NEW YORK, THURSDAY, January 11, 1923.
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VO'L. LXXXVI—No. 2. Whole No. 2231.
Metropolitan Opera Company
WILLIAM TELL REVIVED AT THE METROPOLITAN
After Slumbering Twenty-eight Years, Impresario Gatti-Casazza Digs Up the Famous Old Work and Presents the Italian Version to Enthusiastic Audience—Ponselle, Sundelius, Martinelli, Danise and Mardones the Stars—Jeritza Thrills in Thais—Cavalleria Rusticana Makes Its First Appearance This Season—Boheme, Parsifal and Carmen Repeated—Ruffo Triumphs in Pagliacci—Marion Telva Scores Success in Tristan—Olga Samaroff Guest Soloist at Sunday Night Concert
Galli, Giuseppe Bonfiglio, and corps de ballet, was sincerely applauded as was also the Meditation played by the concert-master of the orchestra. Louis Hasselmans conducted.
Parsifal. January i (Matinee).
Following the usual custom, Parsifal was the attraction on New Year’s afternoon and a large holiday audience turned out to hear the opera, which, by the way, had its second performance of the season. The cast was practically the same, except that Mr. Whitehill was replaced by Schuetzendorf (Amf ortas). He sang admirably and lived up fully to the standard that he has set for himself since his debut. Mme. Matzenauer, as Kundry, again gave a good account of herself, vocally and otherwise, coming in for a large share of the honors. Taucher, as Sieginund, sang his music well, as did Paul Bender in the role of Gurnemanz; he was especially effective dramatically. Didur was the Klingsor and Gustafson the Titurel. Bodanzsky conducted.
Romeo and Juliet, January 2.
Brooklyn opera goers enjoyed a real treat on Tuesday evening, January 2, when Romeo and Juliet was presented with an excellent cast, headed by Lucrezia Bori and Beniamino Gigli. Bori is a captivating Juliet, vocally exquisite and histrionically convincing. Gigli was equally splendid as Romeo, and together they gave a performance which called for superlative praise. Gui-seppe de Luca gave of his usual splendid best in the role of Mercutio. It is always a source of satisfaction to find his name in the cast. Leon Rothier was an impressive Friar Laurent and William Gustafson made the most of the part of the Duke of Verona. Edmund Burke as Capulet was manifestly suffering under a .heavy cold. As Sertrude, Henriette Wakefield again proved her satisfactory reliability. The remainder of the cast consisted of Raymonde Delau-nois as Stephano; Angelo Bada, Tybalt; Giordano Paltrinieri, Benvolio; Millo Picco, Paris, and Paolo Ananian as Gregorio. Louis Hasselmans conducted with finesse and quite properly was called upon to take a curtain call with the principals.
Cavalleria and Pagliacci, January 3.
Cavalleria Rusticana was heard for the first time this season at the Metropolitan on Wednesday evening and was followed by Pagliacci, which has been heard before, with practically the same cast, with the exception of Titta Ruffo. In the role of Tonio. the great baritone achieves one of his biggest vocal and artistic triumphs. He sang the Prologue as it is rarely sung; and the audience cheered and applauded. He was in excellent voice throughout the entire opera, gave the part vitality and infused much comedy into the role. Elizabeth Rethberg was the Nedda; after the Bird Song it was some moments before the opera could proceed, so sincere was the audience’s appreciation of the beauty of her tone. Vocally she creates a Nedda that is superb, but histrionically she lacks much, and the part does require some rather clever acting. Edward Johnson was heard for the first time in the role of Canio. He was very artistic and sang exceedingly well. The role of Canio is perhaps the hardest for tenors at the Metropolitan to appear at their best, for no matter how well* they (Continued on page 29)
Walska’s Coming Delayed
Jules Daiber, manager for Ganna Wal-ska, informs the Musical Courier that he has received a cable from the singer saying that her husband, Harold McCormick, has suffered an attack of appendicitis^ which has compelled them to postpone their sailing for the United States. Mme. Walska stated that they expected to sail for New York about the middle of January. This would necessitate the postponement of some of her first concert dates.
The Stokowskis Separate
Before leaving for Europe, last Tuesday, Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Olga Samaroff, the pianist, his wife, signed a separation agreement The agreemtlht provides for the creation of a deed of trust for the benefit of Mrs. Stokowski and their six months old daughter Sonio, who will live six months of the vear with each of the parents.-----------
Another New Managerial Combination
The firms of Loudon Charlton, Haensel & Jones, and Daniel Mayer have formed an alliance for the purpose of the interbooking of their respective artists. Under the plan agreed upon, each firm retains direct and personal control of its respective attractions and these attractions will continue to be managed by each firm individually as heretofore.
May Peterson Brings $100,000 Suit
May Peterson, soprano of the Metropolitan Opera Company, has filed suit for $100,000 damages against the Bank of Taiwan, Ltd., of 16S Broadway, and Fred W. Scott for injuries suffered last April 24 when she was' struck by an automobile at West End avenue and Eighty-third street, and severely hurt.
and a dignified appearance to the part of Walter Furst. In small roles Bada, d’Angelo, Picco, Bloch and Mme. Perini were entirely satisfactory.
The scenery by Rovescalli of Milan was excellent—of its kind, a kind that was entirely appropriate to the age and artificiality of the opera. The same may be said of the ballet, which had some fetching ponies with bare knees and short tight trousers who helped to brighten up the evening quite a lot. The orchestra “tum-ti-tummed” through the score correctly enough. Mr. Papi would have been better for a little shot of something or other—say electricity—in his conducting arm. There was little spirit,
little vigor in anything; even the grand rush at the end of the overture dragged. Mr. Theumann did the stage managing. One feature occurred immediately after the shooting of the apple, when the chorus rushed out and entirely concealed from view the embrace of Tell and his son, the one really human and dramatic incident in the opera.	H. O. O.
Thais, January 1 (Evening).
Thais was given on Monday evening, January 1, before one of the largest audiences of the season. Maria Jeritza, in the title role, again thrilled her audience and received the applause due an artist of her exalted rank. Clarence Whitehill, as Athanael, sang and acted with that fervor all his own. He, together with Mme. Jeritza, shared the honors of the evening, and were recalled many times. Orville Harrold appeared as Nicias; his voice is well suited to this role, which likewise won much favor. Others in the cast were Paolo Ananian as Palemon, Charlotte Ryan as Crobyle, Laura Robertson as Myrtale, Kathleen Howard as Albine, and Vincenzo Reschiglian as a servant.
The Ballet Divertissement in Act II, danced by Rosina
Well, as Deems Taylor said in the World the morning after: “Among the operas not being sung at the Metropolitan Opera House this season are Louise, Don Giovanni, LeCoq d’or, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, and Die Meistersinger.” But there is one opera being sung there, after a pause of twenty-eight years. Its name in local vernacular is William Tell; when it was born it was christened Guillaume Tell; but Mr. Gatti prefers the Guglielmo Tell version, so we have it in Italian. And there’s no use of fighting about it’s not being presented in the original language. It was much better to have it sung in fair to good Italian than in poor French, as it would have been; besides which, one can yell much louder in Italian than in French without unpleasant results. This is no reflection on the singers, for dear old Grandpa Rossini, of tournedos fame, called upon his singers to do a great deal of yelling. And it is due to Mr. Gatti, incidentally, to say right now that, while one may not clamor for Guglielmo Tell as he does, its revival is a splendidly finished performance at the Metropolitan. Surely not since the days when Tamagno was a famous Arnold and other singers of world renown filled the cast, h״s such a list of fine singers been presented in Tell as. the Metropolitan offered in Rosa Ponselle,
Marie Sundelius, Giovanni Martinelli,
Giuseppe Danise and Jose Mardones.
Also, there is no use in taking a highbrow attitude just because Guglielmo Tell bores one stiff in the year of our Lord 1923.
It is only six years short of a century old; the Barber of Seville is still older, but the latter remains a masterpiece, while the former is impossible except to hearers utterly naive in the field of music. There must have been a lot of them at the Metropolitan last Friday evening, January S, when the revival took place, for there was any quantity of genuine applause, not to speak of a professional strong-hand brigade which seemed much larger in number than usual and made a frequent nuisance of itself by bursting into vigorous and disturbing noise after every scrap of aria, ballet or anything else that offered the slightest excuse. Without doubt Mr.
Gatti’s reason for disturbing the quarter-century rest that the old bag of bones had enjoyed in New York—and richly deserved—was the splendid cast he could present in it.
Hopelessly Old-Fashioned.
The familiar Tell legend is hopelessly bungled by the librettist. Even the shooting of the apple from Tell’s son’s^ head— managed with astonishing verisimilitude by an extraordinary mechanical trick— is unexciting, thanks to the utterly undramatic music of Rossini. The whole score hardly has a distinguished melody (remembering, of course, that one must speak from the standpoint of today.) It is real “hand organ” music. The overture (too bad that Rossini did not use some of its tunes in the score itself) is far better than anything else. It was cut with heroic hand, but at that lasted from 8 until 11.10, not so discouraging when one learns that, performed in its entirety at Paris in 1856, it began at 7 and ended at 1 a. m. The choruses remain the best music in the opera itself and they were splendidly sung by Maestro Setti’s chorus.
But Splendidly Sung.
The cast, as already stated, was fine throughout, except for Didur (Gessler), who is simply unintelligible both in tone and word when he attempts to sing loud. Princess Mathilde is a real Ponselle role. She is absolutely unsurpassed, perhaps unequaled, in the singing of such music as the Rossinian tunes. Not only was she in splendid voice, but she also looked extremely well, her figure being decidedly reduced from last season’s standard. The distinguishing feature of Martinelli’s work in general is his ability to produce stentorian tones of heroic quality in his upper register, and if any opera affords him an opportunity to do so it is Tell. He was immensely effective as Arnold and apparently as fresh voiced at the end as at the beginning, which is a wonder, considering what he was called upon to sing. Danise in the title role also sang the immensely long part without fatigue and to best effect. His figure is a bit unheroic for that of the great liberator of Tyrol, but his clever acting makes one forget the fact. Marie Sundelius, as his son, looked charming, sang charmingly, and never blenched a blench when papa shot the apple off her pretty little fisher boy’s cap. Jose Mardones lent his fine voice, fine singing
Photo by Maurice Goldberg
ROSA RAISA,
who this season has appeared with the Chicago Civic Opera Company in many roles, scoring great success with each one. In tivo of her new roles, Rachel in the Jeioess and Leonora in La Forza Del Destino, she created sensations.