New-York tribune., 1902-12-11
MUSIC.
MEYERBEER's PROPHET"

pest part of Its life the stage of New-York The
German influence has made steadily for Wagner $
locals, against which if Wagner is to be believed
the composer of lie Prophetic" was the viIest of
All sinners; yet when German opera was housed at
the Metropolitan Opera House it gave such con-
unous vitality TO Meverbeer's opera it had
never enjoyed before and has never enioved since
lie Prophetic was part of the German repertory
from the advent of the German regime till its
close, absenting itself only from one season.
and was vouchsafed many performances in one
OF those seasons as it has received all since.
More than that: in the six German years it was
represented oftener than in ell the other forty
three years that II has been known to New ork s
operagoers- In those German years moreover it
FOUND the finest representa- ives of its principal
characters that il has known here. Possibly
one might put this and that together and argue
that the fact stated at the outset was no anomaly
at all 1t is timorous Waknerite who cannot
admit that there is much good mixed with the
absurd folly of lie Prophetic and that that
good shines performance and makes it's appeal
to the public in proportion performers and pub
lie appreciate the difference between the old fash
Toned operatic entertainment and the modern lyric
drama Let Wagner illuminate his thunderbolts
against the unnecessary SUNRISE they but
prutum fulmen in the presence of the splendid
dramatic effects in Meyerbeers score. Besides. he
has sunrises. star rises and moonlight scenes of
his own to answer for Let have John of
Leyden such Mario is said TO have been. and
know Nemann was: Fides like Viardot-Garcia
dafl3Tf1e bra0dI or Schumann-H Helnk, let tno
musical pomp of the coronation scene parallel the
scenic and lie Prophete' will be welcome Wis
itor for decades to come.
Perhaps it will be more welcome than it has
ever been Perhaps liberal spirit will take pos
session of even the hdehound adherents of Wag-
ner's music and enable them to appreciate the
dramatic effectiveness OF the recital by John of
his dream in the first act. and its employment of
the element of prophecy which so admirable
in Wagner and many other beauties which are
in vie bN- MEL
nonsense invited if not compelled by the book.
1t was proper to speak of a revival OF lie
Prophetic nineteen years ago, for though 1t had
mad sporadic representations in the local theatres.
since 1853 when Mr.. Mantzek first produced it at
Niblo's Garden. it became feature of the local
repertory only when brought forward by Mr. Abbey
in the first of the Metropolitan Opera House
and made fixture by DR.. Damrosch and his
Walter. During that administration there were
no fewer than five representations of John of Ley
den-Schott Sylvia, Niemann, Perotti and Gudehus
and three of Fides-Brandt, Moran-Olden and Rit-
tr-Gotze. Since then there have been one Giovanni
Tamagno) and two Jeans Cde Reszke and Alvarez)-
The last representation before that OF last night
took place two years ago. when Alvarez sang the
titular part and Nine. SchuInann- -Heink made her
first essay in French with the music of Fides.
There were improvements in detail over that per-
Torrance in last nights representation Ghough
not in the spectacular effects, but the principal
parts were in the same hands, and there were no
changes in reading call for attention Such
changes scarcely to be expected under existing
circumstances. Mime. Schumann-H Heink's opulence
of voice must extenuate her sophistication of the
sincerity which the music of her choice has taught
her to cultivate with an cxaggeration Of pathos
which does not belong either to the traditions or
the past or the lyric drama Of to-day The pos
sibfites the past from dramatic point of view.
lis maternal tenderness its lovely unself1shness.
knowingly and convincingly displayed by
FrauIein Brandt. who had less wealth of voice. but
finer instincts and nicer sense of repose But the
grandeur Of Mime. Schunann- -Heink's voice and her
lavish outpouring of it carried all before her. even
the grief of judicious caused by the deviations
from Just intonaton due to her excessive stfehuuS
ness of
Mr. Alvarez's plenitude of voice is only a tr1fe
short OF that of Nine. Schumann-Heink. and ne
gave 1t out without STINT but there was no poetic
Illusion in his impersonation. In Niemanns s Jean
there was dramatic growth from man OF simple
feeling. through fanatic exaltation up TO insane
self-deception and the tragic climax which Tnaoe
him rine for destruction In de Reszkes there
was loftiness and dignity Of utterance and bear
ing like that which fancy from the old accounts
invested Mario's impersonatton OF the part which,
when he had donned his coronation robes. reminded
Chorles OF some Bishop Saint in picture by van
Eyck or Durer." NJ Alvarez was too often Simply
rude forceful, vociferous. though his me- Flrlle
tenor took on accents OF genteness that were moV-
i and impressive in the scene in which he denies
his rnother-one of the finely conceived scenes
in the opera for which Scribe and Meyerbeer went
to the history the false Russian Difltri l1steaa
of the vertabe story OF J9an OF fnr the anti
went 10 the history Of Sardanapaius ior 'iie a''i-
climatic finale of their concocuon ,,, -.
n Flon conducted the performance. which % S ieS
eTnnat atbatir audience. Outside the artists men
toned those chiefly CONCERNED IN the r I RFn1
SZacbariel NJ Jourlet OOberthaD NJ. Bars tJonas)
and NJ Declery (Mathisen)-