The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-31
New Russian Opera Is Epi.
sodic, Which Seems to Be
Its Chief Fault.
SINGERS ARE A%PPLAUDED

Conductor. 0iorgio Polacco.
prince Igor" opera in four acts an,
prologue. the book and the music b,
Alexander Porphyrievitch Borodin. wa
produced at the Metropolitan Operl
House last evening. The conditions Mt
tending the introduction Of his new
musical drama were Of q familiar kind
The audience wal large. There wa
q plenty Of applause. The singers wer,
called before the curtain many time.
Tho enthusiasts behind the orchestr,
rail added their voices to the sound o
hand ciappins.
Tho new work IL the second from tn
Russian rcpertory to And It's way to III
Western world. Doubtless It's perform.
ance was due 90 the interest arouse,
BY the presentation Of Moussorgsky',
Boris Godunov'' and that comparison,
will DO made between the two works Il
Inevitable. II these provoke discussion
hey will perhaps intensity interest ir
both operas. which resemble each Other
only on the surface. Happily compari.
sons need hnd no place here. where a
description Of Borodin's creation alone
II required.
The opera falls into the class Of his.
toricai dramas. and II has one radical
fault often found In such works. II 4,
episode. There n no artistic develop
ment Of emotional experiences, such as
makes a true drama. The author has
sought to draw from an ancien; chronicle
Incidents with which to arrange a series
Of brilliant scenes. Amid these certain
human emotions are revealed. but they
are not the motives OF the action. That
IL purely political.
The story is taken from a ''bylina." or
metrical chronicle. n Of the ancient
lays in which history and fable mingle
their various ccounts of a peoples in
fancy. This ''byina" deals with the war
of Prince Igor against the Polovtsy. n
Turkish tribe Of invaders. Igor was one
OF the numerous princes who governed
the provinces OF Russia before the unin-
cation OF the country and the centralisa-
ton OF Its government.
Third Act Cut 0ut.
The incidents Into which the story
falls are loosely connected. Light Is
thrown on the character Of the iibretto
by the fact that after several rehearsals
ohtu pClOtc toSN Sah n W
the third act had been voted a bore and
had been ruthlcasly cut out. The opera
went on comfortably with a single
change in the dialogue Of the second act
all that was necessary to keep II from
falling par entirely.
In the prologue Prince Igor bids his
wife farewell and forth 10 meet
the enemy. There are professions and
choruses. II IL not dissimilar to the
~-x-- s.ov ~ sIlnryas To- shA Arst
act we see what results when the lord
OF the city Is away. Igor has left his
wife in the care OF her brother. Prince
GaHtsky. That distinguished nobleman
promptly gets drunk and the whole town
ha stems to assist In his orgy.
The second act shows us Igor and his
son. vladimir, prisoners In the camp OF
Khan Konchak, the Polovtsy General.
vladimir has fallen n love with the
Khan's daughter. and she with him.
Love duet. including the Inevitable pas
sage sung sitting on a bench. Igor Is
very downcast. but accepts the offer OF
a recreant Turk to help him to escape.
This Ia the revised version Of the Met
.ropolitan. In the original he refuses and
II becomes necessary to hav a third act
In which ne escapes and the Khan holds
fast to the son, t~etrothing him to the
daughter. This part Of IT, drama Is
now mercifully left to the imagination.
The fourth act takes US back to Russia.
Yarosiavna, wife Of Igor. weeps. Pres
emily she sees dust on the horizon. Can
II be? No! Yes. II is: 1t IL my long
lost huband! End Of opera.
Want Of Dramatic Continuity.
Thus we see that there are several
emotional states of more or less poign-
ancy and some opportunities for spec
tacle. But there IL nc demand for dra-
matte continuity in h music, and with
his radical defect the opera halts lamely
to its conclusion. Borodin's admirers
lay much stress upOn the brilliant use
Of Oriental color. while he himself warns
US not to expect ingenuity In the treat
ment Of recitative: II am far more at
trac.ed to melody" Then ne enlightens
us In regard to his general plan. He has
no affinity to what Is called endless mel
ody. He prefers definite n concrete
forms"
I'm OPERA ne says. ''as in decorative
art, deta IL and minute are out OF place
Bold outlines are only necessary: all
be clear and straightforward and
fit for practical performance from the
vocal and instrumental standpoint"
Every word of this contains sense. But
the practical application OF II must be
found disappointing. at least to the dis
Interested observer. Some Of "The Five"
whose precepts Borodin rejected In his
practice. admired the opera. II has Its
happy moments but It has It's bad quar-
ter hours. Doubtless the Russian mind
views these things differently. And then
Prince Igor il a national hero.
Borodin's treatment Of the book Their
re;ires recitative to disuse as much as
possible. What dialogue we hear is car
rtal on In IN war;, ua0ua and III damned
style of arioso, and this want Of melodic
defnitiveness Is discernible In the solo
parts from beginning to end.
In these solo parts one looks In vain
for anything In the nature OF charac-
t~erization. The speech OF GaNtsky has
Russian melodic idiom as Its base and in
one place reiterates q phrase heard In
the duet Of the Nurse n the Csaro-
,pitsch in Boris Godunov." Little Of
dramatic significance. however. is accom-
plished by this leaning upon the folk
n The other personages neither do
nor sing anything pertinently Russian
The best piece Of solo music In the
opera In that delivered bv the Prince
in the camp scene. beginning In the
Italian translation "Oime! Mel cor nj
gravera ~l'angoscia ognor." II s not a
~strikingly original or brilliant piece Of
writing. but II Is good enough to pro-
vide scope for a few minutes OF impress
sive dramatic singing, and perhaps this
q as much as we should demand of an
operate composer In this lamentably dull
era. The fact that Borodin wrote the
passage some thirty years ago makes
this consideration none the less appro-
pirate. The solo was without question
the most successful In the performance,
and Il owed much OF It's value 10 Mr..
Amato's finely planned delivery Of II.
Choruses All Well Written.