The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-12-04
FRENCH COMPOSERS PROTEST
roo wren ITALIAN OPERA N
PtRIS. THEY CRY.
Italian Opera Pays Retirr. NJ irtrnd'
Retort Figures Prosi,srrd hN uur
French Party tn Dispro,r Thi> The
Go, rrnnrn: Considers the Mai'rr.

PARIS, Nov. 81 The protest mad. ..v
certain French musicians again -,
uunntity Of foreign music given li '.r
state Subven-ioued opera house ...
ta-t which j. oT course really dur. %
AGAINST the ltnlain composers h..- rr
ceived offcial recognition and ~ul..,..
In th. rrport presented To- fhr htr..
Of Deputies hy Paul Boncour, chH.r..U.
-, the budget committee, Of the N.I....rr
II Fine Arts.
The. movement was started 10y ,rr..
rni,,.s of th. authors Society VIII Pr"
object not 4o much tn hav" French vHr,,
prod,lcpd at the Opera Comique an 'n"
Oper, a. 20 enable new works .uc'
introduced To- he kept ON TN" prnCr1rW-
for A longer time. su a. To allow them
batter oppor,unity Of becoming upWn
and popular.
Tn. veteran composer Camill" SAINT
S,.ns i taking an active part IN irr-
w.,r;inv ,he movement. 1t j. . 500
t,t.lv necessary he declares, =" pro-
Too, Fr.o uch works. who's. sxi~t.uc"
nj present j. dangerously m-nao'.t
Whatever may he said they az" WIT
compos. and should compose ia" o..
p.rtoire OF the Opera Comiqu". Docs
the public like Carmen and Mlguo' D.
There's no doubt about il. Well Carmen
was at first a failur. and had I" b" IN
way imposed on the public. The eNanI0"
ID conclusive Let 1t be followed
When th. question was being d" Da'.H
the other day al n meeting OF the Anlh -
Society and the discussion was getting
warm Paul Ferrier. who TRANSLATED O."
libre,tos of Puccini's Madame BUTTERFLY
and -Tosca" into French. defended tie
Italian school and interrupted saint
Sa.ns ono. or twice Finally the veteran
master turned on him with
In the first place. Monsieur Ferri"r.
Won are not addressing the meeting am.
furthermore. you are nothing hut a va0"'
for the Italians
Robert a. Hers. the playwright, iut'r.
yened i'm conCilIatory vein. ana VI
Ferrier was murmurinR something about
The venerable age Of NJ. Saint -Sa"n-
preyen,s me- when M rose the com
poser again with:
-It'sno; u question Of my age. Monsieur
Let me. tell you that in art am always -.
On. Of the conditions the director q
tn. Opera Comigle has TO fulfil is 10 civ"
performances every Monday AZ p"pTlar
prices. NJ Carr6. the present director
whose term Of Office il coming to a cl"-...
maintains that the prices are too low "o
these popular nights and says that m
new contract he Will insist. it he remain.
director. having this obligation removed
The French composers therefore sus-"-'
that thi- obligation should I've r"m"'''
on condition that these nights are xiv,
The defence Of foreign. thai - itf'+
opera is always this he p"Npl" We.
they want It. II maE "s money and .'
allows classics 10 10 plnv't ffgI'
ar. quoted ~ supp"r; OF tr.s arEu"'
Il is shown that he two great sIc"'rr'.
of modern French music. la H"."
Fiammette- and -hphrodit'. hm'r "
allied sg6s and 81 I2a "a compared w.
Madame Butteriy's- 81 81, -Tooc =
81 $50 and -Bohsme's- si.iio
But Pierre Lalo. the music crIti"
the TEN ps has challenged IN" mon
max ing power Of the Italian school a
compared not with the modern Fr"n'
school, which the director OF IN" o. e.
il bound 10 produce by his con
tract. hut with the classics He tax
the productions since the opening Of -"
Opera Comique building in ls9s and hrt,
that the Vie dc Bohcmc.- -Tosca" and
= Madame Butterfly have been given
373 times. while -Fidelio." Don Juan.
The Enchanted Flute -Ornheus.
-Iphiganie en- Taurids' and -IphiG"r."
On Abide have been gwen 233 tim"-
PrIccini alone. therefore. has had far more
at ention than Beethoven. Mozart and
Chuck The receipts for the Italian com
poser have averaged 81 si?, for the classics
81 .5os The average receipts for each
opera have been a. follows:
IA Ron. met ~ 40 O-phrus .......g'
'TnSra ... IA fdslio. go. : -
Butterfly ........ ga lnh,genis TanT'de.. =, -
Nt'esic ......''...-' ~
ipnleanic Aulide =. -
NJ I.alo takes -Fidclio" and la
Bob am.. which started their careers a.
the Opera CONTINUE together IN 1899. and
shows that FOR the first twelve perform
ancs., -FidaIio's" average receipts beat
La Boheme's" by sis7. yet -Fidclio' was
Dropped ont Of the repertoire and Ia
B"h"me- has remained.
The first eighteen performances "
- Alceste' averaged $3.50 more each repre-
-entation than the first eighteen =
-Toscs. yet the former has gone and the
latter remains. He points out too thar
-rosca" first series Of performance
averaged 81. $40 whil. the second AVERAGE
81 $50 showing growth in popularity
which might have accrued To Other np''. ~
II hey had been kept in III" roper 'lr"
VI. BonCour in his report MAJ" ti"a'
~" 81 NJ Ialo's article and AR gti"t 'ha' u
should encourage directors IL opera 90
keep classical operas ON N" programme
At the same time h." gave credit 30 VI