The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-10
Cbe Cbeatres
Miss NeiIscn In saDon Pasquale.'

Miss Alice Neilsen floated on the stage of the Montgomery Theatre like a bit of old romance or like a princess stepping from a Renaissance painting -she came and showed even to the un- tutored and the unmusical the exquisite beauty there was in the opera music of master.
 In heliotrope. a clingiHg empire cre- ation, with a shimmerins silk shawl, her small brilliant face, set in the great frame of a picture hat, she came and her very appearance was delight to the eye. But when she sang-when she sang the difficult beautiful music of Donizetti's Don Pasquaie," even her beauty was forgotten. She cast spell --the witching mysterious spell of mus ic at its best, which lifts one out of him self and links him with the infinite
 that inspiring spell. which wins his thoughts away from care and worry over the petty things and lifts him into Ioftier moods and into the realm of higher things.
 1t was all in Italian. Perhaps not
 half a dozen people in the audience caught the words and understood them as they were sang. There was no sort
 Of chorus and no gorgeous stage set tings of any sort. Only five persons | were on the stage and every one sang in Italian. The scenery was, to say | moved about the stock scenery of the | theatre reinforced by a few cheap
 tables and some $1.95, marked down, chairs.
 Tn spite of all this, in such unin-
 spring surroundings, the performance
 was delight to the audience and q
 triumph for the players. There were
 no doubt some people who went to the Theatre knowing that the opera was to be sung in Italian and expecting to be thoroughly bored They were agreeably surprised. There were no
 doubt some people who wanted to hear
 Miss Nielsen sing but who held back from going to the Theatre because they believed grand opera in Italian , would be sung. They were guilty of a serious error of judgment and have
 themselves to blame for missing an enjoyable evening. For Miss Nielsen and the gentlemen who supported her --there Is but one feminine role. in the opera--are artists of such merit and excellence that they can interpret high class music so that 1t is no less a de- light to the untutored ear, than to the ear of culture and training.
 The popular indifference to classical music comes, not sc much because it
 is high above the head of humanity
 but because the crude and the untrain
 ed, in essaying its interpretation have made 1t disliked. So those who sat under the spell of Miss Nielsen last night, who heard and understood and appreciated the inspiring beauty of Donizettls music. though 1t Is high class and though the words were n Italian. have 8 grateful recollection of the intellectual pleasures of last night.
 Miss Neilsen is fresh from a stay and study in Europe In the so-ealled comic opera of the modern stage. she had scored all the success that was to be achieved. But she hoped for better things. was not content that her mag nificent gifts should be spent so cheap ly. In music her career was not un- like that of Charles Dana Gibson, who willingly gave up an income of $60.000 a year, and retired from hH black and white drawings to go to Europe ana study the higher forms of his art. Miss Nellsen, abandoning the cheaper tri- umphs of the musical comedy stage de- voted her time to the study and devel- opment of her wonderful vocal gifts. She studied under Henry Russell, a fa- nous London teacher. and who. in ad- miration of her wonderful voice and in confidence of her ultimate triumph on the operatic stage abandoned the teach ing of music to become her manager, to direct her work and to surround her with artists worthy to be her sup port.
 She has a marvellous soprano. In il, as 1t was heard last night, art and na- ture blended in he best and most ef- fective form. The sweetness and beauty of nature is yet within it, re- strained and directed by the best of art. It is not cold metallic and me- chanically pure. on the one hand, nor uncertain and undeveloped on the other, When she opens her mouth the sound which comes forth Is music. pure and undefled The voice Is as musical as a bell and as clear and inspiring as a bugle call. In her singing, one catches an inspiring suggestion of the infinite beauty in nature and in all created things. And the clear, penetrating, in- spring music comes forth with such ease and in such absence of efrort. There Is no facial contortion, no strlV- ing and no muscular effort of any sort The music had the ease and freedom of mocking birds spontaneous burst Of song.
 Nor IS Miss Nelson any less an act
 ress than she Is a singer She de-
 lights the eye no less than the ear A
 beautiful and attractive personality, she showed a wondereful power In her