Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-12-05

Honolulu music.lovers had an OPP
portuntty last night TO Judge for them
selves that all that has been written
Ellen Beach Yaw is justified. Before
an audience which did not fill Mission
Memorial hall in number but did fill
II again and again with applause, the
smiling and graceful Lark Ellen" ap.'
peared in the first OF two recitals
which will serve to crystalline locally
the admiration possible before only
through reading the accounts of main.
land and European trtumphs.
The famous singers first number
gave the audience an inkling of what
was in store for it, and Ii fact, that
opening olo, the Indian Bell Song"
by Delibes, was hardly excelled dur
ing the evening.
The singers astonishing flights OF
melody, her trills, carols and caden'
Eas exhibited to its best effect vocal
instrument whose range has been
the wonder not only of musicians but
Of Psychologists. Without apparent
effort her voice reaches an octave
higher than most sopranos even dare
to attempt in pubic exhibitions. And
the outspoken merit of this voice Is
that its notes seem to gain in sweet
ness, purity and fexibility as they
rise.
Beginning with the Bell Song, whose
whose t1nkling notes were reproduced
with rare fidelity, Miss Yaw followed
with four dainty little numbers Of the
ballad type, of which I'll Primo
Amore" contains several sparkling
passages which she tossed off with
brilliancy, and ended the quartet vito
Auber's unique Laughing Song" (Ma-
non). In this her voice and the light
staccato notes Of the piano under Mr..
Frank Moss skilful fingers were
scarcely distinguishable the one from
the other. Never has singer been
heard here whose voice SO closely ap-
preximated not merely the pitch and
the tone but the actual quality of
piano music.
And Of course the audience burst
into warmest applause when her own
composition, THE Skylark," with its
bubbling ecstasy of melody, was Civ.
en-.
In contract to these lyrical compo-
sitions was her closing number, the
Mad Scene from Hamlet, in which the
distraught Ophelia, in the Thomas
musical version, pours out in song
her deransed fancies in a. scene
which concentrates the tenderest
pathos Of the entire Shakespear.
can play. This scene served to bring
out Miss Yaw's dramatic ability and
power Of transferring tragedy into
her particularly musical realm, and
her rendition was given the heartiest
applause Of the evening. She appear.
ed in the traditional Ophelia night.
dress, scattering flowers in her wan
dering phantasms.
A special part of the program was
that devoted to Hawaiian numbers.
Miss Yaw herself appeared with Er.
hest Kaai and six singing girls in
Kaai's composition "Keonaona" Ha.
wall has had a good many exper-
fences with visiting singers who at.
tempt Hawaiian songs under the i'm
preston that it will be a popular
thing to do, and who stumble so over
the pronunciations that their efforts
are ludicrous. Such attempts are of.
ten so far outside the singers ability
that they inevitably inture the gener.
al performance. It is due to Miss Yaw
to say that she appears In her short
stay to have mastered this song with
unusual success and the applause
which greeted 1t was deserved. The
six singing girls were:
Mrs. r. N. Mossmau, Mrs. e. H.
Boyd, Miss Lizzie, Akana, Miss Louise
Copp, Miss Kuualoha Akana, Miss
Helene Refs.
Further exhibiting the Hawaiian
feapre, Mr.. kaai played two ukulele
solos, Mascagni's intermezzo from
"Cayalleria Rusticana" and Beethov.
ems familiar "Minuet" with really re.
markable dexterity and then the pat.
riotic popular hit, "Over There" dis.
playing the variety Of use to which
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