Connecticut western news., 1915-03-25
Letters From the People
Opera in Engiish.

OPS' |" i' G'itS''Shs
 To the Editor of The News:
 Seven evenings ago occurred the exodus of old Wangum's operaticallv devout. who entrained for Great Bar ringtOI where they listened to the illustrious Nerdi's renowned I'll Trova- tore, ," as rendered. in our own superior language, by the famous Boston Opera Company.
 Opera ill English is very amusing One understands. perhaps, as many words, as though it were sung in a foreign tongue. provided one is Il t conversant with the foreign tongue. Occasionally, however, such expressions as "Begone" Supreme emotion, '" Away with him !' Take this dag ger" etc., do float helpfully out over the footlights. On each of these highly valued occasions, one pats him. self on the back, for having, at last, been sufficiently astute to grasp a con- meeting link. What it connects, to be sure, is rather obscure; but one mustn' t mind that the link is there; that is much for which to be thankful; and one can patiently endure not having been able to seize either end of the chain itself
 "He shall die He shall die! He shall die-i-ir' shouts the tenor, fo-tis- sissimo. Rather than live, rather than live, than live his bride, his bride, his br-i-ide. scars the soprano in lively "aria di bravura. Her agita. tion is cu2atAgious; and one gets a bit stirred up over something rather in- tangible. It matters little what it is all about; it is scrumptious to be thrill. ingly borne aloft in musical flights, upon the wings of dramatic art. Then the disconsOlate prima donna is thrown down, real hard, by the infuriated lover to whom she pleads, pianissimo For give! Forgive! Forgive!" One con cludes, from the fact that he throws her down some more, that he won't forgive; when, suddenly, she springs mp and goes on like one beside herself with joy, at which one reconsidels the tr"gic situation and comes to the con- clusion that he has been greatly mis- taken, and that the ferocIous baritone must have forgiven, after all. Then she frantically waves her arms on high, Gin joy?) then she wildly clasps her head with Ter hands, Gin dpSperation?) Who can say: Finally, as fur as one can judge without the enlightenmento of some ineligible crowd, she, energeti- cally but lingcringly, kisses her own hand. One is becoming more and more mystified, when, from the fact that she dies soon, (not so soon either when one considers all that occurs in the interim) it begins to dawn upon the puzzled be- holder, that the desperate fair one must have slipped deadly poison from secret repository in her ring.
 And so one comes to wonder whether it were not more edifying, after all, to hear the liquid, flowing syllables of the original Italian, than the unmusical ones of our own not much more in- telligible English.
 The leading lady was dreadfully dusty when she finally finished dying. for the Burlington stage hands had evidently left it to the hard. hearted villain, to literally "wipe up the floor with the soft-hearted heroine.
 The heros tin helmet was very tinny indeed. For lack of numbers, the masculine members of the troupe, who served in one act as the friendly followers of the intrepid Manrico, were transformed in the next into dastardly asSassins aiding his deadliest enemy; the wild gypsy maids of the mountain scene, became. presently, saintly nuns before sacred edifice. The angry waves dashed high against the battle ments of the tower, in which the trou- bador awaited death and destruction; and there they chung tenaciously; they never did return any more to the watery depths from whence they came. It is somewhat difficult to conceive how the slender, tender Leonora could work herself up into such a consuming pas sion for the corpulent hero of the oc- casion, but she did, and did it well, and she died superbly, too.
 They all made a noble effort and the music lovers of Wangum were grateful for the opportunity of again hearing the catchy, melodious airs, with which they have been familiar since the days when their mothers sang them as they rocked them to sleep in their little cradles. Auditor.
 Canaan.