The New York herald., 1922-06-04

matter is the possibility Of building
up a school of American operate COM
position. Just how this is to be done
cannot and certainly is not wholly ex-
planned by any project such as the one
under consideration. 1t may be con-
ceded once for all that nothing i'm
portant can be done for american
opera" by such an institution as the.
Metropolitan Opera House. Without
entering into any detailed examination
of the reasons 1t may be sufficient to
name just one. to wit, that the Metro
politan is an italian opera house con-
Quoted on italian lines and dominated
by Italian traditions. And this re-
mains true in spite of the noteworthy
liberality of mind displayed by Mr..
Gatti-Casazza, his far sightedness and
his ambition to extend his repertory
far beyond the limits imposed upon
him when he was an impresario In
his own country.
Management Must BE American.
But this admirable director cannot
be transformed into an American and
made to think as an American. And
there will never be a real American
opera house in this country till there
Is one in which the manager, business
manager, and all the stage managers,
conductors and assistant conductors
are Americans. Just where these de-
sirable citizens are to come from is
problem.
M Sppposing. however, that such an
Institution had come into existence.
In what way does this make it a cer-
tainty that a school Of American opera
composers would be the result? There
have been opportunities for many
years for the development of school
of American instrumental composers
Where is It? Where is the American
Brahms? Where is the American
Tschaikowsky? No need to proceed
further in that direction.
Nevertheless there ought to be a
possibility of creating by slow pro-
cess of development a school of
American opera writer's. To accom-
plish this certain things are neces-
sary. Mr.. Hamlin's want OF an oper-
attic tradition must be supplied. The
public must be taught that opera does
not have to be sung in a foreign
tongue and must be trained to accept
without astonishment the common
places Of the dialogue when they are
sung in English instead of being made
incomprehensible. No one is shocked
when Zuni0a and DON Jose converse
in French:
l.
dams ce grand batiment que travaillent
les cigarettieres7
Jose-C'est la, mon officer. ct bien
certainement on ne Wit MULE part files
aussi legeres.
But why do we forget that to every
Frenchman that sour Is precisely the
same as 1t does to us when 1t is sung
in English. thus?
Zunigd--It Is in that large building,
is It not, that the cigarette girls work?
Jose--Yes, my Captain. and most as
suredly you will not find anywhere
such lively girls.
brought Up on italian Opera.
The French for 900 years have been
listening to opera singers chanting
dialogue. But we have been brought
up on italian opera, to which in the
last thirty-fve years we have added
French and German. The project
launched by the two organizations
now working in Chicago will lead
perhaps TO some training OF the pub
lie. The next desideratum is the study
Of the genius Of the English tongue
by the American composer. II seems
pitiful, but Il Is none the less fact,
that the best English recitative In ex-
istence was written by a German who
was trained as writer of Italian
opera. The American composer has
not yet proved himself master of the
magnificent English speech, which Is
so admirably suited to tragic decla-
nation. Possibly the American opera
house may provide him with school
in which he may at least hear how
weak and musically ineffective his
operatIc speech sounds.
The American opera composer must
also devote years to the study of the
technlc of operatic composition. But
this Is n long story and need not be
told Just now. The fact, however, rs
that the typical American opera Is
one in which the construction is a
slavish imitation of some one or other
OF the extant models--not even good
composlte-and the style an equally
servlle copy of italian, French or
German. The Russians by concen-
trating their thought on their own
literature, character. national feeling
and song. built up distinctive
school. They had infinitely more ma
terial TO work with than we have.
but Il is not true that we have none
at all. And with that mere assertion
the subject must bs laid aside for the
present