davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
Biblical Stories and
the Lyric Drama
The Lord Chamberlain and Operatic Transformations
Composers and Plenary Inspiration-Changes Which
Do No Harm to the Musc-Rossnis Moses
in Egypt and Its Vcissitudes.
Copyright, 1916, by H. E. KREHBlEL.)

wv IHETHFR the English grudge to their ord
~ Chamberlain deprivng them OF the pleasure OF see
inc oneras based on Biblical stories do not know II
they do the grudge be deep tor 1t Is oS %
since Biblical operas vogue and IN the case OF e
few survva it has solve the dihculy and save
COINCIDENCE Of the public censor BY the simple device OF changing
the names OF the characters the of action the WORKS
were to be presented the stage, omittng scenery
and action and performing them oraorlos ne at'ei
is merely reversion which has classic sanC,o
either case whenever this has been DONE however mas
bb 6 critics 70 make merry expense OF Lord Chai
beran puritanalneS OF the popular sprll Oh WIN" IN
E upposed TO be the embodiment and to discourse ue
briously and mayhap profoundly on the PerVes0h oi
the loss OF things essential 10 the
NAV be hereca TO say not possible that ,u
Chamberlain and critic have both taken serious view OF e
matter There vast of admirable materla i'll ue
Bible Historical Legendary or mythical as one napP - t
~ which would not necessarily be degraded by dramatic treat
nen and which might be entertaining well as edying
as has been the past by stage repesenauof
ene for this material neither ncuated nor preserved ny
ing the scene throwing veil names too transparent
e+ d;sp;se Moreover when this done there always
danger that the process involve sachce OF the respect 10
which work OF art is entitled its merits such ounod
collaboration Barber and Cae wrote an opera enrted
~ RENE de saba The plot had nothing do with the Bible
bevond the OF Shebas Queen and hing solomon WI
Farne who used make comic operetta BOOKS IN
adapted French bro for performance in Engish ana oae
the opera Irene" What title for grand opera! why not
Rlancbe" or "Arabela? No doubt such thought ltted
through many careless mind that an Irene was
Byzantine Empress Of the eighth century who by her devoo
its tenes beaCaton after death from the Greek huic
The opera failed the Continent well as IN LONDON Dut
had NOT ben even flavor by title and asso
citation with the of the excellent MI Farne Wouo e
change in supposed time place and people have harmed 1t!
a few wears ago read with amusement OF couse) OF inc
metamorphoss to which Massene "Herodate subjected
so that might masquerade for brief the London stage
but when saw the opera New York in the original package
to speak commercially could we'll believe that the music
sounded the London though John the Baptist sang unde
an alias and the painted supposed deneate Eh
oDia instead OF Palestine
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
Delaware Water Cap.

Delaware Water Gap, Pa, July a.
Sharks have no terrors for the jolly
bathers at this resort. Among those
enjoying this recreation are Mr. and
Mrs. Henry Testa, Of the metropolis.
Mrs. Testa is known on the stage a
Nancy Boyer and is dearly loved BY
every one in this section They are
registered at the Kittatinny.
On Friday the greatest esld meet IA
the history Of the Gap" was held On
the Glenwood fields. Hsndsons prizes
were awarded winners Of the varieu.
events. Among the winners were The
following from New York City: xr. o.
<. Thomas, winner OF 80 yard dash sss
men; Miss Emma Stein, Of Brooklya,
throwing baseball; Mr. Z. c. Jones'
winner of the potato race; Nr. James
Canavan, winner Of the sack race; Mas
ter George Saylor, Of New York, was
the winner of the children's events
A big masquerade was held on hs
floor Of the Castle Inn music hall on
Wednesday IN which over four hundrs<
participated
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
Gilbert School Graduation.

Tho closing exercises Of the summer
term Of the Gilbert Normal School OF
Dancing were held on Friday after
noon at 2.3O o'clock. A demonstration
Of work was given, including English
country and morris dancing, interpre-
tive dancing and modern social dane
ing. This was followed by ten origi-
nal dances, each written and performed
by a member of the graduating class
The class was as follows: Miss Adelia
Ferguson, Miss Lille Joehlin, Miss
Phyllis Jackson, Miss Grace Lewis,
Miss Eugenia Neer. Miss Daisy Rosen,
Miss Manetta Thomas, Mrs. Philip
Thomas, Miss Emma Walton and Mrs.
Edith Wheeler
Announcement was also made that as
the result Of q course given in the
school by Mr.. Cecil Sharp, country
dance certificates had been awarded by
the English Folk Dance Society to Mrs
Margaret Thomas, Miss Adelia Fergu-
son, Miss Anne Christian, Miss Daisy
Rosen, Miss Eugenia Neer, Miss Janet
Brownell and Mrs. Edith Wheeler.
About sixty guests witnessed the
graduation exercises.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

tury in France; Of the miracle plays
which were performed in England at
the same time; the Conmedia Splritu-
ale of thirteenth century Italy and tho
Geisliche .SchnnODiele of fourteenth
century Germany. These mummerie3
with their sdmixture of church sorg,
pointed the way as media of edifcation
TO the dramatic representations Of
Biblical scenes which Saint Philip Neri
used to attract audiences 70 hear his
sermons in the Church of St Mary in
Vallicella, in Rome, and the sacred
musical dramas came TO be called ora
torios. While the camerata were seeking
20 revive the classic drama in Flor
ence, Carissimi was experimenting with
sacred material in Rome, and his epoch
making allegory, "La Representations
dell' Anima del Corps," was brought
out. almost simultaneously with Peris
"Euridice," in 1000. Putting off the
fetters of plain song, music became
beautiful for its own sake and as an
agent of dramatic expression. His cx-
cursions into Biblical story were fol-
lowed for q century or more by the
authors Of saga dzione. written TO take
tho place Of secular operas in Lent
Ths stories Sf Jephtha and his daugh-
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
t1ISTORT~AT AND CRITICAL EXCURSIONS in OPERA-LANl

Ing to the extremity asserted by rumor
which would have been as inconsistent
with propriety as with the habituai
dignity and self-possession OF Campo
rese's demeanor."
Somebody, cannot recall VINO, mas
said that the success OF "Dal tue stei-
lato" set the fashion Of introducing
prayers into operas. Whether THIS De
true or not. IL Is a fact that prayer
occurs in four of the operas when
Rossini composed for the Paris Grand
Opera and that the formula is become
so common that 1t may be set down as
an operate convention, a conyention'
moreover, which even the iconoclast
Wagner left undisturbed. Ono might
think that the propriety Of prayer IN
religious drama would have been en-
forced upon tho mind of classicist
liko Goethe by his admiration for the
antique, but il was the fact that Kos
sini's opera showed the Israelites upon
their knees In supplication to God that
set tho great German poet against
"Mos8." In a conversation recorded by
Eckermann as taking place in 1928, we
hear him uttering his objection to the
work: 81 do not understand how you
can separate and enjoy separately the
subject and the music. You pretend
here that the subject is worthless, bVt
you are consoled for It by feast Of ex-
cellcnt music. | wonder that your nat
ure is thus organized that your ear
can listen to charming sounds while
YOUR sight, the most perfect Of your
senses, is tormented by absurd objects.
You will not deny that your Moses Is
In effect very absurd. The curtain is
raised and people are praying. This is
all wrong. The Bible says that when
you pray you shopld go into your
chamber and close tho door. There
fore, there should be no praying in
the theatre. AS for me, should have
arranged a wholly different Moses At
first | should have shown the children
OF Israel bowed down by countless
odious burdens and suffering from the
tyranny of the Egyptian rulers. Then
you would have appreciated more cas-
lily what Moses deserved from his race,
which he had delivered from a shame
full oppression" "Then," says Mr.
Philip Hale, who directed my attention
to this interesting passage, Goethe
went on to reconstruct the whole opera.
He introduced, for instance. a dance OF
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
By LOUISE s. HAsBROUCK.
PART V.

ON SATURDAY morning, Just as the
" Gnomes were preparing 20 send
plain ice cream up to the Soda
Fairies, as they hadn't any Sundae to
give them, Andrew ran up and said:
"Gnomes, am going to give myself
to be made into a Nut Sundae, if only
you will promise If you escape to let
Benny carry the Soda Water and Ice
Cream back to Csndytown to the Pep
permint Baby"
The Gnomes were much surprised
but as they always did what they were
told, they lifted Andrew on to some
vanilla ice cream Ooh, how cold 1t
feltD, poured out some hot maple
syrup on him Ooh, how hot that feltD,
put him in the bucket and sent him up
TO the Soda Fairies.
Look" the Gnomes shouted hoarse-
ly, as the laughing Fairies dragged the
bucket up. AT last We are sending you
new Sundae-and that makes the
seventh Sundas this weeki"
As they uttered these words, sudden
ly there was a terrible earthquake; all
the walls Of the cavern shook, and the
floor ran in ripples like water. So great
was the disturbance that the Straw
berry Fountain changed its course and
ran into the Chocolate Fountain, and
the Chocolate changed its course and
ran into the Strawberry, and fires came
up from the centre Of the earth and
made the ice cream wells boiling hot.
Then the Gnomes threw aside their
shovels and climbed quickly through
a big crack that had opened in the
ground above them; and the very last
Gnome took Benny Almond with him;
SO together they all reached Soda
Water Land.
And when they reached there they
found Andrew Almond safe and sound
Tor the steam from the boiling ice
cream wells was thawing out the cold
Fairies, so that their hearts were al.
ready warmer and kinder Andrew
jumped of the ice cream he had come
up on and put it in his bottle before il
melted. Then he and Benny filled the
other bottle with ssda water; and
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
Land of the Soda Fountains

then, ss quickly - they possibly s.'
run, they started OF to cro" again We
Brown Sugar Desert which lay pesSse
them and Candytown.
They looked back once and w
that the Gnomes and the Fsir" w"
playing ring-around- -the-rosy hand''a'
hand as happily as could be.
And now the chief thought IN AZ
drew's and Benny's mind was, AN :"
too late to save the Littlest Pspper
mint Lozenge's life" When at last tnp
saw Candytown in the distance, "''n y
pretty colored pastebosrd houses y"
were almost afraid to enter-fof Wv
knew they had been away long ''s
time, owing to their disobsdlenes !.
eating and drinking In Soda FouaS
Land. But they hurried on through :
streets filled with Candy peopie
reached the Peppermint Loz'nss Nv
And there was Mrs Lozengs On
steps, watching and watching foF Wv
as she had been doing ever since
went away. Upstairs the Pspps
Baby was growing thinner and nm
and weaker and weaker every n1'
till {. did not seem a, II there wouls
anything left OF the poor little "
at all. ii
Andrew and Benny ran up dor
panting-poor boys, they were ~
exhausted, too-and held out
TASKS to Mrs. Raisin. who ""
taking care Of the baby. -
"Quick. quick" they cried. n"
is! Give it to him quickly" -,
Then Mrs. Raisin fed q ht'" IA
bit Of the ice cream to the oAos
at once he looked better. An'
she gave him little soda ws"' "a
the baby fell into a peaceful slssS "A
you see, the ice cream and INV -
water were like medicine; ID" "a
all right il taken at the right t~ -.
all wrong il taken at the wrons
as the Almond boys had taken ''' -
as you take them sometimes when
mother has told you not to eat
meals. .-.AI
Well, the end Of the story Is To-
Peppermint Baby was completsP ~
And as for the Almond boys, tssy
especially Andrew-Tseeivsd
credit they deserved y~'vxvvvy
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

rhapsodiEed on its appositeness, ana
professed TO hear in it the whispered
plottings of the lovers and the merry
raillery Of Rosina contrasted with the
futile ragings Of her grouty guardian;
but when Rossini composed this piece
Of music its mission was to Introduce
an adventure of the Emperor Aurelius
in Palmyra in the third century of the
Christian era. Having served that pur-
pose, it became the prelude to another
opera which dealt with Queen Eliza
beth of England. monarch who
reigned some twelve hundred years af-
ter Aurelian. Again, before the melody
now known as that Of Alndvird's 8
cavatina had burst into the efiores-
cence which now distinguishes it, It
came as a chorus from the mouths
Of Cyrus and his Persians in ancient
Babylon.
When Mr.. Lumley desired TO pro-
duce Verdi's "Nsbucuodonosor" (cslled
"Nabucco" for short in London in
ls46 he deferred to English tradition
and brought out the opera as "Nino,
Re d'Assyria." confess that / cannot
conceive how changing king OF
Babylon to a king Of Assyria could
possibly have brought about . change
one way or the other in the effective
ness Of verdi's Italian music, but Mr..
Lumley professed to have found in the
Transformation reason for the English
failure. At any rate, he commented:
"That the opera thus lost much Of its
original character, especially in the
scene where the captive Israelites be-
came very uninteresting Babylonians,
and was thereby shorn of one element
of success present on the Continent,
is undeniable." "Reminiscences Of the
Opera.~
There Is another case even moro TO
the purpose of this present discussion.
In 1918 Rossini produced his opera
"Moss in Egitto" in Naples. The
strength Of the work lay in its
choruses; yet two Of them were bor-
rowed from the composers "Armida.' y
In 1922 Bochsa performed it as an ora
torio at Covent Garden, but, says John
Ebers IN his "Seven Years Of the
Kings Theatre" published In 1928,
"the audience accustomed TO the
weighty metal and pearls Of price of
Handel's compositions found the
'Moses' as dust in the balance in com
parison.' "The oratorio having failed
as completely as erst did Pharaoh's
host" Ebers continues, "the ashes Of
Nose in Egitto' revived in the form of
an opera entitled Pietro PEremita.
Moses was transformed into Peter.
In this form the opera was as sue
cessful as il had been unfortunate as
an oratorio. Nose In Egitto'
was condemned as cold, dull and
heavy. 'Pistro i'Eremita, Lord Seton,
ono of tho most competent judges of
the day, pronounced to be tho most
effective opera produced within his
recollection; and the public confirmed
the justice of the remark, for no
opera during my management had such
unequivocal success" This was not
the end of the operas vieissitudes, to
some Of which | shall recur presently;
let this suffice now.
The Biblical operas which have
maintained q place or the stage are
very few. RosEm rewrots It in 1927,
adding some new music for the Aca-
demio Royal in Paris, and called it
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
tho Egyptians after the plague o.
darkness IVES dispellsd."

May not one criticise Goethef II he
SO greatly reverenced prayer. according
to its institution under the New Dis
pensation, why did he not show regard
also for the Old and respect the veri-
ties of history sufficiently to reserve
his ballet till after the passage of
the Red Sea, when Moses celebrated the
miracle with a song and Miriam, the
prophecies, the sister of Aaron, took
a timbrel in her hand; and all the
women went out after her with tim
brels and with Dances?
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
How Composers Change Their Musical Purposes

There is a good deal Of nonsensical
sffectation in the talk about the inti-
mate association in the minds Of COM
posers of music, text and incident or
original purpose "Un Ballo IN
Maschera," as we see it most often
nowadays, plays in Nomansland; but,
I fancy that its music would sound
pretty much the same if the theatre of
action were transplanted back to Swe-
den, whence il came originally, or left
in Naples, whittier it emigrated, or to
Boston, to which highly inappropriate
place II was banished to oblige the
Neapolitan censor. So long as COM
posers have the habit of plucking
feathers out of their dead birds to
make wings for their new, we are like
ly to remain In happy and contented
ignorance Of m6saIlidnces between
music and score, until they are point
ed out by too curious critics or con-
fessed by the author. What is present
habit was former custom to which no
kind or degree Of stigma attached
Bach did It; Handel did It; nor was
either of these worthless always serupu-
lous IN distinguishing between me,un
and tu1Drn when it came 70 appropri-
sting existing thematic material. In
their day the merit Of individuality
and the right of property lay more In
the manner in which ideas were pre-
sented than in the ideas themselves
In 1886 spent delightful day with
DR.. Chrysander at his home in Berge'
dorf, near Hamburg, and he told me
the story Of how on one occasion
when Keiser was incapacitated by the
vice TO which he was habitually prone
Handel, who sat in his orchestra, was
asked by him TO write the necessary
opera. Handel complied, and his sue
cess was too great to leave Keiser<
awakened conscience in peace. So he
reset the book. Before Keiser's set
ting was ready for production Handel
had gone to Italy. Hearing Of Keiser's
act, he secured copy Of the new set
ting from a member of the orchestrs
and sent back TO Hamburg a compost
tion based on Keiser's melodies "to
show how such themes ought to be
treated" DR.. Chrysander, also. when
he gave ms copy Of Bertali's Don
Giovanni" libretto. for which GAIA
niga composed the music, told me
that Mozart had only been little less
free than the poet in appropristing
ideas from the older work.
One Of the best pieces in the final
scene of "Fdelio" was taken from a
cantsta on the death Of the Emperor
Of Austria, composed by Beethoven be-
fore he lett Bonn. The melody origi-
nally conceived for the last movement
of tbs symphony IN d minor was de-
veloped into the finale of one of the
last string quartets.
The instances in which composers
have put their pieces to widely di.
vergent purposes are innumersble and
sometimes amusing, in-yiew of the fan.
tastic belief that they are guided by
,plenary inspiration. The overture
which Rossini wrote for his Barber
of Seville was lost soon after the
first production Of the opera. The
composer did not take the trouble tC
write another, but appropriated one
which had served its purpose in ar
earlier-work. Persons ignorant Of that
fact, but with lively imAginations. as
have said in one of my books, haze
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
Open Air Concerts and
Some of the Programmes

phony" Of Tschaikowsky win be plsv.x
by the eighty-six piece Civic orehsstr,
at its fifth concert, Tuesday sveni,,
July rs, at Madison Square Garden
These concerts are gaining IN the puh.
lie interest, no less than 400 per,on.
attending the third. The Garden Ia.
been newly disinfected, and With psv
decorations. improved acoustics spd
big buffe. is revealing itself a. q eo.l
and pleasant resort on Tuesday s,d
Friday evenings. Seats for the CN,.
Orchestral Society's series Of SUNNI
concerts may be had at several s.ar..
throughout the city.
The programme for next TussIsv
evening is as follows:
Symphony No. In ninnr. 'rsnsuuas
fsekalhssus
s.lone', Aria 'Hsrodl ads" .......... 49,
Ada AndfovA soprna
Oy.r-rre 70 "TsnnhaetSer w.
Prssmdium ........'-..'............ JsrSfsa
wa,z-TAss from The Vienna woods .su,.,s
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

the former, which demanded nothing
more than the lowering Of the stage
lamps. But he could evolve no device
which could save the final miracle from
laughter. A hilarious ending to so SOL
emn a work disturbed the management
and the librettist, Totola, who, just be-
fore projected revival in Naples, a
year or two after the first production,
came to the composer with a project
for saving the third act Rossini was
in bed, as usual, and the poet showed
him the text Of the prayer, "Dall tue
stillat," which he said he had written
in an hour. ~ will get up and write
the music" said Rossini; "you shall
have it in a quarter Of an hour" And
he kept his word, whether literally or
not in respect of time does not matter.
When the opera was again performed
il contained the chorus with its melody
which provided Paganini with material
for one Of his sensational performances
on the G string.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23
DAL TUo sfELEkI1

Csrpani tells the story and describes
the effect upon the audience which
heard it for the first time. Laughter
was just beginning in the pit when the
public was surprised to note that Moses
was about to sing. The people stopped
laughing and prepared to listen. They
were awed by the beauty Of the minor
strain which was echoed by aaron and
then by the chorus of Israelites. The
host marched across the mimic sea and
fell on their knees, and the music burst
forth again, but now in the major
mode. And now the audience joined in
the jubilation. The people in the boxes,
says Carpani, stood up; they leaned
over the railings; applauded; they
Carpani adds: 81 am almost in tears
when | think of this prayer" An i'm
pressionable folk, those Italians of less
than century ago. Among other
things that can be said in praise Of our
hero" remarked a physician to Car
pani, amidst the enthusiasm caused by
the revamped opera, "do not forget
that he is an assassin. / can cite to
you more than forty attacks of nerv-
Gus fever or violent convulsions on the
part Of young women, fond to excess
of music, which have no other origin
than the prayer of the Hebrews in the
third act with its superb change Of
keyi" (See Rossini's biography, by
Sutherland Edwards)
Thus music saved the score in Ma
pies. When the opera was rewritten
for London and made to tell a story
about Peter the Hermit, the corre-
spending score had to be elided after
the first performance. Ebers tells the
story: A body of troops was supposed
to pass over a bridge which, breaking,
was to precipitate them into the water.
The troops being made of basketwork
and pulled over the bridge by ropes,
unfortunately became refractory on
their passage. and very sensibly re-
fused, when the bridge was about to
give way, to proceed any further; con-
sequently when the downfall of the
arches took place the basket men re-
mained very quietly on that part Of
the bridge which was left standing, and
instead of being consigned to the waves
had nearly been set on fire. The au-
dience, not giving the troops due
credit for their prudence, found no lit
tie fault with their compliance with
the law of self-presevation. In the
following representations of the opera
the bridge and basket men which, on
pdssdnt COR en- restdnt rather) had
cost fifty pounds. were omitted. When
"Moise" was prepared in Paris $4,000
francs were sunk in the Red Sea.
! shall recur in a moment to the
famous prighiera but, having Eber's
book before me, see an anecdote so
delightfully."- illustrative of the proven
bal spirit of the lyric theatre that |
cannot resist the temptation to repeat
it. In the revised Moses" made for
Paris there occurs a quartet be ginning
"Mi manca la voce" (T lack voice"0
which Chorley describes as "a delicious
round" Camporese had to utter the
words first and no sooner had she done
so than Ronzi di Begnis, in a whisper,
loud enough to be heard by her COM
panion, made the comment az vero!"
("True!")-"s remark" says Mr. Ebers,
which produced a retort courteous
somewhat more than verging on the
limit Of decorunk though not proceed
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

The East Side House Settlement an
nouncss a series of free open air con-
certs by the Ncighborhood Symphony
Orchestra, conducted by Jacques H.
Gottlieb, on the terrace in front OF the
East Side House, 18th street and East
River, opposite John Jay Park ihese
concerts will continue Tuesday nign''
during July and August.
The ever-populIr "Psthetique sym
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

On the campus Of Columbia Univer-
sity next Tuesday evening, under the
auspices of the summer session OF the
university:
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

w THETHER the English owe grudge TO ther =
~ Chamberlain for deprving them OF the pleasure OF
;ne has nnR Biblical stories do not know
New-York tribune., 1916-07-23

ON SATURDAY morning, Just as the
" Gnomes were preparing 70 send
nlain ice cram LID to the Soda