ALIDA LOMAN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 35, 5 November 1907, Page 7

ALIDA LOMAN.

THE WOMAN. AND HER ART.

She was singing a gay little French chanson as a Dominion reporter entered her, comfortable sitting-room at the Hotel Cecil, and there was the joy of living in the changing .nuances of each pure note. Then she heard more, than her own voice, and turned to beam a welcome on the intruder. Mevrouw Alida Lonian is a typical Hollander—shorter than middle-height, and buxom, fair-skinned; fair-haired, with a homely look, and love of lifo beaming through .her blue eyes. Would she continue her song? No, she would talk, and talk sho did, most fluently, in indifferent English, poppered with an inundcrstandalble word hero and there, but made ampl} intelligiblo by her vivacious manlier of imparting an idea not altogether implied in her English. | Yes, she was of Holland—Doutsch, and studied at the famous .conservatoire of Amsterdam.' The promise of her voice there was such that she' went to Paris, went to Marchesi,' to acquire additional knowledge and finish.

Out, of tho great teacher's hands engagements camo fast enough. She was strongly persuaded to join the operatic stage, but found oratorio and song-singing tauoh more to her liking, and has sung in "The Messiah, " "Mathaeus Passions" (Bach), and other oratorios in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, and also, of course, in Holland and France. No, not iiv England—that will come later— perhaps. . , . " Yes, I sing the languages—Dutch, French, German—and English," this with proper pride. V Best of all, I love singing songs—songs of simple charm that reach tho heart, the songs of Schubert, Schumann, your English Cowen and Novin, anfl my husband's. . Oh, do you not know? Yes, Mynheer Lornan was a composer and conductor, and writes songs I find pleasure in singing." What school did she like? "Well, wellall schools! Yes, they all have their distinctive charms—the French, German, yes, and the English. Such songs as 'Tho Swallows,' Kevin's "Twas April ' and tho old ballads, 'It was a lover and his lass,' and 'Where the Bee Sucks'—all charming." Mevrouw Lomim also loves tho Scottish national songs, and referred to a book ol them,with—wonder of wonders —settings by Beethoven, twenty-five of them. They included "Faithful John," "Thou art the Lad of my Heart," and, if you please, that essentially English ballad, "Sally in our How did she come to be here, and why? In October of last year she was singing in Amsterdam, where she met Herr Scherek, whom she told that she' was going out to Java under an engagement. Herr Seherek said "Why not Australia?" and hero they were. They were feted like Royalty in the Dutch East Indies, where they gave seventytwo concerts, but so different to Now Zealand. It made her laugh to see her picture on the boards; it was not so in Holland or in Java. In the East the society people manage' tho concerts, unci inform desirables of the event by sending round a boy with a small circular—that was sufficient. She had not semi much of Australia, but was lookiiu? forward. New Zealand? \ es, she liked New Zealand, and wlnit a wonderful place was Kotorua. Her husband was 'tnkiiin somo of it nway—in his canusra. In Melbourne sho was pursuiidwl tb sing some of Elsa's music out of "Lohengrin" with tlie. Orchestral Society, and was excellently successful. Among "her cherished distinctions Mevrouw Lonian stated that she was a frequent singer at the Court of Queen \t dhelmina, and enjoyed her personal acquaintance. As our reporter strode clown the long corridor the voice of the cheerful singer followed him chirruping "lliiig-a-riiiK-n-M)s.v' with a simple gaiety that was quite entrancing.