The Washington times., 1938-03-05
DC. Gets
Ballet,
Opera
BY WILLIAM NEWMAN

BY WILLIAM NEWMAN
Beginning tonight and for Q
week to come, opera and the Rus
sian ballet will occupy the atten-
ton Of Washington's music lovers.
For German opera and the
Russian ballet the National
Symphony assumes responsible
ity. Tomorrow afternoon in
Constitution Hall, Agnes Davis,
distinguished American soprano,
will assist DR.. Hans Kinder and
the orchestra in the presenta-
ton Of excerpts from Mozart'S
Marriage Of Figaro" and Wag-
ner's Dusk Of the Gods" Miss
Davis frequently has been chosen
by Leopold StokowSki to appear
in operate and concert per-
formances with the Philadel-
phia symphony and to sing with
that famous ensemble for the
recordings Of excerpts from
'The Niebelungen Ring"
HISTORY OF SKETCH
One hundred and fifty years
Of operatic history will be
Sketched in DR.. Kindler's pro-
gram which ranges from ballet
music of Gretry as transcribed
by Mottl to the Polka and
Fugue" from Weinberger's
"Schwanda the Bag-Piper," or
from 1773 to 1888.
The Wagner excerpts will be
1.-The Ride Of the Valkyries,"
prelude to Act III Of TTristan
and Isolde; chorus of Gibi-
chungs from '"The Dusk of the
Gods" and "Bruennhilde's I'M
notation" from the same work.
Miss Davis will sing an aria
from "The Marriage Of Figaro"
and the "Alleluja" from MOI"
arts ''Exultate Jubilate" in the
first half of the program.
From opera the National Sym
phony turns to the ballet Tues
day and wednesday. Even in
the present recession" when
nearly as many native artists
are unemployed and on relief or
working for the Federal prof.
ects as were idle during the
depression Americans have
found 100000 to finance a
30,O0O-mile tour for Col. w. de
Basil'S Ballet Russo de Monte
Carlo. This famous company
comes to Washington for two
performances with the National
Symphony, Tuesday, March 8,
and Wednesday, March 8, in
Constitution Hall.
PROGRAM LISTED
Tuesday night, which Is an
extra-subscription performance,
with all seats open to the pub
lie, the Ballet Russo viii pre-
sent:
Debussy's Afternoon Of a
Faun" music by DehuSsy, chore-
ography by Nijinsky; Symptom
ic Fantasy, music by Berlioz,
choreography by Massine; "One
Hundred Kisses" music by REr.
LANCER, choreography by Bro
nislawa Niiinsky, and "Cimaro-
siana," choreography by Mas
sine, music by Cimarosiana.
Wednesday night the program
will include 1.-THE Gods Go
Alleging" choreography by
Lichine, music by Haendel;
Francesca da Rimini," choreog-
raphy by Lichine, music by
Tschaikowsky; lie Spectre de Ia
Rose" choreography by Fokine,
music by Weber; and '"Gypsy
Dances" choreography by Min
ski, music by Dargomijsky.
DANGERS TO APPEAR
Important dancers listed to
appear are Trina Baronova,
Titiana RiabouchinSka, Alex
andra Danilova, Lubov Tcherni-
cheva, Tamara Grigorieva, Olga
Morsova, Lubov RoStova, Eu-
genia Delarova, Lichine, Sheve-
levslky, Jasinsky and others.
Massine is not announced to
dance. The orchestra will be
conducted by Efrem Kurz and
Antal Dorati.
The Chicago Opera Company
Of New York opens weeks en-.
gagement in the Rialto tonight.
It will offer works from the
standard repertoire, with many
native artists singing in foreign
tongues to accommodate the
alien artists in the company.
Three Puccini operas, La
Boheme," "Tosca" and Mime.
Butterfly" works long unheard
in this city, are included in the
list Of lyric dramas announced
for performance. The story OF
the latter, drawn from the John
Luther Long Belasco drama, Is
familiar to most, Americans; but
'ToSca" is based on the Sardou
melodrama, what Bernard Shaw
called a Sardoudle, and pros
pective patrons would be well
advised to look it up.
SCENES IN ITALIAN
The best scenes in la Bo-
heme" are comedy, although
there is plenty of romance and
a real Camille finish. The COM
edy will be hard to get for those
who do not speak Italian, which,
so far as I have observed, is a
1..0,,ooa MT oaTooraIIv ,cJ1rroot