Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
meat and saignante meat; Dumenal drank
six bottles of champagne before singing,
and declared that each bottle increasad the
strength and improved the quality of his
voice; he was careful, however, not to go
into excess of imbition! Garcia refreshed
her voice by drinking a "gloria," alias a
cup of coffee mixed with eau de vie.
*
jVjEVER before were there such indica-
*
tions of a prosperous opera season at
the Metropolitan as this year. The belief
that after one year of abstinence New York
would support its season of opera with
greater enthusiasm than ever is likely to
prove well founded, and the immense re-
sponsibility which the engagement of the
great company involved will seemingly be
met by the public in a way to justify what
looked like a hazardous outlay. It is said
that the outlay demanded for next year's
company is $1,000,000. It is certain that
last winter the engagements amounted to
$800,000, which it was said called for a
uniform return of $6,000 for every per-
formance. Since that time some of the
most expensive artists have been engaged,
notably Mmes. Sembrich, Lehmann and
Victor Maurel, and it is easy to understand
that the sum could have been increased to
$1,000,000. But if the responsibilities are
unprecedentedly heavy, it is also true that
the subscription is unusually large for this
time of the year. One easy way to judge
of that is by the sale of subscriptions for
the orchestra stalls. A safe indication of
the demand is the row reached by a certain
time. Never before in the history of the
Metropolitan Opera House have subscribers
at this season been compelled to content
themselves with the seats now offered. In
other words, the subscription has never
before at this time extended so far back as
it does to-day. The same condition exists
in every part of the house, and there is no
surer sign of the public interest in the
opera. The increased outlay and enter-
prise this year have been met with corre-
sponding support from the public. To
make a financial success of the coming sea-
son will be of greater credit to Maurice
Grau than any past season, as the scale on
which it has been undertaken is so much
larger. In addition to the greater expense,
the season will be longer than it has been
for some time. There was a time when
subscribers were able to get their seats at
a reduction if they took them for the
whole season. But they are satisfied now
to get them anywhere at the full price.
*
A STATUE of Tschaikowsky represent-
^*- ing him at the conducting stand, has
just been put up in St. Petersburg. It
stands at the entrance to the Royal Con-
servatory.
/ ^ I U S E P P E VERDI recently celebrated
^~* his eighty-fifth birthday, and he is
said to have seemed in better health than
usual, despite the fatigue which the visits
of his friends must have caused him and
the fact that it was the first birthday since
the death of his wife. No single figure in
Europe is to a greater extent the subject of
comment and anecdote. He sometimes
takes the trouble to deny the stories told
about him, and he has recently contradicted
the report that he was at work on an opera
drawn from Shakespeare's "King Lear."
The flood of gossip about him continues,
and the days of his youth are explored in
search of stories. One of these dwells on
the time when he was an acolyte, who be-
came so absorbed in the music of the organ
that he forgot all about his duties, and had
to be recalled to a sense of them by a kick
which sent him down the steps of the
altar. Later, when it was decided that he
should be a priest, it was the organ that
satisfied him more than any other feature
with the life of the clergy. The priest
who had mapped out his vocation for him
was celebrating mass one day while Verdi
was at the organ. The priest was struck
by the beauty of the music, which seemed
more than usually remarkable from an or-
ganist who received only $7 a year salary.
He asked what the music was. Verdi, em-
barrassed at the question and anticipating
a reproach, said that he had forgotten to
bring his music and had been improvising.
" I played as I felt," he continued. The
priest decided that any boy with such musi-
cal feeling should be allowed to follow his
own tastes and become a musician if he
wanted to.
as well as in the Riviera towns. She is
related by marriage to the former Agnes
Ethel, who retired from the stage at the
height of her reputation to marry a wealthy
man of the same name as the singer. She
took an interest in Miss Rodebusch and
helped her to secure the musical education
which prepared her for the stage. Fanchon
Thompson is another singer who may de-
cide not to come here. She is somewhat
staggered at the number of sopranos en-
gaged and she is wondering what oppor-
tunity there will be among that number for
a debutante. It looks as if Stefano in
"Romeo et Juliette " would be her only
role. Miss Thompson has sung Carmen
at the Opera Comique in Paris, and is not
willing to relinquish the possibilities of
such roles abroad. So she may remain in
Europe if her ambitions seem to be more
likely to find a field there and come to win
her laurels at home after she has had more
experience abroad.
*
' * T N one of his writings Wagner tells us
* that he never felt any musical in-
spiration unless a dramatic idea had taken
complete possession of him," writes Hous-
ton Stewart Chamberlain on " How Rich-
ard Wagner Wrote his Operas," in the
November Ladies' Home Journal. "When
this was the case the different personages
would, one after another, obtrude upon
his fancy, gaining gradually in bodily con-
sistency. Then, all of a sudden, in the
CMMA CALVE, who will be detained in dusk of evening, one of these creatures of
*—' Europe by sickness, is not the only his fancy would rise up before him, gazing
singer who will follow the majority of the at him with eyes wide open. Fascinated
operatic artists to this country instead of and almost trembling, Wagner would re-
coming with them. Ernst Krauss, the main with eyes fixed on those of his guest
tenor of the Ellis company's Philadelphia from Dreamland; but lo! the shadows
season, will not arrive here until after the lips tremble and open! what issues from
performances begin, and M. Van Dyck, them is neither words nor song; it is a
who has been loaned by Maurice Grau to superhuman language, but the poet under-
his brother managers, will fill Krauss's stands it, and it remains ringing in his
place. The Philadelphia audiences will ears when the apparition has vanished.
not lose by this, as Mr. Van Dyck is an This is the precise moment of inspiration.
artist of much greater reputation than the All that follows is more or less mechanical,
younger singer. It is agreeable to observe more or less fortuitous. Whether a work
that the impresarios of rival organizations be written out and completed sooner or
are on such friendly terms. Marie Brema later will depend upon all sorts of circum-
and Anton Van Rooy will not arrive in New stances—time, health, etc.
York until the
A HAND THAT OFTEN EARNS $1,000 AN HOUR.
local season is
about to open,
and will not be
heard at all in
Chicago. The
circum s t a n c e s
of Miss Rode-
busch's return
to h e r own
country
were
particularly
sad. She had
sung for several
seasons w i t h
success
in
Europe, but yet
h a d to make
a n impression
in h e r own
country.
She
This is a picture, natural size, of the dexterous digits of New York's reigning musical sensation,
had sung at Herr Moriz Rosen thai, the Folish pianist. The critics say he rivals Paderewski, whose uimble finger^
earned him $80,000 in one season in the United States.
Jierr Roaenthal cannot insure against its loss or injury by accident for more than a week.
Covent Garden