New-York tribune., 1920-03-25
Eugene Onegin'
Given Hearty
Greeting Here
Tschaikoffsky's Opera Awak.
ems Unusual Interest i'm
Public, Especially on
the Lower East Side
Intensity Marks Action
Genuine Russian Folk
Tunes Heard; Italian Is
Used by the Singers
Bv H. F. Krehbiel

oin" was performed for the first time
in America 1--WE believe) at the Metro
politan Opera House last night. Its
music had been heard here at three con-
eerts of the Symphony Society, with
the Oratorio Society singing the Choir
uses. under the direction of Mr.. Wal
ter Damrosch, twelve years ago Con
February /, . and 16. 19oS)
There was at that time great in
terest in all of the composers music:
had been, in fact, ever since he came
10 New York TO take part in the cere-
monies attending the dedication of
Carnegie Hall. and the admiration has
not yet subsidized. though the public has
been overfed with the "Pathetic" SYM
phony to degree which would have
produced nausea if our concert goers
had not developed an appetite which is
in nothing so like that OF an ostrich as
its Indifference to the quality of the
pabulum served to it.
When Mr.. Damrosch performed
Eugene Onegin" in concert form there
did not seem to be even remote prob
ability that we should ever hear it or
any opera by Russian composer in a
lyric theater. The battle between the
Metropolitan and Manhattan Opera
Houses was in its first stages Of fury
Mr.. Hammerstein had brought his
French batteries into play and was
doing considerable damage to the
prestige of the Metropolitan with "Les
Contes dHofmann," LA Damnation dc
Faust" "ThaIs," "Pelleas ct Mclisande"
and Louise
Mr. Conried's fairly effective guns
we're Puccini's "Boheme." "Tosca," :"
"Manon Lescaut." "Madama Butterfly"
and Mascagni's Iris" He still had his
German Berthas of Wagnerian calibre,
bat all of them were in bad condition
and some of them C'Parsifal," "Rhine-
gold" and Gotterdammerung," for in
stance were not even brought up to
the subscription firing line in that sea-
son.
Damrosch Loses Interest
Meanwhile Mr.. Damrosch. who had
lost interest i'll opera after the failure
of his friends to secure the manage
ment of the Metropolitan Opera House
four years before. was preaching the
doctrine that operas, some OF them a.
east (and in this category he included
The later works of Wagner), might bet
ter be performed on the concert plat
from than on the dramatic stage His
argument was the singular one that the
scenic representation of the dramas
of Wagner's tetralogy at least was
always inadequatet and therefore dis
turbing to the imagination. warmed by
he music, which he maintained in
spte of all that Wagner had said
and done, was the chief element of the
yric drama. He made the contention
ven IN the case of "Peiieas ct Nell
ho
the music did not exist for it's own
sake but only as an agency which gave
atmosphere and mood to Maeterlinck's 5
play.
We thought Mr.. Damrosch's argu-
Nent specious then and were unable to
nellevc IN its sincerity as applied to
Tristan und Isolde" "Die Meistcr-
snger" and "Parsifal," to say nothing
Of "Tannhauser' and "Lohengrin y
When he performed the music of
Eugene Onegin" we could conceive of
only three reasons which might be adj
yanced in favor of his action. One has
eeen suggested: the opera was a work
II such great musical beauty and value
hat it deserved to be heard in New
crk; and inasmuch as il was not
.ieiy ever to have dramatic repre-
ntatlon at either of our opera houses.
seemed we come addition TO the
oncert list
The second reason was that the dra-
satlc significance of the opera was so
small that it lost little by being de-
prved of action, costumes and scenery.
third reason, but one that was
artisticaly reprehensible. if its COM
panions proved to be untenable, was
that Tschaikoffsky stood SO high in
popular favor that the performance of
tho of Af Il
prove to be financially beneficial to the
large and costly undertakings in which
Mr.. Damrosch and his hackers were
engaged.
Prophetic Vision Short
In the first case our prophetic vision
was short. Two years later we saw
Ischaikoffswy's "Pique Dame at the
Metropolitan. two years after that
aoussorgsky's Boris Godounoff" and
three years after that Borodin's
Prince Igor Here were three operas
OF the kind we had never expected to
see, two OF them containing national!
elements which made the modicum OF
Slavlcism in Eugene Onegin" seem
pallld as the pale-faced moon COM
pared with fiery Mars. Concerning the
dramatic inefficiency Of the opera we
We're not deceived. Tschaikoffsky con-
structed his play out of d political ro-
nance by Poushkin. for which he had
an almost idolatrous admiration. When
.old that the work was fatally feeble
rom theatrical point of view he eX
pressed contempt for dramatic effect
ana said that he did not care for a
:lage performance. Yet he journeyed
rom Italy to Moscow to witness its
~ nrst representation by students at the
aoscow Conservatory and rejoiced wit.
eAceeding joy at the triumph which it
sooh won at the Russian theaters and
asS maintained ever since.
ioat triumph, however, was, and is,
sue 70 the music alone, which Tschai-
hsoHsky loved so much that he did not
aesisate . to write down the fact that
beauty moved him to tears when
~; me prayed it for himself But without
"h,hg to depreciate that beauty, il
rsa oe said that in the case of an abb
T..nhaily moody emotionalist, such as
wa..s wsas.a.saiKohsky was, this fact is not
"o.th r., much as evidence.
mnen We listened to the music in the
Ls"cert-room we were compelled to
~ tight rein on our risibles while
r1s. Nc people in evening dress on the
tth.suorm re carried on conversations OF
inc most prosaic kinda lover scold
d. ms betrothed because she had
bsasiee bsaSee with another man, men en-
chs,ieu IN quarrel which ended in a
tsaasslii,enge to mortal combat, con-
faslon IN stilted and musically
N Vo