Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-08
SOME SILENT VOICES,
A Little Gossip About Some of the
Eminent SOng-Birds Who
CHARMED OUR CITIZENS LONG AGO.
The Visits Of Parepa-ROsa. Christine Nilsson
and the PATHS.
HOW WACHTEL ELECTRIFIED THE TOWN
CHARMED our CITIzRNS LONG AGO.
HOW WACHTEL ELECTRIFIED THE TOWN
1wRrrrEN ron rHR D1srArcH.1

"SAS AAAuSs anu UcluS OAus AS hOuAN
never have done telling us how much better
the apples were in his young days than any
apples that are raised now. The eyes of old
age become long-sighted, but the far-away
things they look upon are the things that
have been.
am not old. Far otherwise. But there
is just frost enough upon my head to set me
thinking very pleasantly of the time when
the weather was all summer sunshine, and
when never raven croaked among all the
birds that sang to us.
How many of those song-birds there were;
and how the music they made echoes among
the notes of to-day, causing many of them to
seem but feeble enough twitteringsl Some re-
cent events have called up more than the
usual number of recollections connected
with old-time musical experiences in Pitts
burg, and disposition to gossip about them
has been provoked.
An event of signal importance occu rred
when old Masonic Hall was still the place
where Pittsburg's best and choicest thronged
to hear music and oratory. Here, not so
very long after the war had ended, ca me
Madam Parepa to reveal to US how much
of heavens music q woman can carry in her
throat
Only little blowing of trumpets herald
ed her coming. She was so far unknown
thar many musie-loyers debated among
themselves whether it would be worth
while to 60 and hear her That question
was never asked again. The first golden
notes she uttered assured us that one of the
L.
US; and long before the last note had sound
ed Parepa was Pittsburg favorite And
that meant a great deal. Not only were
The people her admirers; they were her
friends. For a more lovable, womanly
woman is rarely seen, ou the stage or OF 1t,
than was Parepa.
THEY LAUGHED WITH HER.
Not one in the audience appreciated more
keenly than she the funny possibilities ofawk-
Hardness created by her immense size. But
she never was awkward. When little Carl
Rosa, who was the violinist of the troupe,
led her upon the stage in answer to a recall,
the audience tried not to laugh at the absurd
spectacle. But Parepa realized the ab-
surdity as fully as any of them; and she sent
far down upon her diminutive escort such
q smile of good-natured appreciation that
everybody laughed with her. Nobody ever
laughed at her.
Later, when she sang here in opera, the
same genial spirit of Hppreciative humor
saved many scene from the wreck of ridi-
cule- Nothing could be much funnier than
the attempt of Susannah to personate the
Countess in 1.-The Marriage of Figaro,
when Parepa was Susanndh and sweet
voiced little Rose TherSee was the Countess.
But the ponderous maid appreciated the fun
30 richly that the audience only enjoyed her
appreciation o. it.
She married her little escort of that first
evening, and was known thenceforth as
Madam Parepa-Ro Theirs was happy
married life, but it ended far too soon.
These many years Parepa has been only q
memory. But who of us would exchange
that memory for much gold? There may
have been singers who gave us better art,
bat has there been one who gave us better
music?
Not in Masonic Hall, but in Library
Hall, where the Bijou Theater now is, was
Christine Nilsson heard in her first Amer
lean season. Those who were young then
Will remember that first concert night when
they are old. The exquisite art, the bril-
liant execution, the melodious sweetness and
the pretty audacities of the splendid Swede
were not things to forget. And when she
gave the mad scene from Hamlet" which
was introduced as a concert number, she
produced at least one impression that would
not readily depart. To see Ophelid raving
melodiously in a gown of scarlet silk, and
tearing her hair with such methodical mad
ness that not diamond in the multitude of
gems which crowned her was disturbed, was
something to remember indeed. But it was
only sfterward that it seemed incongruous
Christine Nilsson could have made stranger
things than that seem consistent and har-
monious while her audience listened to her.
NILssoN's GREATEST TRIUMPH.
The climax of her triumph was when she
sang, in prettily broken English, 1.-The Old
Folks At Home" II Stephen c. Foster
had ever seen, with the bodily eve, the
Suwannee river I doubt If he would have
written that song; for the stream is not one
to get homesiek TOR. But be did write the
ballad, and Pittsburg loved it and was
proud Of it. And when this great singer
sang it with tender pathos she had her au-
dience at her feet, and raised a glad commo-
tion OF applause which must have thrilled
even her heart with triumphant pleasure.
In Later years, while crossing the North
ern part of Florida, 1 happened in a railroad
car "a which all the other passengers were
members of a minstrel troupe, passing from
Tallahassee to Jacksonville. As the train
erept upon the bridge across the Suwannee
river every one of those men, bv a common
impulse, began to sing; and the song they
sang was THE Old Folks At Home" They
sang it perfectly, and 1, listening then to
the song IN the place Foster had written
about, thought of that other time when
had heard it sung in the place where Foster
had written it. And to this dav I am NOT
quite sure but liked the minstrel rendering
fhe betterl
Annie Louise Cary, if memory is not in
fault, was heard here for the first time with |
Nilsson; and the singer from Maine fairly
divided the hoDors with the singer from
Sweden. Her triumphs were genuine and |
Well-won. Is there any contralto like her |
tO-day7
PITTsBURG FAvoRITE.
Long before anv Of these singers were
heard in Pittsburg, Caroline Richings was
an established favorite here. English opera |
owes to her debt which should insure a |
monument to her memory; perpetuating.
NOT the pitiful tragedy of her death, but the |
really noble achievements of her life. No |
monument is needed, however, 10 recall TO /
members Of this generation the delights |
afforded by the "Richings' Quartet"
Caroline Richings, Mrs. Seguin, Castle and |
Csmpbell-those are names to conjure with.
even now. Nobody who heard them in the |
old days, forgets how delightfully."- they gave
us Martha, and Mariana" and Era |
Diavolo,'' and "The Bohemian Girl"
But the adopted daughter Of Peter Rich /
ings was bereft of the support Of her old al
lies. Mrs. Seguin, Castle and Campbell |
went over TO Parepa Rosa when she organ
ized an English Opera Company, and the |
plucky little woman forthwith recruited her
little army anew. do not recall who were /
her contralto and her tenor, but Henri Dray- /
ton, a phenomenal baritone, appeared in |
old place.
A week, splendidly memorable in the mu- /
sieal annals of Pittsburg, came to pass in 1
~, o,,.rirrr eaason of the tunef,l No. tl,.t /