NEW YORK, THURSDAY, March 29, 1923
jV\USICAL(p?IER
VOL. LXXXVI—No. 13 Whole No. 2242
were very gorgeous, numerous and varied. One thought of the grand march-around which precedes every Barnum and Bailey performance.
Fine Settings.
Joseph Urban made the scenery. It was fine scenery, good in design and most effective in color scheme. The third act was placed, not between decks of Don Pedro’s ship, but on deck—such an attractive deck that one yearned to see Sir Joseph Porter come over the side in place of Vasco Da Gama. It had its peculiarities like other stage ships—no steering apparatus and the two principal masts way back on the poop deck, so that the bow must have pointed toward heaven; but it was a picturesque ship and went to pieces with all the skill and adroitness of Samson’s temple when, at the end of the third act, it was suddenly overtaken by a tempest, a rocky shoal, and a band of Indians, all at the same moment. ’Twould be a stout ship indeed to stand up against that combined attack.
The terrace and the Temple of Brahma (act IV, scene I), a beautiful outdoor scene, earned hearty applause for itself the• moment the curtain arose, and one longed to see a real manzanillo tree (act IV, scene II) notwithstanding its deadly properties, so attractive had Mr. Urban made it. This set and that of the ship, by the way, could double in Tristan for the third and first acts, respectively.
The costumes were various. The white folks were treated well enough, but it took Miss Ponselle’s dressmaker four acts to learn to make her a becoming gown. Mr. Danise, with his quaint little kilt worn in the first act, looked as if somebody had hauled him off the beach and told him to stop playing in the sand and come in and sing.
All in all, it was an exceedingly fine production of L’Afrtcana,־ probably from the standpoint of the picturesque the best ever given, and certainly in the principal roles not much behind those of former days, even though the last Metropolitan production before this (1907) did enlist the services of Fremstad, Rappold, Caruso, Stracciari, Planqon and Journet.
La Traviata, March 19.
La Traviata was repeated at the Metropolitan Opera House tjn Monday evening, (Continued on page 65)
GERMAN OPERA AND STATE ORCHESTRA ARE TO COMBINE
Josef Stransky Will Have Hand in Conducting Both
Melvin H. Dalberg, who, since the reorganization of the so-called Wagner Festival Company two weeks ago, has been its general director, announced last Friday evening that, with the present organization as a nucleus, a company is being formed on a permanent basis to give opera here and throughout the country.
He also announced that Josef Stransky, who resigned the conductorship of the Philharmonic last month after twelve years of service, has been invited to become associated with the new organization for the whole season of 1923-24 as guest conductor, and that the invitation has been accepted. Mr. _ Stransky is to conduct the Mozart Festival announced for next November at the Manhattan Opera House, besides several Wagner operas.
Mr. Dahlberg also says the newly-formed State Symphony Orchestra, of which Mr. Stransky is musical director, will become an integral part of the new operatic organization, the program, however, to be so arranged as not to interfere with the symphony orchestra’s plans for the coming season, previously announced. As already previously stated, the season of the new organization will open at the Manhattan Opera House on October 22, and continue for six weeks, after which the company will go on tour.
Metropolitan Opera Company
GATTI-GASAZZA REVIVES L’AFRICANA
GILDED SUPERBLY FROM TOP TO TOE
New Presentation of Meyerbeer’s Opera Stars Rosa Ponselle, Beniamino Gigli and Giuseppe Danise, Each of Whom Is Given an Ovation, and Queena Mario, Adamo Didur and Leon Rothier, Who Also Shared in the Success of the Evening—Bodanzky's Conducting Is Splendid—Work of Chorus Exceptionally Well Done —Joseph Urban’s Settings Are Fine and Costumes Various—Performance Leaves Excellent Impression—Other Operas of the Week
be remembered. Needless to say she shared fully in the plaudits of the evening.
Giuseppe Danise sang the role of Nelusko excellently, getting a hand all to himself for his aria in the ship scene. He acted well, too, though handicapped by his lack of height in making the figure the impressive one that it should be. Queena Mario was the Ines of the cast. Ines is a forlorn picture in opera, but vocally Miss Mario did excellently by her, singing her music in good style, with vocal finish, while histrionically she was no more plaintive than one must be as the washed-out young heroine; besides which she made a very charming appearance. Adamo Didur
Farrar Divorce Suit Hearing
At the hearing held on March 19 before Thomas Mahony, referee, Lou Telle-gen, husband of Geraldine Farrar, who is suing him for divorce, did not appear and was not represented. Counsel for Miss Farrar stated that he understood Telle-gen would make no defense. Evidence was introduced by Miss Farrar’s attorney in an attempt to show that Tellegen was involved with at least three correspondents.
Photo by Edwin F. Townsend. LYELL BARBER,
pianist, who, in addition to recitals in Neto York and Chicago, is appearing extensively in concert throughout the United States and Canada. Mr. Barber was recently engaged as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the May Festival in Bloomington, III.
Walter Henry Rothwell Signs New Los Angeles Contract
Los Angeles, March 22 (by telegram).—Walter Henry Rothwell today signed a contract for five additional years as conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra which he has directed since its foundation. This contract continues until October, 1929, coinciding with the full term of W. A. Clark, Jr.’s guarantee to the orchestra.
(Signed) Caroline E. Smith,
Manager, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
was the Don Pedro, while Leon Rothier doubled in the brass, first as a grand Catholic inquisitor, and then as an equally grand Brahman inquisitor.
Mr. Bodanzky conducted this French opera, sung in Italian; perhaps because he is of the same nativity of the composer, he did it excellently, with energy and vigor and a surprising patience with what, to him, must be a decidedly inane and boresome score.
The chorus had a lot to do and did it all extremely well. The bass and baritone section had special chances to show themselves off, for Meyerbeer’s choral music often lies low. August Berger arranged the very elaborate ballet which opens the fourth act. It was a very old-fashioned ballet. In style it fitted perfectly into the frame of the picture where it belonged, and was much more effective than a modern one would have been. The ballet costumes
Giulio Gatti-Casazza, Metropolitan chief, is not only a student of opera but also one of psychology. He has discovered an infallible recipe to fill the coffers of the Metropolitan box office and he brews this recipe in his laboratory as often as circumstances permit. Here it is: At least three stars, quantities of sweet, whistly tunes, lavish scenery and costumes.
He gave the public one dose of the remedy already this season in William Tell. It was swallowed with greatest delight. So on Wednesday evening, March 21, he repeated with L’Africana, written by a long dead gentleman, named shortly after his birth in Berlin Jakob Liebermann Beer, but better known to the world today as Giacomo Meyerbeer. Owing to the Metropolitan’s unchangeable policy of giving opera in the language in which it was written, this work, written by a German Jew to a French text, was sung in Italian, and hence is known at the Metropolitan as L’Africana instead of its original title of L’Africaine. It would be foolish, however to get up any excitement over the language in which L’Africaine-cana is sung today. The Italian sounded very good, being the native language of two of the principals and almost the native language of the third.
Meyerbeer pottered about with the book and music of L’Africana from 1838 until his death in 1864, the opera first seeing the footlights at the Grand Opera in Paris in April, 1865, nearly a year after his death. The book, one of the poorest ever turned out by that master craftsman,
Scribe, and afterward mangled by other hands, including those of the composer, belongs in the same collection of curiosities with the books of the Magic Flute,
Trovatore or Götterdämmerung. The music is hopelessly old-fashioned, for hour after hour treacly tunes, clothed in the simplest of harmonic dress, are poured over the listener, until the ears are as gorged and surfeited with rich sound as the stomach with rich food after an eight-course table d’hote. (What would Meyerbeer have done without the dotted eighth and the triplet?)
Floods of Tunes.
Mr. Gatti, to judge by the first night applause, is perfectly right, however, in thinking that the layman loves to be melodically flooded, especially the Italian layman, who packs himself in like a sardine in the standing space and remains enthusiastically on his feet for three hours and a half. To the musician, the principal interest nowadays is in the orchestration of Meyerbeer, which is often considerably in advance of his time. Such experiments as the double bassoon and the English horn playing the first couple of measures of the Minstrel Boy (It’s there !J in octaves, piques even the modern ear.
The principal thing in a revival of an opera like L’Africana is not the question of what the work really is, but of how it is presented; and Mr. Gatti certainly gilded it from top to toe. There may be two better singers of the true Meyerbeer style somewhere in the world than Rosa Ponselle and Beniamino Gigli, but up to date they have not reported or been reported in New York. Gigli, as Vasco Da Gama, has the greatest opportunities and certainly made the most of them. His gorgeous voice was in its best shape and he gave himself without stint, pouring forth one melodious phrase after another for the whole length of the long opera, without seeming to tire in the least. His famous aria, O Paradiso, called forth a real riot of applause. Gigli sings Meyerbeer with real conviction and he acts in the same way, as if he really believed in the futilities of the book. He has done many fine things since he came to the Metropolitan, but nothing quite as good as this. His success with the public was as great as his deserts.
Rosa Ponselle was not behind him in taking advantage of every opportunity that came to her, though Selika has not so many chances as Vasco Da Gama. Miss Ponselle, also in splendid voice, accomplished the tremendous vocal task set her by Meyerbeer with the ease that characterises all her singing and she infused as much life as possible into the decidedly unreal dusky Princess. It was her voice that led and dominated the great ensembles and her exquisite singing in the last act and final scene was something to