NEW YORK, THURSDAY, February 22, 1923.
jV\USICAL(QVRIER
VOL. LXXXVI—No. 8. Whole No. 2237.
twice. Signor Vittadini owes Signor Moranzoni a vote of thanks!
The scenery, described in the program as new (and perhaps it was; some of it at least), was in the best lithographic and picture-card style of Signor Antonio Roves-calli of Milan, a style recently made familiar once more in William Tell. The courtyard scene was well designed architecturally. One got the idea that Mr. Gatti-Cassazza was not very enthusiastic over the chances of Anima Allegra as a box office possibility and had not spent any more of those good Italian lire than necessary on the scenic outfit—and very rightly, too. The costumes, however, were gorgeous and will doubtless reappear long after Anima Allegra has disappeared.
Not to forget any items, Mr. Wymetal, stage director, as already hinted, did his durndest to make movement take (Continued on page 41)
Metropolitan Opera Company
ANIMA ALLEGRA PEEPS IN AT THE METROPOLITAN FOR AN INTERESTING FIRST NIGHT PERFORMANCE
But It Proves Rather Light for a Broadway Offering, Although the Work Is Well Given and Audience Apparently Pleased Bori, ־Volpi, Tokatyan, Bada and Diaz the Shining Stars—Moranzoni Conducts—Other Operas of the Week
WHAT THE JUILLIARD
FOUNDATION PLANS TO DO
Income from Ten Million Dollars Now Available—First Official Statement of Its Purposes
The following statement has been issued by the trustees of the Juilliard Musical Foundation from their offices at 522 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Further statements of particular plans will be made.
Under the will of the late Augustus D. Juilliard of New York, provision was made for establishing and operating
the Juilliard Musical Foundation. The residue of Mr. Juil-liard’s estate was to be transferred to a board of' trustees created to administer the trust. During the past year the trustees have received slightly over ten millions of dollars, and the income from this amount will be applied to the purposes of the Foundation. It has been impossible for the trustees to accumulate and distribute income until now, and the work of the Foundation up to this time has been to consider and adopt plans, in accordance with the benefaction.
Among the obligations placed on the trustees in connection with Mr. Juilliard’s gift and expressed in׳ his will, are these: He desired to have students of music given good advantages in study; he desired to have contributions of applied music made where they would do good; and he desired to help the whole country through the Foundation which he provided for. Although he called attention to .one organization of power and influence in New York City—an organization whose ideals and accomplishments he was proud of [Metropolitan Opera Company.—Ed.], he intended the Foundation to be of service to his country. The trustees have kept all this in mind, as the work of the Foundation has been formulated.
Income from funds in hand or yet to come will be used to assist students of music, to aid schools and colleges where music is taught, to aid organized musical movements, to advance musical appreciation, and to stimulate musical ability in the United States. All aid granted by the Foundation will be in the interest of _ American music.
advice and information have been sought _ from innumerable sources concerning the possible functions and services of such an organization as Mr. Juilliard provided^ for. With an open and inviting field before it the Foundation has made every possible effort to learn what could be done, what needed to be done, what principle or set of principles should control its activities. Questions were asked by letter, in interviews, at meetings, and answers have been given by hundreds of qualified people. Consideration was also paid to the fact that other organizations were studying American music in special and general ways, and they were asked for reports and recommendations.
All this has been of advantage to the new organization. The field has been surveyed, and workers in the field have become known. To many of these workers the Juilliard Foundation is indebted.
The Final Test.
The final test applied to each plan or project submitted to or considered by the Foundation, has been its actual or possible value in a broad American scheme. Limited activities deserve support, but not from a foundation whose province is general. In connection with so delicate a subject as music there will always be differences of opinion about measures of value, but it is the intention of the trustees to distribute the income from Mr. Juilliard’s bequest for general musical good.
to hi? voice and method and did excellent singing, the best he has offered at the Metropolitan so far. His is a voice of extra good quality, which seems to have the peculiarity of sounding differently on different evenings and in different roles. He can act the part of a gentleman and look it, too, as he did in this work—which is more than can be said for all tenors.
A Promising Debut.
Vocally speaking, the role of next importance fell to the new tenor, Armand Tokatyan, who was the bad boy, Lucio. His is one of the best voices that has come to the Metropolitan in a long time, rich and agreeable throughout its register, never white. It is splendidly managed, too, never forced even in its highest register. He sang the serenade and the_ other bits that fell to him with a finished art notable in a newcomer. Also he proved to be a comic actor of decided ability. It will be surprising if Mr. Tokatyan is not heard from soon in the Metropolitan in important roles.
_ Kathleen Howard looked the aunt and brought her experience in song and action to making as much of a character
VLADIMIR DE PACHMANN.
The famous pianist was born at Odessa, Russia, in IS.'/S. On July 21 next he will celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday and a few days later wall sail for America, as he prefers to cross the ocean in summer weather. On April 18, 1912, he gave his “farewell” American recital in New York, and now, after eleven years, he comes back for another tour; but anyone who can still play the piano as de Pachmann does in his seventy-fifth year, is fully entitled to come back for as many farewell tours as he and his admirers desire. Of late he has been playing in England. The announcement of his appearance in London regularly sells out the great
Albert Hall, which seats about 9,000 persons.
Otu Wednesday evening, February 14, the Metropolitan Opera offered its only Italian novelty of the season, Anima Allegra, a “lyric comedy” in three acts, the music by Franco Vittadini, to a libretto by Giuseppe Adami, founded on the Spanish story, Genio Allegre, by the brothers Quintero. _ The original story—as a story, not considered as material for a libretto—may have had charm and atmosphere, but it certainly did not provide material for a “lyric comedy” that fills an evening. It is so slight that it would not even stir the beam on a jeweler’s scale.
Donna Sacramento lives in the country—in Spain. Her son Pedro finds it dull in the country. He prefers the city. Consuelo, a niece of Donna Sacramento, comes to visit auntie unexpectedly, while Pedro is also on one of his visits home. After that Pedro prefers home to the city. Along toward the end there is the usual kiss—Pedro to Consuelo and return; and presumably after the curtain falls Pedro seeks a dispensation from the Church so that he may marry his first cousin.
That is the sum total of the story. All else is incident and character. The first act takes place in Donna Sacramento^ house. Its principal action is the arrival of Consuelo. The second act takes place at a fair near the village, where Consuelo, flouting convention, has gone for a good time, accompanied only by her maid. The chorus is on for this entire act. There is some dancing. The third act takes place in the courtyard of Donna Sacramento’s house. It is bare at the beginning and the principal movement of the act takes place when servants and companions bring in quantities of flowers and shrubs to relieve its bareness. Then there is the kiss, a thoroughly respectable one.
Vittadini’s music is quite ample to deck this frail skeleton. Somebody invented the phrase “Puccini and water” for it, but this leaves out of account some of Puccini’s contemporaries who also deserve credit, particularly the fathers, of the Italian opera twins, Leoncavallo and Mascagni. There is scarcely an original idea in the placid flow of the score. A serenade, sung by Lucio, comes in two or three times and is a pleasant tune; there is an agreeable waltz song; the merry villagers—reminiscent of choruses of a quarter century ago —have sweet music to sing; dances in familiar Spanish rhythms liven the second act a bit. In fact, there is nothing to take offense at. It is all passable and placid enough.
The orchestration is well done, but as conventional as the music itself.
Not Exciting.
Suggestions and received
out of her as possible. Adamo Didur, in fantastic costume and make-up as the major-domo of the house, also did his best to make something out of nothing. The little scene betweejLhitn and Bori in the final act was the ■bestdramatic bit of the evening. Angelo Bada made the first scene of the opera possible by one of his inimitable character studies of a long-haired painter. Rafaelo Diaz climbed up on Son’s well curb in the second act after she got down, and • sang some sort of a Spanish thing for the enjoyment of the before-mentioned Merry Villagers, doing it very well indeed. Such good singers and talents as Queena Mario, Marion Telva, with Grace Anthony and Myrtle Schaaf. were wasted on trifling servant parts. Picco, Picchi and Ananian rounded out the small, parters, each doing a good best to. make bricks without straw to do it with. Rosina Galli—in a dress of most unbecoming red with gold spangles—with Florence Rudolph and Giuseppe Bonfiglio danced with great vigor in the second act, trying to shake things up a bit.
Moranzoni Helps a Lot.
As for the musical direction, it took the fine hand and discriminating taste of Roberto Moranzoni to achieve with the little material offered him, the number of effects which he did succeed m wringing from the reluctant score. There is no harder task than to make the strictly conventional sound unconventional. He even achieved that once or
It may be gathered, then, that _ Anima Allegra offers nothing very exciting in the way of entertainment. If you don’t care much about seasoning in your soup, you can spend a pleasant evening looking at the pictures and listening to the good singing, for the Metropolitan has given it the best production that it doubtless ever has had or ever will have.	~	*
First and foremost comes Lucrezia Bori. What a gorgeous picture she is as she makes her first entrance, in vivid red hoop-skirted gown and big red picture hat! She sings exquisitely throughout the opera and does everything she can to put life into it, trying so hard that she must be accused of the single crime of overacting occasionally. It is not her fault that she reminds one of a sparrow in the second act, hopping about from perch to perch. The stage manager, trying in despair to find something that would give a little movement to the picture, since there is no real action, stands her up to sing first on the well curb, left; next on a barrel, center, when two of the merry villagers have the privilege of helping her up and down; and then on a table, right. Just for luck, she mounts another table in the last act, though this was not previously our idea of the conduct of a Spanish young lady of good family, especially in her aunt’s home. But if anything could infuse life into the work it would be Bori, who fits the part to a T.
Volpi Acts and Sings a Gentleman.
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, the new Italian tenor, found in the lyric style of the music something particularly fitted