New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-02-27

nincance. the very scene OF bestlality with
which the opera closes, and which Is 50
unsatisfactory as the elimination Of the
composers symbolism. is Yet the only act
possessing a shred Of dramatic interest.
This scene. horrible as it is, has in it,
none the less action, color. dramatic con-
trast. and in its twisted. perverted fash
ion lyric ecstasy. This scene, in the slang
phrase. gets over" The audience is inter
ested, stirred. Mortified. it realizes that AT
last drama has been enacted upon the
stage; IT may protest against that par
ticular type OF drama. but its emotions
are reached none the less.
Carpenters FalIacy.
Il is here that the whole fallacy Of NJ.
Charpentiers scheme becomes suddenly
apparent Up TO this point he has been
giving us series of philosophical discus
sions. practically the whole period being
devoted TO the intellectual ratiocinatins
OF the hero. Julien. a sort Of twentieth
century Hamlet. 2 Hamlet sensual and
incontinent. sings and sings and sings
not because his heart is overlowing with
emotion. but because his brain IS torn
with doubt The world houts him. and
in song he wonders why. The Chorus OF
Lost Poets rings in his brain, and his
brain reacts But not once is there
moment Of honest emotional fulflment
When Ambrose Thomas wrote his
Hamlet he took good care to omit the
philosophy and 10 leave in the melo-
drama. Verdi found "Othello' flt sub
oil &c q
drama OF primal passion. not Of intel
lectual subtleties II is true that Wagner
has a. times approached the danger line
but here the sheer emotional drive OF his
music suddenly obliterates all else-who
cares for the words sung by the lovers IN
the immortal second act of Tristan
Schopenhauer may Turk in the shadows
but Wagner surges supreme through the
orchestral storm
But Charpentier has set out to do what
no one has ever succeeded in doing and
he has failed Even if it were possible
10 understand each word it is doubtful
whether any audience would find itself
interested i'm the downward wabblings OF
this aesthetic hero High as may have
been the composers ideal 1t was an
IDEAL unsulted to the stage, however
suited II may be for treatise or novel
In word he has violated the primal
law OF the theatre-instead OF giving US
thought through emotion ne has striyen
TO give Us emotion through thought.
Yet Charpentier knows well his theatre
as he proved i'm Louise" and as he
proves again in the last act Of Julien.
Here he Is mastery in his handling Of the
street crowds. in the excitement of the
Partisan Fate in the final horrible en-
counter between Julien and the diie des
,,tes. lie knows his Montmartre, its world
OF students and models. Of midnettes
and cocottes. OF lhe flotsam and jetsam OF
life. Here he rs at home. Here he feels
life intensely. vtally Here instincuyely
we feel are his symrathies, this child
Of twentieth century bohemia; here
among the people who gave him only the
other day his Academician's sword. Why,
we ask. has he striven TO grow wings and
to nv into the thin air Of the ideal? Sure
lv that air is not for him-who loves so
well the smell OF the Paris streets, who
has felt the poetry IF their cries. II is
not the noblest life that he has sung. but
70 is l!fe. and he has sung 1t well. Vain
and evanescent, and utterly unreal is he
in his suit Of borrowed wings-and just a
little ridiculous.