New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-16
caruso, as for Last Eight
Seasons, Charms on
Opening Night.
MATZENAUER SINGS
ROLE AS DALlLA
useord Cast Included Amato'
sehlegel, ROthier, Bloch Au :
disco and Reschigliar.
BIZ II. T. KREHBIEL-

as peas - q
- for years and are likely to remain
US long as SignOr CsrusO Is a mem
h.r Of the company.
All the things which 80 to mako a
A.. NIGHT brilliant and triumphant and
.nx,,eious and harb!nger Of success
"a sl that sort of thing cluster
.rouDd the name Of CsrusO. Only once
inca the great singer came to New
YORK has a manager ventured to besin
,.,,on without him. That was eleven
years ago, when Mr.. Conried humorsd
prims donna, wilful from the start
xso dld not want to share the honors
q, her debut with anybody likely 70
%, between her and the sunlight Of
nnbIic favor. 1t was Geraldine Fsrrar.
She was fresh from Berlin, where dur
Ing four years of an operate novitiate
she had acquired strange notions about
endowing Shskespeare's Juliet and
Goethe's Gretchen with attributes
which would add to their sex appeal
She tried them on, but was speedily
made TO feel that the opera goers OF
New York were quite content with the
moral conceptions of Shakespeare and
Goethe plus Heilhac, Helevy and
Gounod as fixed by French tradition.
Miss Farrar returned to Berlin after
the close Of the season and vowed she
would never come back to her native
land because of its lack Of musical
culture and its devotion to money-get-
ting. She did come back, Of course,
and having established herself as
favorite second only to Caruso In the
estimation OF our public she is now
propagating the artistic culture In
which her countrymen are deficient
through the medium of moving pict-
ures.
But having opened the season OF
19O6-'07 at the Metropolitan with Mr..
Rousseliere, a tenor, who threw no
shadow on her IN "komeo ct Juliette, F."
Miss Farrar never again took part in
first night. Not that she would not
have been welcome, but that Mr.. Con-
ried did not care TO repeat the expert
ment Of emitting Caruso from the cast
of a seasons premiere, and Mr.. Gattl
seems never. 70 have been tempted TO
try X. So for eight years In success
sion me sun OF Caruso has shone
mon the Metropolitan seasons open
.r IS IL had in the three years pre-
as TO Mr. Conried's venture with
Hiss Farrer.
Twelve years has Mr.. Caruso been
with US. ana eleven times has he
opened the season as he did last night.
As a rule, il has not seemed to make
any difference to the public what opera
was chosen for the opening. He made
his debut with Nine. Sembrich In 1903
in "Rigoletto"; in 1904 he appeared
with Nine. Eames In Aida; in 1903
with Nordica in ia Gioconda"; in 1907
with Cavalier in "Adriana Lecouvreur";
in 1908 with Destinn in Aida; in
1909 with Destinn in LA Gioconda"; in
1910 with Fremstad in "Armide"; in
1911 with Destinn in "AIda" again; in
1912 with Bori in "Manon Lescaut": In
1918 again with Destinn in LA Clio
eonda." and last season with Destinn IN
"Un Ballo In Maschera." In this list
there were three novelties, "Adriana
Lecouvreur." "Armide" and "Manon
Lescaut," and the second Of them was
sung in French. That fact brought the
first night Of the season of 1901
into conpanionship with last nights
performance, when the opera was
Saint-Saen's samson ct Dalila."
"Armide" was a novelty in New
York: Samson et Dalila" was not, hav-
ing had a single representation at the
Metropolitan twenty years ago, num-
Der Of performances az the Manhattan
Opera House when Oscar Hammersteln
was making a strong effort 70 estab-
lsh that place as a rival 70 the Metro
politan on the basis of French opera,
and having been one of the works
which fickered and sputtered in the
recent English experiment at the New
Century Theatre IL was therefore
known, but its music was more familiar
10 oratOrio audiences than 10 the eXclu-
sive patrons OF the opera. In England
il was long confined 70 the concert room
because OF the tradition 20 which the
LORD Chamberlain is a slave which pro-
hibits theatrical representation 70 plays
based on Biblical subjects. The tradi-
ton may be a foolish one, but II has
worked no serious deprivation 70 the
English people. Had similar law been
operative here our artistic loss would
have been triiing. To see Massenet's
opera we should have had foolishly TO
transmOgrify the names OF the people
in "HerOdiade" as was done In Lon
don: but leaving the names unchanged
gave no life % the work az the Man
haitian. Besides, the drama was Biblical
only in names and suggestion, like
Efr~roDf1 MC.frvaaW grA (.rIarra r Z =
"Sulamth." wh.c h came and went, leav-
ing no great trace behind them. Had
they created demand Of noticeable
urgency for their preservation they
would still be with US But they are
gone, and the lyric drama still lives.
The new representation Of Samson
- Daliia" puts in the strongest plea
that has yet been made for it's inclu-
sion In the operate list; and yet the
impression that - created nine-tenths
Of the time last night was that OF
concert In costume, with a background
Of pictures and a pleasant terpsicho-
rsn diversion. The ballet music, al
ways delightful IN the concert room, is
greatly enhanced, Of course, by the
spectacle, especially In the last act,
There the dancing master and the
stage manager have made Of u thing
Of artistic beauty and 20 far as they
tould, 81 dramatic prOpriety. The same
cannot be said Of the dance in the first
set, whore The entrance Of the dancers
with Dalila and their pOzturings are
10 utterly subyersive Of the dramatic
situation that % save IL from ridicule
y would be wise 20 eliminate Dalila
from the scene, or at least take her out
81 lie centre while the dance IL In
progress. u Il absurd enough 20 have