The San Francisco call., 1906-04-18


magician.
The first Bravo OF the year whipped
out after his tiny opening duet with Mi
caela; the final curtain went down on
hail OF them "Carusoi' Bravo Ca
ruso.' Bravo" X was, quite in the joy
ful old TivoH fashion.
The audience forgot its dianOnds-and
they were there last night-forgSt every
thing but the electric performance Of Ca
ruso. the wonderful Lent Tapped over 10
the Monday night Queen of Sheba''; last
night IL was the fun Eastertide OF opera,
the season practically beginning with the
Don Jose"
They. needed Caruso It is. Of course,
respectful. 10 begin with the Carmen
where Carmen" is concerned. but so far
as the atmosphere gOes Miss Fremstad.
the Carmen OF the evening. contributed
only q fash or two, intelligent as her per
Torrance is.
We think we know thing or two about
carmens here Il is perhaps or particu-
lar vanity I should say that new Car
men IN San Francisco attracts at least
i've times the attention devoted 10 a new
Hamlet, Calves We know, De Lussan's
We know and dear old Collanarini's We
know. not 10 count a dozen others of les
ser fame. The thought brought charity
for Fremstad's earlier effort.
Of this kind inclined one 10 escribe her
earlier stiffness, the certain dryness,
harshness Of the work TO nervousness.
This particularly when one remembered
her supple and opulent Kundry OF last
year.
Laser IL began TO dawn that Fremstad
is -Teuton Of the Teutons; that she is
temperamentally AT war with the role.
THAI the conception Is almost wholly
Ter of r--es - xz-fr y T2x- ~,
she was sinuous, seductive. tempestu-
Gus, tragic. but she never got IN
der the skin Of the role. Well hardly
ever L is impossible that a woman OF
Fremstad's s intelligence should dream Of
presenting a reformed Carmen. yet the
idea occasionally suggested itself She
seemed sometimes also 10 be aiming al a
subtlety. which every line Of Merimee's
gives the lie 10. 10 be trying again 10
impose a refinement upon the character
that tends only 70 make the story mean
ingless.
we don't want z reformed Carmen-as
wei expurgate Tom Jones" Merimee
made his Carmen for all time, q primal
creature. q wanton, & mad gypsy that
loved and left where she willed. and there
you are And Bizet sung her into music
that fits like the velvet OF her skin
But Fremstad cannot have designed
another Carmen. Simply, she is temper
arnentally out OF gear with the character
The passion OF the Pyrenees is out Of her
range Caruso, even. very dynamo OF
temperament. once only. in the last act,
succeeded in arousing Miss Fremstad TO
the. roles dramatic possibilities.
Nocally she pleases. It is never great
singing. nor is the voice the opulent or
gan that one usually associates with the
part but Miss Fremstad sings always
with. intelligence and her voice is usually
pleasing. She Nils the picture in the same
fashion. with limitations, but altogether
IL is 4 parlor Carmen.
TheE needed Caruso. The Escamillo Of
Journet, though picturesque in the neces-
sary Hamboyant style. was stupidly sung.
Il lacked all Of the Toreador fire and
swing. the usual encore 10 the Toreador
song. not even being hinted ar. It was
the Toreador sung q la High Priest And
Begue's Zuniga was as bad
Miss Bessie Abott again was perhaps the
best Micaela we have had here This
Young woman, who last night made her
debut IN the role, is possessed OF most
appealingly pure and pretty voice, hmpid,
fresh and youthful as her Micaela was
fragrantly youthful. The encore TO the
prayer song was as sincere bit OF ap-
plsuse as fell 10 any OF the artists last
night. and we were all grateful for
Micaela that wss anything but the stuffed
doll that even great people make Of her
OF the rest Of the cast, Dufriche, Reiss,
Jacoby and Ralph as the bandits and
their lasses contributed a quintet in the
second act that was a simply stunning bit
Of ensemble work. II has perhaps never
been so done before here
The chorus was not always there,
though generally effective. and Signor
Viena seemed TO hold q slippery baton at
times. The performance in not few
places was even ragged, in fact
But Ceruso. Caruso more than COM
pensated for anything that did or could
have happened last night He came on
sirnply-ft is anything but a grand stand
entrance that is granted Don JOse-but il
was a moment only before We knew that
II was going 70 be different. This Caruso
was a comedian that came on joking with
his fellows. shyly teasing the cigarette
venches and having a soldierly good time
generally
Then came the little scene with
AEicaeIa, with its quick warm tender
ness Not too quickly ne capitulates
70 the Carmen, but very humanely. ana
the little drama OF the gypsy's escape
Is very real. Calamity he joins her at
Pasta 's-she dances-and the play is
on. The bugie calls and the first hint
OF his degradation comes 10 the soldier.
Stronger and stronger grows the pic
ture. Most poignantly Caruso paints
the struggle OF the unhappy lover.
Silent. apart. he stands. a deserter, in
the brigands' camp. He looks at the
Carmen. despair and JOY always fight
ing for the mastery.
EscamiIlo comes. one shivers at the
Jealous demon in Caruso's eyes Then
comes Micaela-and there were men
choking as this Don Jose sobbed his
grief out
II seemed that even Caruso could
hardly top this scene. But top il he
did In the last act Years older he
seSmed to have grown Lean and
sunken Of cheek, grief and madness
staring from the eyes-pshaw, he made
one forget that IL was only an opera
'Tse excitement was simply sizzling as
he dashed open the doors Of the arena
wifi his knife and dared the Carmen
70 enter. And that IS the way he sang
n. ali. as no one else In the world can
sing.
But it's oh for calve.
&, N