Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-08-18
The American Girls In opera

The performance of Gounod's Romeo
ct Juliette is the chief attraction at the
Grand Opera at present. Mile. Games,
the American prima donna, WAS indis-
posed on the evening when l heard the
opera, and her place was filed by Mile.
Escalais. This lady was heartily applaud
ed and has been praised in the newspa-
pers. Compared with Mile. Escalais,
Fraulien Sophie Tfaubmann is an AIDE.
lima Patti. | do not know how to cay
anything more expressive than that. The
tenor was NJ. Cossira, a gentleman who
disported himself as :'Romeo" of 200
pounds avoirdupois, and possessed a
rain on tin roof. In the expressive
me tired. The rest of the singers
are absolutely not worth mentioning.
They would be considered bad in comic
opera in New York. They all possessed
small wooc.n voices and displayed the
French vibrato in its iniquity. l never
heard worse singing, not even in the
American Opera Company. The chorus
was good. 1t was considerably better
than that of the Metropolitan is at times.
The orchestra, numbering about 100
musicians. was watched. There was
no sorority, no smoc.hness, no pre-.
cision, and no shading. The security was
good, but not whit better than we are
accustomed to see at our best theaters in
America. To sum up, if the directors of
the Metropolitan and Mr.. Stanton gave
us such a performance in New York
there would be remarks of a painful
nature and an aching void in the box
office.
The following night I went to hear
Massenet's "Esclarmonde" at the Opera
Comique. Both the opera and the per-
formance were much better, but not su
perior to what you get at home, dear
American brethren.
Miss Sibyl Sanderson, the young
American prima donna, who Created
the title role, has been sadly overpraised
She has a fair share of good looks, is
tall and of good figure, and has some
talent, but she is by no means rema'k
able singer, and though prophecy is ex-
tremely hazardous, still risk saying
that with her present method she never
will be. The young lady has been mis-.
erably taught. Her entire system ol
voice production is faulty and destructive
in its tendency. Its results are already
showing themselves. When she sings an
upper note piano it is positively beautiful
in its quality; when she sings forte there
is fatal rasping noise in the throat
| Evil-miDded persons would go 80 far az
/ to say that the voice is cracked. o.
course this should not be 30 in young
woman's first season on the staYe. Again
the lady has most distressing tremolo
and her execution of passages requiring
some fexibility of voice is far from
facile. The voice itself is an excellen
organ, of good quality, abund
ant power and extensive com
pass; but it has been dreadfnlly
trained. AS for Miss ADderson's cele
brated "Eifel Tower note," M. Duver
noy, who spoke Of it as "sn eccenrricity
nothing more" might have gone further
and added that it is most disaereeabl,
one. American newspaper correspond
ents, on the occasion of the singers de
but, said that this note was clear anc
musical. regret to differ in opinion
from these writer's, but am bound to con
fess that to my ear the note was hsref
and strident, and I am inclined to refeI
to it as a squeak Of heroic proportions. -
New York Times.