The Washington critic., 1886-07-07
PUBLIC PROPERTY.
The New Opera by hudran riginnl
Orchestrntiuns."

C''h'o'i
The discussion over the relative
rights Of theatrical managers TO pre-
sent Audran's latest opera, "I.e Ser.
ment d d'Amour," promises to become rs
hot as the dispute over "The Mikado. "
Interest is given to the discussion in
this city from the fact that ii is now
being sung at one place of amusement
here and will shortly be presented at
another, A CRITIC reporter, who met
Samuel W. Fort, acting manager of
Albaugh' s,this morning, endeavored to
obtain q statement of the situation from
him.
"The complete libretto, rs well rs
the piano and vocal score, is published
in the French language and sold in
almost every music store; therefore it
Is public properly" said Mr.. Fort.
"The question is, who Is clever
enough to translate and adapt the same
successfully, for many cases are known
where men considered the best adaptors
and translators have made the most
unsuccessful versions?
Serment d Amour has been adapt.
ed and translated by five different
parties under five different titles,
which are no doubt copyrighted as far
as the law in this country will permit.
Each version may be just rs good as
the other, the success depending princi-
pally on the artists cast for their re.
spective roles. 1t has been called The
Golden Hen Growing ITen,' Loves
Vow, Bridal Trap and Rosetta
The opinion Of the New York public
and press were about equally divided
regarding the two versions lately pro-
duced in that city, yet they must natur-
ally be almost the same.
"The original orchestrations of for
eign operas are seldom used in this
country especiallyoutside of New York.
city," continued Mr.. Fort. Com.
posers generally arrange their orches.
tration with parts for such instru.
ments as Aboe Bassoon, French horns,
ETC., SO when these instruments are
missing in an orchestra il is safe to say
the parts are either cut out or at
tempted to be played on the piano or
some other instrument AS for any al.
vantage 1t must easily be seen that an
| orchestration written for fourteen men
must be more effective than an orches-
tration written for twenty-five men and
fourteen attempting to play it-at the
| same time an orchestration may be very
cleverly arranged, but spoiled by in
competency on the part of musicians. !"
"Can you give an example?" inquired the
reporter,
| opera, Flying Dutchman,' OF the three
companies playing this opera lately not one
of the three had the original orchestration,
| yet oil three gave equally effective music.
| One company had seventy men, another
had fifty, and the other thirty-fve, yet, II
| do not mistake, the original was written to
be played by $50 to 200.
"'Original orchestrations' are those writ
ten by the composer for the orchestra In
the theatre in which the opera is to be pro-
| duced, and in France the orchestra In most
theatres Especially those doing opera) are
composed OF from 95 to 35 musicians OF
instruments Therefore the question may
be asked, 'liow is 1t possible for l2 or IA
| musicians in an orchestra to play the part
written for 352' As to rights to the orches
tration of the opera that is also published
and copies of the same can be bought for n
few dollars at Chouden Il Co.'S music
store in Paris, and the author no doubt re
ceives his percentage on all copies sold
| GAS for costuming It is simply according
to the taste of the costumer, following the
| period as closely as possible. In the case o
| 'Serment d'Amour' the incidents are In the
| time of the Dictator in France, when the
| people wore all styles and colors."