The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-18
'1TIEFLAND" GIVEN
At CENTURY OPERA
-ugcn d'Albert's Oper" Re-
,iycd After Rest Of
Six Years.
WORN Is FAIRLY SUNG
Want of Large Melodic Express
sion Chief Drawback
to Popularity.
WORK Is FAIRLY SUNG

rsren d'A'berts opera ''Tienand" was
..o5uced AT the Century Opera House las
.s,inr The work was FIRST heard In this
NV at the Metropolitan Opera House on
yo,,mh,r g. 1905 under the joint man
cement Of Giulo Gatti-Casazza and
,,d,eas D.ppel The original play on
vsieh the work Is founded Is Angel
cameras Terra Baixa." and II was in
-,duced to this public as Marta OF the
,svlani," in which Bertha kslisch i'm
,.-.onated the heroine. The chief per-
t--ners in the Metropolitan production
,srs Emmy Destinn as Marta. Erik
sehnei,s as PEDRO and Fritz Feinhals AZ
| s,brstiaH The work was not successful.
There is much fine dramatic force In
~. story and the music has some solid
merits hut as whole the opera wants
s,se elements which appeal most power
hly to the typical theatregoer. The
story mas moderate amount Of action,
hy, there 3 a pl ntifui supply OF contend
-s pass ons. The personages are mountain
p,aan,s and they are simple direct and
most harsh in their u;terances
The plot is perhaps not as well known
70 present day operagoers as to those OF
few years ago. when memories of tn
ray were fresher. But II may be re-
allied that the action hinges on the Illicit
love OF Sebastian for his handmaiden
Yirta. whom he has compelled to HE
viii and whom he drives into "A marriage
% PEDRO to cloak his niquity. Their,
rises battle between the two for tn
-,ssession OF the woman. who 10 In the
| nd carried OF bodily by Pedro because
4 loves her in spite of all.
| Il the larger episodes In this work were
,-eated in broad, sweeping lines OF lyric
OPPRESSION the drama would be one Of ire
~anious power. But whether Eugen
Albert all not possess the musical In
,.rtion 20 create such scenes or whether
he failed to md matter for them in the
COX the fact remains that the situations
the play develop themselves by met hods
longing to the spoken drama rather
IAN to the opera. That there is no
snail amount Of musical intelligence in
se score has already been limited. but the
ssll the devotion and the sincerity Of the
mposer could not fashion matter to sun
y the want Of the eloquence OF real lyric
speech
The Production AZ the Century last eve
-ng had most OF the merits and defects
The productions which ha preceded H.
Mere vas the same regrettable failure TO
attain the chief aim Of the institution,
.irely. a demonstration that English text
'ar better than foreign tongues Last
Ugh, the Engl sh. as usual was either bad
Itself or unsuitable. TO its purpose as
a.e1 a poor ignorant mountain peaSan mt
SPOKE u lights being "exting,ished. -
When the English was not unsatisfactory
e vas badly enunciated.
The English OF this or any other book
gssi al the Century will not be improved
By clustering invitations 10 the people who
s-.'tsa them 10 come and make better
ones such Invitations should be addressed
% ths entire audience. since a considerable
I-ofouon Of those VINO have not news
,srsr columns to make public their ideas
'-ploy much bitterer language than the
-srswers IN speaking OF the stun pro-
.r-ted over the footlights either in frag-
-er's ~ in crushed masses
IS 10 'he question of enunciation that
,ls been discussed here very often. and In
-g- time will be- discussed again. For the
f'eseut IL may be sufficient TO say that the
NOS accomplished singers In the world
0sld not deliver some OF the lines con-
tie' n the hard working people Of the
Century In last evenings presentation
Ar'e Ve~e evidences Of preparation. The
orehes'ra played much better than II usu.
4-' Dos ana the scenery and stage pic
tg'es were Commendable.
Miss Eweil was fairly successful ms
Garia, although her voice sounded tired
Go Mr. Bergman sang pedro creditably,
an 10 certain passages even excellentiy
-' kr'.dl"r was only respectable as Sc
''''7n. Mss Ia Paine was common dahl,
= NNrf Mr. SzCndrei conducted. and. as
-s' tofore. showed that he knew his bust
4es' n" audience was one OF good size
Al IS applause was generous.