The Indianapolis journal., 1904-02-07

Who VIII Be the Soprano Of 1.-The Messiah" at
Tomlinson Hall Next Week.
town and partly of deluded curiosity seek
ers from Harlem, Hoboken and way sta
tions, all filled with a faith in the state
ments Of press agents. critics afflicted with
Wagneromania, and hysterical ladies who
once visited Beyreuth. 1t is both amusing
and pathetic to see an audience sitting
with bowed heads at the performance OF
this Kiralfy spectacle of holy things. II
Wagnes had really hurled into the world
a work of genius. a masterpiece, In this,
ms swan song l, too, should cry ave
worships more devoutly at the shrine OF
Wagner than / do. But IL seems to me
that there is something defective in the
vision which fails to penetrate the tinselled
garb of professionals, ballet, transforma-
tion scenes. steam and purple light TO dis
Germ the emaciated and anaemic form
easy to believe that this music was written
by the. composer of 'Tannhauser, Die
Meistersinger' and the other great works
1t is difficult to believe it, because or the
utter lack of the native fire Of inspiration
found in the other scores. 1t is easy be-
cause OF the continual echoing and para "a
phrasing Of the thoughts conceived for the
making of greater works. This is the
product OF man at hard labor. 1t is un-
questionably the work of genius, but not
work of genius. But II Is tremendous
popular success, and ii is like Katisha's
left shoulder blade, in that people come
miles TO see it..
Madame CaIve. whose temperance in
New York during the week just closed was
one of the big events of the season at the
Metropolitan Opera House, has just an
nounced that she will tour America next
season at the head of her own opera COM
pany. She declares that everything is Ger
man in New York" in musical way. and
that she is not in her proper sphere when
singing at the Metropolitan Opera House.
OF course Calve sang in Carmen" last
week, for Calve is Carmen" and Carmen"
is Calve No other singer has ever scored the
tremendous success In a single role that
onae WITH Tr the HeW e Sd sr
on musical topics says OF her performance:
"Calve. never gives two performances of
she often varies the dressing of the role.
Sometimes the skirt of her first-act cos
tune is scarlet sometimes yellow, and 1
have seen her come out in blue. In the
same way she varies the other costumes
of the role as fancy strikes her. But more
than this, while never losing sight of the
clew to the character, she acts IL at diff
ferent times in different moods. adapting
the business of the role to these She
has half a dozen ways, all equally effect
i've, of singing the 'Habanera' and the
Seguidilla,' a dozen ways of acting the
death scene"
Calve, by birth half Spanish. half French.
is true daughter of the Latin race. She
is emotional and superstitiOus and much
given TO fads and fanciesi At one time
she affected Buddhism and never felt safe
without a certain Oriental amulet about
her neck. And for a while she was
! firm believer in astrology and divinations.
During the long tours she made through
| the United States with the Grau Opera
| Company her favorite diversion was TO in
| vite her friends among the artists to spir-
itualistic seances. Her latest fad is said
In the Aveyron district, writes bio
| grapher, land of mountains and ravines,
where she was born. she owns a thick
Cabrieres, named from the goat path which
| formerly was the sole approach TO its
rocky height. Here she dons peasant cos
| tune and spends much of her time out in
| the pasture lands with her herdsmen or in
the fields with the haymakers. Near her
castle she has established charity in
| which she is deeply interested 1t is a
sanitarium for young girls in i'll health
Often the prima donna visits her charges
and entertains them with singing, and
| then these girls hear music in which the
high-priced audiences of the Metropolitan
| Opera House know her not-popular airs
of La Gascogne and the Basques district,
and OF Basse Bretagne and Spain. Her
musical development has sprung from the
very soil.
A well-known manufacturer of musical
instruments in Germany-Max Freyer-has
introduced a process for making violins
from clay. These fddles are of the or
binary pattern. but are cast in molds so
Inat eacn instrument Is an exact counter
| part of its fellow. 1t is said-but il is
| somewhat hard TO believe-that the porce-
| lain body acts as better resonator than
one of wood, and that the tone of the in
| strument Is therefore singularly pure and
| full. The same inventor is also making
mandolins of china clay, and il seems that
they are much appreciated in Southern
countries, where this instrument is re-
| garded more seriously than IL is In Britain
| The obvious disadvantage of a musical in
| strument being made of china clay is the
| brittleness of that material as we'll as its
weight. but both these drawbacks seem to
| have heard of rumors of most excellent
| violins being made of aluminium and this
metal, from Its extreme lightness and other
| qualities, would seem to be admirably
| adapted to such purpose.-Chambers
| Journal
The Berlin Royal Library has Just ac-
| quired a valuable collection of autographs
of musicians. 1t was made by Artaria
| publisher of many OF BeethOven's works
| who got the best part of it for a few hum
| dred horins from Beethoven's heirs when
| that composer died. There are ninety
| three autographs of Beethoven, including
| some OF his most famous works; thirty
| two of Haydn. and others by Schubert
| Rossini, Paganini. etc. After keeping
| them seventy years, the Artaria family
| offered them for sale by auction To pre-
| vent the collection from being scattered
| DR.. Erich Preiger OF Bonn paid e1O0oO for
| u, expecting the Prussian government to
| buy IL from him. III has nOW after four
| years of negotiating. done So but for the
| same sum that he paid