The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-23

III some composer Will reveal gait Tor
such COM sition in these days, producing
such sol Jerusalem, Thou That Stoncst
the Pr 'hets,- Consume Them All" and
"Oh, God, Have Mercy Upon Me" and such
choruses as Rise Up" or -Sleepers Awake
there will. be less talk about tho oratorio
form having outlived its USEFULNESS. But
VII N that composer comes. 4 he l. 70 WI
upon religi >uS 'uDj c =. he must have tie
power Il religious :, ,f-e.IaceIncnt which
Handel and Mcr dolssohn had. If he il
to write on a Christian subject there must
stream through his music that Illuminating
light Of Christianity which Louis Ehlcrt
finds in "St. Paul" If he is 10 compose
on n Jewish story, hc must charge his muric
with that splendid ma asty Of Hcbraic
courage. which vitalizes the pages of the
Elijah"
No doubt the opening of the opera sea-
son, which Is TO take place tomorrow
night. will impress itself upon a large part
OF this community as the musical event Of
the period The truth is that a. a musical
t1iug the opera. as conducted AZ the Metro
politan Opera House. il greatly overrated.
That there are very many persons v ho
have Il genuine interest in the perform
a lccs cannot be denied Indeed there is
every reason to be grateful that 1t is so.
To these persons. the opera Is a genuine
delight. but not nearly 50 great a one as II
might easily be made
The truth, however, is that people who
do not care at all for music a. music and
who could not by any argument or pcrsua-
sion he induced To attend the concerts of
the Philharmonic Society or the knesel
Quartet hasten to the opera on every pos
sblo occasion and would not miss 1t for
anything short of battle. murder or sudden
death.
Not al these people 60 merely because
opera Is fashionable entert ainnent and
offers the comparatively Inexpensive privi-
lege of sitting in the same house a. he
queens Of society" and PERHAPS being
mistaken for them. Not all of them go
merely becaus" the opera house portals
seem 20 be- a gateway which admit only
the wealth and beauty Of the town. Not all
Of them go because the opera provides a
tield for the exhibition Of jewels and rich
garments and a considerable portion of the
person.
To society women, a. they are called.
the opera offers none of these temptations
in any exaggerated form. To them TO
go TO the opera is simply To float with the
current, which is all that they do during
most Of their irresponsible lives. But
they, even those of them who pretend TO
love music. nay, who honestly think that
they do love It, assume an attitude toward
the opera which L. fundamentally hostile
to its progress, for their influence i potent
with the many unmuSical opera oers.
There was a time when the opera was
conducted here 10 serious style, and
although il was carried on in the house
owned by these social dignitaries they
promulgated decree that it was not fasn-
ionable The result was that it was never
supported with ardor 10y the general public.
To be sure, II was German opera and was
pretty badly sung. But it did not have TO
be. fairly good article Of opera in French
or Italian or both could have been given,
with good scenery, good stage management,
good orchestra, and good ballet The
interest of the public could have been cen
tired upon the operas themselves, and
upon the general excellence of their per-
Torrance.
Fashion, however, decided against this
People who knew nothing about music
and who cared nothing about it were in
| a position to dictate to the remainder OF
the public. The result was that a decision
was reached TO give opera with everything
ordinary except the principals and to en-
gage for the leading roles celebrated
singers, bad ,ho oo,oh,o,,a si,ro,s nou
for some years. We have an operate
public so trained that il will not go TO the
"a
! famous stars of the company in the cast
| and which invariably stays away whenever
| the manager, out Of his recognition of the
| necessity OF sometimes letting his singers
be- heard in new parts produces new
| opera. Worse than TIN, Is tine attitude
| OF this public toward these popular singer
| They are appiauded for their reputat ions
| not for what they do. When Mime. Calvt
| sang Carmen last season III vocal style
which war worse than slovenly and ceased
I Il. tl.at III. -,
throw kisses al the dress circle, she was
/ applauded a. wildly she was when she
| first offered to u, her once subtle and devil
ish GYPSY.
Wien Mr. Alvarez sang Romeo out of
| tune from beginning 10 end he was Landed
t. the skies 10y people who are too lazy to
! q distinguish between sharp and fat And
there does not seem 10 be any standard o.
art among these worshippers of opera
singers. They used 10 go into raptures
over Jean de Reszke, whose method, were
| so exclusively refined that these people
could not possibly la q understood them
completely and they will ladle YOU out just
| a. full a measure of ecstasy over some other
tenor who can only bawl AT the top of his
| lungs whenever the composer in mercy
| writes a high note,
| These things are not 10 the benefit OF
operate art Be ii said, however, that the
| manager strives manfuly to provide the
opera going public with singers of the
| highest rank. The company assembled
! for this season Is perhaps not as strong III
| tenors as could be wished, but that is surely
not Mr.. Grau's fault He has done his
! best. Carusi. the Italian whose clear high
| voice excited Covent Garden last summer
is engaged, but cannot come here till next
season. knote, the most promising Of
| young German tenors, could not come, MOI
| could Miss DeStinn, who has recently riser
| to notice. But she at least will come next
| year, together with the tenor kraus, who is
said To have made great strides in his art
! As il stands the present company is espe-
cially strong in sopranos
later in the season.. Nordica, Gadski, Adams
| and SchetI, the impre9ario il prepared
| for anything. SO let the curtain go up OF
| the scene of storm and reveiy before the
| palace of the Moor of Venice. Let lis heal
ono" more the splendid inspiration of the
| grand old man Of Italian music. Let III
| listen to the sparkling humor Of that mas
terly tone-jugGler Rossini. Let us hear
| the pealing of the Egyptian trlmpets anC
| the death wall of % terra. addio." Let u,
| soc the Brabantian mobiles gather and watcl
| the coming of the Schwannen-Rittor who's,
name must not be asked. All these thing,
have we seen and heard before All thes,
people we have not seen and heard before
| There will be n new Lohengrin. WARRANTED
| genuine Dresden ware, Oh, ranture'
| W, ~ HENDERSON.