25
MUSICAL COURIER
May 11, 1922
TRIUMPH OF
MACBETH
PRESENT DAY WONDER OF SONG.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
'THURSDAY. APRIL 27, 1922.
I MACBETH IS
APRIL 27, 1922,
THE ST. IDUIS STAR
K.
American Soprano a Genuine Artist, as Soloist With the Knights of Columbus.
By RICHARD li. STOKES.
Columbus Choral Club, last night at the Odeoh, remained to applaud-a remarkable vocal apparition.
Miss Florence Macbeth, a coloratura soprano, American born and trained, came forward as soloist, and proved herself a match for Amelita Galli-Curei and Frieda Hempel rolled into one. \ Some of us remember her appearance here some six or seven years ago in joint recital with Pasquale Amato; her progress since that time is one of the present-day wonders of song.
Miss Macbeth has a voice of bright, animated and ringing timbre; its truth of pitch is a delight to a fastidious ear; and its range is easily equal to the exactions of her field. Her diction is phenomenal; her ability to enunciate every syllable distinctly without the least impairment of tone quality is a lesson for vocalists. She is a mistress of coloratura technique and, in particular, her use of the portamento, the pianissimo, the descending scale and the messa di voce are no less than ravishing. She has a sparkling sense of crisp and delicate rhythm.
In addition to a voice of natural and cultivated beauty, the young diva displayed a gift even more precious—that of elegantly wrought interpretation. Every word had its finesse of expression, its sensitive and intelligent feeling for text. The quantity of detail enriching each song was prodigious. Miss Macbeth is not only a singer, but an artist.”
The foregoing are typical of the reports from a hundred other cities in which Macbeth has recently sung.
Miss Florence Macbeth, Clearvoiced Coloratura, Is
BY ERNEST EL COI/VIN.
The Knights >of Columbus Choral Club can always be depended on to give an ambitious program and to present it well. This was evident last night at the annual spring concert of the club, and the large audience at the Odeon clearly manifested its approval.
Not a trivial number was on the program and Theie ־were several selections that in, difficulty and in musical merit surpassed" those dfteto
heard at choral affairs.
The concert not only was excellent from the viewpoint of ensemble singing, but it gave occasion to bring to St. Louis one of the great coloratura sopranos—Miss Florence Macbeth, a native of Mankato, Minn., and now a member of the Chicago Opera Company. Miss Macbeth was soloist in the principal choral number, and also gave a thoroughly enjoyable program on her own account.
The great number of her program was the polonaise from the opera “Mignon,” one of the most difficult arias in coloratura music, but also one of the most acceptable if it is properly sung. This aria, with its intricate florid passages, give the singer a chance to demonstrate her mastery of that branch of song, and it also gave her an opportunity to take with flutelike clarity a high E-flat.
But while the polonaise was the show piece of her program, the selection that showed her voice to best advantage in its smoothness and sweetness was Handel’s “What s Sweeter Than a Rose?” This had the typical Handelian long florid passages, but was without the sharp staccato that marked the polonaise. In the Handel number Miss Macbeth showed her tonal control by resorting to the device of beginning a high, sustained note softly, increasing its volume in a steady crescendo and then gradually diminishing the tone.”
lanagement: NATIONAL CONCERTS, Inc., (Samuel Geneen, Pres.), 1451 Broadway, New York