New-York tribune., 1914-12-13
NOTABLE CARMENS OF
LAST FOUR DECADES


attention 70 the newcomers voice and
action. She was rather matronly IN
looks, too, and took decidedly serious
view OF the character. stripping It OF
all piquancy and hippaney and accentu-
ating its sinister side, but always with
something like spirit caught from the
militarism of Berlin. In song, how
ever. she surpassed both Hauk and
Trebeli, singing with an ease Of which
they knew nothing and sending out her
high notes easily within her range, OF
course-with electrifying effect. She
has nothing to say about her debut in
her autobiography, recently published,
plainly attaching less Importance to 1t
than to the Wagnerian roles. which at
that time occupied her ambitious mind
day and night. In these German per-
formances The dialogue was spoken in
compliance with the rules of the Opera
Comique. The previous performances
had been Italian; they are now French,
but in all the performances except
those of the German season the reel
tatives composed by Ernest Guiraud
have been used. Guiraud ws a native
of New Orleans, so America had a
hand in the creation of one of the best
operas that ever came out OF France.
Nine. PATHS Failure.
Fraulein Lehmann's Carmen was q
surprise; that of the next singer to un
dertake the part was bewildering dis
appointment. Nine. Patti made essay
Of the character on April 18, 1887, at
the Metropolitan Opera House. Per-
haps the statement is not strictly cor
rect. The little lady, then acknowl-
edgedly the greatest vocalist, let US
say, alive. did not really try TO i'm
personate anybody or anything. II was
I Patti who sang the Habanera, Patti
/ who languidly entertained Don Jose,
Patti who finally was killed, apparently
70 her own great relief, when it was
time TO close the curtain. There had
Deen great curiosity 10 see her in the
part, and the receipts were estimated
at Sl1 900. But the audience seemed
stupehed by its disappointment. The
entire first act passed of without
single enthusiastic handicap, and the
curtain would have fallen in silence
had il not been for the efforts of the
occupants of a single box. Not hand
for the Habanera or the Seguidilla.
Who ever heard the like? At times
Nine. Patti acted bit kittenish, bu.
she did not even try to be the conven-
tional operate marionette. She
walked through the opera, sang or
neglected to sing as the spirit moved
her in the concerted pieces and did not
try to do justice even to her solos.
She sang the part once and once only
kin the season a special one after the
close of the German season at the Met
ropolitanl and probably never sang it
again. She had, we believe, sung it in
Europe, however.
Zelie de Lussan.
In January, 1888, Zele de Lussan.
whose admiring friends at the time
were in the habit of calling her "the
little Patti" was member OF the Bos-
ton Ideal Opera Company. and she was
the next Carmen whom New YORK saw.
The opera was quite beyond The ca
pacity of the company, which was ad-
mirably equipped for operetta, and the
Judgment pronounced upon the Gar
men" representations was severe, pos
eibly n little more severe than il would
have been had not very serious view
of the lyric drama been encouraged by
the German representations at the Met
ropolitan. But the fact remains that
Miss de Lussan's pretty little voice
was heard 70 advantage only at inter
walls and that her acting was meaning
less and frequently exaggerated. In
iater wears, after the departure of
Mime. Calv6, il was thought that she
might save the opera for the Metro
politan, but she was too weak a reed
10 lean upon. Performances in English
by Louise Meisslinger, who had been
member of the German company at the
Metropolitan, and Selma Kronold, the
former at the Harlem Opera House
under Oscar Hammerstein, the latter at
The Grand Opera House under Mr.. Ed
murd Stanton and Mr.. George Gould
/ IN 1890 and 1898, may be passed over
/ as inconsequential; they are men
toned only that the list may be COM
plete.
Minnie Hauk Redivivus.
Nine. Hauk, now the Countess Hessc-
Wartegg, came 10 New York in Febru-
airy and was engaged by Mr.. Stanton
| for the German opera. The promise
I that Carmen" would be performed
with the old favorite in the part with
which she was more intimately asso-
ciated than any singer known here, was
/ one of the loveliness signs of the time
on the operate armament, remarked
\ The Tribune, but the loveliness proved
| TO be not in the performance but in the
/ audience room, which was crowded as
! il only is on a gala Wagner night put
the performance was Disappointing
a