The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-15

improper to give 'Parsifaf anywhere but
in Beyreuth I should not be here.
q see no reason why the production in
New York should not be better than at
Beyreuth, as there are several weak
spots in the performance there
Victor Herbert's arrangement Of the
brilliant Mendelssohn music for Klaw &
Nights Dream now being presented at
, the New Amsterdam theater, New York,
has attracted not a little attention
among lovers of high class music. This
is the first time in stage history that this
production has ever been presented with
complete score of MendelSSehn'S COM
positions.
In the early part of the nineteenth
century new interest was awakened in
"A Midsummer Nights Dream" by the
boy MendelsSohn's first effort to illustrate
Shakespeare's. fairyland poetry.
In 1926, when Mendelssohn was but
seventeen years old, he and his sister
Fanny took up the study of Shakespeare.
Though the children We're good linguists.
their knowledge of English was not yet
sufficiently perfect to admit of the full
appreciation of the beauties of Shake
Speare in his own terse phrases But about
this time the clearness of the Schlegel-
Tieck translation enabled them to read
his poetry with the fullest comprehension
of its meaning that paraphrase could
convey.
He and Fanny were particularly en-
chanted with the beauties of "a Mid
summer Nights Dream" and during the
lovely summer months of that year young
Mendelssohn began the composition of
his delicious comm entary upon Shake
speare's fairy vision. This delightful crea-
ton was first written in the form of a
planoforte piece, quartz mains, but was
afterwards arranged as an orchestral
overture. In this form it was given it's
first public performance at Stettin in Feb
rlEky,- 1927.
In 1929 Mendelssohn paid his first visit
to England and at a concert given by
Druet on st. Johns eve, June "a, he di
rected the overture for the first time in
the country of Shakespeare's birth. The
success of this composition was so great
that the king of Prussia commissioned
Mendelssohn to write the incidental music
for "A Midsummer Nights Dream"
which included the overture, the wedding
march and the gossamer melodies of the
dances. and fairy music. Several years
was not until 1910 that this charming
music was first incorporated with the text
of the play, at Covent Garden, London.
There Were only two vocal numbers in
this production, Spotted Snakes" and
the finale. but the entire score was so
perfectly adapted to the situations of the
comedy that Mendelssohn, who conduct
ed the orchestra in person, was given an
ovation.
Important REVEALS of "a Midsummer
Nights Dream were made in New York
in 1858 and 1862 by Laure Keene. Three
other productions were also made in New
York, including that by Augustin Daily A
very important production was made in
London in 1884 and in Chicago in 1883,
but the Mendelssohn music had not been
given in its entirety since that first night
in 1910. when the great composer him.
self held the baton, till Monday evening,
Oct. &c, at the New Amsterdam theater
Concerning Jacques Thibaud, the vio-
Inst, who has recently made his Ameri-
can debut in New York city, voluble
music critic writes as follows:
when new master of the violin knocks
at the door of our concert salons we have
every reason to greet a long haired per-
son with pasty complexion, a lettering
gait, heavy, soulful eyes and a general air
of ennui and self esteem murkily tinged
with indigestion. None of these hallmarks
of the yiolinist are stamped upon the
frank eyed newcomer. Young Tribaud is
appallingly normal in that he looks like
the well groomed young fellow one ex-
poets to see in clubs and restaurants
rather than the dreamy creature who
draws bow across a Strad. This newest
idol of musical Vienna and Paris and
Brussels and Bucharest is no foe to baths
and BARRIERS He wears well-cut clothes
and one knows instinctively that he takes
deep personal interest in his linen and
the tie OF his cravat. Nevertheless he is
no fop, young Thibaud. Fresh from his