Jenny Dufau

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Matzene Chicago
JENNY DUFAU
PRIMA DONNA COLORATURA SOPRANO CHICAGO-PHILADELPHIA OPERA CO.

CHARLES LURVEY, Accompanist

Concert Management:
WINTON & LIVINGSTON
Aeolian Hall, New York



JENNY DUFAU.
AS leading coloratura soprano of the Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company Miss Dufau immediately established herself in America as an operatic artist of the first rank, and now the present season has witnessed a complete fulfillment of the promise that Miss Dufau would take her place as one of the fine concert sopranos of the present day.  The public has been quick in responding to the beautiful art of Jenny Dufau.

During the present season Miss Dufau has filled many important concert engagements, and everywhere she has been acclaimed as an artist of remarkable attainments and astonishing versatility.  A voice of refreshing purity, rich in color, a fascinating personality, unerring skill in selecting programs, and interpretative gifts of the highest order, are the qualities which distinguish Miss Dufau as an artist of the first rank, and make her a vital figure on the American concert stage.  Although Miss Dufau brings to her concert work all the charm and grace which a genuine coloratura soprano possesses, yet it has been in the more sustained and deeper moods that Miss Dufau has made her most profound impression.  It has been the accepted opinion that a coloratura soprano, in the general sense, is not able to successfully cope with a full recital, but Miss Dufau has proved that her art knows no such limitations, for, indeed, a large measure of her success has come from her singing of the works of Schumann, Schubert, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Wolf, Reger, Debussy, Tschaikowsky and Rachmaninoff.  The musical critic of the Boston Daily Advertiser, upon the occasion of Miss Dufau's singing of Manon at the Boston Opera House, found that Miss Dufau's voice is pure coloratura; it is of beautiful quality and of greater warmth, breadth and resonance in the lower tones than is usually found in voices of this type, while the Chicago Inter Ocean, in reviewing Miss Dufau's first Chicago song recital, states that She took her audience by surprise with her eloquent interpretation of German songs.  They had the individuality of mood, sympathetic and illuminating timbres, and the shading peculiar to lieder.

Charles Lurvey, whose artistic and sympathetic accompaniments have been such an appreciable feature of Miss Dufau's present concert tour, has been reengaged for the third season.




SOME PRESS NOTICES.

NEW YORK.

Jenny Dufau in Songs. Coloratura Soprano Gives an Enjoyable Recital in Harris Theatre.
Jenny Dufau, coloratura soprano of the Chicago Opera Company, gave a recital at the Harris Theatre yesterday afternoon.  Her program included chansons and bergerettes of other centuries, the air of Ophelia from Thomas' Hamlet, and three groups of songs from the modern French composers.

In the florid music Mlle. Dufau displayed an amount of dexterity, of lightness which vindicated her title to being a coloratura soprano.  This is interesting, but not nowadays of great importance.  What was important was that she sang the modern French songs as they are not often heard sung, with a grace, an individuality, a vocal purity, and a very sensitive perception and expression of their atmosphere, that made her recital one to be thoroughly enjoyed.



Mlle. Jenny Dufau Gives with Charm Airs by Mozart and Schubert at the Harris.

Jenny Dufau's second recital followed her appearance there last week.
It is not often that the demands of Mozart's style are more successfully met than in the singing of that composer's works which Mlle. Dufau did yesterday afternoon, for with the technical facility of the trained coloratura singer she combined a sensitive and responsive artistic expression.  Her diction in the German songs was entirely successful, and she sang Schubert's Die Forelle, for instance, with much charm.  The accompaniments of Charles Lurvey were again especially well done.—

New York Times, January 26, 1916.




CHICAGO

Miss Dufau Triumphs in Tetrazzini's Place

Mlle. Dufau had the most unenviable task of supplying the place of a special star, but she was on her mettle, sang better than we ever heard her and won her audience completely.  It is florid music of the order of that in Lucia di Lammermoor that Miss Dufau sings best, even as it is the music that Mme. Tetrazzini sings best.  The mad scene was vocalized with greatest effectiveness, and its interpreter made more of the dramatic aspect of the situation than many of her predecessors in the part had made.—
News.



Barber of Seville With Titta Ruffo

Miss Dufau made a remarkable return to the fold.  The old-timers did not recall a performance more brilliant technically than hers since Adelina Patti's triumph here.  Her arch comedy enlivened the performance, but her interpretation's greatest aspect was its musical side.  During the lesson scene she introduced the Mignon Polonaise and was obliged to add an encore.—
Chicago Inter Ocean.




PHILADELPHIA

The honors of the evening unquestionably went to Jenny Dufau, who sang with perfect art, delicately, accurately, and with rare understanding of the spirit of the music.  Her great song, Je suis Titania, was splendidly done and she was obliged to repeat it.—
Philadelphia Press.



BOSTON

Jenny Dufau as Manon

On Wednesday evening the soprano was of the same speech as the tenor, and besides that she was what the French sopranos who have tried for Boston laurels have almost never proved, a convincing interpreter of character.  Miss Dufau's interpretation of the Manon of the hotel garden is especially good.  Her scene in the chapel is a more delicate and human moment of impression than it has been with any other soprano who has appeared at the opera house.  Her scene on the road to Havre has the pathos of the tragedy in fine quality.—
C. S. Monitor, March 19, 1914.


Great interest centered in Miss Dufau's first appearance in Boston in the title role.  Miss Dufau's voice is pure coloratura.  It is of beautiful quality and of greater warmth, breadth and resonance in the lower tones than is usually found in voices of this style.  Not alone in vocal requisites is Miss Dufau singularly suited to the part of Manon, but also physically and temperamentally she adequately sustains the illusion with striking effectiveness.  She sang the music of the part expressively and in good taste.  Miss Dufau made a fine impression and was warmly applauded.—
Boston Daily Advertiser, March 19, 1914.




LONDON

An equally favorable reception was given to the singing of Mlle. Dufau, who in voice, action and personality is one of the most charming Micaelas that Covent Garden has seen for some years.  In the third act she scored a little triumph on her own account.—
Daily Express.



CHICAGO

Chicago Song Recital—Illinois Theatre, October 11, 1914

It is a pleasant task to testify to the excellence, vocal and interpretative, of the work which Miss Dufau did at the concert which is the raison d'etre of this review.  The singer has not set forth her music before with the fine artistry which distinguished her labors at the Illinois Theatre yesterday.  It is sterling testimony to the beauty of those labors that even the somewhat profane atmosphere of the first Sunday concert could not detract from or mar the lovely feeling which went to her interpretation of work such as Debussy's Beau Soir or Wolf's Auch Kleine Dinge.
It was, indeed, this aspect of the concert-giver's art which evoked a new respect for her possibilities.  Miss Dufau's voice is the typical voice of the coloratura artist, yet its possessor was able to color it with infinite tenderness in the works which have just been mentioned and in Solvejg's song from Grieg's music to Peer Gynt.  There was admirable bravoura in the singing of the Bell Song from Lakme, by Delibes, but it was a finer art which made Debussy's exquisite lyric, Beau Soir, a poem of melting charm.—

Herald.




MILWAUKEE, WIS.

Some grand opera stars make excursions into the concert field, but remain obviously opera singers, remarkable as attractions rather than artists.  When Jenny Dufau, coloratura soprano of the Chicago Grand Opera Company, was heard in concert Thursday night in the Auditorium she revealed a breadth of art and a wealth of vocal equipment which marked her not as a transplanted star, but as a true artist.  Minus the orchestra and scenic investiture which enhanced her previous appearance here with the Chicago Opera forces, Miss Dufau clearly captivated the audience, as was evidenced by insistent recalls and tense interest throughout.—
Milwaukee Sentinel, May 15, 1914.



NASHVILLE, TENN.

Miss Dufau's recital takes first rank in the list of musical events in our city this season. … She won a storm of applause. … Schubert found in Miss Dufau an artist capable of giving the highest and truest meaning to his tuneful music.—
Nashville Tennesseean, January 20, 1915.




CLEVELAND, OHIO

Jenny Dufau's Recent Successes Three Cities Join in Praise of Soprano

Jenny Dufau's brilliant success in Cleveland and Atlanta is registered in the following excerpts culled from the press of those cities:
She possesses a lyric voice of great purity and considerable range.  Yesterday she struck a high E flat and held with a tone as clear as a bell, and her lower tones and middle register are excellent.  She was delightful in a Hugo Wolf group; Paladilhe's Psyche and Dalcroze's Blue Bird were full of delicate feeling, while Delibes' Girls of Cadiz was fuller of defiant spirit, gay manner and brilliancy than I have ever heard equalled in that song—

The Leader, Cleveland, November 12.


The principal honors in this artistic partnership fell easily to Miss Dufau, who delighted her hearers with her clear, liquid and perfectly placed voice. … We do not often hear better vocalism than was revealed in Paladilhe's Psyche, with its transparent tone and admirably sustained legato; in Dalcroze's L'oiseau bleu, captivating in its swift and unerring deftness, and in Delibes' Filles de Cadiz, which Miss Dufau delivered with splendid bravoura.—
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, November 12.




ATLANTA, GA.

Throng Delighted by Singing of Miss Dufau

A song recital without divertissement of instrumental numbers or assistance for the soloist by another voice for program relief presents a difficulty at best, but such was the variety of selections sung by Miss Jenny Dufau at the Auditorium Tuesday night that her concert, despite this, was keenly enjoyed, and won the warm applause and rapt interest of a large audience throughout.
The recital as a whole was artistic in fine degree.  Miss Dufau is a coloratura soprano who doesn't know the meaning of affectation.  She is mistress equally of simple and brilliant music, and sang a series of German lieder, an aria from Traviata and the Ambroise Thomas polonaise from Mignon with equal success.  Three American compositions, an Irish love song and the touching Scotch air, Loch Lomond, found place on her tactfully selected program.  She responded to several encores.—

The Atlanta Georgian, November 2, 1915.




DENVER, COLO.

Dufau is Charming in Denver Concert Prima Donna with Philadelphia-Chicago Company Stars in Electric Club Affair
Mlle. Dufau, prima donna soprano with the Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company, was the artist presented.  This was Mlle. Dufau's first appearance in the west, and with her lovely voice and charming manner she soon sang her way straight into the hearts of the audience.



Has Beautiful Coloratura

Dufau's voice is a coloratura of beautiful quality and flexibility.
Although a resident of the United States but three years, she speaks English perfectly and sings it with extraordinary ease.  In fact, her diction in all languages is good.—

The Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo., Tuesday, April 20, 1915.




CHATTANOOGA, TENN.

Mlle. Jenny Dufau Wins Enthusiastic Applause Singer Charms Large Audience of Chatianooga Music-Lovers

Mlle. Jenny Dufau, coloratura soprano, scored a distinct triumph last night under the auspices of the Chattanooga Music Club.  Slender and petite in appearance and possessed of a pure voice of great brilliancy, the singer clearly demonstrated her experience in grand opera before the first number of the program had been finished.
Throughout the difficult program Mlle. Dufau sustained her reputation as mistress of technique.  Her piquant and charming manner, coupled with evident enjoyment of her work, had its effect upon the audience, and she was accorded repeated encores.
Her absolute voice control in both the grave and the gay numbers, and the human sympathy with which she imbued those numbers which required it, made her recital one of the most pleasing ever heard here.  Her coloratura songs were marvelously rendered and brought storms of applause from the audience.
In opera traditions Mlle. Dufau showed that she was entirely at home, but it was in the simple songs, such as Loch Lomond, that she made the strongest appeal.  The sweetness and tenderness of her voice in these numbers greatly charmed her hearers.
Charles Lurvey's sympathetic accompaniments were fine support to the singer.—

The Daily Times, Chattanooga, Tenn., Tuesday, November 9, 1915.




BIRMINGHAM, ALA.

Dufau Concert is Rare Artistic Treat Thursday Music Study Club Has Successful Evening at Tutwiler Hotel

The large and discriminating audience present was evidence that the selection of this artist was popular.  It is seldom that artist and audience are in such perfect sympathy with each other as they were last night.  In fact, Mlle. Dufau had her audience won over to her before she sang a note, by her charming manner and personality.
The program was an ideal one, presenting songs from the eighteenth century down to the present day, and gave the singer opportunity to display her wonderful art, an art so exquisite that the listener was made to feel the true meaning of each song.—

The Birmingham News, Birmingham, Ala., Friday, November 19.




DELAWARE, OHIO

Song Concert is Enjoyed at Gray Chapel

Presenting a delightful program of song, Miss Jenny Dufau, prima donna soprano of the Chicago-Philadelphia Opera Company, pleased a large audience by her concert in Gray Chapel Tuesday evening as one of the feature numbers of the senior lecture course this year.
Miss Dufau is an artist of remarkable attainments and astonishing versatility.  A voice of refreshing purity, rich in color, a fascinating personality, unerring skill in selecting programs, and interpretative gifts of the highest order, are qualities which distinguish Miss Dufau as an artist of the first rank and make her a vital figure on the American concert stage.
She sings in English, French, Italian and German with equal fluency and grace of enunciation, and excels in the rendition of her native songs, which she interprets with great charm, a clear voice and intense feeling.—

The Journal-Herald, Delaware, Ohio, Wednesday Evening, March 8, 1916.





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