The San Francisco call., 1896-10-29


to hear that her obi ituary had been printed.
She said she was happy to say she was very
much alive and as able to play ner harp As
ever.
1.-TWO months ago, )" she said, my nus
reoeived a letter from one of our frlenos IN
Brispane, Queensland, expressing deep SYM
pathy with his bereavement and at the same
time congratulating him upon tne iucAy
escape from the watery deep. My OPINION u
his survival would not have been greauy GU
loved by him, knowing his wife to De oreWneu'
aThe origin of the above report is perhaps
found In the fact that there has been snip
wreck reported in the London papers as having
occurred on the coast OF France, ana 'hls re-
mort being copied in Australia 1t aceioentany
| found its way into the editorial rooms OF the
Musical Courier. The only survivor pore sne
name that my husband and are known py'
and as the Marquardts were extensively l. ausei.
tised in Australian papers during our eono1is
tour, this report has been connected with tne
Marouardts who are now enjoying perIect
health in San Francisco"
The Musical Courier has correspondents at
Hoboken and Elmira and other towns, wnlcn
do not figure on maps of the world. IL never
condescends, however, to print any San
Francisco news. If 1t did 1t would have iearneu
long ere now that instead OF playing q ceies-
tial harm Mrs Marquardt has been playing mere
| 1Or EeVerdl months past " VIC 3 6ASos
of San Francisco concert-goers. Hencefortn
we shall take the obituary notices in the
Musical Courier with several grains OF salt.
Considering how prominently Mrs. Marquardt
has been before the San Francisco pupllc
during the last few months a musical journal
that processes to give the news ought TO 6e
better posted than to give her obituary.
cart is long but time is feeting" receives
sad exemplification in the case OF poor
Smetana. His opera, 1.-THE Battered Bride,
promises to be the rage in Europe this winter,
end the Bohemians are so proud OF their COM
patriot that at Prague medal has just peen
struck in mis- honor, which is having tre-
mendous sale all over Bohemia. One SIDE OF
the medal presents the portrait OF omesana'
with the National Theater of Prague IN the
distance, and this legend, "Art is victorious" :"
The reverse OF the medal bears representations
of the two fla noes of ''Tne Bartered Bride" III
their national Tzech costume. cart is vletorl-
ousl" but poor Smetana died ten years ago In
| lunatic asylum, broken-hearted because his
| music could obtain no recognition.
"The Bartered Bride has just been pro-
duced with immense success at the Imperial
| Opera-house of Vienna, and the Princess de
Metternich who induced Napoleon III to give
| s'Tannhauser' its first Partisan represen-
1 tation, which ended in such dire fasco, is
using every effort to induce the direction OF
| the Opera Comique TO mount Smetana's opera.
| 1t was the dream of the poor Bohemian COM
| poser during his lifetime to have his work pre-
| sented to the Partisan public. and in order to
| make it more acceptable, he added some ballet
! music and divided it into three instead of two
| ACTS. II is this 'Parisian' version which is
/ being played in most of the German theaters,
| so If Smetana's dream came to nothing, his
efforts to secure its realization added to his
posthumous glory.
| "The opera season is beginning" says a
/ writer in LIE Figaro, sand theater-goers should
| be on the lookout for that odious being who
! is too often met with in audiences. He has the
| piece at his fingers ends, and sings it with the
i artists, very often before the artists, for the
| bonhomme has plenty OF vanity, ana he wants
| to show his neighbors that the score has no
secrets for him. He is generally stout, rubi-
cund gentleman, who adores sentim entail
| things. He sings at you 'Connais tn lie pays2'
| or 'Laisse moi contempler ton visage,' first
! humming it to himself, then mezza voce, then
forte, and finally fortissimo At the end of
! ten minutes you want to throw seat at him.
One evening, at the Opera Comique, long
| suffering spectator was sitting alongside one
| of these nusa ces. Richard CGur-de-Lion,
| which is about 100 years old, was the opera,
| and the nuisance was humming all the airs.
/ The long-suffering spectator saw chance for
/ revenging himself on the old gentleman.
| Turning to him, with the most amiable air, he
| said: Il presume, sir, that you were present
when the piece was first produced
! An important document concerning J. s.
| Bach has just been discovered. At Dornheim,
| a little village in Thuringia. the following in
scription in the register of the Protestant
! church of the village has been brought
| to light. eThe 18th October, 1907,
| Co
bastien Bach the celebrated organist
| of Saint Blaise at Mulhouse, legitimate son,
| surviving his father the late Very Honorable
| Sieur Ambrose Bach, celebrated organist of
| the town of Eisenaeh, and the yirtuous
! demoiselle, Barbe Bach, last legitimate
| daughter surviving her father, late the Very
| Honorable Sieur Johann Michel Bach, cele-
| brated organist of Johren, have been married
here, In this temple of God, with the permis-
| sion of our nob.e lord, after the publication Of
| the banns at Arnstadt." The church of the
village was according to this document under
| the patronage of the lord of the village and
| his consent was necessary before marriage
could take place there.
"since Ny Little Baby Brother Came to
Stay is one of the hits of the new edition of
ssThe Babes in the Woodp at the Tivoli. 1t is
] cleyerly sung by EIvira Crox Sea brook. The
composer, Miss Gertrude r. Spellan, is a San
Francisco young lady who has considerable
| talent for writing music She left her song at
| the Tivoli without exercising any influence in
| its behalf. The manuscript was tried over,
/ and was found to be so taking that it was de-
cided at once to incorporate 1t into the "The
| Babes in the Wood"
| william II. Keith. our California barytone,
| now in nondon, has been winning new laurels.
He sang by special appointment before Wolff
| at Berlin, the great concert impresario, man.
| ager of such artists as Sarasate, Sembrich and
| Josef Hoffman,. "Keith has one of the love-
4 liest voices have ever heard" Wolff writes
| fellow-impresario, eve have nothing like it in
| Germany and his training is of the best He
| is most excellent artist" Keith will sing in
Berlin during the coming season.
The Grand Ducal Theater of weimar has just
! adopted an orchestral reform devised by Rich
| ard Wagner. The floor of the orchestra has
been lowered by over yard for the wind in
struments and by over half yard for the
strings. The representation which was to in
augurate this reform was unfortunate, how