The San Francisco call., 1897-11-07
A FEW PARAGRAPHS:
MOSTLY CONCERNING THE ITALIAN
OPERA SEASON.



1t has taken. the I:alian com pany three
nights to5"proYe that there is enough
mettle in the organization to give an opera
performance that may be regarded with
anything like seriousness. The opening
was more than a mIsfortune-lt was an
impertjnence; AMI since l nave been SO
enth usiastoally dlsapproved OF by the
gentlemen interested in the enterprise Tor
publishing an impression that am sure
was shared by every person OF normal ear
who had the misery of attending the La
Gioconda" opening, 1 can only say now.
after witnessing q satisfying and authon-
tatiTe performance of "Cavalleria Rus
titana" ana "Pagliacci" by different
singers, that the impertinence of the first
night was principally managerial.
- Whatever private reasons the heads of
the organization may have had fer
+. foisting Sgnorina Nina Mazzrs Clio
eonda on the opening the result was
neither satisfactory to the public nor ad-
yantageous TO the season. Alter that un-
.cere nonious hzzie the company has not
only TO make good its promises, but 10
"A down its failure; and life 5 short and
ETeludice is long, and many sensitive per-
~ will sbide by q first experience, no
matter what the critics may have said OF
The subsequent performances nor how
honestly they may have said it.
Low prices" is the usual defense of un-
satisfactory opera. What do you expect
for a dollar and hali2' asks the pur-
veyor, ignoring the last two seasons Of
TiVoii grand op ra, which have made it
beyond reason to expect any thing like
three times as good for three times the
price.
he Italian performances of "Cavalle-
ria" and "Paglacci," which found the
com psny at It's best up to the hour of
writing, were stronger and given with
an integrity of local color and spirit su-
perior to the TivoiTs, Notwithstanding the
memora bic work of De Vries and Niche
lena in the TivoIi's "PagIiacci But the
TivolTs "Lohengrin," 1 will venture,
could not be duplicated by the Italians,
even if they cared 10 attempt the work
and the TiyoIi's La Gioconda" while
by no means a wonderful performance,
al least did not echo with any of the zhud-
derng mutations that made Tuesday
night hideoCs.
their low prices will generally get the
worst of it in competition with the Iocal
houses. Opera, vaudeville and stock COM
pany drama have been reduced to about
the finest possible point by the managers
iere. We DO not need any more chea D
shows. As Mr.. Frohman mas indicated,
t.e town is full OF them. And if you will
jddge the Italian company by its credit
work of Thursday night there is no
leasOn why its promoters should beg
odds for the prices To my thinkin, a
theatr. cal en- ertainment that Is good in
,l.s kind Is worth as much as the public
I 7.: pay for it, A poor performance Is
dear al any price.
~
Z here seems always this commercial
side of opera 10 be considered and it is
nearly always distressing. We hear very
less about the business end of the drama
Occa>ioh&ily a paragraph is prin ted TO
The effect that Maude Adams gets $500 a
week for drawing crowded houses to a
New York theater. o. John Drew $500 for
a Ike ,eryice or some scandaiZej celeb
rity OF the vaudeville $1,000 but it is
mostly the clothes, morals and acting of
actors and actresses which get in the
newspapers and become commo twad lie.
The singers have these exploited for them,
too, but it is the price of seats and the
salaries paic he ,ingers that are made out
to be Of terrible moment to the public at
large. The past season of the Metropolitan
company was 1 venture, as much dis
cussed in its commercial as i'll any other
aspect. For every column of Legitimate
criticism there was another touching
upon the financial side Of il. New York