New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-29
MUSIC
II ReuiUoI Of La Gioconda.

I u
/ Of the Metropolitan Opera House within the last
Few years. was redeemed last night when Pouchi-
: ellis opera. La GocOnda which had been one OF
the bright features OF the first Of opera at
! the Metropolitan twenty-one years ago. brill
! lahty performed 1t was a creditabe achieve
hent on the part # Mr. Conred TO come forward
/ with work of such large dimensions in the second
! week of his season, but amazement is considerably
modlned by the fact that preparatory work done
"a II last year and hat all the stage furniture
prepared for Mr.. r,u two years ago when it was
expected that Mime. Ternina would appear in the
I 'tuIar character II only to the people with
Whom the Metropolitan performances sum UP opera,
| '""' La Gfoconda either a novelty
| an old memory. The Castle Square company per-
| i04iiie" II IN Its manner in March. 1892 at the
| AhleIicah Theatre and again in October 1901. at
| the Broadway and there is Il haunting recollection
| VI some doings on the stage of the Grand opera
| House which bore more or less of a resemblance
70 Fonchielhs opera. in 1898. Moreover all that is
| "est IN lts music has been played and sung
and over again in local concert rooms since the
opera mad its first production the Metropolitan
| Opera House December 20 1883 with Mines
4 NILSSON Fursch-Madi and Scalchi and Messrs
Stasno' Del Puente and Novara in the cast and
! Sgnor Fianesi in the conductors chair. 1t is
necessary TO institute comparisons between that
ana the cast of last night; let the younger genera
ton OF operagoers who are prone TO think that
music began when they appeared upon the
| ASK thelr eioers what the singers OF Of
years ago were like 1t is worthy of mention how
/ ever. as hint OF what may legttmatelv be ex-
I pected in view of the general excellence of Mr..
Conrleds representation that La Ciioconda scored
! d most emphatic success in the first season and
that a spectacle enlivened by music which asks
little in the way culture for its appreciation II is
| a welcome companion piece TO Aida" For the
! serious minded lovers OF opera who remembered it
or old. and have since taken up the works Of Pom
! chielfs pupils and successors. Mascagn, Leonca-
vallo and Puccni into their consciousness IT had
special value because of its place in operate deve
| opment
| The score of La Gioconda" is full of ingenousIy
applied harmoniCa and orchestral devices but they
are all such were learned from his great prede-
| cessor, Verdi. As matter Of fact PonchieIli.
! though he has disclosed himself as the father of
! the young Italian school. which seems already
have exhausted itself, original than BoYto
! who has distinguished himself above all the
OF Nerdts followers, by confluence and seIf-criti-
! cism. Now after the two decades which have
| elapsed since he made himself known here, and
within which have seen the rise (and also the
considerable falD Of such imitators Mascagni
| Leoncavalo and their superior, PuCcini
! able 10 than d score Of years ago how
much he and all the OF his tribe to Verdi
and, also how much ruder and less attentive real
| beauty they were. La GiOConda" will this season
be paired in careless popular thought with Aida
and will in all proba bity exceed II in popularity
| but that fact will not shake the foundations Of
Ferdis opera. 1t will exhaust its new lease of life
and then be forgotten, while Aida" will outlve
and all its offspring. which, while they ought be
| proud Of their ancestry. have not yet awakened a
| hope OF posterity
| What is admirable to the popular appreciation
| OF to-day is tbs hot vigor of the drama and the
| quick cooperation OF music in its clmacterc mo-
ments- This cooperation is obvious in the
employment of the device Of contrast which domt-
| mates the work and have been the feat
ure which has been most effectively seized upon by
PonchieIlis pupils II marks every climax in the
opera, and becomes almost tiresome its reitera-
ton. In the first act the blind woman's prayer
is set against a background composed OF gam
bling chorus and the wild whrl of the furIano,
which ends abruptly with organ peals and a pious
canticle-an effect repeated since In ''CavaIlera
Rusticana and "Tosca.' In the second act,
the twinklng Of eye, Gioconda is transformed
from a murderous devil into protecting saint.
in the third Laura's accents Of m5rtal
mngle with the sounds OF a scramble in the dis
lance and the disclosure OF a supposed murder
is made the climax OF a ball; in the fourth the
calls Of passing gondoliers break in upon Clio
conda's solioquies which have for their subject
suicide murder and self-sacrifce The device IS
of tissue, but il is Of the opera operate
and it IS familiar than it was when
frst disclosed the patrons Of the Metropolitan
Opera House twenty-One years ago.
If 1t were necessary one might find the source o:
| this device of contrast in the literature to which
Verdi directed attention when he turned his thoughts
to Victor Hugo and composed "ErnanT' and
"Rigoletto" II may be said again as was said in
this place when La Goconda' came in for It's
first review, that Hugo the prince Of those
trasts unnatural contradictions give piquancy
TO their creations and compel sympathy for mon
sters by uniting monumental wickedness with the
most amiabe Of mora. qualities The story Of La
Gioconda IS drawn essentially from Angelo
Tyrane de Padoue" In transforming this traeedv
into opera the Hbrettist removed the scene
from Padua Venice, changed wealthy actress
into a poor street singer and made the blind
mother who IS barely mentioned in the French
tragedy. into q prominent and very moving char
acter There can be question that BoIto was
highly successful in remodelling the tale for ope~
attic purposes but he palliated It's moral
grossness or succeeded inviting our conlpassiou
ate feeling for any entitled to t. The only
personageJ who in this opera escape disaster
are a pair OF lovers, WHOSE sufe-inGs as de-
pfcted or Inferred cannot he sail TO have refined
the guilt out of their passion We might infer
that once the attachment OF EMO and Laura was
pure and lovely but all that We see of If is
hauntingly criminal and doubly wicked The happi-
ness of EMO, who. elope with another mans
wife. cruelty breaks faith with woman whose
love for him is strong that she gives her life
TO his is hardly contamination that ought
TO be set down as jUsttfyng many bIotches and
bains pimp!es and pustules the face of human
ture. Laura's treachery is to Gioconda well
TO her husband. and has redeeming trait
In fact. the blind woman is the only character in
the play has moral health. and she seems
have been brought TITO the play only that her
sufferings may intensity the bloody character Of
Barnaba. the spy. Even Gioconda. a character
that has latent within it many effective elements.
is sacrificed by the librettist the one end-sen-
SatlonaI effect through contrast and contradiction
Nowhere she illustrate the spirit Of bIitheness
which put forth by her name; and only once
entrance till her death she is filed with tOrtur-
ing passion and conflicting emotion. Not La Clio
conda she but La Dolorosa-except for the book
makers desire for dramatic paradox. Against the