St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-15

u
bach, Gen. Becker, w. h. Mann, w. P.
Warner and I. E. Bird.
THE GILMORE CONCERT.
The Gilmore Band Concert Draws
Il Large Audience.
On raised das near the center of the
stage in Exposition rink last night stood
Patrick S. Gilmore welding light baton,
the motion of which was law to the thirty
musicians seated within the semicircle over
which it swept 1t was the opening of the
series of Gilmore band concerts, closing
tonight. In the balconies, dress
circle and and parquet 1900 people sat and
listened and wondered, admired and ap-
plauded. 1t was not stylish audience.
There was lack of flashing diamonds, nod
ding plumes, rustling silks, and shining
satins, yet the best society people in the city
were present and they evidently came here
TO sit and quietly enjoy the feast of har-
mony prepared for them, than to exhibit the
elegance of their costumes. The program
was one calculated to hold the audience in
their seats until within an hour of midnight
and it was necessarily heightened by the en-
thusiastic encores that would not be denied.
work of the band. The members were
executed in a style perfectly grand and the
pen of the critic has lauded Gilmore for so
many years, that all that can possibly be said
favorable to him as a musical director has
often been repeated and there is certainly
no cause for unfavorable comment. 1t was
a grand saturnala OF harmony from the
first to the last.
The interest of the audience was centered
upon Miss Letitia Fritch and Mile. leila
De Lussan, who were announced to appear
during the evening. Mile. De Lussan had
endeared herself to the hearts of St. Paul
citizens by her charming singing while
with the Boston Ideals. and they went to
hear once more those tender tones from her
lips that had stirred their souls and awak-
ened sense of deep admiration in days not
long passed.
MISS LFTITIA FRITCH.
Of Miss Fritch they knew but little.
They went to become acquainted with her.
and when few minutes past o'clock she
came upon the stage from her dressing
room, led by Prof Gilmore, and made her
Introductory bow to the audience. she re-
ceived a burst of applause that might well
have swelled her heart with pride. AS the
singer stood in the glow of the electric
queenly head, she appeared radiantly
beautiful. A voluptuous costume of white
satin fell around her supurb figure like a
dream. The bodice was cut low and re-
vealed a neck that seemed to have been
moulded from marble. From the waist
hung skirt en- train and over it fell rich
over-skirt of white satin deliberately trim
med with beaded fringe. Kid gloves, i'm
maculate white, covered her hands and
arms, reaching almost to the shoulders that
i'm their whiteness outrivaled the satin that
half concealed them. Imagine shapely head
proudly poised, world of golden hair. a
figure possessing all the beauties Of outline
that rendered the statue of Galatea so low
able to Pygmalion, face of exquisite lovli-
ness, and you have a picture of Letitia
Fritch as she stood and smiled down and
around upon the audience that enthu-
siastically expressed its admira-
tion last night. And her voice
was not less powerful and enhancing than
her figure was beautiful and charming. In
her rendition OF air and variations for voice
lie Carnival de Venice" there was hardly
more than vocalization and she was given
full scope to prove her finest qualities as a
soprano, and she did it with such satisfac-
tory effect upon her hearers that when the
last note fell from her lips roar of applause
swelled up from the audience. almost
deafening in its intensity. She bowed her
acknowledgements and smiled her graft
tude, but this was not enough, and the out
bnrst was not hushed until she once more
faced her admirers and gave them the beau
tiful song Sweetheart" In this she
seemed more charming, If possible, than in
the first number. The sentiment of the
composition was cleverly conceived,
and the singer seemed to dwell
in an atmosphere of harmony
which she inhaled and breathed out puri-
fed and tinged with the deepest shades OF
sympathy and pathos. The notes that fell
from her lips were SO clear that they could
hardly be distinguished from the tones OF
the flute that accompanied her. and when
she retired she was followed by applause thai
could leave no doubt in her mind that she
had won complete victory over the hearts
of her hearers.
MILE ZELIE DE LUssAN.
It was nearly 10 o'clock when Zelie De
Lussan made her appearance. Her advent
upon the stage was the signal for applause
and the great rink rang with the express
sions of recognition and appreciation, and
the charming little prime donna bowed hei
pretty head and smiled in her happy way
upon the faces that she had looked
down upon for the first time, hardly
six months since, from the stage
of the Grand. She was then stranger to
the people of this city, but they at once
took her to their hearts, and she could ask
for no better proof of this than she found
in her reception last night. She presented
quite contrast to the stately woman in
white who had preceded her. She looked
more like the queen of May, in her, cos.
tune OIL pale blue satin en- traine, with little
knots of pink roses dotting it. and
a fragrant boquet of the same pretty
blossoms resting on her bosom. Pale pink
gloves of silk covered her dainty hands and
shapely arms and at the tops futtered little
tufts of blue ribbons matching the costume.
In the wealth of raven tresses that crowned
her exquisitely moulded head glittered 9
star of diamonds. She formed a pretty
picture. Even more bewitchine
than when she first appeared
here as the vivacious sweetheart of Victor
the Bluestocking. AS a concert singer she
is not the success that she is in opera, ye
she was accorded an encore. to which she