Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-17

SH kniNSf I-"A~| >GHs
 {:t. y SCENE FROM THE QUEEN OF BRIILIANTs." come unreliable, and frequently he failed to strike tho desired note. Mir. Abbey con cludcd to go right to the top and take no chances, so Inc has secured Victor Maurcl, who Is paid moro than any baritone liv- ing. Another excellent baritone who has about him none of the glamour of an enormous salary has been engaged by the opera management. He Is Campanari, man who has been heard hereabouts with minor organizations. He was violonccl- To player and came to this country as such but he had long been ambitious to shine behind instead of before the foot lights, and after years of patient waiting the opportunity was presented. l should not be surprised if Campanari should make a great hit during the coming sea son. Other well known male members of Abbey X Grau's company arc Mario An coma, Maurice BcnsaudC, SignOr Mariani, Ottavio Nouvclli, SignOr Carbonc and Signor Russitano.
 ol Aht "bllttb AlltHt W LII bt SiA Gtlt'AFtAt- cd sopranos Melba and Emma Flames will of course Dc on hand again, but the peerless Calvc and the accurate though colorlcss Arnoldson will not. The ah- sencc of these two will be partially atoncd for by the presence of Mime. Lillian Nor dica, Mile. Zelic de LuSsan, Miss Syhl SandcrsOn and Miss Lucille Hill.
 Noriica, as Is well known. was selected ty Cosima Wagner aS the prima donna of .N. only be seen in works of the Shakespeare of music, in some of whose characters she is declared to be unapprnachahlc. Zclic de Lussan is still quite young woman. She has been heard ali over the country as n member of the BuStonians or Boston Ideals, l forget which. She was considered n very sweet singer cVcFyw here, but when she sang in New York the papers scarcely noticed her. She is said to have been ter ribly ''Cut up over this. At any rate, she sailed for England short time aftCrwapl, where she was at once engaged the prima donna of the Carl Rosa Opera com pany She Is u special favuritc uf Queen Victoria and has sung bcforC her majesty several times, distinction accorded to very few performers of any kind of the present. With her vocal ability Mile. de Lussan can also act, SD that she ought to i become popular with New York music lovers.
 Syhil Sandcrson, another of the soprano singers, is n California girl who was not thoroughly appreciated in this country, | and, like Mile dc LlIsSan, also went abroad | She has Il phennmCnonally high note and | Is II gOOd deal of an aCtrCsS. Her voice k | clear soprano, though it's volume Is | somewhat limited. Her best work has been done in Esclarmondc, ." in which she created furorc among the volatile Pari- | sfans. She Is to be one of the secondary battery, so to speak, of Abbcy's company and is expected to bo quite n potent at | traction.
 I Miss Lucille Hill is n native of Trenton, where her mother still lives. X good many | years ago she went abroad to complete her | musical education, and the present is her first professional engagement in this coun- | try. While on the other side of the water Miss Hill sang with Sir Augustus Harris | Covcnt Garden company in London and l was also n member of other high grade | musical organizations.
 Other female song birds who have been engaged ar' Libia DroG, Mira Heller, Flu gcnia MantclIi and Jane de Nignc. not for l getting of course the queen of CnntraltU vocaliSts, tho always reliable, never whim- sical and percnnially popular Sofia Seal | chi
 The ono really depressing feature of :hC | present OpCratiC season is the absence of Emma Cnlvc. That brilliant Frcnchwom- an occupies most unique position in the l world of song. Although not possessing | the marvellous voice of Melba. the great 1 beauty of Flames or the accurate technique | of either, she was able to draw more pCO | pie to the Metropolitan Opera House last I year than either ct them She Is the only singer living who will be able to satisfy A.u--
 na." In the depicting of vocal passion she stands unrivaled and will certainly be | missed more than any other one of the long list of stars un Mir. Ahbey's list. Tho
 trouble between EamCs and Calvc, which | led to the latter's snubbing of the former in the presence of n large audience, was
 particularly unfortunate, especially as il has caused us the loss of the impCtCou:
 Frcnchwoman's magnificent acting anC ! heart felt singing. Calvc was in the wrong
 too. and the management adopted the only
 course honorahIy left open, but the cir
 cumstancc is none tine less rcgrcttable.
 Lillian Russell, under the management
 of Abbey & Grau, and as the bills stat'
 In very small type, By arrangement witt | Canary X Lcdercr," has returned iron I her more or less triumphal engagement
 in London. She produced Tho Queer
 of Brilliants'' at Abbey's thcatcr. Tht
 librctto was originally the work of two | Germans. It was then done into Englisl
 by Brandon Thomas, and Edward Jako | bowski tho composer of ''Erminic," SC | it to music Tho book was so unuttcra | bly dull that H. T. W. Dam was commis | stoned to rcwrite it for this country. H. | is supposed to have improved 1t, although
 that is difficult to believe, for it is incon
 ceivable that the work could ever hav'
 been worse than 1t Is in its present form I The ncbulous plot deals or essays to dea
 with the machinations of the proprietrcs
 of a matrimonial agency, though why sh
 should "machinatc: is not at all clear ! There is not n single comic line in thi
 supposedly comic opera. To be brutall.
 frank, the librctto is rubbish, pure am
 simple, and its authorship would rcflcc l no especial credit upon a boy of 15. O
 continuity therc is very little, while of in
 tcrest there Is absolutely nothing. Hoy
 astutc managers could have selected sucl
 a work for the inauguration of an impoI
 tant venture passes comprehension. StC
 ries have been told here of the great sue
 cess of ''Thc Queen of Brillinnts' in Lon
 don, but no one with a spark of intclli
 gence will now believe them.
 Of MT. Jakobowski's music tho hes that can be said Is that 1t is less bad tha I the librctto. Tho most charitable explans
 tion of his work Is that he was wcighte
 down with n sense of tho hopclcssness (
 attempting to accomplish anything wit l such a villainous book. It is difficult { realize that the trashy jingle in 9Th