Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-27
cs1lLANrs "E0RELEW
cWEN BY METROPOLITAN
..,u Opera oIven Excellent Per.
iormanee at the Academy
The Cast


~, ar.t performance in this city Of
...,,.ni's opera, "Loreley." was given
:. ,he Academy of Music last evening
- .he Metropolitan Opera Company
.h a strong cast, and 1t proved to be
.h.rming work. 1t does not make
..,y dramatic demands on the singers,
rsich r may perhaps be one reason why
=, hos not been more continuously on
..o operatic boards in the forty years
.i,ce II was composed.
Tho roles were all admirably taken.
=. IA nm opera more Of scenic effects
~, ~ single vocal numbers than of
.snmu,,nuity .nu and dramatic effects. The
sCv.;t;ns Is vocal In the extreme and
,s.re x arc many places Of great beauty
.aei !n;t although as whole 1t Is not one
" .ho great post Verdian compositions.
|" Tbs T DEMONSTRATION is striking. but the
.xsct Of the whole opera Is that Of a
ssmnoscr who died before he had en-
% ireIv found himself, which is prob.
.h,v the right one. There Is much Of
~ ,hs later Verdi. some of Wagner and
anne %n Of the Boito of "Mefistofele' IL
T. ~ ~especially in the orchestrntion, but It
!, original if perhaps uniformed.
The melodies are especially lovely.
Tbcy are original, even IL they have not
the poignancy of Verdi and of Puc-
sini at their best, although they do
mt always cnrry on the dramatic
situations. Catalnni has the tendency
10 change from minor key IN which
aren't emotion is depicted into the
ssrnllel major. thus creating n change
N the emotional content where the
dramatic situation remains unchanged.
The work of the members Of the
cast was very good. AS has been said,
the roles make no great dramatic de-
msnds and the vocal requirements are
mostly lyric, in which the cast of last
evening especially cxcels. There is n
curious Italian cast to the libretto,
despite the Tputonic story.
In one point the opera is fully the
equal of any work of the kind for n
great many years, and that is the ballet
music. Only "La Giaconda" ap-
proaches it in the beauty of this phase,
which is far more French than Italian.
Both the ballets of the second and
third acts are extremely beautiful and
IN way constitute the finest music Of
the opera.
But on the whole the opera was de.
lightful and Mr.. Gatti- Casazza deserves
the thanks of the Philadelphia opera :
goers for giving us the opportunity OF
hearing the work for even il it be not
among the greatest of the past half
century, it is well worth a hearing. It
Is long opera, but the audience re-
NAMED to the end sure sign with
opera attendants that the opera is hold
ing the interest Of the auditors.
The opera was supcrbly staged, the
Rhine scenes being very fine and several
times provoking the audience into spon-
taneous applause. The illusion Of the
water spirits disporting themselves In
the Rhine was particularly effective.
The dances were designed by Nine.
CALI and carried out the spirit of the
opera. as her work always does.
There is not space In n short notice
to go into the various melOdic beauties
Of the opera. They were scattered
thicky through the work, especially in
the second and the third acts. While
II Is not likely that "Loreley" will re-
main long in the permanent repertoire
Of the Metropolitan. 1t is work which
can be frequently revived and always
with pleasure to a discriminating audi
ence Mr.. Moranzoni conducted splen-
dldly, although he again forgot that the
acoustics of the Academy do not permit
Of the amount Of orchestral tone which
some other large auditoriums allow.