The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-12-28

London. Dec. 11.-Last Monday night
I had the pleasure Of attending quite
an unique concert. It was given in
Queens hall by William Nicholl. F. R.
A. M, among whose pupils happened
to have the honor to be numbered. He
was assisted by Mrs. Helen Frust, the
soprano. and both sang the entire pro-
gramme. making it all vocal 1t sounds
rather tiresome, no doubt, but it was
not so In the least. All the songs were
from Boulton's ''Songs of the North
all those exquisite old Scotch ballads.
and to say they Were sung exquisitely
would be putting 1t mildly indeed.
They We're Gems Of Vocal ART.
Mr.. Nicholl opened the programme
with four, then Mrs. Frust followed with
four more, the daintiest of the lot being
the quantity sweet one, 20 can We sew
cushions?" Then on came Mr.. Nicholl
again with four more, Ca the Yowes
to the Knowes," ''Culloden Muir" and
so on. Then came Mrs. Frust with
'L'adieu de Marie Stuart" most
touching little darling, 1.-THE Flowers
of the Forest" "The Heiress" and DO
Ger the Burn Davie." Mr.. Nicholl end
ed the affair with four more. and 1t was
over. and all too soon. The hall was
filled with the elite musical cult of Lon
don. and l. saw numbers Of the Royal
Academy professors and its pupils as
well, sDrinkled among the audience.
Why cannot one describe things as
nicely and entertainingly as they really
were when they happened. I wonder?
I can give you no idea of the furore
this happy little concert created here.
nor of the breathless interest manifest
ed throughout the rendition Of the pro-
gramme. These same artists have
given many concert at which they
hnva Gp1irhta1 fhair nIdtpnpng with
oratoriO and opera songs, most beau
tifully and irreprOachably rendered but
ii remained for them, in this departure
from the ordinary programme, to Gre
ate quite a sensation on the musical
world on this side. Trite but true 1t
Is, that the simplest songs require the
greatest art. and surely the singing
of that evening was the most perfect
of it's kind that I have ever heard.
An Evening Of Oratorio.
Another treat I had last night. when
we went to hear the Oratorio of Sam
son, given by the Queens Hall choir, in
Randegger is conductor of this organ
iZation. which Is a most flourshing one,
and bids fair to make the Royal albert
Hall choir look to its laurels. This
latter organization has been, thus far.
the one and only big oratorio society of
London, though, of course there are
hundreds of smaller ones all over the
place. However. now that Mr.. Ran
degger. who Is a perfect master of ora
torio and opera tradition, has got hold
Of this choir, we may expect to hear
some fine performances of the grand
oratorios. without going way over to
Kensington, where the disobliging
Royal Albert Hall will persist in obsti-
nately keeping itself. The Royal AL
bert, too. is such a great circus Of a
place that no one can hear there. for
less than four shillings, while in Queens
Hall the shilling people can hear quite
as well as the swells In the stalls, every
bit.
Mr.. Randegger conducted most broad
ly and energetically. and his orchestra
and choir left almost nothing to be de-
sired. The artists were Ben Davies.
Watkin Mills, Miss Alice Estey. Regi-
nald Brophy and Miss Drew, the con-
tralto. / have sometimes wondered a
bit at the great fuss some people make
over Ben Davies and his singing. as on
the three or four occasions when have
heard him before, he was certainly
good, but not so wonderful as one
had been led to expect. Last night,
however. saw it all-why New
York adores him. the reason Boston
rises up and calls him blessed. and why
NrtTIlldIly tuIONS WISdtHs dt ibIii.
He was simply fine. never heard such
glorious tenor--full. broad, rich and
sweet. Watkin Mills also did himself
proud in Honor and Arms" They
nearly pulled Queens Hall down for
these two dear artists. The soprano,
Miss Estey, was lovely, too. and simply
delighted us. Madame Albani is no.
where aside Of her. in Samson. but then
1t isn't fair to compare people, any
way.
Mrs. Cam mpbclls Juliet.
The other day my chum Mary had the
great good fortune to win a Trize OF SIX
guineas at the Royal academy for the
best singing of a contrslto solo. The
Judges We're something stiff to sing be-
fore, being no less personages than
Mrs. Henschel, Medora Henson and
Watkin Mills, and you may be sure
I was proud of my Mary. So we cele-
brated in the evening by going to the
Lyceum theater to see Forbes Robert
son and Mrs. Patrick Campbell In their
revival Of Romeo and Juliet" Mr..
Robertson does not make handsome
Romeo at all, being much too lean and
woe-begone looking to make a dashing
lover. but Mrs Campbell was simply
sweet at Juliet. The critics say that
she is too old a woman. to play Juliet
well, but / did not see anything before
me but warm natured, impulsive
fourteen-year-old Juliet. Her acting
was simply superb. She affects one so
very much. l am sure I cried dread
fully, and was most horribly ashamed.
too, to think i couldn't sit 1t out without
tears, and stole q look about me, be-
tween two tears, to see IL anyone saw
me cry, but behold my neighbors one
and all, men and women, were likewise
weeping copiously. So after that I
didn't mind. Mrs. Campbell's Co.'S
tunes were perfectly beautiful. and,
indeed, the mounting and the staging
of the whole play were sumptuous.
Mrs. Campbell. you remember. was
the original Mrs. Tanqueray and also
Mrs. Ebbsmith, in plays of the preced-
ing seasons. Romeo" is soon to be
taken off, now. and will In January give
place to new play by Henry Arthur
Jones, very successful playwright of
todo!. II is a peculiar thing that not
more than tlre" or four out or wha.
ma. becalled the leg itinate theatera of
London are doing anything like q pay
ing business so far this season,
Romeo" has cost Forbes Robertson
more than six times what he Is getting
from It, Shakespeare being too classic
for the general public just now; and
Willard IL losing heavily straight along
on his Professors Love story" a most
beautiful thing. too. and all over the
town new plays are being put on. to
take the place Of the failures which pre-
ceded them. About the only things
paying are "Trilby' and the music
halls. "Trllby" is simply stunning
London. as said before. and the Trilby
craze over here bids fair to Outrival it's
American forerunncr of last year over
there One gets rather tired Of 1t all
you know. am sure l am, heartily.
The Holiday Vacations.
The Royal Academy closes its first
term of the year next week, with an Or
a,