New-York tribune., 1918-03-07
BY CrenvilIe Vernon


There are those who will not like
lie Goa DOR There are those who
viii wish that it were "ButterAy' or
The Merry Widow" or "Tristan.' To
sucn people we have nothing 20 say;
they belong to the category of those
who, oeholding a glorious sunset, say
they prefer the sunrise; who in the
presence of the Alps declare they have
nostalgia for the sea. They are the
lmposslbilists; the men and women
/ the right way; who enjoy vicariously,
/ by denial. We all know them; we all
! dislike them; we all avoid them. Then
there are the purists. They are those
who would give "Hamlet" as it was
i presented on the Bankside, with Ophe-
liza taken by boy; they are those who
insist on spelling honor with a u; who
would prefer Jail to sIlit lntlnltlvc.
They will not like lie Cog dor" be-
cause il was originally written as an
opera. and was a bore, and therefore
its artistic sancity must never be vio-
lated by turning it into a delightful
and stimulating success as an oIera-
pantomime. They prefer historical ac-
cUracy to vitality, the museum to tine
theatre, death to life.
Most Popular Novelty
There are others who will not like
lie Coz d'Or''-though this we did
not believe until we met one of them
charming, human men and women.
Wny they won't Ike it we will never
know. Their dislike will be to us part
of the mystery of life, one of the ca
balistic arabesques woven through hu-
manity's warp and woof. Their exist
ence makes us understand the wisdom
Of Ecclesiastes. If we ponder on
them long enough we will become skep-
tics and worse They make us doubt
the worth of all judgment. They VIII
destroy the artistic morale of the
strongest nation. They are more dan
gerous than trinitrctoluol. Since we
live in democracy, we cannot sup
press them. Let us forget them.
Outside of these three classes. and
each class is smaller than the pre-
ceding, there will be much surprise if
lie Coo dor" does not prove the most
interesting and most popular novelty
that Signor Gatti-Casazza has present.
ed at the Metropolitan since 'LAmore
del tire Re" The history of the work
is now we'll known. 1t was completed
by Rimsky-korsakofP in 1907. but was
never given in the lifetime of the com
poser Rimsky died in 1908; the opera
was first presented in Petrograd in
1910
As an opera it was failure, it be-
ing impossible for the singers to
sustain the action demanded by the
work. Then, in 1912, Fokine, the maltre
de ballet of the Diaghileff Ballet
Russe," conceived the idea of present
ing it as an opera -pantomime. In this
form it was given with marked success
in Paris and London in 1912, despite
the efforts made by the composers
widow to suppress it, Nine. Rimsky de-
claring that it ought to be given as a
pure opera or net at all.
Frankly Fairy Tale
The purists ard the academies in
America, as elsewhere, may be depend
ed upon-to sustain Nine. Rimsky in
her position, regardless of the fact
that a pure opera is a self-evident
+ contradiction. Opera is at best a bas-
tard art. and even the genius of Richard
Wagner failed to legitimatize this off
spring Of music and drama. His in
vention of the term "music-drama'
was a bit Of camoYhage, which de-
ceived nearly the whole of one genera
tion and goodly portion of another.
1t apparently deceived even Wagner
himself. The worship OF words is
mighty, but, happily, is not eternal.
L
is and always has been-a luxurious
and somewhat exotic form Of enter
tainment which is of chief appeal in
relieving the boredom of the well-to-
do. That genius occasionally conde-
scends to use it as q medium does not
alter the basic fact, and certainly the
desire Of the crowd to pay prices which
it cannot afford to hear q Caruso or a
Galli-Curci does not raise its serious
T., II, =
nonsense talked about opera than about
almost anything else. We are told,
for instance, that only in the galleries
is there the true understanding of
opera.
Undoubtedly, the gallery at "Ring''
performance loves Wagner's music,
just as at one of "AIda" it loves
the golden tones of Radames. But
that the gallery gods or the rail
standees believe that opera possesses
the supreme position of its mother,
much doubt We believe too firmly in
the sound sense Of the people
lie Coo dor" is quite frankly a
fairy tale, not of the sentimental. mo-
lasses type with which Barrie has sue
ceeded in hypnotizing q goodly portion
Of the Anglo-Saxon world, but Of the
cruel, bloodthrsty sort beloved by
7 cnlldren and nations as yet unaftilcted d
with nerves. It is replete with all sorts
Of things-kings and queens, astrolo-
gers, dwarfs and giants, wooden horses
and beasts never seen on land or sea, a
golden cock, beautiful and cruel en-
chantress, love and war and death. 1t
is set in the world Of the nadar. the
poet and the child, phantasamagoria
in which sense is swamped by color. a
wonderful land Of topsy-turvy presided
over by an aged monarch az foolish
and futile and unlucky as was the Gar
Music Is Delightful
Those who search for symbols
may find them as thick as pebbles
on stony plain. Old King Dodon is
Nicholas; the Queen, the ideal of
power; the Astrologer. liberty; the
Golden Cock, the heart Of the people
even the ravens on the scenery might
be the Bosheviki! We are not quite
sure as to who is the perhaps
the final curtain. SO those who yearn
ever for cerebrations will receive food
FOR their thoughts, and will enjoy "Le
Cog dor"
But there are others who will enjoy
10 far, far more. The child intoxicated
with the mystery of the future VIII
find realized his dreams Of mann ood :,
the man, dreaming of the past, will see
himself again the child; the souls ad
vcnturer will find his path lighted by
the divine fame OF beauty. Surely the
land which produced all this means