Omaha daily bee., 1922-06-11
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N lean p. puPYIELp.

YYYE are quite accustomed 10
w think oi Lord Byron as .
w famous poet. traveller. .
capital swimmer, . soldier OF for
tune In various countries. but we
have never had the habit OF regarding
him % q music critic. And yet he
has left evidence which proves that
he might very readily have qualified
for the expert and arduous duties
OF this highly-specialixed profession.
To be sure. his methods are de-
cidedly direct and to the point. He
does not gloss over imperfections nor
wink at Inconsistencies, and ~ .
straight line 10 the shortest distance
between two points, he uses II In
placing his readers In possession OF
he viewpoint. And in this there 10
merit.
In his Don Juan" Byron gives .
description OF q travelling opera COM
psny, q small troupe OF Italian sing
ers whose affairs must have gone
very badly indeed. for in the midst
Of . sea voyage their Machiavelian
impresario hailed . strange brig and
transferred them to Il in . hurry.
and this without q single scudo OF
salario. to quote from the very pithy
Byronic account. Then follows .
description OF the various members,
The leading lady is dealt with in the
following tender fashion:
The prima donna. though . Mttis oid.
And hsssard with . disslpatsd iifs.
And :SS3;e'' ssiS. "h'n the mouse |" '"'' "
Has some good notes.
And that is measurably more than
various others Of the company are
credited with in the poets report.
However. some do not fare badly.
For instance.
the tsner's wife.
with no great, voice. ID pleasing 70
behold.
Which simply shows that III some
regards the times do not change
much.
OF the masculine contingent Lord
byron has little good to report.
A. for the men. they are middling set;
Tho mustco 10 but crack'd old basin.
And the tenor, the premier male
attraction Of the small band of
troubadours, would doubtless have
been surprised to see himself de.
scsibed IN the following pointed
style:
TIE tssers voice u spo,lt By sffsetation.
These words were written over 4
century ago, in 1919. to be exact.
Would the critic Of those old Ma
polsonic days repeat such an at
{irmation occasionally If he were
writing now! We shall not attempt
70 answer the question, but proceed
instead with our inventory of the
company's operate assets. The BARI
tones bubble Is soon burst. He is
described IS having plenty Of con-
ceit, but Of science not jot, though
there 10 some reeompense in the way
of good looks and graceful action.
But his voicel It must have been
something awful to inspire this
couplet:
4 voice q no great compass and not
rsrsoots. scarce tit fos ballads in the
street.
However, the heavy artillery, the
Byronic Big Berthas of denunciation,
are reserved for the bass. whose case
apparently was without even ray
81 hope. Here is the damning YER
iict:
.Ad for. the bass. the beast can only
- fact. IS has no singing sdueation.
tsnorant. notslsss. timslsss. tunsssss
ss. ss.n.; u. prim. aonn.'s near
Who swcrs his voice was very rich and
The, sissd him. though to hear him
you'd believe
An sss was practicing recitativa
Could condemnation be more
completei To our way Of thinking
an opera singer at once ignorant,
noteless, timeiess and tuneless repre-
seats triumph of interchangeable
ultimate limit of disqualification and
incapacity. And it would seem also
that the gentle art of wire pulling
il not altogether ! modern institu-
ton.
Il ID, only fair to state that these