The San Francisco call., 1896-06-04

young he obtained diploma as o f1utist and
played in an orchestra. He also gave concerts
with success, and for some years has held a
distinguished place as an instrumentalst,
though he never ceased to study composition
ardently Indeed, as soon as he was assured of
his daily bread he devoted every available mo-
ment to it under the direction of De Sanctis.
He dreamed of opera, but in awaiting his
chance he wrote little songs which have be-
come very popular. From the outset his songs
attracted attention. Bellincioni and the
tenor Stagno were among those who admired
them, and having made the acquaintance of
the composer, and heard more of his work,
they charged him to write opera for them
When young composer uses no money, no
putting, no intrigue to bring himself before
the public, there must be real merit in him.
Artists like Stagno and Bellincioni do not
grow enthusiastic for nothing"
1.-THE Sister of Marck" was interpreted in
Rome by Bellincioni and Stagno, supported by
9th er celebrated artists.
The French tenor, Michot, who recently
died, had one OF those eheckered careers that
are SO often found in the history of lyric ar
lists. Born at Lyons, he began sin giug when
quite youth in a low music hall, nameo the
Cafe Moka. Adolph Adam was told of his fine
voice, and sending for him was so impressed
by his organ that he engaged him for the
Theater Lyrique, where he m ade his debut in
1856 in "Richard Ceur de Lion' Michot
never had any musical education, but to de-
licious voice he joined certain natural sem
timent for music. Unfortunately his appear
ance was hopelessly vulgar and common place,
but in spite of this he obtained such success
that at the Grand Opera-house Paris, Gounod
selected him to create the role of Romeo on
the first production of "Romeo and Juliet"
In 1871 he became such a rabid propagandist
for the Commune that he was imprisoned at
Versailles, and after his release was never able
TO make any headway in big theaters. His
appearance at the Grand Theater, Marseilles,
gave rise to almost riot; his voice, too, be-
gan to abandon him, and he had no artistic
training to hide its increasing defects. He
was therefore forced to sing in little provin-
cial theaters, and finally retired from public
view altogether. For the last few years Mi
chot was almost blind.
The German theaters, following the initiative
OF the Berlin Opera-house, have been giving
grand revivals to celebrate the jubilee OF
"fhe Armorer'' der Waffenschmied), by Lort-
zing, which was played for the first time in
Vienna the 30th of May, 1916, and which has
been ever since in the reuertoires OF most of
the German opera-houses. The receipts Of the
jubilee performances will be given to the
daughter of the composer, who has been living
in great poverty in Vienna while her fathers
works continued to enrich the German thea
ters. At the epoch when Lortzing produced
his best works there was no law in Germany
to protect authors works, and in Austria the
first law OF the kind was introduced in 1916,
after the first performance of "The Armorer,"
and 1t had no retrospective effect Lortzing,
who died in 1851, obtained no profit from his
operas. "The Armorer," 'The Gear and the