The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-01-25
Ant OPERA.

One Of the many ladies who cultivate Il taste for
music sends TO The Republic a question which
touches the basic principles Of all art. 1t is. there
fore, entitled to an calculating consideration.
Some one said TO her at the last symphony CON
cert that 4 symphony is pure music, while an opera
is not. The questioner expresses surprise and de
sires to know whether grand opera, which costs from
So TO So a seat, is not pure music as much as 4 SYM
phony.
To begin with dogmatism. The Republic informs
its correspondent thar an opera is not pure music. 1t
is. possibly. for a great many people the most inter-
esting form of music and it is a striking spectacle.
But as an instrument the human voice is, considered
with respect to ideals, u poor affair. To show its
necessary faults and limitations would require a long
essay. 1t must be assumed that intelligent people
can recognize at Il thought the imperfections of a
performance in which the voice-still verse, an as
s2rtment of voices-is a prime factor. And the stage
set1ing-a burlesque to curdle the ichor of all the
divinities.
The word performance is used with intent. A
composer may write pure music in an opera-he never
does, but he may. Write it or not, the performance
can never be pure music.
If our correspondent is satisfied with a definition
she can easily get one which will do TO repeat to her
friends. She can look in a book or ask a college
professor.
In either case she will know very little more after
NsIu lntI SIT Nu ttltlt. tiutdtiph 10 ii llotcoS
and not n purchase. The best way to learn a thing
is to live or see the entire process for ones self. That
chance. however. is rare; and the next best thing is
to make Il comparative study of other processes with
which one is familiar. Thus she may understand why
the talents of composers and the tastes Of CON
noisseurs have evolved the symphony and the sym
phony orchestra. The Illuminating method is to know
how EXAMINATIONS are reached in all arts; reached
inevitably, despite the conservatives and the myopics.
Perhaps the man reader of The Republic can re-
member that, about the time when he was reluctantly
acquiring the bath habit and when the male in him
was fercely contendins against his mammals taste in
long curls. the Cincinnati Red Stockings fiourished.
He may recall the glory of the mighty Andy Leonard.
the magistral Harry Wright and the mysterious
Brainard of the Black Beard. For the greenhorn
there would be just as much fun in that kind of base
ball as in the art as displayed by the National League
team of to-day. Red Stocking baseball would be
plenty good enough if the world had stood still, but
the competition of champions and the evolving de-
mands of conneisseurs made progress. added COM
plexfties and introduced fine points. The newsboy of
1903 would turn with disgust from the crude achieve
ments presented by the Wrights and Brainards. The
world moves.
The lady correspondent may possibly see in retro
spect Il day when a white frock and n blue sash filled
10 the full her conception of ceremonial attire. If She
will glance back along The period of development she
VIII be surprised TO note now the demands OF her en-
vironlnent and of her own taste have multiplied hun
dreds of details until she has, perhaps, twenty gowns
for twenty different occasions, each one representing
many fulflIments of fit and fitness.
Or she may recall when a chicken-pie needed
neither soup nor salad. She now knows that Il table
for guests must he adjusted to a complex develop
ment, which. TO be en- regle, calls for attention from
sherry 10 coffee and from flowers to napery.
She will see in her own history that. while the
white froci and the chicken-pie would do well enough
for simple purposes, they stop short of the period of
art culture.
She will in the same thinking understand why an
opera is n rough and limited form OF music and why
a symphony and 4 symphony orchestra are the only
things which a connoisseur of long experience consid-
ers worth while. 1t is in the full orchestra only that
At this stage of music culture there are few who
have had the leisure or interest or experience to
go completely through the process Of discarding
opera, church choirs and ragtime. Everybody. how
ever, is well enough educated in these American
days to understand something Of the reasons which
phony and losing interest in the lower forms of music.
Remember that there is no reason why anybody
should go through this process of music culture unless
he cares for the special enjoyment it supplies. Music
is not Indispensable to anybody. A man or woman
can have a culture as high and as rich though he or
she, never stopped to think Of the difference between