Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-28

notifications, TaSSo's verse, de-
Scribed the events that follow.
Tancred challenges the armorcd
knight, whom he intends to pro-
woke to battle. The Invocation to
the Night is intoned by the Mar
rator as the combatantS kneel and
pray, each to his own God. The
growing tension of the moment
as the adverSarieS approach each
other land the sounds of the
struggle" are achoed by the in
struments. BY means of rhythm
the emotion as we'll as the event
is portrayed. Fatigue forces a
pause in the fight, but pride is
strong and the struggle is quickly
resumed. Tancred demands the
name of his foe, which is scorn-
fully refused. At last Clorinda
falls. The heroic warrior gives
place to the yielding woman.
Love, thou hast conquered. I
pardon thee. Pardon me, and give
me the baptism that effaces all
sim" Tancred, unstrapping her
visor, is undone by the sight that
meets his eyes, and nothing is
simpler, nobler or more touching
than the last phrase of Clorinda,
as, gazing into the eyes of her
lover, she commends her soul TO
God and gives up the ghost. A
most piteous tale, conveyed in
music as moving and as aristo-
cratic as TaSSOs verse.
CLAUDIO MONTENEGRO (l567-
~ 1643), probably was the most
remarkable musician of his day.
He is described physically and
shown in pictures as being very
dark, of Italian coloring with
face shaped not unlike Shake
speare's, the similarity being
heightened by the style dress,
which was of the same period.
Like the Bard of Avon, Monte
verdi wore a short beard and
mustache. His forehead was
broad and high and his nose
straight. His eyes were large and
dark. ..-
In his youth, Monteverdi stud
led the strict style and wrote mad
rigals. The later madrigals, how
ever, showed his new-style ten
denotes. A native of Cremona, lie
was chorus master in 1913 at St.
Marks famous Cathedral in
Venice. Before this he had been
employed by the Duke of Mantua
when, in 1907 (the year that the
ColoniStS first landed in what is
now the State of Virginia., Mon
teverdi produced his first opera,
"Orfeo," which was notable for
containing both declamatory and
melodic lines. In 1903 his "Arian-
ma" and "Il Ballo DELI Inrate"
were presented with formal mel
odieS appearing in the former. It
it generally conceded, however,
that the greatest work by this
first opera composer, was 1.-THE
Combat of Tancred and Clo-
rinda," first produced in 1924.
Here he showed an entirly new
concept of the province Of the
orchestra, introducing descriptive
effects which included the first
appearance of the tremulo and
pizzicato in the strings. Combina-
tons of instruments characterized
the personages of the drama and
instrumental passages, ritornellos,
romaneScaS, maureScaS and the
like, were frequent.
Indeed, Monteverdi had tasted
deeply of life before he wrote his
greatest opera. He wrote the first
of all grand operas while sitting
beside the bedside of his dying
wife and the poignant plants OF
his Orpheus were echoes of his
own feelings. He wrote his Sec
ond opera soon after his wife's
death, being obliged to complete 1t
by order for the festivities which
marked the wedding of the prince
who was heir to the throne of
Mantua.
THE personality of the other
4 composer of the evening, Igor
Stravinski, born in 1881 in Russia,
has been a subject of multitude
nous comments almost as widely
and constantly as his music. One
OF the foremost figures flaming in
the picture of cotemporary COM
poSerS, he gives a very different
from the italian of 300
years ago. There probably Is no
more alert and brilliant discussion
OF his character and his attitude
toward his music than that given
in the book Modern Russian
Composers" written by Leonid
Sabaneyeff, critic of Russia. Mr.. j
Sabaneyeff has said in part:
I'VE see the Strongholds OF
idealiSm tumble, one after an
other, and LIES prose peeps out
from behind the artistic draperies.
And those who are now marked
with the stamp of genius in their
narrow musical sphere, are now,
alas, no longer prophets nor
priests OF the sacred art but
plain manufacturers of values, and
their genius does not reach the
sphere Of genius of the spirit. This
is the sign and stamp of the age,
and If our discussion of Stravin-
ski touches upon this sphere, one
must admit that StravinSki is in
the highest degree a cotempor-
airy phenomenon. He is the live
lest reaction to the keen, refined
stated taste of our time. This
master of contemporary musical
thought, successor to the throne
of Debussy and Strauss, who has
succeeded in combining the high
est tension of technical boldness
with the highest and broadest
democratism and power greater
then Debussy's, has reflected in
his ppoafiya ~ oil thaf 10 JoFk,,