The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-14
MUSICAL.
Hansel and Gretel-The First Night of tn
 New Fairy Opera at Daly's.


 by Sir Augustus Harris opera tro ipe | nt Daly's theater last ns&t under thc musical direction Jf MT. Anton Ssidl This opera has enjoyed unprece- ented su"cess in SeIta, Frankfort ld nich, Hlmburg a~" seVe:Al other German towns and wat raCe we'd with gra2' favor in LordGH Whap |! was r., duce1 NeiG last sptiis by practical iy the same mp9n' l. is promised for early production in rars. NeVeral works by native composers celne tenn rCrarily 5! .. ved wherefore the French Litic smaci,s his lips foH Teutun blood. At the prem ere ir Berhn tEeir majes- ties, the emTeror aal emI::ss. were pres ent ani Er&ciNUsly summoned Humperdinck to ;heir box and cNngrat- ulated him on his success. i1umper- dinck, who is still g young man, is we'll known as rne musical critic of the "Frankfurter Zeitung," and as tn ! teacher of Siegfried Wagner, whose father has been the model anl inspira- tion of the composers labors. This work, which has already made his name familiar to the whole musical world, owes it's extraordinary vogue to the fact it achieved a double success-one with the critics and one with the pub lie. The critics praised it for it's sterl- ing musical worth, its clever orchestra tion and fine thematic development, and the public was charmed with the simplicity and wholesomeness of the story and by the use of familiar melo- dies and folksongs.
 The story is one familiar to all stu dents of German, the nursery tale of Hans and Gretel, and has been put into pretty German verse by the com poser's sister, Frau Wette, and Eng lished by Miss Constance Bache, who Is well known as a German translator. The translation has been, in the main, we'll done, the jingles retaining to a remarkable degree the quaint lyrical value of the originals. But it must be confessed that in the declamatory pas sages the words are very badly adapt 1 ed to the music, the accent falling al ways on an unimportant word, which ! is very hard on the singers.
 | The performance went very smoothly for first night. One would naturally cApeCI as IIluCll WllIl solI auS uSluS I1dI- ris and MT. Daly at the head. And the mere presence of MT. Seidl insured a fine musical performance in so far as it lies in the conductors power to make a performance good. The acoustics of Daly's theater are atrocious and it is very unsuitable place for the 1 performance of a musical work for | the reason so much of the delicate or chestrati tion was entirely lost. The pre- 1ude which is built on the most i'm portant of the themes used in the prog ress of the opera, and the Witches Ride,' which separates the first and 1 second acts, and is a garishly colored but not particularly original bit of writ ing were played with great dash and spirit. Several times during the even ing the excellence of the orchestra and the dignity of MT. Seidl's presence were all that held the performance to- gether.
 | Miss Jeaune Douste and Marie Elba | as Hansel and Gretel respectively, were very satisfactory, especially in their acting. Miss Douste has a small voice and found it rather hard to make her | self heard even in so small an audi | torium, but she amply atoned for this | by the charming naivete of her acting. | Marie Elba made fine sturdy boy, | and she and Miss Douste acted so well together that they seemed precisely like two little peasant chicken frolicking together. The prayer in the second act was beautifully done and Gretel's "Rathsel Lied" the point of which is l wholly lost in translation, was rem dered in so exquisite a manner that had encores been permitted they would certainly have been in order at these points. MT. Jacques Bars was admira- ble as Peter the father of the children, both in acting and singing, and Miss Louise Meisslinger, who has been heard here in opera before, made a very good witch, although she overdd the part. Of Miss Alice Gordon as the mother, the less said the better, for her acting was execrable and her singing worse | The mounting of the play was not all that we had been led to expect, nor up to the standard of the house, but the scene of Gretels dream
 "When at night I go to sleep
 Fourteen angels watch do keep"
 was very lovely when the cluods and trees got disentangled and the white robed angels descended the illuminated golden stairway and grouped them- selves about the sleeping children. The audience was obliged to restrain its enthusiasm until the end of the second act, as there is no wait between the first and second acts and no encores were allowed during the evening, any attempts that way being promptly hissed down in real German opera spirit When the curtain descended on the second act there was wild applause and shouts and braves for "Seidl!' Hansel and Gretel appeared and were warmly greeted, then Sir Augustus and MT. Daily appeared, hand-in-hand, just like the children and being urged there to by cries for speech, Sir Augustus came front and made a short speech about hopes and fears concerning the opera. He was evidently very nervous
 and got through his speech with diff culty. But when he gravely euIogized
 the composer under the name of Hum.
 perdickel" the audience found it i'm.
 possible to restrain their amusement and Sir Augustus joined pleasantly ir
 the general laugh. When he retired the
 noise began anew and lasted until Mir