MUSICAL COURIER
62
May 10, 1923
appear. The accompanying excerpts are representative of those which the bass-baritone has inspired the newspaper men to write this season:
In Elijah the principal solo part is written for a bass voice and no one better able to sing the part could have been secured than Fred Patton. He has a voice of wide range and beautiful tone, and the ability to give it any color he desires. ... If every other feature of last night’s entertainment had been unworthy of note it would have been worth while just to hear Mr. Patton and the society is to be congratulated on being able to get him.—Elizabeth Evening Journal, March 21.
Mr. Patton, who possesses a rich bass voice of wide range, had the principal solo part of Elijah. Although the role calls for ten solos, Mr. Patton’s artistry was never monotonous.—Elizabeth Evening Times.
Tenor Sorrentino Returns from Tour
Umberto Sorrentino, tenor, has returned from a tour of three months, when he sang in many concerts in various eastern states, including those of New England, and New Jersey, Pennsylvania, D. C., and Ohio. His spring tour began April 15, to last until May 30; everywhere he appears he meets with fine success, and’ in many cases is immediately engaged for 1923-24. After he sang in Providence, R. I., the Journal of that city spoke of his “voice of surprisingly warm richness, with ample and colorful tones,” also mentioning his musicianly use of it. When he sang in Akron, Ohio, a local paper had much to say of him, such as “The flashing smile, the eloquent eyes, the romantic appearance will long stand out in memory.” There was more about his “dramatic and vivid effects, his spirit and characterization, emotionally colorful tenor voice,” and also the audience listened breathlessly. His temperament, culture, exuberance and taste were referred to in the Akron Journal. His singing of Neapolitan songs is especially praised, “and took the audience by storm, coming straight from a joyous heart, naive, sunny, volatile, full of smiles and signs.” Applause showed no signs of abating, so he sang the Sob Song from Pagliacci, with a triumph of vocal art, and the musical gem of the evening. A typical Sorrentino press notice is the following, dated April 2, Greensburg, Pa.:
Seton-Hill College had the pleasure of hearing the great tenor, Umberto Sorrentino. As he had been here before, he was heartily welcomed as an old friend. Merely mentioning that “Sorrentino is singing tonight,” was enough to draw all the girls to Caecelian Hall
1 ־ MB ERTO SOR R E XT TX( »
where the concert was held. Sorrentino’s wonderful voice, together with his charming personality, never fail to win his audience. This was very evident by the repeated demands for encores, the heavy applause, and such whispers as “Isn’t he splendid.” Arioso from Pagliacci and Che gelida manina from La Boheme are worthy of particular mention. Both were sung well, with much feeling and appeal.
Matzenauer in “Magnificent Recital”
Margaret Matzenauer sang in Syracuse, N. Y., March 26, and aroused the critics and audience to great enthusiasm:
In Wagnerian roles she excels, and when it comes to concert Mme. Matzenauer displays a legato that is most beautiful at all times together with the fine qualities of phrasing. There was ravishing beauty in her arias, especially the gavotte from Thomas’ Mignon. It is not so often heard, and the manner in which Mine. Matzenauer sang it last night was fairly bewildering in its true musicianship and vocalization. Her French group included works of Coquard and Fourdrain, and in these she displayed a remarkable range for a contralto. Her singing of LaForge’s Before the Crucifix was beautiful in its sympathetic treatment, and won for the singer a real ovation.—Post-Standard, March 27.
Margaret Matzenauer, contralto, was heard last evening in a magnificent recital. It is seldom indeed that one hears a voice with the tremendous range and variety of tone as that of Matzenauer. The charm of this particular artist extends far beyond mere range and other technical matters. To begin with, the voice is as smooth as velvet and as effortless as breathing fresh air. She is a very great artist with a rich and wonderful voice who gave of her best last evening. It is small wonder that critics have been almost unanimous in their praise of her art.—Herald, March 27.
Ethel Newcomb Pleases Toronto
When Ethel Newcomb appeared in Toronto, Canada, on March 21, for the first time, the pianist made an unusually fine impression. Hollowing are excerpts from the press comments:
The hall of the Toronto Conservatory of Music was crowded to its capacity last evening by a representative audience of music-lovers to hear the brilliant American pianist, Ethel Newcomb, in recital. In a program that represented various composers Miss Newcomb delighted her hearers for one hour and a half and fully sustained the high reputation she has attained as an accomplished technician, and interpreter. She was prevailed upon by enthusiastic applause to add to her program several extra numbers.
Miss Newcomb has a very flexible, elastic touch, which dazzles in rippling passages, staccato and arpeggio work, while in music of grandiose, sustained sonority she never forces tne instrument. As an interpreter she is well controlled in avoiding extreme licenses either of phrasing or tempo rubato, and her reading is consequently devoid of extravagances.
Miss Newcomb was the recipient of several fine floral offerings, but what must have been more gratifying to her was the evidence that the audience would have been glad had she played for another half-hour at least.—Globe, Toronto, March 22, 1923.
A very unusual combination of brilliancy and delicacy is the chief attribute of the playing of Ethel Newcomb, the American pianist•, who was heard for the first time locally at the Conservatory of Music Hall last night. You will not-often hear a greater technical adroitness
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
“One of the Most Accomplished Vocalists”
“Mrs. Littlefield is one of the most accomplished vocalists the managers are presenting,” wrote the reviewer of the Christian Science Monitor recently. “She should make an afternoon in a club schedule or an evening in a concert course go as successfully as any soprano who is without opera experience. She is particularly interesting in her choice of program, selecting enough works from the familiar song repertory to let listeners indulge the pleasure of memory, and selecting the kind of unfamiliar works' that are worthy the attention of an earnest audience.”
Equally successful in recital, oratorio and orchestral concerts, Mrs. Littlefield has had numerous appearances with
LAURA LITTLEFIELD
such organizations as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn, and Cecilia Societies of Boston. Thus, after a recent appearance as soloist with the Boston Symphony, H. T. Parker said in the Boston Trancript: “Her fresh and vibrant tone-quality was the means of injecting emotional life into the three love-songs, and only an unusual versatility of skill, only an artist’s fond study and rare intuition could have caught the moods so aptly and unmistakably of Mozart’s aria from The Shepherd King, gentle, tender, tinged with wistfulness; of Rameau’s ariette from a ballet on the Jealous Juno, in which Apollo sighs for Daphne with a bright, as against Mozart’s softer, grace; sprightly and minutely polished, but still amorous; of Duparc’s Phidyle of more liberated emotion, glamorous and dreamy, a century’s advance in the resources ׳ of tonal love-making, with even a suggestion of the nocturnal Tristan. Mrs. Littlefield has a way with recent French songs, so much in fashion now. Where most of our singers make them sound more artificial than they, properly are, she finds the kernel of the feeling and the imaginative suggestion, and to this her excellent French and her clear diction lend much. Most distinctive was the number from Rameau, not only because it was unusual in this day, but also by virtue of the harpsichord for accompaniment. Mrs. Littlefield fell into the spirit and verve of the period with clear enthusiasm; she executed the florid' interlude of Mozart’s aria as one likes to hear such embellishment—lightly and aptly, skim-mingly, and yet with no slurring.”
Said the critic of the Boston Post: “Mrs. Littlefield is known as an artist who combines very happily vocal excellence and fine musicianship. Her accomplishments are broad and she shines in oratorio as well as in concert. Mrs. Littlefield sang with unusual intelligence, with Clear enunciation and good control of her voice.”
Equally significant is the opinion of the reviewer for the Boston Globe, as follows: “Mrs. Littlefield’s pure and clear soprano voice served well. Faultless diction and intelligent control of voice further enhanced the beauty of her singing. Mrs. Littlefield uses her voice, a lyric soprano of good quality and proportions, witff—the skill and confidence of the well-schooled singer. The highest register is well developed and gives a suggestion of dramatic quality which should make it an effective voice with an orchestra.”
After a recent engagement in Cleveland, James H. Rogers, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, said of Mrs. Littlefield that “Her voice is clear, telling and flexible, and she controls it with much ease.”
Additional tributes to her art followed this singer’s recent appearances in New Bedford and Lowell, the New Bedford Mercury stating that “Mrs. Littlefield proved to be an accomplished concert singer with an agreeable voice, which she uses with splendid artistry, and an agreeable personality which appealed at once to the auditors. Her English diction is perfect—not one word was lost—and, at the same time the musical tone was never sacrificed to it.”
The reviewer for the Lowell Courier-Citizen wrote: “Mrs. Littlefield’s solos were well-chosen and served to display a thoroughly musical voice, capable of charm alike in songful and in florid numbers. The old English number by Arne was sung simply but effectively, while in the Habanera there was the swing and rhythm that characterizes the cadences of the Spanish dance measure. The singer was warmly applauded and gave ■added numbers in response.”
A graduate of Radcliffe College, Mrs. Littlefield brings to her art an atmosphere of culture that enhances her musical gifts. The records which she has made for the Victor have served to popularize her singing and she is in great demand as a concert artist.
Worth While to Hear Patton, Says Critic
Fred Patton is one of those artists who always receive superlative praise on the part of the critics wherever they
Teacher of FLORENCE MACBETH, Prima Donna Coloratnra; LENORA SPARKES, Lyric Soprano, and other prominent Artists. Studios: 318 West 82d St., NEW YORK CITY. Tel. Schuyler 8517
RECITALS IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, ITALIAN AND NORWEGIAN 561 West 143rd Street, New York City. Tel. 2970 Audubon
DR. CHERUBINO RAFFAELLI
From Royal Conservatory, Florence, Italy TEACHER OF SI IMG I IMG AND F״IAINO 602 West 137th Street, New York City Telephone Audubon 5669
COLORATURA
SOPRANO
Opera and Concerts
ALLABACH
Personal Address: Studio Club, 35 East 62 St., N. Y. Management: LOUIS BRAND
R
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GIUSEPPE BOGHETTI
OPERATIC and CONCERT TENOR
Graduate, Royal Conservatory of Music MILANO, ITALY
Vocal Studios: 1710 Chestnut Street	125 East 37th Street
Philadelphia, Pa.	New York
Professor of Choral Music, Columbia University Address 39 Claremont Ave.
Hall
Walter
Benry
Williams. BRADY
TEACHER OF SINGING
Studio: 137 West 86th St., Nevy York. Tel. Schuyler 3580
CHARLES SANFORD SKILTON
COMPOSER and ORGANIST
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas
MARIE SUNDELIUS Soprano
With the Metropolitan Opera Co.
Exclusive Management:
HAENSEL & JONES,	Aeolian Hall, New York
Edwin Franko Goldman
CONDUCTOR THE GOLDMAN BAND
"A Symphony Orchestra in Brass’*	Colombia University Concerts
Personal address: 202 Riverside Drive, New York
a. Fred WOLLE
ORGANIST
Management: THE WOLFSOHN MUSICAL BUREAU,
712-718 Fisk Bldg., New York
o f\1 f* niTID VC Voice Placement X	\^Ull\Au and Opera Class
Address: 54 West 82nd Street, New York	Telephone 5880 Schuyler
DAN BEDDOE
TENOR
Voice Culture—Recitals and Oratorio
Cincinnati Conservatory of Mnsic Cincinnati, Ohio
New York College ol Music
114-116 EAST 85th STREET
Carl Hein—Directors—A. Fraemcke All courses will continue during the summer.
SUMMER MASTER CLASSES
under the supervision of AUGUST FRAEMCKE, Piano Dept.; HANS LETZ, Violin Dept.
		
1	GEORGI	E S. MADDEN BARITONE Master Singer Concert, Recital and Oratorio “He displayed to advantage his excellent diction and artistic sensibility.”— New York American. GEORGE H. LAWSON, Manager 267 Macon St. Brooklyn, N. Y. Phone 7992-W Decatur