New-York tribune., 1920-02-01

been grovelling at her feet instead of
waltlng LOT her coming But the
variant ending left the entire stare
to the prima donna for minutes while
the. orchestra proclaimed her "puriG-
cation through passion.
Another Who Loved-and Lost
But though the authors of the opera
ignored the story's own dramatic
stroke they supplied it with an incl
dent which was probably conceived
either as a needed ingredient of Incl
dent or to indicate that MeTamoun, the
lover. was so irresistible a person that
Cleopatra must needs love him once
she has seen him. A favored maid of
the queen is introduced into the story.
she loves Meiamoun, though she has
never met him. When she hears what
is to be the cost of Cleopatra's favor
she begs him to save himself by sui
eide. He refuses, whereupon she
makes away with herself. more food
for crocodiles. Throw her to them"
calmly remarks the woman who a mo-
ment before had been invoking the
bliss of being loved "for herself alone"
like myriad commonplace heroines of
cheap romance. The scene does not
compensate us for the loss Of Gautier's
denouement
Mr. Hadley is master craftsman.
There was no evidence of a prentice
hand in the structure of his score.
Not crudity, not an inept phrase.
The music flowed on from beginning
to end, now in deep, pellucid eddies Of
sound, now in swift, surging, spouting,
clustering sonorities. But whether in
waters all seemed to come from other
and higher than Hadleyian springs.
We would gladly have sacrificed much
of this technical finish for a modicum
OF originality. The hand was the hand
OF Hadley, the voice was that of Rich
ard Strauss, or Moussorgsky, or Wag-
ner or Puccini. Such fecundity and in
dustry as Mr.. Hadley is gifted with
ought to be made to yield strong
and enduring work. Perhaps it might
II ms mind were washed clean of the
thoughts of latter-day masters, per
mitted to retain only a memory Of
their technical workmanship and he
were forced to wait for pregnant and
beautiful musical IDEAS As it is. he
is too prolific to bring forth things
of real pith and musical significance.
Haunted by Specters
one does not like to listen to com
position and have his admiration Of its
cleverness, ingenuity and even learning
marrcd by the haunting specter of A
thematic catalogue The conductor
llfts his baton, there is a wriggle of the
mute, and the wretched imp Sitting at
lne gateway OF your ear whispers,
"They're Arranging Till Eulenspiegel
again. The curtain parts, high trem-
olo Of the violins and a distant chant
OF priests: 80 Nutar, Nutar, send us
ram! And the little tormentor
squeaks. Back on the Nile banks Of
AIDA, ch ?' And so OF at Intervals
nan, 'boris!' y well met, 'Carmen,'"
ana so on for quantity-not that
PFassages pa have been conveyed but
familiar moods, colors, transitions, par
aiiels, evoked. There is real splendor
IN IN the dances, & classical spirit in the
creek ballet, dervish frenzy in the
d"hce OF the wild girls from Egypt, who
IRE also carried off by the drunken
banqueters, as the satyrs and fauns rape
the nymphs in the Bacchanalian scene
IN "Tannhauser." All this is permis-
sable, OF course, but we do not like to
have the parallels so obvious.
lhere are strains of languishing SEN
timent Chat was to be expected with
the ever-recurrent refrain of 81 love
you from Cleopatra and MeIamoun),
but not much of strong and over
VIZ -ihiie petSSlcli, Il ldCh WNlcn was
emphasized when "Pagliacci" followed
the new opera. The contrast was harm
full, not to say destructive, to the new
music. Always, to get back to our
opening musical theme, there was su-
perb artistic workmanship. Ana this
made us grateful and badc us hope
The opera has been superbly decked
out with scenery and costumes by Mr..
Norman Bell Geddes. We saw and felt
the heat and light of Egypt, the sky
"mournful and changeless as cternity.'
Nine. Aida, much ovcrburdened with
begemmcd garments, moved with grace
and sang with feeling; but they were
the grace and feeling Of a sentm ntal
young woman. not OF the regal one Of
Ptolemy's sister and Egypt's inscruta-
bic and beNildering Queen. Mr.. Har-
rold sang with passion and Intensity,
and, like Miss Tiffany Iras) and Miss
Gordon lMardion), made many OF the
lines ligibie-all. in fact, which
were not Weighted with turgid meta
phor. Pronunciation and cnunciation,
in fact, were Of higher order than We
have yet heard in a performance al the
Metropolitan. That, too, is cool
prognostic for the future of vernacular
opera. The librettist, composer ana
others concerned in the performance
appeared before the curtain at the end
OF the opera, and Mr.. Hadley made a
speech of thanks for the reception ac-
corded the work which was sincerely
appreciative.