Maretzek Italian Opera: Marta; Clara Louise Kellogg Benefit

“That ‘a prophet is not without honor save in his own country,’ is, fortunately, not everywhere true, and the warm recognition of Miss Kellogg’s talent last night was the best proof of that, ‘tho,’ American, she knew how to please an American public. There is, of course, never the same crowded display and excitement about a singer who has been known here for some years, and who intends to remain here that there is about the novelty of the moment; but there is all the more of solid and heartfelt admiration.

We have already had occasion to point out how very nicely Miss Kellogg dresses, how charmingly she plays, and how capitally she sings the part of Martha; and we have nothing to add but to repeat our praises. She did her best last night, and she pleased the audience hugely, who seemed to be appreciative to no small degree. After her singing ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ in Italian she was encored, and excited vehement applause by singing the same in English. The floral homages came forth with a profusion that must have delighted the object of them.

Mademoiselle Sanz, who has had rarely an opportunity to show what she can do, the special repertoire of the season not calling for a contralto, acted and sang the part of Nancy with Spanish grace and French vigor, and sang it in a true Italian manner.

The new tenor, be it from climatic influences or from emotion, did not create a sensation; but although not able to develop his voice fully, he was with much kindness encouraged by the public. Monsieur Jamet won the honors of the performance by his admirable rendering of Plunkett.

Thus closed the second season of Italian opera with unfulfilled promises of ‘an entirely new repertoire,’ no gain to art, and we fear a very slight gain to the management. The latter result would not trouble us if we supposed it would put an end to the unartistic star system, which seldom amounts to anything more than a ‘show,’ or an exhibition of one or two singers, to the detriment of all that is artistic as a well-rounded whole. A picture, with a figure in the middle drawn by a master and the rest patched up by coach painters, is a thing [illegible] in any other form of art, and which the American public ought to protest against in the most energetic way possible—and that is by staying home.”

“The last night of Mr. Maretzek’s opera season respectable force to testify their personal regard for the [prima donna] was assigned for the benefit of Miss Kellogg. The fact that it was the last night apparently excited no particular public interest; but the friends of Miss Kellogg assembled in prima donna [sic], and although they did not quite fill the house, they were excessively cordial, and showered upon their favorite a profusion of beautiful flowers. The opera was ‘Martha,’ sung by Miss Kellogg and M. Jamet,--we cannot say with the assistance, but rather with the interference of several people who had apparently never rehearsed it with each other or with the orchestra. It was incomparably the worst performance of ‘Martha’ we ever heard in Italian, and we can hardly regard it as anything but an affront to Miss Kellogg to put forward such a representation for her benefit. In the first place, she was obliged to sing with an accidental tenor, a Sig. Verati, who has no voice, and who in the second act narrowly escaped breaking down completely. Then the Nancy of Señora Sanz was dull and weak; the concerted numbers went wrong; the minor parts were exasperating; and chorus and orchestra crowned all their previous offenses with an astonishing series of blunders and extravagances. As the season has drawn to its close, the opera has grown more and more shabby, the manager more and more careless. It is a relief to feel that Mr. Maretzek has nothing more in store for us, but at length we know the worst.”

[Followed by a long paragraph with a general review of the season, concluding:] “How far any particular person may be responsible for the vast discrepancy between promise and performance we have no means of knowing. Mr. Maretzek, in former years, has deserved well of the public, and proved himself a manager of signal ability. He is an old acquaintance whom everybody is disposed to like and applaud. We are all pleased when he is prosperous; we have sympathized pretty often in his reverses; we are rather proud of possessing an impresario who has been ruined oftener and picked himself up again quicker than anybody else in the business. It is disheartening to find that with such an opportunity as the engagement of Mme. Lucca afforded him he has done himself so little justice. Complications perhaps of which the public knows nothing have tied his hands; if so, it is a pity that his hands were not tied before he wrote his prospectus.”

“’Marta’ was done at the Academy of Music, last evening, the performance being given for the benefit Miss Kellogg. Miss Kellogg’s personation of Lady Henrietta is one with which the public has long been acquainted, and when the lady was heard in the rôle for the first time this season, on Thursday last, we noted then the excellent impression of her correct, facile, and brilliant vocal execution in an exacting part. The impression was deepened by last night’s work, on which, of course, special interest was bestowed by the fact that the performer was the bénéficiaire; and while applause was as usual lavished upon Miss Kellogg’s singing, the appreciation of the public took, on this occasion, the more substantial shape of numberless offerings of flowers. The representation, it is further to be said, afforded an opportunity for the début of a new tenor, Signor Verati, who, we believe, is to delight suburban audiences in the future. Signor Verati is a middle-aged gentleman, with a strong voice having a tendency to headiness and decidedly untrustworthy in the upper notes. A slight hoarseness from which he suffered yesterday prevented, however, the formation of a final opinion as to his resources. In style the artist was uneven; throughout the second act much of the phrasing was good, although Signor Verati is inclined to give so much significance to every word that he often loses sight of the charm wrought by the simple delivery of his bars; in the third act the singer hardly did justice to ‘M’appari,’ which became, at his hands, a declamatory adagio, without the effective termination. The remainder of the distribution has already been adverted to; Señorita Sanz approved herself a very fascinating Nancy, and rendered ‘Esser mesto’ so well that she only escaped repeating it by the haste of the orchestra; M. Jamet was Plunkett, and Signor Fossati Sir Tristan. The season of the opera at the Academy is now ended.”

“The brief and not conspicuously brilliant season of Italian opera was brought to a close last evening with a performance of ‘Martha.’ As things go at the opera house, it might be called a spirited performance, and was so far as Miss Kellogg and Signor Jamet were concerned in it. The house made up in enthusiasm what it lacked in numbers, and that is saying a good deal.

Miss Kellogg was in her best mood, spirited in acting and faultless in singing. The part of Lionel introduced to the public Signor Verati, who made his first appearance here, and gave evidence of the possession of a sweet and pleasant quality of voice, of insufficient weight for operatic purposes. He played the lover after the genuine Italian method, being tender, passionate, and sentimental secundum artem or rather secundum usum.

It being the occasion of Miss Kellogg’s benefit, that lady’s friends were lavish in floral expressions of their esteem. Bigger or handsomer bouquets no usher could desire to carry down an aisle.”

“The dreary, cheerless weather of last evening sadly interfered with the attendance at the Academy of Music. There were two features calculated to interest opera goers—first, the benefit and farewell of the most popular of American singers, and then the début of a new tenor. The opera was ‘Martha,’ which may be considered as a mélange of popular tunes or a concert in costume. Miss Kellogg is entirely at home in the sparkling music of the title rôle. Last evening the presence of an unusually kind audience and a conservatory of floral tributes laid at her feet seemed to inspire her to special efforts. She was enthusiastically encored in ‘The Last Rose of Summer,’ and repeatedly called before the curtain at the close of each act. The new tenor, Signor Verati, was the Lionel of the occasion. His voice, obscured by huskiness or nervousness in the solo profugo, recovered itself in the succeeding numbers of his rôle, and in his singing of the well-known ‘M’Appari’ one could form a very good idea of his value as an addition to the company. That idea, we must say, is not a favorable one. His voice, small in tone and flexible to a certain extent, is devoid of resonant quality and his method of singing is very much of the bouche fermée order. If he would open his mouth sufficiently to give his voice unimpeded egress the effect would be more in accordance with the correct system of singing. When the teeth constitute a barrier to the emission of the voice the tone becomes ventriloquial. The upper notes in Signor Verati’s voice are well worn and rather shaky. The tremolo effect enters largely into his singing. In acting he is somewhat like poor Giuglini, especially in the management of his legs, and his face reminds one of Brignoli. Mlle. Sanz sung the rôle of Nancy without evincing any particular feature of interest in it. We have had so many excellent artists on the Academy boards in this rôle that the public can scarcely tolerate a mediocre Nancy. Jamet’s Plunkett was characterized by all the spirit and finish of this painstaking artist, and he received a recall for the Porter song. The chorus was inexcusably bad, and the orchestra, at times, little better.” 

“We have been afflicted with a brief season of Italian opera, which, fortunately, is now ended. The troupe, with one or two exceptions, was the same which had performed here during the past fall and winter season, but this time it was under the management solely of Mr. Maretzek, who has contrived to get rid of his old man of the sea, yclept Jarrett. 

Of this Lenten season of Opera there is little to be said, save that two excellent artists, Mme. Lucca and Miss Kellogg, have been unable to redeem the general character of the performances, which were the most wretched and slovenly that I have ever witnessed. It is understood that the season has been pecuniarily successful, but, from the drift of public opinion, I judge that Maretzek and his enterprises will not be tolerated here in future.”