New-York tribune., 1912-01-04
MUSIC
"LE DONNIE CURl0SE"
A New opera at the Metropoli-
tan Opera House.

r. does not seem as If anything except the
,,a,oritv between the style of the work
"a the dimensions of the Metropolitan
naora House can prevent the new opera
Ioauced there last night from winning
vu,rlete success. The opera was lie
Canne Curiose." the book a paraphrase Of
carlo Goldoni's comedy Of the same name
=, Count Luigi Sugana, the music by Er-
..onno Wolf -Ferrari, who is now on his
- bjther from Europe and Is expected to
:, On hand TO witness its repetition next
so,rr6av. The opera is not a new one and
,0 MT in the list of publications controlled
,bo house 10 which our Opera Is chiefly
..,nrtary Neither does Caruso, Destinn or
ar,ato take part in it. So 1t does not seem
- have been felt necessary to wait few
sovs IN order that the presence of the COM
Doser might give brilliancy to the occasion.
r.od lie Donne Curiose" needs no ad-
',o,t,tious helps to win its way to the ad-
,.ot,on of the cognoscent; the only dan
81, which threatens IL is the want or inti-
s.ocv between performers and audience
,h,oh the comedy and music call for. Per-
INC even this deficiency will be disregard
- out of sheer delight in the hilarious COM
Sav and sparkling and effervescent music.
pook and score Of the opera bark back
,o,tpry or more in their methods of express
sion. The incidents of the old comedy are
as loosely strung together as those OF lie
Nozze di Figaro" and the parallel is car
.,od further by the similarity between the
,,s,rumental apparatus of Mozart and
Wof-Ferrari and their dependence on
melody rather than orchestral or mar
nonic device aS the life-blood or the
music upon which the comedy floats IL
,s Mozart's orchestra that the mooerh
composer uses Cthe only proper orchestra
for comedy" as Berlioz said, esche"inS
even those "epical instruments the from
homes. which Mozart also omitted IN MS
"Don Giovanni" until his German nature
lad him 10 turn Da Ponte's comic opera
,nto a tragic one with the advent of the
supernatural element in the last scene
II would not do to push the parallel TOO
far. though a keen listener might leei
tcrnpted also to see point OF semoiahoe
in the Teutonism which tinctures the ltai-
ian music of both men; Teutonism whlch
adds an ingredient that is more 10 the
taste of other peoples than that people
whose language is employed But whlie
the Italianism OF MoZert was wholly the
product Of the art-sprit of his time the
Teutonism of Wolf-Ferrari is a heritage
from his German father and Its ltallanlsm
nartakes somewhat of the nature of re-
version 10 old ideals from which even his
Venetian mothers countrynen have de-
narted. There is an almost amusing IL
lustration of this in the paraphrase OF
GoldonPs comedy which the composer
-bc
Ponte and Mozart has his prototype In the
Arlecchino of the classic italian COMEDY
but he has had to submit to so great
metamorphosis as to make him scarcely
recognizable But in the modern "Donne
curiose" we have not only the old hsure
down TO his conventional dress and antics,
but also his companions Pantaloon ana
Columbine. All this. however may be bet
ter enjoyed by those who will observe them
In the representation than those who VIII
only read about them, no matter now
deftly the analysis might be made.
1t is Mozarts media and Mozarts style
which wolf-Ferrari adopts. but there are
traces also of the idioms of others who
have been universal musicians rather than
specifically Italian. Like Nicolafs 20
suisse Anna" (Shakespeare's 'Oh, Sweet
Anne Page"), Wolf-Ferrari's Florino
breathes out his languishing "Ah. Rosa
uraw And in the lively chatter OF the
women there is more than once more than
a suggestion of the lively gossip Of Verdfs
merry wives in his Incompatible "Fal-
staff" wolf-Ferrari is neither Mozart
nor a Verdi, nor even a Nicolai, as a
melodist, but he is worthy of being brack-
etcd with them, because as frankly as they
he has spoken the musical language which
to him seemed a proper investiture of his
comedy. and like them he made that
language characteristic of the comedy's
personages and illustrative Of its incidents
He has been brave enough not TO fear
being called a reactionary, knowing that
there is always progress in the successful
pursuit Of beauty.
The advocates of opera sung in the Ian
guage native to the hearers will find an
eloquent argument in lie Donne Curiose,
much Of whose humor lies in the text
and is lost to those who cannot under
stand It despite the obviousness of it's
fareical action. On the other hand, II must
have been gratefully felt by many others
that they were not compelled to hear the
awkward commonplaces of the English
translation of the libretto. The German
version in which the opera had its first
hearing in Munich six years ago, is in
vastly different case-neither uncouth nor
hating even though It lacks the character
istic huency essential to Italian opera
baffa yet no more than did the speech Of
most OF the singers last night. The ripple
and rattle of the Italian pdrldndO seem TO
ka .~gl.t -. a.
there were several musical numbers which.
we fancy, Signor Toscanini would have
been glad to have taken more trippingly
had he not been obliged TO consider the
majority Of the singers. OF the principal
characters only two were represented by
singers born TO the Italian manner. VIZ,
scotti and Pini-Corsi though Senior
Segurola seemed less hampered than the
others. The comedy turns on the curiosity
Of q group of women touching the doings
Of their husbands and sweethearts at
club. The entire action is merely a series
OF Incidents In which the women (the wives
by rihing the pockets of their husbands,
the maidens by wheedling, cajoling and
playing upon the feelings Of their sweet
hearts, obtain the keys TO the club room
ana secure an entrance, only TO find tnat
hstead Of gambling, or harboring mis-
nesses, or seeking the philosophers stone.
digging for treasure. as is individually
suspected, the men are enjoying an inno-
ssnt supper. In their eagerness to see all
mat is going on the women betray their
presence. There is scolding, contrition, for
giveness, graceful minuet and the merri-
ment runs out in wild furlGnG.
There has already been some general
characterization Of Wolf Ferrari's music,