Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-04-22
METROPOLITAN MUSIC.


NEW YORK, April 20.-The opera is
over On Saturday night was rung down
the final curtain of the longest season We
have ever had. From the eighteenth of
December to the fourteenth of April is a
long, hard pull for the management for the
singers and for all concerned. But 1t is
only fair to state that during all these
weeks the interest has never tagged. and,
what with great singers to choose from,
with new roles enacted, new works pre-
scented and old ones given with new ac-
cessories and new casts, Mr. Grau has
succeeded in carrying us even through
Lent, with but few empty seats in his en-
tire house. The repertoire presented COM
prsed in all thirty works chosen from the
pens of thirteen composers and whether
the opera was "Fidelio,' or Merry Wives
of Windsor" Tristan" or the Barber of
Seville" Don Pasquali' or THE Hugue-
nots," it was invariably presented with
proper attention to its cast and to its
scenic appointments. In some instances a
gorgeousness of scenic attire well nigh
overshadowed even the very brilliant
groups of singers chosen, but in most
cases it best enhanced the brilliancy of the
artists engaged, and in one instance, the
Flute" it but formed setting worthy of
the work and worthy of the galaxy Of
singers interested in it's production. I
doubt if dear old Mozart ever dreamed of
such a performance of his opera, and GER
tainly no such combination of artists and
no such scenic splendor were ever before
united in an operate revival in our city.
Mozart has truly had his innings this
season, and how delightful it has been to
be able to hear his Don Giovanni" his
Figaro and his Magic Flute" each and
all presented in so satisfactory manner.
There is talk of a Mozart Cycle next sea-
son. We shall welcome It with crowded
houses when it comes. 1t was feared by
some early in the season, that the
taste of the day was so charged with a
love for the bizarre, the prince of melo-
dy'' would have but a sorry time of it.
But, on the contrary, so great an interest
has been shown to exist in Mozartiana
that the cycle may become reality after
all.
In looking back over the season just
brought to an end, it is Interesting TO note
the operate barometer as displaying the
popularity of the various works presented.
B.zet's Carmen" leads with {. good sec
OAiA IA aust, NAilNAl - NiOSOly AOAiONCH
by Wagner's "Lohengrin," die Wal
kure," "Tannhauser. Romeo ct Jul-
cite" Aida" "Cavalleria Rusticana'' and
the Magic Flute" and The Barber of Sc
ville,' THE Meisters.nger'' and Figaro"
had more frequent hearings than "Trova-
tore" The Flying Dutchman' and Don
Pasquale, while Meyerbeer's ''Huguenots''
and Prophet and verdi's "Traviata"
ard of
IL Afracain" and "Fidelio." But even the
record of the number of its representations
is not always true test of the popularity
of a work. for often illness Will csmpel a
change of opera at the last moment, when
the house has been sold and the audience
all but assembled. and the substituted
work is by no means the choice of the
gathered assembly. We have seldom had
a season so disastrous to our imported ar
lists. and shifts of ore kind ana another
were necessarily MADE nearly every week
during the entire four months of opera,
but for all that the people have taken
their disappointments philosophically and
the discortented murmurs now and then
heard have come from bilious critics and
dead heads who are never so happy as
when they have something upon which
they may pin a criticism.
1t would be unfair to dismiss the sub
ject of the opera without calling attention.
to the cosmopolitan repertoire presented.
All tastes have been consulted and graft
fed. Nine of Richard Wagner's music
dramas have been given, four of Verdi's
operas and three of Meyerbeer's spec
tacles. Mozart has for the first time been
given proper hearing, three of his melo-
die works having been sung. Donizetti's
Lucia and "Pasquale.'' Gounod
Faust and Romeo ct Puliette." Ros-
sinis Barber Nicholai's Merry Wives
and Thomas's 'Mignon" have been given
adequate representation by the side OF
Beethoven's ..Fidelio." Leducavallo's PA
liacci'' Mascagni's "Cavalleria'' and Biz
cts ~Carmen-" Can any other music CEN