Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-26
IITTA RUFFO IN
GOOD SONG RECITAL
Famous Italian Baritone De-
, Iiehts an Enormous Crowd
at the Metropolitan

+, Tiua EuHo. the great Italian BARI
tone. made his fist appearance in Phil
odeIphia for number Of years, and his
rry first recital opncarance here at the
Metropolitan Onera House last eve
ninc And incidentally he came very
neor making record audience. for
overv seat in the house was taken. as
MANY PERSONS ms possible were seated
on the stage. eve-y box was filed, an
unusual thing in n recital audience, and
Tho rest of the audience stood five and
,ix deer behind the brass rail.
Mr.. Rnffo was TO have been assisted
NJ Miss IIrl'o Patterson. soprano, and
Miss Lucille Orrell. cellist. but Miss
Patterson was taken seriously Ill at the
last moment and this necessitated a
nrctty thorouch revision of the program
As n result, Miss Orrell's numbers were
switched around considerably. although
She played all hut one Of the numbers
on her part Of the program. but Mr..
Ruffo made very radical changes in his
selcctioas. He egan with the number
was almost the only one that was not
changed.
However. his public was not so much
Interested in what he sang as in the
manner in which he sang It. i;uifo ~
bne of the artists OF the very first
rank vocally. dramatically and in in
terpretaton. He Is first Of all. how
ever, n dramatic nger. The dramatic
possibilities Of an aria or even of the
smallest song appeal to him far more
than do its lyric possibilities or any
opnortunity that il mIy present for the
eynloitation Of his voice or his own in
tensely individual style OF singing. In
all that he did in his recital last eve
ming this was APPARENT. except in the
very last song. which he sang In aston
ishingly good English, and in which he
gave a superb example OF shading and
voice control. points to which he paid
little attention in the Italian arias and
songs which made up the remainder OF
the program.
The relations Of the great singer and
his audience. which included very large
humber OF his own countrymen. were
amazingly like those which exist be
tween Johd Mccormack and typical
Mccormack audience. There was the
same recognition and applause at the
first few measures Of the accompaniment
Of the encores. songs which in most
instances were totally unknown to the
English speaking norton. the same
hearty recalls and familiar greeting
Il ON a potion of the audience and in
many ways it rescmbled Mccormack
recital.
Mr.. Ruffo's voice is as fine as when
he was in this country before. and, in
fact, Il seems even to have gained in
mower ard resonance. Ills method of
nsiny il is artistic to a degree. but he
| Is always willing to sacrifice pure vocal
art to the dramatic. His little man
rerism Of starting to leave the stage
before thr song is quite completed is
unique, but il must be admitted that
he employs it only where there is
dramatic gain without any loss in art.
either vocal or n'erprstative. Again.
like Mccormack, he was very generous
with his cnCOres. although the program
was so revised and shortened that il
vas not always easy to distinguish be-
tween the solo number and the encore.
Miss Orrcll displayed a good finger
ltechniQue and facility with the
bow, although Her tone might have
|been larger for the enormous reaches of
1.-THE Metropolitan OIera House. She
played compositions oh Saint Sacns.
Pepper. Cui aud Polak Othc accompa.
mist Of the evening" with grace aud
excellent taste.