Rosa McGeachy Concert

“An agreeable entertainment, given at Steinway Hall last evening, introduced to the public Miss Rosa McGeachy. Miss McGeachy is a young lady possessed of a soprano voice of fair compass, volume, and flexibility, and although her singing was not always absolutely true, it was marked by some excellences with which the work of amateurs is not always to be credited. That she has studied a good deal was apparent, and that her labors have been well directed was apparent also, though she should have been warned against an occasional distortion of her features, which is quite unnecessary to the production of tone. Miss McGeachy, in brief, sings nicely, while her performance cannot be said to rival the efforts of experienced artists. She was heard last night in the grand air from ‘La Forza del Destino;’ in the trio from ‘I due Foscari;’ in the duet from ‘Roberto Devereux;’ in the grand aria from ‘Nabucco;’ and in a septet from ‘La Reine de Saba.’ Every one of these numbers was cleverly recited, except the septet, which is trashy, which the artists did not know, and which Miss McGeachy would have spoiled, had that been possible by persistently singing flat. The other notable incidents of the concert were the two tenor arias from ‘Rigoletto,’ capitally interpreted by Signor Benfratelli, whose honest execution and pleasant voice found favor at once; the duet, ‘All’idea di quell metallo,’ effectively rattled off by Signori Benfratelli and Del Puente; and the baritone’s scene from ‘Don Carlos,’ by Signor Del Puente, who did it as full justice as can be done a piece so radically unfitted to the concert room. Miss Heilbron’s piano playing was not up, even, to the moderate standard reached a week ago, and of the locomotive-like achievements of Mlle. Teresa Jackson it is impossible to write seriously.”

“A cultured audience nearly filled Steinway Hall last evening. Many musicians and amateurs were present, and faces familiar in the art world [beamed?] on every side. The occasion was the introduction of Miss Rosa McGeachy to the public as a singer. She was warmly greeted, and achieved, upon the whole, a very creditable success. The programme was perhaps not all that could have been desired. Of thirteen selections, five were from compositions of Verdi. At most of the first class concerts given in New York a higher standard is aimed at; but there was a great deal of melody in last night’s programme, and the selections were nearly all well rendered. Miss McGeachy was first heard in an aria from ‘La Forza del Destino,’ in which she received the aid of invisible choristers. Unseen choruses at concerts are generally unsatisfactory. On the stage they are used chiefly for effect. They have their purpose, and their introduction is oftentimes extremely artistic, the choruses in the first act of ‘Faust’and the third act of ‘The Huguenots’ being noted examples; but they are of the stage, stagey, and should not be introduced at concerts. We have no trouble in imagining in the two cases we have mentioned the merry men and maidens tripping gaily to the fields, or the women kneeling at the cathedral altar; but it is difficult, when the visible singer wears a swallow-tailed coat, or an evening dress, and sings from a printed sheet, to imagine anything but a little knot or persons in every-day clothes huddled behind a screen. Neither was the invisible chorus last evening a particularly good one, and Miss McGeachy scarcely succeeded so well in this selection as she did thereafter. But she showed the possession of a sweet voice, of considerable compass, remarkably even throughout, and especially pleasing on the lower and higher notes; and in the tasteful, if somewhat hackneyed, ‘I’ve been roaming,’ which she sang when recalled, she made an excellent impression, which was not marred in the trio from ‘The Two Foscari,’ with Signori Benfratelli and Del Puente in the duet from Donizetti’s ‘Roberto Devereaux,’ or in the air from ‘Nabucco,’ in which, perhaps, she obtained the most favor. Miss McGeachy will probably become popular in our concert rooms if she sings often, because she has beauty, grace and a tuneful, well-trained voice. She lacks strength, and if she exhibited a little more feeling her singing would be more pleasurable. Some of the support last evening was excellent. Signor Benfratelli sang the two familiar melodies from ‘Rigoletto’ delightfully, and Signor Del Puente’s noble voice was heard in the famous duet from ‘The Barber of Seville’ (with Benfratelli) in the trio already mentioned, and in the baritone’s grand scene from ‘Don Carlos,’ which was enthusiastically applauded. Miss Sophie Flora Heilbron, the pianist, who was first heard here a week or two ago, played three selections last evening. The first, Weber’s ‘Invitation to the Dance,’ is a meritorious composition, although a good pianist’s repertory could be arranged without it; ‘La Cascade’ and ‘Irish Diamonds’ have no merit, except that they are difficult. Miss Heilbron is a good pianist, and we hope that she will succeed in New York, but we would suggest to her that the works of Chopin and Schumann have not yet become old-fashioned. Her performances last evening, as performances, were very commendable. A septet from Gounod’s ‘Queen of Sheba,’ with which the concert was closed, was never before heard in America; it did not make a particularly favorable impression.”

“Miss Rosa McGeachy made her public debut as an American prima donna last night at Steinway Hall. She appeared in an aria from ‘La Forza del Destino’ with chorus dans les coulisses, and the ‘power of fate’ seemed to be against her in this selection. She afterwards sang in the trio from ‘I Due Foscari,’ with Benfratelli and Del Puente; in a duo from ‘Roberto Devereux,’ in the grand aria for soprano from ‘Nabico [sic],’ and in the septet from ‘La Reine de Saba,’ with Miss Jackson, Mlle. Dubois, Benfratelli, Lotti, Del Puente and Hall. Five of the selections on the bill were by Verdi, showing the preference for the great Italian maestro. Miss McGeachy’s voice is light in calibre, but pearly and crystalline in tone and she gives evidence of considerable natural talent. The school is rather crude and unfinished, yet as far as the training of the young aspirant for prima donna honors is concerned there is hope for important results when experience is brought into requisition. The selections made by Miss McGeachy were not judicious. The airs from the two operas of Verdi might well have been replaced by something more in accordance with the exigencies of the occasion. The débutante did not appear to advantage in either. Yet she gave proof of natural ability of such a high order as should encourage her to further and more desirable efforts. Miss Sophia Flora Heilbron, pianist, played Weber’s ‘L’invitation à la Danse,’ Pauer’s ‘La Cascade’ and Willie Pape’s ‘Irish Diamonds’ with a finish, neatness, effect and brio surprising in such a young performer. The tenor, Benfratelli, and the barytone, Del Puente, sang a duet from ‘Il Barbiere,’ and the contralto, Miss Jackson, made sad havoc of Arthur Sullivan’s song, ‘Looking Back.’ This lady’s singing was the most painful and ludicrous we have ever heard in public.”