The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-09
'STUBBORNNESS OF ELEONORA'
BUSES ART AND THE PLAYS SHE
SHOWS IT IN.
Complaint of Too Much D'Annunzio-The
Public Apparently Not Interested
in IT'S NOrks-"Ia GiocOnda" and
"The Dead lity''-Othcr New Plays.


title that will furnish Buses managers
food for much speculation. She was greeted
on Tuesday night as We greet royal genius,
but tho greater public stays away resolt"ly
from the plays she has elected to appear
In, while the critics have little praise for
them And IL il just here that the stub
bornness Of puse comes in. She knows
MS well as ner managers that the announce
ment of Camille" would jam tn" Victoria
from wall to wall. "Magda," -Cavalleria
Rusticana,' LA Locandicra," any piece
in her old repertOry would serve the purpose
Of attracting crowds.
But these plays she has seemingly for
gotten. Her company, versatile a il ia.
suddenly has lost it's memory There is
not a man or woman in il who is not pre-
pared To swear thai D'Annun1io is the only
oramatist with whose works he or she H.
familiar. II Is quite comcal 1t is also
dishear'ening Too much D'AnnnnHlo may
retard in the future the trumphal progress
Of his gilded chariot, the American. public
may be he'd 10 the deliberately chased foun-
tain Of his art. but II halks at drinking his
strange-ta~ting beverage. Has he pipc-
jointed the Picrian spring of genius? Has
he hitched his wagon to star? About
the first many ar, in doubt; tn second
Du.e can alone answer and Dus" l. stub
born, more stubborn than the heroine OF
Clyde Fitch. Gcrdiiino Mary M1nnerism.
This one thing IL certain, unless the Italian
actress consents 10 give u a more varied
repertory the supplementary series Of
fifty performances projected by Liebler
4 Co. will not b" undertaken. What
a pity, A. the second wife of Aubrey Tan
Quordy Esq Du-c would achieve a sensa-
titn, tired a~ We have become of this Pinero
masterpiece. 1t is in her regular scheme
of plays presented IN Italy. Why not i'll
New York. too, o El"onura Of the drowsy
glance and reckoning diglts'
We do not have to go far afeld for the
source of Buses Inspiration. gabrielle
a Annunzio. a young man quite confident
of his own genius. is her artistic handspring
Just now There was a time when Arrigo
BoIto-but let us be discreet Other days,
other ways. Duse is woman with "A rccep-
five temperameut. From composer. from
painter, from poet, she has absorbed her
rulture, and from the strange Glembic of
her personality has forced her experience,
horrowful, passionate, into beautiful bios
soming.
y
the nakcdness of "A woman's soul This
has d Anntnzio done His art ideals clam
Der into the very blue of heaven, and they
are rooted in rather material soil; for your
Italian does not fear the frank surfaces of
life Something of the old pagan ieaven
still ferments within his veins, and IN the
case of D'Annunzio We assist at the veritahle
recrudesence Of a med al paganisin. lie
has not the robust hulnors of the tIn3ue-
renfisfs hltf hp haa their robust VISION. and
10 this Latin temperament he has added
the surgeons skill, the science OF the cool
headed man who Yields the scalpel and
dissects, always dls-ect---!
He would becom" the dramatic Richard
Wagner of Italy. Ga the shores of Lake
Albano he dreams of erecting temple
devoted to the arts. Listen TO his eloquent
thesis: For "A long time the three arls OF
music. poetry and dancing have separated
from each other; the first two have followed
their development toward greater power
of expression, IN" third l. IN it, d"cdtchCt;
therefore, ] think that 1t is no longer pos
stole To fuse them INFO a single rhythmic
structure without taking from one or other
Of them ill., own already acquired dominant
character. II made to concur tow ard
common and total effect they must renounce
their supreme and particular effect and
remain. In a word. diminished,
He would -uperppSe IN" three rhythmic
arts, presenting them Tin single mauli"-ta-
tions linked by sovereign idea This l.
TO be the new composite of poetry, music
and dancing, a very Gre"klik" on" despite
the claim made by ID Auuuu2io that h" has
created a new dramatic form. In IA"
intervals between two scenic symphonies
in which all the m ltis unit" to express the
inner esSenc" 81 the Characters that are
struggling in the drama music l. to be
heard. Action that mrrges into poetry,
poetry which shall moduate into music
the whole mastered by "A big dramatic idea
-ah, we call this meodrama ia America
Siguor Poet! Wagner attempts the trick
az Bayreuth and the musical p"rsun shades
his eyes-even as did Wagner himself -
so that the gracious symphony may enter
the porChes ~ his ears Undecided by tho
sight of fat, clumsy men aud women spout
ing that extraordinary allt"rative rant
the German comp SIR ralned OF on his
disciples a. poetry u Annunzio's is a
mailman = dream: b"aui ful, Souorous. richly
hued-withal quite mad.
He gives more than significant clue to
the meanings Of The Dead city" III his
latest novel. -Imagin" Imagine that the
earth you are digging in l. evil; it must
still give out the cAhalatlOns of mon-trous
deeds Bloodthirsty and d,praNed II the
man who digs for the tomb7 Of Homeric
kings In "A passage of poetic beauty he
comes upon the tOmb> Of Agamomnon,
Eurymcdon and tassandra. The hereditary
sign of Pclups = race Of the ivory shoulders
II not missing And then, under the silT"Wd
impact of tho air, these royal muminics
'eXhalo like Napor. lik" melting foam, like
dust that il scattered, and there remain
only "A handful Of dust and "A heap of gold
The Italian poet evidently dIsilkcs the
idea Of "a plodding, unimaginatiye German.
drug mixer. discovering these wonderful
things. He calls him the fat Schliemann.
Yet it was this same practical Ieuton who
made possible with his patient pICkaAc
the glowing visions of ID Annunzio.
That moral bacteria may originate in
n me-stancd sol is an idea worthy Of "A
fantastic brain. Without this his sad
drama would have no pivotal balance
In that exec, dinghy sane and sober book
.The Buried Temple, Maurice Maetcrlinck
notes that from Eurpedes, SophoCes
Eschylus to Richard Wagner all have
employed fatality a. cOmpensating "x-
pedient. In Tristan und Isolde" II Is the
philter; in Macbeth" the witches; the
hatred of Venus in "Ph6ire. and in "Iphi-
genia" it is the oracle Of Calcha-. Take
these away, clares the Belgian mys, ic
and withdraw our sympathy, Macbeth
becomes contemplate murderer, Aga
memnon an abominablc man. Phcdre
neurotic creature.
II must be confessed that D'AnnIn2io
has handled his revolving sui iect with dig
nifty and dclicacy. That the theme a. theme
IL an inhuman one Is not gorinanc 10 uui
discussion. II was chosen by the drama
tist by his treatment uf II he must b'
judged. closet drama without doubt
a. IL John IOru'-. l. the story in ROSSpt p,