Radio Digest (Mar 1928-Oct 1929)

70 RADIO DIGES T — Illustrated no superior, and few equals, among the lyric voices of the day. High, brilliant, flexible, her voice has the shimmering quality which makes it seem, at times, to float. And with such a voice, combined with keen musical intelligence, Mme. Mason has gone far in the fields of concert and opera. Edith Mason was born in St. Louis, and attended the Ogontz and the Miss White schools in Philadelphia. This training was supplemented with courses at the National Cathedral School of Washington, D. C, and with collegiate work at Bryn Mawr. During this period, every obstacle that could possibly restrain a gifted and ambitious young woman from planning and preparing for a professional career, was brought to influence the naturally susceptible "sub-deb," whose mother strenuously opposed the exploitation of her daughter's talent, while the young woman let no opportunity slip which gave her a chance to exercise the same. Mme. Mason, who in private life, is the wife of Giorgio Polacco, the distinguished musical director of the Chicago Civic Opera, has appeared with the Metropolitan and Ravinia Park Opera Companies, at the famous La Scala in Milan and other European Opera houses. She is equally at home in concert and has appeared extensively in this field. MATZENAUER, MARGARETE, Mezzo-Soprano (Maht-zen-ourK Mme. Matzenauer made her American debut as Amneris in "Aida," soon afterward attaining other successes. She has impressed lovers of Italian opera as well as German with her splendid voice, her musical intelligence and her dramatic power. The artist was born in Hungary. She made her debut in 1901, in Strasburg, in Weber's "Oberon." After some years in continental Europe, she came to the United States, where she sang for some years with the Metropolitan Opera Company. She has sung at the Wagner festivals in Bayreuth. Her roles are very numerous, and they include all schools of opera. Her voice, generally characterized as a "mezzo-soprano," is of great range, and she has sung soprano roles with ease. She has received medals and orders from various European countries. She has made many concert tours in both the Old and the New Worlds, where she is equally well known. McCORMACK, JOHN, Tenor. Born in Athlone, Ireland, John McCormack early learned to sing the songs of his native land, but he had no reason to suspect that the voice he loved to use was exceptional. Induced to compete at the Dublin Musical Festival, however, he met with such success as enabled him, with the proceeds of a few other concerts, to go to Italy to study. After a successful debut, followed with numerous other operatic appearances in Italy, he was engaged for Covent Garden, London, on October 15,. 1907. His succeeding triumphs in America are well within memory. He has traveled the length and breadth of the land, and is everywhere received with tumultuous enthusiasm. Now an American citizen, John McCormack has come to be something of an "institution" in America, and he undoubtedly interprets in song the heart of the American people in a way peculiarly his own. Gifted with a voice of superb beauty, he can turn lightly from the most exacting of operatic airs to simple, haunting melodies that linger in the memory with the most treasured experiences of a lifetime. MELBA, DAME NELLIE, Soprano. No prima donna of the present day has ever been more beloved in three continents than has this Australian artist. Melba was born at Burnley, near Melbourne, Australia. Her father was a Scotch contractor who had been in Australia some years. He was proud of his daughter's musical talent, but objected to her following it as a profession, and it was not until her marriage to Captain Charles Armstrong that she finally decided on a musical career, The singer went to Europe in 1886, and began to study under Mine. Marches!, making Mich rapid progress thai her debut was made in Brussels in 1887 under the name of Melba (derived, of course, from her native city), and her was immediate. In England, where she sang in opera in 192.?, she received the title of Dame, the most recent of distinctions conferred upon women of intellect. Her formal retirement( a year or two later, was a national ei ent, MELIUS, LUELLA, Soprano (May-lee-us, Looell-lah). Luella Melius, friend and protege of the De Reszkes, and one of the foremost singers of ,i ,ii American, born in Chicago. She music tudy as a little girl, in Chicago, and was amazed whin her teachers presented her with a special diamond medal. A few years later, when she went to France, she was fortunate enough to meet Jean de Reszke, v. ho told her she must study with him three years, and that he would accept from her no fees for her tuition. Her debut was made in Vienna, under Felix Weingartner. Called again to America through a family illness, she was invited to sing, in Chicago, as a guest artist in "Rigoletto," and her American reputation at once was made. MERO, YOLANDA, Pianist (Mehr-ro). YoIando Mero, pianist, is of Hungarian birth and a natural inheritor of Franz Liszt's great tradition. She was born at Budapesth, where, as a little girl, she took up the study of music at the Evangelique School, under her father and Augusta Rennebaum. She made her debut in 1903, with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, and six years later, she first was heard in America at Carnegie Hall, New York. She has played with almost every orchestra of note in the United States and Europe. In recognition of her work she was elected Professor at the National Conservatory in Budapesth. MURPHY, LAMBERT, Tenor. Lambert Murphy comes from New England, having been -born, at Springfield, Massachusetts. His career as a singer began as a choir-boy; in which occupation, as an alto, he was greatly outshone by his brother, went to Harvard, where, under the fantastic tests of his classmates, he "made" the Glee Club. Not so long afterward, at the instance of Riccardo Martin, he was heard by, and taken into, the who had a soprano voice. He "grew up" and Metropolitan Opera Company. Since leaving there, he has sung at concerts, festivals, and with symphony and other important organizations everywhere in America. PADEREWSKI, IGNACE JAN, Pianist (Pad er-eff-skee, Een-yahss Yahn). The world today knows the history of Ignace Jan Paderewski — as an artist, a patriot, an administrator in troublous times, and now, at the crown of his life, an artist again, in everything the term recognizes and implies. He is of Polish birth, and it will always be remembered that he was the first Premier of new Poland. Paderewski, for all his superb mechanical skill, is a tonalist — an artist who can overlay the silvery and at times cool tones of the piano with coruscating iridescences of color. The key once struck, the pianist, unlike the singer, or the player of almost any other instrument, has no control whatsoever in this matter of tone — all must be done beforehand, while the finger descends. PAPI, GENNARO, is one of the most distinguished of Italian Operatic conductors. Operatic conducting, like that of the symphony orchestra, requires a special and a most comprehensive technique. The duties of a conductor of opera are not what appears to many to be simply to beat time for the body of musicians in the orchestra pit, but it requires something far more difficult. The operatic conductor must prepare the temperamental artists and the chorus on the stage, as well as to drill the orchestra in interpreting the musical score of the composer. The successful operatic conductor thus must hold together all forces of the production — the artists, the chorus, the ballet and the orchestra — and at the same time inspire his associates to artistic performance through his own musically sensitive personality. This is no easy task, and the power to attain complete musical success is given to but few. Toscanini, the late Companini, Polacco, Marinuzzi have risen to prominence among the hosts of operatic conductors, and to this list must necessarily be added the name of Gennaro Papi. Born in Italy, Papi came to the United States thirteen years ago and for ten of these years, has been a leading conductor of the Metropolitan Opera House. For nearly as long, he has been the Italian conductor of the remarkable summer opera seasons of the famous Ravinia Park in Chicago. Signor Papi has the genius and the temperament of the perfect opera conductor, and has the rare quality of knowing his work so well that he conducts from memory. PATTIERA, TINO, Tenor, was born in Ragusa-Vecchia, Dalmatia, and there he attended college, taking up the study of law with the intentions of making that his career. He possessed a naturally beautiful voice, however, and each time he sang for his friends they enthusiastically urged him to take up music, seriously. In the end, his inherent love for music compelled him to abandon the study of law and concentrate his every effort and talent in the study of music. After a thorough study, Pattiera made his very successful operatic debut in Dresden and earned a place among the tenors' of Europe. After gaining commendable praise from the critics of Europe, he came to tin's country and made hi:; American debut as "Cavaradossi" in Tosca with the Chicago Civic Opera Company, earning the same complete success. He has youth, splendid physique, education and a true tenor voice of the finest lyric quality. PINZA, EZIO, Basso (Peen-tsah, Ay-tsee-oh). This wonderful artist is a Roman. His career, begun at Spezia, in Italy, was interrupted by the World War, in which he served in the artillery. Practically all of the important bass roles in modern opera have been sung by Ezio Pinza; in "Aida," in "I Puritani" and "Mefistofele" he has been especially singled out for praise by European critics. His engagement by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, the best tribute America might pay to any artist's powers, soon led to the realization that Pinza was one of the great race of singers who stand hopelessly separate and apart from the common average. His voice is of noble quality, and he employs it in the grand manner of Italian operatic tradition. PONSELLE, ROSA, Soprano (Pon-zell). Rosa Ponselle is of Italian blood but American birth, and a singer by divine right. She began life in Meriden, Conn., with an enormous handicap, but a handicap over others; for hers is a voice of such beauty and power that it is1 difficult to see how an artist could develop within any distance of her without a similarly great natural gift. She began as a very young girl, singing in public iri all sorts of minor engagements. It was impossible, however, to keep such powers long in obscurity, and still at an age when most singers consider themselves hardly advanced students, she was singing at the Metropolitan with Caruso. Her voice is always sympathetic, and in great moments it reaches qualities of grandeur. She is an actress of such power that if she were to give up singing tomorrow, she still would rank high with her contemporaries of the spoken drama. RETHBERG, ELISABETH, Soprano, is one of the brightest spots of the Metropolitan Opera and possesses one of the most beautiful soprano voices in the world. The witchery of her voice can reveal the most dramatic intensity as well as the most alluring tenderness, and as one famous critic wrote of it: "It is like milk and honey." There is no finer musician, no artist better equipped among the singers appearing before the American public today. Mine. Rethberg was born in the Swartzenberg in the Erz mountains, of devotedly musical parents. At five, she started to play the piano after a fashion, and was so happy at hearing the little tunes which responded to her fingers that she soon commenced to study music. The songs which her mother used to sing when she was a girl interested her also, and she would divide her time playing the piano and singing these songs and some of those by Schubert, which especially interested her. It was not until she heard her first performance of opera on the stage of the Dresden Opera House, however, that she decided upon a career as a singer. After long and arduous preparation, she made her debut as Agatha in "Der Freischutz," followed by her appearance as Micaela in "Carmen." Her success was so notable that Richard Strauss wanted to engage her for the Vienna Opera, and her services from then on were greatly in demand. Mme. Rethberg has concertized in all the important musical centers of northern Europe arid the United States. Her appearances in opera have been just as extensive, and in addition to the Metropolitan Opera House, she has appeared in the United States also at the famous Ravinia Park Opera during the summer seasons. She sings the lyric and dramatic roles of both the French and Italian repertoire as well as' her native German operas. ROMAINE, MARGARET, Soprano. Not so many years ago out in Utah a little seven-yearold girl was playing the 'cello and singing to herself. Dreams of being a world -renowned 'cellist floated through the youthful musician's mind. But it was her singing which discovered a voice, today one of the prides of the Metropolitan Opera House. Miss Romaine first studied in London, then Paris, where she appeared in the opera at the Opera Comique. Returning to America her concert appearances and light opera tour brought her to the attention of Gatti-Casazza, who realized that America had produced another sensational soprano and engaged her for the Metropolitan. ROSEN, MAX, Violinist, the son of a poor Roumanian musician, came to America with his father when less than a year old. He lived in New York's East Side. His first lessons in violin were received from his father. Later he was brought to the attention of the late Edward de Coupet. Through his interest and generosity, Max Rosen went to Europe to study under Leopold Alter. From this point on, his career was assured. At the age of fifteen, Rosen made a phenomenal debut with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Dresden. There followed a series of European triumphs, including a concert tour of Norway and Sweden, where he was literally idolized by the