The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-03
Place in Music of Mey err
beers Masterpiece
Century Opera S Dis
continuance Only An
other Proof That New
York Does Not Want
Cheap Opera.
u, ". y. HENDERSON.

TIME performance of McSccbt"rs
most DISTINGUISHED opera. Lees
Il Hugucnuts." at the Metropolitan
Opera House ON Wednesday
evening served tp emphasize no estab-
lNhed fact that iu recent years this
characteristic creation has owed IL
continued existence ON the stage To- the
possibilities ID off Ted for assembling
casts ut unusual byI,IIuyl. The lam
entablc dcctdoucr oi lyric art Us set
forth in an it, uikcducss 10y any COM
parisun Of the ure.cnt Metropolitan cast
with those Of the past Nothing could
be more melancholy to the old operagoer
than to listen To Destinn. Carus,. Hem
pei, Rothler ard the rest. among whom
only Scott remains Of the older galaxy
of stars.
Among the new ones Mr. Braun shines
out the most refuigsntly. for his Marcel
is a most cXccllcut impersouation. quite
capable in spite uf ito Teutuuic style Of
Interesting and even arousing an andi-
ence. Bu; when one recalls those casts
with Nutdica as IahutbC. ScmhriCh or
Media as the queen. Manteli a. the
page, Jean de Rcszke as RdOUI. Placon
as 81. BriS. Maurcl - De NCrCrs and
EdOuard de Rcsztc As HdrCci there can
be nothing hut grief for he utter abb
sence of such assemblies of lyric ar
lists in these days
Perhaps. therefore. !, viii bc rs well
TO try 20 forget the performances and
think about the opera. In many years
of experience as a Chrouic.cr uf musical
doings the present writer has noted
peculiar scnsl,iVcucSs about the music
OF Meyerncer II /. permitted to the re-
viewer to express himself with much
freedom about the compositions Of MIR
Puccinl or even tho great Verdi and
no one appears To- care Bat let him
tell some unpleasant facts about .hr
operas Of Meycrbeer and Immediately
his morning mail is burdcued with in
dignant letters.
And yet depreciation OF the thin and
pretentious music of Meycrbce~ is not
new IL seems to have oN4 sperated seri-
Gus musicians many years ago for Rob
err SChumann wrote @ very brilliant and
vigorous comparison between Meyer
beers embodiment Of religious emotion
and MeudelsSohn's as found In 81
Paul" Let us then cal Schumaun into
court and allow him 10 bear testimony.
81 am no moralist." he wrote. "bu.
II enragcs good proty. tant to hear
his dearesr choral shrieked out on the
the whole history Of his religion de-
graded to the level Of an annual fair
farce. in order 10 raise money and noise
with II. Yes the whole opera. from tho
overture with It's ridiCulously trivial
sanctty, cnragcs him. to the close. after
which We should all b. burned alive
together as roon as possible"
Schumann here referred to the last
lines of the opera, which are never sung
in these times:
Par le fer ct rincende
ENterminOns la race imp'-
Frappons. poursuivonS rheretilue
Dieu le veut Dieu yeut lie SANG
oui, Dieu veut lie sang"
"What," continues The caust.c COM
mentator, rs the impression left be-
hind hy Les Hugenots'? Tha, we have
seen criminals executed and highty
ladies exposed to view" Without re-
producing an this vivacious and pene-
trating writer's details. let H. leap TO
his last remarks ON the story and re-
iocc in them.
"Th-rc is NCrcr@ finished profit
gate, who loves Valentine, then gives
her up, then accepts her 80 his wife /:
Valentine herself. who loves RdouI.
marrios NCJcrS. swpars she loves him.
and then betrpthes herself to RdOnl :
RGOuI, who loves Valentine. rejects her,
falls in love with the QHceH and finally
takes Valentine to wife--and then the
queen, the queen of all these dolls,
And people can be pleased with this.
because ii looks pretty and comes from
Paris"
II the story awokc the artistic wrath
Of Schumanu. the music stirred him
even more deeply
How overladcn. yet empty. how IN
territorial, yet SUPERFICIAL he eXcaims.
"what blacksmIth's work, that the mob
may not fan TO observe it, IL This
eternal chanting Of NdrCcTS \ firm
fortress Then a great deal Is said
about tho dedication of the swords In
the fourth act. | acknowledge that il
has much dramatic movement. som,
intelligent striking turns. and that the
chorus especially is Of great outward
effect situation. scenery instrumental
ton, work together and as the Horrible
is Mcycrhocrs element he has writ
ten this with warmth Some
esprit he possesses. We cannot deny
but time viii not allow us to go through