Elizabeth Dodge

              Figure

MISS ELIZABETH DODGE (SOPRANO)
Management: HENRY WOLFSOHN, 131 East 17th Street, New York



ELIZABETH DODGE
AFTER several years' absence in Europe, Miss Elizabeth Dodge, whom American audiences have always warmly welcomed, returned to her own country to renew old associations.  Miss Dodge has just completed her London season, where she has sung with great success at receptions given by English nobility, among them the Duchess of Norfolk, the Baroness da Palmeira, and others, also at Dorchester House, where Mr. and Mrs. Whitelaw Reid received the flower of English nobility.

Miss Dodge's recent successful Concert tour through Europe included the presentation of a number of Oratorios, among them Elijah, Messiah, and other works, Symphonic Orchestral Concerts in Rome and other art centers, receiving the highest artistic recognition wherever she appeared.



Missa Solemnis
Beethoven's great work sung by the Bach Choir, assisted by the Philadelphia Orchestra, at Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md.


Baltimore Sun, March 11, 1908: 
The soloists were Elizabeth Dodge, soprano, Janet Spencer, contralto, etc.  For the first performance of such a colossal piece of choral literature, it may well be said that the Bach Choir and soloists did nobly.  From the beginning to the end the singing was characterized by remarkable smoothness and coherence, excelling in enunciation and other essential qualifications.  Great credit is due to all, director, soloists, choir and orchestra alike, all were heartily applauded at the conclusion of each division.

(Quotation from a letter written by Mr. Harold Randolph, Director of the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Md.)

Miss Dodge is a tremendously valuable acquisition to the oratorio field, and should take her place among the very best,



New York
(Orchestral Concert—Victor Herbert, Conductor)—November 18, 1907.


The Evening Mail: 
Mr. Herbert added greatly to the enjoyment of the evening by the selection of Miss Elizabeth Dodge as soloist.  Miss Dodge has just returned after a sojourn in Paris of years spent in study.  Singers of her equipment and charm are seldom heard outside of the grand opera, and this brilliant soprano won her audience after the first few measures of the Mad Scene from Hamlet, by Thomas, which she sang with orchestral accompaniment.  She responded to the spontaneous outburst of applause with Schubert's Who Is Sylvia? and after her second group she sang Chaminade's Summer.


New York Herald: 
Miss Elizabeth Dodge was the soloist.  She sang the Mad Scene from Ambrose Thomas' Hamlet with excellent voice.  She sang Schubert's Who Is Sylvia? as well as a dainty Chaminade song for encores.

(LETTER TO MISS DODGE)

Thanking you for your noble work at last night's concert, I remain

Very sincerely yours,
VICTOR HERBERT.




Boston
December 9, 1907.


Boston Evening Transcript: 
Miss Dodge has physical advantages which are quick to impress her hearers.  Taller than Mme. Sembrich, she yet presents an odd likeness to that wonderful prima donna.  Her voice is full, her technical knowledge far advanced.  There are scope and substance to her overlapping registers, and her felicity with the roulade is undeniable.  Still, it must be confessed that she gave far greater pleasure when singing Schumann's Mondnacht, or Schubert's Who Is Sylvia? or Grieg's elusive Im Kahne, than when she essayed the pyrotechnical and dramatic Ophelian aria.  There is in her interpretation of the liedl a warm and caressing tone which makes her more elaborate efforts seem cold and thin by comparison.


Boston Post: 
Miss Dodge interpreted with authority and not without individuality, her lower notes in sustained passages were full and warm.  She was heartily encored.


Boston Herald: 
The first appearance here of Miss Dodge aroused considerable interest, which was justified by her performance.  Her voice is very high and of brilliant and incisive rather than emotional quality.  It would not be fair, however, to say that the singer is without emotion, for she made the Mad Scene interesting by other means than by purely technical display, thereby doing somewhat toward justifying the title.  She sang the shorter pieces with delightful grace, and included Schubert's Sylvia as one of her encore pieces.

January 19, 1908.


Boston Sunday Globe: 
The audience naturally was rather prejudiced than critical, and went expecting to hear a fine voice, but with an opportunity for reflection since, there is but one opinion, and that is that Elizabeth Dodge has joined the ranks of the great singers.

February 19, 1908.


St. Louis Republican: 
Miss Dodge, who was unknown here until last night, was received with favor.  She has recently returned from an eight years' preparation in Paris and was heard in New York this season in several orchestral concerts.  She evidenced equipment and charm, and fully measured up to the quiet confidence of her manner.  Her pitch is accurate, and her notes round.  She sang easily her high C. Her rendition of the Caro Nome aria from Rigoletto proved satisfactory, and she was recalled to sing an attractive little song, entitled Who Is Sylvia?  Her second number consisted of a group of folk songs, including the Hungarian, French, Scotch and Spanish.  The Castellano bolero of the Spanish was a luring melody and exceedingly attractive.

February 16, 1908.


Detroit Free Press: 
Miss Elizabeth Dodge, of Paris, France, whose marvellous lyric soprano voice has created such a furore in Europe, was heard in a delightful grouping of songs.

April 24, 1908.


The Troy Times, Troy, N. Y.: 
Miss Elizabeth Dodge, of New York, soprano, surpassed expectations.  She has a fresh, pure, true voice—a genuine soprano and of even quality throughout.  Her opening number, the Polonaise from Mignon, indicated her superiority.  The encore was the familiar Who Is Sylvia? and it was sung with exquisite simplicity and dainty charm.  Miss Dodge did not seem at all too presumptuous in essaying this favorite song of so many of the famous.  In her group of lyrics Miss Dodge continued and deepened the pleasing impression.  She possesses that source of power, poise, and this composure enables her to give the proper values to word and tone.  In the closing chorus, The Minstrel, and in its final measures, Miss Dodge shone like a star over the sea of men's voices. and in a lofty and sustained flight surprised and captivated her hearers.  Miss Dodge has the qualities of a concert favorite, and whoever introduced her to the attention of the Vocal Society deserves the thanks of Troy's music-public.  The novice might well take a lesson from Miss Dodge's avoidance of the most frequent failing of singers, the forcing of a voice out of its tone and tune in a cheap attempt to attain volume and the consequent applause.


The Troy Record: 
The soloist of the evening was Miss Elizabeth Dodge.  She is a stranger in Troy but all who heard her will trust that she will come again.  She has a voice of fine quality and her gracious manner added much in captivating the audience.  On each appearauce she received an enthusiastic encore and her work in the final piece was unusually brilliant.  She had not in her selections shown
 great power.  But, when she joined with the Vocal Society in the finale of Kern's Minstrel, she demonstrated what a tremendous reserve she had.  Her voice almost drowned out the voices of the men, and her high notes were clear and sweet, giving no evidence of strain or effort.  It is to be hoped that Miss Dodge will visit Troy again.  She made many friends by her manner and the sweetness of her voice.

February 8, 1908.


Jersey City Evening Journal: 
In all her numbers last night, Miss Dodge gave the greatest pleasure.  That the full beauty of her voice might be enjoyed Miss Dodge sang as a solo the waltz song from Romeo and Juliet, recalling the splendor of the Capulet festival and the loves and misfortunes of the representatives of two great families in history.  It is a familiar and favorite selection for sopranos whose ability and voice warrant it being sung Full of colorature and what, for want of a better name, some critics have styled vocal embroidery.  It gives full sway to a great voice, its dainty runs and trills, its long, full passages and its rich melody, were each and all brought out charmingly last night by Miss Dodge.  As as an encore she gave Shakespere's Who Is Sylvia? and she sang it beautifully.



MISS ELIZABETH DODGE
Gives Concert in Her Old Home.
Noted Singer Captivated City Hall Audience Last Evening.
January 15, 1908.


Daily News, Newburyport, Mass.: 
Miss Elizabeth M. Dodge, the Newburyport girl who won such triumphs in her profession of music abroad and in the larger musical centers of this country, was given a cordial welcome to Newburyport last evening when an audience that almost taxed the capacity of City Hall gathered to give her greeting, as she made her appearance here after her career under noted teachers of the Old World.  As will be seen the programme took a wide range, being devised, we presume, to indicate the broad degree of Miss Dodge's versatility, and it was all the more pleasing on that account.  Whether in the vigorous passages of The Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor, or the very sweet folk songs, Miss Dodge was perfect, and deserved the very warm encores that she received.  She was very gracious in her presence and gave several pretty responses to the applause of the audience.  Perhaps from some standpoints the little Scotch piece, Afton Water, met the favor of the audience better than any other.  It was not so exacting in its requirements, but there was a range of voice, of expression and sympathy in it that won instant favor and this she repeated.  It was a delight to all Newburyport, and particularly of Miss Dodge's friends, to note the perfection of her art which has come to her only after the very hardest kind of work, and they anticipate for her greater triumphs in the future than she has thus far achieved.  After the concert Miss Dodge held an informal reception, and many of her acquaintances in the audience took occasion to greet her and express their great pleasure in her success.  Later, many of the musical people of this city and Amesbury greeted her at the home of Mrs. Leroy Berry, where additional congratulations were showered upon her.



THE DODGE CONCERT
Large and Appreciative Audience at City Hall.
Newburyport-Born Artist Sang Delightfully Classic and Simple Music.


The Herald, Newburyport, Mass.: 
Nine hundred or more friends of Miss Elizabeth M. Dodge gathered at City Hall last evening and paid homage to the Newburyport girl, who, possessed of a rich and highly cultivated voice, sang her way straight into the hearts of all present.  Miss Dodge's superior vocal powers as a girl were well remembered by many.  Others knew her by reputation.  Her exceptional opportunities for study at home and abroad have, with maturing years, developed her rare vocal powers, until to-day she stands in the forefront of her profession.  She was given a most cordial reception and it must have been a source of gratification to her.  All of Miss Dodge's selections were greatly enjoyed, but perhaps the opportunity for her to display her great resources came at the end of the first part in the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti.  It was wonderfully well executed.  Difficult, yet, when well sung, grand.  Alone it was well worth the price of admission.  Miss Dodge's Folk-Songs constituted another particularly pleasing feature, especially Afton Water, the lovely Scotch composition, which called forth tumultuous applause.  The talented singer kindly answered to several encores and showed a most amiable disposition.  Miss Dodge's singing was enhanced by a charming stage presence, for she threw expression into her work, and was thoroughly in accord with the varying emotions portrayed by the words of the song.