PUCCINI AND "MADAM BUTTERFLY."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 811, 7 May 1910, Page 3

PUCCINI AND "MADAM BUTTERFLY."

. SOME INTERESTING" FACHB. Signor Roberto Hazon, who will make his first visit to the Dominion with J. 0. Williamson's Grand Opera Company, and will conduct an orchestra of over 4Q picked.v.players.. for ..'Madam Butterfly" and" thS succeeding operas, in a recent conversation with a representative of the Sydney "Daily Telegraph," remarked:—"I said I would never conduct again, but. then I.never thought I should have the offer of introducing Puccini's beautiful 'Madam Butterfly!, to this country. When Mr.! Williamson .wrote to mo he said he, would like to play in Australia' in lish, and asked. me could I get the artists. It waß a very difficult thing to do. But there is "one "thing about music that there is not about other arts. That is its cosmopolitanism. Italy' is thecentre.-. Italy'is;'the- musician's Mecca. It is ' the ambition of every singer to appear at'La ScaLa. '1 approach those who have succeeded—who sing in English. 'What?' they say, "I spend my money so many years in arriving to go and sing in Australia?' .They-shake their head.'l argue; I try to'persuade. I want successes. I want only' those I hear and whoso, voices I like. It is. a-very difficult matter. For four- months ■ I angle for one artist—Bol Sorel. At the same time the Metropolitan- Opera House of New York is negotiating with her. It is a critical moment—will all my months of argument and entreaty be lost? -It is then that Mr.' Williamson', arrives in Milan. I. bring him along to. Bel Sorel's flat, where she lives in luxurious surroundings. Mr. Williamson impresses her. Xuck is with us. Sho has had a disagreement with the '

agent .of the Metropolitan Opera House and we close with her. Then I am not at ease. Artists are difficult people— impulsive, temperamental. You never know. If it were not so they would not bo artists. But I have received a cablegram from'my son that Bel Sorel is on the steamer. She has sailed. The' others have sailed with tor. It is - a great relief to me." •' • Speaking of Bel Sorel, Signor Hazon said: "She has. not only the voice, for the-voice by itself is nothing—she has also the art. She is an actress. She can sing 'Madam Butterfly,' and she can act 'Madam Butterfly.' Everyone of the principal'opera houses in Europe she is known in. She sang 'Carmen' in Madrid. ' ' "Maria Pompari 'will be Mimi in 'La Boheme.' 'She is a young" singer—not more than 23 years of ago, with the physique for this part. Her voice, too, has sadness, melancholy "Eily Bamato is'to be Musette. She has had experience, and it was hard to induce her to come away from Italy, where she is now \yell Mown, although she was not born in that country. "Blarney and Zergawill alternate tho tenor role in' 'Madam Butterfly.' Blarney is young, with a fine, ringing • voice, and ■ experience in Berlin, Italy, and •France, in opera' and on the concert

: platform. Zerga has also a voice such ■ as you seldom hear away from the Old World. It is highly cultivated, and his phrasing is full of warmth and-colour. Zanelli, the baritone, has played Sharpless, the Consul in the Japanese lyric, a lot in Italy. His voice and acting are excellent, and his English is good—not ■English ala Hazon, and the returned musician laughed at the joke cracked against himself. "Puccini is just now the vogue," Signor Hazon added to questioning. "In Italy, where every year they have the carnival season for three months in every town of importance, his works are :not only always included, but are the great attraction. 'Tosca,' 'Butterfly,' 'Boheme —they are earning him royalties all over Europe, England, and North and South America. Ho cannot count the money they are earning. He is now writing an opora on Tho Girl of tho Golden West,' which will bo ready this year. His music has passion and melody, and tho orchestral effects arc very beautiful. Before I ,'left for Australia he wrote me a letter, saying he had heard and hoped Mr. Williamson's venturo would bo successful. He also mentioned that Australia was tho only musical country that had not heard !'Madam Butterfly.' I have hoard it many times. I heard it in London with Destinn in tho namo part, in Paris, aud again and again in Italy, where it is very familiar. ,In Italy everybody goes to the theatre. I have no hesitation in jpn a rare treat."