St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-08
AND SUCH IS FAME
BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THINGS THAT WE'RE ANR
THINGS THAT ARR
TRUE, INDEED, OF SINGERS,
WHO TRADE ON REGULATIONS
MADE !" THE HEY DAY OF
YOUTH.
VIEWS OF A PEssIMIsT
Who Sees Nothing but De Gu
dence in the Musical
World.
PESSIMIST
VIEWS OF A


Grated or vanished-the results might
prove shock to the community. The
truth Is, the virtue of things that
were and things that are does not
enter into comparison in the public
mind, whose affection once won for
stage favorites would seem fairly
to Justify the old adage that Love
is blind says the Musical Courier.
And, true enough it is, even if we
wander no farther, for example, than
the stage of our own Metropolitan
opera house as presented within a
few seasonS-that love for our he
roes and heroines Of opera is blind
as bat. How are they singing? The
fond audience does not bother about
that. 1t is, who is singing? Not
singing WELL" they say-"the great
est soprano, tenor or bass of their
generation" Well, yes, true enough
maybe, but the period of generation
at which they were so proclaimed
may be when those who are listen
ing to them We're babies. But in the
face of a big reputation gaps like
this don't count. Reputation will
sustain an artist SO long after he
has outlived his usefulness some
times that a large section of the
public will positively delude them
selves into believing that they are
listening to the gifts which won il
first. Others will condone the lapse
thaxy bo Of rr-Lo
was. while others again will accept
the power Of an art which knows
skillfully how to veil weakness as a
very satisfactory replacement of
things in their pristine strength.
The decadence of every artists pow
ers is of course not a matter of age:
but, whatever the cause, the magic
power of a reputation will induce u
discriminate public ofttimes to sup
press its judgment and accept them
even enthusiastically in a condition
which would send newcomer prompt
ly to the wall.
Take as a leading instance Jean de
Reszke, a consummate artist and a
magnetic actor. But the voice! Does
anyone suppose for a second that if
Jcdil uc ISSSlht ildu pISoSiiltu
here without the glamour of his French
reputation all his magnetic and dra-
matte power and his artistic strategy
to cover up vocal deficiency would have
saved him? Not likely, He is on the
singing stage and his decay of voice
would have been discovered long be-
fore the subtle gifts of temperament,
which, together with his reputation,
will now sustain him. He came with a
reputation, and has succeeded III en-
dearing himself to the public upon
other grounds than the primary re-
quisite Of his calling. He has even sue
ceeded in establishing a cult who wor-
ship the art with which he can steer
round and about the shoals and cur
rents which are the ordinary tenor's
test points. He cuts his music, he
alters phrases that tax the voice, he
reaches an average height Of effect by
obvious strafning and could not at
times encore a climax at the price Of
his life.
But once upon a time he did not do
all those things, and ne is now Jean
de Reszke, with the big reputation
which would suffice him for long, even
did he not supplement it with his rare
magnetic sympathy and charm.
Then comes Melba She is young,
but very ugly whispers are afloat as
to the impurity Of her intonation. Lon
don found it out last season, and she
is conceded to have been wofully off
the pitch at the Worcester festival.
This won't make any difference. She
is Melba with the reputation and can
afford to travel ON it and commit
whole litany of vocal sins for many a
year.
Poor Scalchi! Who that heard this
forever chameleon voice but newly
cracked and wire drawn last season
in that heart-breaking upper register
could fail to estimate the power of a
reputation? operate singers can make
a very handsome income on this repu-
tation for a painfully long period,
sometimes after a sense of public JUS
tice might have induced them to re-
tire into private life.
We have Albani. She sang here four
years ago, or rather didn't. London
accepts her. Well, true, London is no
criterion, for the big city loves wraiths
and echoes enough to pervert the judg-
ment Of its rising generation. But
there is talk about our going to accept
her over here again. Well, once she
made a reputation. If she hadn't, no
city in the world would engage AL
bani today for a third-rate place in
opera.
There is a more important instance
in the case of Victor Maurel. Gone
in voice so far that at his debut here
in Otello last season he sang on the
stage unrecognized for fifteen minutes,
any more than Rinaldini or Mauguiere,
yet he is treated still and will continue
to be treated as "the first baritone in
Europe" "a marvellous actor" says
somebody. Yes, but we are not talk
ing of actors; we are talking of sing
ers. It is the baritone" part of the
performance nine-tenths Of the people
go to hear. They get the remains Of
1t. and a reputation, and would rest
satisfied with this even it, like Jean de
Reszke Maurel did not supplement this
with other attributes-in his case
marvellous histrionic skill.
Sucher went vocally in German opera
last season on her reputation, and will
continue to go in Germany. Alvary
did similarly, the timbre of his once
resonant voice having turned to wood.
The regulations on the German opera
stage went for more satisfaction to the
public than did the fine, fresh efforts
of the new woman like Brema, or the
pure, youthful and entirely suitable
ones in their places of a woman like
Gadski. People would crowd Carnegie
hall at Sunday night concert to hear
Sucher sing two songs in painfully
worn volume, where Marie Brema,
Singing a dozen largely and richly,
could not, with Plunket Greene's as
sistance, do more than two-thirds fill
Mendelssohn hall for an afternoon re-
cital.
a week or so agoi we had one of the
most powerful examples of the value
of a reputation possible to find in the
appearance of Remenyi at a Sunday
night concert. in Carnegie hall. Past
the day perhaps when he can hear the
effects of his own continuously i'm
pure intonation, guilty of errors in