New-York tribune., 1880-02-29
4 SIGNIFICANT FAILURE.

A cable dispatch from Paris announced the
other day that dissatisfaction with the Patti
performances at the Gaiet6 was 50 intense and
so general that there was doubt whether it
would be possible to finish the engagement.
Not that there was any disappointment with
the prima donna. She is now in the full
bloom and perfection of her extraordinary
powers. Her voice has reached its last devel-
opmcnt her art has received its final polish /;
and time has not yet impaired the sweetness
and putty of her tones or the charm of her
features. She is to-day the greatest singer of
our timc and one OF the most beautiful women
on the operate stage. But when she sang the
other night in one of her most winning parts
-Rosina in the Barbierc Paris listened
with marked displeasure, aud the curtain fell
amid an embarrassing silence. The complaint
was with the incompetent supporting artists.
the shabby mise-en-sc6ne. and the general
looscuess of the performance.
The failure is instructive. because Patti en-
joys an enormous popularity in Paris, and
Partisan audiences, moreover, are much less
exacting than they are commonly supposed to
be. They are very tolerant of medlocrty
but they demand a certain regard for dra-
matte prOpueties, a decent preparation of the
stage, just balance of parts and respectful
treatment of the work in hand. Nine.
PATHS manager seems to have trespassed too
far upon their good nature and to have
offered a series of slipshOd and reckless per-
formances such as used to be so frequent in
the United States. We may hail it rs a good
omen that even with Patti rs the star this
abuse calls forth so emphatic a rebuke IN
city which thought itself inconsolable during
PATHS absence. The lesson ought 10 prove
useful all over the world.
In America there has been for sew
eral years past n steady development
of popular taste and appreciation in
musical matters, and Il corresponding
change in the character of operate en-
terpriscs. If the old school of mana
gers. who made and lost money here half
generation ago, should come back now they
would lind themselves wotully ignorant OF the
tastes of American audiences. We speak with
some hesitation of the character of th" per-
formances given here in the days of Bosio,
Steaanonc, Salyi, and BadLtli. The rank of
the principals is well enough known, and many
Of MS who are not yet old have distinct rec
ollection of them; but memory If not to be
trusted for the ensembles, and what doubtless
seemed good to us in 1880 may have been
very poor and ragged indeed. Things certainly
had been in bad way for long time when
Mr.. Max StrakOsch in 1873 introduced here
the best Italian company III the best prepared
performances that the younger generation OF
New Workers had ever seen. He brought
not only a troupe of singers complete
in every department Nilsson, Cary,
Campanini Capoul, Maurel, Del Puente,
Nannett - but, in the person of Signor
Muzio. an accomplished and intelligent
conductor, who knew how to make Use of
these ample forces with the best effect That
season, brilliant as il appeared to be, is under
stood to have involved the manager in heavy
losses, and when he attempted the next year
to give series of equally well-baanced per-
fornances with "A cheaper but still excellent
company the disappointed and unreasonable
public deserted him, and since that time Mr..
Strakosch has devoted himself to less ambi-
tiOus enterprises.
Shabby opera, however, never succeeded in
New-York after the Nilsson season. and 1t
cannot he doubted that the favor with which
Mr.. NaplesOn was received last year was
largely owing to the care, good taste and
musical feeling with which the works on the
programme were prepared 10y Sig. Ardit
Hackneyed and commonplace operas took
new lease of life when they were sung by n
good quartet and led by good director. Mr..
Mapleson's chcquered experience has never
tbeless demonstrated some peculiar diff
culties which attend the management of opera
IN the United States and which must
always make the undertaking, while the pres
ent system asts, an extremely per1Ous expert
ment The American tour is hard one, and
artists demand much higher salaries for it
than they can earn in Europe. Hence the
troupcs are necessarily small, and there is little
money TO spare for the mounting of new or
elaborate works. The repertory being soon
exhausted, the New York season will not run
through the Winter, and at the worst season
of the year the company starts on its travels
like an itinerant circus. In most cases it comes
back demOralized. Spirits are exhausted,
tbroats are inhamed, there have been no re-
bearsals for months, the stace-manager has
fallen into the habit of thinking that "any-
thing will do" and too many of the artists
have learned to shout for the gallery. When
the Drima-donna goes home after Il Winter of
Caravan Opera tney Renerllly say III Europe
that the Americans have made her sensational
and vulgar.
We are not likely to have wholly salts
factory season in New-York until we can
make opera permanent entertainment of the
Winter. 1t is impossible fo- the manager to
prepare anything properly unless he can keep
still. The singers must rest the decorators
must hold possession of the theatre the con
ductor must have steady control of his orches-
ira. 1t would perhaps not be necessary to
pay artists the same high price for a long sea-
son in the metropolis that they exact for a
fatiguing tour of the provinces; but on the !
e ~.