New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-16

That the taste for ballet, which, keep
ina pace with that for pictures, may
yet crowd the dramatic and lyrical ele-
monts Of opera into the background, is,
perhaps, not unqualiAedly to be de-
sired: but IL must be confessed that
the music which Saint-Saens has writ
ten for his dancing priestesses and for
Dalila and her female companions fur
nishcs the major part of the justifica-
ton for calling Samson ct Dalila" an
opera. IL comes at the close of the
first act TO relieve long stretch Of
dramatic aridity and fills the last act
with charm. But TO give 1t common
surate pictorial setting the stage
operate conventions and cast to the
verisimilitude. No doubt IL is neces-
sary, and, no doubt, the composer, with
ell his seriousness of purpose, 30 OBJ
vious is tho dignity with which he has
invested the choral portion OF the
work, submitted knowingly to the need.
But it might have been worth while TO
attempt to improve the action by IN
venting something new in place OF the
public seduction scene in the first act
and the pihng up of a multitude in the
temple scene in petrifed pose and per
hitting them to DO awakened by the
first measures of tho music after the
,Ableau had made its eyestroke. Had
the populsce fallen asleep in pictur-
esque attitudes while waiting for the
religious fuHction to begin! So II
looked last night, and so it will continue
to look until the curtain is made TO
open on some action which can be
brought into consonance with the play.
The ballet which follows Is exquisite
quite the best that we can recall at the
Metropolitan In costuming, posing and
the adaptation Of gesture to the exquisite
music. But il is significant that the
one touch of emotion awakened in the
scene was the apparently unconscious
pathos Of Sign0r Ceruso, never suspect
ed Of possessing telling histrionic pow
ers, when he measured with his arms the
circumference Of the pillars between
which he had been placed by his child
guide. Here and in the preceding scene
at the mill were the high lights OF the
drama. All of the rest which was not
mere spectacle was oratorio and ora
torio marred by the affected manner
In which the choruses were sung.
1t will be pity if the ambition Of
the conductors at the Metropolitan to
attract attention 70 the chorus takes all
dramatic virility out of the choral sing
inc. The aged Hebrews in the hrst
cat chanted their unisonal song last
night as if it were a synagogal hymn
in a Fifth Avenue temple sung by high
priced choristers. Such performance
may bring out the beauty of NJ. Saint
Saens's noble music, but when its pur-
pose Is too obvious the question recurs
whether, after all, the place for that
music is not the concert room. lt is no
discredit to the music that it drops so
often into the learned forms. Inc
canonic limitations in the ritual duet
between the High Priest of Dagon ana
Dalila, in the temple scene, are not
only singularly effective, but also SIN
gularly appropriate, and Salnt-Saehs
has shown US quite as successfully as
Verdi. in "Falstaff." that fugue may
have a place in an opera.
"Armide" failed to achieve success
when il opened season, notwlthstand-
ing Caruso's participation IN 1t. sam
son ct Della" Jared somewhat better,
partly because the heroic role was
better adapted to Signor Caruso's pow
ers. 1t gave ample opportunities for
him to exhibit the volume, the beauty
and the fine emotional timbre OF his
voice. II made little demand for
subtlety of Characterization in the war
ring Of passions. II enabled him to
practice restraint as well as TO open
the foodgates of impassioned utter
ance; and, as has been intimated, 1T
gave HIM an opportunitl, which he
used with unexpected effectiveness, to
present a pathetic as well as a heroic
figure and TO give voice to pathos. For
the climatic triumph Of the represen-
totion, which came with the final cat
astrophe, a splendid feat in mechanical
stagecraft, he deserved credit by the
unaffected manner in which he devel-
oped the dramatic situation. His
singing, that Of Nine. Matzenauer, the
consistently noble and puissant imper-
sonation of the High Priest by Amato,
the dancing of the ballet and the ex-
cellence Of the stage decorations made
the performance a notable occasion,
one almost entitled to be called his
toric. and for the success OF the mu-
steal elements great credit is deserved
by Signor Polacco, the composer. The
cast ought to be preserved for the
sake of the record: