The Washington times., 1915-06-17
ALEXANDRIA PROUD
OF PRETTY SINGER
BY GARDNER MACK.

There - q tendency on the part Of ths
people of city like Washington to cool
iy pin ON its cwn fair reputation
streamer OF fame that belongs to
another community, the while giving
the title of the really famous place to
the writers of topical songs and vaude-
Vile jokesmiths SO that they can poke
fun at It. Every city that plays No. !
musical comedy organizations and big
time vaudeville has some nearby village
upon which 1t permits comedians to
vent their spleen.
For many years Alexandria. Va. has
been the particular locality about which
Washingtoniaus delight to joke. Over
looking the fact that Alexandria was
the principal seaport Of the Atlantic
coast when the Dutch were still has-
Cling with the Indians over the title 70
Manhattan island. and that Its output
Of manufactures far exceeded that Of
tho District OF Columbia for many years
there are some things which Wash
ington claims as its own and takes
bsions Ien te'os to xle1andriS. @ % ''"' anu '
For instance. there IL Estelle Went
worth. the operatic prima donna, who
has come back to America after gain
is appearing here for a sh9rt season
tradition. dating from the time Miss
wentworth flrst came into fame as a
singer-which hasn't been SO long ego.
as q matter of fact-that she was a
daughter of the District, and local pride
was considerably inflated thereby be-
cause Miss Wentworth Is the sort OF a
Of nsdt Without sns' the Sy Of
its sense of pride. Miss wentworth,
however, Is not Q daughter OF the Dis
trict. Her family comes from Alex.
andria. and most of It still lives there!
Optimistic Over War.
Miss Wentworth. by the way. Is one OF
few people who can look with some de-
gree of optimism on the war situation
1t requires considerably more optimism
| for her use on this occasion than would
| be required for almost any other Ameri-
can singer. At the present time In the
town of Frieberg. Germany. there ii
stored away practically every earthly
there Ii a perfectly good contract to
| sing at the Charlottenburg Opers
House, Berlin. for last season, which
| she was unable to keep because OF the
war. Also there was q career as q
prima donna opening out before her In
prima donna for the past five years ir
Frieberg and other cities, which hat
| been moro or less permanently damaged
by reason Of the war. Therefore. II
requires more or less ironbound. 80 PEI
cent pure optimism for Miss Wentworth
sons. But she has 1t.
II believe the war IL to be sreat
thing for American singers and musi,
clans generally" she told me one
National. This is especially true since
Italy has joined the allies. There viii
be fewer singers here from Europe
And II we are to have any opera at al
next year. Americans must provide II
themselves.
Must Be Musician.
Really. we have some very good
people here. too. They have mostly
| been singing abroad because the oppor.
| tunities offered them there are better
People in Europe go to the opera purely
for the sake of the music, and in order
| to succeed as q singer one must be a
| thorough musician. 1t does not holp in
| the least to create fame in any one
role, because when the people who sup.
| port opera buy their tickets they have
no means of knowing who Is to sing the
| opera they buy their tickets for They
grow up from childhood with a keen np.
probation of music as music, and It a
necessary, therefore, for the singers tc
be able to give adequate Interpretations
| OF the music in order that the opera
| might live.
| i Delieve that something of this sort
Is gradually growing up In this coun
try. We are becoming better and better
equipped to understand and appreciat,
| the great things in music and You know
there are really some OF the very great
est things on earth put up In musica
| packages. With the European STAR
who have had practically a monopoly
| Oh opera here all tied up In their oNT
| countries by the war the opportunitS
for the American singer Is big and
\ confidently look forward TO a big sea.
] son for Americans next year."