The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-22

WSoAAAe0SVHp ~ 53Nss Soses Sv..
Washington has been entertaining
William Shakespeare.
To Us in America the name
Shakespeare is generally thought
Of - reserved exclusively for the
famous Elizabethan playwright AS
. matter Of fact, the name is not
unusual In England. As there is
some mystery regarding Will
Shakespeare's descendants It 10 i'm
possible to say definitely which,. II
any. Of the Shakespeares Of today
are Of his line.
The William Shakespeare who is
stopping in Washington is q short,
sturdy old gentleman of ~ years,
with snowy white hair and mus
tache, and q goatee, not unlike that
attributed to the 10th century Will.
He. is one OF England's most fam
GUS teachers Of singing
Here is q man who knew Jenny
Lind, Patti, Rubenstein, List, and
Brahms. These artists were born
just . few decades too early to
have their music preserved in
photograph records, and the most
vivid pictures of them that we can
get are through their few surviving
friends. Mr.. Shakespeare knew
them well, and their names and
those OF equally great musicians
are constantly recurring as he
reminisces Or talks about the art of
singing.
He was a little puzzled, though,
that any one should ask especially
about the little things that the i'm
mortals said and did, but with old
school politeness he conjured his
brain and began to tell US how
Rubenstein' bewailed to him, when
! could play no one would listen.
Now, l am cd and have lost my
skill, and people call me the great
est pianist in the world"
Before We could ask him more
about Rubenstein, he had risen to
show US a photograph of Brahms
on the wall. Eeveral bars of music
were scrawled below the picture
by Brahms when he presented it to
Mr.. Shakespeare. but the notes
have been somewhat blurred.
That ink" said Mr.. Shakes
peare disapprovingly. got blurred
when l lent the picture to a news
paper that wanted to reproduce it."
But his distrust of the shortcom-
ings of the press was soon forgot
ten as he seated himself comfort
ably and drew a little silver pencil
from his pocket.
A Friend Of Jenny Lind.
you have asked about JENNY
Lind. She gave me this for sing
ing at her house at a concert In
honor of the king of Sweden. The
inscription -0early worn of be-
cause l carry the pencil all the
time"
Jenny Lind's sweetness and
charm have been the subject of so
many stories that you are not sur
prised when Mr.. Shakespeare tells
one more. y
"Soloists often think they cannot
afford to waste their voices BY sing
ing in a chorus. II they cannot be
stars they will not be satellites
Jenny Lind was not like that.
Once, when I was a soloist at a
Bach festival. thought the choir
back of me was singing remark
ably well, and l glanced back and
saw Jenny Lind singing unnoticed
in the chorus. That was after she
retired from the concert stage. Her
husband conducted the Bach choir
and she often led the choruses."
But Mr.. Shakespeare is more in
terested in the song than in the
musician. HiA theories on tech
nique should be interesting not
only to the singer but to any one
who likes to know what, besides a
naturally beautiful voice, consti-
tutes good singing.
The great thing about voice cul-
ture is breathing" he explained
SO many singers breathe noisily
and heavily. That is wrong. The
breath should be taken impercent-