San Francisco dramatic review (1899)

September 16th, 1899 THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW LONDON Special Correspondence London, Aug. 26. — The Adelphi Theater was re opened on the evening of Saturday last, and, as the man in the street might say, "Now we shan't be long" before we have another theatrical season in full swing. The Adelphi, of course, has a new drama. It is in five acts, boasts the breezy title "With Flying Colors," and is the outcome of the collaboration of Messers. Seymour Hicks and Fred G. Latham. It is decidedly old-fashioned. There is a bit of this and a bit of that; pickings and stealings— innocent enough, no doubt, as they come from the stock-pot which is regarded as common property by the makers of melodra 11a, but always reminiscent and bound to set the play -goer wondering where he has met them before. I am saying nothing in disparagement of the play as it is built on Adelphia lines and bound to please Adelphi audiences. Mr. W. L. Abingdon, Mr. Robert Pateman, Mr. Julius Knight and Mrs. Cecil Raleigh carried off the honors. "One of the Best," recently revived at the Princess Theater, has run its course, and has been withdrawn. It was succeeded by a drama called "Going the Pace." The once favorite actress here, Miss Marie Uliugton, making her reappearance. Quite a record will be established when "The Ghetto" is brought out at the Comedy on September 7. There will be twelve companies appearing in the play at the same time. Three of these will be performing in America, one in London, two in the English provinces, two in Holland, two in Germany, one in France, and one in Belgium. Some changes have been made by your Mr. Fernald, author of the Comedy version, but the main features are the same as in the original. Complaints are made by provincial managers of poor audiences at the theaters owing to the bright weather which tempts visitors to prefer out-of-door recreations. Sir Henry Irving intends to produce an historical play next year which will have an exciting representation of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Mr. and Mrs. Kendall sail for New York on Sept. 20. Their American tour will last until May 31st. Mr. Wilson Barrett opens his Lyceum season Sept. 2nd with "The Silver King," and later on he will produce a new play in which he will be seen in a character of a different kind to any in which he has recently appeared. Mr. Arthur Roberts has quite recovered from his recent operation, and has been visiting the Isle of Man with great advantage to his health. Mr. E. S. Willard has never been quite himself since the illness which seized him in Chicago two years ago, and has gone to Aix-les-Biins under medical advice. A New Yorker. cMuskal cHptes The greatest musical box ever constructed will be exhibited for the first time at the Paris Exhibition in 1900. Its inventor and builder, Antonio Zibordi; an Italian, devoted fifteen years of his life to constructing it. He has bestowed upon his masterpiece the imposing name of "Autoelektropolyphon." In it are concealed 80,000 pieces of musical apparatus, which required an outlay of 60,000 francs. * * * Dr. Barth of Koslin, has written a pamphlet to show that singing has not only an artistic value, but is a promoter of health. It deepens the respiration, exercises the capacity of the lungs, and strengthens the muscles. The appetite and thirst are increased, the movements of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles aid digestion, the larnyx and nasal passages are benefitted, the hearing becomes more acute. In short, singing is a prophylactic against chronic lung troubles, heart complaints and anaemia. * * * On June 25, the memorial to Hans von Biilow was unveiled in the CAPT. ALBERT DREYFUS The Leading Man in (he Greatest Drama of the Centur y. Ohlsdorf Cemetery in the presence of Frau von Biilow and numerous friends. The stone bears a relief portrait of von Biilow by Hildebrandt, of Florence, and reproduces admirably the spiritual energy and the will power and the pose of . the head. Von Biilow stands lifelike before the spectator as the lord of his orchestra, his infalliable ear listens to the finest nuances of the powerful orchestral body, and from the seemingly closed eye a glance is directed to the thoughtless ones who have betrayed themselves by a false note. Beneath the bronze relief is a bronze urn in which the ashes of the master repose. Mascagni, the famous composer of " Cavalleria Rusticaua," a few years ago was asked to entertain the royal court in Rome. He did so, and delighted his audience. When he had finished playing he started a conversation with a little princess who had stood near the piano during the recital and had shown every sign of deep interest. As a matter of fact, she had been instructed by her mother to say, if any question should be asked, "that Mascagni was the greatest musician in Italy." The composer asked her which of the great living masters she liked best, and the proud mother turned toward the child to hear the pretty little speech which had been taught to her. Instead of the compliment came the withering remark: " There are no great masters living. They are all dead." The musician gave a little start and then said: "Your Excellency, permit me to congratulate you. You are the most truthful critic in Europe." — Musical Courier * * * Sousa's popularity may be gauged by the two following incidents. When Marc A. Blumenberg, editor-in-chief of The Musical Courier, stepped off at Gibraltar last month he heard a Sousa march played by the Coldstream Guards Band, stationed there. The other story Sousa relates himself. He was in Paris one day last summer, and, wishing to look over some new scores, went into a music store on the Boulevard. He is, as all know, a very unassuming man. He asked for an English-speaking clerk. An old man appeared and to him a request was made for certain music. "All right, Mr. Sousa," said the man. Astonished, the American composer asked: "How do you know my name?" For answer The Musical Courier, with his portrait, was shown him. Then he understood. * * * Mark Hambourg, the celebrated Russian pianist, who is to tour the United States the coming season under the management of Victor Thrane, will sail from Liverpool October 18, on the steamship Teutonic, arriving here in time to fill a number of engagements in the Western cities, and will make his first New York appearance with the New York Philharmonic Society, on December 8 and 9. Emperor William is desirous of giving every year at Berlin a series of grand concerts directed by celebrated conductors. For the coming season he has already engaged Mascagni, Lumpe, Lamoureux, Hans Riehter and Mahler. This shows that the Emperor is willing to encourage talent in whatever nation he finds it. He has honored Mascagni in asking him to open the series. * * Mme. Patti has just given two concerts at Swansea, Wales, for the benefit of several charitable institutions of that city. In spite of the hackneyed list of numbers on the program, the diva realized $7,000 for her charities. It is almost superfluous to add that she was frantically applauded, and that at the conclusion of the program, she sang "Home, Sweet Home." * • "Songs without words" is an excellent title for compositions which one might as well call "songs that speak." Often, however, we see songs with words that might more exactly be denounced " words without song." — Anton Rubenstein. * * * The news that Felix Draeseke has just finished a big choral and orchestral work, "Christus," recalls to us the singular neglect pianists manifest to this composer's fine piano sonata in F sharp minor. * * Siegfried Wagner's activity at Bayreuth has, we hear, reached the pernicious notch. It is rumored that the name of Bayreuth is to be changed to Beartown, in honor of the young man's opera. * * * The London opera season closed with a performance of Romeo and Juliet. Madame Melba impersonating the heroine. * It is said that Melba has been paid a million dollars in the six seasons she has been playing. Only one-half made abroad. * The Princess of Wales enjoys Wagner very much. He is the only composer she can hear — on account of her deafness. « * # The handsomest woman in Bayreuth this year is, by all odds, Miss Marion Weed, an American, by the way. • * » Mary Anderson is devoting herself to singing. Her friends swear that she is wonderful. ■ Madame Paderewski will not accompany her husband this season to America.