The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-23
THE WEEK OF OPERA.
Metropolitan Opera House.

)" Mines. Gadski and Matzenauer, |
Braun.
And so the work went OH. day after
day. demanding Of me a constant
exercise VI will power, until the COM
pletion of the task"
There are three scenes in the opera,
which is in one act. 1t begins with a
scene borrowed from one of Goya's
paintings. -Four ONE are tossing a
manneuuin in q blanket. II IL a
favuritc rlstime of the Spanish ma ia.
and We are reminded that this is the
sort of thing that the women do with
the men the world over. The action
of the opera begins with the keeping
Of a tryst bet ween au officer and his
lady love. who Is of course some dis
guised duchess. Paquiro. the popular
b~ulltirhtcr reaches the lady's side first
and offers his homage.
Then the trouble begins. The
bumptious conduct If the two men
leads Ia the acceptance by Fernando.
the officer, Of an invitation for the
mysterious lady to attend a public
dance. OF curse at this hall the men
quarrel and arrange n duel, which is
fought the next morning. The bull
fighter Stays the officer and the opera
H. obliged to Coine to an end.
There is nothing more to he recorded
at this moment. The production
should he u of no SINAI. interest.
Perhaps il would loom larger In the
public mine II there were less fire.
qu,Ht invitation To consider the fact
that the opera is tn lie sung in
Spanish.
The advent OF the Russian Ballet
has set the town talking Of many
things, but most of them rave little
or no concern for the music lover.
Some. however. belong clearly to this
department. For example. when the
dance or the dumb action Is accom-
panied and Illuminated by n new score
written especially for the purpose the
music lover is interested, or ought TO
he. Therefore the production OF Stra-
vinsky's "L'oiseau de Ecu" was an
important incident Of the first week of
tho ballet nj the Century Theatre.
We must wait. it seems, for Pc
trouclika" before We can hear the
music Of Stravinsky at its worst, In
this instance the adjective worst
means best. tor the more this music
stuus you the better the composer Is
pleased. In these days We accustom
ourselves to the once unhcard Uf con-
ception that music must be princi-
pally ugly or else 1t will be incapable
of delincating human experiences.
This is a new and unwelcome phase
of pessimism. But let us see wha;
reveals itself in the score of "Petrouch-
ka." It's only about dolls. anyhow.
But dolls are So wonderfully human.
don't you think? ,As Hermione might
say.)
The work given for the first time on
Monday evening is not old. but Straw
insky specialists. most of whom are
young and gambol like lambs over the
field of aesthetics. tell US that this is
already passe. Stravinsky. with
flights more brilliant n sweeping
than those OF his own Bird of Fire
has already scared into far heights Of
elusive d~issonance which not even
grown men can define.
And yet there is no cause for alarm.
The solution of the music lover'S prob
lem lies in the representation of the
ballet. The music composed by the
Russian for the d~ellneative action and
dance has no place in the concert
room. 1t should not nc performed
apart from the stag picture. Torn
from its association such music be-
m inComprehCnsible, for the sim
pie reason that it is planned in every
detail to At itself to movements OF
action.
When it is heard in its right place
1t Is admirable. The ugly passages
are perfectly justified because their
significance -. made unmlstakable,
The discords ar harsh Instrumental
screams which accompany the Kot-
chci In "L'Oiseau de Feu" are an APP
propniate expression Of his evil nature
and of the dread fate which he brings
toward the young prince.
The portions of the score which &C.
company the movements of the captive
princess and her companions are not
in the least ugly. They are pleasing
even to the general music lover. The
dances of the maidens are eXQuisltely
written. Those passages which voice
the love of the prince and princess
are very beautiful. and so too are the
final measures OF the work, the pro-
cessional Of the robing, which is the
atrlcally eloquent in its symbolism as
we'll as muslcally admirable.
Perhaps the superposition Of an ac-
ton upon the score Of Debussy's
"L'Apres-Mid dun t'aun'' might be
made a matter for discussion, but II
hardly seems worth while. 1t was
asserted in The SUN on the morning
after the production of this piece that
the action had been planned with so
much fancy and taste and with such
close adherence to Stephen Mallarme's
poem. the source Of the prelude IT.
self, that no one should be offended.
not @ Debussy, The imitation OF
the poses of ancient decorative art is
n strikinely original tote in the dumb
action of the theatre.
The most successful productions
have been the bird of Fire" 1.-The
Afternoon Of a Faun" and %"Schehera-
zade." The last named drama dis
plays the ~pantomimic skill Of the CON-
pany at its hest, The story is tragic
in its primitive character and the rep
resentation has the high merit Of sim
plicity and directness.
II il a pity that Russian or
ganization made Its unhappy essay at
transforming Schumann's "Carniyal''