The San Francisco call., 1898-03-24

of his success with the critics is no
 doubt due to the fact that many of
 them can say: "We told you so! When
 he was a little boy in knee brooches we
 said he would be a great artist" Most
 of the critics predictions on Josef Hof-
 mann are really fulfilled, however, and his personal magnetism is something re-
 markable.
 To judge from the Italian papers peo-
 pie who buy a ticket for the opera just
 at present are as likely as not to get
 something for their money tOSwhich prizefght would seem tame and unexcit- ing The following are a few recent in-
 cidents which have not been down in the
 programmes. At AZarro a rivalry has been established between two prima don
 mas, and the partisans of each singer
 have been disturbing the performances
 with clamorous manifestations. At the last performance of La Gioconda," sung
 by Signora Pizzagalli, the partisans of
 SignOra Antinori decided not to let her
 sing, and such a riot ensued that quiet
 could only be restored by arresting
 number of the spectators. At the Pagli-
 ano Theater in Florence a number of the spectators who were hostile to the
 management decided not to allow the
 chorus blessing the poignards in the "HuguenotS" to be encored. The rest of the public wanted an encore, but they only got it after number of arrests had been made. At the Piccinni Theater in Bari there was veritable inSurrectiOn the other day against the management, which, it appears, had not kept it's prom ises to the public The fracas made by the audience was so internal that a de- tachment of carabineers had to be called in Instead of calming the riot, however, the presence of the soldiers only exas- perated the people more. As there seemed
 no means of peaceably continuing the performance one of the chief magistrates,
 wearing his scarf of office, commanded every one to go home in the name of the law and after he had shouted himself hoarse the theater was finally evacuated by the riotous audience. When American audiences are discontented with the man. agement they show their disapproval by quietly staying away from the theater,
 which on the whole is more effective and
 less troublesome
 People little skilled in the knowledge of
 instruments are fond of talking about "priceless Cremona violins," under the impression that all the instruments that
 come from Cremona are of very superior
 make. The fact is that the town is now
 living on it's name. It was formerly the
 home of the great makers who made
 Cremona famous, the Amat, the Stradi- yarius, the Guarnerius, whose instru- ments are worth their weight in gold. Nothing is now left of them at Cremona but their memory, however, and though the city continues to be the center Of
 what is left of the Italian violin industry | it's violins and violoncellos have nothing special to recommend them. Cremona | has very active rival in the little town of Schoenbach, in Bohemia, which is rap- idly acquiring name, not through the
 artistic value of it's products, but because of the enormous quantity of violins and violoncellos 1t puts upon the market. Elk perts say that the violin was first per- fected at Schoenbach, about the middle of the sixteenth century, at least about the time of GaSpar de Salo and the first Amati. However that may be the violin making industry is the bonanza of Schoenbach to-day, for almost all of it's | 3700 male inhabitants are engaged in
 making instruments. The art of violin
 making is now practiced in many coun- | tries. Mirecourt, in France, does one of | the largest trades in the world in the making of fiddles.
 | Giacoma Puccini, composer of ''La Vie | de Boheme," etc., went a few days ago | to Paris, where he sought out Sardou and | played him all the first act of his opera
 La Tosca." Sardou was charmed, in | deed he went so far as to say that he
 was ''ravished' with the young Italian
 masters music. What made the deepest
 impression on him was the finale with | the majestic pomp of the Ire Deum' in | the great cathedral, the clashing of the bells and the laundering of the cannon. | The recital over Puccini returned at once l to Milan to commence the second act, | into which the librettist has condensed | the two torture scenes and the death of
 Scarpia. The opera of La Tosca" will l be produced next winter in Italy, and
 Victorien Sardou will attend the first per- formance. Puccini is at work also on
 another opera, cast in a more heroic
 mold than any he has yet attempted.
 It is grand lyric tragedy in five sets,
 entitled Marie Antoinette,'' and tne ac-
 tion begins at the palace of the Trianon
 and follows the unhappy Queen to the
 scaffold. The opera has twenty-three
 roles and requires a mammoth amount of staging. It is to be created in French