New-York tribune., 1922-01-24

vation of natural phenomena Out Of
an amour between the personfication;
OF Winter and Spring, they called into
being dainty creature, lovely as hei
mother, but with veins illcd with snow
wherefore she is incapable Of passion
OF the beautiful Lehl, who 10 she pne rd
lad and the rerscnification OF popular
song. Despite her admiration Of hir,
lchl finds negourotchka (who ia the
Schn ncewi.tchcn, or Snowwhite. of the
German fairy tales, but in name only
unresponsive to love and rcpcls her
Tor maiden Of his kind. Another
mortal, Mizour, dIscards his sweet.
heart, koupava. and seeks to gain the
love OF egourotchka, whose fathcr
seeks to keep her in seclusicn and
places her under the protection of a
Faun. but whose mother cndows her
| with human passion. while warning her
not to subject herself to the rays OF
the sun. Now Mizour woos and wins
the maiden, but in the morning dawn
OF their happiness a shaft Of sunlight
-one OF tho arrows Of Yarilo, tho
Apollo Of the ancient Slavs-strikes
her and she vanshes from the earth.
This was tho pretty and gracious
co1ceit which Ostroffsky put into dra
matte shape and for which TschaikoN
sky provided the music in the spring
Of 1873. The fairy play took so strong
hold upon The mind of the composer
that he resolved to turn it into an op-
era, but before he had put bis rcso-
luton into effect Rimsky- Korsahof .
setting appeared. Tschailoffsky Csc
his brother says) took the disappont-
ment Of having been forestallcd 50
greatly to heart that it was not until
fifteen years later that he vas willing
TO recognize the beauties of his rival s
music. Grctchaninoff also came under
the fascinstion Of the drama and wrote
incidental music for it, though antic!.
pateG by the two greater masters.
New From Fertile Field
The story is nos only pretty end
gracious, but it is one which enabled
the authors to make copious drafts
on legendary lore, on ancient myths
ard customs which are still cmbodicd
in the lie and song OF the Russian
people. So We have in the opera not
only illusions 10 Slavic deities and
other supernatural folk, but the per
sonihcations themselves and repro
auctions of ceremonies and songs Of
vast antiquity in which relics OF
pagan beliefs are embalmed. We have
these things in the hook of the poet
they 90 not seem patent enough in the
representation to capture the popular
sense ard feeling az they might and
ought. For one thing, Mr.. Gatti, he.
cause performance in The original
tongue is impracticable, gives Il to
Ia in French. We had "Pioue Dame
IN German, prince Igor" and Boris
Codounof' in Italian, ard LIE Goa
d'Or" in French sung by persons who
took no part in the action. Now it
ought to be an obvious duty to the
American public to let them hear Eng
lish whenever for one reason or another
the tongue in which an opera was
written cannot be employed. More
OF the Russian dramas English is a
better substitute than either French
or bastard Latin, as it is for German
which. however. does rot -o ~, tx
embarrasa BIZ. Gstti's people. Even the
pronunclatl'n OF the g. ]e OF tne pcrl
IS impcrfectly reproduced in the Ii
oretto and house program A better
trans silteratioD would have been
"Smyeh GOO -rotch kah"-the accent on
the second syllable. Moreover here
We have rairy-play which has an
csoecial charm for children, big and
little; and every listener ought to un-
derstsnd every word that the people
slag--a thing. which ia required by the
principles of art professed by tho
school OF composers to which Rinskv.
Korsa koff belonged and TO which he
adhered in his straightforward and
beautiful lyricism. The opera ought
70 make good some OF the loss which
the Metropolitan opera -gocrs have
1clt seenly ever since the derartlre OF
"hanse! und Grcte.' aud "Konigs-
Mnder'-a loss for v'hic., tho Fro1c h
Blue Bird" was bat pitiful COM
pensation.
Moreover, the representation ought
TO give us better representation OF
the ancient ceromonals which mark
some Of the climaxes of the opera
Here We feel moved to utter again the
complaint which We raised against
some of the performances Of the Rus
sian ballet five years ago. The stage
manager and his puppets at the Metro
pclltan Opera House seem TO have no
knowledge OF folklore and little i'm
aeination. Deficient in the latter high.
~ essential attribute Gas is obvious
every night(, they seem to act on the
dictum that the public has none and
that, as Berlioz remarked when he
hcggled the denouement Of "Romeo and
Jullet, imaginative music has no pub
nc. They seem to think that they have
done their duty when they have filled
the stage with fantastic scenery (that
OF Nj. Arisfeld has much 10 commend
II IN design and color-indeed. iC Is
generally admirable, though il lavs
heavier stress on the grotesuue than
tie poetical etfects) and performed
the music with ss great degree OF
perfection a. their agencies allow. Eat
much that is presented is arbitrs ~
and it.is shows study Of the purposes
OF poet and composer or the marvellous
toll stuff to which both went for their
material.
Music and Dance Familiar
me music and an accompanying darce
rom the opera were presented at the
Metropol'tan Opera House in 1915 by
she Dlaghlle& Ballet under the title lie
ooieil DC Mutt The operate scene
ought to be so-called Khorovod in
wnich winter is buried. The music
and tho words are those Of Whitsun
'iae song beginning "A 70 pole ljp-
enjka." The French version bco;,,.
Io VOLTA debout glorieux ct fer
Bourr6 de foin, ne tu de mousse.
The ceremony is performed on tho
lat day OF Butter Wceh" (the week
before Lent, since the Christian priests
made it SO after falling to eradicate the
ancient pagan festiva,) and in it q
straw multi. otherwise heap OF straw
70 which the cclebrants have all con-
tnouted) IS burned amid much merry
making. The singers sing to Lado (the
ancient god Of love and spring.. In
the Opera Mr.. Meader, clad in straw
and looking like the scarecrow in
Montgomery and Stones Old operetta
waves his arms about and runs away