The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-21
THE GREATNESS OF MOZART.
REFLECTIONS FROM WEDNESDAY
At THE OPERA.

VfCC u StOp fhCOFc8-Wuy MOuCbIlb
Misunderstand the Music or Mozart.
1t was In the pastoral days OF 1885. In
| Italy Metastasio had gone to rest after his
| labors in establishing the poetic melo-
drama, but Goldoni and Gozzi were filling
| the sunny Wales with the sparkle of their
comedies France was struggling to fall
upon truth somewhere among the sophis-
| tries OF Voltaire. the prosaic moralizings Of
Necker and the three-cornered sentiment
talism OF Jean Jacques Rousseau. Germany
was feeding on the mysticism Of Goethe.
| the didactic defamation of Schiller and the
| supernatural romanticism Of Burger. Eng
land having barely recovered from a severe
| attack OF Swift. Steele and johnson was
wading through Gibbons antiquities and
| endeavoring to he decoro,is with Cowper,
while she was getting her first glimpses Of
the songs of Bobbie Burns.
1t was at this epoch in literature and art
that Mozarts comic opera lie Nozze di
Figaro was produced in the capital Of the
Austrian Empire. Kelly records its re-
ception. Never" he says, was anything
more complete than the triumph of Mozart
and his 'Nozze di Figaro 1t was true.
The opera house was crowded The en-
cores were so numerous that the opera
/ lasted much longer than it should have
| lasted, but nevertheless the composer was
| called out over and over again at the close
| of the performance. 1t is not recorded
that he made speech.
On May ls-it was on May that the work
was produced-old Leopold Mozart, proud
| and happy father, wrote to his daughter:
'Atthe second performance Of your brothers
opera (May 81 five pieces were encored, and.
on the third MAY 81 seven; one little duet
had to he sung three times" Was that
the letter DUE Why in the world did not
Leopold tell us. so that we might know
whether tastes had greatly changed after
all in this last hundred and sixteen years.
The opera was indeed success. II
threatened to become a sort Of al-night
debauch in music, and the Emperor had to
step in to prevent the health Of his subjects
from being ruined by too much Mozart
Under pretence of sparing the singers and
the conductor he forbade any piece to be
encored, After issuing this prohibition
(Which Mr.. Grau has lately initiated at his
Sunday night concerts) his August and I'm
perial Majesty went to rehearsal and, adj
dressing himself to STORAGE Susanna, Ma
mini (Ainarird) and Bernucci Figaro, said
rdy you ART All I)ledStu tudt i put Il
stop to encores it must be very fatguing
| and distressing TO you to repeat so many
songs"
Indeed, SIRE" answered STORAGE, bowling
low. 1T is very distressing"
Don't you believe them. SIRE" said Kelly
(Bdsiiio). They all like to be encored at
least l am sure always do
Whereupon the Emperor, being n man
~ h,,t ba
withdraw his decree.
The opera which caused so much JOY
in Vienna in 1888 was revived at the Metro
politan Opera House last Wednesday night.
There was an audience Of fair size and the
applause was Of a moderately ecstatic
sort. The greatest enthusiasm of the
evening was evoked by the poorest piece 4
singing Nine. Scheff's delivery of Vol
che sapete.' Between the acts many
ridiculous comments were made One
young woman said that all these Italian
operas. such as I'll Trovatore- and this
one. gave her nervous prostitution. Another
woman remarked, Il suppose it's all very
fine. but my! am 30 sleepy
A was said in the comment on the per-
Torrance published the following morn
ing the probabilities are that If the audience
had really known what it was all about
public qualification would have been much
greater. Mozart deliberately chose Beau
marchais's comedy lie Marriage do Figaro
as subject for operate treatment, and
Da Ponte dressed II up admirably.
The original had contained some smart
political shots. Lut Da Ponte omitted the 50
and confined himself strictly to the de-
velopment Of the pr,rient story. He gave
us bright and fascinating comedy OF in
trigue. But young ladies do not repeat
the story Of the opera to their mothers.
One young man climbed out from the
middle of row, leaving a very pretty girl
awaiting his return. Where are YOU
going?' asked friend. whom he passed
on the way out
"To get a libretto," he answered "The
young lady wishes to know the story"
Whereupon the man who had asked the
question sat and pondered what manner
of girl she could be who went to the opera
in a carriage, and yet showed such signs q
human intelligence that she wished to
understand what was going forward on
the stage.
When II comes to Tristan and Isolde"
the matinee girl knows just what she is
going TO get, for is not the big round world
burdened with weight of handbooks ex-
planning the tale. it's ethical significance
and its musical guide posts? Yea. And the
Wagner lecturer is abroad in the land
He sees to it that no maiden, too lazy to
read for herself, shall blush in ignorance
These passionate babes flock to the matinee
performances Of Wagner's immortal can
ticle Of love. which IL further above their
heads than the blasting sun Is. and when they
zee the tenor and the soprano on the stone
seat under the bending bush their little
hearts gelatinousy culver with some
thing they believe to be emotion. These
same infantile darlings have precisely the
same sort Of thrills when they read yellow
journal divorce story.
But no one lectures on Mozart, and the
young generation of operagoers, brought
up on the fire water Of Wagner. Mascagni.
Puccini and their contemporaries. fail to
perceive the clear beauty Of this old-time
music, They are always waiting for the
torrents of tone, which never break forth.
They yearn for the sonorous waves of
orchestration, bearing the song aloft on
their stormy bosoms, but these never
gather. In Mozart's day thew acf,,sad