under Sir Augustus Harris Author(s): F. G. W. Source: The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 37, No. 642 (Aug. 1, 1896), pp. 521-523

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This content downloaded from 142.51.1.212 on Mon, 21 Dec 2015 18:58:04 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES. AUGUSTI, I896. 52I melodiesof his great masters,most of which he sufficientlyrecognise the advance in taste and has learnt solely by the ear and in a mutilated intelligence of its supporters. The old gene- form." ration, which was content with a performance Why Orientals do not appreciateEuropean that contained little else of merit save some music, he says, is because they are soon tired brilliantly sung arias, had been slowly but of the constant repetition of the major and surely passing away, and those who filled minor scales, are confused by accidentals,and the vacated seats attached as much import- by modulationswhich upset their recognition ance to the dramatic as to the vocal side of the pitch or key to be observed in a com- of operatic art. These called, and with good position. The Indian may modulate through reason, for reform, for greater completeness differentmodes, but his key-note(SRUTI) remains of representation; and, seeing few signs of unalteredthroughout. these things, said, with the impatiencethat is " The Indian Snds the avenues to his heart one of the characteristicsof the new mind,that are innumerable7and the chords which are Italian Opera,as an art, was dead. The more there struck and the passions excited are lethargicthe publicbecame, the moredesperate endless; he lies buried in an ocean of ever- grew the managers, and from I 884 to I 887 varying delight createdby his numerousmodes thousandsof pounds were scatteredin more or (MELAKARTA)and melody-moulds (RAGA), and is less vain eXorts to reinstate Italian Opera in unable to appreciate the more warlike and its old form. In the last-named year Mr. spirit-stirringexcitement producedby a com- Mapleson began an opera season at Covent bination of simultaneous sounds, however Gardenin March,and the following May Mr. sweetly or concordantly arranged as in Lago opened a season at the same theatre, Europeanharmony." which lle managedto keep going until July I6. Anothernoteworthy difference between Indian Mr. Mapleson also twice tried, beginning on and modernEuropean music is in the use made June 4 and 25 respectively,to give a series of the voices of men and women. The Indian of operatic performancesat Her Majesty's runs them together,as no doubt the old Greek Theatre, but without success. In additionto ran them together, thus materiallyrestricting the above ventures,the Royal Com- the vocal compass. The European separates pany gave a series of operatic performances, and distinguishesthem from the requirementscommencing on April 30, at Drury Lane, of his harmony into bass, tenor, alto, and the chief success of which was achieved by soprano. It is true the Indian may give a the presentation of " ," the stage chorus to low voices, another to high, and management of which had been entrusted reserve stanzas for medium voices; but the to Mr. Harris. This performancewas the same melody runs through each variety of Erst gleam of the coming dawn. Harris, compass, from the lowest bass to the highest with the astuteness which was the secret treble. of his success, saw what was needed, and As alreadysaid, the Hindustanimusic of the forthwith entered the lists as an operatic North of the Indian peninsuladiffers from the managerwith a performanceat Drury Lane, Karnatic through Persian and other foreign on June I3, of Verdi's " ," which was admixture,and is becoming grafted upon that presented with an attention to detail and of the South, which native musicians deplore. lavishness of stage mounting that becamethe Still the monodicstyle prevails,as in Persiaand talk of the town. Other , including Arabia; and with a fundamentaldifference also " Lohengrin," were presented with the best in China, Japan, Java, Siam, and the Hindo- singers available and a like regard to scenic Chinese race generally, who differ from the eXect, the result being that when he closed Indian in not accepting the Diatonic scale in his season on July 23 he had laid the frst its pure form. Enough has probablybeen said stone of the revival of Italian opera. The next to show that we have under notice a very year saw the sagacious manager at Covent remarkablebook, whetheras writtenin English Garden supportedby an influentialsyndicate, by a native, or as a contributionto that store- and the commencementof a policy that may house wherein is gathered all that can be be briefly described as a clever appreciation foundconcerning the most ideal of the arts. of the law of supply and demand. Thus the late zmpresario may be said to have assisted the natural developmentof opera rather than to have dictated its course. That which was OPERA UNDER SIR AUGUSTUS asked for was given, and in a manner most HARRIS. likely to appeal to the majority. Although THElate Sir Augustus Harris's reign over " Lohengrin"had provedso attractive,no other operain Englandembraces a remarkableperiod work by Wagner was ventured upon until of its history. When, in I887, AugustusH arris I889, when, on July I3, ;' Die Meistersinger't opened his Srst lyric season, Italian opera was was mounted in Italian, with MadameAlbani passing through that darkest hour which pro- as Eva and M. and M. Lassalle verbiallyprecedes the dawn of brightertimes. in the respective parts of Walther and Hans For several years its managershad failed to Sachs. The followingyear Mr. Harris had so

This content downloaded from 142.51.1.212 on Mon, 21 Dec 2015 18:58:04 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 522 THE hIUSICALTIMES. AUGUSTI, I896. far gained the confidenceof his patronsas to be " Elaine"-- three works which may be said able to dispensewith the preliminaryprospectus to severally represent the domestic, volup- hitherto issued at the commencement of tuous, and sentimental phases of operatic operaticseasons. This yearsawthe departurein art. In this year another impetus was given favourof worksbeing presented in their original to the spreading popularity of Wagner's language,and Gounods " Romeo et Juliette" music-dramasby their performanceat Drury and Bizet's " " were sung in French"; Lane by a German company, containing GoringThomas's " Esmeralda"was, however, several leading Wagnerian artists, under the also given in French. Five yearswere to elapse conductorship of Herr Mahler. Speaking before an English opera dare be presented broadly,these representationswould have been in the vernacular during the grand season; well-nigh perfect if the vocalisation of the which was not venturedupon until I895, when principal artists had been equal to their Mr. Cowen's " Harold" was produced. The histrionic abilities. In I 893 Leoncavallo's autumnof I890 was remarkablefor the revival " Pagliacci," the only successful imitation by Mr. Lago, at Covent Garden, of Gluck's of " ," was presented, " Orfeo,"with Miss Giulia Ravogli in the title together with another domestic opera by role, both work and artist being promptly Mascagni, entitled " I Rantzau." Other securedby Mr. Harris for his season of I89I. novelties were Isidore de Lara's " Amy The same policy was pursued with regard to Robsart," Bizet's " Djamileh," and Villiers Mascagni's" CavalleriaRusticana," which was Stanford's" Veiled Prophet"-the last-named producedin Englandby Mr. Lago on the Erst being hustled in at the close of the night of his autumn season of I 89I at the season. The following year the production ShaftesburyTheatre, and which,combined with of new works surpassed all record, the Gounod's " Philemon et Baucis," formed the list comprisingVerdi's " ," Bruneau's bill of Sir AugustusHarris's opening night of the " L'Attaque du Moulin," Puccini's " Manon " Italian Season " of I892. In the autumn of Lescaut," Massenet's " " and " La I89I, however,another departure in the history Navarraise," Cowen's " Signa," and Emil of operatic art had been made by the impor- Bach's " Lady of Longford." At the same tation to Covent Garden by Sir Augustus of time a second Germancompany was performing a French company chiefly drawn from the Wagner's masterpiecesat Drury Lane. The Paris OperaComique, and under the conductor- chief effect of so much activity was, however, ship of M. Leon Jehin. This company gave to bring into prominencethe dramaticrather the Srst performancein England of Gounod's than the lyric side of the art, and the works " Philemon et Baucis," which took place on were judgedby the public moreby their libretti October24. The prodllction,five days later, of than by the merit of the music. Such a result Bruneau's " Le Reve " also served to make was inevitable,for the better the librettois, the this season memorable. The visit of these moreinstantly it appealsand impresses; but the French artists did more, however, than morelofty the music,the longer it takes to gain make us acquaintedwith these works. The due appreciation. Apart from this, however, perfectionof their ensembleand the dramatic the impetusgiven to operaticproduction by the intensity of their actingtaught us manylessons, success of Mascagni's" CavalleriaRusticana" and must have cultivated taste for complete- was not calculated to produce masterpieces. ness of detail. The year I 892 saw the Nor has it. The only two works which stand beginning of a remarkablephase in operatic out with distinctness to the musician are art the rapid productionof new works. The " Falstaff" and " L'Attaque du Moulin," the origin of this was, of course, the phenomenalcomposers of both having probably been un- success of " CavalleriaRusticana." Composersinfluenced by the operatic fever. Last year saw a possible "Eldorado" in a new opera, noveltieswere eschewed, with the exception of and employed their pens accordingly. Those Mr. Cowen's" Harold"; but the visit to Drury who judged the success of Mascagni's work Lane of the Saxe-Coburg Company again to be owing to the dramatic intensity of brought into prominencethe advantages of a its libretto, sought the most blood-curdlinggood ensemble. This also was enforcedby the incidentswherewith to attract the public ear; performancesgiven in English at the com- the climax being reached by Massenetin " La mencementof the year, at Daly's Theatre,by Navarraise," originally produced at Covent the Royal . The Gardenin I894, and in whichgunpowder played production by this cornpanySat the same almost as important a part as the music. theatre, on December 26, I894, of Humper- Mascagni, however, turned his back on dinck's " Hansel und Gretel," and the sensationallibretti, apparentlylooked through recent success attained by Professor Villiers his portfolio,and presented" L'Amico Fritz," Stanford's" ShamusO'Brien," require mention the most dramatic episode of which was for the completenessof this survey. a girl on a ladder picking cherries. Lookingback over the past nine years, it is This came to Covent Garden in I892, during seen that progress has been chiefly made in which season were also produced Isidore consistency of stage mounting and dramatic de Lara's " Light of Asia" and Bemberg's reasonableness. Both these particulars are

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capable of, and indeedcall for,greater develop- - the accomplishments of Wagner it is not ment; but for thatwhichhas beenaccomplished 1 necessary to speak. At the present day the there is cause to be thankful. The greatt culturedmusician is especially representedby attentiongiven to the dramaticside of the artt Saint-Saens, Boito, Dr. Hllbert Parry, and has freed music frommany paralysing conven-- many others; but Brahms is known to be tionalities. Composersare, however,in realityz well versed in the masterpieces of classical bound by far more rigid fetters. FormerlyX, and modern literature, while Verdi's choice appropriatenessof subject-matterwas of little] of subjects of late years-- certainly fur- moment, but now suitability for musica]1 nishes no instance of those " degraded treatment is insisted upon, and at the same^ alliances" of which Mr. Hutchings speaks. time the limits of musical expressionare dailyr Indeed, as he himself admits, i' at present becomingmore clearly deSned. He who would1 the composer is as often as not a more or write a great opera now-a-days must con-- less competent critic." And he supplements sequently be master of many subjects. The: this admission by the bold remark that the orchestra has already become the exponentt instances of Schumann}Berlioz, Liszt and of psychical complexities, inasmuch as itW Wagner " show little more than that in days of endeavours to convey to the listeners the widely diffusededucation even musical genius thoughts which are supposed to be dominantW lacks the opportunity,or can hardly dare, to in tlle mind of the singer; and the inflections; be ignorant.' We take it that the advance, of the vocal part must have a rational connec-. assumingthat it is an advance,is not confined tion with the habitualrise and fall of the voice> to music alone, but to other callings,and that when the emotionsare excited. Thus operatic the averagelevel of generalculture to be found music, formerlycontent to express vague feel-. among, say doctors, greengrocers,and com- ings, now strives to attain greater definite-| mercial travellers would exhibit a similar ness of expression,and to indicate the process; elevation in the course of the last hundred of thought. Hence it is probablethat operatic: years. The danger that besets a musician art is now in a transitionalstage preceding a now-a-daysis not so much that of knowingtoo still moredistinct diSerentiation than at present; little outsidehis own sphereas of knowingtoo exists between its various forms, the most much. It is so hardfor him to isolate himself, important of which, apparently, will be the and, as an illustriousmTriter once said, " though furtherdevelopment of the principlesset forth conversationmay enrichthe intellect, isoiation by NVagnerin " Tristan and Isolde." is the true school of genius.'? Some well- F. G. VV. known modern musicians have presented the extraordinaryspectacle of men who combined musical composition with special scientific MUSIC AND CtJLTURE. studies Borodin and Cesar Cui are, perhaps, IN the course of an interestingarticle on the the most remarkablecases in point. And one peculiarities of the musical temperamentand cannot help feeling that this terrible enchetje- its manifestations,in the current number of trencent as Daudet calls it, of modernlife tells Blackwood, Mr. Hutchings touches upon the againstthe qualityof the work produced. One subject of musical genius and general edu- would not be in the least surprisednow-a-days cation. " The lives of the great composersdo if a Ene Symphonywere to be written hy the show," he writes in one passage, " unwelcomeauthor of an exhaustivework on bimetallism,or as the truth may be, that music of a very if a Senior Wranglerwere to compose a par- high order has been produced by men who ticularly lurid one-act opera. As a proof were indisplltably dunces, if not simpletons. of ourversatility, it is no doubt verygratifying; Hence the degraded alliances which noble but one is sometimes beset by the awkward music has contracted with mean and foolish suspicionthat if we were not quite so " good all words; hence,too, the little that has been done round" we might go considerablyfarther in by composers of the first rank in the way of special directions. elucidating the laws ^rhich their genius has evolved." Now, as a matter of fact, we very much Two men distinguished in musical art, whose doubt whether, with one solitaryexception at names are associated, in diSerent ways and a diSerent degree, with the music of Handel, have celebrated the present day a single instance of the in- their seventieth birthday last month-we are referring spired dunce can be discoveredin the musical to Dr. Friedrich Chrysander and Herr Julius Stock- annals of the nineteenthcentury. Even Schu- hausen. Dr. Chrysander, who was born on July 8 bert himself, though his surroundings were I826, has been for the last thirty years a resident of bourgeois, showed a considerable literary Bergedorf, near Hamburg, where he has founded an 7fair in his choice of words.. Weber, though establishment for the cultivation on a large scale of certainly not fortunate in his choice of market fruit and roses, and in the midst of which exhilarating surroundings he has written a part of librettos, was a well educatedman. Mendels-his, as yet unEnished, Handel biography, and has sohn was a regular admirable Crichton added volume upon volume to his famous critically Schumann, Berlioz, and, in a minor degree, revised edition of the complete works of the master Liszt, had all remarkableliterary gifts. Of issued by the German Handel Society. Only two

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