New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-22
MR. HOWELLS'S OPEPETT1.
HOW 1T CAME TO BIZ WRITTEN
EXPERIMENTING Of Az UNDERSTANDABLE. HEN
SCHEL AND TIE MUSIC.

EXPERIMENTING Of Az ENGIISUN tN-ME. HEN
sCHEL AND TIE MUSIC.
IrRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF Tuc TRIBuNE.l
BosTov. June 2O.--In a comfortable, roony,
Old-fashioned house i'll Louisburg Square
which he has occupied since his return from
Europe last year, Mr.. IIowells spends
nortioDs of these sultry days in correcting the
proof-shccts of the oparctta which lie is writing in
enumeration with MIR. IIcnschel. Occasional whiiiN
Of sea odors float into his work-room to keep him IN
mind of :lc thcatr, of his original inspiration, ana
10 alternate most deliciously with the bot
blasts from the baking Wallsrouniabout; ana when
he would have relief from the contemplation
OF latteI-daI American character he has oniN 10
saImtcr to the front window of his sittlngroom I"
glance through vista of noble trees aud see
queer old Greek garden statue only a stone a-throW
distant wrapped III toga OF diugy marble ever
lasting stuff.
The bulk of Mr.. Howclls work on the operettais
complete He flushed the librctto some weeks
ago, and such writing as he stiII does on II
is oniy IN the way OF occasional changes made to
meet the exactionS of Mr.. IlenSchcFs muse. Mr..
Hcnschel has withdrawn himself 10 the solitude Of
Haydenvile. in hampshire County, Mass. and there
has given himself mp wholly to the work Of musical
comro,ition He has completed the frst act and
- now well into the second. He is reversing
the ordinary process and is writing the Dianolorlc
score first rcScrving the OTchestratlOn for work
a->hipboard and IN Europe. He intends to return 10
England in July. setting sail about the middle Of
Of the month Curiosity is naturally on tip-toe re-
garding the TcS1t Of tie collaboration,
but thus far everybody has been ballcd.
Exccpt that the tide OF the opcretra
is "A sea Change; or Loves Stow
away" that Mr.. Tyler, of the BDou Theatre, has
secured the right Of performance, and that 1t VIII
be bronght ont on November 10. the public knows
nothing about the oocrctta. That the seen" of ac-
tou is ON Shp-board is an easy deduction from the
tItcOf the opcr"'ta.
perhaps not half a dozen persons have seen
Mr. Howclls's hbIetto Together with the music il
is to be published by James X. Osg0o1 u Co., and
# Will unqucstiouaby be ,ssuod in separate form in
order that it may receive tn attention that every
literary production from MT. lioTr!is~ gracriulpe
/ deserves The secret of its dramatic motive IS
! locked M i'm few breasts. md tn" home criticism
which the author has awaited himself o. is that Of
| M, eldest daughter. SWrrptitIoIS borrowing, To
| call il BIN har.h.rnamc j., ynry common prao-
lie, since the American theatre was seized with q
hunger for novelties ID the line Of musical comedy,
and the manager of the Bjou is haunted by Wis
ions of wicked printers cumulative of the
unreasonable type etter Of whom new paper ira
diiou relates that once be carried on the first i'm
l l
! III, linen Eycu in Mr.. lNIcr's own theI.re this
| week. tie ufclT, makers nom The theatre oi similar
name in Ncw-IOT,, have iutcTpoitt,d in Blue
5oard one OF the popular songs ,, i,oR
NJ Mciaul has reserved for himself next
season. md so il is that every lIrc@uton has been
taken to keep The tuc secret OF |ha' G,o"IIju'rs
tAc dramatic couceit Of ' \ Sea Change iiut the
story Of how it came To be written may !lc to.d.
Nearly two years ago Fir. Ilcn-rhe- who by the
way las already an opera of heroic
# d.
U0Scll> with re quest for lIbretto. Aeuoycll,t
thought tayuahly Of the idea, ami promised Mr.
l,,ls.hrl some Jay 10 do the WORK. lie A1, % hu
Tor dramatic writing and probably turned Wl.h
some OF tine icIFOr OF al oid-iMo love 10 the
notion oil again - trying ms mana al
ycr,ifyiug. Mr.. towels va, poet before Lt Was
q novelist q tradition Tor which decline 10 women
i'm any way bat which soil clingo about "a new
paper with which be was connected IN MS youth,
Wa, none q poet than Journalist al l-di peIod.
1t least l am told that among the
from the ola tmci""aI ro-9.e is one 10 the eject
that once upon q time young Towels preferred to
send down from Columbus an ou&uai poem or
>pUug instead OF piece OF SENSATIONAL news, and
tj.t Hbatcycruay have been thought %. his rhymes
his journalistic stool. went down IN the estimation
rf nm. I.rn~.ic editor But this story is probably
aponvpuaI neither IL is a revival Of the Old love
OF not thar made HIM Wiling 10 WIltc INES Iuf
music do not know, but 1t Is certain That he .5 ln
love with h, oesafalio ,i;, no"' Before
promise TO Mr. Hcu.chcl, Lc published his
biie parlor comedy. The Register IN Hdrgc's
MONTH a. Bosom musician asked hIm TO turn II
into "a Ii,1etto. THIS recalled his promise to Mr
Iru-cLc. and he discussed the feasibility OF the
au~iOrMdtlOu with the musician. Iui Mr. Hen
scacl wanted an opcTctta which he couId bring out
IN London as well ~. New OIk, and here tine uGcl-
ton arose whether the English people would be
able to understand the part which the register
plays m the little magazine comedy. IN Tins d.
lcmua tho pIottcr> mace al ApcIIm"ht on Brt"u.
They submitted the comedy 10 Nj Henry
Irving and one Of his friends also an Englishmau.
The first remark Of Tie latter sealed the tate Of
The Register
"Ah, yes you know, but what j, a rcgstcrg
Something attached TO a stove, j. 1t nOtl'
There was register under their very noses az The
time. but the demonstration was complete.
THE Register would never do for an opcrctta TO
be performed IN London. Mr.. IlOWcls then recalled
some of the humors Of nlSOccan voyage and evolved
The comedy idea which is at the basis of " 4 Sea
Change" He skctChcd the FIRST act, iiilcd in the
portions for music and gave tie lines TO Mr. Hen
ScueI then worked the act into its present
shape while Mr. Henschel was set
ting the lines. The second act lac worked out in
detail a. ne went along.
lie oporctta viii be given first in Boston at the
Piiou Theatre under the musical direction Of Air.
Ncueudorii, who was for many years manager Of q
German theatre in NeW-lOTk. Nh NcucndOln
Is himself musician and has several
times Venturcd on the slippery path Of
operate composition with far amount Of sue
cess but always III German, With his holp, the
graceful If dlgnlhcd muse OF MI. llelscheI ought
10 succeed in charming at least that portion Of the
Boston public which Is ready 70 accept some
thing better than the hOtch-potcAcs Of
farce and music which now frequently parade
under the name Of comic operetta. BGst"nians are
inclined 10 think that the OpeTetta OF hr. IlOwels
and Mr. Henschel may be the beginning, not only
of a solution Of the VeXed question OF an American
school of music but also Of the entire problem pre-
scented by the DOTibund condition OF opera IN gen
eral.