New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-08

in Florence in 1892. The ire
mendous personal popularity
of the composer, who was now
as much q favorite in Vienna
and Berlin as he was in the
town of his birth. which had
struck a medal in his honor, or the
town Of his residence, which had Gre
ated him an honorary citizen, could
not save the work.
Now he turned to the opera which
he had laid aside to take up his Ca
valleria," and in 1895 "Guglielmo Rat
cliff" based upon the gloomy Scotch
story told by Heine, was brought for
ward at La Scala, in Milan. 1t was
in a sense the child of his penury and
suffering. but he had taken it up in
spired by tremendous enthusiasm for
the subject, and inasmuch as most OF
its music had been written before sue
cess had turned his head, or desire for
notoriety had begun to itch him, there
was reason to hope TO find in it come
of the hot blood which surges through
the score of "Cavalleria." AS a mat
ter of fact, critics who have seen the
score or heard the work have pointed
out that portions Of 81 Rantzau" and
"Cavaleria" are as alike as two peas.
II would not be a violent assumption
that the composer in his eagerness to
get his score before the Sonzogno jury
plucked his early work Of its best
feathers and found it difficult to re-
store plumage OF equal brilliancy when
he attempted to make restitution. In
the same year, 1895, his next opera,
"Silvano," made a fiasco in Milan. A
year later there appeared "Zanetto,"
which seems like an effort to contract
the frame of the lyric drama still fur
Their than is done in "Cavalleria." 1t
is a bOzzettO, sketch, based on Cop
PEGS duologue "Le Passant," scene
between a strumpet who is aweary of
the world and young minstrel. Its
orchestration is unique-there are but
strings and harp. 1t was brought
out at Pesaro, where in 1885 Mascagni
had been appointed director Of the
Liceo Musicale Rossini.
As director Of the music-school in
Rossini's native town Mascagni's days
were full of trouble from the outset.
He was opposed, said his friends. in re-
formatory efforts by some of the pro-
fessors and pupils, whose enmity grew
so virulent that in 1897 they spread
the story that he had killed himself.
He was deposed from his position by
the administration, but reinstated by
the Minister of Fine Arts. The criti-
cism followed him for years that he
had neglected his duties to travel about
Europe, giving concerts and conducting
his operas for the greater glory of
himself and the profit Of his publisher.
At the time of the suicide story it was
also said that he was in financial
straits; to which his friends replied
that he received a salary OF 60 lire
($l2) a day as director, 1000 lire
(s2OO) a month from Sonzogno, and
lived in a princely dwelling.
After "Zanetto" came "Iris," to
which, as the one opera besides "Ca-
valleria rusticana" which has remained
in the American repertory, l shall re-
vert presently. Iris" was followed by
lie Maschere," which was brought out
on January II, 1901, simultaneously in
six cities - Rome, Milan. Venice,
Genoa, Turin and Naples. 1t made an
immediate failure in all of these places
but Rome, where it endured but short
time. Mascagni's next operate work
was a lyric drama, entitled "Vistilia,"
the libretto Of which. based upon an
historical novel by Racco de Zerbi, was
written By Menasci and Targioni-Toz-
zetti. who collaborated on the book of
"Cayalleria rusticana." The action
goes back TO the time Of Tiberius and
deals with the loves of Vistilia and
Uelius. Then came another failure in
the shape Of "Amica," which lived out
its life in Monte Carlo. where it was
produced in March, 1905.
In the winter Of lso2'o3 Signor Mas
cacni was in the United States for the
nurpose of conducting performances
Of some of his operas and giving con-
certs. The company Of singers and In
strumentalists which his American
agents had assembled for his purpose
wa, with a few exceptions, composed
of the usual operate AOtsam and Jet
sam which can be picked up at any
time in New YorL The enterprise