The San Francisco call., 1907-03-12


that We were actually forced to expect
something more than ordinarily meri-
torious,
That's what we were given last even
ing
AS regards both music and "produc-
tion" the performance compelled ad-
niration il was Puccini music and
Beiasco stagecraft--a tremendous COM
binatiOn. lnstrumentally the music re-
ceived ample justice. and its vocal in
depreciation was adequate. Fine art
was reflected in the stage pictures.
We have had the drama OF Madam
Butterfly presented without musical
embellishment, and most of as know
what q pathetic little tragedy il is. An
American naval lieutenant, temporarily
stationed at Nagasaki. contracts a Jap
snese marriage with 15-year-old Cho-
Cho-6an. who is afflicted with svari-
cious relatives, and when he sails away
from her she faithfully waits for three
years. with their little boy. his return,
despite the Urging Of her relatives that
she allow them TO sell her again. He
does return-as the husband Of an
American woman. When poor little
Cho-Cho-San finds she has been sup
planted in his love and keeping she
commits harakiri
When the play was produced by
Belasco- its operate possibilities were
seen by Puccini, and his lyric treatment
of il is entirely consistent with the
traditions-or lack OF them-that mark
the new Italian school of composition.
That is 10 say. while his music is
graphically expressive OF the emotions
dramatically portrayed, il is so con-
tinuous ia its flow that it's innumerable
gems are elusive. So IL is with his
other works, notably la Boheme" and
, ''Toscs," and so il is with the operas OF
Jeoncsvsllo and Mascagni. Exquisite
music it IL difficult to recall. Doni-
zetti and Verdi gave the auditor some
thing TO carry away with him-some-
thing. indeed. that the musical mind
could not easily get rio Of Lucia"
and ''Trovatore" are in barrel organ
repertoire. doubt that anything from
Madam Butterfly" is haunting the folk
whom the opera delighted last even
ing.
wonderfully are the varying themes
carried throughout the score. In the
first act, while the little bride-elect is
showing her worldly possessions TO the
lieutenant. a dagger accidentally drops
from her hand, and the orchestra lucid
~ explains that the weapon is ulti-
nately TO be put to tragic use. OF ex-
ceeding dainfiness is the butterfly
theme In6I IS woven INTO lnt score sew
eral times before IL is sung And when
the girl-wife's relatives are nigh the
music is so distinctly Japanese that,
like some of the tone coloring in The
( MikadO," il was probably derived from
. Nipponese folk songs. Nor can there
be any confusion OF ideas anent the
origin OF the American theme. IT may
seem rather absurd to us TO hear a few
bars Of The Star Spangled Banner
burst out from the characteristic Puc-
! cini melodies every time the Lieutenant
is alluded TO, but we must concede that
no other strains could SO admirably
answer the purpose Of giving noti1ca-
ton that something not exclusively
Oriental is on the tapie. In the choral
music the Japanese color is carried in
jerky effects, while the solos and duos
are purely the Puccini Of la Boheme.
Indeed, the duet that closes the first
act might be pronounced an elabora
fion of the same climax In 'Boheme-
Both operas are expressed largely in
Z the same idfom-
I have said that the vocalization was
, adequate. but in spots IL was better
than that. Nine Szamosy sang the title