The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30
OPERA NOTES FROM EUROPE.
TOSCANINI BACK AS CONDUCTOR
AT Ia SCALA.


Marie Gays Carmen" Has MADE .
scnsaton-ysn Dyck 90 sing Tristan"
Now that Cleofante Campanini Is i'm
porting into this country the new trad
tons Of La Scala IL is interesting to note
that Arturo Toscanini, the great Italian
conductor, is once more at his desk in
the orchestra OF Italy's first opera house.
Two years ago he threw down his baton
in the midst Of a performance because
the public refused to tolerate an innova-
ton he was determined to introduce.
There were to be no more repetitions as
La Scala while he was conductor.
In vain the public ~applauded in the hope
that he would abandon the reform. AZ
one performance the audience would NOS
desist, and in a rage he surrendered his
baton, went to South America and swors
that he would never direct another per-
Torrance in La Scala. He has the baton
there again, however, and the audiences
nov disapprove as strongly as he Of encores.
When Mr.. Conred wanted to engage Tos-
canini for this country he insisted on hav-
ing the right to conduct the Wagner az
well as the Italian operas.
Pietro Mascagni now directs his own
operas when they are sung in the larger
Italian cities. Recently he has been con-
Quoting his AMIGA in Rome, which has
been sung on alternate nights with Il Puri-
tani.' The Bellini opera is popular in Italy
despite the fact that Bonci is in this country.
La Scala announces for it's season, which
opened with Carmen such modern works
as Tristan and Isolde" and -Salome.' Other
operas will be the Catalanis lie Wally,'
Cilea's new opera, La Gloria; clicks
-Orfeo' and Massenet's lie Jongleur do
Notre Dame The beautiful Polish So
prano krusceniska is to sing Sdlome and
Maria Gay will be the Carmen. Sig Borgatti
will be Tristan. Berlioz's La Damnation
de Faust is to be one OF the chief novelties
at the San Carlo in Naples. Hercla Darclee
is the leading soprano there, and our old
friends NM. de Lucia and Giraldoni are
among the singers.
There were 500 competitors for the prize
offered by Sonzogno for the best operatio
hbretto. The ward Of SIS 1000 went to the
Italian poet Fausto Salvatore. Opera IL
brettos are as scarce in Italy as in other
countries, and are even more necessary
there. Opera in Italy is to the people
what the theatre is in other countries.
Mascagni has just been fortunate enough
to get hold of two new librettos and has
signed a contract with Sonzogno to nave the
scores ready within a year. A monument
will soon be put up to Giuseppe Giacosa, best
Of the recent Italian lihrettists.
Has the spangled, Worth clad Carmen OF
Emma Calve come to be a thing OF the past2
1t must be said to the credit of Nine. CalvS
that she used to wear the same costly dresses
at the Opera Comiqu e in Paris and did not
reserve this rich dressing for the United
States. After Bressler-Gianol has made a
great success with her naturalistic Carmen
come reports OF the triumph Of Maria Gay.
the Spanish c~ontralto. who is just now the
great Carmen of Europe. She has appeared
in London and will sing in Italy all winter.
She does not confine herself to singing and
acting the part OF the Spanish gypsy, but in
the second act jumps on a table and exc
cutes a Spanish dance. Then she uses the
~castanets when she dances for her lover
with a virtuosity no other prima donna ever
eoualled. Most of them merely pretend to
play while one Of the musicians in the or
the sensation OF the fall season at Covent
Garden, which was not as brilliant this
year as it has been. Fifty-three representa-
tons were given and Of these twenty-one
were devoted TO the works OF Puccini.
-Lorelei," Ia Gioconda" and -Othello'
were announced but not performed.
Ernest Van Dyck is to open his German
season with Tristan und Isolde" and will
then sing the title role for the first time in
London. Franz Schalk is TO be one OF the
conductors in place Of Michael Balling Of
Carlsruhe, who il i'll. Schalk Ia still at thu
Imperial Opera in Vienna, where he rankS
next to Gustav Mailer. Martha Loefier
Burckhardt Of the Royal Opera In Wies-
A chorus of sixty voices will be collected
from the leading German opera house for
the six weeks season in London and the
ballet will be brought from Brussels. Arthur
N;Irtoah e 60 conduct thu rAnrAaantati npa
Of Die Meistersinger.'
Edyth Walker has just made her first
appearance as BrunnhIde in die Wal
kure" at the Stadt Theater in Hamburg
and met with great success. The theatre
is said TO have found a worthy successor
TO Kathrin Klafsky. In view OF the present
lack OF BruRnhides at the Metropolitan his
fact has its ~eloquence.
II is denied that Richard Strauss's name
was passed at the election for the Berlin
Academy of Arts. 1t was not even pro-
posed. There were more than 20,0OO appli-
cations for places at the first performance
of ~Salome" in Berlin and the subsequent
performances have been heard by enormous
audiences. Felix Motif has just conducted
the opera in Munich, where il met with
the usual success. Heinrich Knote APP
peared az Herod. 1t is said that the opera
will be repeated only once In Munich In
spite of it's enthusiastic reception. 1t has
Just been given in Mannheim and rs the
musical sensation OF Europe.
Frida Hempel, who is to succeed Geraldine
Farrar, has Just made her fikt appearance
at the Royal Opera House In Berlin. She
enjoyed such a triumph as Ia rarely wit
messed in Germany when a colorature
singer undertakes such a h~ackneyed role
as Gildd. Her voice is said to be phenomenal
and her singing already that Of a virtuoso.
1t was not man years 4 that Alma
Webster Powell received similar praise for
her Rosind.
Leo Blech, who went from Prague TO
Berlin for a year. ia one OF the regular con-
ductors at the Royal Opera House. having
been engaged for five years. He went to
substitute for DR.. Muck.
Vienna is soon 10 rave a musical museum.
The Society Of Music Lovers ID 20 present its
valuable collection to the city. Haydn's
skull, original manuscripts OF Bach, Bee
thoven, Mozart and all the famous com-
posers and many interesting relics OF them
are among the articles.
Jeno Hubay, the Hungarian voinist and
composer, has written an opera called
-Lavotha's Love" which met with little
success in Budapest despite the popu-
larity Of Hubay.
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