Amateur Operatic Club

“A very elegant entertainment took place at Apollo Hall last night, many of our best musical amateurs being present either as performers or listeners. Señor Agramonte conducted, and his pupils sung the choruses and some of the solo parts. The feature of the evening was the production of an act of a new opera by Harrison Millard, founded on Dr. Mosenthal’s play of ‘Deborah.’ It is written in the modern Italian style, and displays a happy vein of melody often rising to brilliancy. The opening tenor aria is most effective, and was admirably sung by Mr. Romeyn. Miss Julia Gaylord, Miss Anna Bulkley and Mr. Martinez also took part in this performance, each of them acting and singing with professional skill.

Gounod’s cantata of ‘Gallia,’ an intricate composition written for soprano voice with chorus, was well sung, Miss Mendes being the soloist. A loud demand was made for a repetition of the closing air, but the call was not responded to. The programme of the evening also included the first act of Flotow’s ‘Martha.’ Mrs. Gulager and Miss Henne sang with good taste and elicited the heartiest applause, but the rather trashy music of this opera is beneath the ability of these genuine artists.”

“Signor Agramonte introduced to a fashionable audience last night at Apollo Hall Gounod’s cantata or lamentation, ‘Gallia,’ the subject, of course, being the miseries endured by his country at the hands of the Germans. It is written in a rather superficial manner, with no particular depth of the feeling naturally allied to such a subject nor grandeur of sentiment. The treatment is simplicity itself, save an outburst or two of the Berlioz order. There are a few reminiscences of the old Italian church school and perhaps a leaven of Mendelssohn. The most that can be said in favor of the cantata is that it is pretty, taking (in the popular sense of the word) and gracefully worked out. But one will look in vain for real greatness in the treatment of the subject and for a strain to move the heart. There is nothing of the spirit of the composer of ‘Faust’ in his cantata. A well-drilled, but not well balanced chorus—the male voices being too weak—did ample justice to the music, and the orchestra behaved a little better than is generally the case on such occasions. The soprano solos were sung by Miss Leontine Mendes, a young lady gifted with a clear, resonant, flexible and agreeable voice. Her method of singing needs a considerable share of correction, as she has fallen into the habit of sliding her notes instead of boldly attacking them. The rest of the performance consisted of an act from ‘Martha’ and the third act of Millard’s ‘Deborah.’ Signor Agramonte made a very efficient conductor, and brought each work through with gratifying success.”

“Apollo Hall was crowded, on Monday evening, with the friends of the members of the Amateur Opera Club. A nice little proscenium had been erected and painted for the occasion, the performance was a decided success, and the amateurs engaged fairly justified the expectations formed of them. The programme was an ambitious one, comprising two separate acts of two different operas, and a new cantata by Gounod. The latter, ‘Gallia,’ is in fact a monody, a funeral hymn, a lamentation by the conquered people. It is not necessary to say that the harmonies are beautiful and the phrases delicate; but the subject is too real and too sad for appropriate treatment in art. The long, wailing chords are almost painful, and the voices are dragged up the chromatic intervals in a manner that recalls the staircase in Rome which the penitents are forced to ascend on their knees. This was followed by the first act of Flotow’s ‘Martha,’ which happily displayed the talents of the club. Some of the pretty, lively choruses were delightfully sung—the freshness and purity of the voices, supported, not drowned, by a small orchestra, being very pleasant to the ear. At the same time, the difference between an amateur chorus, with their music in their hands, and the same chorus standing unassisted on the stage, is perilously great, and there were signs that the fair debutantes had gone about their preparations with rather too much lightness of heart. Mme. Gulager’s singing of Martha was admirable. Her cadenzas and vanishing notes were full of grace and elegances. Miss Antonia Henne’s beautiful voice and charming manner told to advantage in Nancy. Messrs. Martinez, Reina, and Davis, sang and acted their parts with professional completeness. But, after the ladies, precedence belongs to the tenor. Mr. Millard essayed the part of Lionel, and we could not but regret that nature, who often bestows a splendid voice upon a boor, should have been less generous of this gift where there is so much taste, refinement, and true artistic capacity to unite with and display it.

The third act of Mr. Millard’s manuscript opera of ‘Deborah,’ was then performed, with a success which made us more than ever regret that there is no established opera-house, where the star-system does not prevail, and where such a composition could have a fair trial. Like all his songs, Mr. Millard’s opera is characterized by great refinement, fluency, and an extreme delicacy of style. It is thoroughly Italian, is in the highest degree vocal, and aims at the operatic, not the symphonic matter. In fact, it greatly resembles the music of Mercadante. That which we did not expect was the excellence of the work in the musician’s sense. The details are all filled in, the orchestration is that of a man accustomed to think in score, there is no thinness, and there are no gaps. All is continuous, flowing—the music, one would say, of an experienced writer. The recitatives are particularly good; they carry the dialogue, which is natural, by means of harmonies which are legitimate and fresh.

The erring lover, Rodolfo, was finely personated by Mr. Romeyn. His cavatina, full of impassioned brilliancy, was warmly encored. Mr. Martinez was an artistic villain, and Mr. Davis a hearty père noble. Our chief praise, however, belongs to Miss Gaylord, whose Deborah was unexpectedly fine in a histrionic point of view.

It is, of course, impossible to come to any reasonable conclusion regarding a new opera from once hearing one act of it. We are unable to say whether the dramatic situations of Mr. Millard’s theme are worked up with the requisite force and intensity. But there can be no question that the sweetness and vivacity of the music gave real pleasure to the audience in general, while the scholarly completeness of the score and the purity of the Italian feeling must have been recognized by every musician present.”