The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-04-05
BY CARL L. DENIES

Both singers drew capacity
houses with the stage full Of chairs.
Tibbett, whose previously an
nounced recital was postponed on
account Of an attack Of laryngitis,
made a brave effort to give Of his
best, but his illneSs still showed
its effect. His voice was clear and
flexible but he never attempted 10
use his accustomed power.
He was wary of hts high tones,
in fact on at least two occasions
the tone broke, but he covered the
tone so quickly as to be hardly
noticeable. It is quite certain that
Tibbett's popularity locally did
not suffer from his handicap and
he gave freely Of encoreS much to
the delight Of the audience.
Nelson Eddy presented a pro-
gram which left the beaten track
for the most part, just as he dio
last seaon. The group Of Russian
songs with English text proved 20
be the most attractive Of this cate
CORY. Opening the group with
Tschaikowsky's None But the
Lonely Heart" The dramatic
content of the next four songs,
ranging from the shooting Of THE
Old Corporal" Dargomizhsky), to
the naive "Child's Evening Prayer"
(Moussorgsky), and finally, the
"Song Of the Flea" (Moussorgsky) :.
left the audience in the throes Of
hilarity.
AS an innovation, he sang a
Russian folk song in the Russian
text, and as a further innovation,
he sang water Boy" backwards,
that is he turned his back on the
audience and sang to the eager
ears on the stage. The songs In
English text were delivered with
a dramatic abandon that did not
hold over in the group Of German
leider.
In the German songs, Eddy dis.
played a more serious nature, and
from the technical standpoint IN
telligent interpretations that
showed most careful preparation.
The suffering song Of Wenzel, 20,
was ich mich betrube," from "The
BATTERED Bride" (Smetana). was
the one exception in the German
group. OF course, this song was
given with a high sense Of COM
edy.
His final group brought him
back to the English text with a
"Serenade," by J. A. Carpenter,
''The Bell Man" Cecil Forsyth
and a new spiritual Bone Come
A'Knittin'm," by the composer OF
de Glory Road" Jacques Wolfe.
After the final programmed
song, the surge Of young femin.
Unity began to move down front
and block the aisles, step over feet.
and one even sat down on our
lap With enthusiasm running to
a feverish pitch when Eddy sang
"Ah, Sweet Mystery Of Life" one
maiden was so far carried away
with the romance in the air that
she flung her arm around Eddy as
he was leaving the stage after his
final encore. He returned to the
stage to receive the lovelorn adu'
lation, but this time he was sur.
rounded by two policemen and two
plainclotheS men.
It is rather hard on the Sensi-
tive nature Of such a serious
worker in music as Nelson Eddy to
be faced by such n1addening
throngs. Hard because he can
never be sure how many came to
hear him sing and how many
came to allow the benign influence
Of his radiant personality to beam
upon them. He reserves such
crowds to hear his glorious voice
alone.
Theodore Paxson rendered a
most valuable service in his we'll
,odulated and carefully-timed &C
compartments at the piano. His
piano solo performances Of "Cha.
come" g. F. Handel; "Capric-
clio in e Major" (ScarlattD; and
''Malaguena" Gaguana) were de-
livered in a sparkling style and
beautiful intonation.
In many respects Washingto-
mans appear to be quite Skepti-
cal. When advance stories and
advertising informed them that