Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-03-29
OUR SAN FRANCISCO LETTER i.
Patti and Gerster-s ickleness of Populari.
ty for Bay Resorts.
SAN FRANc1sco. March %.

SAN Francisco, March %, 1884.
l wrote you of PATHS first appearance,
but not of the musical war. The town
was divided into two large committees on
comparisou-the Gersterites and Pattiites.
It was very amusing debate, As usual,
those who espOused the cause of one could
see no one singie good quality in the other.
The vast majority of the unsteady uncul-
tivated went in for Gerster heart and soul,
mostly, it seemed, because she smlled at
the audience and accepted encores, and
also because she has way Of taking her
high notes that draws attention to the fact
that they are very high-and so they are
and singularly pure and clear. She slack
ems the tempo little and gently and GIN
ge1ly knocks out the note, clear head
tone, but there is not the impression Of
power and volume, of depth of lungs and
arched soft palate that Madame PATHS
sustained notes give to any one who has
ever attempted the study of voice culture.
or knows in what it consists. IL Is sur.
prising to find the lighter voice in the am
Dly nodded Gerster, and the more resonant
in the daintily proportional Patti. PATHS
great triumph has been in the part of An
META in "Crispino la Comare. she
fairly radiated magnetism, was sparkling,
light and bewitching. She did ner best
and conquered her public.
Saturday evening, PATHS Anuetta, fin
ished the season proper. Then Colonel
Mapleson announced an extra season Of a
week, during which there will be Patti
concert at the pavilion, and now the tickle
public avows itself bored. 1t has had its
grand opera, "now take it away, Colonel
Mapleson." There is no rush for seats
the audiences, of course, are large, but
critics in such matters pretend to discover
that the beauty and talent and culture aud
costuming are OF an inferior order, second
cut, as it were. The creamy foam has
died off the gotlst; let him drink now who
will.
Another instance of fckleness is notice
able this season-:he decline of San Ra-
fael There was an hour when the name
of San Rafael was the shibbOleth of eXclu.
sive bitterness. To pronounce it San Ra.
fell was old fogyish-San Rafall was q
trihe better but whose tutored his or.
gaas of speech to pronounce the sacred
spot San Rata ell, with a slight gasp, TO
mark the hiatus between the two last syl-
tables, he indeed was baptized with the
chrism of sOciety's most essential oil he
had probably dined, lunched or ridden
there, and was correspondingly respected.
It was once my happiness to hear one of
the Massachusetts Winthrops say of Ma
liant" Nahant will always be Boston
place" with the short sound OF IN Bos.
ton, If you please, and the air of one salts
fed with the outlook for Nahant in all futu-
rity. So it was that the best and loyeliest
OF the San Franciscans were wont to regard
San Rafael.
This season, however, even as Sidney
Smith had heard a man speak disrespecs
fully of the equator, so murmurs sighting
to San Rafael have been waited abroad; it
mas even been called unhealthy, and the
seekers after pure air and rural mirth have
migrated in body to Saucelt). There is
something comic about Saucelito, not comic
like Petaluma and Milpitas, but still
c)mic. When the inimitable John How
son was here, in one OF the operas in which
he happened, his daughter lin the cast
picked up globe and was about to throw
it across the room in a hlstrionlc rage,
when Howson interfered with - My
daughter, do not destroy the world, or at
least leave me-ieave me my little Sauce
Ito" Mr.. H0wson's taste was sound. In
a general destruction it would be we'll to
save Saucelito, which is a very pretty
place and exceedingly sought this spring.
Tue sojourn of Pere Hyacinthe among us
is interesting all sorts Of people, ecclesias-
tically given aud otherwise. AT Trinity
Church-the largest Episcopal Church in
the city-Pere Hyacinthe spoke on Sunday
to the largest audience that has ever been
in the church The odd sight was pre-.
sented of people, women as well as men,
seated on the floor. PHILIP SHIRLEY.