The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-02-11
MELBA IN GLORIOUS VOICE
HEE APPEARANCE IN ROSSINI'S
"THE BARBER OF SEYILLE."

"THE BARBER OF SEYILLE."
Most Brilliant operatic Event This City
Has Known for Many Years-The Audi
ence Very large and Represented New
Haven's Best, Socially and Musically-
A Trick That Did Not Work.
The appearance of Madame Melba in
1.-THE Barber of Seville" at the Hype-
rion theater last evening was the most
brilliant operate event this city has
known for many years. The affair was
successful in every way. The audi
ence was very large and represented
New Haven's best, socially and musi-
cally. This fact must have been graf
flying to Mr.. Bunnell, whose enter
prses with grand opera here have not
always been similarly rewarded. Mel
ba was in glorious voice, and her sing
ing alone would have been a sufficient
cause for great enthusiasm. The en-
tire cast, however, was excellent and
the various roles were all well placed.
The conductor, Signor Bimboni, is a
musician of remarkable ability, and he
probably ranks with Mancinelli as the
best representative of the italian
school. The orchestra was made up
of men from the Damrosch orchestra,
and was entirely adequate to the re-
quirements of the score.
THE Barber" is commonly consider
ed Rossini's masterpiece, despite the
fact that 1t was written as a ''pot-boil-
er" and is said to have been accom-
plished in two weeks time. AS a COM
ic opera it must always suffer from
comparison with Mozart's Marriage
of Figaro" and probably to certain
degree with Verdfs "Falstaff." The
Germans will never forgive Rossini for
his impertinence in making use of FL
garo after Mozart had made him his
own. And, musically considered, 1t
was an impertinence and one that must
always detract from Rossinis glory.
"The Barber" will always be delight
full and charming because Of the
sprightly rythms and gracious melo
dies, and when it serves as the vehicle
Of Madame Melba's art it proves it's
right to existence.
Madame Melba has had anything but
signal success with her new roles late
ly, and her success as "Rosina" has
been most pleasing to her admirers.
Melba's voice and style belong to a
past generation. She seems to have
been born to sing such roles as Lucia"
and "Semiramide" and no one wants
to hear them nowadays. Marguerite"
and "Juliette" are better, but one cam
not maintain an artistic reputation on
three or four roles. Melba's desire to
do better things and to enlarge her
repertory by the acquisition of such
roles as "Brunhilda'' and "Aida" are
most praiseworthy, but she Is utterly
united for them both vocally and
physically. 1t was creditable for her
to make the effort and show her am
bition. But after her experience it will
be certainly wiser to stick to her old
parts. AS colartura soprano she has
no equal to-day and as such she Is
too dear to the public to be permitted
to trifle with her beautiful voice. Ro-
-sina suits her admirably and she is
seen and heard to great advantage.
Her performance last night was
wholly enjoyable She was in superb
form and the cadenzas and fiorituri
passages were sung with splendid as
surance and amazing wealth of tone.
The most rabid Wagnerite could not
resist her fascination and momentarily
forswear his Teutonic gods when she
sings the "Se Saran Rose or Massen-
cts Spanish aria. AT such times there
is but one faith and that is voice,
voice, voice! For it is voice and very
little else in Melba's case. Her singing
is never illumined by the sacred fire.
AS an actress she Is amiable and gra-
cious always and sometimes, like last
night, vivacious, but seldom spontan-
eous and never tragic. The present
writer has seen her numerous times in
various parts and to his mind she was
heard to best advantage in 1.-THE
Huguenots" as queen. In this role all
that is required of her dramatically is
to look gracious and queenly and the
music Of the part she sings divinely.
Her Juliette is also delightful because
of the sweet girlish quality Of her
voice and she is equal to the exigen-
cies Of the role dramatically.
melDd IbOSlIld WILL uuuOuUleuly
rank with her best roles. She contrib
utes greatly to the liveliness of the
scenes by her clever by-play and in va
rious ways keeps the audience interest
ed in her. The music of the role is not
especially effective for her voice, but
the interpolated numbers more than
make up for that. Her Una Voce'' Is
not as brilliant as might be expected.
Patti sang 1t with greater dash and
Sembrich makes it more melodious.
The concerted music is tremendously
difficult, but it lies too low for her
voice. In the 'lesson scene Melba
tried to play prima donna trick on
the audience and leave out the "Sevil-
lana" Spanish aria that Massenet
wrote especially for her, and number
which she always sings in this scene
and had been advertised to sing here.
The cognoscenti looked about in de-
spair when Madame Melba sat down
at the piano and sang Tostfs "Mat-
tinata." This is a pretty little song
which Melba sings delightfully."- and ac-
companies nicely and serves a good pur-
pose as an encore. When she had fin
ished there was considerable applause
and after some coquettish protesting
to the gallery, she sat down again and