Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1902-01-20
IT IS A WICKED PLAY.
MESSALlNE is SENSATION OF
LONDON.
Wnl Hardly lie Acceptable to American
Patrons Of the Theater HAD In Plot
and ssId to lie Vulgar is All Right
Artisticaily.
NnndOn I.etter.D

Uondon Letter)
Just after the dress rehearsal OF
Mcssaline. lsidore de Lara. the com
poser. asked me II ! thought the opera
would 20 in the United states, and !
asked him what made him think that 1t
might not lie said. OH perhaps, the
plot would be considered too-er-tOo
hlgh-colorcd. All could say was that
after our acceptance of Olga Neither
sole's Carmen. Of Tristan and Isolde.
and of the Old Testament. IT did not
seem to me that we had one right, log
ically. to object to anything. But that,
OF course. we were nothing II not Hog
ical. especially as regards religious lit
erature. drama and the opera. De
l.ars's question. and his underlying
reason for asking IT, is a good index
TO the sort OF opera that Messaline Is
both as to plot and presentation. both
~ TO story and the musical interpreta-
ton Of that story. The librctto Is one
which calls for the literary equivalent
OF the soft pedal. II you are reading IT
YOU will do well to put cotton in your
ears; If 1t is being read to you you
will find it advisable to hold your nose.
and either shut your eyes or take on
your glasses. Mental ncar-sightedness
becomes a distinct advantage and a
deafness OF the intelligence an mmit-
/ iyated blessing when one has TO en-
I counter such story as Armand Syl-
/ vester and Eugene Morand have chosen
| to set forth in words. and De Lara has
elected to copiously illustrate In
music George Moore. the novelist and
critic wrote sentence once about
d'Annunzio which at the time read
| II. sounded rather meaningless. He
said: The habitua color OF dan
nuDZio's mind Is a delicate mauve. 1t
has all the ridescent glories Of a
ruined sunset" Paraphrasing Mr.
Moore. ! may say that the habitual
color Of Messaine Is hot purple. and
that it emits the phosphorescent glories
of decadent inVentivenPss The only
way to get through the opera without
bushing until you are sunburned and
freckled Is to take the score and attend
strictly to the music. and even that Is
not an entire relief, for. as | said, De
Laras music exactly illustrates the
libretto. And you cannot help getting
notion of immortality from his use OF
the chromatic scale, and Of licentious-
ness in the chord of the diminished
seventh.
know quite well that what have
just written will amount, as far as
some people are concerned, to a very
good advertisement OF the new opera.
There are somu birds and animals who
have an Unborn taste for whatever is
specially and unmistskably decayed,
and the worse it is the better they like
Il. That sort of taste will. ] think,
find ample qualification in Messaline
and can say that truly believe that
the kind of people who possess that
.ort OF taste will not of course. he
made any the worse for seeing even
such an opera as Messaline.
So much for the work from the out
of-date standpoint of the decencies
From the purely | should say the
merely standpoint, the work
Is somewhat beautiful and entirely re-
markablc | do not know OF any Other
opera that Is so complete and success.
tu a character study as Is this one
both from "A dramatic and n psycholog
ical point of view. Thanks to De Lara
md the librettists. Messaline is no
merely a musical opus with an alleged
plot attached. but not Joined to 1t; 4
consistent dramatic conception
,orried ont with an amount of care anC