Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05
NJ u SIG
Alice, the heroine of Lewis
Carroll's delightful books of
foofaSI, moro RI ctan int0 the
BY HELEN FETTER.

= actual world today, she prob.
ably would be even more bewild-
ere than she was in that lane
Through the Looking-GlaSS." II
is day of shifting, readjuStmentS
!. # in many ways and Of novel valua-
e tons, too. In music, as well as
other things, the Kaleidoscope
pattern is changing with alarm
ing rapidity. One almost can
hear the click of Times wheel as
=, it alters its spinning rhythms.
~ Within the past 10 days in the
. alert music mart of the world
'o New York City, an opera more
II than 800 years old had joint
premiere in that city with a work
written within the current cen
fury. Moreover, even the title
opera" as used for this compost
e ton, did not go unchallenged.
There were those who preferred
to call this work by Monteverdi-
3 generally recognized as the
Father of OPERA "cantata
q apantomime.
Along with this opera (Which may
not have been an opera was a
ballet which was much more than
a ballet. Although the mines on
: the stage were obviously the focal
= point of StravinSki'S Les NoceS,"
the instrumental use of solo and
chorus voices in the orchestra pit,
along with four pianos and the
other more customary inStru-
- mentS, brought this work, too,
within a hybrid classification.
- Not content with one such puz-
, -zling program of dual complex
d ties, the following night found
large proportion of the same au-
dience watching a ballet interpre-
70 tation of Richard Strauss tone
poem-"Ein Heldenleben''-a de-
5cidedly vivid and dramatic event.
> Martha Graham and Charles
Weidman did such remarkable
work in the principal roles of the
dance-pantomime as to lift the
whole to inspirational heights.
On the contrary, the Strauss
score, which had sounded so mo-
.smentous when played in Wash
y ington in 1925 by the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra, under
? ,Willem Mengelberg, sounded sur
,priSingly like high-claSS motion
d picture program music at the
hearing in New York, when the
ballet literally walked away"
? with first honorS. The marvellous
> suppleness of Miss Graham'S
changes from one pose to another,
; always accenting the dramatic
meaning of the music with look
as well as with gesture, will linger
long in the memory.
The orchestra playing the score
was the Cleveland Symphony Or
chestra, Nikolai Sokoloff conduct
ing. This is an unusually fine or
ganization, which has been heard
etoo rarely within the past few
seasons in the National Capital.
The memories OF that orchestra's
+ last performance here, December
~, 1925, are particularly keen and
pleasant. At the time they gave
Jean Sibelius' First Symphony"
; Respighi's Fountains of Rome"
Motifs arrangement for orchestra
idof Gretry's ballet suite, "Cephale
: ct Procris," and Borodin's pol
obvtsian Dances" Enthusiasm ran
so high that the unusual boon of
an orchestra encore was granted,
! and RimSky- Rumble
bee" was played.
n On the program with the
Strauss work in the recent New
YORK production, the orchestra
won special laurelS with the inter-
probation of Charles Critics tone
poem, white Peacock" The
mining here, too, was exquisite.
The coStuming and settings were
original and showed imaginative
restraint, a refreshing change
from the glittering eXactitude OF
expensive revue costuming, with
its Christmas-tree style Of oSten-
tation. Only in the coStuming Of
the three ladies described in the
program cast as "the hero's light
loves" was there descent to
'follies" styles. The moderniStic
severe setting with steps giving
planes OF differing levels, had an
intriguing geometric simplicity,
with logical building up to the
pyramid against Maxf1eld Par
rish blue sky at the finale that
was extremely effective.
The colorful authenticity OF the
peasant costumes in the Enesco
sRumanian Rhapsody No. l" pro-
vided a last number, gay in mood
and fascinating in the graceful
use of folk material both in
theme and dance step.
Here were three examples OF
dance interpretations of classical
orchestral music. Shades Of
Alice's Looking Glass" how
things have changed! Composers
used to toss of ballet music in
their spare moments, using up the
lacey frills left over from more
Neighty styles of writing. Old
type ballet groupings then were
obediently worked out in trios
and pas seulS, ETC., to fit the &C
cented, sugary cadenceS. The
matter of facial expression or
dramatic Interpretation by ges-
lures never entered the problem
at all.
Now, in these new balletS, I'M
der the guidance Of such an un-
usual personality as Irene Levi
sohn's. a march has been stolen
upon the mapping composer and
he is liable to awaken soon and
find himself like Alice and the
Red Queen, racing wildly to
simply keep up with himself. AS
the Red Queen remarked on that
occasion. Nov here. you see, it
takes all the running you can