April 26, 192 3
MUSICAL COURIER
16
of us without voices who can be lawyers, but with a voice like yours it is a crime not to be an opera singer.”
So he went and sang for the famous Papa Cotogni, with whom most of the great Italian artists of the last quarter of a century have studied during one time or another, including such men as DeLuca and Ruflfo. Cotogni said that Lauri-Volpi’s fellow students were right and took the young man into his studio and proceeded to develop his voice when along came the war, and Lauri-Volpi, like all his young fellow countrymen, went into the army. For the first year he was at the famous academy for officers at Modena. Then he entered the army as a captain of infantry and saw service on three fronts, the Carso, the Trentino and in Gorizia, his term of duty covering no less than four years.
When the war was over he went back to Rome, but in the meanwhile Papa Cotogni had died, so he went to Maestro Enrico Rosati—who, by the way, now has a studio in New York—the teacher of that other brilliant young tenor, Beniamino Gigli. It was from Rosati’s studio that he stepped on to the stage of the Costanzi and it is proof of the faith which his teachers and the impresarios had in him that he was allowed to make his debut upon so important a stage. That their faith was justified has been amply proved by the fact that it took him a bare three years to become a valued and valuable member of the foremost opera company in the world.	H. O. O.
Activities of Roxas Pupils
Emilio A. Roxas enjoys the distinction of being an unusually busy vocal teacher. At his studio, 2231 Broadway, the maestro is continually surrounded by a host of serious pupils, who not only profit by their own lessons, but also gain rmich by listening to others. Pupils of Mr. Roxas who have made good are to be found in all parts of the United States, as well as Italy (his native country) where Mr. Roxas had a big following prior to locating in America. Among the many professional pupils of Mr. Roxas, who are now prominently before the public in and near New York, mention must be made of Inez Church, soprano; Leon Carson, tenor; Augusta Schreiber, soloist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Hoboken, N. J.; Charlotte Horwitz. coloratura soprano, and others.
Smith Singing with Many Male Choruses
Ethelynde Smith has been engaged as soloist for the annual concert of the Portland Men’s Singing Club in Portland, Me., on May 2. Other engagements filled by the soprano as soloist with male choral organizations include, the following:	Apollo Club, Portland, Ore.; Apollo Club,
Salem, Ore.; Amphion Club, Melrose, Mass.; Fortnightly Club, Philadelphia.
Another Recital in Tulsa for Middleton
Among the many reengagements for Arthur Middleton, the baritone, next season will be another recital in Tulsa,: Okla., in the fall. Incidentally, Mr. Middleton is very popular in that section of the country on account of his many appearances there.
GIACOMO LAURI-VOLPI’S RISE IN THE
OPERATIC WORLD MADE IN JUMPS AND BOUNDS
While Little Known Here a Year Ago, the Young Italian Singer Now Occupies a Conspicuous Place Among the Metropolitan’s First Rank Tenors—Wanted to Be a Lawyer, But His Friends, and Papa Cotogni, Advised Otherwise—After Army Service on Three Fronts, He Studied with Rosati—To Sing at
Ravinia Park This Summer
To his Metropolitan repertory he expects to add next season Faust in Mefistofele, Edgardo in Lucia, and the first tenor role in Fedora, the latter two operas being among the probable revivals for 1923-24.
Wanted to be a Lawyer.
One of the interesting things about Signor Lauri-Volpi is the fact that he did not start out to be an opera singer.
On the contrary, he had it firmly fixed in his mind to become a lawyer and studied with that purpose at the University of Rome. He used to sing for his own enjoyment and for the pleasure of his fellow students. “Why,” they said to him, “should you be a lawyer? There are plenty
Last January still another addition was made to the long list of Italian tenors of the first rank who have brought fame to the Metropolitan Opera -House. When it was announced that Giacomo Lauri-Volpi would make his debut on the evening of January 26, as the Duke in Rigoletto. there were a great many people in New York who said to themselves: “Who in time is Giacomo Lauri-Volpi? I never heard of him.”
And in truth it is not surprising that few people here had ¡heard of Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, for, though he has now !taken his place as one of the first tenors of the world’s leading opera house, his career has covered a bare three years. It was only on January 3, 1920, that he stepped from the studio directly into grand opera. His debut was made on one of the large Italian stages, the Teatro Costanzi at Romp, and the part he sang was Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon.
His success was immediate. The critics hailed him as a new addition to the long line of tenors, and his subsequent career proves they were not mistaken. The next season, 1920-21, he was called to La Scala by Arturo Toscanini to sing the Duke in Rigoletto during that famous season when, after several years of darkness, opera was revived at the famous house with a brilliance which had been lacking for many years past. His success there equaled that which he had won the previous season in Rome, and Walter Mocchi, the next summer, took him for the big season at the Colon at Buenos Aires, where he made a decided impression and a success of the first order.
Taken for the “Met.”
The following winter he sang in the best houses in Spain and was received with the same cordiality as he had been everywhere else, attracting so much attention and favorable comment that Gatti-Casazza, departing from his usual habit of engaging only those foreign artists whose reputations have been established for years, signed the young tenor— he is still well under thirty—for the Metropolitan.
Although Signor Lauri-Volpi has been but a short time on the stage, his repertory is unusually long. In his scant ten weeks at the Metropolitan this year he sang in no less than seven different operas: Tosca, Boheme, Traviata, Caval-leria Rusticana, The Barber of Seville, from the regular repertory, and created the leading tenor role in Anima Al-legra. This, however, is far from representing the extent of his repertory. He will be first tenor at Ravinia Park during the coming summer and in addition to most of the roles which he sang at the Metropolitan this season, will appear in Andrea Chenier, Fedora, Elisir d’Amore and Don Pasquale, in Italian, also in Manon and Faust in French.
A VIOLINIST THAT “PLA YS TO THE MASSES”
NEW YORK EVENING MAIL:
It is always a commendable idea when one works hard to give others pleasure, and Carmine Fabrizio, playing his fiddle in Aeolian Hall yesterday afternoon, certainly relieved the tired look on the lady’s face sitting across the aisle from us.
NEW YORK EVENING WORLD:
He has a graceful, reposeful playing style.
NEW YORK AMERICAN:
Mr. Fabrizio has qualities that intrigue the listener. ... He has taste and technical skill. His reading of Beethoven’s D major Sonata was sincere and unaffected, his sense of proportion was artistic, while his placing of accent and emphasis revealed a commendable dramatic appreciation.
SEASON
1923-1924
NOW BOOKING
Management :
WENDELL H. LUCE
492 Boylston Street
Mason & Hamlin Building
BOSTON
MASON & HAMLIN PIANO
NEW YORK TIMES:
The passages which demanded fleet fingers and agile bowing were played with skill, slower-moving melodies were played with a full tone of deep emotional quality.
MORNING TELEGRAPH:
At Aeolian Hall . . . Carmine Fabrizio delighted his hearers. . . . The shorter pieces, beautifully played, included numbers by Saint-Saëns, Ketten-Loeffler, Ysaye and Vieuxtemps.
NEW YORK TRIBUNE:
He is a player of taste and technical capacity.
NEW YORK
. . The
BOSTON
BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT:
Mr• Fabrizio gains merit. There seems little likelihood that his performance fails in any respect to do the composer (Zandonai’s Concerto) justice, to disclose his full intent, and accomplishment. . . . He (Fabrizio) acquits himself well in music of many schools and styles.
BOSTON GLOBE:
Carmine Fabrizio . . . gave a recital last night at Jordan Hall to a large and applausive audience. . . . Mr. Fabrizio is an unusually capable violinist.
BOSTON POST:
He has in reflective passages a fine singing tone, his intonation is excellent, and his work on the upper register of the G-string was a revelation.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:
Mr. Fabrizio played it (Zandonai’s Concerto) sympathetically, with a due understanding of its content, with virtuosity when virtuosiity was called for by the music, with refinement of expression . . . played the music for its own sake with no attempt to make it serve the purpose of personal display.
BOSTON HERALD:
Mr. Fabrizio showed himself possessed of a beautiful technic, one, at all events, that gives him command of warm, sweet tone and a fine neat fleetness in passages. . . . The evening long Mr. Fabrizio played with musicianly taste.
BOSTON TELEGRAM:
Fabrizio, one of the finest artists of the day, knows how to pick and choose his program so that it will have popular as well as musical appeal. In other words, he plays to the masses.