The New York herald., 1922-04-30

was produced on March ~, 1871, and
ran eight months. It paid the poet
alone 10000 francs But we must not
underestimate the power Of Moliere's
opinions. He gave more thought to
the relationship Of music and comedy
than auv other d-amatist "f his time.
According to M. pomain ROLAND.
who is an authorit, on the opera OF
this period, Moliere was the first to
conceive the idea Of deprivfng Per
rim and Gambler. Of their sole rights
to produre one-a, held under the pat
ent granted to them by Louis XIV.
I.uI,y was Quick to zee the advan-
tage ~ himself os arous. ing privileges
in the oreratic field. but he did not
perceive tho recess'.- q taking Mcliere
with him. He eliminated the great
dramatis. fror his scheme as soon as
he began 70 work. and when he ac-
uuired control Of the Grand Opera he
was no Longer In need Of the aid OF
the greas mar who had given him his
fret help Ouinau ult proved to be much
more suitable to the plans OF Lully
He was q po@s OF respectable ability,
but no. an unmanaceable genius like
Moliere. Ouinsult indeed was per-
fect'y willing TO write verses for airs
which Lully had composed without
text.
Some Fine Results.
some admirable results came OF this
purely th.at ical collaboration. Lully
crent.,d ar -Armide," for instance, long
before Giuck, and splendid example
of srA classic French musical drama
it Vs. Every year he turned out an
opera. According to Lecerf de la Vie-
Vile he wrote each work in three
months. "The rest Of the year he did
little to It except for an occasional
hour or so at nights when he could
not sleep and on mornings which ne
could not spend in pleasure"
That Lully would ever have attained
his eminence in the field of French
opera II he had not first labored In
preparing the advertisements for such
works as the Marriage Force" lie
Bourgeois Gentilhomme" and IN. de
Pourreaugnac" Is ~ouStful. For when
we come to rtiidv hia grand operas
we learn that hi. recitsti,e 9 was de-
veloped from Rennineiv philosophic
study Of the defamation Of the
French tragedy.
There seems to he no record that
Moliere suggested TO Lully that the
path to French grand opera was to be
sought 10 the territory Of French
classic Tragedy. B,t the probabilities
- In
initia'ed LULU into the glorious artis-
tic myste-ies of Racine. Decerf de la
vieville hae left US the information
that Luliy set out to construct his
recitaf'vs on the model Of the decla-
nation of Champmosle, and he him
self said:
"If you wish to sing my music well
you mus go to hear Champmesle."
This lad. as a famous actress of the
characferv o. Racine M. Roman
ROLAND uuotcs ver- inSsrrctive pas
sage from ouis Racins's memoirs OF
his 'ath~r's lie Hs said:
"Champmes'e vas not an actress by
nature. Her possessions were fine
looks, voice and good memory; for
the rest size was so uni-tcilgent that
she had 10 hear the words she was to
apea'S 50 that she might lear their
tone
After aiding somo other details sot
essential to the present purpose young
Racine said: "As he (the elder Pa
cine) trained Baron he trained
CharnpweslA, though with much
greater trouble. He usad to make her
first Il all understand the meaning Of
her verse;: then he would show Ter
the proper gestures and instruct her
in the in'onation OF the words, which
ho himself made a note Of"
wenchtng ChampmesIe.
Another author tells us how Racine
taught Champmesle to speak q certain
line In low pitch In order that she
might rake a startling dramatic ef-
feet nv uttering the next ore an
octave higher. The object OF the leap
OF tone was to heigkten the expression
of agitation OF the character at that
point This forcibly recalls the OBJ
servations of Jacopo Per, composer
Of the embryonic italian op~ra "Eu-
ridice." produ, ed in r. orence In 1900.
He said that In writing music for
text expressing serenity OF feeling he
would use a slow tempo and close in
tervals, but for agitated speech NOR
lively movement and wide~ Intervals
or course. any one who takes note OF
the vppremeditated use Of tone in or