The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-06-29
ANGELS RETIRE
AND
LAMBARDl REIGNS
Back to the Alhambra Go
the Italian Singers
Under Their Own Man
agement.
by ASHTON STEVEN $.

"A ~ OROSCO has come into his
UWM own and so has Lambardi
Il M " The Lambardis are now
10 y Lambardis indeed. for the
good signor whose name they bear has
parted company with his Los Angeles
(translation: those angels) managers
and rented the Alhambra for a term Of
days. Once again will these amiabIe
Italians pack up their clothes and
scenery and move into the Eddy-street
theater. In the Alhamhra tonight the
removal will be celebrated by a per
Torrance of "Mignon." SO far the
Lambardi engagement has been
hard-luck story. the result of wild man
agement. Good singers galore are in
the company. Such a bunch of princi-
pals we never have heard outside of the
big organizations. But the chorus is
bad, the orchestra worse, stage man
agement still worse, and the leader
lacking in magnetism and authority
We have been willing to applaud the
individual artist but not the ensemble.
The productions have been wanting in
distinction; they have been crude and
provincial. The company has needed a
manager, a Weeder, a sOrter, a chorus
master, disciplinarian. Had the right
man with the right capital behind him
presented this company TO San Fran
cisco there might have been another
story in the boX-office. AS it is. the
Lambardis have suffered pecuniary
disaster for which the town will be held
in blame by the musical enthusiasts.
The truth is there is too much opera
for San Francisco to support. Compe-
tition in this line has not stimulated the
crowd, only bored it. Wait little while
and in the survival find the fittest
"Manon Lescaut' was the opera in
which the Lambardi company sang
farewell to the California last night
\ beautiful piece it is, scored in the
musical dialect of the day and full OF
moving moments. In its class in
ferior only TO the same composers
"Boheme." How my colleagues fought
this opinion of mine when the two
were first produced here by Del Conte!
But time has vouched the supremacy
of the "Boheme." "Manon" is ur-
gently dramatic at times, smashingly
orchestrated, but strenuous, too siren
uOus on the whole, and too saccharine
in the last two acts. "Boheme" is a
masterpiece without an effort. But
why argue at this time of day?
"Manon" was very prettily sung and
very badly produced in the California
last night. The orchestra was better
than usual and still bad, the chorus
was the awful same. The principals
had the triumphs, which is all wrong
when Puccini writes the music and the
opera is the thing. Miss Sostegni was
almost thrilling in Manon; she missed
a lot of the parts caprice and humor
and she was anything but musical in
some of her top notes; but she gave
the character, a tremendously difficult
one, a fair identity and easily merited
the shouts of approval that followed
her efforts in the passionate scenes.
Badaracco was exorbitantly good as
the Chevalier, much more successful
than Agostini of the Del Conte COM
pany, for his voice was fresh and free
in the final scenes that always ex-
hausted his predecessor in the part
AS the tenor role of "Boheme" belongs
to Agostini, so does this one in
'Manon" belong to Badaracco. The
rest Of the cast was in no manner re-
markable.