Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-29

JULIEN CALLED
SOUL TRAGEDY
Part Is Dream and Part Reality,
Revealing the Secret Genius
of the Composer.
BY CHARLES HENRY MELTzER,
Special Gable to The American.

BY CHARLES HENRY MELTzER.
Special Gable to The American.
PARIS, June 2s.--I came away from
the dress rehearsal Of Carpenter
Julien" shaking with emotion. The
last episode in the new work of the
composer who evolved Louise" had
been tremendous in effect.
The tones in which Charpentter
had expressed the destruction of a
poets faith and dreams had been too
eloquent. His harmonies, his discords
and his rhythms racked ones nerves.
ana what they meant was soul
tragedy
The ultra modern men hereof the
Debussy. FlOrent Schmidt and Ravel
groups-smiled as they listened to
some parts of the new opera" To
some it seemed as old as Richard
Wagner. Nor were they wholly
wrong. For, though It is of striking
power and full of beauty, 1t was by
no means up to date"
STOPPED to Copy No One.
Charpentier had, of course, not
stopped to copy either Wagner or the
italian Verltists. To all he does he
gives his own distinctive character.
nc save II 10 Louise, MS uFSt sue
cess
He has put It into Julien" wag-
ner, Mascagni and, perhaps, also Ber-
lioz had been remembered in la
Vie du Poete" and were suggested
here and there, Of course, in Julien"
And yet the work which thrilled the
audience at the Opera Comique a few
days ago was painfully personal. .
It seemed the expression Of its Gre
ator's very life, the appeal of his I'M
happy, complex soul the confession
of his faith and doubt and dread.
There are literary parallels to the
case Of Julien" in the Manfred" of
Byron, the Faust" Of Goethe and the
Heinrich of Hauptmann. Those poems
all described the eternal tragedy Of
man, with his aspirations. his ideals
and his impotence.
He who has flown 30 high, as thou
has flown,
Must perish if he once fall back to
EARTH
says the Wise Woman to Haupt-
mann's Heinrich in THE Sunken
Bell"
And at the outset Julien scars, as
Heinrich scared, on the highway to
the sun.
In the opening act Of Charpentier's
opera" or dramatic poem, the music
voices-rather conventionally now
and then-the heros idealism BY
slow degrees we find him sinking into
doubt For he soon loses the Louise
who inspires his dreams. Not the
mere workgirl Of his early opera, but
a symbol, with the externals of a
woman-his Muse, his Higher Self,
his Power his Dream.
When In the closing episode Of "Ju-
lien" the poet again f1nds-or thinks
he flnds-Louise, she has changed to
q street walker. a trull, a pitiful
wreck, known to Montmartre as
'Casque d'Oignon." So in the final
movement of the Fantastic" the no
bility Of the leading theme, which
suggests Berlioz's love, Is changed to
an ignoble melody.
Part of the Opera Dream.
Part Of Charpentier's julien" is
dream, part is reality. There is, as
said in my first review of the Opera"
a lack of unity in the composers
style. But the construction of the
work is clear. Il shows the tragedy
Of poets-and of humanity.
To come to earth-the score of
Julien" has much in common with
that Of Louise" Echoes of that OPP
era, as suggestions Of its heroine, oc-
cur in the second and last acts. The
tumult Of the orgy at the Montmartre
fair in the last episode has the spirit
Of the tasrd act of Louise" trans
formed--as a prayer may be trans
formed into a blasphemy. 1t was the
fourth and last act that most moved
me-not because 1t was the most
beautiful.
Solo of Julien Exquisite.
The solo Of julien in the second
act. the act of Doubt" is by long
odds the most exquisite incident, mu-
sically, Of the work; and the cava-
tina of the purely symbolical Louise
in the first act is almost as charming
But because it told the tragedy of
poets (and, if you will, Of mani so
painfully.
No one who is intelligent need be
shocked by the apparent crudity of
the prologue, which shows US fig
ure-called Louise-in bed, at the VII
la Medici, while her poet dreams. For,
I repeat, in the composers mind his
mistress is not flesh, but inspiration.
If Mr.. Gatti-Casazza has not the
courage to copy the Paris production
he can draw the curtains Of the al
cove in which Louise lies. Or he can
let her rest upon a couch. II does not
matter.
l fear that Mr. Gatti- Casazza and
the plain New York public would
faint at the stark, realistic frankness
of the dances in the orgy at Mont
martre. Well-they are not essential
though they emphasize the compos-
er's thought.