The San Francisco call., 1905-04-16

/" Die Meistersinger .
Delights ThrOng
at the Opera.
G0RITZ IS The STAR
Silver -ThrOdted Six
Produce Harmony
Enthrdlling.
ORCHESTRA IN HAND
BY BLANcHE. .P.4R7zNG7 TON

IGlk OF 'HarSlIdf. we went In to
Die Meistersinger'' yesterday after
noon at . clock and came out hungry
for more-four hours afterward. L
fear 1 am like Mr.. Van Rooy. / fear
there are many others like Mr.. Van
Rooy. Mr.. Van Rooy, he tells me,
prefers the last Wagner opera in
which he has sung Yesterday after
noon l would rather have written
Die Meistersinger' than any other
Wagner opera that blooms. And there
were many with me.
The cast was largely responsible.
1t will be many fine day before we
hear again a sextet like that Of yes
terday--only Mr.. Burgstaller. Mr.. Van
Rooy, Mr.. Goritz, Mr.. Blass. Mr..
Muehlmann and Mr.. Reiss. The climax
of the first act. when indeed the high
of the music-drama was struck, was
an Olympian affair. Consider it, Burg
staller's titan tenor, all sweet, all
round, crowning the thing; Van Rooy
pouring out his great vc =. in
n I,
pungent barytone shining -. Blass
and Muehlmann roundly bassing it,
Reiss, the great little tenor, helping
out valiantly and behind these the
altogether splendid male chorus the
Metropolitan company affords No
wonder they achieved here IL climax
that tore the house down. No wonder
fa1 =
Bis Bis" from the gallery. No
wonder 1t took some time and really
never did quite, to get there again
during the whole afternoon.
Bis" .'Bis!' they yelled again for
the quintet but there was really no
imperious reason for its redemand.
The women, unfortunately. did not
matter. Miss Bella Alten, so pleasing
in die Fledermaus,'' brought Die
Fledermaus" with her into the part
Of Eva. She was altogether too light.
too light in voice, too light in tone,
for be it borne in mind Master Wag-
ner's comic opera is not as that OF
Master Strauss. Miss Jacd was the
Magdalene. One knows TINT Magda-
lene has little to do. but one never sus-
pected it when Schumann- -Heink sang
the part. Miss Jacoby like Miss Al
ten, was overweighted in her role and
the quintet--who does not remember
its immortal rendering with Gadski
and Schumann-Heink went by
without its customary repeat.
But the male persons OF the cast
most gloriously atoned Perhaps
Burgstaller has a little too much of
the Parsifal guiTelessness in his wal
ther. Perhaps he is slightly too he
role in the step of the thing. When it
comes to the singing, however, one
wants nothing more. Burgstaller's
voice to the nusic-drama is what Ca
ruso's is to Italian opera. 1t is the
throat perfect. the soul perfecx Van
Rooy is exactly and miraculously the
same kind OF singer. He is the bary-
tore end of the Burgstalier voice. one
would have liked a shade more quail
ity in his Hans Sachs, and his humor
was a little heavy. But o.-1inently
Mr.. Van Rooy suggested the mobility
and dignity of the character and sang
In a fashion to satisfy the gods.
Goritz. take him altogether. was
the star of the afternoon, with a Won
derfuI Beckmesser. AS portrait it
stood out of the frame like a Rem
brandt. nay. more like Franz Halls.
For Mr.. Goritz is nothing short of a
greet actor. So clever he is in excit-
ing measure of pity for the dogged.
Grabbed old musician, thinking. like So
many of US, that the Righteousness of
the whole world is on his shoulders.
AS he sung his poor old serenade.
written faithfully. patiently, Obstinate
ly after the old ideals, and stood there
the butt of les jeunes. Mr.. Goritz.s
Beckmesser was anything but RI
diculous figure. His makeup. with
the pinched little nose, white grabbed
face and unhappy looking wig, was a
fabulously clever achievement. So.
too, his facial play, his gestures.
everything in fact. conspiring to
make the portrait the Beckme esser
of ones memory. Reiss sang and act
ed David as before capitally at every
point. Mr.. Blass as Pogner and Mr..
Muehlmann as Kothner were everv-
thing they should be.
Beautifully, too, went the orches-