Newspaper Page Text
10 H
IIEARST’S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, GA.. SUNDAY. APRIL 27, 1912.
‘Butterfly on the Wheel/
Forsyth Theater Reopens
Lyric to Close After This Week.
Bijou Offering Full of Variety
and Drawing Crowds.
NewPlay at the Atlanta
With Keith Vaudeville
TRIO OF LEADING FIGURES IN THEATERS^
Looking; back and reflecting on the ! to feel that through Victor Herbert,
i at leant a- style is being established.
His work in "Natoma/' the Indian op-
j era, he has struck American music
and ideas. Many singers from the
Metropolitan Company who have
been on concert tours are given many
| numbers in English. At a recent fes
tival abroad, special mention was
made of Mrs. Beach. She has Just
completed u group of new “little”
j songs.
year’s offerings brought to this city * * *
was the two new women stars—Lu- ! Tuesday evening William Hinshaw
ctezia Bor! and Frieda Hempel. Two gave his excellent voice to assist Miss
beautiful music which was rendered
this year by the Metropolitan Opera |
Company will be the greatest pleas
ure of the next few months for mu
sical Atlanta, until it can once more I
begin to count the days remaining j
before another season.
Oreatest of all the treats that this |
such exquisite singers by themselves
should be enough to delight the
hearts of any audience, and combined
with the other rare voices that were
heard they afforded superlative pleas
ure.
It is practically Impossible for
anyone to say which of the two sing
ers 1s the best. In “The Tales of
Hoffmann” the two appeared togeth
er. Hempel as “Olympia” and “Ciu-
hetta” portrayed by Rori.
Bori, if there jh any superiority,
should ho given first place for the
deep feeling and magnetism which
she injects into her tones. In Hem-
pel's voice there is always a slight
• oldness, never dominant but ever
present, that detracts the least little
bit from its charm. As an artist In
ihe handling of her superb tones the
German singer cannot be surpassed.
Dramatically both stars stand on an
even footing without a single short
coming.
Oldsr Stars Pfsace.
Of the older stars it is needless to
say a great deal, not that* they do!
not deserve all the praise and mor^ I
too that can be given them, but be- !
cause Atlantans have been swayed
by their superb tones and rendition I
so often before that they appreciate
Intimately every note they sing.
Caruso, the incomparable, whose
wonderful tones have echoed through
The Auditorium into the hearts, mlmls
and souls of Atlantans on many pre
vious occasions, was 1n as "good
voice” as he has ever been.
Amato, master of the world's bar
itones, delighted with each note, and
flrrvftl was the same brilliant singsr
and exquisite actor that he has al
ways been.
Five of the aeveti operas presented
had never been presented by the
.Metropolitan in its Atlanta appear
ances. "La Gloconda” and "Tosc-i”
were already old favorites. Of the
five operas presented on*- “Cyrano,”
fell slight!*- short of the standard set
by the other presentation.-!. In or
chestration it was magnificent, but
it never gave the beautiful chances
could have
for individual solos that
been Interspersed.
Amato, Madame Alda, .Maria Du-
« hene, Ricardo Martin, Putnam Gris-j
wold, and William Hinshaw, in fact
all the singers who participated in
Its production showed great talent
and vocal efficiency, but somehow nil
through it there was a hitch. Then,
too. in spite of the fact that it was
presented in English It only scorned
to demonstrate thi contention of
many musicians that opera in En
glish adds nothing to its production
before English speaking people.
"Manon Lescaut” Success.
"Maiton Lescaut,” well termed n
light opera, presented with the Puc
cini version, was an instantaneous
success, not only on account of the
score, but because of the wonderful
work of Caruso. Seoul and Bori.
There are some wonderful passages
in the work, and Bori and Caruso
extended themselves to bring them
out in their perfect best.
"La Traviata" will go down with
out doubt as the opera which reached
a greater pari of its audience than
any other. Frieda Hempel was mag
nificent and exquisite in the leading
role. The wonderful final duet rose
above her work in any other part.
"La Gloconda" was Louise Homer s
triumph. Here for its second appear
ance it was nevertheless a great fa
vorite, presenting as it did five of
the world’s greatest singers In one
cast. Emma Destlnn. as La Giocon-
da. with her beautiful sacrifice of love,
touched the heart chords of the au
dience with her presentation of the
part as well as with her voice,
ruso and Gilly were both superb.
"Tn. Tale of Hoffmann*’ light and
fantastic, presented an unusual treat
to the opera goers because of the un
usual number of stars who appeared
in it. Some of them had parts of
only a few lines, but the ensemble was
delicious and an enjoyable treat to all
lovers of music.
Marvelous Close.
Yesterday brought the marvelous
week to a fitting close with “Lucia
jn the afternoon and "ToBca” at
night. “Lucia” with its three great
parts, presented by Hempel, Macn
and Amato, and the illustrious sex
tette will no doubt be brought back
Jtt rapturous music lingers in the
depths of memory for many years.
“Tosca,” famous for its dramati
power and beauty, and rendered Ir
tho super-stars of modern grand op
era, was intense in its grip and pow
er. It brought to a close with Puc
cini opera a program that had opene*
■with a work by the same master
The selections of the season wen
marked by the absence of any Wag
nerian music, but it presented a vis
Ion of grand opera that was every bit
as magnificent and enjoyable.
9 • •
The year 1913 brings the ronton
silal of the birth of Richard Wagnei
The world in general will pay him an
increasing tribute. This recalls nian>
things in connection with him. “Tann
liauser, one of his earliest works
was presented in this country in 1859,
but "LohengTin” was not presented
until 1871.
• * *
That Lillian Nordiea will leave
Chicago for an extensive concert tour
of the world is of much interest to
tnusic lovers. Madam Xordica will
friave irw rivalry abroad, a? shi> lias
taken a bold stand for the suffr -
Bistres.
• • *
There is a great move to encour
age American music. On the great
est concert programs are many Amer
ican conga. Jt is indeed interesting
Eda Bartholomew, in a Joint recital
at Saint Marks Methodist Church.
The church was overflowing with mu
sic lovers who enthusiastically re
ceived the Metropolitan star Mr.
Hinshaw’* interpretation of the beau
tiful selection from the "Barber of
Seville,” was well received. His ren
dition of the “Lost Chord,” and the
"Chimes” song was especially appeal
ing.
Miss Bartholomew's numbers wero
cordially received.
* * *
This evening at the First Baptist
Church the beautiful oratorio, "The
Triumph of David,” will be presented.
Mr. O’Donnelly, the director, has won
much favor with his past efforts.
The choir will he assisted by a
large chorus. Mrs. Peyton Todd, so
prano, has a beautiful lyric, voice an 1
is well suited to take the aria which
she will sing. Mrs. James Whitten,
Mr. Solon Drukenmiller and Mr.
; Bates compose the rest of the quar-
' tette.
• 0 *
Both Tate, the California singer,
had a peculmr experience re
cently. While appearing at a. Lon
don music hall she was asked by a
foreigner if she would sing that night
at u private entertainment. She said
she would at a certain big figure,
which was immediately paid. After
her performance at the music hall
she was driven to a country house in
a magnfleent limousine with curtains
carefully drawn so that she could riot
see where she was going. She ap
peared on a stage where the lights
were so fixed that she could not so*
the audience; she simply knew' tfmt
people war** there by the applause.
Mho was taken back to her home with
the same seorecy.
Later she discovered that she had
been at the house of the Grand Duke
Michael at Hampstead, but the rea
son of the precautions and secrecy she
was unable to ascertain.
* * *
The German critics not only do not
like Puccini's music In "The Girl of
the Golden West,” but the story It
self makes them as "a clumsy mix
ture of brutality and sentimentally.’"
“How exalted, in comparison, is even
the ‘Tosca’ text,” exclaimed Hugo
Bauch 4 n the Allgemeine Muslk-
Zcitung, after hearing the opera in
Berlin, Puccini, he thinks, lias been
steadily going down hill, and the end
f the act represents low tide In the
activity, while the action in this
scene is "an insult to any even half-
ultivated audience.”
reopen-
Theater
whi< h
• Grand;
is* Bil
A tlan
T HIS week
ing of the Forsyth
with Keith vaudeville,
has been transferred from, th*
the second offering of the M
Long Stock Company at the
and the close of the regular dramatic
season at the Lyric.
The Forsyth, it seems, is better
suited for warm weather attractions
and that is why the Grand hAs been
closed and the Keith weekly vaude
ville bill sent back to the house from
which it was taken last September.
In spite of the center attraction -t
grand opera, vaudeville and musical
comedy, the stock company at the
Atlanta proved an excellent attrac
tion last week, and the second offer
ing, “A Butterfly on the Wheel,”
which is the bill this week, is ex
pected to introduce the company to
great many more theatergoers.
There will be no performances of
A Butterfly on the Wheel” Wednes
day and Thursday evenings, but the
usual Wednesday matinee will te
given. Another matinee will be giv
en Saturday.
The play which the stock company
presents this week was a great suc
cess in New York and has never
been seen in Atlanta.
Ijots of folks who enjoy vaudeville
and who rarely miss an offering of
the Keith brand in Atlanta will
doubtlss give a sigh of comfortable
satisfaction as they settle into their
seats in the cosy Forsyth to-morrow
afternoon when the first bill of the
spring season will be presented in
Mine. Schumann-Heink now is not
nly an American citizen, but sue
wns three American homes; one at
Singac, N, J.. another in North Da
ta, and a third in California. Un
fortunately, she has little time to
iweil in any of them, as she is busy
with concerts nearly all the time she
is in this country, and when the
season Is over she lms to hurry across
the ocean for the Wagner and other
festivals. An incident during her re
nt Western trip shows—as her
ringing does—what a big heart this
woman has Having a day off at
Omaha, with nothing to do between
early and late trains, she went to
the county jail and sang for the pris
oners. The songs chosen by her were
"My Rosary,” “Mavourneen,” "The
Merry Dance,** and "The Lord Is
Mindful of His Own.”
♦ * •
From Leipzig comes the news that
Berlioz’s fifty-year-old opera, “Bea
trice and Benedict,’* has been pro
duced there with great success in ;
revision made by the present Phil
harmonic conductors, Josef Stransky,
and Wilhelm Klefeld. The critics
speak of this version as “very clever.”
It seems that there was need of a
good deal of editing to make the
opera presentable. The libretto,
which is based on Shakespeare’s
“Much Ado About Nothing," had to
be completely worked out, and Mr.
Stransky not only transferred the
musical numbers to more advantage
ous places, but interpolated airs from
other juvenile works by Berlioz.
• * •
Ernest Schelling. the eminent
American pianist, will give concert?
in twenty-two different countries be
fore returning to the United Stat
for the season of 1914-1915. He will
play throughout the British Isles, th
Continent, and Russia, and will then
make a complete tour of the West
Indies. Central, and South America
This South American tour, which will
h.' made under the management
Max Rabinoff, will be made possible
by the opening of the Panama Canal
» • •
Partisans of Felix Weingnrtner, th
Bavarian conductor, who is at war
with the management of the Kaiser’
Royal Opera, have arranged a demon
strut Ion in celebration pi his fiftieth
birthday anniversary in Berlin th
last week in May. They purpose t<
organize two large concerts, which
will be conducted by Welngartnor
before an invited audience In th<
Marble Hall of the Zoological Gar
dens. The final concert will be fol
lowed by a testimonial banquet. Weln
gartner can be Invited by the nu
dience to yield the baton without vio
luting the orderof the court, which
debars him from directing an orches
tra in public within thirty-five mile-*
of Berlin for a period of five years.
Mme. Nellie Melba and Jan Kubelik
will arrive in America early in Oc
tober for a joint tour that will last
the entire season. The primn donna
and the violinist will till seventy-five
engagements, assisted by Edmund
Burke, a young Canadian baritone.
that house. There is something very
homelike in the Forsyth and its sur
roundings.
Matinees will be given daily, as in
the past, and on Saturday, which is
Memorial Day, night prices will he
the rule at the nuitinec. It has been
the custom for a number of seasons
to charge night prices at all holiday
matinees
"Billy, the Kid,” a melodrama, will
complete the regular season at the
Lyric. The play is constructed >n
lines which will doubtless make it
popular with patrons of the Lyric
who enjoy western plays with plenty
of action in them. Matinees will he
given Tuesday, Thursday and Satur
day.
At the Bijou a good program C
family vaudeville and motion picture?
is promised. Dally matinees will he
given, beginning to-morrow.
Genuine Novelty Bill
Offered at the Bijou.
The Bijou announces for the com
ing week four of the cleverest acts
to be seen anywhere—featuring com
edy, novelty, singing and dancing.
The program,announces Dick Ham
lin. the quaint character comedian:
Sutton & Caprice, in songs and
dances; the Stephenson brothers in
a novelty musical act, and the Min
strel Claude K. Summers, with the
dainty little comedienne Kmolse, in ,t
retim'd singing and talking act that
is said to be one of the cleverest on
the vaudeville stage to-day.
Kspecial attention will be given to
motion pictures and these will be se
lected with particular care to furnish
films full of dramatic interest and
veal value. Matinees will be given at
;t O'clock every day except Monday
and Saturday, when two matinees ar-
given at 2:30 and t. Night shows at
7:30 and 9.
‘ ‘ A Butterfly on the Wheel,
Next Offering at Atlanta
Now that the grand opera season
is over and ihe Miss Billy Long Stock
Company at the Atlanta has settled
to smooth working order, Atlanta s
will be given an opportunity to 3'e
some excellent plays during the sum
mer season. These will be put on in
the right way and as the compi
Theater Bills
For This Week
ATLANTA—The Miss Billy Long
Stock Company all week in "A
Butterfly on the Wheel.” Mati
nees Wednesday and Saturday.
FORSYTH—Keith vaudeville all
the week. Matinees daily, be
ginning Monday.
LYRIC—“Billy, the Kid,” all the
week. Matinees Tuesday, Thurs
day and Saturday.
BIJOU—Family vaudeville and
motion pictures all week. Mati
nees dally, beginning Monday.
Woodrow Wilson
Vice President of
Remus Association
An almost plotless, actionless opera,
In which whole acts pass without
anybody appearing on the stage, has
just been produced-at the Nice Muni
cipal Casino.
The opera Is entitled “La vie breve”
and is an adaptation from the Span
ish original by Senors Carlos Fernan
dez Shaw and de Falla. The story
is that of a young woman, who hear
ing that her lover is about to marry
another breaks in on the engage
ment party and falls dead, when the
man denies any knowledge of her.
During the second scene the piece
is carried oh by the scenery and the
orchestra between them without the
intervention of actors. The music in
terprets the approach and fall of
night with the gradual lulling of the
noises of activity of the city. The
windows of the houses light up one
after another and the river—the Wag-
nerlian symbol of the forces of na- j
ture—flows evenly on all the time.
The music, in fact, is intended to be
the rendering into sound of the sen
sations experienced by the audience
while regrading the landscape.
* * *
Can you imagine instead of the
ir.agniflcient orchestra of the Metro
politan Opera Company, a series of
contrivances in the orchestra pit
which will produce the roaring of an
auto exhaust, the clanging of a street
car, and other such joyous sounds?
In other words a futurist cr cubist
style of music? That is what a
Parisian writer named Russolo calls
"the art of noise.”
“Beethoven and Wagner stirred us
delightfully for many years,” he says,
"but now* we are tired of them and
take infinitely more pleasure in our
ideal combinations of the noises of
street cars, automobiles, and excited
crowds than in an heroic symphony
or pastorale.”
Henceforth violins, ’cellos, clario
nets, and all instruments of the ordi
nary orchestra are to be discarded as
conventional and artificial, and to
render the new' art other instruments
are to be constructed capable of re-
roducing "the bubbling of w'ater, air,
and gas in metal pipes, the hum
ming and roaring of motors, which
respire with {undeniable animation,
the palpitation of valves to and fro.
the movement of pistons, the strident
cries of steam saws, the sonorous
leaps cf street cars along rails, the
cracking of whips, the shouting of
crowds and Jie various uproars of
rail stations, forges, spinning mills,
printing shops, electric works ’and
subways.”
The noise compositors of the fu
ture, it is announced, will devide all
sounds mto six classes, beginning
with whistlings, snortfngs, and hiss
ings, and ending with snarlings, sob
bings. roarings, and ravings.
In between will come, for example,
suckings, crackings, hummings, foot
steps, falling water, hammerings, and
groanings. ^
‘The day w ill come,” says Russolo,
"when we shall be able to distin
guish 30,000 different noises, which
we must not simply imitate but com
bine according to our artistic fancy."
.* * *
Madame Emmy Destinn, world
famed soprano, yearns for her home
in Germany. And yet she is an ex
ile, probably forever, because Amer
ica offers her four times, five times,
maybe, the money that would be paid
her by her own countrymen.
This is the story that she told yes
terday, with a note of regretfulness
in her voice.
"lie likes the United States and its
fre^ hospitality, of which, she says.
Atlanta is the best exemplar. But
Berlin is her home.
“They can not pay the sa*. .es
there,” s«he said. "A leading tenor
gets, $10,000 a year only. Nobody
gets more than $20,000. It is unfor
tunate, but it can not be helped. The
budget for the Royal Opera is pre
sented to the Diet, and an appropria
tion made to meet it. It is a state
institution; the salaries are paid by
the Kaiser, who is its manager. Un
der the arrangement the compensa
tion can not be great.
"In America, lavish America, ft Is
different. Salaries are large, the pub
lic is generous and singers- are well
treated.”
Then she added, sadly:
“But Berlin is my home.**
Our Own Make $450 Up
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shown
expected to
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ma
>111
an enthusiastic success. Beginning
to-morrow night the company will
offer the big sensational success of
this and last season. “A Butterfly on
the Wheel,” which Lewis Waller and 1
the Shuberts produced and which has
never been seen here because of bc-
Ing a Shubert show.
Miss Long and the members of her
company have made a pronounced hit
among the patrons of Atlanta. The
nervousness of the opening night
passed quickly away and the com
pany is now in its real stride. Noth
ing more worthy could be produced
than “A Butterfly on the Wheel.” The
play has spectacular scenes and is a
woman’s play of intense interest. Its
strongest scene is in a divorce court
where a society woman is being sue.l
by her prominent husband who has
found her in Paris at the same hotel
with an old admirer and in an ad
joining room to his.
A Butterfly on the Wheel” is in
four acts. The play gives fine oppor
tunities for comedy work and Joseph
Kirkman, as an English Lord, has
lines that are absolute gems of harm
less idiocy.
No play in recent years has at
tracted more attention. Last year a
novelization of it ran as a serial in
The Georgian and readers of the pa
per are doubtless thoroughly familiar
with th* 1 scenes and strength of the
offering. The local company has been
particularly well cast for the play
and tlu re is little doubt but that their
efforts will be received with enthu
siasm.
During the week no performances
will be given Wednesday and Thurs
day nights, but matinees will be giv
en Wednesday and Saturday.
President Woodrow Wilson has ac
cepted the honorary vice presidency
of the Uncle Remus Memorial Asso
elation, and it is hoped that he will
come to Atlanta in October to offi
cially dedicate the Wren’s Nest as
memorial to the late Joel Chandler
Harris.
Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt
and ex-President William H. Taft are
members of the honorary board of
the association, and have been con
tributors to the purchase fund and
to the autograph collection for the
Wren’s Nest, Mr. Roosevelt having
given his first lecture after his Afri
can trip for the benefit of the home
and Mr. Taft contributed both his and
Mrs. Taft's autograph pictures to the
autograph collection.
Three years ago, when at Prince
ton, Woodrow Wilson, contributed an
autograph copy of his "Life of George
Washington.”
The home will be formally dedicated
in October, and not this spring, as
was at first planned, and many dis
tinguished writers and public men will
be asked to take part in the program.
Mr. Andrew Carnegie wrote Mrs.
Wilson recently that he would not be
able to come this spring, as he would
be in Scotland, but hoped to come
later, and will probably be one of the
distinguished visitors when the home
is dedicated.
During the summer Mrs. A. McD.
Wilson will make elaborate plans for
the dedicatory services, which will be
conducted with military pomp and in
teresting program.
* * *
Mrs. Ralph VanLandingham has
been pleasantly entertained the past
week. Mrs. VanLandingham is a for
mer Atlantan, and is always cordially
welcomed on her visits here. She now
lives in Charlotte. N. C.. and was ac
companied by a party of friends from
that city for the opera. Mrs. M. M.
Murphy and Mrs. Lyddell were char n -
ing members of this party, and wore
some exquisite toilets during the
week. Among the parties for Mrs.
VanLandingham and her friends were
a luncheon given by Mrs. Everard
Richardson at the Driving Club; a tea
at which Mrs. Dan Harris was host
ess. and a tea party at the Driving
Club, given by Mrs. Robert C. Alston,
the honors of this being shared by
Mrs. Alston's opera guests. Mr and
Mrs. May hew Cunningham.
Pa nama Hats
FR
OM BURGESSOR
All the
as
season’s best shapes
shown in Vogue
A few excellent shapes, untrimmed; on
sale Monday, at—
$4.00
OTHERS FROM $10 to
Each
$20
-ijMArPWvieA'
4
24 PEACHTREE
Opposite Candler Building