New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-01-16
Louise Sung
Amid Striking
Stage Settings
Charpenticr's Work Is Pro.
duced at Metropolitan;
Farrar i'm Part That Was
Popularized by Garden
Performance Is Lengthy
Scene Painters and Costum-
ers at Their Best i'm Effect
ing Montmartre Flavor
BY II. E. KrehbieI

For thirteen years Charpentier's
Louise" so far as New York is con.
cerned, has been monopolized by the
opera company in one or another of it:
metamorphoses which Oscar Hammer
stein called into being at the Manhat.
tan Opera House. Mary Garden, Nine
Bressler-Gianoli, Charles Dalmores
and Charles Gilbert fixed the types
for its principal characters and fixed
them so firmly that they will remain
in the popular fancy until another gen.
Grafton shall succeed to the present
if the opera shall happily live so long
During all this period there has been
an insistent demand that the work be
incorporated into the repertory of the
Metropolitan Opera House, where Mr.
GATH has now placed it, disclosing It
publicly for the first time yesterday
afternoon. There can be no question
that a great many opera-goers con-
slider it an admirable work; some, per-
haps, believe it to be q great work. We
do not think there is a single element
in its composition emitting it to such
a distinction; but there are enough In
genuity and charm in its book and
music to entitle it to be seen and heard
long and often enough to betray its
hollowness and insincerity. AS yet
there is alluring glitter upon its sur
face, even though the tinsel be ap-
parent to every discerning eye.
It's Scenic Effects
Mr.. Gatti and his forces have shown
a keen appreciation of the superficial
sheen of the opera and made heroic
effort to discover all that bears re-
semblance to fine metal in the play
and its musical integument. They have
made much of the picture of Paris,
viewed from the heights of Mont
martre, so puch, indeed, that it would
be ungracious to ask for more. They
have called for the best that scene
painters, costumers and photographers
could do to throw glamour over the
incident which all the rays of the play
are brought to a focus-the festival,
at which the muse of Montmartre is
crowned.
This scene is the germ from which
the opera was developed and was con-
ceived dozen years before it. It's
dramatic significance is slight, but it
provides the high light without which
the drama would have been in danger
of seeming commonplace and prosaic,
since M, Charpentier lacked the power
to Undue his story with the pathos
and passion which a finer and more
fecund genius hight have poured into
it. Remove the registering fete, the
first scene of the second act with its
exposition of the night life of the
wretched denizens of the city, scaven-
oh orVuA oay, otNlA cnf
against the symbolism, embodied in
the character called LIE Noctambule,
and eliminate the scene in the dress
makers shop-all negligible factors in
the drama-and there would be little
left of Louise" Yet in that little,
comprised in two brief acts, the first
and last, there lies all that is strong,
vital and homogeneous in the play.
The External Elements
Real strength and vitality are not
present to the same extent in the
music of these acts. however, and so a
manager may be said to be wise who
lays as much stress as possible upon
the external elements. Mr.. Gatti and
Mr.. Wolff have done this-indeed, they
have slightly overdone it, we are in
clined to think. When Mr.. Campanini
brought Louise" forward for Mr.. Ham
merstein at the Manhattan Opera
House. in January, 1908, he omitted
the scene in which the nocturnal wan
derer who proclaims himself to be the
City, comes into contact with the mis-
cry of the poor wretches on Mont
martre, and also, we think, shortened
the duet which brings the third act to q
close. Mr.. Gatti has preserved the in
tegrity of the opera. LIE Noctambule
appeals to the imagination, and we
should not like to part with him; but
we could easily spare more than one
half Of che rhapsodic chatter of Julien
and Louise after the latter has sung
"Depuis lie Jour"
Yesterday the performance lasted
over three hours and half. This
seemed much too long to persons not
inclined to believe that Paris, it's pleas
ures and passions, lights, lures and
Righteousness, its gayety and glamour
are fit subjects for Qualification in the
Wagnerian manner and with more than
Wagnerian verbosity.
Wagner Merely Suggested
VI, TO US it has always seemed as if
Wagner might have hymned even the
sublimated love of Tristram and
,Yseult in a simpler way than his
wrought riddles made of night and
day" and his preachment about Mir
vana. But Wagner was proclaiming
the passion of persons lifted high
above the plane of ordinary lovers and
at least sent q lava stream of melody
pouring through his love-duet.
Carpenters effort to copy his man.
ner suggests a pigmy playing with
Jove's thunderbolts He has nothing
to hurl them at even if he had the
strength to WELD them. and in his
hands they become mere bruts.,n t,slmen.
For the staging of Louise" and the
dramatic movement in the scenes
whic:. are spectacular there can. or
should. be nothing but enthusiastic
praise. We do not recall that. so far
as the material allowed. Mr.. Gatti's
people have ever displayed finer
imagination and exercised better iudg-
rnent and taste than In the Montmartre
incidents which ought not be, but are,
the heart of the opera.
The play calls for an unconscion-
able number of performers, but Mr..
Gatti found it possible effectively to
enlist them all Inevitably, of course.
the titular role fell to the lot of Miss
Farrar Inevitably. also, that was
bound to happen which did happen: the
lady robbed the character of the ele-