Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-04
MISS De VERE'S TRIUMPH,
The Popular Singer Wins the Hearty Favo
of the Audience Mt Carnegie HalI-Las

MISS Dt VERE'S TRIUMPH,
The Popular Singer Wins the Hearty Favo,
of the Audience Mt Carnegie HalI-Las
of the Handel Concerts.
THE final concert of the Handel Musica,
Associations first season drew an audi
ence last evening that about half filed Car
negie Hall, and made up for lack of number,
by enthusiastic applause. The applause. in
deed. became too enthusiastic in at least one
instance; it was positive shame to make ar
inexorabe demand upon Miss de We're for an
encore piece after the very trying air from "Ia
Perle du Bresil," when she had already re-
sponded graciously to one such demand and
had yet another number on the programme
In dog day weather like last night the encore
f1end should not be left at large and un.
| muzzled
By the way, lest it be again forgotten. com.
plant may be made right here that should have
appeared in every review of concerts In this
hall. The clock that was striking in the bel.
| fry tower would come in very nicely for Sulli.
| vans familiar song but for other music the
cnimes OF the Carnegie Hall clock furnish only
dlssonnance of peculiarly aggravating ma.
tnre They seem to be Indignantly inspired to
| cnlme In always during the softest part of the
hnest numbers in the remotest KEY from the
tonality of the bells Muzzle the chimes, too.
t.t
EXACTLY as printed and placed in the hands
Of the audience this was the programme:
Gounod. ''Send Out Thy Llght''
Chorus,
Bach..................... ''Toccata, Doric Mode''
hISpss''..s'..' 'lne bell tugue''
| Mr.. George L. Whiting.
Verdi. 'Romanza," from Aida
| Mile. de We're.
BALLAD FOR CHORUS.
Miss Eva Day and MIR. H. b. Brockett soloists.
Whiting-Sonata, minor; Op. z5, Allegro
tions. Finale. Allegro vivace
| Mr.. Whiting.
David. "charmant oiseau,'' from La Per du
Mile. Clementine de We're.
U;; Music OF the nornng
+, List, ..... Grand March-'From Crag to Sea. ~
Mendelssohn, Improvisation-on; ;;......:.;
NJ wings Oh music
w. .rN Mile: de 1itSeas were. MA 0'''Hs
Selection from :The Flying Duichman. A''
Finale (Act u. Senta's Ballad Chorus of Sailors.
Gounod .Credo. " from ! :;Messe solenneller
Mrs. EIva b. Brocklebank, soprano; MIR. Harry
BrOekett tenor; Mr. i5epTs iSeprge Ewlliams' OassO
*The words of the ballad. Lovely RosabelIe, -
are taken from poem of Sir Walter Scott.
There Is need in Pittsburg for bureau of
programme writers and proof-readers. The
"Flying Dutchman" selection was not taken
from Mr.. Writings Pastorale (Which, by the
way was omitted). 1t was originally written by
one Richard Wagner. If the improvisation
was really Mendessohn's. his style has changed
since he went upward; and should not the lights
have been turned off to make his temperance
on earth more lmpressive? Then that Hol-
comb Waltz, part song;' what was the rest
of it?
THE chorus did not come up to the standard
: of its last preceding performance. 1t COM
prised ten tenors. the same number of BASES,
twice as many contraltos and about three times
as many sopranos. The tonal balance was not
good, and all four parts were often sung in a
different key from each other and from the ac-
companying instrument. This distressing in
tonation was worst In Gounod,s Send
Out Thy Light" where Mr.. Fred E.
Cluff, though he played the organ accom-
paniment very tastefully. shonld have given
the singers more tone to support them. Chad
wick's splendid choral ballad. which should
have been the piece de res stance of the per-
formance, was not made at all effective, to say
nothing of the positive faults in its rendition.
The theatrically impressive Credo, by Gounod.
had evidently received much more study, and
some parts were stirringly delivered; but
most of it was scrambled through and the first
attack was a sad balk-due, they say. to the
fact that it had been rehearsed at tempo
much slower than the proper movement taken
by Mr.. George E. Whitney at the organ.
rx*
THE CLEAN of light in this sonbre. but truth
full, picture of the chorus singing comes
in through the two pieces by Davis and Hol-
comb; the former of them being of the Sunday
school convention type, and the latter being
commonplace but bright and lively waltz song.
Here the chorus seemed on its native heath, as
it were, and sang with commendable vlgor,
freedom and precision. word of sweeping
praise should be given also to the dynamic
shading of all the choruses; though other
virtues were often absent the volume of tone
was almost always plastic and mobile, respond
inn fn fhn
cardinal virtue did much to atone for other
failings, but the unlovely fact remains that
this chorus was set to do music beyond its
powers and a great deal too much of it to be
done well.
MIR. BRoCKETT sang very pleasantly the
small amount of solo work assigned to
him, as also did Mr.. Williams; as much cannot
truthful1y be affirmed of the work of the local
ladies, though Miss Days solo was not without
its merits. Miss Carrie Writings piano ac-
compartments to the cnoruses were mostly
forceful and correct; with Miss de Veres
songs she was not so successful, her style being
unsympathetic and further marred by an in
veterate habit of striking with the left before
the right hand.
artistic-was won by Miss Clemenee de We're,
of New York. This remarkable singer is well
remembered by local connoisseurs from her
appearance here last season. No doubt, if the
general public had been thoroughly informed
that she gets the biggest church salary ever
paid (S4 900 per annum), that she was just CON-
ing from her work as prima donna of the Gin
cinnati May Festival. that she has this
season established her right to be considered
among the very best singers America has ever
harDored-all of which is strictly true-no
doubt the audience would have completely
overfowed Carnegie Hall, with seats at a big
premium. So much means a big name
However, those who were present had every
chance to enjoy the substance irrespective of
1.-THE bubble fame" Probably they heard the |
singer to greater advantage than, after
few years shall have swollen her
reputation, trebled the price of seats, multi
piled many times the popular desire to hear
superb voice. 1t is generally SO.
sx~
MISS DE WERE commands true soprano
voice of great range, considerable purity,
exceptional strength in the usually weak mid. |
die register. and of extraordinary fexibility |
and ductilIty. Few, if any, voices in existence |
are capable of such tone as that high note, |
(about E fat. wasn't it?) taken by Miss de We're
in the air from David's opera and |
sustained with gradually relaxing muscles |
until it foated away, vibrant. thrilling, into |
the upper ether. Her execution OF the elabo- |
rate voc al pyrotechnics in this selection was |
hawless. She has all that the coLordtur style |
demands. But much more. The dramatic de- |
livery of the "AIda" romanZa might have been
done by Lilli Lehman. Indeed de We're most |
resembles Lehman in her command both of |
the Italian and German styles; coming from
the opposite sides thesetwo meet in the middle
The irresistible encores after each programme
number brought Miss de We're back
with three ballads-English, French and