The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-02-21
LYRIC TREAT BY
SCHUMANN- HEINK
Great COntraItO Sings Long
Program at Last Concert
of Local Engagement
Includes Schubert's Master
piece, Which Is Delivered
With Realism
By WALTER ANTHONY

What the seating capacity Of Dream
land rink may be I do not know, but
whatever il is, that was the size OF
yesterdays audience at the last Of
Schumann- Heink's concerts in San
Francisco. 1t is true that there were
= few scattering chairs. here and
there, but they were infrequent in
deed. though they represented just SO
many lost opportunities. They might
have been occupied to the inestiniable
advantage Of those who today would
be richer in experience. ripper in mu-
steal culture and blessed with mem
DRY of a day when Schumann-Heink
sang 10 the full extent Of her great
lyric and 1ramtic powers.
The multitude that was at Dreamland
is certainly Weather today If the
units that make it up do not hear
music for month they viii have
something 10 feed upon retrospectiVelY-
Schumann-Hein sang to the final
period Of her program without
CULVER in her voice. veil in her tones
or an oscillation from the center OF
her perfectly poised art
TRAGEDY TOLD IN MELODY
IS she sang Der Erlkonig" could
not help thinking of that other
dramatic singer who recently inter
prelsd The Schubert melody set to
Goetles words Doctor Wullner [
mean The barytone gave 4 splendid
Interpretation Of this masterpiece Of
song from the pen OF an IS year old
music writer. The comparison Of their
interpretations interested me
Ia, .aF 2 20
fold conversation-the frightened lad,
the soothing father and the insinuat-
ing. evil spirit Of the woods. In this
drama there was little 10 choose be-
tween the two great artists. but the
contralto yesterday surpassed the
bsrytone. for Schumann Heink SANG it.
Without sacrifice Of a ShiVer in the
tragedy Of the poem, she delivered the
song with the art Of the bel canto
vocalist She brought to the song the
same skin of voice production that
made her performance Of the Rossi
aria. first on the program, the perfec-
ton Of Latin suavity and graceful,
sensuous beauty. She linked per-
fectly trained voice to the utterance
of great poem, and she gave us
miniature music drama
REALISM AND INTENSITY
Indeed. in point Of realism and in
preston witlU the poem than did
Wullner. For instance, at the climax
Of the verses where the climax Of the
boys fears is reached and the icy
fingers of the CHASTITY erlking catch
him In their unrelaXing grasp. a con-
vulsive shudder shook the singer. Fri
kong hat mir Elm I4eids gotham she
sang. Besides this there is nothing of
equal force and bigness in my memories
Of the host Of great singers who have
Rut this song upon their programs.
Some sing it splendidly, others inter
pref the poem, others approximate the
onjoint bigness Of words and music,
but nobody whom ] have heard makes
the melody so instinct with the poem
or the poem so instinct with the music.
While Schumann- Heink lives there will
be refutation to the statement that the
most dramatic of songs can not be sung.
She viii keep the signposts up on the
right road 10 vocal music. which leads
in and out Of Italy.
MOTHERS LOVE INTERPRETED
After A program that comprised arias
from Rossi's s'Mitrane" Gounod's
-'Sapho. Thomas ''Nignon" and Saint
Saens' Samson and Delilah." two Beet
hoven songs, three Schubert songs-"Die
Junge Nome" "Wohin" and Der Fri
l1onig --two Franz songs. the six Hun
garian songs Of gypsy cast by Brahms,
Hugo Volts "Heimweh"-about which
a separate story could be written, ii
was so 1ne-Beach's Love but Day
and Chadwick's DANA" besides sew
eral encores, the audience demanded
more
The few of US who had not pushed
iowa I'd the stage to get closer glimpse
Of the artist We're stopped on the way
out as she stepped on the stage to sing
gain. il was a little sandman" song,
and what could have been filter close
to the program Who sings a lullaby
like Madame Schumann-Heink? She
brings TO the grooming melody the in
finite tenderness of a mother. Why
shouldn't she2 She is eight times a
mother-Or is ii seven and cradle /
songs must come from the heart, breath 1
ing mother love.