MADAME ALBANI.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2389, 2 January 1909, Page 11 (Supplement)

MADAME ALBANI.

TO SING ON THE MUSIC HALL STAGE. £SOO A WEEK. After thirty years of song on the public platform Madame Albani is preparing to appear at tlie leading variety theatres in England and Scotia ml. The famous singer ivill receive AA-liat is believed to be the highest sdary ever paid in vaudeville. She will probably start at CWosgoiv, where she Avill (fulfil a fortnight’s engagement at a salary of £IOOO. Madame Albani is the greatest oratorio singer and prima donna to go upon tho English Amudeville stage. “It is a. hold step,” she told a London “Daily News’/ representative, “and it is not one that I have decided to take without a good deal of consideration. Tho details of the tour are not yet fixed, but such towns ns Liverpool and Manchester aa-ill be included. I intend to confine my selections to inv usual operatic repertoire, interwoven Avith English and Scottish songs and ballads.”

“Nothing glA r es me greater delight,” she added, “than to sing before a new public. A new audience Alls me Avith enthusiasm. I have been struck from the Ausits I sometimes make to music halls by the elevating tendency of some of the musical turns. Tho musical standard has been raised, and I am glad to see, AA'itb some sue--cess. But there is another consideration. Many of the big places of entertainment in-London and in tho country are admirably suited to the singer. A?’ Madame Albani recalled on the sour of the moment the .Coliseum and the vast halls in Blackpool and Douglas AA'hich are well-known for their acoustic properties. She will, of course, never sever her connection with the concert-going public, and'her admirers at the chief musical centres aa- ill have the same- opportunities of bearing her. While on the stage she aa- ill sing a selection of not more than three or four songs.

Thirty years ago such a step as Madame Albani is taking ivould have come as a thunderbolt to the musical AA-orld, but things have changed since then, and it is not improbable that other fomous singers AA'ill folloAA r her example.