his
model. At night, in his cheerless attic, by
the light of a single candle, procured by
saving a sou from his meagre dinner, he
used to study the plays of Scribe till he
knew them word for word. It was his de-
light to take one of Scribe's plays that he
had never read, study the first act, close
the book and map out what he thought
would be Scribe's scenario of the remaining
acts. When finished he compared his work
with the original, overjoyed if he had hit
upon a similar scene or situation. He is
very painstaking with everything he
writes. After he has found a subject he
thinks it over for months, sometimes for
years, and collects all sorts of data relating
to it. When he considers it ripe for work
he makes a number of characters on a piece
of paper, and these are made still more in-
comprehensible by innumerable corrections
and erasures. This he sends to his copyist
—an invaluable assistant—who understands
Sardou's writing better than the playwright
himself. The copyist turns these hiero-
glyphics into clean copy and returns the
manuscript to the author. In a few days
it is sent back to the copyist in a worse
condition than at first. Another clean
copy is made with the same results, and
this operation is repeated five or six times,
or until the play is entirely satisfactory.
o
Were any proof needed that the success
of opera in this country depended upon
great names and not upon new productions
or all round performances of merit, it is
only necessary to point to the present grand
opera season in Chicago, which so far has
been a grand failure, largely because
Mesdames Eames and Melba were absent.
Two great artists truly, but did a correct
musical appreciation exist, this condition of
things would hardly be possible.
©
Mme. Patti appeared at Nice, February
22d, in the new opera "Dolores," written
and composed by M. Pollonnais.
MISS ELLA RUSSELL.
IN THE CONCERT WORLD.
Miss Rachel Hoffmann, the young Bel-
gian pianiste, gave her first recital at
Mendelssohn Glee Club Hall, on the after-
noon of February 18th. She played Bee-
thoven's Sonata Op. 57, and smaller
numbers by Chopin, Schumann, Grieg,
Stavenhagen, Rubinstein and Dubois. Miss
Hoffmann's interpretation was distin-
guished by a mastery of technic and a
virility which was convincing. Her reading
of some of the smaller numbers, however,
lacked color and daintiness; were a more
sympathetic "temperament" added to
her present equipment Miss Hoffmann
might become one of our leading pianistes.
©
J. D. Fitzgerald, baritone, favorably
known in.this city, gave a song recital at
the Female Academy in Albany, N. Y.,
last week. He was assisted by Frank J.
McDonough, pianist, and Alfred S. Bendal,
violinist. The program was an excellent
one, and the concert throughout of a high
degree of excellence. Mr. Fitzgerald's
delightful singing evoked the most flatter-
ing compliments from the Albany papers;
one critic closed a highly eulogistic notice
as follows: " H e is an artist of marked
ability and one of whom Albanians would
like to hear more."
©
Albert Lockwood, an American pianist
with a European reputation, made his ap-
pearance in concert, assisted by the Metro-
politan Orchestra under the leadership of
Adolf Neuendorf!, at the Madison Square
Garden concert hall on the evening of Feb.
18. The principal numbers on the program
were Rubenstein's concerto in D minor and
Grieg's concerto in A minor for piano
ELLA RUSSELL.
We present herewith a
counterfeit presentment of
Miss Ella Russell, the Ameri-
can prima donna who will be
heard with the Grau Opera
Co. in Chicago, and with the
Damrosch Opera Co. in this
city, as well as at a number of
musical festivals this spring
under the management of
Henry Wolfsohn. Miss Rus-
sell has attained a world-wide
reputation as a soprano of
the first rank, and by her
versatility as well as artistic
and intelligent work has es-
tablished herself in the affec-
tions of the English people.
It is not too much to predict
that the esteem in which she is
held abroad will be more than
duplicated in her native land.
Miss Russell was born in
Cleveland, O., and received
her elementary musical train-
ing in the conservatory in
that city. She finished her
musical education in Paris.
Her voice, beautiful in quali-
ty and of great range, is unit-
ed to a personality of great
beauty and dignity. Her re-
pertoire is extensive.
and orchestra, also a group of smaller
pieces. Mr. Lockwood is distinctly a pi-
anist of great promise. His technique is
excellent and his reading of the concertos
displayed temperament and breadth. The
smaller numbers, notably the Brahms-
Gluck gavotte, were played sympathetically
and with charming finesse. Mr. Lockwood
was cordially received by an appreciative
audience. The orchestra deserves praise
for its accompaniments.
0
Giacoma Quintano, "the renowned Ital-
ian violinist," delighted a large audience
with his solos at a concert given at Stein-
way Hall on the evening of Feb. 26. He
was assisted by Miss Mae Cressy, contralto;
Albert Gerard Thiers, tenor; T. H. Fel-
lows, baritone, and Sig. De Macchi, pianist,
o
Victor Herbert's Twenty-second Regi-
ment Band, which was selected to play at
the President's inauguration, will give a
concert at Carnegie Hall, to-morrow, Sun-
day night. The soloists at the concert will
be Marie Donavin, Ernest H. Clarke, and
Victor Herbert.
0
The Ogden Musical Club, which comprise
the pupils of Mme. Ogden Crane, the
celebrated vocal teacher, will give the
comic opera "Doctor of Alcantara," at
Chickering Hall, on the evening of March
nth.
©
The latest addition to the list of royal
dramatists is Princess Charles of Denmark,
formerly Princess Maud of Wales, who
has just finished a one-act comedietta, with
which Ellen Terry is so enamored that Sir
Henry Irving has accepted it for the
Lyceum Theatre, London.