The record-union., 1896-03-14

she is, the queen of dramatic singers.
One can well understand why Wagner
fixed upon her as the chosen among
many to be interpreter of his works.
On the 9th and 2Sth of March James
| O'Neill will appear in Sacramento in
'Virginius, THE Lyons Mali and
Monte Cristo," with heavy and rich
scenic accompaniments.
Ondricek, who is to appear here on the
18th inst, is a noted violinist. We are
told that his technique is simply per-
feet" and that lovers of music cannot
commend him too highly. He is Court
Violinist to the Emperor of Austria.
He gave his first concert when he was
| but 8 years of age. After that, under
/ difficulties that poverty alone knows,
/ he entered the Prague Conservatory,
and from that went to Paris. He then
returned to his native land, took his
examination and carried off first hon
ors. Since then it has been easy sail
| ing for him. The Boston -aerald" says
/ of him land il is a severe critic, not
| often moved to strong language): Mr.
! Ondricek, who was welcomed with
great heartiness made an unmistaka-
BILE success with his audience. He was
| loudly applauded at the end of the
first movement of the concerto, and was
recalled at the close of his performance
four times with excited enthusiasm.
He is a spirited player, Immediately
true in intonation, with an able and a
daring technique, equal to all emergen-
cies, and style at once earnest and ar
tistic. His bowling is large, free and
graceful, and his phrasing musicianly.
His tone is clear and manly.
He plays as if it were pleasure to him..
and in a vein that is decidedly artistic,
and he also has a personal magnetism
that counts for much. It may be added
that he is without trickery of any kind,
and that he has a fire and an emotional
feeling that carries his hearers with
him. AS has been said, his success was
unequivocal, and it is to be hoped that
he may be heard here again in a pro-
gramme arranged TO present him at his
best"
Genial, gentle Bob" Burdette, the
humorist, is to be with US on the 25th
inst, and is to tell us what good medi-
cine' is. We must assume that it will
be the stimulant of hearty laughter, in
spired by sensible wit, of which Bur-
dette is a High Priest and first physi-
clan rolled into one.
Materna, the great contralto dramatic
singer and Wagnerian exponent, is to
be with us on the 18th, in the Ondricek
concert at the Metropolitan Theater.
We. almost refuse to think of how long
ago it was that 1.-The great Materna" ap-
peared at the Congregational Church
in this city But we are assured that
age has not robbed her Of her wonderful
dramatic power in song, and that she
| is still 'the great Materna," and there
has never been but one; she is her own
only rival.
Frederick Warde is to give us in his
coming engagement in this city king
Lear" 1t ought to be a treat. If we
are to believe the San Francisco papers
| it will be. Lear mas not been played
here in ever so many years. not, we
think, in a quarter of century. Speak
ing of Warde's Lear the San Francisco
News Letters" critic says thus ear
nestly; 1T is a strange irony that
Frederick Warde's poorest patronized
season in San Francisco should have
given US Lear, a character that, played
as it was at the Baldwin Theater on
Monday night, should have been chron-
icled over the country, wherever the
telegraph reaches, as a new and dis
tinctive triumph in the histrionic art.
King Lear has been practically off
the American stage for many years:
my only reeollections of previously wit
Messing it in San Francisco are of Sher-
idan's performances in the carly
eighties. AS Lear, Warde is amazingly
and stupendously sufficient Even his
Virginius, the best on any stage to-day.
must be relegated to a second place be-
side the indomitable genius that shines
through his Lear. In the splendid
equipment of heart and brain that lies
in this touching spectacle of a regal
mind and a noble heart Jared and
crushed by filial ingratitude, he rises to
nights that bewilder even one who has
long been a sincere admirer of the good
he has done for the drama of our speech.
There is not shade in the pathetic.
majestic coloring of his Lear that is
Overdone. His embodiment, from the
| first, is that of grand old man whose
loving heart has outlived the keen dis
cernment of his mind, his very bearing
touched with a melancholy prescient of
the sorrow to come. In the curse his
righteous wrath is terrible, appalling;
and, permeating all the harsh invective.
| iz the lamentable sob of a broken heart.
In the storm scene the shifting vagaries
of mind out of tune amidst the weird
splendor of the elements made the scene
SC vivid, so pathetically heartfelt, that
one realized an absolute experience of
grief in witnessing it. Frederick Warde
has achieved great character-a char
acter that will have its niche in dra-
matte history. And Lear-broken, pill
| leged of all the love and veneration of
those to whom he gave his all-totters
once again before us in his crown and
sword of straw; yet he is a king-aye,
every inch king"
The Sacramento Camera Club will be-
gin the series of six entertainments it
has planned on the 10Th inst. at the
Congregational Church. There will be
a wealth of views, every one of the
| transparencies being taken by the
members of the club BY the way, these
ladies and gentlemen do not give the
exhibitions for greed of money, but to
advance the art they love and set a
| finelot of viewsof California afioat. For,
| by the system of international ex-
change" all the California pictures go
East, and make the round of the cam
era club exhibitions from the Gulf of
Mexico north to the lakes of the far
Canadas. Fitting descriptions for lee
ture purposes accompany each view.
| What a capital advertising this is for
California, to be sure. It gets before