The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-01
MEN, WOMEN
AND THINGS

vatore.
1t seemed almost uncanny, for I had
Patti in mind and was on my way from
lunch back to The Age-Herald to write
this story, and I was hearing her in
memory as Leonora for it was in this
role that she sang that wonderful night
in London.
II Trovatore may not be even the best
of Verdis operas, and know that the
text is very gloomy and distressing, and
that it was not as Leonora that Patti
was seen at her best, but there is one,
just one. song in it which to me is the
sweetest thing in all music and never
fails to touch my deepest emotions
But I am not qualified TO even outline
her famous repertoires for she appeared
in scores of operas. 1t however would
be interesting for a competent critic to
begin with her debut in opera in New
York at the age of 16, on November x,
1859. My what a career, for that was
90 years ago, and she died only a little
bit ago.
1t is true that she began concert at
the age of and that before she had
reached the age of 10 had to her credit
more than 300 appearances, not only in
the cities of the United States, but in
Mexico and Cuba. I twas then decided
! to let her voice rest for a few years. The
concerts had been under the management
of Maurice Strakosch, who married
PATHS older sister Amalia
| But she was not content to rest oyer
| long, but was ready when her time came
TO take a bold stand for her rights. The
great impressario of the Italian opera
| in New York, Ullman having taken
syrakosch into partnership gave her the
! chance she had long coveted to play a
leading role. She was at an early age
Lady Wilful and scorned to undertake a
minor role, and gave out her ultimatum,
prima donna or nothing.
Her preparation was far different from
that of Schumann-Heink who battled her
way up as a drudge undertaking anything
which was given her to do. She never
sang roles that did not suit her voice;
in her earlier years she sang only arias
and duets, or single solos never taking
part in ensembles. But this does not
mean that she did not have to work at
all Lessons she got in her childhood,
as we pointed out in previous story,
from her talented family, and these she
went on record as saying, were quite
systematic"
| Lilli Lehaman gives it out in her book.
( How To Sing" that "in Adelina Patti
everything was united, the splendid voice,
paired with great talent for singing, and
the long oversight of her studies by her
distinguished teacher, Strakosch All was
absolutely good, correct and flawless,
/ the voice like bell that you seemed to
hear long after its singing ceased. Yet
she could give no explanation of her art,
and answered all her colleagues ques-
tiona concerning it with, II know nothing
abort it."
Another fact stands out in her career
which is remarkable, for she never at
|
atre in the evening and sang triumphant
ly, without ever having seen the persons
who sang and acted with her "She
spared" said Lilli Lehman, herself
rehearsals, which, on the day of the
performance or the day before exhaust
| all singers because of the excitement of
all kinds attending them, and which
|
the voice nor to the joy of the profess
sion. Not only this, but Patti never
sang her limited reportory when she was
| ndisposed.
! You ask, How about her rractice?"
She kept up her own simple exercises,
but her vocal organs" wrote Hanslicl!
in 1879, (which she has managed with
| such consummate skill since her child
hood, and with the instructive certainty
with which the rest of us perform an
ordinary action, hardly need any more
practice Patti exercises sofeggios
daily for half an hour, mostly mezza
voce; the roles themselves she does not
so over. Never does she practice facial
expression or gestures before the mir
ror, because, ash she thinks, that only
yields ~grilnaces.'
Now having lestened to learned mus
| ical doctor, let's hear the testimony of
Sir Morell Mackenzie, the great throat
specialist, who attended the late EN-
peror Frederick, the husband of Queen
Yirtoria's daughter, to the everlasting
enemity of the Berlin surgeons He said
! that Patti had the most wonderful throat
he ever saw, and he had looked down
into thousands of them, from coster-
mongers to nobility. He testified that
PATHS was the only one in which the
vocal cords were in absolute condition
after many years of use They were
not strained, warped or roughened, but
absolutely perfect. and his prediction that
there was no reason why they should not
remain so for 10 or even 20 years longer
fell short of the mark
critic pronounced hers the greatest
voice of the nineteenth century, hut as
wonderful as was her voice. her memory
was equally marvellous. Her memory
was simply amazing. she learned new
role thoroughly by softly singing it two
or three times, and when she mad once
learned and sung in public She never
forgot; so that it was not necessary for
her to take the scores in her trunk when