Omaha daily bee., 1919-04-27

| and her voice was eXqulSlte-SCOttl
lived up to the highest expectations
as "Amonosro," and was the most
dramatic of all. We knew just how
excellent Henri Scott would be as
the high priest, and he was. Then
the chorus and the ballet, and the
orchestra with NJ. Morangoni; every
thing was so finished and brilliant
and in keeping as to fulfill ones
fondest imaginings.
/ We were really surprised at the
numbers of the ballet and the
chorus. The stage fairly swarmed
with people in curtain scenes. Apart
IRON the music it was gorgeous
spectacle, the scenery surprising
expectations, especially in the Nile
scene where it was hard to believe
it was not real river (rather than
that it was, as sometimes is the
case). We were charmed, and en-
tranced by the whole performance.
and were glad we had been there to
witness it.
I The next afternoon we went to the
Good Friday afternoon special con-
cert 10 hear Gounod's "Gallia,"
Pedestrians "Messe Brevis," and
Rossini's "Stabat Mater" with SOLO
lists, chorus and orchestra. Rosa
Bonsell was to have sung in the
"Stabat Mater" but she was ill, SO
Marie Sunderlin sang the soprano
in this, as we'll as the sslo parts in
the "Gallia." We arrived early and
again we sat before the heavy silken
curtain which had parted upon such
beauteous scenes before and
thought in retrospect OF how
wonderful the Metropolitan is.
But when the curtain parted this
time we were fabbergasted, to put
it mildly, by what we saw. Did we
see rows upon rows of people in
white robes or even black ones, pre-
senting a churchly and uniform eff
feet or anything of that sort? We
did not. We beheld ordinary and
varied street dresses on the women.
such as they probably wear at re-
hearsals. Here and there white
shirtWaist won prominence for its
wearer in contrast to the dark colors
surrounding it and some two or
.hree Italian members had pinned
on bouquet of flowers. As for the
men, their attire ranged all the way
from spotless evening dress and
dinner coats to brown and gray suits
that needed pressing, and eliminated
with the fat man on the top row,
who constantly mopped his face with
a red bandana handkerchief.
couldn't believe that it was the
Metropolitan, that the same COM
pany which presented opera with
such care for theatrical effect, could
present sacred music with such lack
of care for religious or churchly eff
fect-But alas, it was so.
Another annoying thing was the
way they rose to sing. 1t would
have given any self-respecting
Omaha choral conductor fits. First
one or two, then few more, then
several, with much noise of scrap
ing feet and camp chairs, until
finally all were ready and on their
feet to sing. 1t was accomplished in
this way every time, and l gazed at
the conductor, Giuilo Setti with
mixed emotions as he tapped and
waited for them-calm and undis-
mayed. The chorus is large. /
should say about 800 voices and it
was an interesting fact, that they
all seemed singers of at least 80
years of age or older. Several sang
the entire program without music.
There is splendid quality in the var
ious sections, and they are we'll
balanced with each other. The pro-
gram was we'll selected. The tragic
tone of Gounod's "Gallia" contra ste d
well with the quaint spiritual fis-
teenth century music of Palestrina,
while the colorful "Stabat Mater" of
Rossini made dramatic climax to
the whole.
A, very good idea of these three
important religious numbers was OBJ
tanned, although there seemed but
little which sounded in any way in
,spired. The high spots of the after
noon were certain parts of the
"Messe Brevis" The unaccom-
panied choral music of Palestrina.
where the various sections achieve d
the legate, and shading one know S
is to be found in this lovely contra
puntal music and the "Inflamma
tus," or the "Stabat Mater" where
the chorus did some really magni-
ficent singing.
We again recalled in the glorious
singing OF Madame Matzenauer, the
contralto. The orchestra was much
too loud for Charles Hackett and
Jose Martones, the basso. Madame
Sunderlin's limpid soprano voice
was heard to advantage, especially
in the "Gallia."
OF course, Mr.. Setti, the conduc-
tor, has large body of people to
handle and perhaps a great deal
more to rehearse than there are