Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-24
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
Weekly Comment on Things
Musical in Discriminating
Philadelphia

A NTONIO SCOTTI,. transplanted at
"A least for the time being from the
position of operate star to that OF i'm
presaria and star combined, gave out
most interesting and significant talk
short time ago on Italian opera and its
future, especially as relates to the
United States. Mr.. Scottis own opera
company incidentally gave an excellent
production in this city last Saturday
evening.
Perhaps the most interesting Of Mr..
Scotti's remarks had to do with the
''star'' system, Of which this country
Is suffering an acute attack now, as 1t
has always suffered and, to judge from
the American temperament, always will.
On this point he said:
"It is regrettable that the reputation
Of the singer draws bigger audiences in
America than the work performed.
American people 60 to hear some par
ticular singer and not the work of the
composer. In other countries this is not
SO invariably the rule. 1t is condition
that may be overcome in time in
America. 1t often happens that re-
markably good performances are missed
by the public, who are only drawn to the
opera house when some great operate
celebrity sings"
TT MAY be that his new position as
L impresario has something to do with
this attitude of the great Italian bari
tone. Now, as manager, he is giving
out big money (for he has some very
-. l.. nyN
is taking receipts, whereas in his form
er capacity as star he received the
money and gave the receipts himself.
However, he is undoubtedly sincere in
what he says, for Mr.. Scott is a musi-
clan as well as singer, and in his wide
experience in the greatest opera company
. in the world he has seen what the
''star" system, carried out to extremes,
will do.
In the first place, it keeps opera
from becoming a popular institution.
The enormous salaries paid to the
STARS" of whom Mr.. Scott himself
is Of the first magnitude, render huge
deficit at the close of each season a
certainty. Therefore, opera in this form
can only exist in the larger cities, and
the prices of admission must necessarily
be so high that it is put beyond the
reach of the people at large and es-
pecially those musicians and students
who would best be able to appreciate
and enjoy the productions.
However, it is doubtful If the STAR
system is much more of an evil here
than in other countries, except for the
fact that the salaries which the great
American opera companies are able to
pay, with the aid of liberal hackers who
pay the bills at the end of each season,
are so much higher than in the Euro
pean countries that every singer who
has the opportunity, comes post haste
to America for the sake Of the money
he can get.
TyHIS system had it's inception in
l. Italy, and it began to develop very
rapidly soon after the opera was recog-
nized as a definite art form. The tales
told of some of the early operate stars,
the money they received for their serv-
ices and the arbitrary manner in which
they imposed their wills upon the pub
lie as we'll as the composers lead one
to think that, after all, matters are not
SO bad here as they have been in the
home of the opera.
In those days singers were allowed
to furnish their own embellishments to
arias, to reject what they didn't like,
to sing what they pleased or not to
sing at all if they felt so inclined. In
fact, the most temperamental operate
songbird of today is a galley slave
as compared to the successful singer of
that early period.
There could be but one outcome of so
vicious a system, in which the work of
the composer was made simply a We
hicle for the personal exploitation of
!, the singer and that eventually came in
Italy, with the result that the opera
q was reformed to an extent that made
its present status possible.
SfTHIS situation has never arisen here
n l. and never will. What Mr.. Scott
complains of, very justly, has it's foun-
dation in the American desire to have
always the best, at no matter what cost,
and as we have the money to secure it
we naturally get it. We demand a
singer of the first grade in every posi-
tion of the cast, an orchestra of
symphony proportions and ability,
fine chorus, the most elaborate stage
settings and the best conductors in the
world, and, having been brought up
operatically on that principle, it will
be hard to change it.
There are but two ways to do it.
The first is for some manager to start
giving opera with cast Of singers per-
haps not of international reputation,
and with an orchestra and scenery re-
duced to the lowest possible degree con-
sistent with artistic work. This is en-
tirely possible, as has been done in the
Middle West by at least one travelling
opera company, which seems, from all
accounts, to be getting by financially
and artistically. The other method is
municipal opera, but, unfortunately our
political system is ill adapted to this
plan.
1t would be fine thing for some
operatic impresario to attempt, but he
would be certain to lose lot Of money,
especially at the start, and that is some
thing none of us like to do, and in this