New-York tribune., 1908-01-21
MUSIC.
MANHATTAN OPERA HOUSE.
Eetrazzini's Second Opera.

For the people of experience and discrimination
in the audience which gathered III the Manhat-
tan Opera House last night to hear Signorina
Tetrazzini in Lucia di Lammermoor the pen
dulurn was kept swinging in the second and third
acts from the extreme of grievous disappointment
to the extreme of amazed admiration The audi
that of last Wednes-
day, and though there were tremendous outbursts
of applause after the sextet and after the cadenza
with the flute the mad scene" all close OBJ
servers must have gone home from the opera with
the feeling that it Zenatello, more than Te-
trazzni, who carried the famous ensemble and that
1t purely a vocal tour de force that had
whrled the audience off its feet in the cadenza.
As for Lucia's entrance air in the first act,
it was more disappointing than the weakest
feature of her performance in La Travlata'
Thore a high Z fat, and also a high
c and d fiat in the of the evening or
thrilling power and coruscating brilliancy. but
the sensation produced not like that of last
Wednesday, when the tones came with the force
of a surprise After the cadenza had been repeat
ed the audience seemed to feel that the "Spargi
d'amore pianto' anti-climax and the DEM
onstraton which followed was pumped up with
difficulty. 1t would be pleasant to record that this
due to the good taste of the audience, for the
glittering ornaments with which Sisnorfna Te-
trazzini embellished the melody were of a
nature sshat completely enaced Its sentiment:
but there many other exhibitions or
bad taste earlier in the scene which seemed 20
meet with hearty approval. Here it was that the
ladys skill In dramatic action might have been ex-
pected to disclose ITSELF but nothing was further
from her mind than the tragedy when the moment
arrived for her to exrsode her most scintant
pyrotechncs She down to the rootllghts,
arranged her hair and let the shining tonal cascade
flow. When the deafennG noice ceased she smiled
the conductor and entered into rivalry with the
mellifuous flute again. Then she redsarranSed her
hair. opened her eyes widely and began the caba-
Ietta It concert performance pure and
simple. and might be compared without injustice
the performances which the music has had IN
our concert rooms, well as In the opera The
one difficulty which the reviewer would have would
be to recall a performance within the last decade
so lacking in style as this
STYLE was one of the essential things in the old
art of bel canto OF which Sgnorina Tetrazzini has
been hailed a mistress. 1t implies consistency
of vocal quality. perfection and adjustment of
phrase. steady and even emission OF the voice
equalization of the registers. complete command OF
the BREATH proper preservation of the sentiment OF
the melody even IL the melody outraged the words
Of the song It IS the quality in which Signorina
Tetrazzinis singing is most deficient She sings as
If by instinct and impulse, now with ravishng
beauty and in the next phrase with complete IN
difference TO all the canons Of the art She
seems to be a produc: wholly of nature,
not of culture Apparently she is swayed by
every passing feeling. She obeys one and
the effect IS ravishing; she obeys the next ana d
douche of cold water tumbling down 10 cool
the ardor of the listener. Her dramatic power Is
observed in La Traviata" There is blood In much
Of the music of Verdi's opera. even in some OF lts
ford passages In Donizettis music the coloratura'
so called Is merely efflOrescence of the
time. In the music written when the bel
cauto was at its zenth-written by such men
as Handel. Hasse and their fellows-the coloratura
was essential to the music. al only wien 1t was
sung with its proper style did it bring its bene-
diction. OF beauty We have had one perfect ex-
hibiton OF It this season and one only; II was
when Nine Sembrich at her song recital sang the
air oh Sleep from Handlers 'SeWele.' II Is
much 10 be feared that shall not hear 1t from
Sgnorina Tetrazzini. As she approaches the classic
manner her powers seem 10 wane. DoniZetti's mu-
sic stands midway between the true vehicle or the
bel canto and the rord. dramatic style of Verdfs
'"Traviata" and 'Rigoletto." II is In these operas
we fancy that she will be found to be at her best
Meanwhile she Is something TO be wondered at.
admired and deplored all in a moment. In every
thing she s unique and startling
As for Sgnor Zenatello. his were the real honors
OF the evening for In voice. defamation. song and
action he was consistently admirable and devel-
oped the character Of Edgardo with superb spirit
and power lifting the hopeessly inane opera out
of its rut of convention every time he appeared on
the scene. lie was finely seconded. too, by sisnor
Sammarco II r. H.