OUTDOING PATTI.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1354, 3 February 1912, Page 11

OUTDOING PATTI.

AN AMERICAN SINGER, . After a further delightful experience of Miss I'elice Lyne'3 art in grand opera--her acting is almost as remarkable as her singing—London has taken her to its heart, with every sign of enthusiasm and promise of permanent hdclity (says the English correspondent pf an Australian paper). Her triumph has been completed by a.first appearance in Luria di Lammermoor, in which the brilliance of her fresh and supple voice was displayed in combination with rare dramatic powers. By her singing in the famous mad scene" the young American raised a storm of applause which left her in no doubt as to her success. The audience was not content with hand-clapping. It cheeretl and shouted with the sort of energy that is usually reserved for tributes to political heroes. The other day I had a conversation with a public man to whom music has been a lifelong hobby, almost a passion. He has seen every opera produced in London during the last fifty years. Here was a man of'culture, with experience scarcely equalled by that of any professional critic connected with the London press. I asked him what he thought of the claim made by Mr. Hammerstein that Miss Lyne would, a little later, rival the Mme. Patti of twenty or thirty years ago. "I see nothing excessive in the claim," ho replied; "I am not sure that it is not justified already. I was in the Covent Garden Opera House when ■ Patti made her debut there in La Somnambula in 1801. I have known her throughout her professional career, and have' heard all tho prime donne who have followed her in London. Never in my time has there been any operatic singer so like her as Miss Lyne, both in voice ajid . temperament—in artistic sensitiveness, in purity of vocal production and finish (tho latter is astonishing in

the caae of the new singer), and in dramatic sense. Yes,. if Patti has a real successor it is this young American. We all went mad about Patti in the sixties. I well remember it all, for I was one of the maddest; hut of tho two, if we could have them tanging on equal terms before us now, I think I should prefer Miss Lyne, because, with all her studied 'art, she contrives to be sweetly natural. In that respect I have never 6cen anyone quite like her on the operatic stage."