Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-26
ADJUSTMENTS

returns to washington after an absence OF
years. The marvellous magnetism Of her
personality, which so fascinated then, has
not departed. She Is a highly refined type
OF emotionaiism. strange almost to weird
ness. and compelling in interest, even when
Gas must be the case with an English-speak-
ing audience) the purport of her scenes are
only partially understood.
The audience last night was sufficiently
numerous to prove that buses art Is ap-
preciated in this oity-z The play, Cocoon
d.. Is not a pleasing one. The story Of
suffering may appeat where It leads to
some soul-puridcation; = but the mere scru-
tiny Of a woman who for the sake of her
husband undergoes both mental and physi
cal torture, and whose sacrifices lead only
to a life Of dull. hopeless sorrow, can serve
no purpose thatwis either pleasurable or
elevating. 1t Is 9. study In gloom to which
Mime. Duse invites her auditors. Power.
both artistic and stemperamental, she pos
sesses to a wonderful degree. But In con-
filming herself to 1.-THE feyamped morbidities
OF DAnnunzio; in presenting scenery that
Is amateurish in it's insuffi cheney, and d.
veSting her productions Of every artifice
which might make 1t attractive as well as
interest, she asserts that power with an in
difference to others which looks like an at
tempt at tyranny. a~-.a
There was no orchestra last night. pre-
sumably because an orchestra might dis
turb the impressions which the play had
produced. This sentiment IL consistently
after the curtain had rung down upon the
scene in which the wife had had her hands
manned in her efforts to save her husbands
statue she appeared promptly enough in
response to applause, serenely holding
hands with members of the company. The
various members of the company are capa-
bic, although 1t is quite impossible for them
to live up to the stage directions of the
rhapsodfc DAnnunzio. which require, for
instance, one of the characters to appear
something inexpressible and glancing.
| which makes think OF a creature Inn
pregnated with sea salt, dipped in the NOV
| ing waters, coming out Of the hiding places
| of the rocks" Buses performances cannot
| fail to have intense value to those whom
| DAnnunzio's writings have interested, and
as this appears to be her chief ambition.
| her production last night must be accepted
| as in Its way, a triumph.
| NEW NATIONAL THEATER. - Mime.
| Ernestine Schumann-Heink and Mr.. David
| Bispham tnaugurated the Washington con-
cert season yesterday afternoon before an
| audience which filed every corner of the
| National Theater and which expressed its
| approval Of the event in continued and I'M
| stinted applause. After each offering the
| two artists were brought back to the stage
| to bow their Acknowledgements, and each
| of them graciously responded by rendering
as an encore a selection with which his
! hearers had long associated his personality.
| Toward the close Of the program both sing
! ers rose to an extraordinary high plane of
| vocal performance.
| The concert was thus notable from many
points of view. But the memory of 1t will
| live longest possibly because of the unaf-
! fected cordially with which the perform
| ers were received and the manifest pleas
| ure which their offerings gave to charac-
| teristic local audience.
| The concert was the first Of series of
| such entertainments designed by Miss Katie
| " Wilson. The succeeding events will in
| clude recitals by Nine. Sembrich and other
members of the Metropolitan Grand Opera
| Company, and, gauged by yesterdays sup
| port, the enterprise will prove a marked
success-socially. financially and artistical-
| ly. Several of the boxes held distinguished
| parties. Mrs. Roosevelt and her house
| party guests-tMrs. Strachey Baron and
Baroness Won Sternburg, Mrs. Brooks Ad-
| ans, Miss Hagner and Miss Helen Roose-
velt-sat at the right Of the stage, and their
| presence was gracefully acknowledged by
| Nine Schumann-Heink each time she en-
| tered and left the stage. Opposite this
| party were the guests OF Mr.. and Mrs.
| Thomas F. Walsh-Mrs. Glover. Miss Clio
YER Mrs. John c. Poor. Miss Wilson and
many members Of the diplomatic corps, the
| entire body of local musicians and a great
| throng of music students.
| Mr.. Bispham's offerings comprised the
| well-known Evening Song" of Beethoven,
Meyerbeer's dramatic song. THE Monk a
| familiar excerpt 20 .Rnddier Than the
Cherry" from HRndeIs "Acis and Gala
| songs by Clara Schliniann, Gounod.s 20
That We Two Were Maying," the old Eng
lish ballad, Down Among the Dead Men"
| and H H Wetzler's surprising and merry
| "KilIiekrankie" This, last work was fol-
| lowed by the ballad "Edouard." which Mr.
| Bispham has rendered ejn Washington on
| two other occasions The program was ac-
| cordingly a marked Improvement over that
| of last year wheH hts offerings consisted
almost exclusively Of what might be termed
histrionsc songs. The listeners of yesterday
| heard Mr.. Bisphap the vocalist rather than
Mr.. Bispham thesjAct0r. The result was
that he never before impressed Washing
| tonians SO favorabAy-xYIR breadth of tone
In sustained tonal quality and in accuracy
| of rendition his performances, after the
first two or three puphRrs, were a revela-
| ton. I'll:
| Nine. Schumann-H eink sang four ex-
cerpts from the "Orpheus" of Chuck, six
| German songs, including Schubert's famil-
lar die Alimacht." with which her name
is now closely connected. and the familiar
"Bolero" OF Arditi. Her reception was un-
| uualifiedly ardent but the rendition of the
first half of her program did not compare
! fayorabiy with previous performances by
Mime. Schumann -Heink In all likelihood
this was due to the unfavorai,le weather
but Il married the selections from Cor
pheus'' sadly But In sDie AIlmacht'' she
| surpassed herself ana aroused the audience
maryelously. The inclusion of work by
II Arditi aroused the manifest disapproval OF
those to whom Mime. Schumann-Heink II
4 great German composers. particularly OF
II brahms Etfis the performances was its own
Justification. so faentiy and smoothly were
all its f1orid embellishments interviewer
i AZ has been said, the concert Was nota-