New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-24
MUSICAL COMMENT.
THE OPERA AND MADAME PAlIl-Ro Din
STEIN AND GOUNOD-sUNDAi Null
CONCFKTS- NOIEe.

voted TO his works "Dnorah7 being announced as al.
addition to the list for Frlda, evening" "''" -,
caine7 and lie Prophetic being sci oo"H o' 'Vpu'"
on Monday and Wednesday evenings Ie'pec'l'eiS,
The announcement reads like one Oh inc rams "I""
Opera forty years ago. \ sermon on 'rt'ueais
II. l.. nr,.cbed nm This substitution of Meycrbecr
,or Wagner and probably will be before the season
is accompishcd-the public taking IL upon themselves
10 point the lesson It's present anu ioIc ""I'u"'o
significance lies in the demonstration t"dI 'icNs'''
Abbey and Crau have recognized That thcir only pc
cablc plan Of campaign Is to give snowy al" SPURIOUS
works and mass their forces for each ATTACK con
siderable number Of their singers a'e relegaed I" IN
activity bv the policy they those who VIII not
no missed Most Of them will probably go to CANADA
with Madame Albanl this week. Meah"hic tnc pun
lie s nroatinc by the energetic and gencron, manner
in ybich Mcssr-. Abbey and GIau are WORKING AT a
solution OF the operate problem. II t'e P"on' "'o
Obliged by the incapaclty of the organization
T., onc ~ its departments to forego excellence OF
o,seuI-e they are rewarded by extraordinary COM
hinations of talent in the principal roles. Noape
things in this direction wee done before the COMING VI
NJ Lassallc but since then the phenomena arc ""i'
remarkable. Tho employ OF three eGch si"sc'' a.
the brothers de Rcszke and VI. Las'ale IN u AIT,
c,no and Madame Lehman, VI. Lassall, ana hhouaiu
de Reszke in Don Giovanni IS vana'oh Vi ','o
dor .r.tou which NAV be hailed with delight. AS
WIS lntimated in this journal last Tuesday ue cast "
Don Giovanni" looked even more remarkable on paper
than in sober fact 1t for II included Nv" oIe'
names OF wide reIutc-Madame Alban ana Miss van
yard bn we are speaking Of substances, not shado"S'
and the real excellence OF the list Is summed up III INC
,,o ,h,. mper,onacd Donna Anna, Don Giovanni ana
epocllo.
r,,s I, , variation Of the star system which might
mako Il altogether lovely. But what singular Niiec-
,ions are invited by the crcnm>tanc, 'hh Maia"'
Patti. with her thradbare coquetre'' " Home, H"'c'
Home the one act Of Tra,iata or S'mranino' can
crowd the Metropolitan opera House, when bhmahh'
Van zandt Ilbani Kali,ch, La>,allc ana fhonar"
de- Rc,zke combined I'm Mozarts masterpiece can
draw ONLY a fair house! In the presence of
This phenomenon the controversy between the
adherents Of the German and Italian systems drops
ont Of sight. There Is. indeed comfort Tor neither
side I'm such u state Of affairs. or raGcr there "oI'
be none If the Patti audiences were composed " INC
element In our population upon which INC patronage
Of music depended. Th, However Is fortunately not
the case The Patti entertainments are planned ana
carried ont for an entirely different class Of people
Their appeal /, primarily 70 the great crowd of 'url
o.ity seekers. whom fame or not"rety is thou-"
time more attractive q an artistic excellence !" TINS
crowd must bc added the thousands, musical ~ wen ~
unmmsical who in spite Of the fact that Madame Pau
has been singing for whole generation nave not Yet
heard her \ moments reflection VIII enable one to
form nm orlnion ~ how numeron, this element mn-;
br i'm the community of 3 900 600 tributary 10 >ucA an
entertainment IN New York. Reason alone Won >lg-
cesi that the-. must BE- the source # the vast Pau
audiences. bat 10 those accustomed to study the
audiences Of New York there was ocular dcinons'r
ton at the two concerts. At the trt. Which WIS held
I'm the evening thirds Of the hoXc, were em1fv' ana
there wa, absolutely no representation Of NJ" >'rAS
opera and concert r)lng cement; TIC second c"nccr'
held f. the afternoon heard by nj least 1000 per
sons. Nine tenth, Of them were women, u Ars'
majority Of whom. II Is "ic IA came from ont "i
town To this ca-, none Of the splendid arttS IN the
opera company j. a star That fact clears away ire
mystery and leave the present aspect Of the opcra'
question untouched
The foregoing is an explanation not criticism.
II contains reflection on the admirable ana Hu'l"'
character 81 Madame PATHS art. That. In H. way. j.
stu peerless. But tic character - hrr audience 'i'"'
attention 10 the present status al aesthetic Judgment
among the music loves ~ The metropolis, The Gle
ment in population which put $1,000 INTO The
hands Of Mr.. stanton a subscription 10 tie Last
season ~ German opera, and supports our lhhnrm"lc
symphony and Oratono concert doe not concern Itself
about Madame PATHS operate concerts Mc,srs. Abby
IL Gran are irving TO discover whether II ha- also lost
It's interest In grand opera performed on the oonVen
,ional old fashioned nacs. Tho hal The energy the
enterprise which they bringing Ia bear the solu
ton 81 the question lend great ntcr-,i 10 II IN the
eyes % students Of artistic and intellectual develop
ment There being no question ~ national prelude,
involved except In the mnd> ~ an ncon,"
qucntial few. II seems hkev That the solution VIII
come with convincing forceulnc,>. The troupe com
prises half dozen OF the mot eminent living operate
artists II Is cosmopolitan IN composition. art mcthois
and repcrtory. Mcs>s. Abbey and Grau have no
prcudiccs which they wish 70 crafty They arr ~'rk
ing solely Ia win patronage. and II II wcr" In their
power they would gladly bring forward the latter day
dramas Of Wagner. The outcome OF their chot VIII
convey lesson for the historians OF culture at least,
one feature Of that lesson will be recognition OF the
restrictions on artistic libcray which stlll en-
tic IL rhe
IL Is employed by wiling. eager AMI gen
erou- as Abbey and Gran; that ,ysem l. bar 10
An extension Of the operate li,t IN the d
rectlon demanded by public taste Who shall
persuade these singer, 20 learn new works
the performance OF which would compel sacrifice Of
the things which dearest 10 thci- hearts
WHO shall Undue them with the artistic Intelligence
and devotion which some Of the, new works cNact
In the Of the brother- dc Kc,lke aud VI La,~ac
such contamination might be possible. the other case,
arc hopeless. ~ course We do no, refer 10 Madame
Lehman and Herr Kslsch. They belong to a different
category.
Mr. Charles T. 1rctbar. Of this city. has published
an English version Of Rubirstcln'f "Convcn-,toa on
Mu,ic"a little book which Ia, been much talked about
~ late The book is It's authors artistic "Crcdn
II would have been we'll had the admired Russian
pianist and composer overcome his noohol, rcpugnancc
10 writing a decade two earlier. for without de
precating the Interesting character Il his little volume
or DENYING the trthfuncs and sound value # Of
III, uttcrInccs II must be said that the evidences Of
disappointed and old age many In il page,
that the first impression made by the book Is pro
foundly saddcnng. Rubnstcin has come 10 live only
In the pds; lie adhere, to the belief expressed in hi.
autobiography that music stopped short with Chopin.
TIE OPERA all vocal music in fact. belongs To lower
Ordcr Of art The composers. performers, school, ani
public Of oday all tending toward the "dcmnton
bow-wows.7 For the sake Of tho argument Invited by
Iii .
bc exceedingly gratifying II ono might dl>socate the
writer and his book. But that is npCrsiblc-the per
sOnal equation forces Itself INTO prominence on every
page. lie makes effort to conceal the fact that he
is II gricvously disappointed Old man. His trucst
friends fOndcst admirers viii for his sake