New-York tribune., 1922-11-26
counod Opera, Revived After
III Years Absence From
Metropolitan, Recalls Fa-
mous Artists of Yore
Tile Roles Well Sung
Graceful Rendition of MA.
non Lescaut' Pleases Hear
ersasEveningP erformance
Ry H. E. krehhiel

the peyiDolsltS oA opeFatic reVIyals," ="
We have operas that have lived over a
esr.ury and still show a good deal of
vitality. As q rule considerable ne
ROD eispses between their appearances
ma repertory; we should say, Off
asaS, that the greater the piece the
eassr the period and the shorter the
4-stiow o. t-e work in the current
ast We have in mind as illustra
.ions S.uca's "Orteo ed Eur. dice +"
Nczsrt's "Don Giovanni" and "Nozze
4; Figaro" During the present re-
CINE at the Metropolitan Verdi's
operas are more frequently revived
snd, Of course, at brieftr intervals,
though TO operagoers who have been
such for, say, twenty-five years they
sre as familiar as household words.
Even Gounod's Faust" which used
10 be given so often and persistentlv
that Mr.. Henderson once called the
Metropolitan Opera House 'das Faust
spielhaus" had to revived a few years
ago because Miss Farrar included it
10 her repertory.
Now. revival ought to mean that
% opera had been newly studied, that
incrustations which had begun TO mar
lis effectiveness had been scraped from
\ Ike barnacles from the hull of G
ship, or that its score had lain un-
ased so long on the shelves of the
library of the opera house that it
would appear as a novelty to new
generation of opera lovers.
Opera No Rare Novelty
Gounod's Romeo ct Juliette," which
was revived by Mr.. Gatti yesterday
afternoon, does not belong to any one
50 AA1eo Il
sent from the Metropolitan per
iormances for decade and year, but
meanwhile it has been performed here
BY other companies-by the Chicago
troupe, for instance, with such singers
80 Nine. Galli-Curci and Mr Muratore
as representatives of the unhappy
yeronese lovers, as late as February,
1921, and there are memories in New
York that compass all its local per-
iormances, from the days of the Acad-
emy of Music down to the present
time.
True. we knew it first as "Romeo ct
Ginlietta," but in the original version
It's history is bat as that of yester-
day. It's first performance here in
French we believe was that of Mr..
Grau's company in the spring of 1883
--the year that saw the opening of
the Metropolitan Opera House-with
bsrisis and Mr.. Capoul, the latter one
Of the most impassioned lovers that
The operatic stage ever saw, were the
priseipal singers then. Nine. Patti
sang in it at the Metropolitan in q
special Italian season in April, 1890
Then came its longest career at the
Iame institution, when Mesdames
Eanes, Melba and Sembrich. the De
ksszke brothers and Plancon made it
The prime favorite Of several brilliant
ssssons. Mr.. Conried began his fourth
season with it in 1906, when it was
chosen to enable Miss Geraldine Far
rsr to effect her entrance on the stage
Of her native land, and after slip
OF three years or so 1t was revived to
the purpose that Miss Farrar might
make Shakespeare's lily look like an
Assyrian orchid, and introduce some
delectable notions acquired in Berlin
touching the scene in Juliet's cham
Der. The notices were frowned on
here, but we believe they still pre-
vail in the capital of the once Ger
man Empire, where the Juliets think it
essential that they must be seen roll
ing about on couch in robes de
NUTS, while Romeos tell them that
days dawning and confirms the or
chestras imitation of the song of the
skylark.
Newcomers Are Heard
Nevertheless the opera was revived
AGAIN yesterday. Two of the singers,
Messrs. Bada and Rothier, were on
hand to resume their old characters;
put there was a new Romeo, a new
duliet other new Representations of the
people created by SHAKESPEARE and
made over by Barber Carre and Gou-
nod, new garments for everybody and
new dress for the stage the last
provided by Mr.. Urban who made
things of unusual beauty of the garden
Of Capulet and Juliets tomb. Miss
Bori impersonated the heroine and Mr..
Gigii the hero, and both wore express
sions of unbounded delight from their
admirers. Those admirers are many,
30 numerous, indeed, that the assist
snce of The professional gentlemen be-
nlhd the brass rails who were occupied
industriously, in season and out, in ac-
canning the tenor, could easily have
been spared.
gentle and ingratiating creature
vas Miss Boris Juliet, one whose
voice flowed out limpidly, with lovely
purity, with infectious joyousness in
me waltz of the firts act, lovely sim
eerlty in the garden and chamber
scenes and appealing pathos in the
VI parting anu ulSSOIuLlOn.
more brilliant vocalization has been
aearo IN the music of course; needless
70 say, that after mention has been
made OF the names of some of her
PREDECESSORS Needless, too, to re-
mind Mr.. Gigli's admirers, that there
are opera lovers whose memories of d
sserless Romeo will never die while
tsneF bodies live. He is as little to
compared with Jean de Reszki as
s;atfhotf, the Russian, whom Mr.. Gatti
,agOrted for his first revival Of the
ssn ssnnsa was with him. Smirnoff was
S.s ana broad shouldered physically,
weak and woolly vocally.
/. Gigh did not look or act as If
IN. .eoid stand up long before Tybalt
jssS -. 6ada), though neither would have
saafed s,nd minute in their passage of
sssaa ssaa against a novice in swird NAV
sdsgas.ng used to be a part of the
Il isssauon Of an actor, but that period
so,ss,), so,ne), but he sang passionately,
seSliaes NJ. portically, and his voice
iss oeautlful and ample. Old age had
bur Isnos NJ on the capulet of Mr. Didur
tsliaa1s' Z de Luca was q virile and ex-
Ssts l mercutio. OH that the libret-
A. nsa had the wisdom to see that
sS,.rp peratie rercutio is an impossi-
mar Shakespeare had to kill this
haa oM early to save his own life, ag
Iibs.stsssn said, the bowels of the French
wish LISTS lists should have been moved
his snongn compassion not TO attempt
hav. Z taIlc incarnation. If we rnnsf