New-York tribune., 1910-12-11
MUSIC
A Sensational Production at the
Opera.
1.-THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN
WEST, AND IT'S MUSIC.

WEST AMI lis MUS SlC.
Ever since Signor Puccini visited New
York TO witness the production of his opera
"Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan
Opera House the operate waters have been
kept in ferment. It would, we fear, be
rather ingenious to say that an angel had
ccme down periodically to stir the pool,
unless we were all willing to accept the
designation ':angel" in the meaning which
exists In theatrical parlance to-day; and
Sigror Puccini does not need such a help
er He has done notable things in music
he and his father. and his grandfather and
his great-grandfather and his great-great-
grandfather before him have all made their
mark and we can conceive no more anlia-
bic and creditable expression of good will
| toward him than that he should continue
to deserve the admiration which he has al
ready won in England and America by the
operas which have maintained their places
! in the current list-"Tosca,' la Bohame''
and "Madana Butterfly But while art, IN
order 10 remain art ought to live in the
realm Of the ideal, Signor Puccini has
shown q willingness to sophisticate idealisnl
| with realisnl-no doubt following the fash
iCu of the hour and consequently has erect
/ ed 2. new platform from which his works
must be critically observed. Let no one
! think when he began this new opera it gave
serious concern for a moment TO him. his
publishers or the producers OF his works; :;
the time is long past since such matters
were expected to occupy the minds of re-
viewers: and if not them, why the minds
of the others7 What were the elements 70 be
considered? The newspapers exploit them
every day, and they essential ele-
rnent in what is called success-which in
cases like the present, is dependent on the
social fed of the moment opera (meaning
tie possession of money and desire to
make that fact known, the presence Of d
popular man singer Gin this case-Caruso-
a woman would never do), and, as chances
now Cout in a small degreel, a popular sub
ject
Yet II was in his relationship TO the
dramatic type exenplifed by this new
work which, until this opera came, chal-
! lenged the most cordial admiration for
Signor Puccini La Fanciulla del West
is a polygIot title, but quite as necessary
| to our understanding Of its essence as
/ -'Maestri Cantori di Norimberga" was
| years ago to the Italian representations of
| Wagner's lyric comedy. To come at once
10 Hecuba in this matter, Signor Puccini
| has been recreant in La Fanciulla del
! West to the trust which he had invited in
| 'Madama Butterfly" The latter opera, it
may be admitted, in spite of all the praise
I that this journal has bestowed upon II,
! proclainls very little that we'll read mot
| 70 mention well traveIIed) persons did not
know TO be wholly fictitious about the Gus
! toms, fashions, habits and ethics OF Japan;
what made, still makes and will continue
to make the charm of the opera is its
music, and 10 a great extent that part of
IL which is based on a use of folk melody
There is SO little charm in japanese music.
qua music. that it is only fair to Signor
Puccini TO reiterate here an admiration
expressed over and over again in this jour
nal for the success with which he handled
and initiated Japanese tunes n ''Madana
Butterfly But, if he could make so much
OF the square-toed, Unconditional music OF
the japanese, ana blend il SO ingeniously
with the music which is native to him,
why was it that he did not put one poor.
solitary jab OF American pigment On the
musical canvas OF La Fanciulla del
Vest? He planned the work for America.
and il was therefore doubly necessary; he
did not plan ''Madana Butterfly" for the
japanese. If he had produced La Fanci-
ulIa del West for Italian consumption, all
would be eXplained-aH but that which we
have yet to expect, namely, its energetic
rejection by every Italian community; for
If Milan could not stomach .'Madama But
terfiy'' On its first production, there is no
need to speculate about the fate Of La
Fanciulla'' 1t is already sealed; by which
remark We do not mean to Intimate that
Milaus public taste is either better or worse
than that OF New York in respect of opera.
! But. frankly. the absence of all local mu
sical color in the score Of La Fanciulla
| del Vest IS a disappointment. Signor
| Puccini's librettist has followed the text Of
! Mr.. Belasco's ulelodrama so closely Clntil
/ the last acO that his libretto might be
| called a translation Of the original book.
| Because ii is translation Tor, rather, such
| paraphrase as an italian, knowing moth
| ing Of American conditions. might be ex-
| pected 70 make, il is frequently ridiculous
| There is less to suggest America in 1t than
! there is Japan in 'Afadama Butterfly
| And yet there was music in the old play
| appealing TO Americans. and which cried
| out for admission to opera. We doubt very
| much if Mr.. Belasco is in any sense mu-
! sical. but he knew what kind of music
would help along the atmosphere Of his
melodrama: and he introduced it-so
adroitly, indeed, that some experts must
have marvelled at him. But if we could
Tray and the rest of the old songs, which
| made more music in the first act of the
| original melodrarna than Slgnor Puccinis
makes in the first act Of his opera, why
should we have textuaI references 10 them
and musical quotations which become in
| teIigible Qf 1t AID only to one standing
on his head?
Why hear Stephen c. Fosters ''Dooda, doo-
da da' upside down? Why an Indian tune
when it has no significance and where no
one can recognize it? The musical structure
of the opera IS erected on the modern Ger
man notion against which Signor Puccini
has often protested, but never SO effectively
as In his Boheme'O that the words are to
float on the orchestral food and that vocal
melody is, therefore, Of secondary irpor-
tance, and yet hear nine-tenths of the time
that his vocal melody is nothing and his in
s1r,Inental nothing better when il is striv-
ing to be national" Instead of upholding
melody as the first essential of opera, he no
sooner reaches q dramatic moment Gn the
sense of the original nlelodrama) than he
Srops IL altogether, and resorts TO harmonic
and instrumental effects to keep up the
emotional excitement which in the first in
stance was created by the play itself. He
mere atmosphere-as frankly land much
less inseniously) as does Richard Strauss
I'm .'SaIorne" He could not compose music
for the scene Of the card game for the life
of the girls lover, SO he makes noises