New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-07
Twenty Thousand Hear
"Die Wa1kuere" Given
in Open Air.
NO INTERRUPTION
OFFERED GADSKI
Applause and Some Kisses for
Her Work-Performance Is
One of Success.
BY GRENVILLE VERNON.

~ 'ha4-' Eh.Fo4fs
New Haven, June 6.-The perform
ance Of Wsgner's "Die Walkure," post
poned from Monday night because of
rain, was given this evening at the
Yale Bowl before almost twenty thou
sand people. Although Nine. Johanna
Gadski sang Brunnhilde no rocks were
thrown. Dutch Carter's protest against
the propriety of allowing the appear
ance of singer who stated that she
would gladly go about our land blow
ing up ammunition works appeared IN
have fallen upon deaf ears. In fact,
Nine. Gadski, at the conclusion Of her
"Vslkyrie Cry" received even a moder-
ate ripple Of applause, interpreted by
only few Kisses. Evidently New
Haven, unlike Paris, Berlin or Milan,
believes that music has no relation 10
daily life and that singer may talk IA
she likes provided she sings on the key.
which is a way of looking at things
which surely may be defended.
But to turn from the ridiculous to
the sublime, from prima donns's pol
itics to Richard Wagner, let it be
stated at once that to-night's per-
formance was one of extraordinary in
terest and OF extraordinary poetic
power. II was not the "Walkure" OF
the theatre, not the "Walkure" OF Bay
reuth; but it was a "Walkure" which
contained some things undreamt of in
Frau Cosims's philosophy.
Recent open air experiments have
given US somewhat a horror of hstri-
onic and musical art as practised close
TO nature. We have had, for instance,
the wretched acoustics of the City
College Stadium and Of the Polo
Grounds, surrounded by corset adver-
tisements and elevated railroads, but
somehow neither Mr.. MacKaye nor Mr..
Koemmenich was able to cause the spir-
its Of Shakespeare and Verdi TO brood
happily of these restricted spaces, and
we. who went 10 worship, came away
cynical believers in the efficacy OF
grease paint, four walls and a painted
ceiling. Gods green earth and pure
air may be fit abode for art-only at
the City College Stadium the earth is
not green nor the air pure. But at the
Yale Bowl 10 was far different. With
the stage set down many yards be-
meath the earth, the huge ampitheatre
rising about it like some evocation
from a Roman past a sky heavy with
clouds and surrounding all the black
curtain of the night, the ring drama
received setting of sombre power
such as no opera house could give.
AS the Bowl is in the country, abso-
Lutte stiffness reigned, and the acoustics
were absolutely perfect. While the
great spaces caused the music and the
singing to sound as from distance,
not tone of voice or of strings was
lost. The very remoteness of the music
was an asset.
On the stage heroic figures, no longer
German sopranos or tenors of conven-
tional gestures and awkward, lumber
ing movements, moved about as if i'm
PEELED by fate. The scenery. good
enough OF its kind no doubt, was for
gotten. II seemed so utterly trivial
and incidental.
Children of Fate Seen.
All the artificial mumbo-jumbo OF
the stage carpenter which so often
weighs down the sublime music OF the
Ring had taken fight, and II veritably
seemed as if at last we had true
wedding Of the arts. Wagner had re-
ceived the scene painter OF his dreams
and his work was present in the gray
canopy of sky-enveloping robes OF
night. The music drama had burst the
walls of its Theatre prison house and
emerged epic in power and pregnant
with a strange, impersonal meaning:
Too often nowadays are Sieglinde and
Siegmund healthy puppets OF the stage
manager Last night they were In
truth children of fate.
Il would be, of course, absurd 20
argue that Wagnerian opera should
thus straightway HE itself from the
Metropolitan Opera House 20 the Yale
Bowl. Needless to say, the huge
spaces of the Bowl buried the person
ality Of the artist, even that OF the
conductor. 1t was not drama as
much as an epic sacrifice.
The effect was tremendous, yet some
how il did not reach our hearts. IL
was too impersonal, too far removed
from actual experience. There was In
IL the serene tragedy of the Greek
Sophocles rather than the suffering
hesitancy Of the modern Richard Wag-
ner.
The performance was an admirable
one. Mr.. Sembach as Siegmund, Mr..
Whitehill AS Wotan and Miss Kurt as
Sieglinde bore off the honors both his
ironically and vOeally,. but Mr.; Braun
was a sinister Hunding, and Nine.
Schumann-H dnk, though her voice IS no
longer that Of recent years, knows her
Fricka. Nine. Gadski was in far from
good voice. Her tones sounded worn
and tired and she had difficulty in
reaching her upper notes. Histrionical-
", her Brunnhilde WAS what it always
has been, painstaking and gnheroi role;
Mr.. Bodansky led the orchestra most
with delicacy, yet with
power. This was the cast:
Brunnhide ...s.sr.ssss -,
Segnde t''f'' p t'lc-1...o 49,
FrckA rei'uiNaii
Siegmund J9haLN'' ~,
Votan ......-.......... ..---. clarence enl.tlIlt
ne Vaikyrie.. Mines Leonora Sparks. Wan Dyck.
Yer. Curis Rita FgrniA. Flcrenee Mufarl
Schum ann -Heink Maria Matted and l4la
conduc.or. Arthur Bodanssy
"DAS KONZERT" ACTED
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