The sun., 1903-11-29

| unCtf VI nic uttlODS uiSN' hNeS ''''
attention of the audience and robs the
scene Of its due effect. Then, in the name
OF common sense. since Wagner's directions
| cannot be followed out, why no, cut the
horse out altogether? He il conreseedly
nuisance. Why spoil the acknowledged
grandeur OF Wagner's poetic and musical
conception in order to carry out detail
which he himself did not rightly consider?
Does any one suppose that Wagner would
like TO have that wonderful scene ruined
I by the horse? Must Brtinnhilde always
have her Grdai' Can't she do without him
once?
Another attempt to carry out Wagner's S
directions literally was made in the fight
on the peak al the close of the second act.
The thing Is cumbersome and almost
impractca5le piece of stage business at
the best, an3 the more il is complicated
the more troublesome it Leconcs. II
always goes badly at Dayreith. Wagner
wished the fight TO be seen dinly through
settling mist, and this mist can uc simu
lated only by gauze drops, Wagners idea
was to have them lowered some distance
IN front of the characters and to have
clouds painted upon them. "Cloucs. clouGs,
! always lnore Clouds" he clamoret. This
has been Zone at the Metropolitan. and the
result on Wednesday night was that the
fight could not be seen. Hundino was
quite invisible, Sieg,nund almost SO, and
Brdnnhilde was seen only at the lest mo-
men' when she Was about to sink Lehind
the rock.
In the last act ii was pretty difficult to
tell what went hurting through the clouds.
Maybe they were horses. Thcy looked
like wandering X-rays. But in This scene
there were some good light effects. which
1t would he difficult to explain. The scenH
began in midnight blacknc's and then
cleared up into moonlight. After that
it was bright sunlight again for time.
but when Wotdn laid Brunnhiidc to sleep.
night ca me on again. The night is accord
ing to Wagner's stage directions; but he
said nothing about that twenty minute
daytime. However. the fireworks at the
end OF the scene were most brilliantly
executed, and the steam was most in
dustrious
II sonnet ines seems as if every new pro-
duction of a Wagner drama were he. sig
nal for an outcry about bad stage manage
meni. The trouble appears to be that ei,her
complete originality is essayed at tie sacri-
flee OF all the poetic though. Of Wagner
or else literal obedience to his printed direc-
tions br ms about unhappy results in cases
In which his'wislles outran he practical
resources of the stage. The horse is ft,s.
note in The Y b lung teiralogy. He spoiis
every scene in WITCH he appears. Eo Is
unfortunately worked into the text in suc!
way thar he is lard 10 dispose of: but h..
should be used as little as possible.
Wagner coupled realism ard idealsra
like child, He had 10 have his rag dolls
with art ioulaied joints. Try that once.
and you'll find that it is very likely TO ,c,
the sawclust out. The mechanical birds
and Ieass Of the Wagneriun drama are
lust as hard 10 swallow as these Of "The
Magic Flute" Eut no one is expected
to take the Mozart book seriously. The
Wagnerian drama should be convincing
for il purposes TO he poetic drama of he
higlesi type. Wagner tried to p,lt dream
pictures on the stage. Tie dragon fight
is beautiful to read; but wien you see it
it is hard not to laugh at it. And it is the
dragon himself that makes it funny. How
ut erly incongruous are he clumsy beast
and the toucLingly pathetic dying speech
Of Fafncr
Let us turn from stage pictures TO singers
and singing actors. Frst Of all "A word
about Caruso, the Few Italian tencr, who
covered himself with glory on Monday
night as the naughty ii,tle Duke in "Eigo-
lotto" He viii leoome a sa,nd favorito
with the local public. which has not heag
such an admir- b e Italian tenor within he
memory Il the young generation oi opera
goers. To he sure he is not Tamngno,
who in GER; ain t! ingS was unique. IaraEnu
was "A robust tenor; Mr. Caruso is lvrit
But his voice is BY no means deficient in
power, ard 1t viii be disappointing If he
does not make he old ceiling ring IN tnc
Nile sccue of Il IA
He has the one faux Of all Italian terols.
the use Of the roir blanche. But we mus.
remember ,hut IL 6 s not regarded as Il
isul. III his eountrY. I'euors are suElt to
Use the Thin, paliid tone in cur,ain passages
az an actual grace Of song. The healthy
american ear viii never learn to ncoept
| il as such, bus ,he itaian cGEnot g M tr
TO comprehend tiat. Le. us Le ,I4nk:l
then, thG, Mr.. CaIuso uses The white voice
sparingly and not at all in tones sung
above Il ineA2u piano.
He has excellent command OF his breath
and fine capacity Of lung. lie sings good
in dininuendi and ncrenGi. Tie quality
OF his voice is beautiful and his high tur.es
have that golden uellOwness which Is 40
precious in the true tenor organ, The
nan who doe not like to hear d clear high
b fiat from such voice has something
wrong with his aurnl palate
The Italian opera conductor, Arturo
Nigna, has not yet had any large oppcr-
tunty to show OF what he is capable That
will come on Wednesday with Puccinis
"Tosca.' But ii must lie said that hi
direction OF "Eigoleto" thowed Judgment
/ and knowledge He kept the orch,str;, in
its place and did not atte.npt to force N,r,ii's
blatant Instrumentation IL thoac IMssages
which ruier conductors are wont to hurl
| mcrciessly at unottencng audiences.
Verdi's "Rigoletto" contains ono leading
! motive. the curse theme, Was it prophetic
that the season of opera began with tho
announcement OF this motive ~ the ui,-
chestray What must Mr.. Conrici ha SO
thought? Or did his long, long experience
in opera rob him of terror? BY this time
he probably thinks he has been an opcrutic
manager for forty years.