Omaha daily bee., 1911-01-29
About
Shakespeare
and Dramatic Music

Felix Borowski takes topic that is Of
passing interest at present and treats Of
1t in this fashion:
A reader interested in the subjects of art
discussed in these columns has written to
this department to state that his attention
was aroused by some assertions concerning
the association OF the plays OF William
Shakespeare with operate compositions
which were contained I'm a review of Verdi's
"Othello," as performed by the Chicago
opera company last Wednesday week
"I am" he says, "a lover of the works
of Shakespeare and a lover of opera as
well In reading your remarks about the
fatality which has overtaken the operas
founded on dramas by the immortal Eng
fish writer It occurred TO me that not only
l. but a host of musical readers would be
interested to know why Shakespeare and
music should have been so unsuccessful a
combination, and also to what extent the
plays have been used for operate treat
ment" While 1t would be a pleasure-and
to composers it would certainly be a boon
to be able to point out precisely why so
large majority of all the operas founded
upon shakespearean dramas have failed
20 survive, or. in most cases, to obtain even
a fair measure of success, an investigation
would, we believe. leave the investigator
at the end not much nearer a solution Of
the problem than he had been at the be-
ginning
Operas have often come 10 a disastrous
end because their stories and their texts
have been childish Schuberts Rosa
munde" and Weber's "Euryanthe' are ex-
amples Of these; but no such reason can be
given for the failure Of Shakespearean
operas. There have been many operas
which have left their hearers cold by rea-
son OF a lack OF dramatic vigor In their
action; none will attribute such a thing to
the action of Shakespeare's plays. Operas
which have put forward characters that
are characterless have often Invited the
oblivion which has been their eventual
lot; but is Othello colorless, flaccid, per
sonage? or Is Lady Macbeth or Falstaff.
or Henry VIII, or Hamlet, or Cleopatra
or Corlolanus?
Far easier is u to set forth the assocla,
ton between composers and the works OF
the great master Of the stage than to ac-
count for the failure Of their operas. There
is not we believe, any production Of the
operate stage-with the exception Of Nico,
lai's THE Merry Wives of Windsor -
Whicn, IOunutQ on lue adventures % n az
staff, is given practical proofs OF enthu-
siasm by the public in general. We men
ton this particular subject because Verdi 8
contribution TO the Falstaffian literature
is in the estimation OF those who know
one Of the most beautiful and one OF the
most mastery operas that has been set
down in the course of the last 100 years.
yet Il has been systematically rejected by
the opera going public, and when "Fal-
staff" was given by the Metropolitan
Opera company al the Auditorium in 1903
with Toscaninl as director only a handful
Of listeners were present TO receive the
work But Verbs opera, despised as II
would seem to be, has not yet marched as
far down the road to oblivion as have
some other works concerned with the hero
Of THE Merry Wives Of Windsor" Long
buried has been the "Falstaff' Of Antonio
salieri-he who was believed 10 have pois-
onod Mozart-who brought out his opera
al Vienna In 1875.
There were even earlier contributions