The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-31
vIENNA'S MUSIC SEASON.
GREAT THINGS EXPECTED OF III
yEU OPER8 nc DIRECTOR.
cu.,nv MAILER ne a. , successor or Herr jain
A Performance OF smctnnn's "DnIIbor.-
Ills FIRST Succcss-Oihcr Novelties Prom
,,,d-uIsa Frances SEVliic In Vienna.

uis FIRST succcss-Oihcr Novelties Prom.
iscd-MI-a Frances sHNliie In Vienna.
VIENNA, Oct. l9.-Thc event OF the musical
season that has Just begun in the Austrian
mctropolis Is not so much TO be found among the
novelties that have either just been produced,
or were about to be given, ms in the fact that q
now director has been appointed for the I'm.
pcrial Opcra House. such an event used to be
of more frequent occurrence, and In former
DAYS a change OF management happened every
five or six years; but with,thc appointment NJ
Wilhelm jain, in 1880, stability apparently be-
come the order of the day, and IN spite OF re-.
norris to the contrary that were continually
heard, nothing was done ny those in power to
alter the existing state Of things. BOT that the
affairs OF the Vienna Opera House were in SO
absolutely satisfactory n shape that no one
could have suggested an Improvement; on tho
contrary, from the proud position Of the first
musical stage of the world it had reached "a
point where comparisons with cities like Drcs-
den and even Munich had become dangerous.
Certain performances, to be sure, were still on
the old.time level OF excellence, but these were
only such as the Herr Director personally pre-
pared for production. Again, among the ar
lists there were n Overwhelmingly only n
very ~fcw-whosc equals were not to be found
in all the other German opera houses; while
the orchestra the famous Vienna orchestra
remained what it hud always been. the finest
body OF musicians in the world.
On the other hand, the current works of tho
repertoire were given, for tho most part. in a
happy.golucky manner, so that il a good per.
formanco resulted it was quite as much n
matter of chance rs OF wcll-intcntioncd artistic
effort. Tho health of Herr jain. after seven
teen years of hard work, had begun to fail. and
with 1t his interest in the fortunes OF the opera
house plainly grew less. 1t was patent 10 tho
uninitiatcd as well us to those who took II
special interest in the existing state OF affairs
that the time had come Tor II change, and so
when, without any formal preamble, it was
officially announced last May that Herr Gustav
Mailer had been engaged as conductor, every
one was convinced that the probable successor
of Wilhelm jain was in sight. The season, To
be sure, was fast drawing to IA close, but when
the doors of the opera house We're opened again
in August all possible doubt was disucllcd by
Herr Mahler's appointment as dircctorial rep.
rcscntative. in which capacity he has shown
ability of so high an order that, rctrospcctivcly.
it seems surprising that the JdIt dccOnpii. ms
such, should have been delayed so long. How.
ever, tho official announcement has just been
pleasant duty TO perform than to join in the cry
of THE King is dead! Long live the King.'
Gustav Mailer. who has thus been called to
post that every musician may well envy him,
TO which even celebrities like Motif and
Schuch have aspired. who certainly have made
their mark in the tone world, is still a young
man, though he has already made a name for
himself. He was born thirty-scycn years ago
in 1glan, and is consequently an Austrian. His
musical studies were pursued in Vienna, and
after gaining experience in some OF the smaller
towns he went to Prague, where, under the able
management of Angelo Ncssmann he soon be-
gan TO be talked about. From Prague he moved
on to Leipzig. and here his work as n conduct
or and also as n musician of rure tact and in.
telligcnce soon placed his name in the foremost
ranks OF musical celebrities, so that il seemed
not at all surprising that he should be called to
budapest as conductor of the royal opera.
What he achieved there in II short space of time
was in the nature OF n revolution and little short
of marvellous. But court iutrigucs and his in
ability to sacrifice artistic ideas for personal in
terests soon rendered his position untcnablc,
ana IN spite OF the universal satisfaction he had
given he FASTENED to take his departure. bur
not without having made for himself firm and
t:al musical and political leaders OF the Hun
garian capital. and, IL current gossip is to be
that he was called to Vienna and thus secured
the position which the Emperor has now called
upon him to ill.
Between Budapest and Vienna. however. he
had to pass through six years of arluOus work.
first MS kapcllmcistcr in Hamburg. where. under
the direction OF Hofrath poliini. he had an OPP
of gaining sufficient experience. from
a practical point of view, 10 stand him In good
stead Tor the remaining years Of his life. For
though the quality of the Hamburg perform.
ances may occasionally be doubtful, it i. an nc
ccptcd fact that no opera house in Germany
has SO ambitious. so diversified, and so constant
~ ,changinS "A repertoire. ns Hamburg. More
valuable. though, than this experience must be
accounted the bond OF intimacy that linked
him TO one OF the greatest conductors that ever
lived. lr. Hans Won BNlow. to whom MAILER.
I'LL his dying day. was "A hdns ;ich1teS. To his
natural gifts rs an orchestral leader Gustav
Mailer adds rare ability as u stage manager.
and-if one may judge by the new measures thus
far introduced by him at the opera housc-u
very positive capacity for approaching short
conings ana dcvisinS means to remedy them.
He has taken matters in hand y:ith AN onthu-i.
breath from the sleepy heads in office. Where
formerly the little was attempted and kept in
is striven Tor, That Director Mailer viii prob.
ably not be able To carry out all his many plans
Tor future, work stands to reason, and Tint, in
all he undertakes, he may here and there fall
into errors OF udgmCn is equally probable.
But the main poin; is that n new and healthy
spirit has come over the old art institute, that
the error of past ways has been recognized. and
that talent, activity, and good will combine in
the, person. of the new director to make him the
right man IN the right place.
OF course. he has been IN office for too short
u time to pass a final Judgment on his merits.
complishcd during the past few weeks. when
he was called upon merely to act ~ the rcTrC-
OF Director Jahn. Tie has taken -cV-
cral OF the So:callcd repertoire operas, and by
carefully. drilling artists, chorus, and even or
chcstra in tasks that had grown irksomcly
familiar, has presented works. like Figaro"
"Lohcngrin,' and Gear and zimmerman in
a manner which the public had grown 10 look
for only III the case Of novelties. Though &c
cidcdly Wagnerlan in the matter Of personal
predictions, he has thus far bestowed his most
loving care on the works Of Mozart, thOuIsh he
has made 10 secret OF his intention to give all
the music dramas Of The lSayrcuth master with
out Il cut of any kind, thus following the exam
pie of all the more Important opera houses of
In place Of the three or four novelties that have
hitherto made up the dircCtorial prOnunciamcnto
for the season, Herr Mnhlcr publishes u goodly
list OF new works; he furthermore promises any
number OF interesting r%Cvivals, and Is by no
means is opposed 10 the engagement Of stars -
guests as they are called here Tor special per-
q, was his predecessor. He has re-
solved 10 abolish that hbunlinattUn Of 30 many
Tears' standing, Tho Official claqur. Others tried
TO do II before him and failed. II remains To be
seen II he VIII he more successful in his Efforts.
The FIRST operate novelty OF the sch-on, AN!
consequently the first absolutely independent
achievement Of Herr Mailer. was the produG-
ton of Snlctana's 'Dalibor, n work that has
taken thirty years TO find its way to Vienna
from Prague, where il was first produced. IT
IL one of the first OF his OPERAS, and though il