Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
superior, will be specially dwelt on, and
his hope is, he declares, to conciliate his
enemies as well as to please his friends.
*
A YOUNG violoncello virtuoso who it is
**• said will eclipse the success won by
young Gerardy arrived in the city this week
by the "Southwark" from Antwerp in the
person of Miss Elsa Ruegger. She is the
daughter of a Swiss Government official
and was educated at Brussels. She made
her debut when but eleven years
old, amazing all by her wonderful
facility and inborn musical feeling.
Under competent teachers she has grown
to be an artist of remarkable attainments.
She has passed through the ordeal of Ber-
lin criticism with flying colors. Her tone
is said to be delightfully captivating and
her playing throughout dominated by an
exceedingly poetic and musical tempera-
ment.
One of Germany's eminent music critics
thus extols the genius of this young woman :
"The violoncello is undeniably one of
the most difficult of all instruments, and
for that reason it rarely occurs that a
woman gains mastery over it, especially
one so young as Elsa Ruegger. She is
only a girl, yet she has acquired extraordi-
nary skill. So far as the mechanics of her
art go, she is able to perform accurately
the most exacting works written for the
violoncello. But it is not her technique
which excites the greatest surprise; it is
her musical feeling. Her method is with-
out fault. She is wholly devoid of any
of the objectionable habits which mar the
pleasure of a performance. Her tone is full,
round and refined. She never scratches.
Faultless, too, is her intonation. It seems as
if she cannot play a false note, even when
doing difficult double stopping. Her concep-
tion is ripe, not immature or girlish like one
might expect. Refined taste characterizes
all her performances; she is surcharged
with magnetism. She electrifies her audi-
ence and wins their hearts. I have never
been so touched with any violoncellist. It
is my opinion that this beautiful young
virtuoso is sui generis. There is none like
her. Genius is stamped upon her brow."
The impassioned tribute that this staid
German critic pays Miss Ruegger is reiter-
ated and emphasized by the most discrim-
inating and reserved critics in London and
Paris. They do not hesitate to deal in
superlatives when estimating her abilities.
*
R A U L ' S sacred cantata, "The Ten Vir-
^-* gins," was rendered before a repre-
sentative audience at Grace Church, Mid-
dletown, N. Y., on the evening of Sept.
19, under the direction of Harvey Wick-
ham.
*
HP HE opera season will begin late in this
* city in the coming Winter, but it will
not be late in beginning elsewhere. Mr.
Grau's company will be heard in some of
the New England towns before it comes to
New York. This may afford opportunities
to some of those to whom opera is alcind
of vice to go on the road with the company
and compare the different tenors and prima
donnas before they reach us. There is no
doubt that the general character of the
season will be much the same as that which
preceded it. Mr. Grau has promised us a
Mozart cycle, and he has been to Munich
to get points on the proper method of pre-
senting the operas of the immortal master.
The list of singers will be attractive enough
to please the great mass of celebrity wor-
shippers who make up the bulk of the
audiences at the Opera House. There will
be few new names in the catalogue, but
the old ones have not yet lost their potency
with the public.
*
A LL the gossip that is afloat in regard to
•'*• the opera season indicates that the
general policy of the impresario is to be
the same as it has been since he took up
the management of the house, says W. J.
Henderson. Those who are looking for
developments in the way of scenery and
\
ELSA RUEGGER.
stage management are likely to meet with
grave disappointment. It is not a cause
for wonder that Mr. Grau will not change
his policy. He is in the operatic business
to make money, and as long as he can in-
duce the public to pour out its treasure in
the manner of last season simply by bring-
ing lists of famous singers before it, he
need not trouble himself about the mise-
en-scene of the operas. He will say to
himself that artists draw money and scen-
ery does not. So we may expect to behold
some of the familiar settings of "Aida"
in the production of " T h e Magic Flute."
*
"THAT interesting personality " Mr.
* Dooley " is going to get on the stage
5oR> on
after awhile with most of the other popular
figures of current literature. He seems a
little less adapted to that medium of ex-
position than most of the others, but some
of his predecessors have met with unex-
pected success. Charles Frohman met Mr.
Dooley's creator in London and asked him
what he thought of writing a play around
his popular hero. Mr. Dunne told him
he had never thought of Mr. Dooley as the
central figure of a drama and did not know
that he could ever succeed in making him
one. Mr. Frohman was not discouraged
by that, but continued his discussion of
the possibility of a play in which the wit
and wisdom of the widely known Irishman
should form the principal attraction. Mr.
Dunne admitted that such a drama might
be written, but did not think he could ever
do it himself. He was willing that any-
body else should do it and accepted on the
spot the proposition Mr. Frohman made to
him. That immediately took the form of
a large sheet which secured the stage
rights in Mr. Dooley to the American
manager, whenever it is decided to put
him into a play.
T H E Castle Square Opera Co. opened
* their season on Monday night with a
capital performance of " Die Meistersin-
ger." The production enlisted the service
of two hundred people including a cast of
twenty-four principals. The scenic in-
vestiture and sartorial accessories in all
acts were thoroughly satisfying and eclipsed
in point of beauty all previous productions
at this theatre.
The already strong organization of sing-
ers at this theatre has been reinforced by
Mme. Marie Mattfeld, who for three years
was a member of the Damrosch Opera
Co. and for the past two years prominent
in the Melba organization. Every member
of the company deserves the highest
commendation for their mastery of roles
which, it is needless to say, are of no ordi-
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