The San Francisco call., 1901-11-14

11AflOL1 hllOW WACIC anu III" ~
begin to express my sense Of the
beauty of last evenings performance
IL of La Traviata'' at the Grand
Opera house. The house was COM
paratively light, but be it understood
these who missed last nights opera
missed one of the greatest performances
all round that has ever been given-any-
where, one might venture to say. one
cannot afford to miss anything Mr. Grau
offers, thoughin comparing one perform
ance with another, he naturally is not al
ways on the same level. But they are all
richly worth hearing. and a thousand
times more than we exiles from the artis-
tic -latitudes have any right to expect.
But last nights opera so far takes the
cake"-I should say if 1 dared, and L Will
dare-and mostly through the vivid charm
and Incompatible vocalism of Marcella
Sembrich. Not even the greatest ad-
mirers of Verdi's genius claim any special al
eIIinence for La Traviata, and most
folks look upon it, with not too Striking
injustice, simply as Yehlcle Tor Ine eA-
hipition OF the lyric soprano y4car ,t aiIon tl17
d etre so long as there is Marcella SEM
brich to sing 1T. That Mime. SemOrlch ana
her gifted conferes should have made or
the material the pure and perfect gem
that they gave us last night is, therefore,
the more remarkable, and 1t is surely now
ranged with the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Things OF one S 0AQ6T1S1Cc
Sembrich is Incompatible. DO not
thin.A there is anywhere singer VINO can
touch her in the pure art OF pei canto-
She sings with laughable ease. the luceht, 4ho
silkeh notes ripping forth without tne
slightest appearance of effort. Wn2t is
it Meredith says of the lark? He drops
the silvery chain of sound OF many INKS
without a break" The Meredith melody
sounds like Sembrich's scales, and those
gorgeous trills that end the f1rst act IN q
joyous ripple. Larkl1ke in its purity Ine
-. -. fcx hn
used vocal instrument that nave ever
heard. 1t is clear as a bell, IT mas the
flute quality-a flute in love! IL mas every
beauty that one can imagine in the most
beautiful of all instruments, the human
voice, and to hear it is the greatest PRIV
ilege for the student of singing that Is
Likely to N6r come rs this his Tay sebreH en has
charm and fascination as an actress, ana
she seems one of the friendllest creatures
that ever smiled at an audience She she
was Immediately en- rapport with the
house that encored her insistently after
the first curtain went down and did her
the unusual honor to forget its nat until
the last elate, liquid note f1oated across
the footlights. Sembrich reused the house
as houses have not been reused by any
singer since PATHS time, and she IS un-
doubtedly the biggest vocal fact OF the
present grand opera season. Those who
heard the singer in "Il Barbiere" on the
occasion of her last visit here are de-
lighted to find their prophesies fulnlled;;
probably be the signal for an old-time
ovation. She responded most graclouSly
to the clamOrouS encore that followed the
first acts close. and also came out to
bow acknowledgment to an ins1stent nnal
curtain call.
: 1t was, Mr.. Salignac'- first appearance
last night, and he did excellent work in
the not too grateful part of Alfredo Mr..
Salignac's voice is not wholly pleasing
1t has a certain readiness OF quality that
sometimes offendS, and neither is 1T al
ways exactly on pitch, but the voice is
sympathetic and powerful, and the sing
er has an ample dramatic sense that lift
ed his part to distinction last night. His
concerted work with Nine. Sembrfch was
intimately sympathetic, the ensemble
being almost perfect. Salignac improved
steadily with the progress of the opera.
and his last efforts were quite worthy of
found himself Campanari was the Ger
mont of the evening, and though the part
is not one that strongly calls out hts
peculiar genius. the favorite barytone
was an admirable figure. Nine. Van Cau-
| teren and Miss BauermeiSter did useful
Nina. and Gilbert, Vanni, Dufriche and
Bars undertook the rest of the parts with
amply satisfactory results
Seppilli-whom, find. wrote "F'lon'
miration, with spirit, power and precision,
and the chorus work was excellent
throughout. The first violin got an un-
accustomed hand. by the way. for a de-
licious little intermezzo before the second
act, played with much grace of feeling.
and the whole orchestra was entirely de-
| lightful. So ends the third chapter of the
grand opera season, and like Oliver Twist
we now ask for more. Tonight we enter
again the Wagner domain with Tam
hauser' and EameS. Scheff. ReusS-Belce
Van Dyck, Bispham and Blass are of the
COMPANY.