The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-15
THE TWILIGHT OF The OPERA.
THE GLOOM AND MYSTERY or
MISS SMITHS "DER VALID"
Some Excellent operate Material Poorly
Handled In the Construction OF tue
Ilbretto-The Music Of Mental Chsr'
acter Rather Than Temperamentai'

Singing must be put aside for the momeh'
while something Is said about the opera
There Is no intent 70 be subtle In tha' n'e'
sentence. or course singing ana the opera
do sometimes fall together. But III gooo
sooth there are times when they 40 NV
and when the crepitant chor'iins Oh o,''
intesrated vocables pulses through 'no
ambient air and assails the ahrieh'eo cars
But Of this something too much. on
Wednesday night the solemn seciusiou VI
the Lenten season tyou know you han lot
gotten all about il was disturbed os une
Intrusion OF a new opera lhlhk OF III
A new opera at the Metropolitan oPe'"
House in the twilight Of Maurice Grau.
comehow memory went wandering oaoN
along the dusty pathway OF the years 10 tne
last DAYS Of Edmund c. Stanton VINO nm
j,hed his career in the ,rodden ways OF
foreign land. Who will forget tbat ias'
season OF Stanton's? He produced hoVe'-
lies. too. There was the Nassal oi
Szireth,-" Asrael' and last, rs ven AZ ieas''
the Duke Of Shortcomings Diana 'o',
Solange,- which the irreverent chr@tene'
-Dano Won SolangweiIig VAN 'na'
dark and dismal opus the light Of o,ahVo''
faded away and German opera ~ me We, to
politan yielded 70 to su"cni'n, oAp.'a
ton of Gounod's Romeo ., Juie'e' tne
enslavements of Emma James ~
and ladyike behavior and ~" p'r'e''H
elegant bearing % RDT ~ dc noS"N'
Mr.. Grau sat in his scat III i've cich's''"
:. and listened TO his latest venture INT" 'he
field of the unknown. II was serious
occasion. Perhaps II might nev~ again
he his fortune to tempt the pubic WIN
fresh and delicate morse! OF me'ody' r,'-
haps no might never again listen 10 we
futile struggles Of Bispham TO ma the KEY
. Of a new part or watch Muhlmann enac'ihg
an aged woedmsn in truly wooden manner
. Stanton always used to sit in box on such
occasions but Mr.. Grau has been more
modest Perhaps on Wednesday hishI
he felt Just as proud az Stanton did wheh
10 was listening to the hrst performances
of Diana Won Solange'
Ethel Smyth. the author and composer
of Der Wald.- is a woman oil ambition ana
intense earnestness OF purpose women
composers are not numerous rev OF the'n
have accomplished anything worth men,
tionine. OF course. there was that charm
ing Irish-French lady, Augusta Holmes
recently gone over to the silent malor,ty.
She wrote operas. La Montage Noire'
which had alsuccess Of esteem at the Grand
Opera, and also 'Astarte and -Lanceiot
du Lac Cecile Chaminade has not ven
tured into the operatic field. and neither
has the sweet singer OF Boston, MRS. H. A.
Beach: but the future may have JOYS IN
store for US. The success OF esteem-happy
phrase which the clever and polite French
invented for the convenience OF euphemis.
tic worlds awaiting any lady who VIII
emulate the example OF the substantial
Augusta Holmes and daily with lyric versions
Of famous poems.
Miss Smyth has. 30 far Is this scribe
knows. no long string OF symphonies
piano sonatas, suites. sexteta. or quArtets
or oven songs, floating like the tail OF q
comet after her name in the dictionaries
Of music. 1t Is on record that Der Wald
il not her opus I. But at any rate 1t 10
the first work OF which the eager American
public has heard tidings. 1t would be
interesting to know how Mr.. Grau came
to include 1t In the scenario OF his medi
tations. He has never seemed at all eage'
to introduce novelties 20 Us. and there
sre few things lying loose around Europ'
which might more naturally have sstraotse
his attention than Der Wad.' Yet h
passed by such tribes a. Charpentier''
Louise Saint-Saens's 'Phryne. Bru
neau's .L'Attaqus du Moulin and Puc
- ini's .Nanon. to produce this little one-ac
opera. which had previously been give'
only in Berlin and London.
OF course. every ons viii rejoice tina
he did 90. for women ought TO 30 en-
oouraged In their sttsmpts 70 create work
Of art. especially In musio. The fact tina
they have never written anything Of tn
sdehtsst value should not b used - q
argument against giving thsm ever!
chance. II seems - II thsss dsicat
. bundles Of sensitive nerves. thsss quivsrtn
harps Of humanity. whose strinp IN
swept BY every breath Of passing passio
from Q mAsesrful tsmpsrarnsot. ought :
b able TO pour Into tbs channsls VI II
mos Auid VI all ths srts soms drops q
tbslr own hsaSts. How oftsa dos th
----uasual ohssrvss wonder what woman fss
IN hsr shrins Of shrtnss when shs throt
and shivsss end nsats under ths witoher
Of Chopin end Psdsssvski. Why can oh
not rspsoducs thas for usf Auna Ne u
90 slaks tbs aSooy VI our thurs fos tn
Lnowlsdss With Rschard Watson Glider
poem How Psdsrsvsh PAysf'
The ssssy Of 'Dsr wsld' vas rchssrss
N the oolumns d Tns SUE on tbs morniI
sstss the produostos Of shs opsrs. IL vi
ssid thsa. and n nay - ssp~sisd no'
thai this Story eootslns mai for obsss,
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