Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-10

/ slay me7" The Lorelei throws down
her comb of gold and complains, saying:
You have robbed me OF the song that Liszt
| put IN my mouth. but the song that lured
the boatman to destruction is a sweeter one,
and known to me alone" Augusta Holmes,
the Irishwoman who loves France, whispers
to Saint-Saens: "This is my Solitary One
whose longings you expressed in music.
Lonely, she calls to the warrior,
worthy of him." Baudelaire swakcns
from his opium trance, feeling the presence
OF perfume, sound and color, and he drinks
In the odors of green tamarinds: and frank
incense and aromatic forests. While Gautier
exclaims: This is my Contralto, and hear
the melting strains of Romeo and Juliet
from one and the same statuesque throat"
All this takes place when Mrs. Wyman sings.
verdPs Dearest Aspiration.
A cablegram to THE DISPATCH, dated
Milan, January 9, gives this pleasant item
of news interesting to musical folk:
In an interview, the composer Verdi says
that his opera ''Falstaf'' is practically
completed. His utterances indicated that
in the composition of this, his latest work,
he had completely abandoned the Wagner
ian method and returned to the spontaneity
of Italian music and the comedy traditions
of the composers Pergolese Paisiello and
Cimarosa, without losing sight of the mod
ern progress of his art. He had thus, he
said, fulfilled the dearest aspiration Of his
life.
That makes frst-rate text for the follow
ing extract from Mr.. w. j. Henderson's
musical article in the New York Times last
Sunday:
As to this foolish pother about the Ger
man and Italian languages. we have only
this to say: Induce the Italians Tor those
n n throw aside their n
sincerity, to subordinate their personal
vanity to q truthful and artistic preSenta-
tion of opera as drama per nntGsico, and
you will see how quickly the lovers
of German opera will throng the opera
house. German opera is nothing but an
other name for true opera. People call 1t
German opera because in this city they have
never had trde opera except In the German
tongue Give y season of opera in Italian
with true dramatic methods and the distinc-
tlOn between German and Italian opera
would be an empty memory of the past.
The Italians have got to come to it. They
may wriggle and squirm as they Will, but
the finger OF universal opinion is the finger
of fate and it has pointed out the straight
and narrow path by which the art of opera
must advance. Verdi long ago bowed to the
decision. His "Aida" is a truly dramatic
work; his "Otello" is one of the sincerest. as
it is one of the loftiest, dramatic attempts
of our time. Verdi has said, "My 'Otello'
may well be proud OF its TeutonisID."
Did Verdi mean by this that he
had become an 1mltatOr OF Wagner? Nom
sense! It is the crowning glory of the i'm
mortal Italian that while he was ready in
his old age to bow at new shrine of art, he
sacrificed not one single jot of his own in,-
posing individuality. The judgment of the
future will surely hold that "Oteilo'' is as
purely and as beautifully Italian as "Die
Meistersinger" is purely and beautifully
German.
The Teutonism of Verdrs drama is not in
its musical style. but in ITS spirit, in its
abandonment OF the effete traditions of the
Neapolitan school, in its return to the first
glorious principles of italian opera as ex-
pounded by Jacopo Peri and exemplified by
Ciaudiv Monteverde. These principles have
become Teutonic simply because Cavalli,
Scarlatti Donizetti, Bellini andsRossini cast
them aside and Mozart, Weber, Spohr,
Beethoven and Wagner took them up and
made them the food of their daily life.
Verdfs "Otello'' is Teutonic becs use it is built
on these principles, but it's musical matter
and manner are italian to the very core. and
it is to the glory and to the welfare Of art
that it is so. 1t would be q sad day Tor
music if operatic productiveness were con-
fined to one country, to one master. Ger
many has her Wagner, France has her
Gounod, Italy has herVerdi-all three
dramatic artists If rejoice that Wagner
forced home upon us once more the necessity
everde, already reiterated and rehabilitated
by the immortal GluclS shall we not also
rejoice that the first musical minds of Italy
have turned against the shallow pretenses
of her contenporaneous lyric stage and
proclaimed their adherence to the ideas
which the Renaissance brought forth in
Florence?