ROMANCES OF VOICE DISCOVERY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 153, 24 July 1909, Page 4

ROMANCES OF VOICE DISCOVERY.

A paragraph went the rounds recently stating that Caruso had discovered a. •'marvellous 'tenor" singer in a bootblack. It was in New York, and the bootblack, -Harry Lokolsky, a Russian, was the only support of Ins mother and sisters. Caruso heard hini sing in a Pittsburg church, and \va» so delighted lhat lie insisted on the young felloft leaving the choir And taking up music seriously. Since then the bootblack has bi'pji engaged to sing in grand opera at the .Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and if his voice is what Caruso says it is, his fortune may be regarded as made.

FAMOUS EAST-END SINGERS. Little Catherine Arkandy, the ten-year-old l'atti, who astonished everybody by her singing at Stcinway Hall recently, is an East-end discovery. Her success is largely due to the careful training of 34r. Cantoras, himself a. magnificent basso, who discovered her. Quite a long list of East-end prodigies could be compiled. A popular tenor, who has sung at Covent Garden, was discovered at a small harmonic society there. Recently we heard of a young lady described as the "East-end Tcttrazini," who is now being trained by a famous master, and will doubtless make a sensation by and by. Why not? John Bran-am, the greatest tenor of the prcSims Reeves time, was found selling lead pencils ou the street; and our greatest tenor of to-day, Mr. Ben Davies, held a situation in a store at Swansea before it was discovered that he possessed a voice with money in it.

THE HARMONIOUS BACKSMITH. Chance discoveries of this kind have always a touch of romance about them. Look at the case of M. llouseeliere, the Paria opera singer, who, -some two years ago, was 'engaged for a tour in the United States at a guaranteed fee of £320 for Bach evening. M. Rousseliere was a blacksmith, working contentedly for half-a-crown a day at a foundry in Algiers. It so .happened that iM. Gailhard, of the Paris Opera, 'was on holiday in Algiers. He went to visit this foundry, and at the door of one of the shops fie was suddenly arrested by the voice of one of the workmen singing as he hammered on the anvil. "What is that man's name?" he asked the proprietor. On being told, 11. Gailhard expressed a desire to see Rousscliere privately. The result was that lie undertook the blacksmith's musical education, and M. Rousscliere has now a 'larger income than any other opera singer in France. Equally romantic is the story of Mile. Maria Gay, whose acting and singing, especially in the character of Carman, have caused a considerable stir in the operatic world daring the last two or three years. .Mile. Gay's discovery was quite accidental. She was busy in a sculptor's studio one day when M. Engel, the French tenor, heard her singing to herself. Much struck with her voice, he advised her to give up sculpture . and prepare for the lyric stage. Bhe took the advice, and, when her ' training 'was finished, attained fame at | a bound in the title-role of Bizet's popular opera. FORTUNES IX TIIEIR VOICES. Jlille. Boi'ghild liryhn, who has charmed thousands of opera-goers by her representation of Santuzza in "Cavalleria Rusticana," was engaged as a governess in the family of Captain NottBower, the Commissioner of the City of London Police. One day her employer heard her sing, and, realising the beauty of her voice, advised her to have it cultivated for professional use. She did so. sang at various concerts, and ultimately appeared at Covent Garden with rare success.

Take, again, Mile. Cavalieri, who has lately been delighting'all musical London "with her voice. She began life as a ilowcr-girl in Koine, ller parents were vender* of newspapers, a»d subsequently she was employed in a newspaper office as a paper-folder. Then she drifted on to the music-lui'll stage, went to Paris, and danced and sang at cafe concerts for ten centimes a night. ■Colonel Mapleson, the great operatic impressario, came -across her about that time. He told her that her voice had immense capabilities, so she went to Italy for study, suteequently making her way to the Ooera. FROM TEACHER TO PRIMA DOXXA. One of the most remarkable successes of a recent London operatic season was that gained by Miss lulytli Walker in the difficult part of Isolde. Miss Walker was born in Xew York in 1870. She graduated for the teaching profession j, when she was seventeen. "I soon obtained an appointment," she says, "and very happy was I in being able to earn just enough to keep my•elf. It was a bit of a struggle at first, iut I was proud of my independence, and hoped for better times." The better times were still a long way off. Miss Walker, being told she had a voice, saved enough to go to Dresden for lessons. Her money gave out before the training was completed. Some influential friends who had heard her sing procured her a loan from an American millionaire. In less than three years the loan was paid (much to the lender's surprise), and now Miss Walker has no further anxiety about ways and means. —Home paper.