The San Francisco call., 1898-12-18

@ ONT be reckless enough to
 spend all your money on holiday
 gifts. The Melba season com
 mences in the Grand Opera
 house in the month of March
 and promises to be worth all that can be saved up for 1t. Besides the gowns and coats that you will have to purchase. Rosenthal, the pianist
 gives three concerts here early in Janu- ary that everybody will want to buy tickets for. Rosenthal from all ac- counts, is new power and q new tenn perament in the pianistic world His strength and technique are said to know nc limit: he takes the most ditfl- cult chromatic passages in octaves. ana his tone is prodigious. He is the san dow of the pianoforte. And he is an lm- portant musician as vel. Rosenthal will deserve his share of our amusa- ment money, giving good value for every cent and casting over his pa irons a halo of culture and fashion sec ond only to that east by PadereWski. But the opera is the big thing. We have a reputation 10 sustain as opera goers: We are known tO impresarios the world over as safe patrons of good thing. and this season promises to be the best eyer given in San Francis co. for besides Melba in the older ltal- ian pieces. We will have Gadski and an entire German company in at least sev- en different Wagnerian productions. So far we have known Wagner only from cheap productions This season prom ises us seven of his music dramas au- thoritatively sung. acted and staged. Wagner nights will alternate with Ital- ian nights. and il is to be hoped that the former will be as popular as the lat ter. MT. Ellis promises that nothing shall be too good for us AIr. Ellis is frankly fond of San Francisco. He came here last season with Melba and a tiny company and the town rose 10 his attraction at g. a seat Considering the limited company we made record for reckless expenditure. And now We shall reap the reward. MT. Ellis has confidence in the tOWn-so much so that it is very doubtful if he asks for any guarantee subscriptions: he has done what no one else has been able to do, and that is induce Mir. Morosco to open the Grand Opera house to an outside attraction: and he will give us a great deal more than We had lasT sea son for less money. 4 great many per sons have an idea that q swell season of opera is a bad thing for the finances of a city. that like circus travelling opera company scoops up ali the wealth in sight and leaves the community in a state of commercial gloom. This is a mistake. Apart from the artistic side of the question. nothing could be better for the general trade of the town.
 Opera is largely and eXpensively pa tronized by persons of generous means. Thousands. yes. hundreds of thousands of dollars that otherwise would be in active are set in a me~~y go-round. Milliners, tailors. dressmakers. haber- dashers, restaurant and hotel keepers. wine vendors, beer merchants. jewellers. bOotmakers, in fact. every tradesper- son will receive his or her share of the business. The money that is taken away by the company is d mere detail. And then We have an opportunity to again eXhume our reputation as liberal patrons of first-class entertainments. The $50 900 netted by the four Melba performances of last season really rehabilitated our reputation in the minds of Eastern man agers. The figures went from news paper to newspaper in the East as a fact of great news; and not so long af- ter MT. Frohman took back his awful VOW never to send us any more shows. The new year promises lots of good things By January the Columbia will have settled into the place formerly oc- cupied by the Baldwin the California into that formerly occupied by the Co., lumbia. and the only chahSe from the old days will be one less low-priced the ater and we will still have plenty of that sort left. The Ellis opera company is one of the most ambitious organiza- tions of it's character. and. in addition to having as one of it's chiefest singers the greatest colotura soprano of her Eeneration-Mn- Melba-it contains a list of principals eminent and renowned.