Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-06
The Musical w ord
BY Genevra Johnstone- BlsnoP:

NyHE Wednesday matinee of Mad
am Butterfly" 1 like the opera
l. better the more hear it-but you
feel depressed In coming away amld
sobbing women and moistened eyes OF
men. with a lump in your own throat {;
Really If little Trouble" only would
NOT wave that dear little American
flag I could keep the tears back-put
the red. white and blue is too mucn
even for strong-hearted men. MISS
Phoebe Strakosch is a little tan Ior
dainty Madam Butterfly, alhough sne
gave a good representation OF the fole
and she has both ease and dlstlncIiotl,
Rut | will have to give the palm 10
Rena Vivienne as the most f1awless
Madam Butterfly / have ever heard so
far. Miss Strakosch sings through her
teeth. which gives her voice a me-
tallic quality, and her upper tones are
ant to be little shrill, piercing, ow-
ing to the tone being too open Whlte
tones.
In this role quality is demanded
more than range. Miss StraKosch -
graceful. and there was much beauty
in her Characterization of her part
Credit must be given, however, to the
wonderful. tremendous intelligence
that Miss Vivienne gives to TINS role;
every act, look, sigh is truly the Jap
anese girl whose heart is broken; but
not so her faith in her husband. she
is a wonderful artist, marvelousiy
beautiful singer, and it is a shame 10
place her with as poor a tenor as
Donatti was Tuesday night. Vernon
STILES as b. F. Pinkerton left very lit
tie to be desired either vocally or 9TH
erwise, a manly fellow, true Amer
lean, he showed us young artist OF
great sincerity of purpose VINO values
his superb art and he has already
gained an established position as an
artist of much merit. / like his voice,
good method, clear, true diction, ten
derness and great beauty of tone in the
higher register, and he has good con-
troll. while retaining quality and purity.
Ottley Cranston looked the part of the
consul, but he cannot compare vocal
ly with Thomas Richards. who sang
the role Tuesday night, and, as l heard
a young woman say, "Oh, Mr.. Rich-
ards voice was like unrolling yards
and yards of velvet Miss Ethel Du
Ere Houston was in good voice-and a
glorious rich voice it Is! Her tone IS
uniformly sweet and sympathetic, or
distinct carrying power-not forgetting
Rudolph Koch in his wonderful con-
ception of his role. He does good
work, even to that fetching" smile,
and proves himself an artist In a
wearisome role.
The conductor, Mr.. Dopper, has the
sense of surprising authority and his
reading of the score is masterful. The
orchestra is certainly worthy the abil-
ity and devotion of such musician.
But what pity it could not have been
given in the Auditorium, where the
acoustics are perfect, the seats are
more comfortable and the entire sur
roundings more artistic and fitting for
such q wonderfully beautiful produce
ton, of really remarkable story and
opera!
Tonight at Simpson auditorium the
farewell recital of Adela Verne will
take place. This is positively Miss
Verne's last appearance in Los An
geles. and her many friends are al
ready arranging to do homage to this
great queen of the plano.
The program is a most unique one
and has departed from the usual
stereotyped piano recital numbers.
Several of the compositions have been
written and dedicated to Miss Verne
by their authors. The program for
tonight is a wonderful one, when its
true strength is considered The pro-
gram numbers are as follows;
The Moonlight Sonata. ......... Beethoven
Adagio sostenuto
Allegretto p
Presto agitato
Sonata. op. 81 (Appassionata) Beethoven