Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-02-25

sung In Omaha before. A great deal OF
interest centered about Massenet's lovely
music 1t makes lis. appeal at once, and
Is understood without any special prep
aration. To those who hear the opera for
the frs, time the beautiful Meditation
comes as an old and familiar friend. as
lit is a favorite with vlolinists and con-
stsntly played. ...... sd
II was interesting after hearing Pueclnfs
Girl Of the Golden West" which caused
so much animated discussion. to have an
opportunity so soon TO enjoy his MASTER
piece La Boheme." The clatter and eX-
Ieitemenyof THE Girl fade into the back
ground when the real thing comes along.
"Boheme" is Puccinis greatest achieve
ment II Is original in its conception;
entirely his own and not borrowed from
any previous work. IL Is brimful Of lyric
loneliness. There are no arid places where
one is conscious only of skillful ,mechan-
ism. In other words it is inspired and
not made. The tragic little story is
possible one; we follow It with pathetic
interest. In my mind / have varied
collection Of Minnie and Rodolfos. Strange
as It may appear Joseph Sheehan stands
out as bright particular light. Ten years
ago he was different being with the
halo of romance lingering about him.
Gertrude Rennyson was his Mimi-sweet
fragile, and with the loveliest voice i'm
aginabie. She has gone on growing and
growing until last summer she sang at
Bayreuth. Other artists who were with
the Savage organization then are Putnam
Griswold and Francis Mcclennsn and his
wife. Florence Eastman. all now Of the
Royal opera in Berlin. and think of poor
Joseph sheehah starting so brayely with
these gllttering lights, and then gradually
sinking 10 hIs'present level How are the
mighty fallen!
One night in New York went down TO
the old Academy Of Music to hear Ia
\ Boheme', with friend who has genius.
for discovering very good things in
rather unlikely places. The opera COM
pany was little known, but they gave
/ most Unexpectedly good performance. /
| heard for the first, last and only time
the third act sung as It should be sung
to my MAD. You remember the scene
with the toll gate. the tavern and the
/ ptant-lcrer stay AIM seSAAN @sAHhA
and Marcel have their scene-then comes
Rodolfo racked with love and Jealousy
and pouring out the most gorgeous mel
ody. Mimi has come after him and OF
course they are disclosed to each other.
They gradually meet c'Fareweil. sus-
picion, and its bitter anguish'D and drift
into a duet Of marvellous beauty and
effectiveness The blot comes when
Marcel and Musetts run Drawing out Of
the inn and make the duet into an ILL.,
balanced quartet. In every performance
I've heard but this one. the fighting alb
soluteIt marred the ensembles. This night
the whole tone Of the quarreling lovers
was kept low, and as much as possible
/ out Of the picture The real lovers had
the stage. and their music was the most
important music.
In the CAD springtime there's the sun,
! the glorious sun.
l Our time for partings, when the roses
IT blow.
/ Il was heavenly! can't understand
rhy the beauty Of this act Is. 50 often
buried beneath. that Irritating, snsppy
quartet that is allowed to take on undue
Proportions