Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-05-08
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS
Weekly Comment on Things Must
cal in Discriminating
philadelphia

was second IN the number of perform
ances, having seventeen, and Leon
cavallo, although represented by only
two operas, was third, with thirteen. Of
which "Pagliacci" had six and ''Zaza"
seven. All the works In Italian had n
total Of 106 performances.
OF Che French operas the nine works
formances. VOLTS "Blue Bird lcd
with eight, thus tying the Italian IA.
vorite. Perhaps the fact that the COM
poser Is one Of the conductors Of the
Metropolitan had something to do with
this number of productions. OF the
three works sung in English, Hadley's
'Cleopatra's Night" had four rendi.
tions, "Oberon" five and ''Parsifai'
six, a total Of fifteen. Incidentally. it
has been announced that Mr.. Hadley's
opera has been added to the permanent
repertoire Of the Metropolitan.
ONE of the most significant features
~ of the season has been the large
number of American singers who have
been cast for important roles by Mr..
Gatti. Of them, Orville Harold has
achieved an. almost spectacular sue
cess, and his singing of Rodolfo in
"Boheme" in Philadelphia need not
take back seat" for the rendition of
the role even by Mr.. Caruso. although It
Is true that Mr.. Harold did not again
reach. in this city at least. the heights
he achieved in this one brilliant per-
formance. His success in New York
was equal to that here, and he has now
taken his place as one of the regular
tenor stars of the company.
The success of Florence Easton IL
also noteworthy case of the American
artist winning her way against the most
formidable vocal competition in the
world. There have also been several
nearly all American" casts in the
course of the season which serve to
point the way to the ultimate triumph
Of our singers.
pUT to return to the regular season
- of the Metropolitan on the home
ground Russian opera was represented
by one work, COG dor" sung in
French: and two, Boris Godounoff'
and Eugene Onegin," sung in Italian.
The revival of the season was la
Juive," while the principal new works
lana in Algeri," Eugene oncgin,"
"Zaza' and "Cleopatra's Night"
,Parsifn ;" restaged and put into Eng
lish. took place all its own in the
work of the season, and "La Forza del
Destino' was retained from the season
before. Rabaud's "Marouf." also n
novelty Of the season of 1853, was
retained in the present seasons repcr.
toire, although 1t is not likely TO re-.
main for many years. and Webpr's
Voelon' iFom iast season, was also
Now tbo or0s.;,, l. .;.L .,,- .,
ort" " Ne NJ qutsa,oh Is WIN TINS lay
noi;ton troot pI;in,n, npM u.u ,.e Met'"-
Admitted tLs. ~ must "e
nomnI.;o. ,ms. we sot our snare OF the
hor 90 ,.rSnr,,'o Em.m , .me ;%oinpara'iYe % num-
s;derat;pn '""n'e' Is 'aAeh into con-
''N''
ar THE Soc . - .,.,
1--WE ne" operas we hehrd
~ thrce IN TINS city. the ones omittrl
peing ~ ltaliana IN Algeri and ''rhc
Blue Bird. We also heard the revival
therefore we certainly had our shar"
tbOt "v a auw yorL MDrNs S.S wnen IL Us c"ns""rc'
delnh;a ' 'N' e'''" I" "'''
DetPa 9no tbiou .,.. !. - a,,., +.
this oneratt, 'nu, nrs ns 10 W t rohs'ueFr" W.
foot That Nr cermso ouu 'arS.om annnoJ ,'', ~"
tin,o. o"t of ,h aiu. "ppea,eu s l"u,
~ pb;iado,uL;o W. Atetn periolnla"'rN lm
na,t .ha s. 20. ne might as "cl ~
Car,,sa ,,,o 49, .nae IL We are W he"i MI
works for he sUIe ~, H. nuai .;i, niti ~ ",'
anv neu rolos ,bat VII no. ,rar"
mi aits nuM ioies, .hat Is Oh mouern operas
Rnt tbo no;nt tdae thae sGne Sn t IN revIvnS'
ances mean four fewar nh.nooa ns 0u' appeo pad
ern nnueit;as s''' ''"o' 'nances ior "o"-
ph;iodoInb;o o.u..,., ,,a
mata aL;nG" 0 rerss.hiy AL mas no iegn,,
nTar;naa oS oh MI. uat.i -CasazIa
ioss n,,r v. LEV new Worhs, put, neyerthr' M
a ,esS, our seSson was not well pal
a;ven ohe' IN sirtnon nere were seventeen operas
Sa;u II sA'esn performances tone
teen onaroa "osotv sf.l Jill, ana OF ,nese sever.
was in Ero,nh 'een @ "eie Ia ri;Ih' rtalah' onr Ss
Vsrd; 'n 9h;s noIrs opgras Mere mere iSur were o'
toire of the season1 tbree bv pnccini
and two by Donizetti
lNUR lust howl than aoa,nst Mr..
~ c...:,. n,u.,-,.,
a. th L rhlladeipma pohcy IL noI
~ .ne ne" works, out on giving US
w many Oh the very oid ones four
erul operas ana TWO OF Donlzetti are
.oo many Oh thls specihc Kind, even
slan,ins that one OF each served as
neuluh LOT MT. Caruso, as was also
, .he ease WIN tne antiquated MARIA
, Which PROBABLY would not nave Deen
: given here except for its furnishing
Caruso role. But then ii we insist upon
3 the star system we must pay for 1t in
some manner.
l AFTER all, the star system is at the
potion OF the whole operate trouble.
E Would we rather hear Mr.. Caruso in