The evening world., 1915-11-19
NelU German
Conductor Wins
At Metropolitan
By Sylvester Rdlciing.
OCoETTE RDAEMMERUNo

dramas that Wagner created
In his disclosure of the tale OF The
Nibelungen Ring" was the bill at the
Metropolitan Opera House last night
II served to introduce to us a new
German conductor, Artur BodanEky.
One swallow does not make a sum-
nner. and with a long season scarcely |
begun ono we'll might steer clear of
prophecy: but IL by the beginning Of
the New Year Mr.. Bodanzky has not |
come high into favor I shall be sur |
prised. There may have been better |
presentations Of The Twilight Of the |
Gods than that of last night. II so
one. while there have been memo-
rable performances Of this great work
upon the Metropolitan Opera House
stage, in which individual impersona-
lions have shone more brightly than
those Of last night, the first two acts
held something in the nature Of q
revelation, and for this the credit
must 20 to Mr.. Bodanzky.
From the centre OF the house. whore
only his back and an occasional half
profile was to be seen. Mr.. Bodansky
suggested the late, lamented Gustav
Manler. Watched from the side aisles
next to the proscenium arch, he was
disclosed as a dynamo OF energy, with
long, supple arms, hands that seemed
70 talk, ana a comprehensive eye
scarcely less significant than Mr.. Tos-
eaninfs. The orchestra, apparently.
had taken to him unreseryedly. To-
yether they brought out new beau
tic in the lyric passages. observed
the daintiest OF nuances, and thun-
dered In the crescendps. MIR. Bodan-
zky's clearing out Of the cobwebs in
the score was supplemented by i'm
provements everywhere. Who can re-
call such life as was impaired to the
first scene in the Hall OF Gibichungs,
or In the action of the chorus on the
return of Slegfried, and Gunther and
Brunnhiido, followed by the denunoi-
ationl AT tifne5 Mr.. Bodanzky's tenn
20 was remarkably slow, generally,
however, improving the effect. His
outs we're circumspect. He omitted
the Oberioh scene altogether. He be-
gan at TAG o'clock and finished At
lbs.
Melanie Kurt, as Brunnhilde, on the
dramatic side was commanding. At
the beginning she sang well, too, but
the exhausting demands of tho Sec
ond act told heavily upon her and
there was little of beauty left in her
voice for the immolation scene. Yet
she has done nothing better since she
came to US. Julia Heinrich made q
successful debut as Gutrune, IL 10
an ungratefui part at best, but she
made the mos of II In looks, voice
and action. Marguerite Matzenauer
as waltfaute made us forget her De-
lilah Of the opening night Her voice
had regained much of Its former
charm and her impersonation held
intelligence, poetic feeling and drA-
matte Significance. Tho three Rhine
maidens, Lenora Sparkes, Rita Fornia
AMI Lila Robson. were lovely to the
eye as well as to the ear.
Jacques Urlus. In good voice, some
thing upon which he Is not able to
depend, gave us a Siegfried that COM
manded respect vocally as we'll as
histrionically. Carl Braun. always
an overpowering Hagen, was at his
best. What a pity his splendid decla-
nation cannot be heard in English!
Hermann Well gave added strength
to his familiar Gunther. The chorus
was a delight.
The curtain calls were numerous,
and Mr.. BodanZky could have shared
in all OF them save for his modesty.
He got his full share OF recognition,
however, on his entrance to the
orchestra pit before the second and
third acts. How soon We are for
Eottenl" exclaimed an intense lover
Of German opera, himself a German,
to me between the acts. And he
sighed in memory OF the conductors
that had gone before.
Emmy Destinn, much simmer TO
the eye modishly gowned In black,
and wearing her famous necklace OF
pearls worth $4,000. was the sololst
at the Philharmonic Society's concert
IN Carnegie Hall last night. She was
in good voice and she sang the aria
"Mon occur s'ouvre a Ia voix," from
Saint Saens,s Samson ct Dalila."
splendidly. Besides that she exploited
some songs by Liszt and she was re-
called many times. Mr.. Stransky's
principal offering for the orchestra
was Arnold Schoenberg's symphonic
like Debussy's opera, Is founded upon
Maeterlinck's drama. Mr.. Schoen.
berg, when he composed this work
some dozen years ago, had not
reached the stage Of musical anar-
ohism or cubistism. of which he Ia
now accused. The construction, al
though modern, unconventional and
especially rich in orchestration, is
full of melodious, old fashioned ex-
preston. Some OF his lukewarm
friends hope that he will return TO
. his former manner, with added mat
ter. The orchestra exploited the COM
position with all the skill II has de-
veloped under Mr.. Stransky's direo-
tion.
Mary Jordan, assisted by Kurt
SCHNEIDER at the plano. gave a song
recital at Aeolian Hall last night. She
was In fine voice, was lovely picture
20 gaze upon, was heard by a large
and enthusiastic audience, and was
made the recipient OF a conservatory
OF flowers. One OF the floral offerings
was a cage, EMPOWERED in roses, that
contained live canary, Miss Jor-
dams programme began with the con-
ventional Bach, Schumann, Schubert
and Brahms numbers, included a
Russian group sung in Russian, and,
at the end, some songs in English by
such Americans as Frank La Forge
Mrs H III A Reach and Henrv IT