The San Francisco call., 1897-06-03
artist and singer. Her dramatic and sincere
OF the gypsy's role was hotly
applauded."


artist and singer. Her dramatic and sincere
Interpretation OF the gypsy's role was hotly
applauded."
All Americans ought to feel personal in
| terest in the statue to Beaumarchais which
! has just been unveiled in Paris. The Psrisians
| honored Beaumarchais as a drhmatist, but
| Americans viii remember him one OF the
warmest friends OF American independence.
From his youth the playwright was pet of
| the French court on account OF his wit and
| accomplishments
! Beau msrchais' "Barber Of Seville' first
introduced to the stage the famous character
| of Figaro, later on immortalized by Mozart
and Rossini. He produced the work first in
! 1872 as an opera comique, but 1t was so coldly
1 received that he withdrew it and in 1916
reproduced it successfully comedy. Dur
ing the years he was retouching the Barber
/ Beaumarchais was giving most OF his time
and energies to furthering the interests of the
American insurgents" as they were called in
/ France. He pressed both Louis XVI and
| Verenues 10 grant at least secret support to
the insurgents" and by dint of pas ssionate
/ eloquence at last made the King and the
| minister share his enthusiasm. 1t was agreed
the dramRtist sh ould open pretended house
| of commerce, the real object of which should
| be to furnish the Americans with warlike
| supplies. The King gave him l 900 900 francs.
| and in 1777 he sent over 200 cannons together
with complete arms and equipment for 25, 900
men. Other supplies followed.
| Boheme" at the Tenice Thester in Venice has
/ been a veritable triumph. This is the secon d
/ time within short period that Henri Muir
! gers story has tempted an Italian aestro,
! for Puceini's ''Boheme'' is only few months
/ old. Leoncavsllo is said to have conceived
| the idea of Bohemia" soon after he had
/ finished i Pagliseci," in 1892, when he was
| putting the finishing touches to 81 Medici"
| One night after the theater Leoncavailo and
| Puccini were drinking some beer with q few
/ friends in the birrerfd Trenk in Milan. The
conversation turned on music and each
maestro announced, to the astonishm OF
the otner, that he working on a "Bo-
hemia." Le0Ecavallo had already sketehed
out his libretto, which he always writes him
self, while Illica and Giacosa were preparing
one for Puccini. The first two acts OF "Bo-
| henia" said TO be the best thing Leonca-
vallo has yet done.
] The following nationalities are represented
| among the artists at Covent Garden this sea
son; Sopranos-Calve aud Pacary (French).
SaviIle, Eames, Reid, Engle, Palliser arG. Susan
Strong Gam eriean), Van Couteran CGermGn),
| Macintire (Englishl. Contraltos-Brazzi, de
Lussin (Ameriean), Brema CEnglish), schu-
mann, Henk ana Meis3linger (German) De
| Vigne (French). Tenors-Vau Dyck, Simon,
! scaramberg and Lieban (Germau). ]. de
| Reszke POlish( Paz, Rommy Dupeyron
and Bonnard (French), Ceppi .Itslian). Barry
! tones-Renaud, Note. Meux, Dufriche, Gillibert
and Bars (French), Bisphsm (American)
Ancona (Italian) Bassos-Plsncon, Lempriere
| (Fiench) Journet (B4lgian) and E. de Reszke
/ Polish) From this it will be seen that most
1 of the leading singers of the day hail from
America and France, American women and
French men predominadng.
Poor Nordica has fallen upon evil DAYS Be-
fore her engagement at the Paris Opera she
| said that nothing could induce her 10 sing at
| Covent Garden unless Jean de Reszke gave her
/ a written apology for wrongs which Monsieur
4 Jean says are imaginary. After her complete
failure in Paris Nordica is less than ever in
condition to dictate terms to De Reszke. Her
Elsa in ''Lohengrin" was severely criticized
/ by the French papers, and she was withdrawn
! without singing the role OF Valentine in LES
| Huguenots," for which she was engaged
Nordica has been to London and seen the
management of Covent Garden, but nothing
has come of IL
Menelik means to prove to the world that he
does not intend to be out of fashion in any
| accomplishment of civilization. He is at
present working out project for endow ing
1 military bands, and has charged Russian
| conductor, one Miliowsky, with the duty of
| instTucting the Abyssinians A in the new art
| 1t is Meneliks intention TO send to Paris dur
| ing the exposition in 1900 an Abyssinisn
/ band, which he intends shall ill the Trocadero
ana the Champ de Mars with the strains of
| the most modern musical repertory.
| Msssenet has telegraphed to a friend in
Paris 10 deny the rumor that he is working on
a new opera whose name is not announced
| The composer of ''Msnon," etc, says that he
| is putting the finishing touches TO the orehes-
tration OF "Sappho," the lyric drama which he
has written TO a libreJtO prepared By Henri
| Cain from Aiphonse Daudet's novel. ''Sappho''
| viii be played for the first time on any stage
at the Opera ComiQue next season, and Emma
cslve has bee1 engaged TO play the role OF the
| heroine.
Paderewsktlike scenes of enthusiasm have
marked the close of the Berlin Philharmonic
| Society's engagement in Paris. Nikisch, the
conductor, was called on for speech, which
he made in voice broken by emotion. The
Berlin musicians played number of works by
| French composers in honor of the audience
! although the critics say they were not SO brill