The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
The Historic Cadenza in Ros-nl-iiV.
Barber of Seville"
Which Romani Is the
First Tenor to Execute
m the Original Key Since
the Great Rubini.
Note
the E
Above
Hih C
to Which
the Arrow
Points.
7". A , ,
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5
' -.v 'Mat 4
Ciuliano Romani, the
"King Tenor
Arturo in 1 Purl
tni.M i CCO Romani e 11 suo nt-nsturala In
ltlsBlmo!" Than "what tha .
opera-msd Italians of New York
are ssylnsln plain Enjllah: "Behold Ro
mani, and his most high B-naturalt" And
that Is not exaggerating, either, for
Glullano Romani can "hit high F," and
probably Is the only tenor In the world
who can do It.
Who Is this Romani with a "top note
which soars so far above Caruso's or of
any other opera tenor of the present
century? Well, in Italy he Is known as
the "King's Tenor." That Is because the
King of Italy who Is a first-class con
noisseur understands fully the rarity and
the value of a voice that Is equal to the
great tenor roles of the classto Italian
operas as originally written by their com
posers. When the King heard Romani sing Ros
sini's "Parber of SeTllIe," heard him exe
cute smoothly and with ease the famous
cadenza with Its high C and Its E-natural,
two full tones higher something which
had not been accomplished In the last
eighty years of the history of opera
His Majesty promptly and personally ex
empted the singer from military duty.
What were one man's services In
this war compared with the value to the
whole world of such a voice?
So Romani received the popular Italian
title of the "King's Tenor," and brought
his precious top notes to this country for
tuft keeping.
Where has Romani kept himself and
that priceless top note, which only three
or tour opera prima donnas can reach? If
he's got it, why doesn't he deliver the
goods at the New York Metropolitan
Opera House, where top notch tenors are
worth their weight in gold?
The answer is easy. The prodigy Is a
native-born Italian, barely twenty-five
years old. Until a few months ago he
had never been outside of his native coun
try. I'p to a year ago he didn't know
that bis larynx contained a "top note
more lofty than the conventional "high C"
of all capable opera tsnors. He had sung
the principal tenor roles of Italian opera
all over Italy, in the conventional modem
way, and was forging ahead on tbe "high
C" basis.
Uy accident, one day. tbe competent
vocal instructor who happened to be sing
ing the part of Valentine to hit on Fauat,
in the opera of that name, became us
picious that a valuable C'-sbarp, an in
valuable possible I), and an ultra valuable
U in alt." were incubating in the voice-
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box of that vital young tenor and It wu
true.
Thereupon Roman! and his discoverer
secluded themselves and plunged into the
exacting labor of developing those preci
ous upper tones to tha full extent of their
possibilities. This meant a general going
over of tha tenor's whole vocal range,
purifying It, smoothing out any defects,
making R Uve up to those newly discov
ered upper tones, which would enable Ro
mani. alone among living tenors, to sing
the hero parts in the best works of Bel
lini, Donlsettl, Rossini and Moiart as orig
inally written for the great tenor of their
own time.
When this task was well along it waa
not a difficult matter In opera-loving Italy,
where "bel canto" is almost a religion, to
bring Romania rare gifts to the notice of
the King with the result Just described.
The "King's Tenor" Is sow living
quietly in New York City. Privately be has
been heard by some of the most capable
Judges la America. The verdict is unani
mous. Not only Is that "E-natural in alt"
pure, easy and to be relied on. but the
whole range, down to lower C, demon
strates a lyric tenor of the finest quality,
of admirable power, and when the occa
sion warrants with an irresistible "dra
matic punch" in It
The history of opera contatns the name
of but one tenor whose qualities could be
described in the same terms. He was
Rubini. And it was mainly because Ru
bin! demonstrated these powers that Bel
lini composed the opera ' I Purltanl," with
its brilliant cadenzas soaring Into "altls
slmo." One reason that this opera, and
others of about the same period by Bel
lini, Rossini, Donizetti and Mozart are
not more frequently sung nowadays is be
cause much of the brilliancy of their
charming and graceful melodies is lost In
transposing them downward to a point
where Rubinl's successors could reach
tbelr upper notes.
In justice to the great tenors of the last
fifty years, it should be remembered that
tbe demands upon them In the way of a
perfectly even quality of tone throughout
their entire range are much greater than
formerly. Then It was permissible to
divide the vocal range into separate
"registera." and even to produce the tones
above "high C" with a sort of falsetto.
'1 o-day there must be na break in the
duality of the tones nor in the method of
their production from top to bottom.
There is no doubt that Caruso and a
fITheOnly Man
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FnfJ lemPe, th Beautiful German Coloratura Soprano Whose
"Top Notes," Like Those of the "King'a Tenor," Are Required in
Restoring the "Lost Art" of tha Classical Italian Opera.
very few other tenors of the last two
decades were in this regard the superiors
of their predecessors of two and three
generations ago. But "high C" has been
their really useful upper limit. Caruso,
and one or two others, have upon occa
sion, when In exceptionally fine condition,
ventured Just one degree Into "iltiBsimo,'
dwelllng briefly upon a C-sharp.
Thus it will be appreciated that for a
Romani to produce an "E-natural In alt"
having ti'.e name operatic significance as
the "high ("' of his contemporaries, while
supplying all the other demands made up
on modern teuor, is not only to achieve a
Copyright. 191S. by th Star Comoanv. Or Britain RlehU Reserved
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triumph, but to do more than even Rubini
could have attempted.
Oiuliano Romani sings "The Barber of
Seville" with the Rubici cadenxa at the
end. which includes the "hlKh E" above
the "high C" a performance whirh no
other tenor since Rubini has achieved. He
also vocalizes the fast movement, running
chromatlo scales which all tenors of the
modern school have evaded. This means
a revival of the "lost art'' of tha early
part of the nineteenth century.
it also means new life for several of the
most charming of the classic operas. Ro
manl's practised repertory includes all of
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Signor Enrico Caruso, at the CIowi
in "I PaffliaceiV WU.. n:...i
High C-Sharp
M ' ' -'WWV VII 11LUI
Now Becomes
lame Affair.
A "Barber of Seville" Soprano Cadenza, as Sung By Frieda Hempel, in
Which Two Long Trills Are Followed by a Sustained F Above High
C a Remarkable Feat Even for a Soprano. Yet the King's
Tenor" Is Able to "Hit" That Same "F in Alt."
The Extraordinary Vocal
Machinery of Sig. Romani,
the King of Italy's Favorite
Tenor, Who Has Been
Exempted from Military
Duty by the King Him
self to Save His Valuable
High
them. He sings the tenor roles of Fer
nando, in "La Favorlta"; the Duke, In
"Rigoletto"; Arturo, in "I Puritani"; Don
Ottavlo, in "Don Giovanni"; Nemorlno, In
"L'Elisir d'Amor"; Ehino, in "La Son
nambula"; Ernesto, In 'Don Pasquale";
Alfredo, in "La Traviata."
and so on. Of the mod
ern operas his favorite
role Rodolfo, in "La
Bohen: -' famous Caruso
part. '. .. tenor part of
Rossini's "Stabat Mater"
Is one of his best achieve
ments. Probably you will won
der what Is the secret of
this ycung Italian's ability
'.o do what no other tenor
if these times or any other
has been able to accom
plish. The answer Is sim
ple: The perseverance of
the fittest. A perfect vocal
mechanism in a magnifi
cently vital physique
trained to its highest ca
pacity characterises all
great singers. Romani
adds the Nth degree, per
haps, by greater confi
dence and daring, united
with sound methods.
The musical tone pro
duced by vibrations of the
vocal chords In the larynx
as a thinner or thicker
stream of air passes be
tween them from the
lungs, according to Its
higher or lower pitch, is
also materially under
the control of the dia
phragm, that partition
Diagram Illustrating Ro
manes Ides of How He
Takes His "Top Notes."
The Centre of the Dia
phragm (A) Shown by
the Dotted Curve (B)
Rises Like a Cone Until
Its Apex Seemi to Lie
High Up Against the
Chest. The Arrow In
dicatee How the Force
Here Generated Carries
the Vibrations to tha
Cranial
Chambers,
of muscle and cartillage
which separates the abdominal cavity from
that containing the lungs and heart, and
which is largely responsible for the func
tion of breathing. As the pitch of the
tone rises, so does the centre of the dia
phragm, pressing sgalnst the lungs and
Increasing the force with which the
Why Men's Hats
A
men of wearing the hat on th
back of the head.
The chief function for the hat exrept
for the bald Is to shade the eyes, but on a
city street there Is seldom sny direct
sunshine, and therefore small actual ne
cessity for shading the eyes with the hat
brim. Now comes the discovery of sn Impell
ing motive to keep the hat on the back
of the head. This motive exists in cities,
even for the oldest resident.
Take New York, for instance. Inter-
A . ,T ttV:'.
A - ? C
' ;WiaJ f
.dcin.
Notes
stream of air passes between the mora
and more contracted vocal cords.
"When I Blng my highest tones," says
Romani, 'it seems to me that the centre
of the diaphragm rises like a cone, up
ward and forward, until It touches the
Inner wall of the upper
chest. I seem to feel that
this is the power which
enables me to reach and
sustain all my upper
tones."
He added what is famil
iar to all singers the part
played by the upper throat
and the cranial cavities
back of the nose as reso
nance chambers; and
these seemed to gain in
importance the higher his
tones soared.
There are several so
pranos before the public
whose specialty is the
high-pitched roles of the
old operas here mentioned.
Tetrazzini made her great
success in tbem. Marcella
Sembrich now retired
from opera probably was
the greatest inodrra so
prano in this class. Her
former roles at the Metro
politan opera in New York
are now in the hands of
Frieda Mempel, a very
beautiful young woman,
who curiously enough
recently Justifies ber col
oratura specialty in the
same way that Romani
justifies his "altissimo"
notes: by no other means
can the charming old
operas be restored to pop
ularity and to general es
Resonance
(C).
teem among opera-goers.
As in the case of Romani, so does Frieda
Hempel make h?r best impression with
the soaring cadenzas of Rossini's "Barber
of
Seville ; she, too. with C-shar,is. Ds
and E's "in altissimo.'
Perhaps tbey will
coming season-
be heard together this
who can tell?
Are Tipped Back
g there
e eves, thlnes that
Popie iiite 10 iook at. even while they
pass along. If the hat were worn low on
the face the head would have to be
craned upward, and everyone would
know that the person was looking at a
particular thing.
Whereas when the hat is worn on the
back of the head the eyes may rosm
where they will, and sn air of indiffer
ence and sang froid be preserved.
Here is an Instance of a style which
seems an affectation having a real basis
in utility.