New-York tribune., 1910-02-02
MUSIC
RICHARD STRAUSS S "ELEKTRA'

STRAUSS S "ELEKTRA"
An Extraordinary Night at the Man
haitian
There ought to he enough in the mere
record of the things which happened at the
Manhattan Opera House last night to meet
al the demands of history. But the occur
renee was not a trifie-like the battle of
eipsic. or Waterloo, or Bunker Hill, or the
meeting of the barons at Runnymede-hut
the first production in America of Richard
Srrausss lyric tragedy "Elektra-" II was
sUns in French. instead Of the original
German: but that does not signify. mas
much as the words OF a drama are incon-
Seouential in the opinion Of the modern
composer: and even il they were Ihty
could not he made intelligible over 'he
tUmult Of his orchestral music. IN VINO"
I'll the emotions are supposed 10 h@
more eloquent expression than uleH 80
have in old-fsshioned. new-fasiloiie''
song. But "E!ektra' is one or the o0
tions Of the hour: and ii is supfose0if -
portant 10 know when II was Ai'NU'
where Il was produced, now u N"S P
duced what effect it MADE upon l's i
,-s ,,d last Of all. if at sll-what was
~ 7 nT
D,lo saw and heard il. To begin at the
beginnirc. therefore, the tragedy, Wfich
a-ae written in German for stage perform
snoe by Hugo Won Hoffmannsthal. Wen
,,esc 6ran1stisf and provided with music
Fo- the German words by Richard strauss,
MS sung in 4 French translation mace pE
NJ C;autier-Villar. under the musical dlrec-
zion Of NJ Henrique3 1e la Fuente and the
stage direction OF NJ Jacques Coini, with
the characters distributed as follows:
Elektra- tra-..-..........---. Nine Mariette Mazsrin
Chrvscthenis. .....-....-..... Mile Alice Baron
E,ytenlnestra ....-.....--M Mile. Gerville. che
orestes NJ 1u ~
+,risfi,,,s -..-..-----. N Duffauit
4osfef father Of Orestes NJ. Nicoay
ycurc servant M Eenturini
An old - N. ScolI
,oe-seer Of the servants. Mile Taty-Lango
F--st serving woman. .-..-.... Miss Alice Gentle
second serrine wonlan-...--...-..M Nile SeEeTina
THIRD serving woman n---..-- Mic. Hl9a l!I
Fourth serving weman..--..- Nine. Walter-Nllla
T-ff-f @.rzins woman. ..-.....-.-N Nine Duchene
There was Just such an audience in at
tendance as a sensational incident of the
first magnitude might have been expected
10 summon. II could tot have been larger; II
could not have been mors attentive: 1t could
only amaze the observer who saw IL SIT
for two hours while d tale of horror was
unrolled before il, and music dlnned
into its ears which lacked nearly every one
Of the elements which are supposed 10 be
attractive TO the ordinary lovers of the old
opera or rhe modern lyric drama Ihe
audience and the critical observer recog-
nized one thing in common, which was that
the man Of operate miracles. oppressed by
difficulties greater than he had ever
confronted before, fulfilled a promise
which seemed beyond fulhiment-
tod 1aa
souls Of the mana gers and singers Of the
majority Of German opera houses was per
formed by a company predominantly
French in a style which compelled the ad-
mission that its spirit in general had been
erasped. that there were few deficiencies in
details TO deplore. and that in respect of
the principal 1mpersonator there had been
= performance nothing short of marvellous
Little VAS the surprise of the knowing
that Nine Nazarin had suffered a
physical collapse when she had accom-
7lished an almost superhuman labor, and
WIS made 10 realize that she had been
successful The measure of that success
cannot be described now. For two hours
she was on the stage shTieking in the
Stra1Issian manner the emotions of Hoff-
rlaunsthaIs maniacal Elektra: yet, when
= kind dispensation Of the composer per
rnitted her TO sing, she sang; and always
she freiehted the imaginations Of the au-
dience with the image of tragic char
zrrer. unfathomablv pathetic because of
Is offence against all that is good in art,
COMPARED with her. all the rest Of the per
formers were narionettes. not excepting
the representative Of klytemnestra, who
ought TO have seemed dominant, with her
regal pose and attire. Read IN another
rlace about the outward signs of the
opera-e success There Is time and room
row onl. for . bit Of serious comment, the
value or lack of value Of which will be
more apparent in month than it is this
morning
7 Is not correct 70 say. as the majority
os commentators have said. that Hof-
rannstraIs tragedy is q parsphrase of the
-Elekrra- Of Sophocles. II is based on 1t
IN some Of i-s elements: il recalls II in some
~ frs pictures: i roots in II in some of its
moods: = follows i in some Of It's phases.
But i is IS Hellenic as Bernard Shaws
notion Of Cleopatra is un-antique-or rath-
r.. let rs say was. for all these artistic
zhortions fortunately pass quickly away.
Perhaps it will be urged that the modern
dfamatist was not called upon II treat his
subject II an Hellenic manner. Then he
might have created modern story Of re
rercefuI matricidc- The whoIe raison
4 st~e II the story Of Elektra lies in
its antique clements. 4 dramatist has no
more right 10 -nodernize them t1an he
would have 70 take vulgar murder of to-
day on the East Side OF New York and
trick out its representation with thymele
and choral odcs- Motives and manners
ought 10 be synchronous in art; they al
ways viii 5e in the minds Of true artists.
In -Eschylus the soIenni;y of d religious
rite res1s upon the deed OF Orestes: and
Ele<tra Is not thrust into the foreground.
Jn Sophocles the physical horror in which
1-lAk1Ta compeis Us TO participate is ameli-
Grated by the thought continually forced
upon Us that II is :. sacrificial act which
~ must witness or have witnessed In
the version OF Eusipides where there
are suggestions Of greater realism and
greater religious skepticism. We are yet
keTt IN z mood Of awe which is saved from
mere horror by the poets art-his apprecia-
fior 0f beauty. Uoffmannsthal i not con-
fent TO LEAD into the shambes and
The cilarnel house: VIC must also go with
rfrn into the presence cs the mentally dis
.ased into the n2adhouse. There WAS no
2ea1rhv nereon in Wilde's ''Saiome- except
the Baptist ard-a few other inconsequeu-
tai persons. fnacfives. There is TO healthy
person in ''Elektra' except a few inac-