ll find
out very quickly that there exists no grounds for such a feeling with
true artists. In the first place no two people look alike, neither are
they made alike. I have had the strange experience of teaching five
pairs of twins. They were so much alike that it was with difficulty we
could distinguish them apart. Especially the Faull twins, who were
obliged to wear a gold bar pin with "Rose" and "Sophia" engraved upon
them to distinguish them, and yet they were unlike in every
respect. The figures were different; their voices, one a contralto,
the other soprano; one delicate, the other robust. Rose is living and
the other passed out of life. It is so in everything in life. The
petty jealousy of singers and players is a laughable farce. Even our
grandest singers have shown this weakness because a rival was billed
with lettering a quarter of an inch larger. This lowers the singer in
the eyes of the public. No two singers can sing alike, even if they
sing the same song. The interpretation belongs to the individual
singer. It will remain hers forever in the remembrance of the
listeners and no amount of jealousy will remove the fact. When once a
singer has climbed to a place of recognition and can be classed as a
true artist and acknowledged by the public as such, she is entitled to
recognition. "Give honor to those to whom honor is due," is the safest
way.
[Illustration: ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF THE LORING CLUB
SAN FRANCISCO, 1873
Geo. Fletcher
Wm. E. Blake
Nathaniel Page
Geo. Story
FRENCH HORN QUARTETTE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY
Season of 1895]
I will continue my narrative of special engagements. I had eighteen
years' experience in singing for the Welsh colony of men and women who
formed a society known as the Cambrian Mutual Aid Society. It had been
in existence four years before I was engaged as vocalist. The society
was prosperous and about 300 strong at that time. Professor Price, Mr.
Jehu, Samuel Williams, Gomer Evans, H.J. Owens (Obedog), E. Meredith
(tenor) and J.R. Jones (bass) were the prominent persons connected
with the society. March 1st was the day for celebrating the yearly
singing tryout. The Welsh miners and their families came yearly from
Mt. Diablo mines for a holiday of sociability and song. The day was
called St. David's Day. My first engagement with this society occurred
on the 2d day of March, 1874, the first having come on Sunday. We were
obliged to sing the Welsh airs.
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