Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-14


Spring flight to MARBLE in the
swinging cadenceS of four of the
most firmly established of operas
in Washington this week. What
with the comparatively small
theater and the resulting neceS-
Sary high prices for seats, at least
the audience will be assured of
perfect performances Of many
familiar tunes. Also melody low
ers face no gamble on the grounds
of new works presented or the
possibility of single modernistic,
not even Debussian chord.
Three of the four operas are
italian, which means melody in
generous quantity and all the
sweeping gestures that make
grand opera the enhancing, tri-
ple-ringed circus of musicdom.
The fourth opera, the French
"Manon" of MaSsenet, which opens
the local season." is filled with
dramatic values, opportunities for
exquisite singing and colorful
changes Of both scene and cos
tune. The revival of this opera
in New York has achieved one OF
the high success marks Of the
season Just closed. It also prom
Uses to be the feature Of the tour
which begins tomorrow in Balti-
more. "Manon" is the only opera
of the tour repertoire that will be
given in every city to be visited.
The Washington performance
Of "Manon" is the first perform
ance of the MaSsenet work in the
National Capital. If memory re-
calls correctly. It may have been
given in the old days of the
French Opera Co. in it's visit here,
but available records would indi-
cate that this is the first perform
ance here.
Nellie Melba, the great Austral-
ian diva gives an entertaining pic
ture of Massenet in connection
with her mention of studying his
'Manon," in her autobiography,
melodies and Memories" She
says:
During this Summer (1895} I
was often in Paris, preparing
MasSenet's 'Manon Lescaut' under
the direction of the composer.
MaSSenet was a charming, oldiSh
man, with passion for flowers
and a habit of coming very pretty
phrases. He used to call me Nine.
StradivariuS (aS, indeed, did
Joachim, tool, since a stradivarius
is small in a small room and
swellS as the room increases in
size, yet still retains it's quality.
But what a devil he was for work!
If he was not such a great man I
should be inclined to call him
pe-nickety. He never let any
thing pass, however slight. and
if he did not like my singing of
a phrase he would go over it a
hundred times"
A IL three of the Italian works
"A are quite familiar to Wash
ington audiences, though only
one, "Cavalleria Rusticana," has
been done here by the 'Metropol-
itan Opera Co. since the resump-
ton of presenting a Spring sea-
son" here three years ago. In that
performance, when the Mascagni
opus was presented following Puc-
cini'S La Boheme," Florence Eas-
ton sang the role of Santuzza;
Ina Bourskaya, Lola, and Armand
Tokatyan, Turiddu, while Law
renee Tibbett sang the role Of
Alto. This year, Rosa PonSelle
will have the dominant role and
Marion Telva will sing Lola's part.
Tokatyan and Tibbett will appear
in the same roles sung here in
1927, and Philine Falco will sing
Lucia. Vincenzo BelleZza will con-
duct.
In spite of it's familiarity, there
probably Is no opera more beloved
than Cavalleria'S almost INSOFAR
able twin, 81 Pagliacci." 1t is in
teresting to remember, in view
of the fact that many sophisticat-
ed music lovers do not prefer this
opera, that Nine. Melba, the orig
inal Media, has written in her
memoirs:
II must go quickly over the next
short period (the Spring OF 1889,
mentioning en- PEASANT that I re-
appeared at Covent Garden in
Tohengrin' on may Is, and that
four days after that I redeemed
my promise to Leoncavallo by
creating the role of Media in I
Pagliacci.' which, by the way, is
one of King Georges favorite
operas. His majesty told me that
he saw 1t 10 times during this sea-
son alone" :,
It also is interesting to recall
the words of a Washingtonian,
not inconspicious in the business
world, who, attending a local
production, quite evidently was
totally unfamiliar with the story
or action Of 81 Pagliacci." Just as
the baritone, standing before the
curtain, had finished the famous
prologue, this gentleman turned
to his wife-"Well," he said, II
know this Is supposed to be a
modest, local production, but I
can't see why they couldn't have
tried to get some kind Of scenery.
think it's an outrage to pay what
we do to sit and hear man step
out in front Of a curtain and
sing"
However, as soon as the CHEEKY
colorfulness of the peasant group
In the opening Of the act proper
burst onto the stage, the grum-
bier muttered some relieved and
revised remarks and laughed the
loudest of any present over the
antics of the stage frightened
donkey pulling gay Medals cart.
\ \ \ - H.
AS it's very name indicates,
"A opera" is primarily product
of the singing land--Italy. To be
sure, within the interim between