December 15. 1917 MUSICAL AMERICA 9
played and accompanied at several of them. Signor Severini, a Norwegian tenor, made his first appearance in Memories of Concerts Given and Tours New York, at which Signor Fortuna, the baritone, sang. The accompanist was Planned. in New York Haifa C entury Ago to be Senor Mora, a noted Cuban organ ist, and he disappointed at the last min Programs Made up Mainly of Italian Music W ere T hen in Vogue- Concert and Operatic,T ours ute, so that I was asked to play in his ~~~ fu~~Iwu~ilie~lua T hat Came to Unhappy Endings-Mme. Gazzaniga's " Grand Operatic Concert Com ~ spectator, when Signor Fortuna, for whom I had played, came out in the audi pany," Which Boasted a S ixteen~Year~ Old Conductor-Concerts at Watering Places ence and persuaded me to take Senor Mora's place. Poorly Attended Through Lack of Advertising Signor Severini settled in New York and was for a long time one of the most B y EDUARDO MARZO noted singing teachers, and since that night was always one of my best friends. One of the most important concerts (of .the kind) was given at Steinway I Eduardo Marzo arrived in New York "Rigoletto.") The Albano concerts \\'ere different success; in fact, the tour ended Hall on Feb. 21, 1868. From the pro un April 1_4, 1867, when he was about given in Staten Island at Peteler's Hotel, disastrously when we arrived at Buffalo. gram I see that Antonia Henne, the con fifteen years of age. As a pianist, ac" and Huguenot· Hall, and both Mme. The plan was for the company to go to tralto; J. R. Thomas and George Simp QOmpanist, conductor, teacher, organist, Parepa-Rosa and Mme. Gazzaniga ap Hamilton t he next day. Signor Macca son, the ballad singers, and Albano, the lecturer and composer, Mr. Marzo has peared in them. ferri and myself decided to leave early harpist, took part. At this concert G. led a.n eventful and successful life, which One of the most noted and successful and stop at Niagara Falls and then meet W. Morgan, the organist, played also. has received due singing teachers of the time was Signor the rest of t he company at the station so 1·ecognition in this Albites, who had a great knack of sing as to proceed together to Hamilton. But The Gazzaniga Company · country. and.in Eu ing French comic songs. There was no at the station we found a message await And now to go back to the operatic rope. He was made private concert at which he did not con- ing us-we were to go back to Buffalo, concert company ( Gazzaniga & Lotti a Knight of the Crown of Italy in 1 8 8 4, honorary member of the Academy of St. Cecilia, Rome, in 1893, and Knight of St. Sylvester by Yo- His Holiness Pope Benedict XV in 1915. Eduardo Marzo GAZZANIGA.AND LOTTI is one of the found G R AND ers of the Guild of Eduardo Marzo Organists, go v- ern or of the M usi cians' Club, member of the· "Bohemians" and of St. Wilfrid Club. Although bont in Italy, he is a thorough American and a citizen of the United States since he was twenty-one years of age. H e has I done all his writing in this country and .11 IMI~ 1r111! is considered an American compose1·. ______...... - USI CAL DIRECTOR , All his w01·ks have been collected by the .~ UJNO R CHIZZOLA, ...... nCJSI.\':JOPERA. AMERICA.] Friday Even~ng, May Z9th, 1868, HAD already been in New York two I ROSSINI'S MASTERWORK, IN THREE ACTS, I months playing the organ in a small church, when a friend of mine, in the summer of 1867, gave me a card of intro duction to Signor Albano, an Italian 'BARBER OF SHVILLHI ROSINA, ...... SIGNORINA RONCONI harpist, who had just arrived from ~~~~4- ALMivi\'A',',.' ..'.' ..'.-.'.'.'.'.' .'.'.· ... 81 ~.N°ItAsrt:J'~'£'Q\'1.;.1 South America and was organizing some DON'I!ASJL!O, ...... -...... SIGNOR ARDAVANI DON BARTOLO,...... SIGNOR BACELLI concerts to be given at the summer hotels . O ~ l' ICE R; ...... SIGNOR BARBERIS at Staten Island. Signor Albano, who, GlORGlO RONt:ONl ln bls uau rpas811edlmpersonaU0n of the BARBU by the way, was a countryman of mine SECOND NIGHT OF THE OPERA. (we both hailed from Naples), greeted I me cordially and said: "You are just I Saturday Evening, May 30, 1868, the man"-he should have said "boy," as VERDI'S GRAND OPEHA, IN FOUR ACTS, I was only fifteen years old at the time "that I need. I want an accompanist for On t l'l e right: A pro TRAVIATA! myself and for the singers who are going gram of the Gazzanlga to appear at the concerts which I am and Lotti Opera Com p•any 's .. performance In .IJDMISSION,~ ONB DOLL.IJR . organizing." Of course, I was very glad D etroit , Mich., M ay 30, GALLERY, FIFTY CENTS. :- lir' N~ Extra Cha'rge for Reeerved seats, which can be Obtained to make my first appearance, as it gave 1868 At Amroen•e Mne.fc S t-ore. me also the chance to appear as a pian- is~ · At that time the programs of concerts were not generally arranged for the P asquale Brlgnoli sake of art, or of some special ar tist. tribute some of his comic repertoire. because the others had suddenly depart Company), which left New York in the The aim was simply to give variety both That was the time also when Brignoli, ed for New York, giving up the · tour. year of 1868 and traveled through New as to the artists and the character of the silver-throated tenor, was at the We deemed it wise not to venture to York State to Erie, Pa., and finally broke the music, which was, however' almost zenith of his career in this country and, Hamilton, where we might have met per up at Kalamazoo, Mich. The company all Italian, at least for the singers. A if I am not mistaken, it was with Pas haps with a warm reception from the was composed of the following artists: well conducted concert- had to include a quale Brignoli that Albites had come a creditors of the company, although we Mme. Marietta Gazzaniga, the great contralto, if t he star was a ,soprano, _. or few. years previously. were not in any way responsible f or the dramatic prima donna; Signorina Ron ·vice versa, and possibly a tenor, a bari In October of that year Mme. Gaz financing of the company. We returned coni, the charming soprano; Signora tone and one or two instrumentalists. zaniga was arranging a concert tour to to Buffalo, where we expected to find fur Catoni, contralto; Signor Ardavani, the Another invariable peculiarity of the travel through New York State and Can ther instructions and funds to return to popular baritone, and Signor Lotti, the programs was the concluding number, . ada, and I was engaged as pianist and New York. But there were neither in favorite tenor. We had also a bass, Ba mostly always a vocal trio or quartet. accompanist. Other members of the com structions nor f unds! Both Signor Mac celli, and two chorus singers from the pany were Signor Maccaferri, the emi caferri and myself were stranded, with opera, namely, Barberis, tenor, and Bar Favorite Numbers nent tenor, as they cal-led him; Signor the pleasant prospect of "f ooting" it to baelata, soprano, who sang the minor The favorite numbers were the trios Fortuna, the favorite baritone; Herr New York. After pawning Maccaferri's roles." We actually had a business man from "Trovatore " "Luisa Miller " "I Balck, the renowned violinist. watch, we managed to pay the board bill ager f?r this troupe (as they called it at Lombardi" and the quartets from ,:Mar at t he ·hotel for twenty-four hours. I that tlme), who was no less a person t ha" and the Prayer from "Mo'ise," by Tour Ends Disastrously then found somebody in Buffalo to whom than Signor Chizzola. The latter was Rossini. (At that time they had not yet We visited several cities, always using I appealed and succeeded in getting just commencing his career as a man exploited the inevitabl€ quartet from the same program and meeting with in- enough to pay our fares back to New ager. York City. It goes without saying that we never got our salaries. Opera Sans Orchestra Nothing daunted, Mme. Gazzaniga, in Besides concerts we gave operas, some MARIE MORRISEY conjunction with the baritone, Giorgio times with an orchestra which traveled Ronconi, or ganized a "Grand Operatic CONTRALTO Management: Alma Voedisch, 25 West42d St., New Yor k with us, composed of but a single string Concert Company," -and I was engaged quartet. In some of the .large cities we Founded 1857 as accompanist and conductor, at sixteen enlarged it with some of the local talent. years of age! Ronconi had been one of As we went further away from New the greatest singers of his time and was York we dispensed with the orchestra al still in fairly . good condition and able together, and the operas were given to PEABODY CONSERVATORY to sing several of his great roles. HAROLD RANDOLPH, Director BALTIMORE, MD. During that winter many concerts Recognized as the leading endowed Musical conservatory of the country were given at Steinway Hall and I [Continued on page 11] KATHRYN PLATT-GUNN$~~
