New-York tribune., 1909-11-09
MUSIC
MAssENET's "HERoDIADE."
Opening OF the Manhattan Opera
Season.


where. The opera was Nsssenet's Hero
diade." not a new work. for it has endured
twenty-eight years. bBt new 20 New York
and containing a suggestion in its tide OF
harmony with modern operate tendencies
and tastes as reflected for the last two
decades or 50 in Paris and recently af-
feeted by composers ead managers else
where. II one Salone could trouble the
waters pleasantly for the managers. a sec
end vas bound TO follow. The star OF
Richard Strauss ma not be as much in
deel!naJion as some sincere lovers OF
dramatic music would Ike to believe, but
Mr.. Haznmerstein Is going 10 make brave
attempt TO show that NJ. Massenet's il in
the ascendant. But there are SalOnes and
Salomes. as VIII appear presently.
II the ballet scene OF GOUnOd's moss
popular opera Mephistopheles conjures mp
visions Of Phryne. LaIs. Aspasia. Cleopatra
and Helen OF Troy TO beguile the jaded
fancy Of Faust. The list reads almost
like 4 catalogue Of Masssnst's operas
whose fine talent has been in the service
Of the famous c0urtesaus Of ancient and
modern times FOR a good many years
Vita the addition Of a few more appella-
tious from the roster cf antiquity ike
That's. Delilah and Aphroditc. and some
less ancient but no less immoral like Nio-
letta. Nan0n. Zaza and Louise. the list IS
brought into close communion with the
operatic people who have entertained the
Paris bOuleva ardiers for two or three dec
AIDES past. When Atr. Hammerstein an
Iounced MasseRet's "Herodiade" for the
opening OF his season II must have looked
To many as If the dominant note of the
next few months was to come from the
Scarlet Woman. hut the representation
brought with it a revelation and a
surprise. The names OF the principal
personages In the drama were those
which for a few years have filled many
lyric theatres with a moral stencil;
but there was little TO complain of in
the conduct OF their bearers last night.
Herod was a lovesick man Of lust, who
gazed with longing eyes upon the charms
OF Salome and pleaded for her smiles ike
any romantic nilksop: but he did not oeser
her CapernaUn for dance. Saiorne may
have known how. but she did not dance
either Ter half kingdom or the whole OF
a mans head; instead. though there were
suggestions that her reputation was not
what q good maiden's ought 70 be she
sang ptous hossnnahs and waved q palm
branch conspicuously in honor OF the
prophet at whose head she bowled herself
in the desert. the public streets and among
kings palaces And at the end she killed
herself when she found that the vengeful
passion OF Herodias and the jealous hatred
OF Harod had compassed his death.
Herodas was a wicked woman, no doubt
for John the Baptist denounced her pub
licly as Jezeoel; but her jealousy Of
SaiOme had reached a point beyond her
control before she learned that her rival
vas a daughter whom she had deserted
for love of the Tetrarch. As for John the
Baptist, the cameIs hair with which he
was clothed must have cost as pref
ty a penny any Of the mod
ern kind, and II he wore a girdle Of skins
about his lOins il was concealed under
a really regal cloak He was a voice but
not one crying in the wilderness. RE
was was an operatic tenor TO whom a die.
o. lOcusts and wild honey would have been
extremely disagreeable. and who needed
only 10 be shut up in a subterranean Jail
"a cisteTn would have cramped his magnifi-
cent mOvements) alone with the Young
woman who had pursued him in and out Of
season 70 make love 10 her in the most
approved fashion Of the Paris Grand Opera
What shall we think OF the morals or tiris
French opera after we have seen and heard
. that OF the Englshman wilde and the
German Strauss No wonder that the Lord
.
elimination OF the Biblical names when he
licensed a performance OF "Herodiads" O..
Covent Garden five years ago. There was
/ no loss OF dramatic quality in calling Herod
Z Moriame, HeTOdas HesOtaGe. and chang
ing the scene from Jerusalem to AZOuIn IL
Ethiopia. though il must have been a tribe
/ diverting 10 hear faiT-shinned Ethiopians
/ sing Selma Yisroel, AdOnai Elohenu'' and
/ "HOsannah!' in temple which could only
/ be that at Jerusalem. Jean was merely
I Jean in the original and needed not 10 De
changed; and Salome was not in the Bible.
/ though Saiome, a very different wOman n,
was-a fact that the Lord Chamberlain
/ seems to have overlooked when ne CHANGED
the title Of the opera from "HerOdade' 10
'-SalCme"
/ And where does this SaloIns come from
anyway. and where did she get her cha
\ mSleonlike nature2 Was she an innocent
child. as Flauhert represents ner, who could
only lisp the name of the prophet when
/ her mother told her TO ask for his head?
Was she like the woman OF Cadiz who
/ danced as she must have danced to excite
the lust OF HeTod? Was she a monster. Il
I worse than vampire. as she is represented
T by Wilde and Strauss? Was she an Is
raelitish srisette," as PoUgin called the
/ heroine Of the Italian Zanardni. and OF
. the three Frenchmen. Milllet Grsmont and
&assenet. who together concoctsd "Herodl-
ade"? No wender the brain OF NJ Saint
. Satns reeed when he went 10 hear Hero
diadc" at its first performance in Brussels
and found that the woman whom he had
looked upon as q type Of lasciviousness
/ and monstrous cruelty had become meta
I nlOTphOsed into q penitent Maglalen.
1t is plain that the opera produced last
/ night by Mr.. Hammerstein cannot be dis
/ cuss d until its plot has been set forth-in
! outline. al least Read, then and wonder,
Salome Is a maiden in search Of her
mother whom John the Baptist finds in his
wanderings and befriends Sae cliags 10
I as religious power among the Jews. but
IL breaches unctuOusly to her about the
vanity OF earthly love. Herodias demands
his death Of her husband because he has
openly insulted her. but Herod schemes TO
+ use his influence over the Jews in order 10
+ further his plan for becoming a real mon
i arch instead OF a Roman Tetrarch But
. when the pro-consul Nirellius wins the sup
. port of the people and Herod learns that
the maiden who spurns him is in love with
the prophet ne DEGREES his decapitation
. SaIome 5affled in her effort 10 save her
I lover. attempts 10 kill HerOdiEs; bat the
/ wicked woman declares herself 10 be her
/ mother, and the maiden turns the dagger
1 against her own breast
That is all the story one needs 10 Know
II Is richly Farnished with incident. made
] s-o-paotre with uageautrv and cfofhaI v-irt,