New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
Chapter XI.
By II. E. Krehbiel
Copyright, 1918. New York Tribune 1nc9

~ JANUARY %, 1910, an
opera by Luigi lllica and AL
berto Franchetti, entitled
"Germania," was performed
for the first time in America at the
metropolitan Opera House under the
direction of Signor Toscanini.
There are good reasons for thinking
that Signor Franchetti had more to
do than is ordinarily the case with
the composition of the book of Ger
mania" Illica in librettist-in ordi-
nsry to the composers of Italy who
give their operas to Ricordi for pub
lication. He can turn his hand to any
subject and produce serviceable
book at a moments notice, but he
mist have had some special induce
ment to produce lbretto like that of
this opera, which was obviously writ
ten as much for perusal in the study
as for hasty consultation in the opera
house. The stage directions read like
those of library plays never intended
for public performance. They tell of
things which could never be OWNED
from a performance alone. For in
stance: One of the stage folk opens
scroll and examines it. "a carica-
;1re of Hangwitz!" he exclaims,
laughs and shows it to his compan-
ions. Now read the stage directions:
students approach, curious to see;
all laugh at the caricature, which rep
resents the minister as pig grubbing
up mushrooms, which Napoleon, repre-
scnted as Pluto, seizes and devours
Each mushroom bears the name of q
German state, province or city"
Plainly, whoever was responsible for
hcok-making Of this type had some
thing more than the ordinary operatic
performance in view, and this must
have been the composer. Baron Fran
chetti, although listed as an Italian
snd born in Turin, is scion of the
house of Rothschild, whose founder
hailed from the Judengasse in Frank
fort. His higher musical education
was acquired at the Hochschule in
Munich and at Dresden under the
tutelage of Draeseke, an arch-Wag-
ierite in the days when such men
we're notable for their rarity Before
he had made his name widely known
ie composed a symphony, and it was
as symphonist that New York first
heard of him as long ago as 1887. Mr..
Theodore Thomas gave the compost
tion a hearing at a concert of the
Philharmonic Society. He also played
q piece of between-acts music from an
opera entitled "Asrael" by the same
composer, and thus helped to create
curiosity touching the personality of
the author of the opera when it was
CHOSEN by Mr.. Edmund G.. Stanton to
open the season of the Metropolitan
opera House on November 26, 1890.
An Interesting Occasion
This occasion was for several reasons
an interesting one. For one thing it
introduced to New York Mr.. Andreas
D;ppel, then young tenor, but at the
me of the production of "Germania"
one of the managers of the institu-
tion which lifted him out of the OBJ
scurity of the Bremen municipal thea
tie. 1t was also the beginning of an
amusing and futile experiment to
feet compromise between the Ger
nan regime which prevailed at the
opera house at the time and the desire
oil the box holders to hear Italian
opera instead of German. Franchetti
vas composer with name which
had an Italian sound; Smarelgia was
another; and from them New Workers.
received the two most astonishing
opCras that they had ever heard -
Asrael" and Der Nassal Won Sz-
acth." In "Asracl" there was notice
;ble a tendency on the part of the
atyle of its day to the German. Had
Wagner lived to hear it he would
]cobably have explained the phenome-
ron on racial grounds, saying that
Franchetti's music was like the Ian
2Cage spoken by his people, the Jews
without national idiom because it
was an acquired, not a native tongue
there is more than a hint of that
regularity in the music of "Ger-
wania," which | am strongly inclined
to believe was written with an eye on
the theatres of Germany rather than
those of Italy. 1t has for Il back
ground a series of incidents calculated
TO put German patriotism in fer
ment. 1t pictures the uprising of the
German people under the leadership
% their poets, philosophers, univer-
slty students Tugendbund and
Louisebund against the Napoleonlc
oppression. The martyrdom of Palm.
the Nuremberg bookseller. is the chief
incident of the prologue. A gather
ihg of the patriots and the resolution
OF private quarrel into a patriotic
cutburst by the opportune appearance
of Queen Louise and the young prince
who came down into our own day as
William ! of Prussia, German EN-
peror, is another. A symphonic de-
lineation of the battle of Leipsic, fol-
lowed by picture of the battlefield
With the Little Corporal and his guard
moving past the background in his re-
treat from Germany, is still another