New-York tribune., 1920-12-11
Sung
Here for First
Time i'm Season
Work Reverenty Performed
and Witnessed by Big
Audience at Metropolitan
at a Special Matinee
Some Changes Are Noted
English Version Prepared
Last Year Used, but There
Is at Least One Shift i'll Cast
By H. E. Krehbiel

Dy As M ClAOkCl
To the perfect Wagnerite. not him
conceived in the fantastic and cynical
mind Of Bernard Shaw, but the lover
of the lyric drama who believes that
it may be put to high and beautiful
uses, it must have seemed as if flood
of lustral water were pouring through
the Metropolitan Opera House yester-
day afternoon. Wagner's "Parsifal
was reverently performed and as rever-
emily witnessed and heard. 1t was the
first of this seasons representations
of the work and bit out Of the ordi-
nary in that the day Of the week was
an unusual one for q special matinee
and was not one of the holidays, for
which, as a rule, Wagner's religious
drama is reserved That the audience
was a numerous one, nevertheless, was
an indication of how large an element
is compassed by the city's population
to which opera means more than mere
"lascivious pleasing" "Parsifap' has
a public quite as distinctive in char
.acter as that which listens to the an
nual Christmastide performance of
Handeps Messiah" holding it to be
not wholly an artistic but also in part
a religious function. 1t is only such
spirit, evoked by the subject Ct the
drama and strengthened by a fitting
the rapt devotional attitude, always
observable but never more than yes
terday, of the audience toward the per-
formance. Of the ordinary conduct to
be seen in playhouses there was not
a trace. The audience, like the theater
seemed to be undergoing a process Of
purification-the audience from frivol-
ity and affectation, the institution of
UNIV orthy pandering to unworthy ends.
Some Changes Noted
There were some changes from the
representations of last year to be noted
which invite few words of comment.
The English version prepared for the
revival of the work last season was
used, but its efficacy was heightened by
at least one change in the cast. Mr..
Robert Blass, the representative Of
Gurnemanz in the first German per-
formances at the Metropolitan, re-
placed Mr.. Rothier, who bore the very
considerable burden of the part at last
years performances. NJ. Rothier was
Il singularly winning old knight, low
able in his tenderness and confluence
OF speech and action, musicaIly elo-
quent, too, but there were what seemed
immovable obstacles in the way of his
pronunciation and diction Nothing of
this embarrassed Mr.. Blass, who is
born to the vernacuiar and from whose
lips and tongue it flowed in all its
native strength and verbal beauty No
more can be said of the text by this
writer, who perhaps has already over
stepped the bounds of modesty in inti-
mating that the English translation, or
paraphrase, has elements of poetical
charm. Mr.. Blass also exhibited in
action the rugged gentleness which is
inherent in the character, and seemed
in the course of his long absence from
the local stage to have put off the
stodginess which used to make his i'm
personation wearisome. In the frs.
scene of the third act he joined
Nine. Matzenauer and Mr.. Harold
in informing the the action and music
with u deep and nobler pathos which
compelled the tribute of tears from
many eyes. Here, indeed Nine.
Matzenauer and Mr.. Harold are at
their best, the former through her
mute embodiment of the penitent
kundry, who, as all knowers of the
drama, its symbolism and it's mimicry
of sacred story know. has in this scene
been invested by the dramatic poet
with the spiritual as we'll as corporeal
habiliments of Mary Magdalen.
1t is because Mr.. Harold forgets his
besettine vocal sin of explosiveness and
exaggerated pathos, which spoils much
of his second act and sings with pure,
sustained voice that his speeches to
kundry and Gurnemanz become so won
dcrfully tender and appealing. Would
that Nine. Matzenauer would also think
less Of tone production and more of
distinct enunciation in her narrative Of
Parsfal's infancy and his mothers
death. AS musical defamation that
narrative is almost miracle OF beauty,
but many OF the words are lost because
tonal euphony seems so much more 20
her mind than the physiognomy of tn,
words which Is stamped upon them by
their initial and final consonants. But
neither che nor any of the other sing
ers must be held responsible for un-
intelligibleness when Mr.. Bodansky
permits his discretion to be carried
captive by the eloquence of the orches-
ira, which frequently seems to be his
chief concern. Again let it be said
that passionate expression, vocal or in
strumcntal, does not always mean lou1
utterance, and that loudness does not
always mean sorority. Sometimes we
must admit the truthfuiness of ST.
Walter Raleigh's observation:
Passions are likened best to foods and
streams:
ihe shadows murmur, but tho deep are
dumb.
Apply the words more literally than
they were intended and reflect upon
the passionate emotion of Nine.
Matzenauer's mute Kundry.
New Picture Presented
There was a new picture for King
sor's magic. garden, new, that is, in
some OF its features The Moorish
pagoda, in which the seductress an