The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-02-13
Topeka Enjoys Evening With
Puccini's New Opera.
Savage Brings an Excellent
Cast of Singers.
MUSIC GRAND And APPEALING
Valiant and Leon, the Princi-
pals, Well Received.
Something About the People
Who Were Heard Here.

David Belasco in RS Girl of the
Golden West. on which Puccini's opera
is founded, gave the public the good
old lurid melodrama of the Wild West
1t was couched in appropriate, rugged,
racy language, full of the metaphors
of the soil and it represented an APP
pealing moment in our national his
tory. Puecini. being an Italian knew
little of America, and in writing his
core, he apparently took little tIou-
bic to remedy his ignorance. The music
is Italian with little that is American
about it except perhaps the burst OF
Iag-ti,.e that her:ti IS tn entrance OF
Johnson the bandit. OF course, it is
quite his right to choose an American
setting for mis- music, and it IS in our
province to enjoy the heightened ap-
peal to the emotions lent by his mani
fold beauties of orchestral rhyth1hs,
even though the play loses in its lido
matte touches
The opera begins with a prelude, the
Verv opening bars of which are aug
nlented intervals with their sugs esticI
Of agitation, and the stirring arpeggluS
and discords are indicative OF the rug
geGnesS of the scenery and the rough
ness of camp life. The music is q fair
~ faithful and graphic embodiment OF
the drama On which it is based, out
after all much Of the spirit of the DAY
and the place is boiled away, making
it essentially Italian The gold hunl-
is a little disturbing to our idea of the
character Of the forty miners We art
not accustomed to thinking Oh rec
shirted miners " eeping on each others
necks. But Puceini has accomplished
with remark BILE ste He-F the IeaU OIL
writing generally fitting music fer a
drama which is purely American IN ell
feet The choice of accent. rhythm ana
tempo is made with good erect 1LS5Ie
is scarcely an ineffective measure. me
whole tone melodie progressions are
striking and unusual. In the first scene
the miners sing some 1taiian opefauc
excerpts, and one of the miners IS Ia
ken with a feeling of inconsistencies
that plunges MIN into a storm of sobs
and tears. Dramatic verify would nave
demanded, perhaps, a song nke pee
all my mon,y on bob-talled nag, oee
the classic beauty Of the score woulc
have been iucaired, and that only goes
10 show the difficulty Of uniting the NV
diverse elements OF the opera. Inc
music for the playing OF the card game
with the girl throwing hanoS with Tie
sheriff for the life tof her lover Is IN
tense. and the plucked strings IN the
are suggestive Of the beat
ing of her Heart
Miss valiant. as Minnie had voice
of exquisite quality under per1ect . COZ on.
troll. Not only could she sing but her
acting was fully up to her voice. ana
her magnetic personality mad a com
nelIine power that explains the deVo-
fI0n
the road agent in which Caruso nrst
anneared. was the tenor selected Tor
last nights performance. His voice
was good and his playing satisfactory
hit in his part might have been ex-
pected a man of more vigorous frame
and less boyish handsomeness- The
duets sung by these two leading char-
acters displayed an admirable blending
Of voices. and were inspiring. A voice
that one would have wished to hear
more was the contralto, Edmee de
Dreux. who took the part of the
sduaw Jack Rance, the sheriff. was
PLAYED by Carl Gantvoort. and the
coldness and brutality of the charac-
ter permeated the bearing and voice OF
the man. rendering them, by the very
nature of the part, displeasing.
It is useless to dogmatize on what
music should and should not express,
but ii is supposed to exult in immor-
tai thoughts" And so it seems impos-
sibIe for any genius to add much to
the interest of a play which has in II
so large a part of the trivial and arti-
fetal Americans are not by nature
operate or music loving. No CONNER
.ial nation ever greatly cherishes art
ideals, and with US opera is still
exotic And opera, to be successful, |
particularly in the west, must appeal
as directly as possible to our own !
emotions That is why the people are I
-rying to fit the music of the old world /
@ the scenes of the new, and why the |
effort is not altogether satisfying.
B. H.