The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-01-14

their friends will no doubt rally round them.
Mrs. Marquardt is we'll known artistieally as
she and her husband gave several concerts
there to crowded houses on their recent Aus
tralian tour. John Marquardt would have
been of the party. but his Emporium concerts,
as well as his classes in the University OF the
Pacific, make it impossible for him TO leave
home. Frank L. Unger, who sailed for Homo
lulu on the 9Th inst, will make the business
arrangements for the concert.
The whole Gerard scandal in Vienna has
now come out and it appears that the cele-
brated interpreter OF Strauss operas was never
for a moment mad. The singers immense
popularity had given rise to jealousies, and
conspiracy was formed against him by some of
his rivals. Gerardi's own physician entered
into plot made to railroad him to a lunatic
asylum, and professor OF the University OF
Vienna, who had never even seen the unfor-
tunate artist, did not hesitate to certify that
he was alta cked by mental disease brought
on by indulgence in cocaine. Happily Ger
ardi escaped from his home and sought refuge
at the house of his lawyer. who is also his In
innate friend in time to avoid being actually
taken to the asylum. Owing to the lawyers
efforts an official inquiry has been instituted
and three doctors appointed by the Govern
ment talked for several hours with Gerar di
and declared that though he was in a state OF
nervous excitement there was absolutely
nothing to warrant his being committed to an
asylum No symptoms of the habitual use OF
cocaine could be discovered and Gerard was
his former self as far as wit was concerned, for
he several times convulsed the examining
physicians with laughter at the pungency of
his remarks. The artists own wife, who has
made his life unhappy for some time past, is
supposed to be at the root of the trouble. The
Project of Police has taken measures, so say
the Viennese papers, for quelling further con-
splracies against Gerard, but the guilty parties
have not been punished and the Viennese
public is asking what satisfaction the singer
is to have from the two doctors who all but
sequestered him in madhouse, whence
in Vienna, as in good many other places, it
is very difficult to get out, more particularly IL
one is sane.
In the East a number of newspapers are
fighting with tooth and nail the preference for
foreign artists, which seems to prevail at the
Metropolitan Opera house OF course, it is
very laudab Bile to encourage home talent, but
by abusing the management the right result
is scarcely likely to be achieved. In the first
place it advertises the De ResZkes, who are
already too much advertised, and In the sec
ond place the public is quite as much, If not
more. to blame than the management. Ameri-
can artists have been tried by the Metropolitan
management, and, with the exception of
Nordica and Games, they have been scorned
by the public. Sibyl Sanderson was a frost,
Zelie de Lussin was little better, and last
season the public showed no interest in
Frances Sayille The American artists are
placidly securing the recognition abroad
which seems to be denied to them at home. 1t
is almost impossible, for instance, to ski
through the must cal news in any French paper
without finding a ie W lines expressing almost
hysterical delight at the continued success in
Milan OF Sibyl Sanderson, "the pensionnaire
OF our OPERA exactly as II the lady had been
born and bred in Paris Marie Van Zandt is
another singer who is getting the frantic
enthusiasm" abroad which is denied her at
home, and Zeie de Lussin is so popular with
the royal family in England that she is always
known facetiously as "tne Queens own"
Ireland, which has been entirely neglected
as field for opera, lie at last beginning to
have its day with librettists and composers.
"Brian Boru" has just left the Broadway
Theater, after a most successful run, and now
"shamus 0'Brien"is repeating in New York
the success which it has already made in Eng
land and Ireland. The latter is g. romantic
opera composed by DR.. Charles Villiers STAN
I ford, professor OF music at Cam bridge Uni
versty, England, and the libretto is by George
III. Jessup. When the work was produced In
London ten months ago it was scarcely hoped
that Ireland, its woes and its folksongs would
inspire burning enthusiasm in the British
breast but "Shamus O'Brien' was one of the
hits of the season. The singers mostly had
Irish names, the two who have made the big
gest hits, both in London and New York
being Dennis OSullivan, the California barry
tone, formerly of the Carl Rosa Grand Opera
Company, aud Joseph O'Mara, native of
Limerick, who studied in Milan and afterward
made his name tenor of the Royal English
Opera Company. 1t is remarkable that Irish
composers such as Battle should have turned
to other lands for inspiration when such rich
rields awaited them at home in their own folk
songs. Flotow, q German composer, made the
success of his opera Martha by ENGRAVING
into it one Irish song, .'The Last Rose of Sum-
mer," and yet the rich field continued to lie
fallow till Villiars Stanford wrote ''Shamus
O'Brien." While not actually ENGRAVING Irish
foksongs into his work. the Cambridge doc
tor is said TO have given his opera the true
spirit Ct the beautiful Irish folksongs.
The villagers of Laxen burg, near Vienna,
where is the imperial castle inhabited by the
Archducness Stephanie, widow of the I'M
fortunate Rudolph, were surprised recently
10 hear the Archduchess singing the solos at