MUSICAL COURIER
36
January 5, 1922
performance by one of the best singing actors in the Metropolitan organization.
A similar opinion was voiced in the New York Sun, which said: “Mr. Whitehill was, as he always is, a magnificent, stoic Kurvenal.”
D’Alvarez Arouses Admiration of Ring Champion
It Is not an unusual thing for singers and actresses to receive letters and gifts from unknown admirers. Marguerite D’Alvarez, the Chicago Opera contralto, has been favored with many such in the past. When she gave her farewell concert in London in October she was the recipient of several articles of jewelry, includng a large emerald ring, from auditors who had been thrilled by her singing, but she has to admit that the most curious manifestation of this kind was received recently from someone who heard her when she was soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra on December 1 and 3. The letter follows:.
Cleveland, Ohio, December 7, 1921.
Dear Friend Mme. D’Alvarez:
I was very sorry I didn’t see you when you was in town. But didn’t have time. I was out to see you sing and wanted to see you after the show but I was with three prize fighter’s from Toledo, Ohio. And they said that if I went back to talk to you they wouldn’t wait for me as they was in a hurry, To get back there from town. The weather is Fair in Cleveland but it is getting colder all the time. I think that your singing was fine, Would like to hear from you They said that you was going to sing here next year. The promter told me. Things is picking up now as Xmas is near And there is plenty of people down town every day. Cleveland is a. big town and is geting larger eyery day. in the spring it is nice and the Summer it is hot. And in the winter it is real cold. I have been on the stage prize fighting And think I will go back in the near further. Hoping that I receive immediately answear from you I remain
Your’s truly,
Kid -------------
P. S.—Answer this letter address to 3341 West - Street, Cleve-
land, Ohio.
It is evident that the campaigns which the management of the Cleveland Orchestra has undertaken of late are bearing fruit and the concerts are attracting the masses. The writer, whose name is withheld for obvious reasons, has a name which is much better known to readers of the sporting page, than to those who first turn to the musical columns for their news.
Fischer a “Milestone in the Art World״
The appended salient paragraphs appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot at the time of Adelaide Fischer’s recent appearance there:
America for Americans is the call more keenly felt today than ever b-fore. No more exemplary embodiment of this demand for
At the time of her New York debut when she was received with
unanimous acclaim by the press of that city, Miss Fischer gained instant recognition as an artist of keen intelligence and versatility of style, possessing the rare ability to interest her hearers.
In her appearance with the Apollo Club of Chicago in Verdi’s Requiem, she showed again her ability to meet the exacting demands of the oratorio. Her many concert and recital engagements throughout the country with the foremost clubs and orchestras are convincing guide to her popularity in this form of her highly diversified art. As a program builder Miss Fischer has always proven most interesting and delightful and she has been complimented by many of our leading critics for her happy faculty in having mastered the too-often neglected art of program making. Mr. Stokowski chose Adelaide Fischer to create the soprano role of “Mater Gloriosa” in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra, a part which ־ she sang with great success with this organization nine times in Philadelphia and once at the Metropolitan Opera House. She was heard in the same role with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Stock in three performances given at the Chicago Festival. Other orchestral appearances in which she was presented as soloist have been with the New York Philharmonic Society under Joseph Stransky, the Russian Symphony under Modest Altschuler and the Denver Philharmonic Society.
Adelaide Fischer stands among the few of our American products in the Art World who rank as milestones toward our ultimate achievement of American musical supremacy.
Godowsky Triumphs in Lansing
Leopold Godowsky gave a recital in Lansing on December 9, and the appended criticisms give testimony to the fine impression he made there:
When the great pianist appeared before the throngs in the audience last evening lie was greeted by thunderous applause. Seating himself at the piano, he struck a few slow, soft chords, silenc-^ , nutter and the whispering that had followed his entrance. Then he began the twelve symphonic studies by Schumann. In this, his first number, Godowsky proved that it would have to be a composer greater than any who has yet lived, who could devise a technical feat too difficult for him to accomplish. When he finished and left the platform, wave on wave of applause called
ADELINA PATTI NOAR
Soprano
At this time—
Especially hooking for Spring Festivals
Valdane Management 407 Knabe Bldg.
New York, N. Y.
A particularly lovely voice is that of Adelina Patti Noar. Anything less than beautiful tones coming from one named for so resplendent an artist as Patti would be decidedly incongruous. At any rate, Miss Noar has a really, unusual vocal endowment, having a singularly soft velvety quality.
—Philadelphia Record.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
. . . The crowning achievement of the concert was Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” Taken with a broad, daring, which might have meant disaster to a less skillful general than Rothwell, amid the terrifying cries of the war gods and the intermingling undertones of the conflict, a climax was reached that was little short of astounding.
High Praise for Whitehill in Opera
Triumph after triumph is being scored this season by Clarence Whitehill, baritone of the Metropolitan Opera Company. Among the roles in which he has distinguished himself particularly are those of Kurvenal, Amfortas and Telramund. He has received the tributes of the leading critics not only for the superb quality of his voice, but also for his keen appreciation of dramatic values.
Of his appearance as the Telramund of “Lohengrin” in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, December 27,
CLARENCE WHITEHILL,
baritone of the Metropolitan Opera.
when the German version of that opera was sung there for the first time Snce the war, Agnes G. Hogan of The Record wrote:
Next to the new artist (Jeritza) Clarence Whitehill as Frederick Telramund was the most interesting’ and compelling singer on the stage. His great voice, so full of genuine ■musical quality, and used with surpassing skill, was never more enjoyed.
In its review of the same performance the Philadelphia Inquirer said:
A distinct success was the clearly imagined and constantly forceful Telramund of Clarence Whitehill, who long ago made the role his own.
When the English version of “Lohengrin” was sung in New York several weeks before, H. E. Krehbiel, of the New York Tribune, wrote:
Mr. Whitehill was wholly and unqualifiedly admirable. His sonorous and dramatic voice and diction were a delight.
In his review of the same performance, Pitts Sanborn of the New York Globe and Commercial Advertiser said:
Clarence Whitehill, looking like a composite portrait of Aristide Briand and Walter Hampden as Macbeth, played Telramund altogether in the grand manner and with a superb authority, and declaimed the text so distinctly and eloquently that for once translated opera took on the inevitableness of opera in the original tongue.
In the opinion of H. T. Finck of the New York Evening Post, the artist’s impersonation of Telramund “gets better, both vocally and dramatically, every season, and is now one of the best ever seen and heard here.”
“Mr. Whitehill’s Amfortas,” says Richard Aldrich in The New York Times, “is one of the noblest, most powerfully tragic impersonations of that part that ever has been seen here.” The same critic, writing of the basso’s work as the father in “Louise,” has the following to say:
The first piece of characterization in the opera remains that of the nameless father; and for this Mr. Whitehill finds admirable expression in bonhommie tenderness and rugged manliness, in his nobly beautiful singing.
“Clarence׳ Whitehill’s impersonation of Amfortas seemed to us the most finished piece of work of the cast,” said Frank H. Warren of the New York Evening World in his review of “Parsifal.” “His words were distinct, his singing marked with feeling and pathos and his acting natural and sincere.”
Writing of the same part, Katharine Spaeth of the Evening Mail says:	“Most striking was the singing with
the crystal English diction of Clarence Whitehill.” W._ J. Henderson of the New York Herald paid the following tribute to the artist’s singing in “Louise”:
Mr. Whitehill’s impersonation of the Father remained the outstanding one among the principals. This excellent artist sings and acts the part with feeling and with a keen sense of dramatic values. He wins for the character the sympathy it requires and deserves.
In the New York Evening Post it was the opinion of H. T. Finck that “Mr. Whitehill gave a realistic portrayal of the loving and irate father.” Reviewing “Tristan und Isolde,” which was sung in German, Deems Taylor in the New York World said:
Mr. Whitehill’s Kurvenal is a familiar performance. To say that it was about as usual last night is to say that it was a masterly
Los Angeles Press Eulogizes Rothwell
Walter H. Rothwell, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, needs no introduction to music lovers anywhere in the United States. His reputation in this country was first made as a conductor of the Savage “Parsifal” tour, which took him all over the country. Next he conducted the St. Paul Symphony Orchestra for all the years of its existence, later gaining fresh notice in the East as the leader of the Stadium Concerts, and at the same time establishing his reputation firmly in the extreme West through his leadership of the newly organized Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which he still directs. The Los Angeles papers are just as enthusiastic this season over his work as they always have been. Note the following:
Mr. Rothwell’s sense of direction was of a high order and the execution was faultless. It was one of the most powerfully effective things the orchestra has done to date . . . the unremitting and masterly drilling of his band by Conductor Rothwell until there was a fusion of individual artists into an organic whole. ... the Brahms symphony on Friday afternoon revealed the entire development of the orchestra in such a way that Conductor Rothwell must have been much gratified. ... Those who are familiar with the performances given this Brahms score by other symphony societies may grasp the significance of the occasion. ... It was clear that one would be quickly appraised of how well or ill the Philharmonic’s conductor was fitted for his task. . . . there is left with us a consciousness of Los Angeles’ good fortune in having in its midst a genuine symphony orchestra.—Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1921.
Very early in the opening movement one caught the fiber of the orchestra, and the sincerity of the man who had prepared it. Our opinion of Mr. Rothwell, both as musician and as conductor, rose appreciably before this section of the Brahms score was concluded. His devotion, his very evident acquaintance with the majesty of Brahms, and his desire to give the content of the music without superficial, adornments, moved us to regard him with a favor doubly gratifying because of the long journey we had taken to become acquainted, not only with the Philharmonic, but also with the man who occupies so responsible a post. For Mr. Rothwell has the power to do much for musical Los Angeles. If what we observed yesterday constitutes a fair measure of his conscientiousness and his abilities, then we have confidence in the future of the Philharmonic. Routine Mr. Rothwell unquestionably has. His musicians show it. They played the entire Brahms score with zeal and with evidences of sound preparaton in its phrases. . . . The building of climaxes was that of a musician who sees musical proportion in architectural lines.—Los Angeles Daily Times.
In selecting his initial bill for the season Mr. Rothwell paid a tactful compliment both to his audience and his instrumentalists. . . . Orchestrally it is vivid, and with the Rothwell direction, lucidly sincere in its depiction. . . . Mr. Rothwell played the third movement, with its slight allegretto, gracefully and with charm, and worked directly from this to the mental and spiritual transports of the fourth with climatic effect that merited the tremendous plaudits which followed. . . . Since the successful conclusion of Director Walter Henry Rothwell’s first Season, during which interval the energetic conductor was actually on trial, we had come to realize his musicianship and to look forward to this season with great but moderate expectations. At the close of yesterday afternoon’s severely trying program, however, it will be safe to place Rothwell among the first four directors of the world between whom there is scarcely a choice. This statement is made with due moderation and after weighing him carefully in the balance.
MORINI aid JOLUF
PLEASE IN CONCERT
Capacity audience generous in applause for celebrated artists
Erika Morini and Norman Jollif last evening took by storm the audience which filled the theatre.
Mr. Jollif shared equaled honors, his selections being an unusual happy program * * * * He brought out the full power and beauty of his voice winning his hearers from the outset.
NORMAN JOLLIF
Bass-Baritone
Exclusive direction
WALTER ANDERSON
62 W 45 St. New York