Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-20

the last performance this season
of the company that has Sparkled
and lifted in the airs OF music
dramas by the master opera COM
poSerS for many weeks. Some of
the famous SongbirdS of the COM
pany have fitted across the At
lantic to rest preceding appear
anceS this Summer in festivals
abroad or Summer opera in this
country. The majority of the
Metropolitan'S leading singers,
however, in their flight South,
their annual Spring trip, are
pauSing in Washington the mid
die of this week for three per-
formanceS.
They bring here only the works
of established classic opera writ
ers-Puccini, Giordano and Verdi,
all italian. Washington audiences
are assured of plenty of real mel
ody and thoroughly old-faShioned
ariaS in true braVura style for
each performance. There is no
need to dwell for a moment on
either Of the very familiar scores,
la Boheme" and La Traviata. !"
The one unfamiliar opera, An
drea Chenier," the story of which
is detailed elsewhere on this page,
is considered to be the best work
of Umberto Giordano. 1t is said
to have considerable dramatic
force and lyric beauty. Its style
is reported to be rather of the
late Verdi style of writing than
the older, strictly artificial style.
The Giordano opera is the only
one that brings the famous ballet
of the Metropolitan to the local
stage.
WASHINGTON musicians should
Nv find special interest in the
note which they will discover in
opera programs this week, which
requests that they take active
part in making a ballot for the
operas which they would like to
have the Metropolitan company
bring here next season. Mrs. Rob-
ert Low Bacon, chairman OF the
association here that sponsors the
appearance of the New York COM
pany this season, stated that two
very familiar operas were chosen
for this year due to the necessity
for making a complete financial
success. If, however, the muSi-
clans and music lovers of Wash
ington show sufficient interest
and cooperation in making out
these ballots, and should choose
less familiar works, then their
choice will be respected and every
effort will be made to bring pro-
auctions here that Washingto-
mans are really anxious to see
and hear.
WHILE Washington is enjoying
the opening performance OF
its brief season" of Metropolitan
grand opera, the home of that
company will have been reawak-
ened from it's first short sleep and
the gold curtains will have Sepa-
rated to display to New York for
the first time the newest thing in
grand operas, die Glueckliche
Hand" written by Arnold Schoen-
berg. 1t is a truly amazing work.
It's American premiere was given
last week end in Philadelphia at
the Metropolitan Opera House of
that city. It was given joint
premiere with the ballet perform
ance of Stravinsky's lie Sacre du
Printemps."
Arnold Schoenberg, born in vi
emma but now living in Berlin, is
a musician who undoubtedly is
one of the outstanding individu-
ais of the world today. His revo-
lutionary efforts and experiments
have established a definite school
of music"
die Glueckliche Hand" ('"The
Hand of Fate") Is most peculiar
work. 1t seems to leave its audi
tor either fascinated and inter
eSted in hearing it Immediately
again the better to aSSimilate 1t,
or else leaves him definitely, I'M
compromisingly displeased to the
point of saturated disgust. There
is no middle course of taking this
work mildly. At the Saturday
night performance in Philadel-
phia, when the house was packed
to it's limit with an obviously bril-
liant and very musical audience,
the great hubbub of chatter and
discussion that arose at the con-
clusion of the opera and drifted
with the cigarette smoke into
foyer and lobby was amazing in
itself Never, after the average
opera performance, even OF ad-
mittedly inspiring works that are
established as classics, has the
writer heard anything like this
discussion in New York, Philadel-
phia or this city. Only abroad, in
Paris. Munich and Salzburg, was
found the equivalent of the ear
nest discussion and excited COM
ment that the Schoenberg opera
aroused Saturday night.
Given ultra modern setting and
the remarkable lighting effects
that have become feature of
German productions, the Schoen-
berg work established immedi-
ately sense of something COM
pletely different. 1t is not compa-
rable as an opera with any OF
the usual works so classified. 1t
has a huge orchestra, part OF
which is placed back of the stage.
There is but one singer. The
three other characters are all
mines. Those in the chorus do
not drift in aimless, wooden fash
ion about the stage, as is the ira
ditional habit of opera choruSes.
Instead, this one is stationed in
the midst of the orchestra down
in the pit, and the human voices
are used in definitely instrumental
fashion as the score unfoldS.
The stage has a setting within