Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/437

clan who played with the great Dvořák, his mother was a singer of rare ability and all their children became professional musicians. However that may be, the boy in his third year was singing before audiences of friends, his repertoire made up of songs his mother had taught him. At the age of five he studied piano under Jindra and violin under the eminent pedagogue, Pelikan.

About three years later he made his debut as a soloist at the Church of the Holy Cross in Prague. When he was fourteen, young Boža entered the Prague Conservatory and took up the study of the organ, composition and instrumentation under Zdeněk Fibich. At the same time he continued his vocal studies as a pupil of Maestro Wallerstein. In what spare moments he could find he sang in the churches of Prague and before the nobility. Passing from the tutorship of Wallerstein he studied under the famous baritone of the Dresden Opera, Scheldemantel.

In 1898, having succeeded in overcoming the reluctance of his mother to his taking so decisive a step, Mr. Oumiroff went to Italy. Here Sabatini, the famous vocal teacher who taught John McCormack, was for some time his master. In a short time “Goffredo Conti”, as he was known there, had established a reputation for himself in Italy.

From that country Mr. Oumiroff went to Paris where he appeared at the “Concerts Collonne” and many other concerts. His singing, particularly his renditions of Czech and Slovak songs, attracted so much attention in the city that such singers and teachers as Madame Laborde, Fauré, and Massenet took a personal interest in his career and lent him valuable assistance.

His reputation grew, and soon he was appearing at recitals with such artists as Kubelik, Bernhardt, Akte, Calve, Melba, Garden and Kocian.

At London, which he next visited, he scored his customary success and sang at the court. His travels took him through Italy, Germany, Russia, Poland, back to France and thence to America.

This country, which he had visited several times, was singularly appreciative of his talent. Mr. Oumiroff was heard here with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Kreisel Quartet, at Bagby’s Musicales at the Waldorf-Astoria, and on many other similar occasions. In Washington, at the invitation of Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, he sang at the Friday Musicales at the White House.

Upon his return to the continent Mr. Oumiroff filled pedagogical as well as artistic engagements. He was professor in the famous Scuola Cantorum in Paris and at the Royal College of Music in London. About this time he was also nominated for an honor seldom conferred upon musicians—Officier de l’Academie de France.

It is significant that M. Gailhard, at that time director of the Paris Grand Opera, made the proposition, and that it was supported by such eminent men as Edmond Rostand, Charles Vidor and Gabriel Fauré.

After the World War, Mr. Oumiroff again came to America and in 1920 sang in Boston and in New York. These concerts and recitals occasioned such a stir among musical circles in these cities and received such favorable notices from the critics that we offer no apology for quoting this extract from the New York Dally Tribune: “He sang Tschaikowsky’s setting of Goethe’s “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt” in Russian with lovely finish and pathos, and thence became more and more impressive until he reached a climax of perfect and tender beauty in Dvorak’s song “Když mne stará matka” which he sang in Bohemian.” The Boston newspapers were fully as enthusiastic, and the New port Journal after devoting almost a column to Mr. Oumiroff’s lecture on vocal music goes on to say, “The last part of the program was the singing of Mr. Oumiroff,—and the audience could not have enough of it. It was a continual call for more . . .”