MUSICAL COURIER
60
March 29, 1922
in concert as pianist with the Rich-Kindler-Hammann trio:
Everybody who knows anything about Philadelphia music . . . . is cognizant of the fact that Hammann is almost unapproachable in the fine art of accompanying. . . .
Seldom indeed does one hear a piano trio which seems to have the symmetrical completeness of the string quartet. Too commonly the listener feels a hopeless discrepancy between the timbre of the instrument of the keyboard and its associates of the fingerboard. The pianist
© Rembrandt Studio.
ELLIS CLARK HAMMANN
playing with strings is confronted by the necessity of thinking, feeling and playing in terms of bowing, instead of percussion, and the two things are antithetic and antipathetic.
That was Mr. Hammann’s metaphysical victory. He subdued the piano to its environment without suppressing it. . . . Mr. Hammann did not ask us to forget the difference between the piano and the violin. But he played (with the lid of the instrument down, of course) as though he were, like a viola, an accessory and an intermediary, as well as an active, equal partner. We do not ask to hear greater executive expertness than he showed in the swift passages of the Beethoven trio and the final measure of the gorgeous Tschaikowsky trio.—Philadelphia Ledger.
Mr. Hammann’s piano put in a full afternoon. After Beethoven’s intricate baffling pyrotechnics, he was called upon in the Tschaikowsky number to play almost in the manner of a soloist. He responded splendidly. There was an impression of inexhaustible power in the sonorous chords which marked the andante and his octave runs were the effortless flights of birds.—Philadelphia Bulletin.
The enormously difficult piano part of the Tschaikowsky was magnificently performed by Mr. Hammann as, for that matter, was the Beethoven, only a shade less difficult in its demands of variegated color and fluency of technic.—Philadelphia Evening Ledger.
Mr. Hammann’s work at the piano was nothing less than genius.— Philadelphia Ledger.
LOUIS SIMMIONS
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Richard Bonelli Triumphs on Gallo Tour
Richard Bonelli, baritone, now on his first tour with the San Carlo Opera Company, has scored marked success at his every appearance in leading roles vuth that organization. In Boston where Mr. Bonelli began the present tour, the Boston Transcript apparently set the precedent for the tributes he has everywhere received by according him the following praise:
In Richard Bonelli the San Carlo Company has a baritone who can sing as an opera singer should sing—richly, expressively, and above all, variedly. There has been little precedent for the thrilling pleasure that came last evening in Mr. Bonelli’s version of the prologue to Pagliacci. It was good to feel and hear again the answering response of an audience stirred.
The Boston Post agreed that “he again confirmed the impression that he has the finest male voice in the company.”
Similarly in Philadelphia, the Ledger wrote:
Richard Bonelli simply took the house by storm with his singing of the prologue as Tonio. The air was gloriously given—only Titta Ruffo’s performance of those we have heard, rivals it.
The Philadelphia Record felt that:
Vocally the high light of the performance was Richard Bonelli. His beautiful voice and finished style brought him a great ovation. The polish of his singing is a genuine treat.
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer concurred in the general opinion, declaring:
Bonelli’s Iago is a masterpiece. Music lovers seemed more enthusiastic over Bonelli’s interpretation than over any other single triumph by the Gallo stars.
His triumphs were repeated in Washington, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Toronto, and Detroit, the musical critic on The News in the latter place writing after Bonelli’s first appearance :
The evening’s surprise was Richard Bonelli. He has a mighty baritone of the dramatic Titta Ruffo order. He is a very real acquisition to the company.
Having thus won a genuine ovation in every Eastern city visited by the Gallo forces, Mr. Bonelli’s appearances
Morrail photo.
RICHARD BONELLI
throughout the Middle West and South en route to the Pacific Coast, where he is now singing, served but to strengthen the general impression that this young American artist shows every promise of taking a foremost place among the leading baritones of the age.
Baldrich Pleases the West
The appended criticisms of Rogelio Baldrich’s appearances in Gioconda, Butterfly and Rigoletto, testify to the lyric tenor’s success in these roles:
(Rigoletto.)—Tile duke was done by Signor Baldrich, a lyric tenor of great charm both vocally and personally, who slipped into the part as if born for it. He phrases with refinement and overcame the great difficulties of the score with great ease. Even the long solo at the beginning of the third act that usually is omitted for reason of its sheer difficulties, was rendered in full and with fine success.—New Orleans Times-Picayune.
(Rigoletto.)—The tenor role of the Duke of Mantua was sung by Rogelio Baldrich, whose voice is beautiful and velvety smooth and finished. The Donna e Mobile aria was especially beautiful as sung by him.—San Antonio Evening News.
(Rigoletto.)-—Generous applause also rewarded the light, but appealing tenor work of Rogelio Baldrich as the Duke, whose high tones were of especial beauty in the famous La Donna e Mobile. — Los Angeles Examiner.
(Gioconda.)—Rogelio Baldrich was a consistent Enzo and sang the measures of the lover with warmth and effect. His beautiful solo in the second act, Heaven and Ocean, won an emphatic encore.—Los Angeles Evening Herald.
(Gioconda.)—Rogelio Baldrich as Enzo carried the heavy vocalization of the early acts with spirit and in fine voice. His numbers are arduous, and in the second act especially he sings almost constantly, but he made his every note and phrase one of beauty, and well deserved the tremendous applause which followed his solos.—Los Angeles Examiner.
(Butterfly.)—Rogelio Baldrich has a thoroughly pleasing tenor voice and a really sincere appreciation of the dramatic requirements of the part. He acted the lover most satisfyingly in the first act, and his duet with the Butterfly in the final was thrilling.—The El Paso, Texas, Times.
Critics Highly Praise Ellis Clark Hammann
The appended press notices are representative of those which Ellis Clark Hammann receives when he appears
“Yes, Its a Steinway”
ISN’T there supreme satisfaction in being able to say that of the piano in your home? Would you have the same feeling about any other piano? “It's a Steinway.״ Nothing more need be said. Everybody knows you have chosen wisely; you have given to your home the very best that money can buy. You will never even think of changing this piano for any other. As the years go by the words “It’s a Steinway״ will mean more and more to you, and again and again, as you continue to enjoy through life the companionship of that noble instrument, absolutely without a peer, you will say to yourself: “How glad I am I paid the few extra dollars and got a Steinway.״
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