New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-02

thought of anything higher in the art
scale than the movies" And then,
with Campanini and his forces departed
at the end OF the season, the Metropoli-
tan will reap the benefit of keener pub
lie interest
The Chicago Opera Company opened
at the Lexington last Monday night
The opera was Henri Fevrier's CTS
monda" an opera brand new to New
Y ork and almost brand new to New
Workers As to its merits, criticism runs
the gamut, from THE New York Tele-
gram" which found that 'there is not
dull moment in the entire perform
ance," to The New York Evening Sum-"
which found "ho!lowly Gathering emo
tionalism' underlying the music, ending
each act in ''stridence and cacophony"
Sylvester Rawlins, writing in The
Evening World" declares:
an. Fevrier's music is Away. pleas
ing, even when it draws danger 1sly near
to the commonplace. 1t reaches It's high
est development in the second act There
it narrowly escapes becoming great The
second and the third acts really make the
opera
But H. E. Krehbiel in The Tribune,
wrote that
"the music, which II. Fevrier has associated
with Sardou's play can scarcely be said to
be alluring in itself or illuminating of the
plays text and situations"
Most of the critics note the element of
reminiscence. For example, there is
Henry T. Finck, who finds "plenty of
melody which, while not markedly in
dividual. isn't banal, either" observing
in 1.-THE Evening POST:
at hardly be said that NJ Fevrier
always Eises to the full height of dra-
matte CLIMAX For the Cathedral scene of
the last act ne has provided pompous cere-
monial music almost Meyerbeersh in char
acter. AS always with the modern French
opera composers, the passionate alteration
o. Wagner is exhibited in amusingly frank
quotations from his operas, particularly
Tristan 'Valkyr' and 'Siegfried'"
Then to Pitts Sanborn, of "The New
York Globe the first ten minutes
brought him memories of "ThaIs," Car
men," Louise" and "Tosca" But, as
James Gibbons Huneker observes in 1.-The
Times" all modern French and Italia n
music bears at least the stencil of Wag-
ncr.
AS for Mary Garden the critics are
almost unanimous in their search for
sufficiently glowing adjectives. We see
her, through the eyes of Katherine Lane,
in ''The Evening Mail" CARRIED in FAIRY
draperies that only Miss Garden can
make 90 much a lovely part Of her ex-
quisite animation" To quote again Mr..
Huneker: People like Mary Garden be-
GAUGE she has that rarest OF artistic
virtucs-personality."
And here is a critic defending the
voice Of whose potency many have been
skeptieai 1t is Pitts Sanborn, and he
maintains:
Miss Garden waz moon blonde 1.-the
wonderful tgrees outside the tiger pit
in this tiger. tiger opera. What figure
in the first act, from the tip Of her gray
bunting boots 10 the top Of her black
broad brimmcd coronetcd hat She was in
cloth Of silver, nc-edged. we'll above
her ankles, a great swoop Of purple velve,
wound amply about her from shoulder
downward. In the Greeian draperies Of Act
II, ! longed to see her playing one Of the
JDbizsnieS and singing. Such singing, such
.'hrasinz, A with nawiess tone
~roduction might make nine days penance
sempiternsl 70 phrase Ike Mary Garden
"And Miss Garden Was marycllous!y In
voice. Raresg except nj fret did she squeeze
cut the upper tones In the old way. Her