New-York tribune., 1900-01-29
MUSICAL COMMENT.
AND MANAGEMENT
ARACTERS-MODERN YER
ITISM-MME. TERNINA

ARACTERS-MODERN VER-
ITIsM-MME. TERN1NA.
If the commentator on the doings of our operatic
folk were dependent for his subjects upon the
or unfamiliar things offered by the managers he
would seldom have anything to talk about. To-day
his retrospective would glance past the gllded
opera house in upper Broadway and light upon
the West Side theatre in which for veal woe
operas are performed throughout the season in
the vernacular. In that theatre, amid
pains bravely endured, opera born
week ago. and mayhap has already lived out its
life, so far as the metropolis is concerned We do
not know whether or not 1t will ever be resusci-
tated here but in any event it has served pur-
pose not only In inviting attention to the ten
dency In operate composition which II illustrated
but also to a question Of representation, which has
often been mooted but never discussed as it de-
serves.
We are not at all certain but that something OF
the spirit which animates the Castle Square Com
pany might prohtably be introduced into Mr.. Graus
organization, which is vaingorous In it's superb
company Of singers and its imposing surroundings
as to be neglectful OF things which are occasion
ally at least, quite essential beautiful voices
to the attainment of artistic effect. There
much crudity and exaggeration in the performances
of "At the Lower Harbor' at the American Thea
tire last week, but at any rate sincere effort was
made by all concerned to body forth the hearts
desire OF nhrettist and composer. The scenery was
correct and appropriate, and 1t was the company's
excess Of zeal, rather than It's want OF Tits lack
OF moderation in song and action-that brought It
under such mild condemnation as fell upon it. At
the Metropolitan Opera House like sincerity Of
purpose and modicum of the zeal were noticeable
in the representation of die Mestersinger" on
Wednesday evening, and then the thought would not
out OF mind that much Of the improvement due
not so much to the management as to the influence
of the singers who had brought Bayreuth expert
ences and traditions to New-York. Masterpieces of
the lyric drama, like die Meistersinger' and
"TannhAuser," it is true, do not depend so much
on stage furniture and local color the products
OF the modern realists, veritiss" so-called but
whenever there is historical basis for a drama
historical truthfuness in outward things cannot
do harm, but must inevitably make for good At
the American Theatre Mr.. Savage finds profit in
dressing a new opera becomingly and truthfully
though, in the nature OF the case he can
not expect frequent repetitions. He gave us last
week the verisimilitude of Neapolitan scenes and
quckened the fancy to an appreciation Of the new
book and pay-both Of the earth earthly and
doomed to an early death. At the Metropolitan
Opera House Mr.. Grau reproduces year after year
what are looked upon imperishabe masterpieces
yet refuses even to suggest in his pictures the
monuments which all the world is familiar with
and all the worlds mind associates with the plays
that have been around them. There is no
st. GATHERINGS Church in. Die Meistersinger,'
though St GATHERINGS Church is open to-day 70
any visitor to Nuremberg willing to take the
trouble to hunt 1t up; there is meadow the
bank of the Pegnitz with Nuremberg in the back
ground. though an antiquary would have no
trouble in reproducing the picture for him. In
''Tannhauser" there is no Wartburg, though that
noble architectural pile stands crowning gem
the mountain overlooking Eisenach with all Its
outlines they were in the time Of the Langrave,
Hermann of Thuringian and the stored contest of
minstrelsy. There is no hall of song, but thing
Of cathedral shreds and patches. though hundreds
Of Mr.. Grau's patrons have stood in that hall and
in fancy heard its walls echo to the voice of the
veritable Wolfram Won Eschenbach and the other
minnesinger whom Wagner has introduced into
his finest tragedy Neither is there anything even
rernotsy-resennhling the Hdrselburg though it has
presented itself to the view Of every tourist who
has traversed the Thuringian forest, or even made
the trip from Weimar to Elsenach. Instead Of
the loWly vale, dark with its umbrage in the
depths and green with grasses and bedight with
flowers, Mr.. Grau asks us to lock upon a scene
painters picture of imaginary valley in no
respect like the real A wide river flows through
the painted landscape, but there is no stream in
the H0rselthal; instead-alack and alas!-there
is a railway. There railway there in
Hermann's day, for that before COM
mercalism had made racecourses OF the cathe-
drals of the earth,' and before commercialsms
slaves had conceived what Ruskn said was their
one conception of pleasure: ITO drive in railroad
carriages round their asles and eat off their
altars.
Is this small matter? Perhaps 1t might be so
adjudged If there so much lofty imagination
in the denotement Of the poet-composers ideals as
to make willing to forget the things which
high Imagination and exalted emotion accept like a
seer, in the prophetic sense, calling the things
that not though they WERE and forever de-
lighting to dwell that which is not tangibly
present" But do not often find such qualities
IN the performances At the best few of the
singing actors strive for an ideal less vivid
in their minds, and the rest a lot Of marion
cites pushed about by stage manager, upon
whose intellect there has not dawned the glmmer
of an idea of what the poetIcal and dramatic con-
tents of the drama are And with such a result
the public are perforce to be content. Welcome
therefore. every attempt at an impersonation with
a distinct and individual physiognomy; yea thrice
welcome If it violate traditions fail con-
form to the notions of the commentator Nine.
Calve gave us such an impersonation in Faust"
and hackneyed the lovely opera has been made
by hundreds Of repetitions in the conventional
manner, 1T at once sprang into vitality, and the
wish that it might be rejuvenated not in one
element but in ALL so that charms might be
added to those which have been puissant so long
Herr Friedrichs did similar service and evoked a
similar wish by his exposition of the character of
Beckmesser in "De Meistersinger." It seemed
enough that # was picturesque, vital in every
respect ilumnative of itself yet it left desire
that, excellent all the companions appurtenances
and surroundings were, they might all be better
that the audience must needs have felt how
marvellously Wagners play meets the highest |
definition Of comedy and what a clear and com /
prehensive glimpse it gives into Nuremberg life |
in the early years of the Reformation die Meis-
tersinger" is essentially photograph There is |
not a parsonage or incident in it that might not |
be made to picture a medieval actuaty. The |
names of its personages, with few exceptions |
are copied from the archives Of the town. the |
rules which Kothner lays down for the instruc- |
ton of Walther are the words of the authentic
'tabulatur'' thrown verse; the names of the tunes