New-York tribune., 1909-03-22
TO THE EDITOR
MUSIC AND DRAMA IN OPERA.
Moderns Charged with Abohshing Vocal
Melody and Poetry in Text.
tor OF The Tribune.

Slrs / nave Hedru HeEpclN4eI A@ou4SN 49,
Massenet's "Thais" performed by the excellent
company Of the Manhattan Opera House. Mary
Garden in both operas, Charles Dalmores IN
Louise and Maurice Renaud in "Thais' deserve
all the commendations bestowed on them by the
New York press They superlatively fine artists.
and them undoU 5tedy the great success of these
operas IS due They not only great singers but
also great actors. and far as these operas are
concerned they showed themselves TO be greater
actors than singers.
But I was brought up on opera OF & different sort
Ny early reconections are OF TN Ballo In Ma
schera" Ghe first I ever heard>. "Trovatore'
"Rgoletto' ''Traviata,' La Sonnambula La
Favorita," Don Sebastian Don Giovanni" lie
Nozze di Figaro Barber Of Seville" Les HUI
guenots'' "LAfrcaine," La Juve" Faust
Martha" and the others Of that class; then I
became acquainted with WHgner's works. and
enjoyed every one. l appreciated the drama and
admired the music I believed then, and believe
still that all vocal music, whether in an opera or
in simple song, must have poetic text. the
poetry of Of these operas was poor, but It was
poetry. and its rhythmical form gave an equally
rhvthmical 70 the music, and music without
rhythm is to simply inconceivabe. But the
texts OF the ultra-modern operas are prose, and
not very good prose at that and the English trans
lations in the only authorized" brettos of Louise
and ''ThaIs" are the baldest and most prosy prose
imaginable. Let me quote specimen. That's says
in one place, al s'est dams grandc
ltnere." The only authorized translation gives
this in English, There took place in my soul u
great light This is only one OF many SucE IN
felict.es II he had to translate the German
phrase, 'Es faIlt mir Elm LIGHT hinein." I suppose
the only authorized" translator would say, "It
falls TO me light in" translator has 10 know
something more than the dictionary meanings OF
the words.
The music set to these texts by Charpentier and
Msssenet is continuous. These composers have fol-
lowed Wagner in abolishing the aria and other set
musical forms but, lacking Wagners genius and dis
elimination, they have reduced the vocal parts 20
.lg,tr sE,rr
Chat is. Il do not care button what they are
singing whether in tune out, If. indeed, we are
able 70 distinguish. On the other hand, the acting
of the drama nonopolizes the interest while the
orchestra keeps Up continual stream OF harmoni-
Gus and sometimes melodtous accompaniment. 1t
is a real melodrama. or would he such If the actors
would recIte their parts and not attempt to sing
them.
Louise" is Charpentier's only opera. and can
not tell what he might do in other works. but Mas
senet has shown in his previous operas that he
write beautiful melodies for the voices and warm
emotional effects for the orchestra, and IN ''Thais
there Is meodious oasis which comes TO the tort
ured a cool drink TO thirsty man on a hot
summer lay. What pity. therefore, that he has
chosen to follow this ignis fatuus Of false art
At best the opera is artificial; combination Of
music and speech can make otherwise. Why
then attempt the impossible Wagner made no
such mistake. First. he chose neurological sub
iects: then he wrote his texts in poery-l presume
good poetry. though I am not a critic Of German
poetry. Then he made his orchestral parts won
derfully meIodous and interesting. Though he
ahoIished the set musical forms and avoided the
hneI cadence. he gave many compensstions. but in
the operas here referred there few no com
penatons for the absence Of everything that opera
lovers have been accustomed 70 having
have not heard "Peleas ct Melsande.' The
reviews in tho papers have frightened me of l
love music and love opera. hut also love melody.
and an opera without melody. and vocal melody at
that has no attraction for ne You nay talk and
MI as Nouu u about barrel organ
opera but beautiful melody. beautifully sung. will
always hold its charm. Is II the modern dictum
that dramatic truth and meloic beauty are incou-
eruous? Can We not have melody at the time
We have drarna7 Is there drama that can 30
veil acted as we'll sung in ''Trovatore' in
..RigoIetto" in Faust even in ''Traviata" or
Lucia? The aria In the opera is quite analogous
to the soiiloquv in the acted drama. Would You
boiish the solioauv and confne the text OF play
to dialogue? Must there always be continuous
action and never meditation?
The moderns have abolished vocal melody. Now
let them go step further and abolish vocal music
entirely Then another step would bring us 10
psntomime ] think / could have understood and
enjoyed "Thais' much more had the action on the
stage been entirely pantomimic. Then my ears
would not have been distracted from the music In
the orchestra by a vain effort TO find some beauty
in the vocal parts. and my eyes would have served
to take in the dramatic story I remember years
ago. on my first visit to Paris. when understood
no French that l went TO the theatre and saw a
performance - The Courier of Lyons As did
not understand the language Of the actors paid
10 attention whatever 10 It. but concentrated my
mind on the action and was delighted to md that
understood the play Terfectly.
I speak for myself cnly, but I know there are
many others Of the way Of thinking. The
opera Of to-day has become an amorphous thing. 1t
is neither music nor drama II ii be considered
iu,nossjble to combine vocal melody and dramatic
truth (Which l deny}. then abolish vocal music en-
tirely in the opera and let US have either melo-
drama CT pantomme. The result would be the
revival Of a very ancient and enjoyable form OF
musical entertainment The drama would then he
supreme and the accompanying music in the or
chestra a means Of heghtening the impression.
being really what the Greek theatre gave to its
patrons three thousand years ago.
AN OPERA LOVER.
Newark y. j.. March II, 1903