Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-05-11
GREATEST FESTIVAL
CLOSES GL0RI0USLY

On Thursday evening the Great South
ern Music festival leaped to its highest
opulence of art and left as final heritage
to the memory of the thousands who have
heard it the glowing miracle of Giovanni
Zenatellos voice. 1t is not only vain but
stupid to attempt comparisons among
such voices as have glorifed these five
wonderful concerts. Each one of them
is a distinct creation within itself. One
had as we'll ask whether star is more
beautiful than a rose or a river more
mysterious than a forest as to try for a
comparative estimate between Miss Ger
aldine Farrar and Madame Fremstad or
Madame Jeanne Jomelli and the others,
or to say which of the festival programs
either as regards it's vocal orchestral or
choral effects was the most brilliant Of
the series.
Thursday evenings program, however,
was infused as was none Of the others
with the wonderment of foreign coloring,
and of all the soloists none have captivat-
ed an audience more thoroughly than did
Madame JomeIli. 1t should be added, too,
that never before had the chorus risen to
quite so fine an effect as in the Hallelutah
chorus, unless perhaps 1t was in Hail
Bright Abode" on Tuesday evening. AS
for the orchestra, its rendering of
Tschaikowskrs Symphony Pathetique"
was it's most amazing performance.
ZenateIlO's Predicament
Atlantianss and southerners are the
first who have ever heard Zenatello in
concert singing. The tenor himself was
all but bewildered at the affair. Indeed,
ever since coming to the city, he must
have felt himself in the tangled midst Of
things strange to him. 1t has been only
a few years since he left Italy with wide
differences in custom, both social and
artistic, from this country. Add to this,
the fact that he has heretofore sung only
in opera with it's vocal and scenic setting
and you can understand how remote from
his experience Thursday evening must
have been. All the day before, his broth
err, who is his constant companion, had
searched the town for some italian songs
that he might render as encores, for Zen
atello had been told that encores would be
expected of him. But Italian songs are
among the few things not made in At
lanta, and the tenor could no more have
understood an English melody than one
written on Mars.
Yet, in the first notes Of the aria from
Pagliacci, the audience realized that 1t
was listening to one of the supreme ten
ors of all time. Not only for it's elemental
vigor, but for it's vibrancy, and dizziness,
Zenatello's voice considered simply as an
instrument is marvellous. He was abso-
lutte king of every one within him. 1t IS
probably this supremacy in technic that
makes the fine carelessness of his sing
ing possible, for he does sing as needless
ly as surely. But a mere instrument
could never have stirred such tingling in
the blood as he did when he gave his aria
from "Pagliacci," or, more notable still,
the aria from 'Tosca" In the former he
proved his dramatic gift and suggested
all that he would be, If heard through the
entire role. He revealed in them both
that rare touch of italian feeling Tin the
occasional half-uttered sob, for instance)
which is heard only from an italian tenor.
The great "Sextet from Lucia was
the crowning feature of the entire fes-
tival. 1t was in this perhaps that Zena-
tello became most effective for the audi
ence as a whole Madame JomelH bore
the soprano with the same lucid grace
that made her the popular favorite Of the
evening. Miss Lansing, in the contralto;
Mr.. Lawson, in the second tenor; Mr.
Hastings, in the baritone, and Mr.. Dock
hart, as basso, all furnished a rich
background for the major parts.
From her first to last appearance on
the stage, Madame Jomelli lifted the
audience to a pitch of enthusiasm as high
as any yet reached. Her graciousness in
responding to seven encores established
her in the affections of the people no
less than her voice itself won their adj
miration. The aria Der Frieschutz'S
was her most remarkable work. In this
She swept up to range of splendid feel
ing and luminous Interpretation. Tune
and again as she sang in succession
"S'wanee River" THE Last Rose of
Sumer' and other home-like selections,
the audience broke into shouts of appre-
citation.