The evening world., 1913-01-04
She Can't Abandon Her
World . Wide Concert
Tours to Play Tame
Nurses or Wicked Moth
ers.in.LuD-BelieUes in
Singing to English
Speaking Audiences in
:he Vernaculay.
BY SYLVESTER RAWLENG.

-
w shall l say?-inconven-
wv lent for q contralto 6
feet 2 1-2 inches tall, as I am, to
have aspirations for opera when the
leading tenors Of the time, with one
or two exceptions. can boast Of moth
Ing better in height than from 8 feet
10 down to feet 3. isn't IT." said
Clara Butt, the English contralto.
when I called upon her. And that's
what the courteous and affabls re-
porters who met me when I arrived
the other day gathered from thea
hurried interrogation Of me. But
you know the reason why I have
given my life up to oratorio and to
concert work. instead Of to opera
has nothing to DO with my own
height or the height Of tenors.
Where can q contralto find oppor-
tunity In opera?
"Covent Garden. . lonG time ago and
repeatedly. has been good enough 10
ask me 10 Join Its opera company. But
what parts are there for me to sing?
have sung Orfeo. in Giuck's lovely
'Orfeo I'd Eurydios': might sing Am
nerls in Aida or Azucena In TITO.
vatore'; but what else: There Is moth
ing left FOR q contralto but. small part
nurses and wicked mothers-!n-1aw. In
the earliest days OF opera, composer
had In mind contraitos and baritones.
For some generations they have thought
only 0f sopranos and tsnors and have
written principally for them. Even
Wagner gave slight consideration to
contraitos. and the revolutionary Rtoh.
ard strauss and the apostles Of the
modern French school have done M
better.
GIVEN AN OPERA REPERToRY
NINE. BUTT WILL JOIN FOLD.
Find operas for mo 30 that may
have a sufiiclent repertory and viii
gladly Join the operate fold. I. would
be absurd to think Of my giving up the
concert field for present opportunitie,
In opera, and an too much Of an arts
and have too much respect for my pub
lie TO try and combine the two lines o.
endeavor. My husband ana find {
fruitful field In our concert work and
preparing for It art!stically and prop
erly keeps US busy"
The conversation turned TO EngliSi
, taste In music. Nine. Butt protests,
} against a remark Of mine - b tn
banality OF modern English songs. o
which ] wrote in this column from Lon
don last spring. ! quoted Maggie Teyte
|. the little English soprano Of the Phila
! delph,a-ChicaGo Opera Company. VII
!. In a recent interview published In Mus.
, cal America. said all that had sa3
and more. Nine. Butt admitted that tn
y popular ballad concerts in England wer
sorry affairs, but she declared that the
. were LOSING support and that there ar
q young composers In England to-day. Z
there are in America, who are writin
songs Of sunhcient beauty and musioi
merit to meet the demands a til
most sxacting. and that the public a
probation Of them IL growing. IN
trouble In England. she said, was this
a the belief that I'm glish was unsingab
u stage In America, I told her. Tue Of
. ponents here O; opera In English he
abandoned that point.
SONGS, AS WELL AZ OPERAS,
!. THE vERNAcULAR.
II am glad to hear that" said Mn
Butt III 10 absurd that songs. a. We
70 40 operas, should not be sung In Q lal
gusge that all the people can unde
e stand OF course, the chief difiicul'
lies In the nearly always inefficient ar