The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-21

ahurrying cpoch' These children of wire
less telegraphy do not read even history.
They do not read the history of their own
country. They do not know the names
OF the early Presidents, They do not know
the names of the early families, I'm which
at least they might he supposed to take
some interest in these days of snobocracy.
When they go abroad they take no interest
in the historical monuments Of Europe,
because they do not know the history.
1t is useless to ask them to go to st. Denis
to sce the tombs Of the French Kings, be-
cause they do not know that there ever
were any French Kings. They date back
in French history a. far a. Napoleon. be-
cause they have seen Rejane "a Sons Gene.
When they see the Bridge Of Signs in Venice
they prefer the bridge over the lake in
Central Park and as for the excavations
in Rome they think them very little better
than those in New York and a great deal
less useful.
How are We TO induce these chattering
chits, who plainly place higher value
on their own cheap fippancy (which they
call witt than on the creations of genius,
to take the trouble to comprehend the
purity of style, the classic symmetry Of
melodic form, the solidity and logic OF
harmony. the perfect adaptation of the
matte tiguration to the end in view, the
exquisite suitability of -key-clang" and
part writing to the embodiment of the
mood of the scene to he found in these
immortal operas Of Mozart
Critics may comment and haggle, club
men may yawn and pooh-pooh, babes
may pratte in the corridors and matrons
cackle in the boxes; but the operas of
Mozart stand immutable, serene and i'm
posing al the Sphinx herself and to the
irreverent quite as inscrutable.
these Mozart operas, They were written
for singers, not for disclaimers. They
followed in every essential detail the style
of the Italian operas which had preceded
them. II must be borne in mind that
Germany had no national opera at the
time when Mozart wrote The opera
then. as for some time before. was the
amusement of courts and nobility. 1t had
no relation whatever to the art life of the
people. The kindred arts did not touch
or influence it. II was an exotic i'm
ported from Italy and artiicialy cul-
tivated
There had been some attempts in Ham
burg to establish a German opera, but
they all died out about twenty years be-
fore Mozart WAS born. Rcinhard Keiser,
a most prolific gcntlema who is credited
with having composed ii8 operas, was
the popular pet of Hamburg for many
years, in the beginning Of the eighteenth
century. He tried to write operas with
German texts. and he made some successful
ventures; but when Kusser--suggestive
name-arrived from Leipsic with his facile
operate scores. combining the stilted
defamation Of Lully, one of his masters,
with the flexible aria forms of Steffani,
his other master, kescr WIS not long left
in command of tho field
Handel wrote for the Hamburg opera
from 1903 to 1903. but his works we're all in
the Italian style. The singers were nearly
all Italians. There were practically no
German operate artists. and there GER
tainly was no German school Of singing.
Take the original cast OF lie Nozze di
Figaro The names are MnniniJ Laschi
STORAGE, Benucci. Bussani. Kelly and Gott-
lieb, tho last in the small part Of Barberina
Again in Don Giovanni" we find Bassi,
Saporiu. Baglioni Ioli. Mcelli, Ponzian
and Bondni
Mozart was Obliged To write for Italian
artists, and with his musical creed, which
had for its prime tenet the law that melo-
dies should sing themselves. this was no
formidable task, He rejoicod in that he
could make fluent tunes and that he was
able 10 express Yith them all that the nae