16
January 25, 1923
Wavolian Company, one of the Wavolian machines, so that all her guests could hear Miss Barnes perfectly without the aid either of head pieces or the horn generally used with a radio set. When Miss Barnes had finished singing she received congratulations over the phone from Mine. Dambmann and her guests for her clear soprano tones and her artistic singing. An impromptu musical program followed, participated in by Vera Stetkewicz, pianist; Laura Chamberlain, soprano; Jean Schott, soprano, and Mr R. Wolf, violinist, all of whom gave much pleasure. Refreshments were served and a social evening was enjoyed by all.
Viola> Bryan, whose delightful singing at the Southland Singers’ Versatile Concert on December 9 is well remembered, will give a radio recital next month.
Sixty-one Dates in Fifteen Weeks for Mary Potter
The readers of the Musical Courier, especially the managers, booking agents and conductors, evidently have noted the continued and consistent development of the young American contralto, Mary Potter, who exactly five years ago, at the age of seventeen, showed possibility of the development of a fine voice and art. Today on account of good counsel, proper and judicious study, she stands among the most successful of American singers, much sought after for opera, concerts and recitals.
Booked solidly from the first of the year to Easter, she is a shining example of what can be accomplished Singing throughout the entire New England States, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, etc., appearing not less than sixty-one times in fifteen weeks and missing but four Sundays at her New York church, where her singing is one of the joys of the large congregations at the Fifth Church of
MARY POTTER
Christian Science. Appearances are now being booked between April IS and June IS.
Miss Potter took the 1 :00 a. m. train on January 1 for Concord, N. H., but not until after she had called on her vocal instructor and coach, Joseph Regneas, to whom she attributes the real cause of her unusual success, to bid him the happiest of New Years and to join her voice to the Doxology which is sung by a hundred voices at his beautiful home and studio exactly at midnight every year At the end of her season, Miss Potter will again spend her vacation at Raymond, Me., making her sixth successive season since she began her work with Mr. Regneas in this secluded spot in the heart of the vast pine country
S. K.
Galli-Curci and Ruffo to be God-Parents of Schipa’s Baby
On Saturday afternoon, January 27, what will always be a memorable occasion will take place in the Tito Schipa houeshold. On that date the attractive little daughte'r of the Chicago Opera tenor will be christened, the godparents being none other than Amelita Galli-Curci and Titta Ruffo.
Although the young lady is but a few months old, according to her mamma—by the way, a decidedly beautiful and charming one—she has already shown signs of having inherited her daddy’s voice.
“You should hear some of the high C’s and D’s Elena tosses off with glee when she is having her daily bath,” Mme. Schipa said the other day. “Pm sure you never heard their equal emitted by any coloratura soprano I wrote my husband so the other day, after his performance in Martha, and he replied that if that were the case he had hopes of his daughter singing Gilda to his Duke in Rigo-letto, perhaps, twenty years hence. I wonder!” Mme Schipa thought for a minute, then added:	“At present
she is content to spend the days investigating the mysteries of Central Park.”
Verdi Club Dates
Florence Foster Jenkins, president of the Verdi Club announces the annual Blue Bird Dance, January 25, 8pm at the MacDowell Club, for the benefit of the flower fund for the sick. Fifty or more members received floral gifts last year from the chairman, Mrs. Gardner Hirons.
A musical and dramatic afternoon will take place February 9, two o’clock, with the following artists: Baroness Leja , o״I}°n> soprano; Irma Frisch, violinist; Margaret Nickoloric, pianist; William A. Brady, play producer lecturer Wilf P. Pond, author, editor The Spur; also first American production of A Little Fowl Play by Harold Owen (produced and adapted by St. Clair Bayfield).
MUSICAL COURIER
on the left side, but always on the right.’ I promptly made the change from one side to the other, but in doing so I allowed a large part of my petticoat to show. At my next entrance on the stage I was hissed, and again I asked the interpreter what sin I had committed. ‘My goodness,’ he said, ‘you left your kimona open and only bad girls do that in Japan.’
“You see, you critics are ready to point out mistakes when you think you know something, but many mistakes
Moffett Photo
INA BOURSKAYA
as Amneris in Aida.
happen on the stage that you never see. Take for instance, the performance of Samson and Delilah. You will notice all the choristers who take the part of Jewish people kneel on the stage. Now, then, Jews don’t kneel; they may prostrate themselves, but they don’t kneel. Nobody said a word about this in any paper, and yet my Amneris is not one that suits you. I do not want to point out other’s shortcomings, and you are anyway too much of an exact individual yourself in matters theatrical for me to proceed any further.”
Thinking this was our cue to depart, we bade the charming diva “Good afternoon,” and met on her threshold at our exit, S. Hurok, her astute and indefatigable manager.
R. D.
Wolanek and Stallings on Ampico Program
The concert given at the Ampico studios, Tuesday evening, January 16, by Jan Pawel Wolanek, violinist, and Louise Stallings, soprano, was very well attended and afforded keen delight to those who heard it. Mr. Wolanek, a young Polish violinist, played his first group, including the Tartini-Kreisler variations on a theme by Corelli, in a manner which at once marked him as an artist of’ sound musical attainments. He has a polished technic, pure intonation, and excellent bowing. His second group, played with fine musical feeling, rhythm and a beautiful tone, completely captivated his audience. The Old Dance, by Aussek-Burmester, had to be given three times before he was allowed to go on with his other numbers. David Buttolph played artistic and sympathetic accompaniments. Miss Stallings, another popular Ampico artist, always wins through her graciousness and charm of personality, as well as her richly colored soprano voice. Her first group, consisting of Italian and French songs, was made more enjoyable to many by her reading of the texts in English before singing. Her last group represented American composers —Ross, Howard Scott, Barnett and Terry. Her intelligent and artistic interpretations are always appreciated. She was given good support by Edward Hart at the piano.
Percy Grainger’s Many European Appearances
Percy Grainger had to his credit fifty-eight appearances in Scandinavia and Holland from September 8 to December 26, 1922; twenty-eight were given in Scandinavia and thirty in Holland. Following is a list of his Holland engagements:	October 26, Amsterdam, soloist with Con-
certgebouw Orchestra; 28, Den Haag, soloist with Concert-gebouw Orchestra; 30, Den Helder; 31, Haarlem, soloist Concertgebouw Orchestra; November 2, Zutphen; 4, Amersfoort; 6, Rotterdam, soloist, Concertgebouw Orchestra; 8, Deventer; 9, Haarlem; 10, Arnhem; 11, Breda; 14, Zwolle; 15, Amsterdam; 16, Den Haag; 17, Apeldoorn; 18, Rotterdam; 20, Utrecht; 21, Den Haag, Kunst aan Allen; 23, Hilversum; 24, Leiden; 25, Wageningen; 26, Haarlem, matinee; 27, Amsterdam; December 9, Nijmegen; 13, Bussum; 18, Baarn; 19, Den Haag, Afscheids concert; 20, Amsterdam, Afscheids concert; 25, Utrecht, Afscheids concert (matinee); 26, Rotterdam, Afscheids concert (matinee).
Mr. Grainger will return to the United States in the fall, and will again appear in concerts and recitals in New York and all parts of the country.
Madame Dambmann Gives Radio Party
Emma A. Dambmann, vocal teacher and president of the Southland Singers, entertained the members of this society at a unique musical evening at her home on Saturday evening, January 13. One of Mme. Dambmann’s pupils, Marjorie Barnes, gave a radio recital at station WJZ, Newark, and Mme. Dambmann secured, through the courtesy of the
An Interesting Ghat with Ina Bourskaya
Ina Bourskaya, _ of the Metropolitan and Chicago Civic Opera Company, is one of the most interesting “thinkers” among operatic artists. To a reporter of this paper, who had called on her in her apartment in the Congress Hotel, Chicago, and who had insinuated that her plastic figures as״Amneris in Aida were all wrong, she replied:
“How do you know, my dear sir, that I am in the wrong ? Because all the Amnerises that you have seen walk through the part differently than I do? Does this make them right «	and my conception wrong?”
“No,” Miss Bourskaya, “but. we were told by our history teacher when we went to college that only slaves and the lower class of people in Egypt carried themselves as you do in Amneris, and being the daughter of a Pharaoh in the Verdi opera you should not deport yourself as you do.” “You seem quite well versed in what an artist should or should not do, but have you reasoned or even perceived my viewpoint? In any case, I am going to tell you. If you are .a Catholic, when you enter a church you make the sign of the cross; if you are of another denomination, you go through some gestures when entering a church, a temple, or synagogue, a mosque or any other place of worship, and those motions 1 make with my hands are an Egyptian sign of the worshippers of the antiquity. I, too, have read books on the subject and am sure of my ground : otherwise, I would have accepted the hint of several illustrious musicians, who, like you, could not understand the meaning of some of my gestures. But since you look so much to details in the make-up of an opera artist, may I not ask you a few questions?”
. “Go ahead¡ Miss Bourskaya. We will try not to flunk in our examination.”
“First of all, on what side should the kimona of a Japanese girl be fastened? You don’t know, eh? I did not either until I sang the role of Suzuki in Japan two seasons ago with the Russian Opera Company. I, like all European and American girls, fasten my dresses on the left side, and so, I closed my kimona on that side when I appeared in Tokyo in the performance there of Butterfly. At my first entrance I was received with cheers and laughter, and when I asked our interpreter what was the cause of the uproar, he said ‘They laugh at you as you represent a Japanese girl as though she. were born in Petrograd. No girl in Japan has ever closed her kimona
Edna Thomas Mezzo
Brings her lovely program of Plantation Songs to New York and-
To judge from the reception accorded her last night in the Broadhurst Theater by a large audience, Edna Thomas ought to win as much success in New York as in the South. Her program in itself was interesting as well as entertaining. It included not only plantation songs and spirituals, but a group of quaint peddler’s calls, picked up in New Orleans and a series of fascinating old Louisiana melodies to words in French patois. But the mellow beauty of her low contralto voice, the character of^delivery, the charm of her personality, the grace of her manner when she explained briefly the character of her selection, counted for quite as much as the substance of her contributions in winning the favor of her auditors.■—New York American.
Miss Edna Thomas’s recital of Negro spirituals and Creole songs last night was a glimpse into the old South. Negro spirituals have been sung many times before in New York, but it is safe to say never with more romantic charm than this young New Orleans woman gave them. Miss Thomas’s voice is a rich, full contralto, with a timbre particularly suited to this type of crooning song The charm of her songs was heightened by the singer’s authentic interpretation of the spirit as well as the melody.—New York Tribune
Available singly or in conjunction with the Griffes Group or the Salzedo Harp Attractions.
CATHARINE A. B A M M A N, Direction 53 West 39th Street, New York City.