Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-19
The Musical World

nv Geneva Johnstone-Bishop

beavv over that last performance of
IL their idol when the public thronged
20 hear the great singer in her incom-
,,arahle role of Lucrezia, at Her
N5.4sstv,s theater in london May 10, 1877
shadows visible only to poor llet9ens,
o Oh. brayely hid her anguish in bursts
80 erlorious song Never before had she
s,,ng so magnifcertly, cried her audience.
nTo,ser before had her acting reached so
e,,narb a standard. All! little they knew
Inc terrible scene in the dressing room'
The anguish, the fainting spells, the Sc
cret of the dying artist. When the great
oi,rtain dropped slowly, shutting out her
,vorld forever, she, whose voice thrilled
.verv heart with it's passion, love and
despair. had sung her last notes, finished
her great career in glory as 1t had begun
Honor TO those soldiers of art who die the
death of heroes on the bloodless battle
field of dutyl Theresa ItetJens was porn
in Hamburg, of hungarian parents, about
1s34 although the inscription on the
tombstone gives 1881. Even when a child
her voice was so promising that she was
at once destined for tho stage. About
her childhood and its surroundings, how
ever very little is Hnown. The singer
herself preserved great reticence In re-
gard to her early history. We infer that
her parents belonged to the lower classes;
in fact we have seen it stated that they
kent a small drinking place. situated, as
is usual in Hamburg, in cellar. All
honor TO this noble girl who by her art
rises to the. position she won by hard
labor. Her first appearance was in 1S49
in "I,ucrezia Borgia" at Hamburg. A
great success here secured the young
singer a favorable hearing in other Ger
man theaters. In due time she proceeded
to Frankfort and then after a successful
season TO Vienna, where she made her
debut in 1856 Her rendering Of Valentine
in 1.-THE Huguenots' entitled her to the
highest position of first prima donna. She
then went to London, making her debut
before an English audience April 49, 1855,
adding fresh leaf to the record of her
now growing fame. From this time on
Mile. Tietjens made London her home, re-
naming at Her Majesty's theater until
the great fire in 1867, then the same COM
pany migrating to Drury Lane, where
she appeared regularly for a number OF
years. No singer ever became more popu-
lar In England, where her death was cor
eidered a national loss. She was said to
be as great an oratorio singer as she was
an operate artist The beauties of her
voice are still we'll remembered. 1t was
a soprano, uniting great volume with rare
sweetness, sufficiently powerful to fill the
largest house. 1t was soft as velvet
melow-a natural, fluent and flexible
voice. She was very serious and con-
scientious and a hard worker. Her style
of singing was noble and pure, her act
ing earnest-animated; her stage presence
very imposing. Like other singers who
have for years maintained their popular
ity in England, her private life was most
admirable and her kind and charitable
nature endeared her to the nation. She
had great magnetism-this was undoubt-
eddy one of the greatest charms of her
singing. She won the hearts of the Irish
people when singing there with Mapieson
In his memoirs he tells an interesting
story of how in Dublin, it being wet
night, the enthusiasts made a carpet for
Tietjens to walk on from her carriage
by throwing their coats on the pave
ment The crowd then remained outside
of her hotel for hours, making repeated
calls for a song until she appeared and
sang from her window THE Last Rose
of Summer" The Tietjens furore in New
York in 1875, when she appeared In con-
cert in Steinway hall, was the last of
the wave of triumph TO greet the great
singer as she neared the shores of eter-
nifty. Death overlook he shortly after her
return to England. Those who on that
occasion heard her matchless rendering of
the old Irish ballads will never forget
the eloquence of her style-the martial
force she threw into the strains of 1.-THE
Battle of the Boyne" and the tenderness
of her kathleen Mavoureen." Strange
that a German singer should have caught
and Interpreted so beautifully-so mar
yelously-the spirit of a nation so much
the reverse of her own, but music, like
death, is a great leveler through whose
medium all men understand one onother
and exchange the priceless gift of SYM
patty. The end of this noble singer was
swift and terrible, but she went bravely
down the Swallowed lane toward the por-
tails of death, cheering her sorrowing
friends to the last by her resignation and
courage.
mo wonder when this magic voice
reached upper heavens, that swift Apollo
laid the doom of death on her who thus
had sung"
Article in next Sundays Herald will be
'Braham," the great English tenor
1774-1S56
IAN Irish Evening" by Nanno Woods
and Mrs. Harry Dowkirk, the we'll
known soprano, is being given at the diff
ferent hotels, and very attractive is their
program Miss Nanno Woods is from
Dubin-"just overland was great
favorite in her own country. Her Irish
speciality is unique, dainty and artistic,
given in costume, and her costumes are
true to the soil. Her voice is rich, reson-
ant, pathetic, and critics praise her orig
inal humorous sketches. What 1 like
about her professional Work, She is just
what she claims to be, pure Irish of Erin
go bragh."
Mile. Zelie de Lussan, the celebrated
prima donna, is singing with great sue
cess at the Orpheum. She Is always the
artist. Signor Fronani is her pianist as
well as her husband.
&
Mrs. Eva Wallace-F Fairfield is a new
composer from Ohio. She has had great
success with lullaby written for and
dedicated to a little English miss, Virginia
Cobble by name. Queen Alexandra re-
sponded through her secretary, very gra-
ciousy accepting a copy of the song sent
her by Mrs. Fairfield complimenting her
upon her lullaby, sweetness and simpli-
city of style.
The concert and lecture course at the
High School auditorium in Monrovia has
been great success this year The fourth
concert will be given next Friday night
with Miss Florence johnson, lyric So,
prano; Miss Joanna Kinsinger, harpist,
and Miss Johnson violinist, assisting
artists
The last entertainment will be given
February 20, with Mrs. Vera S. Beane,
formerly of San Francisco, as dramatic
reader, Frederick Grover, violinist, and
Herr Otto KOnitz, pianist