4 MUSICAL AM E RICA November 29, 1913

lenge invidious comparisons which are in­ dramas. This time, however, he selected evitably harmful. However thi s may be it "Lohengrin" for the purpose and it was TWO IMPORTANT DEBUTS MARK is certain that M r. IVr artinelli did not exert given before a very large audience on Fri­ as potent a spell over the discriminating as day evening of last week. Regarded as an TlfE WEEK A T METROPOLITAN the verdicts of London and Philadelp hia entity the performance must be set down warranted. The future may reveal hi s as one of the most dramatically eloquent Giovanni Martinelli Heard for First Time in "Boheme" and capabili ties in a far better light. Extenu­ Ih at has been heard here in some time ating circumstances serving as a balm for Ihough it was open to criticism in certain "Butterfly" - Mme. Arndt-Ober a Remarkable "Ortrud" possible disappoin tment were not wanting of its specifically musical aspects. Much last week. Dire nervousness held sway credit· for the impetuous spirit and vitality in "Lohengrin" - A Splendid Performance of "The Magic over the tenor during a large part of the of the proceedings is due the new stage evening and he was apparently unable to manager, Franz Horth, in whom the Metro­ Flute" gauge the size and acoustics of the house politan has apparently made a valuable ac­ upon so short an acquaintance. Then, too. CJuisition. ONSIDERED from the purely artistic, Iy ill several days before the performance. he had SUf.1 g Rodolfo but once before (and But the dominant feature of the rep­ that only a few days previously), while to C as distinct from the social, point of Yet there was no trace of indisposition in resentation was the Ortrud of Margarete complete his misfortunes he caught a cold Arndt-Ober, the young mezzo-soprano view, the real beginning .of the Metropoli­ the superb voice of this ' most versatile of baritones nor in the ebullience of his in Baltimore ana brought it with him to from th e Berlin Royal Opera, who on this tan opera season took place on 'vVednesday humor. It would be a pleasure to record N ew York. occasIOn made her first appearance in evening of last week when the "Magic a triumph. commensurate with those of hi s The VOlce which Martinelli disclosed is America. A more commanding realization F lute" was given. Mozart's musical spring colleagues for Mr. U rlus, the Tamino, but a of vVagner's ideal than this Ortrud has 110t been witnessed upon the Metropolitan stage of eternal youth was one of last year's sense of strict critical conscientiousness makes such a course impossible. The tenor METROPOLITAN OPERA in many a year. Mme. Ober's triumph was most imposing successes and again last \Vas heard' in the part last season and it superlative. A houseful of devout vVag­ week it attracted a vast audience and pro­ was . then observed that he did not fi ll its CALENDAR nerites cast artistic etiquette to the winds requirements as well as he did those of in the second act long enough to blot out voked no end of applause. , With this as WEDNESDAY, November 26, Doni- Siegfried or T ristan. This time he sang a few bars of Elsa's music with a _perfect with certain other masterworks Mr. Gatti­ zetti's HLuci a di La mmerm oor" j hurricane of app.[ause after the .neWGom er earnestly and with the manifest desire of Mm es. Hempel, Ma ttfeld ; Messrs. Casaz z; has aC~ Q mplished what his prede­ imbuing the character with all the dramatic had delIvered Ortrud's invocation to her cessors failed .t'o do-he has established C r istalll (debut) , Amato. Cond uctor heathen gods. When the second curtain and emotional qualities which might be Mr. Pol a cco. them as p-ermanent· components of the latent in it. Unfortunately he lacks the fell there were more thunderous plaudits standard repertoire. In its scenic depart­ finish of style, the perfect vocal poise, the Thursday afternoon, Novem ber 27, mingled .with cheers. It was the obvious ment the production is a1;Jout as perfect as W a gner's " ParSifa l" ; Mmes. F r em­ desire of the audience to have Mme. Ober a modern stage spectacle can be made; and elegance and the polish of phrasing neces­ sary to the singing of Mozart. Besides stad ; Messrs. Jarn , Weil, Goritz, he fore the curtain alone.. One or two only in one or two detai l s ,: · \~ .as last week's Witherspoon, Schlegel. Conductor, f .there are times when his beautiful voice other members of the cast fe lt differently cast susceptible of improv ~ me nt. And' Mr. Hertz. about it, though,and effectually succeeded given in addition to such sceni'e and vocal ~' fakes on a decided throatiness in emission ·_ .":....;i"quali ty upon the absence of which his Thursda y evening, . Novembe r 27, in depriving a great artist of such homage factors so splendid an instrument as the J ~dmirers congratulated themselves last Puccini's " Manon Lescaut ,; Mmes. as rightly belonged to her. Metropolitan orchestra and SUcl1 a past Bari, D uchene; Messrs. Caruso, master of the secrets of orchestrar'. inter­ year. By her vivid pantomimic c\elineation of Concerning the rest of the performance Scotti, Seguroia. Conductor, Mr. Po- irony, hauteur, scorn, disappointment· and pretation as Alfred Hertz the result ;'b~ c la cco. comes such as Mozart probably nev~ ,pis;­ there remains to be said only that the impotent rage in the opening act Mme. Ober tured in ' his fondest dreams. Besides 'it choruses were thrillingly sung (particu­ Friday, November 28, Mo ussorg ­ quickly proved herself an actress of alto­ was characteristic of Mr. ' Gatti's artistic larly the sublime "0 Isis und Osiris") and sky's " Bor is Godunow" j Mmes. Ober, gether exceptional penetration and )rysight. judgment to present this typically German that the orchestra under Mr. Hertz- who Breslau (debut) , Spa r kes, Duchene ; But in the' second act she dominii\ed from opera in the language in whicl1 it was writ­ was aRplap.deq 10J1g and. loudly when he Messrs. Dldur, Alth'ouse, Reiss . . Con­ fi.rst to last. For magnificence :bf sweep, ten instead of the inappropriate Italian ver­ first appea-r-ed-surpassed Itself m the elas­ ducto r, Mr, T oscanini. for stup·endous potency of emotional ut­ sion in which New York had previously ticity, delicacy and abundance of color Saturday afternoon , November 29 , terance, for incisiveness of accent, for been forced to hear it when it heard it with which it played its way through M ozart's " Magic Flute"; M mes. breadth and impassioned eloquence, for at all. . Mozart's translucent score. Destinn, ~emJ:>el ; M essrs. Urlus, vitriolic asperity mingled with a grandeur Br aun, Goritz, ReIs s , G r iswold. Con - truly regal this Ortntd is probably unsur­ " The're was l aughter ._ ~p l enty last week " Boh emel.' I'ntroduces Martine ltl Ove r the humorous lines' and situations of ductor, Mr. Hertz. passed by any living impersonator of the which Messrs. Goritz and Reiss and M iss "La Boheme" on Thursday evening of Monday evening, Decembe r 1, W a g . character. Sensitive to every latent dra­ Alten made such capital use, though the last week drew an exceptionally large gath­ ner' s HLohengrin" ; Mmes. , Fremsta d, matic possibili ty of the part she emphasized higher musical beauties of the representation ering though Caruso did not figure in the Ober; Messrs'. UrI us, W~il , Bra un, details last week that illumine the action call ed forth approval quite as emphatic. cast. But the multitude was keyed up to Schlegel. Conductor, Mr. Hertz. with a wealth of significance btlt to which Save for Lillian Eubank, an American a high pitch of expectancy because of the most singers are oblivious. If any objec­ Wednesda y evenin g, Decem ber 3, tion might be made it would be to a ten­ mezzo-soprano who appeared as the Second N ew York debut of Giovanni Martinelli, Verdi 's " Un Ballo in M asch era,J; Lady,' and Carl Schlegel, a new baritone the young Italian tenor w.ho had won golden dency to drive home obvious points too Mmes. Destinn, Hempel, Matzena ue r ; strongly. who, was one of the lesser priests, the cast opinions from all sorts of . people in Lon­ Messrs. Caruso, Amato, Roth ler, De was devoid of unusual features. Judg­ don and had consequently, as the fashion S eg urola . Co nductor, Mr. T os canini. Mme. Ober is a large woman and her ment on the work of these newc:omers must goes these days, been spoken of as a vo ice matches her physical proportions in be withheld until they can be heard in Caruso rival. A week ago he sang in Phila­ Thursd ay evening, Decem ber 4, volume. Moreover it is a superb organ of roles affording them solo opportunities. delphia and Philadelphians, as is their W a gner's " S iegfrIed"; Mmes. Frem· true mezzo-soprano quality and of exfen­ T he ensembles of the three Ladies were, wont, emitted ecstatic echoes. sta d, Ober, Alte n ; iVlessrs. Urlus, Gris­ sive compass. At times the singer was in­ however, very beautifully sung, Vera Curtis So it was preordained that a great popu­ wold, ReiSS , Gorltz, R uysdae l. Con· clined to drive it at top pressure with the and Lila Robeson being the remaining com­ lar reception awaited the young man at his d uctor, Mr. J:ie rtz. result of many tones sounding torced-a plements of the trio. Metropolitan introduction. Mr. Martinelli Friday ev e n ing, December 5, Mas­ tendency due most likely to unfamiliarity J Little is left to be said of the Parnina of had every reason to expand with pride over cagni's HC avaller ia R usticana '; Mmes. with th e acoustics of the house. Chame­ Mme. Destinn, the Qiteen of the Night of :1\1 ovation for which even Caruso in his D estinn, Duchene ; Messrs. . C r ista lli , leon-like, Mme. Ober's voice changes color Frieda Hempel, the Sarastro of Carl Braun, glory might have deigned to be thankful. Gilly. Followed by Leo>1 cavall o's with every subtle modification of dramatic the Papageno of Mr. Goritz, the Sp·recher A fter the "Racconto" there arose a veritable HI Pagli acci"; M iss Bari ; M essrs. sentiment, and perfect is the only term of Mr. Griswold, the M onostatos of M r. tempest of applause that continued long Ca ruso, Am ato. Co nducto r , Mr . P o · that describes the clarity of her enunci­ Reiss and the Papagena of Bella Alten that and was seasoned with strident bravos. lacco. ation. has not repeatedly been written. All of At the end of the fi rst act and even more Saturda y afternoon, Dece mber 6, The splendor of the new singer's work them rose on this occasion to as high a at the close of the third protracted enthusi­ Offenbach 's " Les Contes D'Hoffm a nn" i may have eclipsed to some extent the level as they have ever attained during asm was rampant, while more tangible evi­ Mmes. Hempel, Aid a (as Giutl etta­ achievements of the other participants their Metropolitan careers. Almost poig­ (I ences thereof in the shape of wreaths, her first appearance In the role ) , Bo r i, though these were mostly admirable. Mr. nant in the intensity of its beauty was Mme. fl owers and so forth put in an appearance. M a ubou r g, Duche ne ; Messrs. Ja rn , Braun sang the King's music opulently and Destinn's singing and it reached an unfor­ Estimated by externals the success of M r. Gilly, Rothier, De Segurola, Dldu r, in Mr. Weil's Telmmund Mme. Ober had getable climax in "Ach! Ich Fiihl es." T he Martinelli was unqualified. Reiss. Conductor , Mr. Polacco. a fitting companion to her Ortrud. Carl two florid airs of the Queen are often re­ And indeed the young singer is the most S aturd a y eve n ing, December 6, Schlegel was the Herald. His voice is not garded as show pieces and treated as such. valuable Italian tenor which the Metro­ Puccini' s " Tosca" (benefit perfor m­ large but it is beautiful in quality and used Miss Hempel sang them with coruscating politan has gathered into its fold in a a nce); Miss F arrar; Messrs . Martinelli , with skill. Mr. Urlus, the Lohengrin, did brilliancy of execution but invested them number of years. To be sure he seems Scotti. Conductor, Mr. Toscanin l. some singing that was praiseworthy and at the same time with a broad dramatic unlikely to endanger the repute or the popu­ ... some that was not. The E lsa was Mme. accent that rightly belongs to them. Carl larity to Caruso-judging, that is to say, l'remstad, who has never fitted into -the Braun, who is one of the greatest bassos from what he did last week. If the hysteri­ role as ideally as she does into Isolde or the Metropolitan has sheltered since cally disposed would but stop momentarily sufficiently voluminous and of a marked Brunnhilde. P lasticall y beautiful as it out­ P lan<;on, was never greater than last week to realize the dreadful burden of responsi­ youthful freshness. Possibly on future oc­ wardly is, her impersonation seems too while Mr. Griswold's singing of the bility with which they overwhelm and casions it may reveal a greater suscepti­ clearly sophisticated. Nor does the music S precher's li nes was broad, noble and im­ crush their idols by unhappy distinctions bi li ty to warmth and passion than it ·did suit her. Last week she was in exception­ pressi ve. of this kind they would pause in. their this time, and possibly, too, the tenor wi' l ally poor vocal form. Mr. Goritz was said to have been serious- stupid adulation. Its only effect is to chal- eventually show that he can imbue his The choral portions of the opera were singing with a wider variety of color and thrill ingly sung and the work of the or­ dynamic gradation. He forced his tones chestra and Mr. ' Hertz a miracle of tonal several times at his debut and lapsed oc­ loveli ness . and lofty poetic beauty. casionally f rom the pitch. All in all , Martinelli is a singer whose F arrar a nd Martin el li in " Butterfly" 1)1'ogress wi ll be carefully watched and for i\ full. ' fashionable. though not over­ ~;i)Z~ whose presence operagoers may perhaps be crowded house, greeted Geraldine Farrar's devoutly thankful ere long. H is stage . 150 Tremont Street, Boatctn 8·10~12 Eaat 34th Street, New York debut, this season, in "Madama Butterfly," J presence is pleasing and his acting intell i­ wh ich ' was produced last Monday night. gent. Had it not been for the knowledge that a Lucrezia Bori graced the role of Millli, severe attack of bronchitis prevented Miss acting it with pathos and sympathetic un­ Farrar's opening the season in Massenet's Bergerettes L derstanding and surpassing in her vocal "Manon," few would have realized, frol11 work anything she did last season. Her the general exc~ ll e nc e of her performance, Romances and Songs of the Eighteenth Century Collected and art is maturing and it was gratifying to that she had been indisposed. Transcribed with Accompaniments for trt'e Piano by note that the stridency which marred her Miss Farrar's Cia Cio San is an imper­ J. B. WEKERLIN. upper register last year has disappeared. The other roles were in familiar and capa­ sonation famili ar to operagoers. In one With Introduction and English Text by FREDERICK H . MART ENS. ble hands. Bella Alten was Musetta, Mr. respect her indisposition aided her because Scotti, Ma'rcello, Mr. de Segurola, Colline, it forced . her to reduce, to some extent, the Price, fostpaid, $1.25 Mr. Didur, Schaunard. Mr. Polacco con­ exuberance of gesture with which she ·is ducted with splendid authority and brought accustomed to decorate this role, and which T his edition is the oniy one in the market which has English as forth all the radiant hues and delicate de­ seems to 'reveal a somewhat mistaken con­ well as French text. Singers will ·find these translations true to tails of this cleverly orchestrated score. ception of the Japanese woman of the the spirit of the original and thoroughly singable. It has a beauti­ period depicted. ful cover design. A most suitable Ch,-istmas gift for MUSI'c Mme. Arndt. Ober's De but In " Lohengrln" The Japanese woman has, for ages, been Lovers of 'refinement. For the past two or three years Mr. trained to absolute subservience, first 0 Gatti has been accustomed to inaugurate the Wagnerian season with one of the later [ Co nc luded on next page]