Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870-1900

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

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text excerpt

It was during the same winter that Clara Butt made her first appearance in public. The need for a new concert contralto of the first rank had  become pressing. Trebelli had died suddenly at Etretat the previous summer; and in the February  of 1894 an even more sudden attack of heart disease closed the career of Janet Patey as she was leaving the platform at a concert at Sheffield. It was curious that midway between these two sad  events there should have appeared upon the  scene the artist who, whatever her vocal attributes  as compared with those of her gifted predecessors, indisputably holds at the present time the position of leading English contralto.   

Miss Clara Butt made her debut, while yet a scholar of the Royal College of Music, in a performance of Gluck's “Orpheus", given by the  pupils of the college at the Lyceum Theatre in December, 1892. Her unusually lofty stature lent to the embodiment of Orpheus a dignity and impressiveness that were at least equaled by the organ-like sonority and volume of her ample tones. Then she could neither act nor sing; but there was intelligence in her work, there was an evident faculty for imitation, and, above  all, there was glorious material in her powerful,  luscious voice.

excerpt from 'Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870-1900' pp. 376 (210 words)

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