Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-15
(special correspondence.l

n a
@D ERIN, April ss-,rhe howl
~ that goes up periodically from
portion of the German press, over
sthe American invasion" is just
now at its height. While it had its
origin In the aggressive moves OF our
makers OF harvesting machinery, air
brakes, sewing machines, type writer's,
cash registers and the like, it has gone
down the line and taken up American
teachers, artists and singers. who,
many Germans insist are crowdng out
the native talent to an extent that will
amount TOT serious problem, If allowed
to goTon unchecked. Some alarmists
even point the finger of criticism at the
kaiser himself. who owns and directs
three or four of the royal opera houses
in Berlin, Wiesbaden and elsewhere,
where there are at present something
like a dozen American artists employed.
With the imperial example before them,
managers of the smaller opera houses
throughout Germany are also employ
ing more and more American talent
from the ranks of the students who
crowd Berlin, and it is somewhat anus
ing to note that the big American man
ayers who come here for their song
birds, often pick up the very American
talent that they once might have Sc
cured for a 1.-THE of what they have to
pay it, after it has the stamp of a
foreign endorsement.
Utah talent continues to be well reps
resented in the studios here. and 1t is
another curious thing that the teach-
erS of the greatest renown, whose pu-
pills get the big plums, and who them
selves receive the highest prices for
tuition are those who either hail from
America, or who have lived so long
there, that they are thoroughly imbued
on American methods Thus Madame
Corelli teacher of Emma Lucy Gates,
I0mma Ramsey Morris and others, is
the daughter Of the original Hermann
the Great (who died % years ago., and
she herself sang In an opera company
and toured America 20 years ago. She
was in the company in which Richard
Mansfield sang in "Pinafore. and she
knows the United States like a book.
Ferguson, one of the foremost Berlin
teachers, Is an American out and out;
Alfred Best and David Reese, the Utah
tenors, are now among his favorite pu-
pills. Godowski, the famous pianist,
lived 90 years in America, and Edgar
Stillman Kelley, the we'll known COM
poser, is a native of the United States.
Thomas Il. Giles OF Salt Lake. who is
studying under both of them, says they
have more applicants from students
than they can book, and both charge
very heavy prices. Jonas, the pianist,
teacher OF Mcclellan. Sybella Clayton
and Marian Cannon. is an Americanized
Spaniard, and the list might be extend
ed indefinitely.
All the Utah students and many of
the American colony were in attend
ance at the Royal Opera House when
emma Lucy Gates made her second ap-s
pearance She was given just a week
to prepare the very trying role of E'ilina
in ''Mignon," after she had made her
first success in Der FreiSchutZ" on
April IT. Having been booked as q
guest she was of course supposed to
have such parts in readiness on short
notice, and the management did not
know that she was attempting F'ilina
for the first time. nor would it have
made any difference il they had; its,
all business and no sentiment within
those eXacting portals, and If a singer
possesses the gifts to entitle her to en-
trance, and she has the nerve to ac
cept their terms its simply sup to her
to make good, as the Americans them
selves tarsely put it.
Salt Lakers of the Emma Abbott days
Will 5Eecdil Tic pIe2VILLtipll "
'Mignon" there, when Emma herself
sang the title role, and Marie Stone
was the Fllina. There have been 9TH
ers before and since, but none to equal
it in brilliance and effectiveness. All
will remember that Stone made so
much of her music and acting, that
Abbott, though the heroine OF the story,
was almost cast into the shade. Some
thing like this can be said of the Ber-
lin presentation, though not of course
to the same extent. The Mignon, Frau
Rothauser one of the old standbys of
the company. who has sung the part
almost 3. generation, and who is al
ways cast for it when Farrar and
Destinn Cnow in New York;, are not
the youth, grace and fresh voice of the
Utah artist, who in spite of her for
egn accent (the opera was again full
OF dialogue) and her evident newness
in the role, caught the audience so
heartily that after the big "Polonaise2
(Which Miss Gates says is more trying
than the Lucia mad scene itselO, she
had an ovation. and at the end of the.
act the stage manager allowed her To
take two curtain calls all by herself.
The costuming, hairdressing and other
adjuncts We're such as only the Royal
establishment knows how TO bestow
upon its artists, and Miss Gates looked
a picture of the dainty old Dresden
style when in court wig. hoped skirts
of white with pink trimmings, she
stepped down to the footlights, faced
that wonderful orchestra and executed
the vocal pyIotechnics with which the
difficult Polonaise is filed.
The Berliner Borsen Zeitung devotcs
its entire notice TO the guest and
says: In the Royal Opera House last
evening, Miss Gates continued her
'Gastspiel,' as Filina in .NIignon,' with
the same success she enjoyed recently
as Enchen in .FreischutZ.. Yes, she
even appeared to better advantage as
the tickle actress, than as the more
sober German girl. Her F'ilina was a
lady of bewitching grace and sweetness,
although a lady who appeared not to
have quite the necessary experience in