The Portland daily press., 1879-12-06
MUhlC AND THE DRAMA.
FATINITZA

FATINITzA.
Last evening Franz Suppes opera of Fatin-
itza had its first hearing in this city at City
Hall, at the hands of the now celebrated Ideal
Pinafore Company of Boston. 1t is an opera
of the highest character, in so far as its music
is concerned, and its airs will, by no means
bear comparison with the tuneful, spontaneous
melodies of Pinafore. But for all that the
work is bright and sparkling, or, more proper
ly speaking, vivacious, and has lots of "go'' in
it. There are "reminiscences every now and
then of the compositions of opera bouffe or
comic opera composers which have become
familiar to the musical world Gas is the case
with majority of the musical works that
have been presented to the public of late
years. and there is reminder of Beethoven
Some of the phrases begin with the promise of
something tuneful and then end ineffectively
The chorus music is thin and depends, to
great extent, upon monotones. The concerted
music is the best in the whole opera and the
most convincing proof OF this is the march trio
in the third act. Several Of the solos are very
pleasing and the little air by the Pasha in the
seconk act, "When sick men are falling" is
quite taking. The best musical writing in the
whole opera is the quartette in the first act.
The Dream Song" by, no means gave that
'N"N'sA
fully sung by Miss Phillips. Thousand
Fifes' by Whitney produced its effect more
from the ability of the singer than the merit of
the song. In the second act the duet between
Vladimir and LYDIA 81 fear to Think , is very
pretty and possesses some passionate phrases,
which Miss Phillips made the most of. Fes-
sender has an aria MY Native Land, " which
was heartily encored, but its sentiment came
from the tenor rather than the notes them
selves In fact Suppe does not seem to be
gifted with pathetic vein. There are some
attempts at bizarre music of an Oriental type,
as in the case of the Bashi Bazouk chorus,
The plot of the opera is good and its deal
ing with Russia affords an opportunity for
novel effects, very funny situations and mag
nifcent costumes. And it is this boutfe char
acter of the work we think that makes 1T so
popular The appearance of the Cadets in
their masquerading garb in the first act, the
charming scenes representative OF the PashaS
harem in the second act, and the final agony
of the General when he discoveries that
Fatinitza is lost to him in the last act, are all
Just the things to please. AS play Fatinitza
is intensely amusing and keeps the audience
in good humor from beginning to end.
OF the artists who appeared Miss Philips IS
the life of the opera as vocalist or actress.
Miss Beebe seemed to find the music OF Lydia
little too much for her but she acted with
spirit Mr. Fessenden was an excellent
Julian, and Mr.. Whitney sang splenddly and
acted with proper appreciation OF his charac-- :
ter. Mr.. Barnabee did not have very good
chance to display his comic powers, and with
the exception of the Pasha's song, his music
did not amount to great deal. Mr. Frothing-
ham was good Sergeant Steipann, and Mr..
Dixey was funny Mustapha The Pasha's
wives were all good and Miss Cayvan was
very saucy Demitri land read the story OF Ben
iamin and Surema with effect.
The scenery was good and appropriate. and
the orchestra, under the efficient leadership OF
Mr.. Studley excellent
This afternoon Pinafore.
DRAMATIC REGULATIONS.
1t is reported that Miss Gertrude E. Moore
of Boston, the brilliant and talented reader is
to take prominent part in an entertainment
soon to be given in our city for the benefit OF
one of our public charities. Those who have
been so fortunate as to hear Miss Moore's recl-
tations pronounce them of the highest order.
NOTES
Sullivan led his own opera of Pinafore in
New York Monday night and the World says:
The most noticeable difference in the music
last night from that which has been heard
here before was in the orchestration. Until
now Americans have been compelled to put up
with an arrangement for small, incomplete
orchestras made from a pianoforte score.
Many of the beauties of the music-for, be it
remembered, Mr.. Arthur Sullivan is Guilt
waited musician as well as composer OF catching
melodies-have been entirely lost. The over
ture is a clever arrangement of the principal
airs of the OPERA not promiScuouS tumble OF
them as we have too often been compelled to
endure.
In the business of the opera, too, there
were many notable differences, none of them
affecting the purport of the plot, but adding
greatly to the humor of the situations One
of the most remarkable of the differences in
the singing was the treatment of the profane
chorus, which has always been made the most
of here. 1t was sung almost in whisper, so
that the voice of Hebe, singing 'sDid you hear
him? he is swearing!" was heard distinctly,
while the subdued murmur of the chorus
seemed the more appropriately to express the
idea of awful establishment at the Captains
''ill-advised temerity."
Miss Emma Thursby had a magnificent re-
ception at Steinway Hall Monday night, her
first concert since her return from Europe.
Mr. BARLEY Campbell's new play, the
''Galley Slave, was great success in New
York.
Suppe, author OF Fatinitza, has completed
the score of his new opera Columbia
The Lilliputian Opera Company will present
sPocahontas' and Jack and the Beanstalk'
at Portland Theatre, Friday and Saturday,
Dec. IL and 10.
The great original Mrs farley with those
wonderful waX-works, and some of our best
amateur actors will appear at Portland Thea
tire next Wednesday evening. The amateurs
will present the amusing comedy of 1.-TWO
Flats and Sharp"