MISS MARY PRATT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22023, 4 August 1933, Page 5

MISS MARY PRATT

AN INVERCARGILL TRIBUTE \ In its report of the farewell concert given in Invercargill on Wednesday night the Southland Times paid a striking tribute to Miss Mary Pratt. The'impression made by the singer is conveyed in the following words; — “ At her farewell concert in the Civic Theatre last evening, Miss Mary Pratt, Dunedin’s popular contralto, was afforded .striking testimony of the interest and sympathy of the people of Invercargill in her laudable desire to continue her studies (and maybe win fame) in Europe—an ambition which several eminent visiting singers have whole-heartedly encouraged. An extremely large audience applauded her so generously that her concert was more than an outstanding success—it was a personal triumph. The warm, velvety quality of her voice, her gracious presence, her absolute earnestness and the effortless ease with which she sang charmed her hearers. This may sound fulsome praise; but if a pleasant thing is to be said,' why should it not be said handsomely? One should surely be eager to recognise with ready impartiality and sincere approval a particle of pure gold. In pouring out her stored sweetness Miss Pratt was able to convey the full beauty of sound, to quicken the pulse of emotion and to uplift the heart. It is not merely that she has an exceptional voice. She sings with a delightfully ingenuous sense of romance and drama which seems nevertheless to exist side by side with modesty and sympathy. Her mind can clearly conceive and her voice faithfully express the full glory of the music. This is not to say that Miss Pratt has approached perfection in her art. There might have been small technical blemishes in her singing last evening, the interpretation of some of her songs might have been slightly improved, her dramatic sense has yet to be fully developed. Melba has said that “ the powers of the artist do not come to anyone as a completed gift; the ideal balance of the mental and physical faculties must be a matter of slow development fostered by manifold influences.” Miss Pratt is going abroad to experience these manifold influences. Her teachers will have the moulding of a voice the crystal clarity of the upper register and the glorious depth of the lower register of which may well place her in the forefront of the world’s contraltos. If marked success attends her visit to Europe no keener gratification will bg felt anywhere more than in Invercargill.”