Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-01-25
TEE LrrrA CoSCERr.
The Epifome or q Pleasant Evenings
Entertainment.

Entertainments.
Before beginning a notice of the Litia
concert at the Academy of Music last night,
the musical man Of the REGISTER takes the
liberty Of incorporating an interlude, fill
ed, to use q Hibernicism, with comments
on two remarkable incidents (which no
Wheeling audience, perhaps, ever witness
ed before; or, to be more correct and likely
more. grammatical-eyer lent their pres
ence to.
l. During the entire concert and the
time between the acts, so to speak, no one
arose TO go out and see man according 10
engagement And the Academy was never
more free from the smell of cloves.
I'd. The audience was not only discreet in
its applause and wise in its discrimination,
but refrained from calling out fourteen
times Madame Litta, whose voice was so
Beautiful, so sympathetic and electrical.
PROGRAMME.
In these days OF newspaper metaphor. OF
struggling after something new to write,
the reader will pardon me for saying that
in RATS Polka de Ia Refine" Miss Nellie
Bangs played a piano solo with a tiger
touch. There was the softness of the fur
of the concealed tips that incorporated
most beautifully the strength and the
power of the instrument as we'll as its soft.
of Anton Raft, the sweet singer of Germany.
Miss Bangs played-and no unmerited
praise is given-in manner and with
method that would have delighted Raft,
had she been with him on his first appear
ance in public, when Bernaschi, his teach
er, first allowed him TO appear in public on
the occasion of the marriage OF Maria The
resa, at Florence. Such instrumentaliza-
ton is rare, and the credit due is heartily
rendered.
The aria by Miss Hattie McLain-Di
Tdnti Palpiti-by Rossini was extraOrdin-
arily clever The word and the adjective
may not be dpropos, but what others could
he applied TO a we'll trained voice that
flowed out freely, sonorously, musically
and was so apparently RosSinian. The
author of ~. Trdncredi or GuIiidme Tell was
indifferen. to his genius, and readers will
remember an anecdote told OF him during
his residence in Venice, when he slept in
little cold room and composed in early
morning a magnificent duet which on
completion fell from his frozen fingers and
rolled under the bed, and which he
declined to hunt for until friend arrived
and fished it out. And so the reporter
classes Miss McLain's singing as Rossinian
because il was careless and generous in its
execution and delivered without apparent
effort, although the effort was masterful
and satisfying to everyone with particle
of music in their souls. A woman who can
sing sweetly without suggesting athletic
proclivities and limiting through her
cheap price for sight OF the
show always wins the warm
admiration of the writer.
Which one of the several HartmannS who
hourished from fifty to one hundred years
ago wrote or composed "Fayorite,' which
Mr.. John SHELTON performed on the cornet
makes no matter, as it were. The author
of such music would not feel badly had he
heard the soft and almost human tones Of
Skeletons cornet last night. He is young
man and may learn some more, but at his
stage of existence he does well, and may yet
outshine Levy or Arbuckle. AT the same
time as public performer, and one who
will meet with criticism, he will take
kindly, the suggestion herewith made
that, during the pauses in the melody made
by his lungs he will cast off the galvanized,
electro-plated expression of countenance
which is uniting and strikingly ludi-
crous. If this is severe it is charitably
meant
Madcmoiselle Litta here comes in for
compliment, and it is cheerfully and heart
lily given. Emma Abbot is fayorite here
because her voice, even in December calls
singing of birds in the springtime among
the peach blossoms. PATTI, and most OF
you have heard her, suggests the grand
Swels on a church organ. Combine the
two and you have Litta. Few have heard
OF Litta and yet she is the sweet singer
'front.' Well. no matter what State-she
sings like nightingale. After the first
aria, she was most enthusiastically recalled
and in response to the en- core waroled
song called, / think, You'd Better Bide
Wee" The writer could have bided hours
thereafter had she sang.
Mr.. MontroSe Graham, the baritone, sang
"Good Company" mechanically, with a
moderately-well mOdulated voice. Upper
notes at par and lower ones ten per cent.
off. Ordinary ballads rarely have words
which are so poetical and soothing as TO
require their distinct enunciation in deliy-
cry. Good Company Is not an excep-
tion, and as elocution is somewhat out of
place in modern music, when there is
nothing in the words, the remark may not !
be deemed harsh when the opinion is eX-
pressed that Mr.. Grahan's song was trite |
tame.
Miss Bangs again performed a brilliant |
composition of List on the piano, followed |
by an equally good cornet solo by Mr.. Skel- |
ton, after which the fourth act OF II Trord-
tore was most acceptably rendered from a !
musical standpoint. Mile Litta as Leon
ora" and Mr.. Graham as Count sang and |
acted better than well, and save for the |
singing of Miss McLain, her part as
"Azucena" was suggestively ridiculous. |
The tenor of Mr.. Cleveland was under |
proof, but altogether, and the praise is !
sincerely meant the entire performance !
was better than anything had in Wheeling |
since the visit of the Swedish Quartette. |
Ii Mile Litta and her company come this |
way again the REGISTER will extend a |
hearty greeting and insure full house.
INDIVIDUAL ITEMS.