MADAME GALLI-CURCI

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 150, 14 March 1918, Page 2

MADAME GALLI-CURCI

ANOTHER ADELINA PATTI DISCOVERED. In Madnnio Galli-Ourci, Signor Cleofonte Catnpanini, director of the Chicago Opora Company, is said to have discovered the voice of the decade, one perhaps that will achieve tho dazzling i'amo of Patti. Madame Galli-Curci is an Italian, under medium height and very dark. Slie has an oval face, sweetly melancholic in expression, with large brown eyes that look frankly and shine steadily upon the world. Her straight nose is high-bridged, .and its vertical length adds to the seriousness of her expression, which is tempered by a. straight but well-cut mouth and a decided chin —certainly a face that show's strength of character and one would say. an. absence, of frivolity * in disposition, and a woman capable of creating character in support of her glorious coloratura, soprano voice. Says a New York critic: "Unheralded, unknown, a. veritable 'dark horse, , she was cast for Gilda. in 'lligoletto.' That night in late November will remain an unforgettable ono in- the memory of those who witnessed Galli-Ourci's debut in North America, (she had surig at Buenos Aires the season before). When she finished singing the 'Caro Nome,' an unparalleled demonstration was accorded her, a perfect pandemonium of wild cheering and applause that thundered for twenty minutes through.the great opera house. No popular idol in politics may boast of a moro stupendous ovation than was granted to the new einger. A few nights later, as Lucia tho singer, scored even a. greater triumph. After tho flute duet in the mad scene the great body of spectators in tho auditorium rose en masse, fairly screaming their bravos. It was a thrilling hour of victory both for the little unknown Italian girl and for those who had helped to make that stupendous hour possible. The consensus of opinion places Galli-Curci in the same group as Melba, Se-mbrich, and Tetrazsjini. Her, voice, three octaves in range, is,generally admitted to be more pure than that of Tetrazzini, while the einger is able to vocalise with the' same consummate technical skill as Sombrich. Yet this young Italian woman, only twenty-six years old. is entirely self-taught. •- Born in Milan, she was educated at the Royal Con.servatorium there as a pinniste. On .her. graduations-she first began to rea- ! liso that sho was gifted with a natural ' singing Voice of wide range and singular iieauty. Impoverished circumstances ■l»rcveiit«l- her taking singing lessons. Wandering one day through a forest % iiciir Milan .she heard a nightingale trilling. At once she decided to imitate that remarkable warhlor and to teach 'herself. Diiy after day she practised ' quite alone, wholly unaided and withmrii advice, cud without any inspiration 01-lipr than the notes of the wood birds. Finally she sought the director of the j f'o.staim TlifM.re in Rome and asked for an opportunity, which after a trial was given lipr. Slu> made her debut in "RigoleUo." Her success was inhlatiliini'oiiK. Otto- engagements in i'litly rapidly followed, and seasons followed in Barcelona and Buenos Aires, but np lo last November she. had only liei'ii singing five years in all. "Thi! quality of Galli-Cnrci's voico is k> I'X.iiiisitel.Y j>ll rft that it haunts the memory long rfter id-lies ceased to tin-ill inn senses. Kach note is so 'sweet, so seductive in timbre, so alive in warchiiig melody, that it seems to liiin> in the air lika a liberated spirit reverberating its strange ossenceover and over again. In this respect, in its haunting loveliness, like tho. notes of tho very nightingale, it seems to live alone—unparalleled, iinnpproaehed in the whole great world of song."