Famous Singers of To-day and Yesterday Part 11

Henry Guillaume Ibos, also, a French tenor formerly a cavalry officer, who made his debut in 1885, is a singer whose voice possesses much beauty. He was born at Toulouse in 1862, and has appeared with much success in France, Russia, and England. He also made a tour in 1897-98 in America.

There are tenors coming to the surface continually. Some will sink into obscurity, while others will ascend the ladder of fame; but we must leave them to the future and pay a little attention to the baritones, of whom Van Rooy has recently made his mark as Wotan. He has a tremendous voice, sings with ease, and gets a pleasing softness into his tones. He is likely to be well known in the future.

Charles Santley, who is known in England as the greatest baritone of the Victorian era, was born in Liverpool in 1834. Having a voice of fine quality, extensive compa.s.s, and great power, he left England to study in Milan in 1855. Returning in 1857, he took lessons of Manuel Garcia. In the same year he appeared in oratorio, singing the part of Adam in the "Creation." His first appearance in opera in England was in 1859, as Hoel in "Dinorah" at Covent Garden.

Although Mr. Santley sang almost all the baritone roles in opera, he was not noted for histrionic powers, but rather for his vocal abilities, and his power of seizing on the exact sentiment and significance of his part.

In 1871 he visited the United States as a member of the Carl Rosa opera company, during which time he reaped substantial honors. In 1889 he made a concert tour in Australia.

In 1892 Joseph Bennett, the eminent critic, wrote: "The foremost baritone of the day is still with us, and though his physical means have suffered changes which no skill can avoid, he is a greater artist than ever, and retains plenty of vitality for his work."

Mr. Santley married, in 1859, Miss Gertrude Kemble, the granddaughter of the celebrated actor, and his daughter, Miss Edith Santley, had a short but exceedingly brilliant career as a concert singer, previous to her marriage, in 1884, to the Hon. R. H. Lyttelton.

Jean Baptiste Faure, a French singer, will be remembered as the creator of the part of Mephistopheles in Gounod's "Faust." He was a good musician and a fine actor, and he owed more to his genius as a comedian than to his voice, which was of great compa.s.s, though not of a brilliant quality. In the winter of 1861 he made his first appearance at the Grand Opera in Paris, though he had made his operatic debut nine years before at the Opera Comique. For many years he remained at the Grand Opera, during which time he was a prominent figure in operatic history. Faure was born in 1830, and was the son of a singer at the church of Moulins. His father died when he was but seven years old. At the age of thirteen he entered the solfeggio cla.s.s at the Conservatoire in Paris, to which city his family had moved when he was three years old. At the breaking of his boy's voice he took up piano and double ba.s.s, and was for some time a member of the band at the Odeon theatre.

After his voice was settled he joined the chorus at the Theatre Italien, and in 1850 again entered the Conservatoire, where he gained, in 1852, the first prizes for singing and for opera comique. He is a man of refined tastes and great culture, and an enthusiastic collector of pictures. In 1859 he married Mlle. Lefebre, an actress at the Opera Comique. Of Faure's Mephistopheles, in "Faust," a critic of 1876 writes, "No impersonation of this character at all approaching the general excellence of his could be named." What Faure respected most was the intention of the composer. It is impossible for any one to penetrate more deeply into a part, to adorn it with more delicate gradations of light and shade, to hit upon more felicitous contrasts and juster intonations, to identify himself more thoroughly with a character or an epoch. He proceeded by degrees, led his audience to sublimest heights of enthusiasm by cleverly calculated stages,--he fascinated them.

Of French baritones, Victor Maurel is the one who has succeeded Faure.

His creation of the part of Iago, in Verdi's "Otello," was considered a masterpiece of lyric acting, and Iago is at the present day his greatest role.

Maurel was born in 1848 at Ma.r.s.eilles, and, having a penchant for acting and singing, began to play in comedy and light opera in his native town.

His ambition soon led him to Paris, where he entered the Conservatoire and studied singing with Vauthrot, and opera with Duvernoy. He gained the first prizes in both subjects in 1867.

In 1869 he made his debut in "Les Huguenots," but he was not considered sufficiently successful to secure a permanent engagement, so he went for a series of tours in Italy, Spain, and America. His first London appearance was made in 1873, when he took the part of Renato at the Royal Italian Opera, and was engaged there, as a result of his success, every year until 1879, playing the parts of Don Giovanni, Tell, Almaviva, Hoel, Peter the Great, Valentine, Hamlet, and the Cacique. He also played Wolfram and the Flying Dutchman, and in 1878 appeared as Domingo in Ma.s.se's "Paul and Virginia."

In 1879 he once more appeared in Paris, taking the part of Hamlet. His name had become established since his previous appearance in that city, and he was now a most decided success.

About this time M. Maurel undertook the management of Italian opera at the Theatre des Nations. His enterprise was hailed with joy by the Parisians, who were desirous of having Italian opera.

Maurel surrounded himself with a company of the finest artists, including Mesdames Marimon, Adler-Devries, Nevada, and Tremelli, and Gayarre, the brothers De Reszke, and Maurel himself.

Notwithstanding the attractions offered, the outlay exceeded the income, and M. Maurel relieved himself of a large amount of money in a remarkably short time. His financial disasters in no way interfered with his artistic successes, and his production of Ma.s.senet's "Herodiade," on February 1, 1884, was a great triumph.

Victor Maurel combines a good voice with a most attractive personality and a great love of his art. He is undoubtedly to be considered one of the greatest baritones of the present day. As an actor M. Maurel is magnificent, as a singer he has never had a marvellous organ, but he has used it with exquisite art. If he ceased to sing he would still be one of the greatest of Shakespearean actors. As Iago he is insidiously great, as Rigoletto overwhelming and thrilling.

He first visited the United States in 1874, and he was at once accepted as a great artist.

Amongst operatic baritones of the past twenty years Senor Guiseppe Del Puente, a Spaniard, descended from an old and n.o.ble family, must be mentioned. He was born in 1845, and studied at the conservatory at Naples. Being a true artist in his instincts, and having a fine voice, he speedily excelled. He became connected with the best operatic enterprises, and was always popular on account of his handsome stage presence, dramatic capability, and fine, rotund, musical baritone voice.

He was equally valuable in the comedy parts of light opera, or the heavier ones of serious opera.

He was well known in America in the eighties, when he belonged to the Mapleson company, and sang with Gerster, Valleria, Scalchi, Ravelli, and Gala.s.si.

The greatest English baritone of the present day is Ffrancon Davies, whose voice was declared by Sims Reeves to be the purest baritone he had ever heard. Besides having this beautifully pure tone, he has perfect control of the breath, and remarkable breadth and intelligence.

His first appearance took place at Free-trade Hall, Manchester, at Mr.

de Jong's concerts in January, 1890.

Mr. Davies was born at Bethesda, Carnarvonshire, North Wales, and, after receiving his early education at Friar's Grammar School, at Bangor, he obtained an exhibition at Jesus College, Oxford. He gained his B.A. and M.A. degrees, but was not devoted to studies only, for he stood well in the athletic world of his University, playing football in his college team, and rowing in the Varsity trial eights.

After leaving Oxford he began to study music seriously, and entered the Guildhall School, taking lessons later with Shakespeare. He has a large repertoire of baritone operatic parts, in which he has sung with great success, and he is one of the best oratorio and concert baritones of the day. He visited America in 1896, and confirmed the good accounts which had preceded him.

In the list of famous baritones of the present day, America is admirably represented by David Bispham, who has gained his greatest reputation in the part of Falstaff in Verdi's opera of that name.

Mr. Bispham was born in Philadelphia, in 1857, his father being a Quaker. Like many of the singers of to-day, he was intended for a commercial career, but, being more interested in music, he eventually allowed his love for art to overcome his desire for business, or, as he has himself said, he went the way of least resistance. His father's musical proclivities manifested themselves on the flute, which instrument he played beautifully, and young Bispham solaced the leisure hours of his youth with the guitar and zither, but never learned much of any other instrument. On every possible occasion he sang. He was a member of several choral societies and church choirs, and had the advantage of many musical friends. He took parts also in amateur dramatic performances, and thus made some progress in his art.

In 1885 he gave up business and went to London, where he has since resided. He studied with Vannucini, Shakespeare, and Lamperti, and in 1891 made his debut in London in "La Basoche," scoring an instantaneous success. He also made a provincial tour with Sims Reeves.

Mr. Bispham has a repertoire of nearly fifty roles, and can sing entire parts in German, Italian, French, and English. There are few artists who work as conscientiously for the general good of art, and there are few who have made so general a success in such a wide variety of roles, among the best of which are Wotan, Wolfram, and Beckmesser. He is also without a peer on the concert platform as an interpreter of Wagner. He was seen in opera in America in 1896, and his artistic efforts made a deep impression, for he is one of the few artists who combine with unusual vocal accomplishments great dramatic powers.

CHAPTER IX.

CONTRALTOS AND Ba.s.sOS.

The contralto in an opera company has a somewhat thankless task. Her fate is to be either a boy, or else a nurse, duenna, or some character which implies age. She frequently is obliged to stand mute while the prima donna warbles and trills and receives the applause of the house, and yet the musical demands upon the contralto are equal to those made upon the soprano.

A contralto who was deservedly popular for many years during the middle of this century was Adelaide Phillips. She was born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1833, and in 1840 went with her family to Canada, afterwards settling in Boston, where, in 1843, she appeared as an infant prodigy at the Boston Museum. In 1850, her voice having attracted attention, she was introduced to Jenny Lind, who advised her to study music. A subscription soon raised the necessary funds, and she was sent to Manuel Garcia in London, after which another fund was raised to enable her to go to Italy, where she made her debut in 1854 at Milan. She sang with success in many cities of both hemispheres, and her repertoire consisted of all the contralto parts in the operas that held their places on the Italian stage during the twenty-five years that she was known as an opera singer. In 1879, when the Boston Ideal Opera Company was formed, Adelaide Phillips was the chief contralto. She made her last appearance, in Cincinnati, in December, 1881.

In 1882 the state of her health was such that she was obliged to go to Carlsbad, and she died there on October 3d of the same year.

In private life Miss Phillips was highly esteemed, for she was not only an artist of sterling abilities, but a woman of grand character and a most devoted friend. She was buried at Marshfield, Ma.s.s., where the family had lived for some years on an estate which her success had enabled her to buy. Her life was one of hard and unceasing labor, but she had the satisfaction of being able to care for the necessities of her family, who were thrown upon her in early life.

A mezzo-soprano who took the public by storm in the early sixties was Zelia Trebelli, or, as she was more widely known, after her marriage, Madame Trebelli-Bettini. No member of Merelli's Italian troupe was gifted with so brilliant a voice and so much executive power. Her appearances in the opera houses in Germany were a series of triumphs, public and critics alike being carried away by her voice, with its brilliancy and flexibility, and her control over it.

Her early triumph was the result of long preparation, for her musical education began when she was six years old, and her vocal training ten years later. It was not until after five years of close application to study that she made her debut in Madrid, playing Rosina in "Il Barbiere," with Mario as Count Almaviva.

For many years Trebelli-Bettini remained one of the best of the galaxy of opera singers which the operatic stage has displayed during the last half of the century. In 1884 she made a tour in the United States with Mr. Abbey's troupe. She was born in Paris in 1838, and died in 1892. Her proper name was Zelia Gilbert, which expanded and Frenchified into Gillebert and reversed gives Trebelli(g), the Italian name which has for some years appeared to be necessary for all those who wish to succeed in opera.

When Gounod's "Faust" received its first performance in England, in 1863, the cast included Tietiens, as Marguerite; Trebelli, as Siebel; Giuglini, as Faust; Ga.s.sier, as Mephistopheles; and Charles Santley, as Valentine.

Since the days of Alboni there has been no contralto singer to whom the adjective "great" could be so fitly applied as to Sofia Scalchi. She was born in Turin, and her parents were both singers. She made her debut in 1866 at Mantua, in the part of Ulrica (Un Ballo in Maschera), when she was only sixteen years of age. Her first appearance in London took place two years later, and from that time she remained a favorite in England, where she sang in the memorable season of "Cenerentola," and every season afterwards for more than twenty-five years. Madame Scalchi is well known in America, where she first appeared under Mapleson's management in 1882. She had been singing in Rio Janeiro, and reached New York after a stormy voyage of twenty two days, which left her in such an exhausted condition that she was incapacitated for a month, and her illness played havoc with Mapleson's managements.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Sofia Scalchi._]

Scalchi was the possessor of a voice of delicious quality and unusual range, every note in its compa.s.s of two and a half octaves being of a wonderfully soft yet penetrating tone, and of great power. Her popularity was such that Patti and other prima donnas feared her as a rival, and regarded with jealousy the applause which attended her performances. Scalchi was imbued with the prima donna temperament, and had the regulation parrots and other pets during her travels. Concerning this portion of her equipage, Mapleson tells an anecdote to the effect that Scalchi's parrot died the night before the company reached Salt Lake City, in 1884, a bereavement which caused that lady to go into hysterics and take to a bed of sickness. Notwithstanding every art of persuasion and such threats as could be used, Scalchi refused to appear, and her part had to be taken by a subst.i.tute.

In 1876 Signora Scalchi married Count Luigi Alberto Lolli, and her home is at the Villa Sofia, Turin, Italy.

Marianne Brandt is one of those singers who have made their reputation as exponents of Wagner opera. She is the daughter of a gentleman of Vienna, named Bischoff, and it is related that she a.s.sumed the name of Brandt upon beginning her stage career on account of her parents, who strongly objected to her going upon the stage, and threw in her way every possible obstacle. Marianne, however, was determined to persevere, and she went through a period of patient, hard work, in order to gain her education. It is said that at one time she supported herself, and paid for her lessons by sewing.

Her first teacher was Frau Marschner, at the Conservatorium in Vienna, but later on she took lessons of Madame Pauline Viardot-Garcia.

In 1867 she received an engagement at Gratz, where she made her debut as Rachel, in "La Juive." Her parents had expected failure, hence their unwillingness to allow the use of the family name.

In 1868 she sang at Hamburg, when she played Fides with such success that she was immediately offered a permanent engagement, which was accepted, and lasted for many years. During her leaves of absence she appeared in London as Fidelio, but did not make a remarkable success, though ten years later, when she sang in "Tristan and Isolde," her artistic efforts were heartily appreciated.

Fraulein Brandt sang the part of Kundry at the second representation of "Parsifal" at Bayreuth, and it is said that she generously gave her services on that occasion. She has visited the United States several times, taking part in some of the earlier representations of Wagner opera in New York and other cities.