New-York tribune., 1909-07-18

American stage. though not quite us years oio' pus
50 far as my memory and records go il mas iAU
but one performance in the original tongue ~
whole generation There have been le" 4ePie
ser-a+ions in English within this time and con-
siderable number Of Italian. our operate lfs'''u-
rions being quick. as a rule, TO put Il upon '-i0
STAGE whenever they have at command so4E3Io
lepriero with q voice Of sufficient range and neAl-
bltv 10 meet the demands of the eNtraordlhai!
music which Mozart wrote for the Queen OF Night
10 obIlge MS volHhle-throated ssteT-in-la"' Miie
FIofer who was the original representative OF llt
Cl,s-artar The same operate conditions having
prevailed IN New York and London Tor many Yeas
Il is not strange that English speaking people nave
come 70 associate The Magic Flute Win ING
Italian rather than the German repertory- 1e' We
have the Gictunl Of Beethoven that Il IS Nlo@dI'
greatest opera. because in il his genius sno"eU
itself in so large variety Of musical forms rams
,, from dittes in the folk-song style to ngura'eD
cborale and fugue and mora particularly because
II il Mozart first disclosed hirnseIt as "ei ~
ro-7noser By this Beethoven did not mean 'ia'
Mozart had not written music before LOT a GeIl41
,fh,-s+to 1,-,- thai ne had never written German
music before n an opera The distinction Is 0h0
more easily observed by Germans ana crl'ASaI MS
to-isns than by the ordinary frequenters oI ou
,-,ava to74ses Die Zauberh0te' has speclaA
charm Tor people OF German blood winch i Do'i
sar,i-al,1a and arrliable Its magnificent choruses
are sung by men. and Germany IS the home OF INC
aTannergesang: among the operas songs are e0ioe
NJ the Volksled-iitJies which seem 10 nav
-r-u1r I'M n
she Irs Of the itinerant German oaladlsI' us e
.ional music is heartfelt. warm, ingenious ana il
form and spirit free from the artinciall'E OF IAa
o7sra as It was in Nozarts day and as Il oo'liIo -
To be for long time thereafter II Wac '
,--,,a which gave the opera its largest linpol 'ol
., .,a ewes Of Otto jain Mozart's bograPher. IN
4 be said for the first time all the resources o.
cultivated art were brought 10 bear Win 'le i
dom Of genius upon genuine German -
hts italian operas Mozart had adopted the uauI-
Of
,+,,e NJ his original genius had brought theln y
& climax and a conclusion; but in Dle Hauoeiiio
he .steoped across the threshold Of the future anu
unlocked the sanctuary Of natlot4I 9i' Ava
counJrymen. o,,,,-
- ,,,a,ter what his tastes or where his home hu'
A. * less easy for an English, French OF I'8l"i- I-
critic 10 7ardon the iEcouGruItles, ncoAeIe Ieii0 W
silly buffooneries which mar the opera thah 1oI
German some Of the disturbing elements are N
. ,l,a Te-7-,7ic heart PapagenO. for instance i
lat slightly metamorphosed hasperl' a JacA I ~
6inu IfFansvurst1 twice removed: ana haspe'i -
as intimately bound Up in the German nature 0'
his cousin Punch in the English haspeFi Is III
z,.z 7f~4o-7,- responsible for Die Zauoerhote-
Al the end Of the eighteenth century there was ll
Vienna a singular individual named Enlihahue'
ScRikaneder. q Observation-Disclosures so 1ar as puoIo
sr715sefne4lts Conoerred-llluslclan' hllIsei'
r--o~ PLAYWRIGHT and manager. There can De 10
,o-ht but that he was sad scalaTag and rloaIo
7,oa,e with as few moral scruples as ever Dur
Sena5 q r1lrvevor OF popular aruseInents- but ne
had some personal traits which endeared MIN 10
9Tezs-t and 2 degree of intellectually which won
him q fairly respectable place amcng the writers
fa- The stage al the turn Of the century more
over when he haj become prosperous enough u
-.-irz = new theatre with the proceeds of Die
zarberf6te~ ne was wise enough 10 give gener-
,-,s commission. unhampered by his customary
rneddlesene restrictions. 10 Beethoven; ana ois-
Greet enough 70 approve Of the highly Vlrtuous
hook of ..FIdeIio'' At the beginning Of the last
v7~rr-r- lr0-p
theatre had fallen evil days. and in dire straits
he vent 10 Mozart. whose friendship he had en-
soved from The latteT's SalzbUrg days, and begged
him % undertake the composition of an opera Tor
which he had written the book in conjunction with
one Of his actors and ciloristers, named Gieseke
,rhorpry this fact never received public acknowl-
edErea1 at his hands,. WIeland's "Oberon had
filed the popular mind with great fondness Tor
fantastic and oriental subjects. and rival man
azer had beer successful with musical pieces IN
which the principal character was the popular
KasperI Casting about fo- an operate subject
which should appeal 10 the general liking ior
romanticisrn and buffoonery al once, Scmkaneder
h;r upon a tale called Lulu: oder, Die ZaubeT-
fo7e = written by I-iebesknd, but published by
Wieland IN a volume OF Orientalia entitled
--Dschinnistan." lie had got pretty deep in his
work when a rival manager brought out an
sdsptatioH Of the same story. with music by
Henzel Muller. The farccal character Of the piece
S indicated by its title. which was "Kasper, der
FaEottist, oder. Die ZaGberzither' but il made so
striking success that Schikaneder feared TO enter
the lists against il with opera drawn from the
same source. He WAS either too lazy. too much in
= hurry OF too Indifferent 20 the principles Of art
TO remodel the completed portion but completed
his book different from those originally
,epterau1ated. The transformation thus
plished brought aboui all the blemishes OF Die
Zauberf0te.'' but also gave occasion for the sub
lime music with which Mozart transfgured some Of
the scenes This will lie understood better IL an
ocane Of Liebsskind's tale is made TO preceie the
story OF the opera II came from Mozart's hand.
wicked magician. Diisenghuin, has robbed the
radiant fairy Perifrine OF her daughter, Sidi,
and carried Of 2 magic talisman. The magician
keeps the dan-sel in confinement and persecutes
her with anatcry advances which she 5 able to
resist through power which is to support her so
long as heart is untouched by love. Perhrrne
promises the hand OF her daughter, whose father
Is the King OF Cashmere. 10 Prince Lulu son OF
the King of Chorassan. he regain the stolen
tzlis1nan ker To do this. however. is given only
70 who has never felt the divine passion
undertakes the adventure and aids the fairy
gives hin u magic flute and ring The of
tbs dute viii Win the hearts of all who hear II; by
turning the ring the wearer is enabled to assume
any form desired al wII-py throwing il away he
rnsx s1l.7rn9, the fairy herself his aid. The
Prince assumes the form Of old man. and. like
fe,sl,eris softerls Of the wild that
he meets in the forest He even rnets the heart of
.be magician himself. who admits him 10 his cas-
tie once lie is within its walls the inmates all
Yield 10 the charm Of his magical music, not
eeptrz the lovely prisoner. Al banquet he throws
zAe n2gician ard MS companions into deep sleep
and Possesses himself Of taIisTnan II is gold
are-sfeei. every spark struck from which becomes
poweIfa spirit whose service is al the command
Of the possessor. With the help OF genii struck
from the flz gtcal Implement and the fairy whom
he summons s. last. Prince Lulu overcomes all
she obstacles placed in mis- way. Discounted the
T5aagscaa sises assay PerTfirime destroys