New-York tribune., 1910-01-06
MUSIC
at the Metropolitan
Opera House.
THE OPERAS vICIssITUDEs.

n, oauction Of "Tannhiuser'' on the shelf,
being convinced that the opera was too
German in spirit to prove acceptable in
French II was manly confession. for.
with all its shortcomings. the productions
at the Manhattan Opera House were in
dicative Of q sincere effort to achieve artis-
tic good. It would be interesting to inquire
into the question 10 what extent the use of
French words initiated against the success
Of the opera. No doubt many more of Mr..
EammerSteins patrons understand German
than understand French; no doubt, also.
that those who understand German would
prefer 10 hear operas which are German in
subject and spirit sung in the German ian"
giage; but il is much to be feared tnat 1he
majority OF operagoers in New York arc
Is blithely indifferent TO the language used
by the stage people as were the EngNsh
people of Addison's day (when opera was
half English and half Italian), or the HAM
burg public of HandeIs early period, when
German siternated with Italian in the
same scene. Our population is composed of
many elements, and the enjoyment OF
each element is unQuestionably greater at
a performance given in the language ma
tive TO IL than in any ether tongue. But
on the whole il has been made plain a
thousand times that the general attitude
is one of indifference to anything except
the personality of the people on the stage,
the singing, the acting and the pictures.
In fact, IL is not unlike that OF Boileau
when ne went to the Academic in Paris
to hear "Atys" and requested the box
keeper TO put him in a place where he
could hear Lully's music. which he loved,
but not Quinaults words, which he de-
spised Nine de Sta9l condemned the
German composers OF her day because
they followed the sense OF the text too
closely, whereas the Italians made the
melody end the words conform TO each
other only in general way Long
after Mime. de Sta9l 4 writer who
English and author of charming and in
structiye book on the history Of the opera,
George Hogarth. put il Down his con-
viction that the words of an operatic air
were OF small Importance to the compre-
hension OF the business of piece They
merely express, he said, a sentiment a
reflection, a feeling. 1t is quite enough if
their general import is known, and this
may most frequently be gathered from
the situation, aided by the character and
expression OF the music.
However, Mr.. Hogarth wrote before
Wagner had accomplished his reform, ard
before such things as a peoples char
acteristic ideals and a peoples char
acter1stic manner of expression had re-
cesved wide recognition. The French were
the FIRST people 10 develop a style of oper-
attic music based upon the genius of their
language. though two of the composers who
took part in the development were foreign
ers-LuIly. an italian. and Gluck. Ger
man. But the French have been quite
careless about preserving the spirit of
foreign works in the tranSlations which they
have made for their own 6electation as any
other people. In this respect, indeed, all
the nations meet on common ground. A
case in point comes to mind
The lovers of wagners dramas are not
likely soon TO forget what Jean de Reszlle
did to restore them in their native tongue
to the repertory of the Metropolitan Opera
House. While the public was crowding the
house to enjoy his impersonation of Iris
tan. a friend remarked to him that he
would pay handsome sum for the privi-
lege Of witnessing the behavior of an i'm
pressionable Paris audience at a perform
ance at the Grand Opera with the admired
artist ia the principal role. Il have al
ready been invited by the director TO sing
ftH said N. de ResZl1e, in reply, "and have
said that I would provided a new transla-
ton were made under my own supervision"
But did not Catulle Mendes make a
translation? Surely he knew both French
and German thoroughly"
He did. but''-tO his Valet-''bring me
Tristan und Isolde from the piano. Then
turning to his friend he sang the phrase
.',Fristan's Ehre h0chste Treu'" and added,
What DO you think of La gloire de Iris
tan" for 'Tristan's Ehre'? No, can't sing
such stuff
In this instance both body and spirit were
outraged in the translation. There was
nothing quite so fragrant in the French YER
ei0r lSRd at he Manhattan Onara House
bat Mr.. Hammerstein was right when he
missed the Teutonism in the performances
and recognized how essential it is to the
words, the action anG the music Of the splen-
old tragedy. Wagner conceived his hero as
German from top 10 toe" and every
other character in it is just as Teutonic
as the minstrel knight himself New
Workers have had occasion to learn that.
Between the opening of the Metropolitan
Opera House. in 1888, and the end of the
season 1857 there were forty-five sub
scription performances Of 'Tannhauser''
and Of these two were in Italian and three
In French. Interesting features marked
these performances. Thus, at the first Ital-
ian representation, on January %, 1894 !
Mime. MeIba sang the music of Elisabeth
delightfully."-, and Plancon was more than
usually unctuous and pontihcal as the Land
grave. The music Of the Bacchanale was
used. but the choreographic representation
was simply ludicrous. The hrst French
performance Ont Hammerstein was in
error In proclafnning his the first, as were
also the newspaper reviewers, including
him Of The Tribune) was graced by the
participation OF Emma Eames, NJ Plancon
and n Lassalle, and took place on No
vember % 1896 The chorus acclaimed the
Landgraye OF Thuringia in soft bastard
Latin but Plancon replied in French. as
at a later day he did in what passed for
German. But in all these performances
the listeners felt that the opera had been
phlebotomized, and il did not take on a
native hue and resolution TN 1t came back
with the German forces first under Walter
Dsmrosch and then in the single consul
chip OF Grau
Tlis performance of the opera at the Met
ropolii2n last night was the second OF 1he
present season. The chief interest of the
evening lay IN the first appearance in New
York Of a new Elisabeth in the nerson of
Miss Jane Osborn-Hannah. young Ameri-
can singer who has recently been annearN
ing Ia Europe. Miss Osborn Hannah rroved
70 De young woman of prepossessing per-
sonalify and the possessor of a fresh. clear
voice Her singing was unfortunately
marred by a marked yibrato but this was
due. no doubt. largely 10 nervousness carl
J0Tn sang TannhSuser effecfiUel,, 90 T,,o.