Miss Alice Nielsen

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MISS ALICE NIELSEN

Prima Donna Soprano of the Metropolitan and Boston Opera Companies



(MANAGEMENT REDPATH MUSICAL BUREAU)





MISS ALICE NIELSEN


World-Famous Prima Donna


Alice Nielsen, unlike so many of our famous artists, was not born in Europe but is a native of Nashville, Tenn.  She is a beautiful Southern woman of whose success the South is rightfully proud.  Beginning a career in her 'teens, singing at the famous old Tivoli, she joined the Bostonians as a prima donna and in a short time became so popular that she was at the head of her own opera company touring this country.  Taking her company to Europe she there decided to devote herself to grand opera, relinguishing the fame and fortune that had come to her in the light opera field and beginning all over again as a student.



Miss Nielsen is said to be the only great musician who has made a success in grand opera after first having achieved a reputation in light opera.



Her operatic debut was made in Italy with immediate success.  Engagements at all the important opera houses of Europe followed.  In 1904 she sang at Convent Garden, London, with Melba, Destinn, Caruso and others, appearing in 
Don Giovanni,
 the great presentation in which Destinn made her London debut.  Especially has she won fame as 
Mimi
 in La Boheme, having sung that role to the 
Rodolfo
 of Caruso many times.



Miss Nielsen's programs include many of the great songs which have long been dear to the hearts of the American people everywhere, such selections as 
My Old Kentucky Home,
 
Old Black Joe,
 
Last Rose of Summer,
 
Home Sweet Home,
 
Genevieve,
 etc., selections which reach the hearts of her audiences.


Figure
Photo by Haynes Studio, Monroe, N. C.

Miss Nielsen and Pianist on Stage Especially Decorated for the Occasion by the Ladies of Monroe, N. C.



Figure

Miss Nielsen and Party at Lunch in Her Private Car En Route to 118 Redpath Chautauquas the Past Summer


Miss Nielsen on September 6 closed a five months' Chautauqua tour which was unqualifiedly one of the greatest successes ever recorded in the musical world.




The announcement of this tour was widely heralded thruout musical circles, and received with the greatest interest.  It is the first instance in which so celebrated a musical artist has appeared on a great chain of Chautauquas.  Leading musical journals commented upon the tour as an innovation which would open a new and broader field to the greatest musical talent.




Miss Nielsen's first recital in Jacksonville, Fla., was made the occasion for a real society event, a large number of those attending being in full evening dress—an innovation at the Chautauquas.  She was also a guest at the Jacksonville Country Club.




At Savannah, Ga., Miss Nielsen was the guest of the Savannah and Columbia ball teams of the South Atlantic League and, in the evening these two teams were her guests at the Chautauqua.




At Monroe, N. C., the stage of the Chautauqua tent was beautifully and elaborately decorated with flowers which had been presented by the ladies of Monroe.  At many other points receptions were held for the noted soprano.




The attendance on Miss Nielsen's recitals has been remarkable.  As high as 3,000 people have attended a single recital.




The newspapers in the different cities en route devoted columns to interviews and descriptions of Miss Nielsen's work.




The private car in which Miss Alice Nielsen traveled over this circuit was used by Ex-Presidents Taft and Roosevelt when they made their swing-around-the-circle campaign tour of the country.  Madero, the famous Mexican, also traveled from coast to coast in it.  Lillian Russel has made extensive tours in this car and Sarah Bernhardt her farewell tour of America.




Miss Nielsen's tour, however, represents the longest time this car has been used by any one celebrity since it was built.




Press Comments on Miss Nielsen's Recent Tour


Figure


Miss Alice Nielsen


Danville, (Ill.), Register.


— It was Miss Nielsen's first appearance in this city, but there is little hazard in the prophecy that it will not be her last if the ovation accorded her last night may be accepted as any criterion or basis for prophecy.  Her winsome personality, and her rare powers as a vocalist evoked enthusiasm and assured her a place in the kindly and cordial remembrance of those who heard her sing and made her acquaintance in this public way.



Augusta, (Ga.), Chronicle.


— Alice Nielsen's voice is too well known and her position in the musical world too secure to need any comment or criticism here.  She is one of the few American singers who have achieved success on the grand opera stage.  Her voice is not a heavy soprano, but is extremely sweet and wonderfully clear and flexible, her high notes sounding like a bird's sweetest note.  Her mastery of voice placement and tone was marvelous and her rendition of the more classical airs, such as 
Butterfly
 and selections from Brahms, Massenet, DeBussy, etc., were no more delightful than her perfect singing of such well-known favorites as 
The Land of the Sky Blue Water,
 
Comin' Through the Rye,
 
Annie Laurie
 and ending with 
Home, Sweet Home.


Possibly no higher tribute will ever be paid Miss Nielsen than the fact that the big audience remained in their seats after two hours and a half of music and insisted upon one more song.  Possibly to many, the last, 
Home, Sweet Home,
 was the most beautiful of all.

Augusta, (Ga.), Herald.


— Fully two thousand people crowded the big Chautauqua tent last evening to attend the recital by Miss Alice Nielsen, renowned prima donna soprano, and gave evidence of their delight in her singing by the most generous and repeated applause of any number on this season's program.  Each number she rendered brought forth prolonged hand-clapping.



Montgomery, (Ala.), Advertiser.


— Miss Nielsen, surrounded on all sides by the floral tokens of regard of her many admirers, sang her way into the hearts of her hearers and added another triumph to her already large store.  The restless audience quieted and all noise subsided into silence on her entrance, only to be broken by volumes of applause at the close of each number of an appealing and delightful program.



Battle Creek, (Mich.), Enquirer.


— Alice Nielsen sings as the birds sing, without effort, clearly, sweetly, every note perfect.  She sang—but why try to tell how she sang, in words?  She is wonderful, and her voice, if possible, is more wonderful even than she is.  Everybody in her audience loved her, and were terribly proud because she is an American, and equally as proud that they are Americans because she is an American.



Port Huron, (Mich.), Times-Herald.


— Miss Nielsen's gracious manner and sweet girlish appearance immediately won for her a warm place in the hearts of the great audience which had gathered to hear her sing.  And sing she did, in a rich, beautiful voice, not only some of the operatic airs, but some of the sweet old fashioned tunes that have lived through years of usefulness and will live on through the years yet to come.



Saginaw, (Mich.), Courier-Herald.


— Gracious and charming, Miss Nielsen delighted her hundreds of auditors last night not alone with her superb singing but also with her pleasing personality.  She instantly won her audience with her voice and her manner.  Hers is a lyric soprano voice that has no equal in America.  Clear and sweet and strong, her vocal ability seems to have no limitations.  Although she has been singing night after night in the open for several months, her voice has not been affected, and she has established a record for great singers.  Her enunciation is clear and distinct and her tones are beautiful.  Her program was of a popular nature and she rendered many of the old familiar songs that met with unanimous approval.  Her selections were also sufficiently varied as to bring out all the wonderful qualities of her voice and to gratify the desires of all present.



(MANAGEMENT REDPATH MUSICAL BUREAU)