Kellogg English Opera: Martha

“’Martha’ was repeated at the Academy of Music last evening, Miss Kellogg replacing Mrs. Van Zandt as Lady Henrietta, and a débutante Miss Addie Randall representing Nancy. Miss Kellogg’s performance of Lady Henrietta ranks with her happiest efforts; the character belongs rather to opera comique than to grand opera; can be acceptably played without ungraceful exertion on the part of the performer, and the music allotted to the prima donna is, so to speak, uncommonly singable. Miss Kellogg does the personage complete justice in point of acting, and her vocal work leaves absolutely nothing to be wished. Miss Randall’s first appeareance on the stage was quite successful. The lady is young and prepossessing; her voice—a mezzo-soprano—is of excellent quality, warm and homogeneous; and her method is good. The fact that we have referred to Miss Randall as a debutante implies that she is not yet at home upon the boards; but ease and freedom of action come only with time. As it was, she sang through her rôle very nicely, and the little romance in the third act only escaped repetition through the haste of the conductor. In other respects the representation was up to the usual standard.”

“’Martha,’ with its light and attractive music and taking scenic effects, is an opera excellently calculated for the forces of Miss Kellogg’s company. It was agreeably rendered last evening to a good audience. Miss Kellogg’s accustomed brightness and cleverness in execution, and her enduring charm of face and figure, lent especial attraction to the rôle of Lady Henrietta; Mr. Carleton was an acceptable Plunkett, and the sweetness and delicacy of Mr. Maas’s voice and execution found excellent illustration in the sentimental music of Lionel. The novelty of the evening was the début of Miss Addie Randall, who comes upon the stage with some reputation as a choir singer from the Church of the Holy Rest. Her voice is a mezzo-soprano of considerable purity and sweetness rather than strength, and she favorably impressed the audience by her modesty and grace of bearing, and the quiet neatness of her execution, not to mention the charm of a very dainty little figure and youthful, pretty face. For what is more than this, later experience must be responsible.”

“’Martha’ was repeated at the Academy of Music by the English Opera Company last evening before a large audience. Miss Kellogg’s Lady Henrietta is a delightful impersonation, and ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ and the other familiar melodies of the part were not less acceptable because their rendering suggested comparisons with recent performances on the same stage. Mr. Maas as Lionel and Mr. Carleton as Plunkett were very satisfactory. Miss Addie Randall, a pupil of Mr. Maretzek, who has received her entire musical education in this city, made her first appearance on the stage as Nancy, and achieved a notable success. Miss Randall is a pretty young lady with pleasing manners, and she would have been received with favor even if her performance had been less commendable. But she acted remarkably well, only once in a while allowing the nervousness and embarrassment of a first appearance to show through the assumed pertness of the volatile lady-in-waiting. Miss Randall’s voice is a light mezzo-soprano, and in some of the numbers last night she used it to very good advantage, the hunting song being loudly redemanded. For some reason or other, however, it was not repeated. The chorus last night was fair, and the orchestra as good as usual.”

“Flotow’s work fits admirably into the English répertoire, and with such a bewitching Lady Henrietta as Miss Kellogg and with such a bewitching Nancy as Miss Addie Randall, the performance last night can be characterized as an unequivocal success. The cast comprised [see above]. Miss Kellogg’s rendering of ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ was worthy of comparison with the efforts of the best artists who have appeared in the title rôle. The dignity of the high born lady, who is compelled unwillingly to assume a character foreign to her, was admirably preserved in Miss Kellogg’s impersonation. Miss Randall, a debutante, who Mr. Maretzek prepared for the stage, made a notable hit in the rôle of Nancy, and won applause by her clever rendering of the contralto air at the commencement of the fourth act. Mr. Maas sang the music of Lionel acceptably, lacking, however, the warmth and expression the part demanded. Mr. Carleton failed to convey an adequate idea of the sturdy, uncultured, yet kind hearted Plunkett, but his singing of the music showed vocal talent and cultivation. The fair of Richmond, a suburb of London, had the usual Mont Blanc background, and the costumes were of the incongruous order that seems to be traditional.”

“In ‘Martha,’ Miss Kellogg’s admirable interpretation, vocally and dramatically, of the role of Lady Henrietta, and the clever rendition of the role of Nancy by Miss Randall, a debutante, who gave evidence of a well-cultured contralto voice, combined with an excellent method, received a most favorable endorsement from the audience, especially the ‘spinning-wheel’ quartet and Miss Kellogg’s rendition of the popular number ‘The Last Rose of Summer,’ which was given with the highest artistic expression and effect. Mr. Maas, who possesses an agreeable tenor voice of considerable expressive power, was not heard at his best in the role of Lionel, a decided want of animation marking his interpretation. Mr. Carleton, who succeeds to the place of the lamented Campbell in this company, gave every token of a well-cultivated baritone voice of considerable resonant power and expression, combined with a vigorous action, that was not unpleasing, though somewhat lacking in dramatic discipline, presenting the role of the rough and untutored Plunkett in an acceptable manner.”