Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-16
THE MUSIC WORLD.
Popularity in the Field of Opera a
Very Uncertain Thing.
THE FUTURE OF THE GONDOLIERs.
It Eas Intrinsic Merit Whether II Will
Have PinafOre's Run or Not
GOSSIP OF INTEREST TO MUSICIANS

Whether the "Gondoliers" will ever be-
come as widely popular as "Pinafore' and
the ''Mikado, who can tell? Popularity is
condition, not theory; and until 1t con-
fronts US as an actual, present fact, no
amount of a priori reasoning can give
assurance of its coming. Indeed, even when
fine sample of popularity is actually under
the critical microscope, it is impossible to
analyze Its elements so as to frame formula
for its reproduction.
Popularity is a chance, an accident-or
rather combination of them. 1t can form
no true test of the quality of any kind of an
art work
Yet, because of the extraordinary popu-
larlty which some of the Gilbert & Sullivan
operettas have chanced to win, the question
as to the real merits of anv new work of
theirs seems to be generally muddled up
with vain guesses as to whether it contains
the elements OF popularity, whether its tunes
Will be whistled on the streets, etc.
Thus judging by a false standard, the peo-
pie hesitate to give hearty, spontaneous
approval to a new oDeretta by these writers;
they first inquire uneasily, How did London
receive it? Is New York crazy over it?" And
If the work does not happen to create gen.
eral furore from the first the pubic-as well
heard It-come TO regard it as second class
quite inferior to its most popular predecessors
and hardly worth going to see.
OF course the people who go to the opera or
the symphony concert. and who read Robert
Elsmere" or Looking Backward" for no other
reason than that everybody else is doing the
same thing, are not in ured by such misconcep-
tions as to the intrinsic value and interest of a
wora. But the many who would be interested
in the Operetta for its own sake are defrauded
by such Misrepresentation, which tend both to
deter them from going to hear it ard to shorten
its career upon the stage. The composer and
librettist are, moreover. thereby cheated out of
their just need of praise and of ducats.
sf.
Anyone who really cares for genuine light
opera is to be commiserated if he has by any
means been deprived of hearing the "Gon-
doliers." In this day of mock opera-often
none too good in its original French or German
form. and made immeasurably worse by q vii
famous translation. a hack-work orchestration
and wholesale cutting of book and score to
make room for vulgar gags, low-lived horse
play and low-necked, unskirted display-it is
exceedingly refreshing to see an operetta
written by a master of English and master of
musical composition, both of whom have some
thing artistic to say and take care that it shall
be presented TO American audiences Sub
stantially as they wrote 1t.
In this book Gilbert displays on the surface
all his wonted verbal drolery and all his own
peculiar faculty of creating comical complica-
tions out of absurdly transparent material
cute conceit of making CdsiIdd and Luiz vir-
tuously revel only in the past entrances of
some Is minutes ago? Or than the piteous pre-
dicament of the two gondoliers who reigned as
one king and yet had two distinct appetites?
Looking beneath the surface this book re-
veals an unusual amount of the clever satire
in which Gilbert excels. The comical idea of
placing an lmpecunlous duke on the stock
market In the shape of THE Duke of
Plaza-Toro, Limited" having for its capital
that genteman's business, social and political
influence, serves admira lv, to hit off the
enormous amount of wildcat stocks Just now
offered to the British investor, and at the same
time to make cutting refecti ms upon the use
less fgure-head arlstocracy.
1t would be hard too to poke fun az the
nationallstic, socialequality vagaries of the
day more effectively than in the picture of the
democratic Court of Barataria, demonstrating
by truly Gilbertlan TedtIc!io dd obSlErdu7n
that When Everyone Is Somebodee Then no
Ones Anybody"
Yet third clever satire should be noted.
though generally overlooked. 1t is in the
opening scene where the 0ondoIteYI and
the contddine meet and exchange
their elaborate, meaningless compliments in
italian. The passage is a delightful take-off
on the traditional italian opera-book And
Sullivan has set it to music that might have
been taken bodily from some one of the older
Italian operas, so life-lil1e is the imitation, 1t
is delicious bit of work by both collabora-
teurs.
That rarely equaled union of word and
sound Tor which these two co-workers are noted
the unique quartet beginning, In contem-
plative fashion" which is most originally con-
ceived and which could not be more appro-
priately worked out. At the opposite extreme
stands the lovely duet of CdSiIdd and Luiz in
the first act pathetic lyric of no little
beauty. TeSSd'S song. When a Merry Maiden
Marrles." and the next one by Gidnettd, kind
Sir, You Cannot Have the Heart" show the
hand of one of England's best song writers.
Giuseppe has a ''patter-song" in Sulll-
vans characteristic vein, but on a somewhat
new pattern. The chorus of girls that opens
the opera is exceedingly melodious and grace
tul, besides being quite elaborateIy developed.
There is admirable use of choral effects IN brief
refrains as well as in more important pieces
scattered throughout the work. Sulli-
vans experienced musiclanship is seen
on every hand IN the sk7llful DEVELOPMENT
and Intervening of the themes employed
Such treatment of voices and, yet more notice
ably, of the orchestra is a never-ending source
OF delight to the cultured listener all the more
so because Of the extreme poverty in this re-
spect of most of the alleged light operas on
the road.
If the "Gondoliers' does not create a great
furore it will not be because of failures on the
part either of librettist or composer The per-
formers or else the dear public itself will be to
blame.