London Opera House Author(s): Hermann Klein Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 53, No. 827 (Jan. 1, 1912), pp. 30-31 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/906857 . Accessed: 29/12/2014 08:49

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This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 29 Dec 2014 08:49:56 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 30 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-JANUARY I, 1912.

Mr. Oliver E. Fleet Cobb, withwhose familythe late generation music is running astray. He shows as Frau Wach was on intimate terms, sends us some much, not only by strictlyadhering, as a composer, to interesting extracts from her recent correspondence. non-modernmethods, but by the tone of almost all the On January 20, 1909, writing with reference to a essays or articles that he writes. Be they on the most photograph of her father'sgrave, she says : general subjects, like the question of prose versus I am sendingoff to-day the photo-it has been taken on poetry in opera-books, or on tonality, or on the ballet, purposefor you last week and shows the whitecross of they all include, like a delenda Carthago, some satire Silesianmarble with myfather's name, as itis now. I think against modern tendencies. youwill be able to readthe names and datequite easily-Next This, coming from M. Saint-Saans, was at first the cross,on the lefthand, is the small monumentof a child's rather unexpected ; for the now ultra-conservative of littlebrother who died grave eight years; my Felix, composer has in his time been hailed-and deservedly of scarlatinain is buried there. To the I851 rightis -as the leader of the progressive partyin music. He Fanny Hensel's tombstone,nWe Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, is in is one of the founders of the French school of died May 14, 1847...s.. My mother'sgrave Frank- and writers where she died of symphonists of chamber-music. A sturdy fort-on-Main, consumption,September of Liszt's he has ever 25, 1853, at her mother'shouse. champion innovations, proclaimed their import as examples which he himselfhas striven On from she April 15, 1909, writing Leipsic, says: to follow. In 1871, he helped to create the Societe I wantto thank for the you verywarmly lovely surprise Nationale de Musique, whose concerts forforty years you so kindly thoughtof giving me on Easter Sunday have so well forwardedthe cause of the French school. morning. It really seemed a wonderhow the blooming But now M. who had halted almost and violetscould have comefrom Saint-Sains, as roses,lilies Sidcup, Kent, soon as the current of which he was one of to the Goethestrassein and the Leipsic, withoutlosing their had to has freshnessand sweet scent1! ! But what me even generators begun spread, raised the pleased of and morethan this miracle and mysteriouslyquickcommunication, cry alarm, wages lustily, if strategically, was to feelthat I had to thank forthis war against 'Franckism' and impressionism alike. myfather's memory ' tributeof kindlyfeeling. I hope the photographof myold Dejanire' is to be understood as exemplifyingboth facehas arrivedjust in timeto thankyou for rememberinghis creed and his strategy; he has written it not only me and am withkind regards to Mrs. Fleet Cobb. as a work afterhis own heart, but as a set-offagainst Yours verysincerely, LILI WACH. all that he blames. In fact, there is no other Mr. Fleet Cobb informsus that Frau Wach's last explanation forit. ' Dejanire' is a deliberate attempt visit to England was in October, 1897, when to write in Gluck's style-except, of course, that she came over to attend the funeral of her sister, the orchestral treatment is modern-but with a Mrs. C. V. Benecke, at Barnet. difference: as it is, one cannot overlook the fact From i88o untilher death in her sixty-sixthyear, on that Gluck, from beginning to end, proved a October 15, 910o,Professor and Mrs. Adolph Wach revolutionary, as have been all the musicians that regularly spent the summer months at 'Ried,' their are to-day's classics. Sainte-Beuve said that 'in chalet at Wilderswil, near Interlaken; and here she art truly created expression alone counts.' If this died, leaving three sons and three daughters, and was severe but legitimate standard be applied, it is to be buried at Gsteig, Interlaken, on October 18, 1910. feared that ' Dejanire' will not be appraised any higher In a letter Mr. Fleet Cobb had at the time, than 'L'Anc'tre,' 'Les Barbares' or, in short,the greater Mr. Felix Moscheles (Mendelssohn's godson) says, part of what the composer has writtenof late. On the 'I shall always remember her as a lovely, ideally other hand, admirers of M. Saint-Satns will findreason beautiful girl and charming woman.' enough to enjoy once again the elegance of his writing Dr. A. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, her son-in-law, and the technical skill that has made him famous. writing to Mr. Fleet Cobb on November I6, 910o, The Opera has done its best to ensure ' D"janire's' says: 'In fact, her mind was in the last months success, which however is but moderate. The almost exclusivelyoccupied by thoughtsof her English excellent artists Mlle. F. Litvinne and M. Muratore friends . . . and of the old ties between your country impersonate D6janira and Hercules, supported by and her family.' Mlles. Gall and Charny and M. Danges.

M. LONDON OPERA HOUSE. CAMILLE 'DEJANIRE.' SAINT-SAEtNS'S HERMANN KLEIN. BY M.-D. CALVOCORESSI. BY So far, Mr. Oscar Hammersteinhas done a great M. Saint-Saans's opera, 'Dejanire,' performed at deal better than was expected. Indeed, he has done the Theatre de l'Op6ra, is, according to the com- so well during the opening month of his season that, poser's express assertions, to be his last. The French if he can keep up the pace, he will quickly falsifythe master, now over seventy-six years of age, whose predictions of all the Zadkiels and Old Moores of career has been an unusually long and active one, is the operatic world. The fact that these were for the well entitled to rest. But he shows, in mind and body, most part extremely pessimistic only served (as I so marvellous a briskness(one remembersthat not long hinted would be the case in the last number of the ago he went to Heidelberg forthe Liszt centenary,and Musical Times) to spur the American impresario on took part in the celebration concerts as a pianist) that to higher deeds of emulation. He may be dis- it is yet possible he may change his mind, if only appointed that he cannot flaunt in our faces a list of for combativeness' sake. subscribers comparable with that of Covent Garden in M. Saint-Sains, an optimistand, in his own way, a the regular season, which no one but himself could humorist, remarked not long ago that some people have ever been sanguine enough to imagine possible; called him the greatest of living composers, and yet assuredly he is secretly elated when, night after others anathematized him as a dull old fogey-thus night, opera-lovers besiege the doors of his new establishinga balance. Being satisfiedthat the modern theatre in crowds and betray a very genuine interest tendencies of musical art are depraved and deplorable, in, as well as unmistakable approval of, the kind of he may yet be tempted to assert the rightsof the forms performancesthat he is offering. 'Quo Vadis' has to he believes in, never caring whetherhe is sneered at a certain extent 'caught on'; while if 'William Tell' by juniors. Sneers cannot touch him in the least ; he and 'Norma' have not repaid the expenseof revival, has a firmconviction that in the hands of the younger 'Rigoletto' and 'Faust' unquestionablyhave done so-

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 29 Dec 2014 08:49:56 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.-JANUARY I, 1912. 31 the former owing chiefly to one of those happy is looking. Not since the days of Fancelli and Ravell trouvailles which occasionally reward the operatic has a tenor been heard in London so lavish, so unspar- manager even as a large nugget rewards the prospector ing ofhis high C's and C sharps as Mr. Orville Harrold. for gold in a 'claim' that has not been exhausted. He made altogether a splendid Edgardo, and his The 'find' in question was Miss Felice Lyne, a acting was not perhaps more conventional than such youthfulsoprano from Kansas, U.S.A., who made her a conventional part compelled. But as a rule he would d6buitin grand opera as Gilda on November 25, and do well to leave a little more strength in reserve for awoke next day to findherself famous. I did not hear the broad melody and soaring phrases of the final Miss Lyne until her second appearance in the same 'Tu che a Dio,' which is in more senses than one the character, but was then much struck by the charm true climax of an Edgardo's career. and power of her organ, the spontaneityand grace of Afterlicensing Strauss's 'Salome,' the Censor could her singing, the general girlish sincerityand dramatic no longer consistentlywithhold permission for the per- appropriateness of her impersonation. To call her as formance of Massenet's ' Herodiade,' in somethinglike yet a star of the very highest magnitude would be to its original shape. On December 14, Mr. Hammerstein say too much. On the other hand it would be equally took fulladvantage of the opportunity. He could not unwise to place a limitation upon the possibilities of conceal the weaknesses, the lack of inspiration and a young artist whose natural gifts are so remarkable, dramatic grip that are inherent in Massenet's early whose musicianly intelligence is so exceptional, whose score; but he has made one inclined to pass these voice possesses a timbre of such haunting beauty, over for the sake of many moments of melodic such unusual compass and strength,as are manifestin charm and a wealth of spectacular grandeur that far the case of Miss Lyne. Unless many good judges are exceeds in richness and beauty any display witnessed greatly mistaken, this American debutante will go far. in an opera house in this country since the days of Meanwhile her delightful embodiment of Gilda, Augustus Harris. The Temple and the processional supported by the robust Duca of Mr. Orville Harrold scenes are magnificentlydone, and, if the details of and the histrionically superb Jester of M. Maurice Jewishritual are purely imaginative, they are at any Renaud, has been imparting to the 'Rigoletto' rate impressive,which is saying a great deal. Indeed, performanceelements of attractionto which admirers those who remember the Paris production of thirty of old-fashioned opera and brilliantvocalization have years ago, and also saw the emasculated version put been only too glad to respond. on at Covent Garden in 1904, will not hesitate to say The 'Faust' revival was chiefly noticeable for a that the new impresario has beaten both. brightness and verve in the choral scenes that do The characters of this opera may be Biblical in not often distinguish the performancesof Gounod's name, but there the identitypractically ends. After opera to which we are accustomed. It is good to see all it is only the presence and the delineation of John the incidents of the Kermesse acted as well as sung the Baptist that really matter; and inasmuch as he with the right spirit,while a chorus that can take an is merely described in the bill as 'A Prophet,' and intelligent interest in the manner of Valentin's death comports himselfas a veryordinary human one at that, is the exception rather than the rule. Obviously we are quite content not to associate him with the Mr. Hammerstein had taken more pains over these noble, towering figure recorded in the Gospels. In things than his setting of Marguerite's garden. The his operatic aspect he is capitally represented by fair Gretchen herself had at the outset a pleasing and M. Jean Auber, a highly efficientFrench tenor, capable exponent in Mlle. Vallandri; later in the whose voice came out exceedingly well in the month the part was undertaken by Mlle. Isabeau prison duet with Salome. The latter had a lithe and Catalan. So, again, the r61le of Faust has been graceful exponent in Mlle. Lina Cavalieri, who sang shared by Mr. Orville Harrold and Signor Ansaldi, and acted with animation, albeit necessarily a and that of Mephistopheles by M. Francis Combe colourless personage after the perverse, passionate and M. Henry Weldon; while M. Jose Danse has creature of Strauss's opera. The part of Herodiade furtherdeepened, as Valentin, the excellent impression introduceda new and intenselydramatic mezzo-soprano he made as William Tell. in Mlle. Marguerite d'Alvarez, an artist of Peruvian The choice of 'Lucia di Lammermoor' for Miss birth and Belgian training. She proved to be an Felice Lyne's 'second debfit,' as the French call it, admirable actress, and the possessor of a rich, warm, was doubtless governed by managerial considerations powerfulorgan, which she uses with skill and genuine rather than an overwhelmingdesire on the part of the dramatic instinct. Mlle. d'Alvarez had an extremely public to hear Donizetti's well-worn opera in a new cordial reception. M. Maurice Renaud furnishedan setting. I suppose it is inevitable that a fresh and artistic presentment of Herode, singing 'Vision youthful'star' shall give evidence of her vocal genius fugitive' splendidly ; and M. Henry Weldon made a in a number of hackneyed r1les before appearing in competent Phanuel. The generallysmooth presenta- the parts that interestus, and for which we need her tion of the opera, under the guidance of Signor Luigi most. In course of this round it is to be hoped that Cherubini, and the masterly stage-management of Mr. Hammerstein will affordMiss Lyne the chance of M. Jacques Coini, must not pass withoutmention. singing Juliette. Petite and pretty, as well as full of temperament,she will look the Italian heroine as have few opera singers since Patti; and the music should suit her to perfection. Meanwhile her Lucia Revtewz. may be characterized as a very remarkable achieve- ment for one so inexperienced in the art of the stage. Annals of the Irish Harjers. By CharlotteMilligan Fox, Not merely by her singing, which was replete with Withillustrations. dramatic sentimenteven when indisposition interfered [Smith,Elder & Co.] her intonation,but by some singularly original with All interestedin the studyof the Irish Harp will give a touches in her treatmentof the Mad Scene, Miss Lyne cordial welcometo the above workby Mrs. MilliganFox, proved herselfan artist of quite unusual calibre. The the energetichon. secretaryof the Irish Folk-SongSociety. richness of her tone in the medium register and the The 'Annals of the Irish Harpers' can claim a place in ease and spontaneitywith which she produces it are music libraries,and is mainlya narrativeof ArthurO'Neil not less surprising than the beauty and power of her and Edward Bunting,with a fundof anecdotesrespecting lead-notes. In fact, here would seem to be the O'Carolan, Dingenan, Byrne, Keenan, Lyons, Heffernan, successor to Melba and Tetrazzini for whom the world Hempson,Connellan, O'Cahan, Morgan,Duncan and other

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