New-York tribune., 1922-11-25

wide enough In scopo TO compass g
Cio-eio- san as well as an Isolde and
Kundry-tlot. for these things alone,
admirable, thrice admirable az they
are. but because we found that she
could invest the character with ele-
mients of artistic lovesiness which none
of her predecessors had discovered
in 1t.
Her Butterfly was that OF John
Luther Long, David Belaseo, Puccini
and his llbrcttists, and good deal
mere. She enlarged the heart which
these men put into Mime. Chrysan-
theme to bring her within tho reach Of
Occidental sympathy, and did so in q
manner that made us oblivious of the
anachronism which the character Tre-
scnts. She was more fragile and in
nocent creature Mt tho beginning Of the
story tso far as her personal appear
ance permitted---but no one can quite
believe that even n French naval Of
ticer expected the woman whom, accord
ing to familiar custom, he leased along
with house for short space, was a
child Of hftcen years., but she grew
to be loving, trusting, hoping woman
and tragic victim by such obviously
natural steps and with such convincing
sincerity OF song, defamation and ac-
tion that We were willing to yield to
the admiration and emotion which she
compelled.
General Excellence Apparent
And there was an unusually fno
finish in the entire representation: In
Mr.. Martinelli's Pinkerton, Scotti's
Sharpless, Paltrinieri's Goro, Miss
Perini's Suzuki $50 good that by its
very excellence 1t invited feeling of
~
cessof, Miss Rita Formal, and even
Miss Cecil Arden's Kate Pinkerton--a
character the introduction OF which
was as pitiful blunder on the part
of the composer as his change in the
original form of the opera, which con-
tatned no Interruption of the touching
all-night vigil by the closing of tho
curtain. Much blame for this blot i
the, scutcheon falls upon the Italian
audience at the first performance Of
the work; but we cannot wholly excuse
Puccini for yielding to critical clamor
against his own confessed sense of
ar11se,c Ti,e propriety and righteousness.
Ihere was new stage furniture de-
signed by MIR. Urban. Ostensibly
gain intimacy. which is to be had will
Gif1culty in large theater, he has in
dulged in the liking for platforms,
stages upon the stage, which he showed
in "Oberon" and "Cosi fan tutte." This
penchant for different planes for the
action has parallel of sort in the
harmonic planes of the revolutionary
composers who want to advance" art
by superimposing contrapuntal voices
IN different keys upon each other. Why
the people of the play should be walk
ing up and down series of steps in y
room which should obviously have a
nat floor we shall not attempt 20 ex-
plain. But it makes it easy for Sharp
less, who has not accustomed himself
TO q. cross-legged attitude on a mat, to
sit in comfort. In the first scene we
have an unconscionable amount of
lattice work, but must forego the pic
turesque and familiar Japanese gate
way 1t was also somewhat confusing,
though the stage man 4 ement has been
improved by Mr.. WymetaI, to have day
light blot out the shadows of the gar
den visible in the moonlight and under
the paper partitions opaque. But per-
haps this, too, exemrlifes progress.
In the evening there was an4ther fine
performance Of "Mefstofele," with Mr..
Chamlee as Faust instead Of Mr.. Gigli,
as on last Saturday night. He sang In
straightforward, manly fashion. Ma
r'or Telva replaced Miss Perrin as
Pantalls In the Greek scene.