Omaha daily bee., 1901-03-01
The Lndy's views In Regard to operas
md singers mud the Emtmre.

|
Nine. Sembrich has made her rooms al
the hotel homelike. in the customary prma
dcrna fashion. with photographs and flow
ers. Royalty usually predominates among the
portraits. but Nine. Sembrich has varied
| this scheme OF decoration with some pho
tographs OF a more personal nature. These
| Include pictures of her two sturdy young
sons, who are now busy al their studies
in Dresden.
They will never be musicians" their
mother says. without a trace OF regret in
her voice. FOR they seem to have no tai
onts of that kind. They study music Just
as other children do. but neither one OF
them has shown any gift for It,"
This is a rather unusual exception to the
laws OF heredity, as their father is a mu
sician and Is professor at the conserva-
tory in Dresden when he is not travelling
| with his wife. Or. Wilhelm Stengler is
his name. and there never was a prima
donna's husband on these shores who was
enabled, by his beard and spectacles, to
| present quite so serious an appearance.
Nine. Sembrich is a Pole by birth and by
! training as cosmopolitan as the rest Of her
| profession. She speaks English with some
| luency and her accomplishments in the line
! OF languages include German, French and
| Italian, besides her native tongue. Any one
| Of these is likely to be drawn upon when the
most expressive word is sought. Put she i5
proud OF her English and clings to II. In
view OF the amount OF practice she has had
her skill in 1t is considerable
Nobody knows how much I regret not
to reappear here in opera" she said. but
I am in hopes 1t may be possible at soma
other time. ] hear the Americans like
concerts now, and maybe they will like me
| iuat in N And ha
Wagner operas are nowadays so much sung
| But am sure that The Barber OF Seville
and The Daughter of the Regiment would
| be popular now II the people ever got
chance to hear them. Personally, | prefer
| TO sing the Mozart operas. like the music
| of them better than any other In the world.
But ! suppose that these older operas are
losing their popularity, because there are
really so few singers who can do them Jus
| tice. | often wonder where the singers
are to come from. There are none for the
Italian operas and there are none who will
be able to take the place OF the singers
who have been famous in the Wagner
works Where are the women to come from
who will take the places OF Lill Lehman.
Theresa Malten and Rosa Sucher? There
| is none In Germany. Certainly there Is
none in Italy.
THE art of singing seems TO be dead
there, II one can Judge from the methods
of the young Italian singers. One case
shows strikingly The way In which the art
| has declined. Only a short time before
left Europe / heard young woman sing
who four or five years ago was the best
OF the Italian prima donnas. She Is
charming presence on the stage and a de-
lghtful actress. Now she is not more than
| 30 years old. But her voice Is nearly gone.
At her age she ought to be reaching the
| best period of her career 1t Is coming
to an end instead. There are no teachers
! left there. for one thing. and the style OF
Italian music written now does not de-
mand fine singing, as the older operas did.
After a year or two. in which they learn
some operas OF the old repertoire, they go
on the stage. Then they begin to sing the
modern Italian music, or, what Is worse
| for them. the Wagner operas, and within
few years their voices are gone. But,
above all. It is the lack Of good teachers
that Is responsible for their poor training.
I was a pupil OF the older Lamperti, and
when he died one Of the, best was lost.
Today l know OF very few. women who
know what the best methods Of the old
singers were. Adelina Patti. above every
body else is a singer. She knows all about
! the art that can be taught. Marchesi Is
great teacher. and so is Artot-Padilla. But
there are so few teachers now that the
absence OF well-trained singers is not sur
prising. One need think only OF the work
that used to be necessary to see the differ
ence now. Formerly years Of study were
necessary: now within few months girl
thinks that she Is ready to begin her career.
| II she has a great voice. then success is
possible in the heavier Wagner roles. They
| need no singing: all that is necessary for
them is plenty of voice. But the woman
who would sing Elsa, Elizabeth. Senta or
Eva must know how to sing
| With the exception Of occasional ap-
pearances at Covent Garden. Nine. Sem
brich has OF recent years appeared only on
the continent. Three or four months Of
the winter season have been spent In st.
Petersburg. The rest Of the year has been
divided among Austria, Germany and Spain.
| Spring will soon be here-how are you
! going to get that new wheel? Read The
| Bees special offer.