The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-04


fried n Fafner- "A Ont Conductor
PhiIharmOnIc without Baton -Fiddlcrs
MANY More Than Three Also Ptanlsts.
ia who ga2es forward into the season OF
r,sic. now lifting the curtain from before
is long vista, must believe himself wrapped
n sIeep and in a dream OF virtuosi. Moth
;Dg "a so stimulating at the moment or so
ADDRESSING afterward N the contemplation
A a public in the throes OF virtuoso wor-
hin This season il to be one Of such
.motional elation and detection. From
Al ouarters Of the habitable globe they
come. bearing their wreaths OF laurel in
heir palms and surrounded by the fierce
advertising light that beats upon a soloist.
Theirs but to play and sing; ours but to pay
and applaud. Ia It more blessed to give
,han to receive in the world of art? WAC
knows?
We are loudly informed OF the approach
of numerous stars Of the orchestral baton,
syen of the no baton. We are advised to
hok for ~pianists of various schools, with
and without temperament, but never with
0at technic. We are cautioned to be on the
alert for violinists, male and female, classic,
romantic and pedantic. As for singers.
thew are coming by the battalion. We shall
hear sopranos sfogato, acute. dramatic,
undramatic, lyric, oolorature, discolora-
ulre and even e~x-contralto. We shall hear
ope or two lonely contraltos. We shall
listen to barytones, large, small, wide,
narrow and abysmal; to BASES profound.
shallow and dismal; to tenors high, low,
Csruso and the game.
OF these things we hear much. OF the
nroduction of creations of music we hear
little. DR.. Muck, Of whom more anon, the
new conductor Of Boston's instrumental
precieuses, has entered upon a campaign
of education in the city of ~unbrotherly
winds. He is introducing the denizens OF
the Back Bay to the classics. He is feeding
their unsteady infantile minds on Bach,
HAYDN, Mozart and Beethoven. Doubtless
the good doctor, like the ingenious Willy
Bmrmester OF diminutive memory, is not
aware that Beethoven's works are taken
in New England, like pie, "a a breakfast
food.
On the other hand. it may be that he be-
lieves we are all in need Of an antidote to
Strauss, D'Indy, Debussy, Loeffler and
that lot. But the time is not yet ripe for
discussion of this new doctor OF music.
II he shall turn out to be only an inventor
Of musical soothing syrup, who shall say
that he deserves not we'll of the people?
One thing is interesting, and it is that out
Of the nebulous cloud Of virtuosi Of all con-
ditions energies one shining figure, one real
reTulgent star, sending bright rays Of prom
Use across this sea of troubles. This star is
none other than Heinrich Conried, who
sits at the receipt Of custom, at Broadway
and T~hirty-ninth street. Why does Mr..
Conried emerge, a shining vision of the
night, a glorious litter Of the artistic gloom?
Not because he has engaged such an array
Of singers. No, certainly it is not that.
1t is because he actually promises new
operas, or at least operas not known to this
public. Conried is going to produce and
make known new music. The opera house
is actually going to do something. For this
relief much thanks.
Now it is not the fault Of the excellent
Mr.. Conried that one Of the productions Of
his season, the most sensational OF them
in all probability, is to be a sort Of virtuoso
work in itself. Sensationalism is rampant
in music at present n a ger cannot
prevent it. The -Salome" OF Richard
Strauss is the topic OF the hour in Europe
and il must be produced here. That it
will arouse a great to-do is absolutely GER
tain. The story, which follows the text of
Oscar Wilde's weird and powerful poem
almost literally, is revolving yet alluring in
its brutal and naked display OF human
r~ottenness, its passionate voicing OF sheer
animalism. Yet the thing has atmosphere
and dramatic suggestion akin to some Of
the dramas OF Maeterlinck. 1t is said that
Strauss has outraged music oil every page
Of his score with positively startling effects.
or all this we shall learn from the presenta-
zion Of the good Mr.. Conried. Much, too.
ia to be expected OF Miss Fremstad, who
as Kundry has already proved herself a
past mistress of the art Of depicting the
disrobed female soul.
But Mr.. Conried promises other new
works, such as Giordani's Fedora PUG
cini's -Manon Lescaut,' Mime. Butterfly
and Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust
The last named is not new in its concert
form, but Americans have not yet seen it
on the stage. -Manon Lescaut" is not
strictly new to this city, because It was
performed by a struggling Italian company
at Wallack' 3 Theatre on May ~, 1893. That
performance, however, was 30 bad that it
ought not 10 be counted except as a matter
Of record. II was impossible TO judge from
It whether the opera was beautiful or just
foolish. Nine. Butterfly is entirely new
10 this country in its Italian form, though
Mr.. Savage has already creditably pre-
sented it in an English version.
But whatever novelties the impresario
Of Broadway may offer, he will continue
to find that the chief interest Of the public
Is in his singers, and there il no manner
n doubt that Il Puritani," that ancient
fossil Of italian opera, will be one Of the
drawing cards OF the season, because the
delectable Mr.. Csruso is to sing in IL. There
will be also Nine. Sembrich to assist the wor-
shipped tenor in keeping up the traditions
n the old operas. II Is good news that Nine.
Ternina is coming back. Private informa-
ton to this writer from Munich last sum-
mer was 10 the effect that she was again
In excellent voice and singing superbly.
Another virtuoso OF Mr.. Conried's COM
pany is Geraldine Farrar, a young American
soprano who has had genuine, not Fictitious,
successes in Europe. That she Is a vir-
tuoso is proved by the fact that she has
i-mpersonated Elizabeth in -Tannhauser' in
admirable style and has also achieved a
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