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Show HOW MAUREL LEARNED TO ACT Friend of Great Barrytone Told Him of His Shortcoming, to Very Good Effect. London. The secret of Chaliapine (the Russian singer who has been so successful in London) seems to be the same as that of Maurel, one of the first of the great modern operatic barrytones. Maurel began as a star singer in the old style. One day when he was practicing prac-ticing in his hotel he received a visit from a painter who lived in a stdio at the top of the hotel. The painter came to say how much he had enjoyed the singing of the great barrytone. "Your voice enters my room like a ray of sunshine. I have bought a seat for tomorrow to hear you in 'William Tell."' Maurel did not see the painter again for some time and when he met him in the street some weeks afterward he asked him if he had been to "William "Wil-liam Tell." The painter seemed very . cold about it. He complained that Maurel had not given the "impression of the character of the fearless hunter." hunt-er." Maurel took this to heart and from that time studied the art of acting act-ing until it was said of him that he was "an artist who could act and paint with his voice." Verdi said of Maurel, after the first performance of "Otello," "When he sings his best he makes one forget he Is singing." It seems to be the same with Chapiapine. |