The record-union., 1896-04-26


ST. Petersburgers are not so spoiled
as New Workers in regard to opera
singers Sigrid Arnoldson produced III
tie impression over here, but last month
she was at the head Of an Italian opera
company at the Russian capital, Wnere
the nightly receipts averaged SIooo.
The tenor was Masini; the conductor
Pome.
Wagner's "Tannhauser' was recently
produced at Marseilles, and received
with even greater enthusiasm than
"Lohengrin" From Germany the curl
Gus fact is reported that the benighteo
inhabitants of Worms, city OF over
$4,000 Inhabitants, never had chance
to hear those two operas till this spring.
In America a city of that size would
hardly expect to hear any grand opera,
but in Germany, where nearly every
town of 10000 has it's local company,
the above fact ranks as curiosity.
+
w. S. Gilbrt is said to be at work
upon a play of serious interest which
may be produced next autumn by Cyril
Maude and Winifred Emery.
The ladies of Copenhagen have made
up their minds to have a theater run
strictly upon new woman" principles
The plays are to be written by women
and played by women (all parts, ana IN
fact the entire management will be IN
the hands of the fair sex. The first piece
to be produced is by Margaret Thorson,
a Danish writer.
Oakland Echoes" says: The Amer
lean prima donna, Miss Pauline Joran,
formerly of Oakland has just finished
a brilliant season as Carmen and MEDIA
at Pesaro, Italy, the present home OF
Mascagni, and where she has been the
favorite of the public and society for
some time. Upon the representation OF
Sarata d'Honore, she received many
demonstrations of esteem Being an
excellent violinist, she gave between
the acts in Carmen the violin solo
and aria from 'L'Amico Fritz" directed
by the composer. AT the close Mascagni
and Miss Joran were called out fifteen
times amid enthusiasm and floral pieces,
with the colors of Italy and America
combined.
1t is reported that Wilson Barrett now
intimates that in writing 1.-The Sign of
the Cross he was the subject of divine
inspiration. There can be no doubt that
the title at all events, was for him an
exceedingly lucky thought. All through
England the clergy seem to have been
acting as his advance agents, and to
crown all the Bishop of Norwich, DR..
Sheepshanks, officially proclaimed that
the members of his flock might witness
this particular play even in Lent with
out spiritual offense. The piece has now
been running to crowded houses in
London and elsewhere for a year, and
is likely to flourish for a decade or so,
in spite of the cynical assertion of the
most authoritative critics that IT is
mixture of pretentious, clumsy and
maudlin claptrap.
Kathryn Kidder is an ardent devotee
of bicycling. The other day she said:
ct rebelled against bicycling for four
OF five years, because / did not like the
costume, and the dress necessary to the
part seemed obnoxious. But my physi-
clans at last persuaded me that the ex
ercise would be beneficial, and after
I had conquered the principal tribula-
tons attendant upon learning l found
the advice more than good. 1t fits in
with my theory that concentration is
the greatest force toward success and
happiness. The bicycle is an exacting
friend, jealousy demanding ones un-
divided attention, and for an actor you
can easily understand how beneficial it
is for the mind to have all thoughts Of
the theater, with it's usual routine, set
aside for the time being by this usurp-
ing interest. The exercise gives the
greatest possible benefit, while not en-
croaching upon so much of ones time
as other exercises which one must fol-
low faithfully in order to derive any
benefit"
The facts that Anton Seidl was for
several years a pupil of Wagner and
that he embodies in his own conducting
the Wagnerian traditions better than
any other musician. give special inter
est to the following extract of his in the
American Art Journal:
"As a conductor, technically and in
! tellectually, Wagner can surely be given
the highest place. He ruled the must
clans completely with his gestures-yes,
even sometimes with his eyes alone. He
lifted them up into the fairy realms of
his Imagination and confided tasks to
them which they had never before
thought Of He inflamed them with his
| fiery eyes; an energetic sweep of his
| baton would bring out a heavy chord
| from his orchestra such as had never
before been heard from it; the oboe
player suddenly found himself able to
play the so-called cadence in the first
movement of the C-minor Symphony
with a seemingly infinite breath and a
/ sobbing tenderness which made one
| think he was listening to an entirely
new phrase. Wagner in the conduct
/ or's stand was an enemy of many
words: deeds were his demonstrations.
Ills attitude before an orchestra was
| like that of a General, firm, sure, ener-
/ getic; he did not shrink up to dwarf's
/ size at the piano, nor jump up like a
/ bird of prey at a forte, but seemed
always a piece of majesty conducting
or rather composing the music. Only
/ the muscles of the face, the expression
| of the eyes, the angles of the mouth,
/ played the orchestral piece along with
| the musicians and reflected the entire
contents of the composition, and 1t was
/ for this reason that the musicians
/ learned his wishes quick. They were
always in a state of enthusiasm, and
his witticisms thrown out in the pauses
| kept them continually in a state of
good humor throughout the longest and
most wearying rehearsals.
A writer in the Chicago Times Her
aid" thus tells of meeting between
Calve and Sir Henry Irving:
Nine. Calve fell upon the neck of