H. Ruthven MacDonald: Toronto's favorite basso-cantante

              H. Ruthven MacDonald


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Toronto's Favorite Basso-Cantante





Announcement



T
HE MANAGEMENT have much pleasure in announcing to the music-loving public that H. RUTHVEN 
MACDONALD
, the celebrated Baritone, will be available this season.  Mr. MacDonald is known throughout Ontario and adjoining States, where he is a general favorite.  Probably no singer has been so eagerly sought after for concerts and entertainments.  Mr. MacDonald has a very extensive repertoire, consisting of Sacred, Descriptive, Humorous, Oratorio, Operatic, Scotch and Irish songs.  As a reader Mr. MacDonald is clever enough to be classed with the best, in fact he is a whole entertainment in himself.  Artists of highest ability who are able to discern the needs of their respective audiences, and to give them carefully selected high-class numbers which with artistic execution are sure to please the musically educated, and at the same time be understood and enjoyed by those whose musical training has been neglected, and thus bring them to a better appreciation of good music.  As bearing especially along this line we take the liberty of quoting in full the following article regarding Mr. MacDonald, written by Mr. Edwin R. Barker, and published in the Lyceumite, Chicago, Ill.





Edwin L. Barkers' 
Little Visit
 with H. Ruthven MacDonald



R
UTHVEN MACDONALD
 is a Canadian baritone—one of the best and most popular singers of the Dominion.  The reason the States have not heard him more often is not his fault, but the fault of the Chautauquamen and committeemen not knowing him as he is.  This little visit is for the purpose of destroying the fault.  With all the respect due all the good singers—and the Lyceum has many—MacDonald occupies a place quite his own.




Were I a chautauquaman instead of the Lyceumiteman, and did I know him as I do, one of the first musical contracts for my assembly would be with this big, general singer from over the border.  Why?  Why, because he has a voice that will more than fill any Chautauqua auditorium and because he has a voice as beautiful as it is powerful.




Mr. MacDonald is more than a singer—he is an artist, a great interpreter.  He has that 
something
 which makes you feel and understand.  One listens to MacDonald not only for the music, but for the story.




The story is the thing—the music carries it pleasantly.  Many singers fail of appreciation for the reason that the audience hears only a lot of meaningless words.  To be appreciated by that problematical animal called the public, one must be understood as well as seen and heard, and there is no understanding in a chain of vowels.




When MacDonald sings every word is heard.  He knows how to articulate as well as vocalize.  And his list of songs—it is a long one.  He can sing the 
Messiah,
 
The Creation,
 
Elijah
 or other oratories, or he can sing a sweet love ballad or a strong descriptive song or a tender heart poem—all with true art and vocal appreciation, and all are made understandable.




Hi heart ballads—good 
mother
 songs—the kind the masses applaud and try to remember—are great because they are rare with such singers.  He sings these songs with a beautifully simple art—art that pushes them down within grasp of the most unmusical and at the same time raises them to the highest musicianly appreciation.  And this is more than art—it is genius.




'Tis the mass that fills the course and assembly seats, and the mass must be made to understand.  MacDonald is a good artist; he discloses the beauty of simple things without destroying their simplicity; he opens the appreciation to grandeur without a hint of its majesty.  If this is not art, then I don't know what art is; the art that leads upward pleasantly.







Toronto Saturday Night.


—In the 
Ninety and Nine,
 by Campion, Mr. Ruthven Macdonald displayed a voice of exceptionally fine quality and of splendid carrying power.  One of the great merits of his singing is the distinctness of enunciation.  Every word of his could be easily understood, and this is something rare to record with our singers of the present day, who as a rule might just as well sing in a foreign language as in English.  Mr. Macdonald moreover pays great attention to the oratorical expression and emphasis of the words, and in consequence his songs appeal powerfully to his audience.




The Globe,
 Toronto.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald, at the concert in Massey Hall last night, surprised those who were not aware that he possesses a rich vein of humor in addition to a magnificent baritone voice, which was heard to best advantage in 
The Skippers of St. Ives.




The Globe,
 Toronto.


—Mr. Macdonald possesses a voice of rich quality and wonderful compass.  He is an artist in the manner of his rendition.




Winnipeg Free Press.


—It is a year ago, almost to the day, since Mr. Macdonald last appeared in Winnipeg, but the welcome given him was that of an old friend, and his various numbers were all most cordially received and needless to say encored.  There is little to be said about so excellent a singer as the popular baritone, for as regards the calibre of his voice, the artistic rendering of his songs and his perfect enunciation, they give no room for anything but whole-souled admiration and call forth only expressions of pleasure.  His full, rich, organ-like low notes are as satisfactory as ever.




Detroit Tribune.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald has a rich, clear baritone voice, and sings with great taste and expression.  He sang some of the old Scotch songs, and by way of displaying his versatility, gave an Irish song for one of his encores.




Chatham Planet.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald fully sustained his reputation as a singer, giving several selections with very fine effect.  In some of them he held the audience almost breathless and was loudly encored.




Sagniaw Evening Herald.


—The first soloist of the evening, H. Ruthven Macdonald, a gentleman of sturdy physique and resonant voice.  He chose as his opening number the soul-stirring verses by Burns, 
Scots Wha Hae,
 which in the mere reading are well calculated to arouse men to the heights of patriotism and to fill them with martial ardor.  Sung by such a singer as Mr. Macdonald, it is no wonder the house was carried by storm.




Evening Messenger,
 Valparaiso, Indiana.


—Everyone wished that Rose Crane might go on indefinitely drawing pictures and morals in his apt way until Macdonald began to sing; then they would have listened to him indefinitely.  His voice is so big, so delicate, there is such reserve power, such sympathy and sweetness in his tones that all the adjectives applied to men's and women's voices would be required to describe his singing.




The Glencoe Transcript.


—We do not hesitate to say that he is, without exception, the best male vocalist who has appeared here since the days of Kennedy, and as an elocutionist he is superior to many.




Windsor Record.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald has a voice of large register, his lower notes are round and mellow, his high notes have the flute-like wooing of the blackbird in them.  His rendering of Burns' best song, 
Afton Water,
 was so delicate, so full of that dreamy pathos that is the secret charm of the lovely song, that it lingers in the memory, and will not be denied to give us companionship in our finer moments.  We must thank Mr. Macdonald for the pleasure he gave us.




Detroit Free Press.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald has one of the best deep voices heard in Detroit for a long time.




Ottawa Free Press.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald, whose rich sonorous baritone voice has made him famous, was deluged in applause at the close of each number.




Evening Journal,
 Ottawa.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald, of Toronto, has a wonderfully rich and pleasing voice.  He was well received by the audience in each number.




Ottawa Citizen.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald, of Toronto, sang 
Scotland Yet,
 
The McGregor's Gathering
 and 
Standard on the Braes o' Mar,
 and was particularly pleasing in his encores.  He has a fine baritone voice.




London Free Press.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald was in splendid voice, and for 
The Sands o' Dee
 scored a triple encore.




Hamilton Spectator.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald is possessed of a powerful voice of which he is complete master.  He has the happy faculty of enunciating every word he sings, and delights his hearers with his splendid expression.




Montreal Gazette.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald was heard for the first time in Montreal at St. Andrew's Society concert last night.  He has a baritone voice of great flexibility and good range, and he gave full expression to the sentiment that forms so large a part of the charm of the old airs.




Lethbridge Herald.


—H. Ruthven Macdonald's magnificent voice roused his audience to intense enthusiasm.  Mr. Macdonald has the happy faculty of being able to sing direct to the hearts of his hearers.  His voice, with its full, mellow, organ-like tones, is of extensive range in compass and is skillfully controlled.  Moreover, Mr. Macdonald's whole frame pulsates with temperament, which is uppermost always in everything he does.  On this occasion he sang with remarkable brilliancy and dramatic instinct Shields' old favorite, 
The Wolf,
 which earned for him a generous recall.  He also appeared in a new light—namely, in monologue—selecting in this instance Whitcomb Riley's 
That Old Sweetheart of Mine,
 which he uttered with fine effect, his nobility of diction standing out clearly against the artistic piano accompaniment, beautifully played by his gifted wife.  Mr. Macdonald's effort won for him a triple encore.




Evening Times,
 Edinburgh, Scotland.


—We doubt if there is his equal in Scotland.






The 
Messiah


Mail and Empire.


—Of the soloists, Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald scored the particular triumph in the aria 
Why do the Nations?
  He responded to the only encore demanded.  He did not at all suprise those who know the magnificent quality of his voice, but even they were hardly prepared for the ease and precision with which he sang his every number.




The Toronto Saturday Night.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald's spirited rendering of the bass solo, 
Why do the Nations,
 won one of the principal successes of the evening and brought him a warm encore.  The volume and telling quality of his voice are well suited to the effective delivery of a robust and florid aria of this type.




The Globe,
 Toronto.


—The bass soloist of the evening was Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald.  To sing the solos in Toronto, where they have so often been heard from the best singers on the continent, requires courage, but last night was received with encouraging warmth, and his interpretation of the music was excellent.  To those who had not heard Mr. McDonald or had heard him only in different surroundings, the robustness and depth of his bass voice proved a pleasing surprise.  For 
Why do the Nations
 he received a vociferous encore and was compelled to repeat it.




Daily Free Press,
 London.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald was fully equal to the demands of the work.  His fine voice was heard to great advantage in the florid aria, 
Why do the Nations,
 for which he was deservedly encored.




The 
Elijah



St. Thomas Evening Journal.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald, of Toronto, was an ideal Elijah, his voice all that could be desired, and all who heard him are loud in their praise of his masterly work.  In the prayer of Elijah his sweet modulation and devotional pathos was perfect, and in that stirring aria, 
Is not His Word like a fire?
  he was all energy and dramatic fervor.  While Mr. Macdonald is not a stranger to our citizens, he was never heard under such favorable circumstances as last night, and he seems to have found the right avenue for his splendid voice in oratorio work.




Sti. Thomas Daily Times.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald's splendid voice is well adapted for the part of Elijah, and his presentation was marked by considerable fervor and perfect delivery.  In the rousing air of the first part, 
Is not His Word like fire?
  Mr. Macdonald was particularly effective because of the tellingly robust quality of his voice; while the prophet's plaintiff cry, 
It is enough
 in the second part was rendered with appropriate pathos and in subdued mellow tones which produced a fine effect.  In the healing of the widow's son, Mr. Macdonald was dramatic to a degree, and the duet, with Miss E. E. Jones, who represented the widow, was a most effective presentation.





The 
Creation



Daily Telegraph,
 Berlin.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald, of Toronto, sang the baritone solos.  Mr. Macdonald has a voice well adapted for oratorio work.  In 
The Creation
 he was required to cover a remarkable range of over two octaves from low D to F, which he did in good tone and without evident exertion.  The audience enjoyed his clear-cut enunciation.





The 
Redemption



London Advertiser.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald, in Gounod's 
Redemption
 last evening gave a most intelligent interpretation of the difficult baritone solos and sang with dramatic fervor and pathos, especially the thrilling cry of Jesus, 
My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
  The duet with Mr. J. H. McKinley (tenor, N.Y.), portraying the earthquake was simply stupendous.





Sampson



The Daily News,
 London.


—Mr. H. Ruthven Macdonald's singing of the baritone solos greatly enhanced his reputation; his interpretation left nothing to be desired.  For the grand aria, 
Honor and Arms,
 he received a most vociferous encore and was compelled to repeat it.




Erie, Pa., 
Daily Times.


—H. Ruthven Macdonald, the Canadian baritone, gave Handel's 
Honor and Arms
 for his first number, and handled the difficulties of the great solo in a way that showed the beauty and artistic training of his voice, which is of noble volume and quality.  Mr. Macdonald is a man of dignified and forceful personality, as well as a prince among artists.  His work is equally remarkable for intellectuality and reserve power, and for firmness and finish.




Erie, Pa., 
Evening Herald.


—Mr. Macdonald showed himself to be a musician of unusual ability.  He is from Toronto, Canada, and is reputed to be one of their finest baritones.  His first solo was 
Honor and Arms,
 taken from Handel's masterpiece, 
Sampson.
  Mr. Macdonald briefly explained the selection, giving the audience a better comprehension of its interpretation.  The number was rendered with charming effect, the full, deep, rich profundo voice, handled in a manner which delighted all, at times filled the church with the most powerful tones and then died away to sweet, soft strains of pathos.  His personality, of a genial kind, added greatly to the general effect.




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