New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-12-10

To the young woman whom The rou. hand
picked out Tor his bride and promptly
/ falls i'm love with her She with equal
promptucss. following the c>amplr o.
/ Wagner's heroine. bowls herself a. his
I head. The noble vulgaTiau 'onpfcuic@
matters by insisting that bee receive
dowry instead of paying one. The youHb
/ hot blood adds 10 the difficulties bv pink
4 ing him in the arm with his sword. nut
restores order at thc last by sending nm
I a letter OF designation iu his INST '''
cuisc Of maid servant OF the princess.
/ This designation is the background 81
+ the third act which is farce OF the Wild
/ est order. Much Of 1t is 90" silly Tor
description. Always hovcyc-. there j.
allusion to the purpose of tine meeting
/ on the part OF Lcrchcnau, whose plans
I are spoiled by apparitious boz All parts Il
the room the entrance OF the police, his
prcsumptve bride and her father.
woman who claims him a. her husband.
/ four children who raise hcdlam land
memories OF the contentious Jews "I
"Salomc'D. by shouting Papa. papa.
until his mind Is IN "a .whih and hc
rushes out In despair. Tho princess
/ leaves the new found lovers alone.
They hymn their happiness in Mo-
/ zartian strains, the orchestra talks oI
: the matronly remuneration ol the pin
! cess. enthusiastic straussian, of musical
! parallel with the quintet from Wagner
/ "Mcistcrsingcr." and the opera comes 10
an end after three and onc-half hours Of
! r.ntelnsiblc dialogue poised ON waltz
melodies.
/ We have said uuiutcllisiblc dialogue.
For this uuintc!lisibIlity there are TWO
rcasous-the chief one musical the other
/ literary. Though Strauss treats his voices
with more consideration in Der Ros"n-
J kavaHcr" than i'm his tragedies, ho still
so Oycrburdcus them that the words are
! distinguishablc only at intervals. only
3 too frequently ne brushes them with OIL
/ chcstral voices. which ia themselves are
not overwhelming voices Of his horns.
| for instance. for which ne shows par
ticular partially. Ills style Of dcciama-
. ton j. mclodic. though II IS only ~ the
! end Of the opera that ne rises 10 real
| vocal melody: but IL seems 10 be put over
/ an orchestral part and not tho orchestral
part put under IT, There is no moment in
7
and admiringly said Of the wonderful or
/ chcstral music of the third act Of Iris
! tan und Isolde" that all this swelling
! instrumental song existed only FOR the
sake of what the dying Tristan was say
/ ing upon his couch. All Of Strauss
waltzcs seem to exist for their own sake
which makes the disappointment greater
I that they are not carried through in The
spirit i'm which they are begun: that Is,
the spiiit Of the naive Nicnncsc dance
tune
4 second reason for the too frequent
uuintelligibility Of the text IS it, archaic
! character Its idioms are Eighteenth cen
| fury as we'll as Niennesc and its persist
/ cnt use of the third person even among
| individuals Of quality though il gives :.
tang TO the lbrettO when read in the
snndy is not welcome when heard with
| difficulty Besides this, there Is use of
dialcct-vulgar when assumed by Octa-
Wan. mixed when called for by such
! characters as Valzacchi and his partner
| in scandal moneery Anna. TO be COM
pelled TO forcgo a knowledge of half Of
! what such master Of diction as Mr..
Reiss was saying was a now sensation
! to his admirers WHO uHu'lHiaH' WI IMAM
! Vet the fault was rs little his as ii was
/ MIR Goritz's that so much Of what lac
/ said went for nothing. IL was all his
misfortune. including the fact that much
Of the music IS not adapted Ia his voice.
! The music offers plcasantcr topic
| than the action and dialogue. II must
surely nave been a relief to those listen
crs who last night went to the opera
house oppressed with memories of sd
lone" and "Ecktra." II was not only
that their ears were not 40 often as
saultcd by rude sounds, they were fire.
duently moved 10y phrases of genuine
beauty.
Unfortunately the Straussian system Of
composition demands that beauty ue
! looked for necessarily in fragments
Continuity of melodic flow IS impossible
TO Strauss-a confession OF his inability
| either to continue Wagner's method to
! improve on il or invent anything new
! In it's place. The best that has been done
in the Wagncrian line belongs 10 Hum
perdinck for whose mclOdiC ingenious
ness many listener must have felt a
longing last night. just as many lover
1 Of comedy OF the old type must have
been willing TO exchange any half hour
of the work for five minutes Of Wolf
| Ferrari's Goldoni music.
| Wherever the reviewer turned last night
he was confronted with doubt aud per-
ElcXity, in every direction hut one-the