New-York tribune., 1921-01-25
Miss Garden as
., Director Makes
ewYorkDebut
Chicago Opera Company
Opens Season in Norma
and Noted Prima Donna
o@-
Renews Pledge of Reforms
Performance Disappoints
Miss Raisa Sings Chiefly
-. by Main Strength, While
g. Others Share Her Failings
By II. E. Krehbiel

- The projected season of six weeks
of opera by the Chicago Opera Com
~ psny opened at the Manhattan Opera
House last night with much less flutter
+. or circumstances and agitation than
might have been expected in view of
the publicity which has been given to
alf of Miss Mary Gardens savings and
doings since she assumed the direction
of the enterprise. There were several
things said by her which fiji agreeably
{. into the ears of intelligent lovers of
N opera and which, if carried out, would
.-aof them was that she would not give
- representations of old Italian operas
unless she had singers in her company
who could sing them properly.
Ihese were not the words, but they
convey the sense of her utterance. Yet
j l he opera last night was Bellini's
IN orma,' which, no matter how it NAV
nsefike ears attuned to the measures
OF Mascagni, Leoncavallo and Puc-
clnl, is certainly as much an Italian
as any opera composed in the nine
- teenth century and just as certainly
demands classic manner of perform
ance.
This manner is as much lost art
: among the operate singers of to-day as
- 1t IS to the majority of the people who
heard it last night; else there would
nave been silence, at least, instead of
-iyociferous applause after Miss Raisa
had chopped "Casta Diva" into pieces
and hurled the fragments into the audi
ence-room last night
She sang it and everything which she
had to sing chiefly by main strength
Gas the storied lrishman played the
fddlel, and in her effort to win the
plaudits of her hearers she was fol-
= 1owed by Nine. Besanzoni (Adal-
---gisa), Mr.. Forrest Lamont (Pollione)
land Virgilio Lazzari (Oroveso).
In all these cases there was an as
esybut an inhnitesimal exhibition of vocal
art. 1t is impossible to listen without
amazement to the volume of tone which
:, : Miss Raisa pours out, but this sensa-
ton might gladly be exchanged for
J. GONE of the graces Of real song which
we are convinced arc at her command
There was an occasional phrase even
first act which. like her singing in
-,'the third, showed that she has the
capacity to sing artstically, but so
long as she continues to emulate q
trumpet player blowing blood out C
his eyes she is likely to continue to
make the judicious grieve, no matter
how powerful her appeal to those who
sum up vocal excellence in voice,
voice, voice and loudness
- Nine. Besanzoni shows the influence
Of better traditions, though she too,
as all will remember who heard her
when She sang at the Metropolitan
Opera House, forces voice of fine
- quality into occasioal uncouthness,
and, like a country organist, keeps
-. the tremolo stop in use without ces-
..,e sation.
se- OF purity of tone and suavity there
twas not trace in the singing of Mr..
~ Lamont. Chorus and orchestra were
efficient, as was the conducting of
: zSignor Marinuzzi, and the excellent
acoustical properties of the theater
- made thrice admirable all that there
:. was to admire in the performance.