The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-14

49,
10 the conductor. Behind the soloists stood
the grand piano or which the recitatlVes
We're performed. The chorus was placed on
the right of the stage, while the orchestra
occupied seats on the left and behind. with
the exception of Don Juan's aria: Go 10
that Side Leporello's Grant Pardon and
the duet between him and Zerline. every
note of MOzart's music was sung.
Friends Of the opera will be surprised TO
hear that the finale OF the first act was
even more appreciated without than with
the usual scenic 1~ouriShes. In this duet
as grand as IL is short. Bonci and L gave
our very best. 1 never felt so much like
singing before.
"And the audience was as remarkable as
the performance: Massenet, Colonne,
Cheviilard, Du Bots and many more like
them never failed to attend, likewise Emma
Nevada and Marie RoZe. the Donna Anna
of the London season. The most remark
able thing about the audience aside from
the celebTities) among the latter Colonel
Piccard-was the presence of so many Old.
nay. very old ladies and gentlemen. There
must have been hundreds between the ages
of seventy and eighty, and what pleasure TO
see how the divine music made them young
once more, 10 read in their JOYFUL faces
cheerful recollections of former days. Truly,
after the first act, some OF the old ladies
could have done without rouge.
A TO Don Juan itself, there is no sim
liar music, and no greater Mozart never
did violence to his feelings or 10 his audi
ence. Everything is easy-1owtng. plain.
homely, sincere and %artless, yet for compre-
al lAAu9A0G NAPlC oOAOI III
opera can touch Don Juan
Nowadays musical writers put the
screws TO every word and sentiment in the
book-screws of the literary or musical
kind. or both. and either calculated to dis
tort nature, to do violence TO the senses Of
the singer as we'll as the nearer. such mu-
sic makes me positively i'll. This modern
music has neither dignity nor restfulness;
II leaves one unsatisfied, Is without grace
and sentiment. l classify compositions with
musical perversities as worthy of the age
of CfrDfnA1 arxra oY6 nxnitnnaant Expn
some late Italian operas, perhaps l should
say the latest of them. exhibit the de-
scribed inharmonic unrest and are as diff
ferent from Verdi'S ideal as Richard Wag-
ner is from Mozart.
JEAN DE REZSKE AGREES.
81 had a long talk with Jean de Rezske
the other day. in which 1 expressed the
ideas set forth, and to my great joy he
agreed with my judgment in every respect.
When L expressed satisfaction, he said:
How could think otherwise? You
and i have learned something; we know the
history of music; we have sung all the mu-
sic that is worth singing; the best masters
of all times were always in our reach.
LAS to the Wagner enthusiasts, we have
the right to set our judgment against theirs.
Interpreters of music like ourselves taught
the present generation what music is;
neither you nor 1 need indorse anything in
music that is not perfect. anything smack
ing of the perverse. The oblivion with those
modern perversities, masquerading under
this name or that, and pretending this or
another thing. Like you, / declare openly
for melody and for melody only. Melody
alone will live; all the rest in music will
perish. If / were to assert anything to the
contrary l would do violence TO my feel
ings.'
'The Don Juan concert recalled most
wildly the first 'Parsifal' performance in
America, long. long ago.
Way back in 1886 the director of the New
York Metropolitan was considering the
question of performing 'Parsifal.' Season
after season he consulted me on the sub
ject. My invariable answer was, 'Seidfs
orchestra is equal 70 the task, but the
stage of the Metropolitan entirely insult
able. 1t cannot be done
The question whether or not the Wag-
ners might prohibit the performance OF
'Parsifal,' was also fully ventilated, and IT
was legally settled that interference need
not be feared.
LAS I said. we talked 'Parsifal' year after
year, yet it all ended in talk, the stockhold-
ers of the Metropolitan were not yet pre-
pared to spend the money for the necessary
cat last the SBrooklyn Seidl Society came
TO the front and arranged to give ParsifaI
How well 1 remember the event. 1t was
March 81, 1891, at the Brooklyn Academy
of Music. The great theater was drapeG
i'm light blue throughout, and millions OF
Easter lilies covered up every article OF
decoration that seemed too theatrical. The
stage was all white. Tickets were sold TO
members and friends of members only, for
$40 a seat.
1.-The preparations were complete in every
way: s~oloists, musicians, the audience itself
had the true 'Parsifal' spirit.
Thus on March 81, 1891, 'Parsifal made his
dignifed entry into the United States. an
entry that could not possibly be improved
upon as to dignity and worth. The soloists
were: Reichmann, Amfortas; Kalisch, Par
sifal; Fischer, Gurnemanz; Beck, Klingsor.
/ sang Kundry.
ut was a perfect performance; decora-
tons and costumes could not have i'm
proved 1t. OF the cast Anton Seidl, Reich
mann, Beck and Mittelhauser are dead. No
more musical controversies for them"