The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1923-02-09
STORY OF MADAME
BUTTERFLY
CONTRIBUTED

Milk punch or Whiskey" is the
Interrogation put into the mouth of
Sharpless by the Italian librettists of
Madame Butterfly" wnen they
wished to create an impression Of
American swagger and hail fellow
we'll met heartiness. A roriorn
phrase indeed nowadays, almost as
pointless to an American audience
in English as in Italian. But Mrs.
Florence Andrews offered no elucl-
dation of the phrase (the worthy
Italians have it Milk punch o Wis
ky?") during the course Of her ad-
music of Puccini's opera yesterday
Mankato Music club, she possibly
being apprehensive Of a sudden at
tack from the wings of posse or
enforcement officers if she so much
as mentioned the black listed word
VIII sky. Whenever 1t became ne
cessary in the course of her story to
refer to a drink stronger than cher
ry pop, Mrs. Andrews got out of the
difficulty by using the French word
liqueur; but she spoke 1t cautiously
in q lowered tone of voice and with
a nervous glance about into the cor
ners of the room.
So the uncomfortable went I'M
mentioned; but other droll details of
the Japanese festal board got into
the story; candied flies were intro
duced, and preserved spiders and
boiled birds"
1t was entirely appropriate that
Mrs Andrews should have chosen
Madame Butterfly" for the first of
what a good many people are hoping
will be a series of opera talks; be-
cause this poignant story was orig
inally conceived by an American,
John Luther Long, who wrote a
short story by that name, which was
the basis of a dramatic version by
David Belasco/ in which Blanche
Bates appeared in the name part.
But 1t remained for Puccini, the
Italian music master, to give it final
and probably most effective form
with his musical setting of the dra-
ma. And, with the possible excep-
ton of Carmen" no other lyric
work of our day has been so heartily
praised and so cordially damned, SO
fervently admired and so strenuous
ly maligned.
Mrs. Andrews approached the
problem of reducing the opera to a
concise summary with Zest and en-
thusiasm, and she certainly accom-
plished her task admirably. Not
only did she tell the tragic story OF
Quently and with genuine poetic
] feeling, but she also presented gen
erous samples Of Puccini's tuneful
music.
In this latter endeavor she was
aided by Mrs. Anna Herbert Koehnle,
who sang the famous zone Fine
Day" aria, and by Miss Gladys Ran
dali. who joined Mrs. Koehnle In pre-
senting the we'll known Duet of the
Flowers"
Mrs. Koehnle vas IN excellent
form, and her brilliant voice and
charming personality found happy
expression in the Puccini music,
which she sang with consummate
artistry. This accomplished artistic
would make a most effective Exhibit
A for the cause of Opera in Eng
lish. for, as she demonstrated yes
terday, every syllable she sings is
understandable.
The present writer remembers a
moment of most horrific suspense
during a performance Of Madame
Butterfly" given at one Of thA two
reasonably permanent opera houses
in this country, when soprano
whose name is household word on
this continent experienced the mort
ification of having her voice break on
one of the elusive high tones tina;
abound in the part. But no such UNI
fortunate incident marred the beau
ty of Mrs. Koehnle's production of
these scarifying top tones; she, In
fact, made a virtue of necessity and