The San Francisco call., 1899-07-06

. amount OIL lDOIIIeTeQCe on the
part of a music-loving public
seems to phase this industrious little
band of Italians. A small crowd of
their countrymen gathers in the gal
lery every night, a handful of regular
opera goers is scattered among the
seats downstairs, and the show goes
on. Every little while this restless but
persistent organization tires of the AL
hambra and moves down to the Cali
fornia, or 1t tires of the California and
moves up to the Alhambra. It's the
California's turn now and I am cred
itably informed that on next Monday
night Lambardi will pack up his seen
cry and effects and warblers and go
back to Bush street. How'd you like
to be the expressman?
They sang Faust last night with
some of the same goods and bads that
have been noticed in the earlier pro-
ductions. The principals were fairly
satisfactory; the chorus was as un-
beautiful as ever, but in surer vocal
trim; the orchestra surpassed it's worst
previous record-it was simply obscene.
For the first time 1 was conscious of
the fact that one musician in this band
is worse than his fellows. He plays the
first violin, and 1t is not for me to say
that Russo should have his life-I only
suggest. This fiddler is to all musical
purposes tone-deaf. With satanic in
geniousness he succeeds in going
through the whole score about one
quarter of a tone beyond pitch. The
other bandsmen play out of tune with
bewildering recklessness, but this fell
low on the first violin seems to have
system. He did things to RussO's "Salve
dimora" that no apology can wipe out.
While 1 am on the subject of the or
chestra, 1 would like to attract the at
tention of its director, the Cavalier Ugo
Barducco. By careful observation l
have discovered that the good Cavalier
does not lead at all, but is led by his
musicians. With his right hand he
feebly wobbles a baton, with his left
he thumps chords on a dinky upright
pianoforte. 1t takes pretty good
musical juggler to do these two things
at once, and I would suggest to the
Cavalier in the interest of your ears and
mine that he cut his left-hand piano
pounding. A perpetual piano in an or
chestra is a cheap effect at best.
This is not meant to be spiteful; I
had an excellent dinner, thank you, and
went to the Alhambra yearning to be
entertained and uplifted but that or
chestra murdered the night. But for it
Travaglini would have been a remark
able Mephisto Sostegni a fair Marguer-
ite and Russo a good enough Faust
One of the tests of Gounod's greatness
in this opera is that you can sit and
take it from ordinary singers. But
Travaglinis MephistO was in no sense
ordinary, it was a big conception, full
of 1.-THE insinuation, acid humor and
arch subtleties. Vocally, too, it was
splendid only once or twice in some
thing like a hundred performances OF
Faust" have l heard the drinking
song sung better. Sostegnis voice is a
bit feather weight for the more dra-
matte moments of Marguerite but she
brings to the part a quality of ingenu-
BUSINESS that is very pat. Her king of
Thule legend I enjoyed immensely,
principally because she sang it as it
should be sung, with the half voice, in
an distracted sort of way; in fact, she
mused it, and the effect was fine. The
| jewel song, too, was well done, If in
deed nothing to speak of in point of
tone; but the delight, the frank vanity
were brought out with a girlishness
! that you seldom find in the great vet
Grams Russo's Doctor Faustus was
hardly as tall as his fair victim, but
whatever was lacking in length was
made up In pride and erectness A
very perky little Faust was Russo's.
His falsetto in the "Salve dimora"
waited me unpleasant souvenirs of fe-
male fmpersonators and 1 could not
fancy the way he took the legitimate
high notes between the teeth and wor-
ried them as q terrier does rat, but
on the whole he served we'll.
A Berlin paper asserts that of twenty
seven royal families IN Europe two-thirds