Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-02-21
THE LATEST FRENCH SINGER.
A Peasant Woman With 4 Splendid
Contralto Voice.


cisco Argonaut Geraldine Bonner de-
scribes as follows the latest French
singer:
The greatest womGn's voice i'll
Paris just now is Delna's, the latest
of the French singers. The French
have not produced any great prima
donnas for some time, and now that
Calve is known TO be hopelessly i'll
with a serious ailment the country is
pinping its hopes upon Delna. whose
voice is said by many to be the great
est contralto on the stage. l went to
hear her q few nights after Louise
in Carmen at the Opera Comique,
where she has elected to sing this
year, though last year she was at the
Grand Opera.
Il was particularly anxious to hear
Delna, as only a few days before
had heard a story from a friend who
had to a certain extent been present
at the first announcement of her dis
covery. My friend was staying with
people of literary and artistic affilia-
tions. and one evening an artist who
in the country burst in upon the quiz
etude of the family circle, and, with.
out greeting of the banalities of small
talk, cried breathlessly 'J'ai trouve un
etoile. J'ai trouve un etoilel When
he was Gained to the talking point
he told them how he had been sketch
ing in the country and at a roadside
n,.1 1n1 CT,
ing. He had known instantly that
the voice he heard was an unusual
one and had entered. The singer
proved to be a powerful peasant girl
of IS. servant and relative of the
woman who ran the place.
This was the discovery of Delna.
Shortly after the artist had her taken
TO Paris to sing before Nine. Laborde.
The teacher agreed with him that he
had indeed found a star and made the
usual offer of three years free tut
ton. The peasant girl fulfilled their
highest expectations. Her voice was
Immediately recognized as one of the
great ones Of the day, and since her
debut she has been singing the heav
lest contralto roles at the Opera and
Opera Comique.
She is now approaching 20 years
of age, and has the air of being at
least ten years older. The peasant
stands out all over her. 1t is incon-
ceivable that a Frenchwoman could
be so lacking in grace, charm ana
taste. l never saw so badly dressed
and so awkward a Carmen. In the
last act where she is killed, | was
sitting where | could see her feet, and
: she used them exactly as a person
might who had on sabots. No one
could have ben more ungraceful. She
| has the true singers figure" with
unusual width of shoulders and depth
of chest square waist, small hips and
no stomach at all. Her arms and
/ legs are the short, chunky ones of the
| laborer, and she has large head,
with a coarsely cut but at the same
time arresting and tragic set of
features.
''In fact. this is what she is-a
tragic muse. all her coarseness, her
awkwardness, her gaucherie are for
gotten when, transported by moments
of dramatic intensity, she lets loose
her tremendous voice and becomes,
as it were, rapt in a sort of ominous
vision. There was one of these mo-
ments in Carmen when she sees
death in the cards. Her face became
transfxed in an expression like
tragic mask. and as her voice doomed
out the two words La mort it was
like the tolling of bell of doom.
Her great part is said to be the
contralto in The Prophet forget
now what her name is-and in Or
pheus and Eurydice.' Unfortunately
there are few contralto parts for
prima donnas, and some of them are
so out ofdate-like Favorita'-th
they are rarely played. Delna's voice,
with the contralto tone, has the meZ-
zo-soprano range. l myself should
have called it a meZzo, but a singer
to whom | was talking the other day
told me it was a pure contralto tone,
but ran up into the mezzo range. 1t
is certainly a great voice, and has
that indescribable charm of sounding
perfectly spontaneous and natural
There appears to be an unlimited
amount of it. From that powerful
chest it seems to pour out in untiring
floods, rich as Tyrian dye, smooth as
honey dropping from the comb. The
woman herself has about her a sug-
gestion of calm consciousness of
power. She seems to make no effort,
but, throwing her shoulders back and
lifting her chest with a preliminary
breath. she opens her mouth and let's
those organ-tones come rolling forth.
Then she lets cool glance sweep the
audience, which seems to say, with
sort of careless good-fellowship, Did
you ever hear anything to beat