The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-09-24

TO new YORK for nothing, and OF course |
his offer was eagerly accepted. Such |
IS the story of Manager Hinton of the !
band
Francis Wilson's new piece, "Cyrano |
de Bergerac," was given in New YORK
for the first time last Monday night, 1
and the press comments are what they
generally are after his fresh essays. !
The Times. thinks some may cali the
piece "a comic opera" and not be very
far wrong, There is universal praise !
for Victor Herberts music but much
less for the book The Times says
The chief changes are made in the
third act. The balcony scene is i'll TINS
act, and so is the battle scene, with
Roxane acting as commissary general.
The fight is made comic, and at the end
Cyrano comes out in his true colors as
hero, and the audience is left with
the impression that he and Roxano will
be married, and that Christian will drop
out of sight. What the habitual play
Soe1 will desire to know, is whether
| there is any attempt on tie
part of Mr.. Wilson to take himself as a
serious instead of a comic actor.
1.-THE Cyrano of the, musical piece is
thing of shreds and patches. He bare
~ hangs together, Indeed, at times
he actually falls apart. For it is diff
cult to imagine that the poetic, fervent,
even passionate man whom Mr.. Wilson
endeaVored to portray in his more am
bltl0us moments, could be the same
plain and ordinary opere'tta comedian
as he presented when he was in sore
neeG of a laugh to enliYen the occasion
ally dull proceedings
The libretto of the new work, which
is the result of the combined labols of
Harry B. Smith and Stuart Reed, is
barely passable but the music by Vic
tor Herbert is delightful. There is .
plenty of good tunes, and there is much
or the daintiest and most picturesque
Instrumentation that has been heard in I
operetta since the palmy days of Sir
Arthur Sullivan. There are half a doz-
en- numbers which ought to become
popular, and of these the chief are the
song composed by Cyrano to Roxaue
and the chorus of the Gascony cadets.
so Tar as the solo numbers went, one
had to guess what most of them would
sound like if they We're we'll sung but
the ensembles were excellently given
The New York Evening Post saws:
Mr.. Francis Wilson has made a mis-
take in imagining that his forte is in
serious acting. The public have learned
10 regard him as a. fun-maker, and ht.
seems out of his proper element when
ne ESSAYS long poetic recitatons and
love ballads. In turning sCyrano de
a. Il, ~ L
Reed has taken all, kinds of liberties
WITH M Edmond Rostrand If he had
presented the work openly as burlesoue.
1t might have had better chances of
success. The lyrics by Mr.. Harry s,
smith are pretty, and at times funny.
ana the best thing Mr. Wilson can do
is to let Mr.. Smith try his hand at a
new libretto. 1t might help 10 nre-
serve some good music
rms seasons engagement of the Bos-
tonlans will be ushered In with the pro-
auction of THE Smugglers of Bada-
yez' new comic OPERA music by
Glacomo Minkowsky, words by Fred
eric Ranken. This composition has
been especially written for the Bosto-
mans, and is said to be brimflIl of
DAINTY music with a story as roman
TIC as II is humorous and entertaining.
radical changes have been made in the
organization of the company for this
season, and many new singers have
| peen engaged. Among the familiar
names noted are Helen Bertram. Henry
Gay Barnabee, w. H. Fitzgerald,
i Charles r. Hawley George F'rothine-
ham, w. H. Macdonald and Josephine
Bartlett. The principal contradict
roles have been entrusted to Marcia
| van Dresser, whose immediate hit inI
| MIR. Days production of THE Great
Ruby" brought her into marked pronni-
nence in New York last season. Grace
cameron, said to be beautiful young
singer with voice of exceptional pu-
r1ty, is announced as the second sopra-
/ no, While for the tenor roles, the Sc
lection falls to Frank Rushworth and
Frederick Knights. Other artists of
merit in this seasons organization are
John Dunsmure, the principal basso
and Edith Hendie
| Mime. Cosima Wagner has reconsid
cred her determination to give another
FESTIVAL next summer at Bayreuth.
| These performances now yield the fam
lily no profit, although it is difficult to
realize that, with the high prices of
seats, the great demand for them and
the small fees paid to the actors the re-
suits should be a deficit The receipts
for 20 performances, during the past
season, We're $3.50, 900. The new produce
ton of Die Meistersinger'' is said to
| have made any profit impossible This
year, just as in 1896 the Nibelungen
hing cost so much that no profits were
possible on the two succeeding festivals
Which have just paid for the elaborate
| preparations made then One of the ar
| rangements used in the second act Of
| DE Walkure" is said to have cost
| $1,000, and the other appliances were on
| the same scale. The artists emploved in
/
ner given by Siegfried Wagner. Two
hundred and twenty-four of them were
present and Siegfried praised them all
including NM. Richter and Kniesea and
his mother, whom he called the pilot
| who steered the ship so safely Prof
| Thode Of Heidelberg delivered a long
| GRAFTON, in which he said that Bachs
passion music, the Ninth Symphony of
! Beethoven and "Parsifal" We're the
three great works of typical German
music. He is Richard Wagner's son-in-
| law, however, and that was not for
| gotten. Perosi, Giordano and Toscanini
| were members of an Italian excursion
that went from Milan to Bayreuth to
| near the operas. They returned to their
native city with little praise for any
feature of them This was thought par
| tlcularly significant for persons accus-
| timed to Wagner in Italy. There is an
| unconnrmed rumor that Nine. Wagner
intends to include Der Barenbauter'' in
the program of the next festival.
The rehearsals of the Handel and
Haydn Society will begin Oct, /. The
society this season will be under the
! conductorship of NJ Emil Mollenhauer.
| 1t Is stated that the policy of the board
or management will be to increase the
chorus to 800 voices.
Miss Clara Butt the English con-
tralto, will arrive in this country about
the middle of October, and remain here
until the end of December. 1t is said
she Is remarkably handsome, and that
her greatest successes are due to the
peculiar and uncommon quality and
the enormous range of her voice.
An out-of-doors performance Of Gar
men," succeeded by a genuine bun
fight, is the latest novelty to amuse the
people of southern France 1t took nlaee
in Toulouse a few Sundays ago in a
huge arena that had been built for the
purpose. There were 200 performers,