New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-08-25
THE DIsTaEssFUL VOCAL WABBLE.

can scarcely believe that the distressfui vocal
~abble either came in with Verdrs music or was
greatly promoted by # In the lofty quality OF
style Nine SeInbrich is the most perfect exernpar
whom & is the privilege Of New Workers 10 near
to-dav- and she is the best singer we have OF
verdis music Did any one ever hear tone come
out Of throat that was not pure free and hrrn!
Frequently the treInolo is an affectatlon ike the
excessive vibrato Of q sentimental nddieri soihe-
times Il is the product Of weakness due 10 abuse
OF TIE vocal organ. In all cases il is the sign OF
had taste or vicious training, or both. and is an
sbornination On the opera stage to-day Italian
rrima d0nnas most afflicted with II IN turn
Verdi Meyerbeer and Wagner have been accused
o. having caused IL, but any one who has hsteneo
iuteligensly TO the opera singers Of the last forty
years win testify with me that the truly great
singers Of their music have been as free from the
vicious habit as have been those whose arllstlc
horizons have been confined by the music OF Bel
lIni. Rossini and DoniZetu
The tenor Of the PalrnO company was Antognlni
VINO Effected his entrance on the American stage
FIVE weeks after the opening OF the season In the
opinion Of Mr.. White. he was the greatest tenor
ever heard here. not excepting Mario and SAW
and Mr. Whites opinion is so judiciously expressed
that one is fain TO give IL credence Whether or
rot IL can be extended over the period which ne
has covered which that extending from the last
davs Of the Academy Of Music. when Campaninl
vas still MS vocal prime but had not developed
the dramatic powers which he put into play WIN
say; taste in tenor voices has changed within the
last generation in favor of the robust quality so
ussgnifceutly exemplified in Signor Caruso- To
Judge from Mr.. Whites description Antognii'i
az singer merely. Bonci of a rnaIlier
mould His fame seems to have died with those
who heard him. and perhaps this is good reason
for reprinting what Mr. White said about him In
fun:
He tAntognini) vas an artist of the first class
both by natural gifts and by culture His voice
tenor Of a delicious quality and great power His
rOcalization was unexceptionaby pure, and MS
] never heard his equal except Ronconi; as an
ssl9r RsseT saw ms equal Except that po
which Hamlet speaks 81 IN has sooqny, amer ne
Pyrrhus is ended
not naonstrOus that this PLAYER here
But fiction. In a dream Of PASSION
a, from her Working all his ,, ysa s7 %4nn a.
a, 9s0f forms 500 to his hi'e eonoeii'
have seen the blood fade not only , rom A he
sognini's cheeks. but from his very Ups, 81 a. "a
strobe slowly forward TO interrupt 1ne pe baci
Lucia di Laumermoor and thef lldiH ,ta a.
again as be broke into defiance Of his foes me m
were ravishing and his utterance of anger and de
spair terrible Ncr was any tenor Insl ~ si
superior in that great test of fine vocalizatoI,
sustained cantabile passage he was one on 49,
border OF the peninsula Being all this he never
tfeless soon disappeared. and WAS forgotten ex,
eept by a few II the most exacting and cultivated
among his hearers; the reason Of which was tna.
his voice could not BE- depended upon for Two
nights togefher-not indeed. for one alone On
Monday he would thrill the house; on "Wednesday
ne would 90 about the stage depressed. Almost
silent huslily making mouths az his fellow actors ,
and the audience. His voice would ven desert MIN
m the middle 81 an evening. thus producing an i'm
preston that he was irihing with his audience No
Judgment could have been more unjust. for he was
. eonscientious artist but the effect OF this defect
rs Polonius might say. therefore no less dis
astrous, and he gave place artists less adj
nirahls bat more to be relied upon.
In this season there appeared a priIna donna OF
,he French school IN the person of Laura Cinthe
Aantalant. known in the annals of opera as cinti-
Dainoreau, who had GENE to America 20 sing in
.Sneerts with Artot. the violnist. In the eyes Of
feu* she vas one OF the greatest singers tho
eA had knovu- OAmoroau vas Tho name Of her