The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-11-21
Their Condition Plainly Evil
dent at the Opening Per-
Torrance of the. Season.
BY w. j. HENDERSON.

TIME wind is not tempered to
the shorn lamb either in Wall
Street or the Metropolitan Opera
House: but tlSRre does seem to be some
indefinite kind of belief in newspaper
offices that the first night of the sea-
son OF opera is to be treated as an
event Of the first magnitude. no mat
ter what may be the nature of the
performance. This curious tradition
never was more clearly observed than
In Tuesdays papers. The milk Of hui
man kindness surely flowed in copious
foods.
very large sum of money was paid
by the public for Monday evenings
performance. 1t was not worth the
price. Occasion was taken in this
place once before TO comment with
some severity on the want of appre-
citation by some Metropolitan singers
of their plain duty to this public.
These singers were charged, and de-
servedly so. with being so eager to
amass large stores of American dol
lars that they were not content with
the liberal salaries paid by the Metro
politan and the royalties earned from
Photographic records, but also must go
on long concert tours before the opera
season and return here to confront the
most liberal of all audiences with their
voices in tatters.
On no previous occasion was this
condition more in evidence than on
last Monday evening. Doubtless we
shall be told that temporary and i'm
me diate causes impaired the lyric eff
fciency of the chief artist" of the
night, but never before had Mr. Caruso
appeared at an opening performance
in such a lamentable vocal state. It
is no secret that he passed consider
able part of the autumn in making a
concert tour.
Concert Given I'm an Arena.
private letter from Montreal fur
nished this writer a significant account
OF the concert there. 1t was given in
the Mount Royal Arena. the Madison
Square Garden of Montreal. a place de-
voted to hockey and skating matches in
the winter and prize fights and wrest-
ling matches In the spring and autumn.
The floor was sprinkled with sawdust
but the doors of recent sports would not
down. The receipts were, in round
figures. $4,000. Mr. Caruso's share
was so per cent. of the net
Does any wonder that II the idol
lied tenor did much of this sort of
thing he would not possess much tone
for the opening night of the opera? The
cold truth about Monday evenings ex-
hibition is that Mr.. Caruso never before
disclosed such distressingly bad state
of voice. and never before did so much
downright bad singing.
There was much applause. II Is
frequently asserted with vehemence that
II is the duty Of the critic always to re-
cord this fact In order that the reader
may know that not all the audience
agreed with his estimate of perform
ance. The present writer has complied
with the demand contained In this asser-
ton in spite of the fact that his long
experience in the field of musical re-
viewing has taught him that the APP
plause of an audience in nine cases out
Of ten means absolutely nothing.
Everything is applauded. Such
thing as silence after a musical number
IL urheard of. The amount. degree and
character of the applause depends upon
several conditions. Any italian singer.
no matter how bad, will have Italian
auditors, and these will create a tumult
in favor of the singer, larger or smaller
as the case may be. but always tu-
multi Russians will go to hear Rus
sian and loyalty support him. The rule
extends through various qualifications
Only one Is never found. A plain Amer
lean has no friends at all. Americans
do not rush to hear and applaud Amer
leans.
In the Metropolitan Opera House
three-quarters OF the applause comes
from behind the orchestra rail and from
the top gallery. 1t matters not what
Mr.. Caruso does. He has only to walk
upon the stage and emit a sound OF any
quality so long as 1t is Of acute pitch
and accompanied by throwing back OF
the head Applause OF stentorian kind 10
certain to follow
operate regulations are to very
large extent created by the people who