A GREAT SINGER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 287, 2 December 1911, Page 18

A GREAT SINGER.

AlßAJirs FABEWnX. (Prom Onr Special Correspondent.) LONDON, October 21. The "enthusiasm born of regret" was in evidence at the Albert Hall last Saturday afternoon, when Madame Albani gave her farewell concert. There have been many "farewells" of popular favourites within the memory of the middle-aged, but it is doubtful "whether any one of them provided stronger evidence of the stability of British appreciation than that which marked Madame Albani's retirement. Every corner of the great "building was occupied, and when at the close tJie link of forty years' service was broken the cheers of an audience of 10,----000 told Madame Albani that her career both as an artist and a woman had won the appreciation and admiration of her fellow men and women. The whole-hearted tribute was all the more remarkable because since her retirement from the operatic stage full twenty years ago, Madame Albani had practically devoted herself to the oratorio platform, and had thus greatly circumscribed popular knowledge of her gifts and her personality. The Albert Hall tribute was marked by the rc-appearanco of Madame Adeline 3\itti and .Sir Charles so that the retiring artist hud not only a grateful and appreciative public, but the most distinguished of her artiste-comrades to bid her farewell. Miss -Muriel Foster also emerged from her premature retirement to assist, and the programme was further strengthened by the efforts of Miss -Ada (,'rossley, Miss Adda Verne, the pianist, Cervase Klwes, I'lunket Greene, and Haydn Wood, to say nothing of the famous New -Symphony Orchestra, con ducted by Landon Ronald and the Stnail-wood-Mctealf choir. To lime. Patti and Sir Chas. Santley the retiring vocalist gave the places of honour in her programme, her own first appearance being made early in the "afternoon. Tier entry evoked a thrilling outburst of enthusiasm which nearly had the effect of throwing Madame Albani off her ■emotional balance. For a few moment, it scorned that the singer's emotions would overcome her, but with an obvio d effort she conquered them, and by her rendering of Handel's "Ombra raai fu," and Chaminade's "L'Ete" proved that though time can wreck a voice, it cannot obscure art. Madame Albani's voice is "the voice that was," but her keen sense of. poetry and the vocal directness thai counted for so much in the early days of her career, have not been impaired by the passage of years. Amid the enthusiasm that followed a procession of 'bouquet-bearers threaded its 'way to (.he platform, which soon became a veritable floral bower. In response Madame Albani sang Gounod's "Avo Maria," almost as iropressivelv as in the years gone by, but perhaps the item most suggestive of her triumphs of other days was her rendering of Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer," delivered with all the old impressiveness and sung as though Kindly Nature had for a few minutes renewed the singer's prime. "Ye Banks and Braes" followed as an unaccompanied duet with Australia's greatest contralto, Ada Crofaley. Here, again, the effect was admirable. Finally, the end of the programme having been reached, Madame Albani sang Tosti's "Good-Bye." Again her feelings came near to the singer's undoing, and her own emotions found a ready response in the hearts of all present, which found vent in a storm of cheering as the artist made her exit. Though the interest of the afternoon was naturally fixed upon Madame Albani, there was. of course, a full measure of enthusiasm for Madame Parti and Sir Charles Santley, each of whom was received with tiemendous enthusiasm. "Angels Ever Bright and Fair" came from Madame Patti with all the artistic clrarm of days gone by. "Pur Dioesti" followed, but it was not until she had sung "Home, Sweet Home" that she was allowed to retire laden, like Madame Albani, with floral offerings. Sir Charles iSstntley just before had triumphantly rendered old-time favourites like "Maid of Athens" and "To Anthea," the vocal delights of which wrro even excelled in "Simon the Cellarer." The presentation of a purse of gold to Madame Albani, and the National Anthem, with Madame Albani as soloist, concluded a memorable event. The only disappointment was the absence of Madame Sarah Bernhardt, who could not get released from her engagement at the Coliseum,