The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1908-01-21
TFTRAzzINI IS
TRIUMPHANT IN
SCORE OF LUCIA
New York Audience Accords
Her Greatest Ovation
in Career
Superb Singing of Aria Is
Likened to Nightingale
by Opera Writer
Frantic Enthusiasm of Her
Hearers Almost Ends
Performance .as&
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL
BY Reginald de kover1

BY Reginald de kOven
NEW YORK, Jan. 20.-A throng
of people werfssrnad at the Manhattan
opera house tonight. Five thousand
hands beat together in frantic ap-
plause amid a chorus of "bravas" for
Tetrazzini, who in a few brief mo-
ments secminglv eclipsed her great
performances of last Wednesday and
Saturday. Superbly gowned women
and dignificd men united in the trib-
ute to the marvellous voice and art
of the new diva, whose achievement
had thrilled them almost to the point
OF intoxication.
Such display has not been wit
messed or heard in this city in years y
cried Mrs. Clarence Mackay as the
people continued their tribute. Women
in the boxes stood up and waved their
by hundreds in the parquet and in the
balconies. Men pounded one another
on the back in delirium Of joy
Tetrazzini had just finished her first
big aria. For a time it looked as il
the opera was to he stopped then and
there, But the singer herself checked
the ovation by simply raising one arm.
In an instant the auditorium became
stilled. People .eaned back and caught
their breaths. waiting for the cdftain
to fall that 9es might start afresh
where they had stopped and proceeded
until fatigue intcrfered.
HER SUCCESS CoMPLETE
Never was verdict of an audience more
spontaneous or unanimous; never was
artistic success more complete and un-
qualified. Had Tetrazzini elected to ap-
pear first as Lucia | imagine that crit
ical opinion might have been less va
ried and various, for there is no doubt
that the role from every point of view
suits her better than Violetta
Allowing for the many points in
which Tetrazzini surpasses and goes
beyond the mere singer, when all is
said. she is moro remarkable as color
ature singer than as a purely lyric ar
tist and as such the vocal pyrotechnics
which Donizetti provided and which she
certainly amplified. gave her larger op-
portunity to exhibit her marvellous nat
ural vigor and her little less marvellous
artistic use of 1t to the. best possible
advantage.
Her costumes, too, were vastly be-
coming, and the stage illusion thereby
heightened. One does not perhaps
nowadays roam around the moors in
satin and black jet; but then the tra-
dition Of Costume in this opera has
always to suggest local atmosphere as
little on the stage as Donizetti has in
the music
WATT FOR TErRAZZINI
The audience was late and the cur
tain late in rising. The first scene.
with Ashtons air. though capitally
sung by Sammarco, passed unheeded.
and then to a pretty scene of rock and
river the diva appeared. looking
younger and altogether more attract
i've in face and figure than as violetta.
And still there was a pause OF expect
ments halted almost, for Lucia's open-
ing air, "Reguaver Nisilenzio.' was
indifferently, even carelessly sung, with
several lapses from pitch and strik-
ing lack of color and resonance in thu
medium register, the music lying In
( ~ 49,
see people turn to one another with an
air of both question and surprise.
But then came the exquisitaIy vocal
"Quando Rapita" and enthusiasm be-
gan and grew apace. for in the singing
of this number the great artist stood
revealed. could think of nothing "a
much as the song of the nightingales
in the wonderful birdlike facility which
made light of roulades and trills. All
executed with the greatest possible
ease and finish, with perfect intonation
and evenness of tone and ending with
another of those marvellous high notes
D this time, whose effect was eIectrf-
cal in it's intensity and power and the
astonishing facility OF 1t.
IN STORM OF APPLAUSE
And then the audience fairly .rose
and the applause was even greater than
on the opening night and the curtain
rose again and again as II the audi
ence could not often enough express
their unbounded delight and enthusi-
asm. The duet at the close OF the act
was magnincentiy sung by both Te-
trazzini and zenatello. their voices
blending beautifully
SO we'll to my thinking did zenatello