Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-29

~. ,,s.ss,t ,,..h NJ. .,v.r
t.o ~ ~. =.
16delphians tnc opportunity 10 near
=. And of music, and above all, to ex-
s.,c. an atmosphere which IL en-.
e. IN. c,,v,. mr,,c.,ov.r
- eomo less srost astsmt m",ie much
", W o,y;tside Of Russia, even In the
s,,,.icsi centers az Europe. and
ess sstv which hive been siyen have
" ~ nrsscmted more ON the name Of
~ ..s.,no.er than for Whist thew were
{sne ".d cvMdf fo bo worth intrinsicaily "A
y gsppvse~ sE.I,T 80 =
'esS'.t ef+er seeins the Russian Opera
g ~ tbs rces son becomes ,nnre
sRys"y yrnderstandnbje. There is nm
uy 40 shn,,t the Russian nntionai
ps,h,ch r. uerhans mora individmsi
.s.t ~ 1nv other conntrv Thev
~ ~. .Srs.t whem Tho smhiect denis
'aU ~. s.tsn % foik lore and iegend bmt
ttnJ "a onsra renuirSs q comnanv
"a ~. trnditions of the country horn
n.1 .nJ .i r,athin a.. members a. I. MT
|Nnc c..'rs Ir.a ~ " Ia aconirci. In nnother
tni II. = same iden il seen IN sSThe
tno aav;,ic" whom Rna;no is
alOep =. nerbnps IL would he batter to
Eesns ~ hv opc ~ Latin biSod In
S scse e thes. Ia nm atmnanherc wh,ch
~; ~, eII" ~. .oIo an cncho ntment n;ss;nc
1spos t"Ion Nv ono of northern herits
nen no motfer how fine the voice
no ~ the ,,onoi,,otion r,"v 10
EDUT tho Russian opera Is much
10 bigger thing than is generally sup.
' Iesed outside Of Muscovy itself. 1t
! a comparatively recent, starting with
(3linka. with whom, for that matter.
nodern Russian music really began.
m first opera, IA Life for the Tsar,"
IA an immediate success. but his
|lnf @ net.er n~n,,I,,- morH, Ma' w b,s i;fstimo '
Is tSowever. IL was in these works that
SSsf ftypical Russian musical character
ssSics we're first used in operatic form
"a tho effect of these operas upon the
ncceeding generations of Russian COM
!, sosers has been very great. In fact,
a has been apparent in every Russian
/. composer until the time when some
m the present day Russians adopted
Iusical Bolshevism as their creed.
Closely associated with Cqinka, was
Dsrgomijsky, whose finest opera,
sRoussalka," had its Philadelphia
Femiere, at least SO far as the present
Rneration of opera -goers is concerned,
hst Wednesday evening. Dargomijsky
vas little younger than Glinka, but
ktween the two, they sum up the en-
Ginka had the versatility and spon-
taheity usually associated with the
Glav character and Dargonijsky, while
oarhoNa n lay1 gnOnt0naOua was mora
rAectiye and his music Is generally
dramatic where that Of Glinka IL
lyrical. Like Glinka, DargomiJsky was
destined never to hear his finest opera
/; acclaimed according to its merits.
fE
was tho composor
~.
ol ah operu Which ne ieit unnnIsned
q MS dea,n, Wnicn occupies 9rs a UNIQUE
Paaes III ,nMsSi". ;.sr' oper"; ~, Mo,N -
tentltieu me STONE Huest ana IL.
sgugnS. oi tne suihc pici as tndt u
Mozarts Don nio'ahM. DarsoHlJ-
Ny nad completed the WORK OF com.
poSnon Dy inc time OF ms deatn' put
nag not yet Demonstrated IT, ana thls
ths ,nstrmctions ~ rho con comnoser "
/ The opera has been called .vThe Cos.
fpel Of the New Russian School, and
isprescnts the last stage of the devel-
opment Of Dargomijsky. In it he fol.
loved out his own dictum that the
Z bound must always carry out the mean
4 ing Of the words--a program Of COM
position not often followed by Oberatic
composers of any school. This strict
following of his own ideals led to the
adoption of new operate form, which
necessitated the abandonment of the
traditional divisions of the opera.
The text of this opera Is by POushkin,
q. whom so many of the Russian Oper-
auc composers are indebted for their
lbretti, and it agrees only in the main
outline with the story OF the Mozart
opera, but it has gained in dramatic
Wrce oy lts construction ny the great
russian poet. Dargomijsky. took his
MAt ana set 1t to music precisely as 1t
1000, and while this tends to lack
seehiG variety nevertheless. accord
s 10 i'ehZ, thcre Is compensatlng
ssm ~ eni1'lunnl interest wnlie tne
prchologica delineatiOn Is both subtle
|s'..u 'pro'o"ha.
-
sRUI In spite Of the title given it as
~ the Gospel" the opera has never
ben accepted MS such in its entirety.
Borodine and MoussOrgsky both claimed
to revere it, but neither one did 80
enough to follow It in their own Oper-
attic works, and the later Russian COM
posers have departed materially from
the opera which less than half a cen :
tuy ago was deemed tine starting point
Of the Russians. 80. ~
The original masters of the then New
Russian school did not agree with Wag.
ner as to the Importance of the orches :
TIA in opera. Glinka had created a new
idiom which every Russian could hear
and understand, and all of his immedi-