The San Francisco call., 1897-02-04

| an extraordinarily precocious mind in every
way. To converse with him is to converse with
a full-fedged adult of remarkable mentality,
ana then to glance at his young face, framed
| in its mass OF black curls, is almost a shock.
A few years ago the poetess queen, Carmen
| Silva, painted Huberman's portrait as an
angel. Those who have seen him recently
say that there are flashes of demoniacal
power and passion in the boys expression
now that would i'll become an angel. After
his American tour, which will end in May,
| Huberman pere will send his son to school in
| Vienna in order that he may enjoy the COM
panionsh1p of children of his own age, a
thing he has hitherto never done.
! Miss Sibyl Sanderson is going down to pos
| terity in a unique and interesting way as the
personifcation OF one of the three most sue
| cessful French operas of modern times. The
| city of Paris is building itself a magnificent
new Opera Comique (or Sale Favart, as it is
often called, after the founder of the French
opera comique). The edifce is now nearing
completion, and the frescoing of the great dome
has been intrusted to the celebrated painter,
| Benjamin Constant representative of lie
Matin interviewed the painter the other day re-
| specting his work, and this is what he said:
'The base of the design will consist of the
three most cele ebrated operas comiques of the
French contemporary school. In the center
will be Mignon, Goethe's heroine, who has be-
come that of Ambrose Thomas; she will be
| standing upright, with Lothario at her feet
and Wilhelm Meister at her right. To the
spectators right will be seen the three chief
Characters in Bizet's Carmen and to the left
will be Massenet's Manon, aiighting from her
sedan chair while the Chevalier des Grieux
gallantIy kisses her hand"
Shall you give your figures the traits of the
artists who have created or given the best in
depreciation of the leading roles?' asked the
tat Ta Mat nSta
piled:
"Assuredly. Thus you will see Miss Sibyl
Sanderson as Manon, for 1 consider that the
revival of Massenets opera by that artist can
be looked upon as a very remarkable one.
Carmen will be Emma Calve, who has tri-
umphed most in the role, and Mignon will be
Galli-Marie, who created the part, and who
has never been approached In it.
When one considers that the Sale Favart is
| q national building and that the artistic deco
rations of such buildings have an almost sacred
significance in France, it is quite remarkable
fact that singer from far-away California
should be placed there with two of the greatest
French artists of modern times.
Melba has gone back to Europe an invalid
but it is half believed that she will return
before the end of the grand opera season.
There are various reasons assigned for her in
disposition. New York papers have been air
ing the statement that she caught cold at the
draughty Academy of Music while lying in her
tomb in Romeo and Juliet" Melba's failure
in the role of Brunhilde is also given as a
reason for her temporary withdrawal, as Jean
de Reszke persuaded her to sing the part,
assuring her that she could do as we'll as or
better than Nordica. De Reszke is now accused
| of having done this in order to reap all the
| glory for the part of Siegfried instead of
sharing the applause with Nordica's Brun-
IA ie frua Iha
has been made a tool Of. A newspaper corre-
| sponde mt has calculated that on the evenings
when Melba appears in opera in New York
she is paid at the rate of $40 a minute sat
that calculation at recent performance she
| received over ST. second. But meanwhile
the tenor had something TO do, and by exact
computation Melba sang only ten minutes. so
she earned $3.50 for each minute OF actual
work. Continuing this investigation further,
we hnd that every time the diva exhaled her
| breath she made $50. Yet she began her
| musical career at Penny Readings in Australia
| for compensation of 62 cents or two and six
pence night. No romance by Stanley Wey-
man or Anthony Hope can equal the astonish-
ment OF grand opera"
colossal fiasco has marked the opening
| OF the scala season at Milan with .'The
| Dusk of the Gods" A Milanese newspaper.
| speaking OF Wagner and his music In Italy.
says: "How many of US are believers? The
coming performances will no doubt tell us.
| of the gay. giittering, multi-colored crowd
which hlled the theater and listened very at
tentlVely on the first night, certainly nine
tenths were abominably bored, and showed
once again by their silence TO what extent
| wagner Is accepted in Milan. THE Dusk of
| the Iods may be masterpiece, and may pre-
/ sent a veritable intellectual delight for those
VINO are versed in the music of the German
master, and VINO are seekers after philosophv
FOR the moment though the music seemed
very wearisome to our public. ana the man.
ayers had better not abuse its patience, if they
DO not want to see repetition of the memor-
able excess which marked the performances
OF The Walkyrie' few years ago."
| Mile. Antoinette Trebelli has had soma ratbe
unique experiences during her worlds ,our
On one occasion she visited the interior of IN.
luiand, and the Zulus hearing of her fame
came in thousands to see If she would sing for
Inem, as they had never heard white singer.
she was visiting the wife OF the commander OF