The San Francisco call., 1898-02-15
Smith, the music by Victor Herbert, nd thn titIo arrho Coro-,n l.,

Smith. the music by Victor Herbert, and the title "The Serenade."
 There are several reasons why 'The Serenade" should be received with kindness and consideration. For one, we have had such a wholesale dose .ately of musical comedy, musical farce, musical vaudeville and all the mongrel mixtures of so-called melody and mirth that anything in the line of a legiti- mate effort deserves attention. For another: Ever since the Bostonians first produced Robin Hood" it has been the common practice to hold up their new pieces to odious comparison with that merry masterpiece-which is hardly fair, considering that De Koven himself never has been able to compose anything half so good. And for an other: Everything the Bostonians do is done with such easy art and eff ciency; there is so much ideal liberal ity shown in the distribution of parts that not one star but five or six warble in the choice songs and bathe in the rich calcium that settles in the cen ter of the stage; the costumes and the scenery wear so convincingly the stamp of having been designed expressly for the occasion; the celerity that comes only of accomplished stage manage ment is so delightfully."- apparent-in a word the Bostonians have method and an atmosphere in themselves that is pretty sure to make good entertain ment of anything their judgment urges them to undertake. And anyone who has followed the comic opera output of the last five years will know that 'The Serenade," while rich in unevenness and impezfection, is not to be despised. It has bright, pretty pictures, plenty of 20, in a reckless sort of way, and music which is eminently singable and full or color smash and ping, even if it is not the sort that follows you home and prompts the Aeolian pucker.
 I will not press the value of MT. Smiths story, which, fortunately for me, was most hopefully foretold in yes terdays Call Mr. Smith has the germs Of good story. He says they were suggested to him by an interlude of Goldini's Mir Smith doubtless Is my senior, since my first meeting with his suggestion" dates from an early per formance of 'Nanon." There is par ticular tune in ''The Serenade," as there is in ''Nanon," and this tune forms the basis of a not unusual plot in which various identities are variously con- fused and discovered in the complicated course of it's popularity. Dolores hears the barytone sing it at the opera and straightway falls in love with him. Hers is not a hopeless passion, but she is taken away by her cruel guardian, the Duke of Santa Cruz, to a haunted castle, and good Alvarado. the barytone. follows bravely and in sundry menial capacities contrives to keep in the neighborhood of his sweetheart.
 But other susceptible ears have heard the tittilant tune, and other hearing of the enraged Duke. First it is a crushed tenor who essays to sing it in trio with a tailor, who is also enamored of Dolores. and the tailor's daughter Yvonne, who is in love with Alvarado. The tenor is captured, and you hear no more of him. Then 1t is taken up in other forms; everybody has a pipe at it; from the girls in the con- event to the monks in the monastery. ] Il is good tune that will endure such handling, and l must say that MT. Herbert's-a rather taking waltz which experiences all sorts of variation" treatment-comes through the ordeal with honors, even if I cannot keep pace with MT. Smiths accompaniment of plot.
 We have come to hold all the old