The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-04-11
THE GERMAN OPERA.

Hyperion Last Night-Damrosch Con-
ducts-Klafsky and Alvary Sing and the
Event an Important One for Music in
| New Haven.
The much-heralded German opera is
| with us in spirit and in very truth.
Wagner's "Tannhauser" was given last
| night to one of the largest and most
| brilliant audiences ever seen in the Hy-
perion theater After all the contro-
versy, it may be as the result thereof,
| Walter Damrosch conducted in propria
persona and Frau Klafsky sang Eliza
| beth" The orchestra was large and
very competent, and the chorus If not
numerous was adequate, and even the
smaller roles were in the hands of con-
scientious artists. But the excellence
of the performance was due to the
principals concerned therein, and the
lions share of praise belongs to Mr..
Damrosch, Frau Klafsky, Herr Alvary
and Herr Wilhelm Mertens. Mr..
| Damrosch furnished us with the finest
operate performance the Hyperion
theater has known, and Frau Klafsky's
acting and singing and Herr Max AL
varys acting were such mercies as are
seldom Vouchsafed us. To Mr.. Bunnell
we offer our gratitude and apprecia-
tive thanks for such a glorious musical
| treat. II the "Lohengrin" performance
this afternoon is the complement of
| last nights work, the twain will con-
stitute a real opera season that New
Haven should be proud to support.
"Tannhauser," which divides popular
favor with "Lohengrin," belongs to the
earlier period in Richard Wagner's de-
velopment In ''Tannhauser" we have
real melody and the leit-motif has not
yet appeared as such. Detached
| phrases are associated with certain
characters and events and reoccur with
dramatic effect, but not until the
maturer works do we find the lett
motif theory developed to it's logical
| conclusion. "Lohengrin" marks the
| transition period and is a much more
interesting work, containing as it does
the merits of both styles. Portions Of
the Venus-music and Tannhauser's
Narrative" in the third act come
nearest to being music drama" There
are no great tragic situations to test
the abilities of such great actor-sing-
ers as Klafsky and Alvary, and purely
l lyIlC-SllS WOulu lictVC pCCi eiuSqooeS
although the musical phrases take on
new beauties and the dramatic scenes
reveal undreamed of possibilities when
in the hands of such finished artists.
Frau Klafsky is too mature, both vo-
| cally and physically, to make an ideal
Elizabeth, but she sang and acted just
as conscientiously as though it We're
her gl eat opportunity. Just those quail
tiles which make her perfect Isolde
1 and Brunhilde render her too big for
the part of the pale. gray saint. Frau
Klafsky will be heard to much greater
| advantage at the Gounod festival next
Friday evening. She is undoubtedly
one of the greatest living dramatic So
pranos and the best this country has
seen since Lille Lehman. Such un-
limited vocal resources, such dramatic
temperament have not been seen of
late years, and she is the most salts
factory exponent of Wagner that We
| have It will be remembered that 1t
was with Frau Klafsky that Jean De
Reske first elected to sing Tristan.
OF Max Alvary it is harder to speak
because there is such battling of the
pros and cons. From a dramatic
standpoint he sweeps everything be-
fore him with power of personal mag
netism and fervor of dramatic tenn
permanent, but his singing is not vocal.
His intonation is generally faulty, and
| his German bears the same relation
to thc Fatherland tongue that Henry
Irving's English does to the real thing.
Alvary was at his best last night in
the Narrative and at his worst in the
singing contest. Max Alvary has no
place in a vocal tournament. He ought
to be ruled out. His posings and cos
tunes make him a wonderfully pictur-
esque figure, and his profile once seen
haunts the memory like the Apollo's.
OF the rest Riza Eibenschuetz was
charming vocally but otherwise very
amateurish. Mertens was a fine. VOL
fran and sang the beautiful measures
of his part with taste and feeling. Beh-
rens was an Indifferent Landgrave and
the rest were reasonably competent
The staging of the first and third
acts was good, but the contrast be-
tween the beauty of the Venusberg and
the severity of the Thuringian castle
was not apparent.
This afternoon "Lohengrin" will be
given with this cast:
| LOhengrin... Barron Berthald
Elsa. :. :. -. ........ Johanna Gadski
King Henry. :. Gerhard Stehmann
Telramund ...... =. Demeter Popovicl
| Ortrud. 80. 80. -. ....... Gisela Stoll
People are sure to like Gadski and
Popovici is one of the greatest living
baritones. None should miss the per-
| formance.