New Ulm review., 1921-01-05

appealed to the artists Of the Met
ropolitan, and Marie Rappold gen
erously responded, with the aim
of spreading the love Of opera to
the ordinary man. s..s a s8 81
It might be expected that Mad
am RappoM would be a supporter
of any project bringing good pnu-
sic to the people. It was but ft-
ting that Rappold, who is one Of
the few. royal artists, should de-
sire to bring great singing within
the reach of everyone. Gallo was
indeed fortunate, and likewise the
public, that she consented to be
the star guest. Her past achieve
ments and present standing with
t he Metropolitan Company
which permitted these appearan-
ces-was q great. help for the
musical success Of the San Carlo
forces.
A lesser artist than Madam
Rappold might fear loss Of pres
tige in singing anywhere but the
Metropolitan, but her career has
been too successful for such
thou ghts. Hers is the unique dis
tinction of being the first singer
to appear in a prima donna role
at the Metropolitan without any
previous operatic experience or
dramatic training. Opera goers
still vividlt recall the sensation Of
her debut. A gala production of
".The Queen of Sheba' had long
been planned, but dramatic
soprano, who could : adequately
sing: the role, was wanting. Marie
Rappold learned of, this, and went
4 directly from her singing teacher
Ito the Metropolitan impresario,
who, on hearing her sing, signed
her Immediately. Imagine. the
curious expectancy ofltcritical New
4 York the night of her debut.
Here was an unknown singer as
,s4AamitA, the leading character in
this great revival Of G Goldmark,s
opera. But when the audience
heard this singer. gracefully en-
compass the intrieacies Of the
Ipart, their applause was 4un-
bounded. That night Will long.
be remembered. ,.-
| Since then Rappold has been an
Iimportant soprano on the roster
Of. the Metropolitan. Her voice
in its beauty and power can give
forth the appealing hotes of the
lyric or the stirring crescendos of
the arias. The list Of her roles
is long and her success in each has
ibeen great. AS s4dida, in Yerdi's
opera of that name, she has been
especially triumphant and it was
/ in this opera that she made such
a sensation with the Gallo forces.
With her artistic support and
the presence as guest conductor
4 Of Cesare Sodero, musical conduc-
tor at the Edison Recording
Studios in New York, the season
Of the Gallo forces was an oper-,
atic success, within the reach Of
all. " "A
The generous motive that actu-
ated these famous artists was well
expressed by Madam Rappold
1 In this new experiment. we felt
! the greatest interest and we be-.
lieve that popular priced opera.
Properly presented, with guest
stars is the answer to the ques-
i ton: Why is opera the exclusive
property Of the excessively, OPP
pressively rich, or charitable
hand-out for the depressedly
\ poor?'
1.-THE only practical device for
bringing grand opera to the peo-
pie is a season in which the high
est priced seat will not cost more
than $500. People have COM
planned to me that they could not
afford to subscribe for the orches-
4 ira stalls at the metropolitan, and
could not enjoy the performance
from the cheaper. seats. There
fore, to my mind. the evident solu-t
tion is grand opera. with we'll
|. known stars as guests, where the
charge for the best seats lis small.
/ OF, course. the artists should, be
recruited from the great Ameri-
1 can or Continental temples of
music and I believe that IN fame
and sincere appraciatiqn, they will
4 gain BY singing for the nAid de
i class, which is the most powerful
1 nAISt ham society. :.