GREAT CONCERT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 925, 19 September 1910, Page 2

GREAT CONCERT.

CALVE AND G/'.SPARRI IN OPERA. "CARMEN" REDIVIVUS. , Poor Georges Bizet did not live to enjoy the tame which his best work attached to his, name, yet "Carmen," an bpera now perhaps a little thin and oldfashioned,, compared, with the full-bodied super-ofenestrated scores of such prominent modem composers of grand opera as Puccini and. Kichard Strauss, has become quite'a vogue for the time being, Bands are playing "Carmen" selections, orchestras favour "Carmen"'/ fantasias, and the City Organist, turning a ready ear to the breeze of the hour,. has! included a "Carmen" excerpt in his repertory. It is the coming of Calve that has worked this magic- It is.true that Williamsons Grand Opera Company, with.Mdlle. Bel SoreL-played the.opera m New Zealand a few weeks, ago, but it would not be surprising to learn that even that production was prompted by the approach of Calve, rather than the fitness of the company to undertake the opera. There have: been other Carmehs; there will be more; but to this generation Emma- Calve has been the.Carmen.. She her fame in. the. role of; the lovely, passionate, and distinctly fickle Spanish cigar-maker a quarter of a century. ago.- . During that time .other Carmens have strutted and fretted their hour,upon-;the stage, but.Calve has remained ; the,queen of them, all.; No one who- was present at Saturday's concert could have any. other opinion. .We had heard her in the ; saucy "Habanera" from the. first act;-which . gave : ;us precious glimpses, of the art she summons up.at will in the part, but-on'Saturday evening, the artist, dipped 1 -deeper into ..the opera, and.gave the audience ,an. excerpt in,- its natural .setting remote from the frigidity' of: ■ the - concert platform. It-was .the duet, between Carmet.; and Jose of the second act. There, x ntnidst the wine casksjin the sim-warmed piazza of the old Spanish inn, a black (and gold a- saucy.'careless desirable baggage, hummed lightly as-she prinked her-" self out whilst awaiting Jose, ..who. has just been released. frorir an ..imprisonment suffered for, her sake. .Jose enters singing; .■■.'■■•: ; -."•.. - '•;..-,- . '-.r,:•:'-.' '..;■■-. y... -. "When 'tis -honour; calls,. . /: Or'love that enthralls, ' Comrades all are'we, ' ' ...'. Men of Adcala!" ~ Carmen's welcome is halfexasperating. Hersis the torturing feline kind;of love, embodying,the eternal question to the lover;of the moment. .She had danced before -,the, officers the evening before—jealous? Now she will dance :U> 'him alone—"La ■ la-la-la "la!". Jose/ just freed 'from'a'filthy-, cell, is' gharmed by her .grace .; and .abandon. ; : A/trumpet sounds, summoning Jose .to barracks. He must go, he -tells Carman. - 'She/-.'only dances oh with, insouciance arid merry aplomb to the music of the .bugle;' Jose, hesitating between passion and duty, 'insists that he must ily.-'.She .inocks him ironically—his-love sooh grows cold.! .Exasperated, he pours.,, out. the passion of his soul .to the. flaunting beauty... She. tempts ,~ him to desert with tender pictures of a free'life,'but duty and honour hold him' firm', against ■•:. all. '.her .wiles,, until, -finally, she.-" flings him 0i1',..-telling him.;;that.she. loves . him . not. , Such a duet. not , only calls for vocalists of la high order, but-it'requires artists who can depict the quick-changing moods of such .a' pair. Calve' lived.'the .part. What surprised most was .her. wonderful assumption of youth.in the jaunty carriage and pose, the playful-, tossing;'6'f her, head, aha,the grace of. motion,: suggested rather than performed, in', the uahoe. How. exquisitely, too, she.- melted in ; her softer :, moods, ■ whilst ■: absolute heiirtlcssness' was ■ conveyed in' the ha"rd metallic tones at the. end of the, duet. Calve's "Carmen" is a perfect'.picture. It.is a special pleasure to. haveseen/half ah hour of it. Signor Gasparri made.a handsome Don Jose, and acted and sang the part magnificently, though it is one which is scored .off. rather/than scores in the duet. Such :a:tenor would grace the company.,that,(Mr.,:Williamson is about to laurich"ih'/Aus'tralia. : ";,'. • ""'• !V .But the programme •-.was'.' not all '."CarV meli.",ilnrtthei;flrst l 'par.li Calve' repeated her splendid' interpretation 'of s the aria, "0' Ma/Lyre Immortelle,"-.from; Gounod's .first opera, "Saphb," and'sang the pretty "Serenade du, Eassant"..of,rJlassenet.;. In response 'to''a;/stormy"' "bis," the artist once more carolled the ear-haunting-£fo-vencal "Shepherd's' Song,", introduced /at her first ..concert in Wellington.;,; Instead of ringing the; mad:scene from, "Hamlet" (Ambrose 1 Thomas) she /substituted the solo, ; "ll' Est Bon, 11-Est/ Doux,","frbm Massenet's "Herodiadei a most melodious number,'and: as an encore; produced, to ■the. delight: of the audience; gay "Habanera," ; frpni,, "Carmen;" :/',„■:. ':■■■-, ; .Signor .^Galileo.,, Gasparri,... who 'was hardly in such good voice as at the Town Hall, sang Tosti's ..ballad,; "Vorrei," most artistically,; his vocal restraint and-per-fect production pleasing, all. In another mood he sang the "E.Lucevan la Stelle" solo from Puccini's, opera "La Tos'ca," in, .'-which love and despair are\ depicted with unerring fidelity by the Italian mas-ter-of colour; in" music. Signor Gasparri sang. the.solo splendidly, and, in response to an encore, sang the ever popular "La Donna e Mobile'' solo'from' "Eigbletto." The singer; was/also successful in . the recitative., and aria, ,"T°mbe' Degli Avi M'i'ei," from Donizetti's "Lucia/di'. Lam/ inermoor," to which he had to append a charming Italian, ballad.' : ; ;'.' ;\- '. ; Ml Jacques Pintel, the, solo pianist of the. party,/ is a brilliant executant, whose speed is prodigious. His .touch is crisp and clean; and had he that breadth; and dignityiiistyleandtonewhich is summed up in-the l'rench word impressement, he might be counted among the-virtuosi'of the pianoforte. On Saturday evening, M. .Pintel played Chopin's B Minor "Scherzo" nicely, an<ffairly revelled in' Rubinstein's rippling "Vaise Caprice," .and. the dazzling. "Spanish Caprice" of Moszkowsici. He was called upon to play encores for/most of his numbers. , M. Pintel also played the accompaniments. / ■:•"'-. final concert will take place at the Opera House to-morrow evening, when the programme will; includo the great duo (m costume) frenn'"Cavallma Eusticana." .'■ ■/ :':•'.'-. .' ' .. '■. .■/ : "