The San Francisco call., 1904-08-14
IN MUSIC OFFERINGS
PRESENT AND COMING
THERE is MUCH CHARM


and wherefore Bronte, o BeeD latest
engagement as Peggy in Peggy from
Paris" Miss Bronte is the excellently
pretty and clever daughter of Fernando
Michelena, and made a successful ap-
pearance here recently in that odd
Smith and Company musical melange,
"A Girl From Dixie" She begins her
season early in September. and may
be heard here during its course.
The caste includes also another Cali
fornia girl, Grace Orr Myers, the
daughter of the only Annie. Miss My
ers, who has been singing Alice Mel
sen roles in 1.-The Fortune Teller and
other operas. will have the part of
Lutte Plummer in the George AIDE
piece.
Talking of the Henry w Savage pro-
ductions of which Peggy From Paris"
is one, reminds of a significant note I
lately received, concerning the Savage
grand opera season in Pittsburg. Pitts
burg has recently had two weeks Of
the Savage opera, including produc-
tions of ''Lohengrin," "Tannhauser,"
Carmen" "Otello," III Trovatore' and
Bohemian Girl" The point is this.
however, that Pittsburg then heard
the "Otello" for the first time
How long is it, Tivoleans, since that
old master. Salassa, first rolled out the
"Credo?" Long enough and often
enough for its seductive chromatics to
come to the tongue almost as easily
as la Donna Mobile" Yet a
few weeks ago only Pittsburg. with its
Victor Herbert, its symphony orches-
ira, its nearness to the musical base
of supplies, was listening to explana-
tory "Otello'' lectures by the local
Walter Damrosch, Bradford Mills, on
the occasion of the operas first pre-
sentation there.
1t is facts Of this kind that bring
home to one the value of the Tivoli to
the community. Not only "Otello," but
operas like the Boito "Mefstofele"; the
new masterwOrks, such as La Tosca,"
Andre Chenier," "Zaza''; the rarer old
operas, like Ia Sonnambula," "Lucre-
zia Borgia,' Don Pasquale'' and prac-
tically the whole of the routine Italian
repertoire, have been familiarized for
us by the Tivoli, and in some startling
ly good performances. One is very Gu
rious to hear Mr.. Savage's English
grand opera company. With that Of
New Orleans there will be found no
more sympathetic audience than the
local one in all America. if the company
be found worthy. They are to come
here next February.
"Parsifal, by the way, is to be one Of
the offerings. The list Of names of the
artists who are to expound "ParsifaI" in
English for US will be found suggestive.
The English of it seems to stop with
singular abruptneSs at the cast. Still,
Mr.. Savage claims only to give opera
in English" not yet American opera,
sung by Americans in English. The list,
a very promising one from the vocal
side Of the performance, includes, how
ever, yet another Californian in Put
nam Griswold, now a noble Frank
forter at the opera-house there The
whole cast by the way, is now engaged
in absorbing ''Parsifal" at Bayreuth
and will take in the whole haIf-dozen
performances of the opera. Here are
the people: Alois Pennarini, the prin-
cipal tenor of the Stadt Theater in
Hamburg; Christian de Vose of the
Netherlands Royal Opera, Amsterdam;
Hanna Mara of the Stadt Theater
Breslau; Johannes Bischoff of the
Stadt Theater. Cologne; Putnam
Griswold of the Frankfort Opera
house, Franz Egenieff of the
Theater des Westens, Florence Wick
ham of the Royal Conservatory of Mu-
sic, Francis MacClennan of the Moody
Manners Opera Company and the two
conductors, Walter H. RothweH and
Moritz Grimm. Nine. Kirkby Lunn,
who has just closed her season at the
Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London,
has been detained in England by i'm
portant concert enga agements, but she
will join her colleagues at Bayreuth in
time to hear the last two performances
of "Parsifal.'
To return to the Tivoli for a moment.
AS regards the weeks "Toreador." Per-
haps The Toreador'' counts little
musically, but its production, as we'll
as that of the preceding Robin Hood
marks a new era in Tivoli history. Fun
you could always count on in the Tivoli
comic opera, spirit, originality. But,
generally speaking, it was comic opera
In it's shirt sleeves, with a short pipe
and a pot of beer in front of it. Only
those that have seen the last named
productions will understand the ad-
vance that has been made. Nothing
smarter than The Toreador' has been
seen here. It's scenery is glitteringly
fresh. It's chorus gowning and girling
are as spick and span as youth, money
and good taste can make 'em. The
stage management has simply chuted
into excellence. A completer contrast to
the happy -go-lucky. go-it-alone, any
thing goes sort of drill of the old re-
girne cannot be imagined. Things move
with all the polish. pomp and circum-
stance of a comic opera "Durbar." The
orchestra, is as good as it always was.
with the best comic opera leader in the
country behind it. The cast-welI, we
have had good casts in plenty at the
Tivoli. but this one and the last have
added style wads of it. to ability In
fact, one feels that only ones best
frock can do justice to the new Tivoli
first nights.