The sun., 1909-12-19

LYRIC DRAMA NOR WHOLLY
ELEVATTNG.

LII AAV DRAMA NUI WhULLf
ELEVATTNG.
The Opera Has Never Been Anything But
an Amusement-Ets Failure to Em-
body Llfe or Thought --EnstrumentA
Music the Higher Art OF the Two.
The question has often been asked
whether taste in music is increasing or
diminishing in this city. 1t is noca ques-
ton which can be answered ex cathedra.
To give a correctly founded reply to such
an inquiry would call for a searching
investigation conducted along scientific
and statistical lines. Therefore this
observer will not enedeavor to make an
answer. He is not obliged to do 80. but he
may make q passing note ON one or two
matters bearing upon the subject.
First then It cannot be too frequently
reiterated that liberal patronage Of
operatic performances 10 not a demon
stration Of the possession Of high public
taste in music. The opera is the lowest
form Of artistic music. II In not music.
II is not drama. II is hybrid. The i'm
possibility of creating a mixed art work
never seems to have dawned upon any
one till Richard Wagner set out to explain
how a union Of the arts tributary to the
drama could be fashioned into some
thing which he called the art work OF
the future" The explanation is excellent
reading. but the art work lie still Of the
future.
Many profoundly earnest attempts
have been made to lift opera into the
realm Of consistent art, but the public
- - ~ A. Ill A. -.
anything but q style Of entertainment.
The opera Of to-day 10 precisely what
the opera Of Italy was in the seventeenth
century. q mere pastime for fashionable
folk and a parade ground for the ex-
hibition Of feats OF the voice.
1t remains this in spite OF the labors OF
Mozart, who though he was not q re-
former. raised Italian opera to heights OF
musical expressiveness which the Italians
themselves had never been able to attain.
It remains this in spite OF tho ardent
efforts OF Gluck. who abolished evils of
long standing and sought to effect an in
telligent marriage OF music and text and.
In spite OF the preaching and practice
Of Wagner. who fondly dreamed that In
the music drama he saw the materials
for the construction Of theatre bearing
a relation to the life and thought OF the
people similar to that borne by the theatre
Of Greece.
The unpalatable truth is that at no time
In its history has the opera had any liv-
ing connection with the nation on which
It has exercised it's charms. The Italians
who invented opera were a coterie OF
belated humanists. with IDEAS left over
from the fifteenth century. The tre=
mendous movement which opened the
vast treasure house OF ancient literature
to Italy and in doing 30 taught men that
1t was possible to think independently
on all subjects without the authority and
sanction OF the Roman Church. did not
touch music till the movement itself had
lost its own character and had decayed
into a pitiable pruning and polishing Of
phrases and a foolish belief that manner
was more importance than matter.
II was in the era Of the powdered. per-
fumed and manicured writers OF the six
teenth century that the opera was born
OF feeble endeavors to resuscitate the
ancient Greek drama and garb It In new
tongue. 1t vas the pretty dream OF these
young F1orentine enthusiasts that by
initiating the old plays and treating In a
stories OF Daphne and Orpheus. they could
their countrymen an art species as ex-
cellent as the Greek tragedy itself.
The fact that neither the subject mat
ter Of the Greek drama nor the manner
Of the performance was congenial to
the Italian soul does not seem TO have
occurred TO them. They knew that for
q century or more their countrymen had
been saturating themselves with the
culture Of antiquity and they had come to
fancy that only this expressed the char
acter. the thought the national tenden-
cies Of the Italian people.
The result was that instead Of recre-
ating the Greek drama they constructed
Italian opera. which was altogether a
different thing. But even that which
they produced hardly outlived its birth.
Their opera was a drama in which the
dialogue was recited in a sort OF chant.
The difference between the recitative OF
the first two or three opera writer's and the
chant Of the Roman Church Is musically
almost inappreciable.
But within ten years after the first OK
periments in the lyric drama the ap-
paratus Of Italian opera began to shape
itself and to bring into prominence those
features which would appeal most TO the
fancy Of an idle. luxurious. sensual pub
lie. First the recitative began to move
toward rhythmic tune and by the middle
Of the century the operatic aria raised
its head. Second the horid element, which
had existed In the music of worship at
least since the Egyptians sang jubila-
tons to their gods found its sphere In the
music Of the stage, first as an expressive
and then AZ purely decorative element.
With these features the Italian opera
clamored for public hearing. and whereas
In the beginning 1t had been tho pleasure
Of private palaces the opening In 1887
Of the first opera house. the Teatro san
Cassiano in Venice. presented the lyric
entertainment to the consideration OF the
people. And the grateful people OF ven-
Ice seized with avidity its spectacular
possibilities and It's scope for the display
Of brilliant forid singing and transformed
the opera into vocal circus.
From that time to this the opera has
been an amusement and the public has
bitterly opposed all endeavors to raise IL
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