The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1921-12-27
Metropolitan Opera Has
Successful Season

New York, Dec. 21.-Its light un-
dimmed by the passing of it's great ,
est luminary of recent years-Enrico |
Caruso-the Metropolitan Opera has
reached the height of what its social
and professional sponsors acclaim as
the most successful season since the
worlds eyes were focused on New
York as the hub of the operatic uni
verse.
Not, officials of the opera said to-
day, that great gap has not been
left i'll the ranks of the artists who
have made it so. famous. Carusos
place, they declared, cannot be filled
in few months, or even in few
years. But his death has served to;
defect the interest of opera goers
from the brilliancy of the individual
singer and to widen it to embrace the
opera itself and the great, though less
we'll known stars, who nightly are
drawing multitudes to the historic
Broadway auditorium.
Great changes have taken place in
the opera as social institution, they
declare. The social side of the gath
| erings there season by season, has
generation ago. Once more it is the
| brilliant show place it was in the
SOS and COS. Nightly, regardless Of
the name of the tenor or the soprano
chairs, from orchestra pit to peanut
gallery" are at a premium, and every
foot of standing room in the shadowy
horseshoe about the walls is solid with
the mass of music lovers who would
rather stand three and half hours
than miss the performance.
In widespread reaction from the
fashions of years before and during
the war, the gentleman opera goers
appears in evening dress, whether he
sits in a box or any other part of the
house below the gallery. And many
who stand through the succession of
acts parade the lebbies and loft the
shiniest of silk hats to acqua ntances
or when they go to exchange visits
among the boxes filled with richly
gowned and jewelled women.
Apace with the changing custom in
dress and the etiquette of the en-
tr'acte, the public has mastered it's
post bellum aversion for German op-
era, manifested in 1919 by threats of
violence that would ensuc on their
presentation.
Twice this season the stately meas
ures of Wagnerian opera have re
sounded in the ears of audiences that
have taxed the capacity of the house,
and "Die Tote Stadt,' new to Ameri-
Gle upon which Nine. Marie Jeritza,
a Viennese, took cosmopolitan audi
ence by STORM at her debut.
A few nights later the same impos-
ing daughter of the former enemy
country tors and shook into dishevel-
ment her cdronet of shining golden
ma hair T through the passionate scenes of
the exclusivdAproperty of the Amer
lean idol, Ge 8ldne Farrar-whilc an
American audience dissolved into
tears and interrupted the scene with
an outburst of applause and "bravos"
such as seldom mars the serenity of
New York s b1 be first nighters.
AS to the much heralded successor
| of Caruso-the operate maestros de-
clare they are seeking none and hope
| to find none. After touring Europe
most of last summer, General Man
ager Giulio Gatti-Casazza returned
with many new singers added to his
company and several new operas for
his repertoire. But he announced that
while Caruso's place in the hearts of
his admirers must remain untitled, the
roles he made famous would be sung
by the great tenor's former colleagues,
Audisio, Bada, Crimi, Martinelli and
a half dozen others, with FERTILE, a
new conner from overseas.
thine only" he declared, "and the
Judgment of ficklke public can de-
! termine who the eventual idol of the
American opera will be-"
Titta' Ruffo and Amelita CALI -Curci
who, as visitors with the Chicago OPP
era company, have had New York tri-
umphs in past ears, are among the
new members of the Metropolitan
company.