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THE
REVIEW
flUJIC TIRADE
V O L . x x x i v . No. 14
Pubiished Eyery Sat, liy Edwarfl Lyman Bill at 3 East Fonrteenth Street, New Yort April 5,1902.
OPERA IN EUROPE.
""THE production of operatic works in
European countries during the past
year lias been large, although not all of
them will win their way to enduring fame.
In France the Grand Opera and Opera
Comique have produced with success
Pierne's "La Fille de Tabarin," Massenet's
"Griselidis," Leroux's "Astarte," G. Hue's
"Le Koi de Paris," Saint-Saens' "Les Bar-
bares" and Bruneau's "L'Ouragan." A
Georges' "Charlotte Corday" and Sarreau's
"La Louve" have also achieved some meas-
ure of success at other theatres. It is
thought Pierne's work is the most likely to
be heard in other countries.
The operas produced in Germany which
are likely to prove long-lived are few.
Among the elect, which will become more
popular as the years pass, are: Paderewski's
"Manru," Zengers "Eros and Psyche," Yon
Bassern's "Durer in Venedig/' Thuille's
"Gugeline," Bungert's "Nausicaa" and R.
Strauss' "Feuersnot." Even the fate of the
latter piece is considered more or less de-
pendent upon the success of the perform-
ance to be given this year.
In Italy Leoncavallo has produced noth-
ing within the year, while Mascagni has
met with his sixth failure in "Le Maschere."
Great hope is entertained of two new men
who have appeared on the field. These are
Buongiorno, whose "Maiden Heart" has
been heard in Cassel, Dresden and Weis-
baden, and Mascheroni, whose "Lorenzo"
was produced at Cologne in the same year
as in Rome, and with applause. To these
may also be added Fazio's "Friedmann
Bach" and Orifice's "Chopin."
In other countries the most important
production was the Bohemian opera. "Der
Polnische Jude,'' by Karl Weiss. It has
found welcome in Dresden, Leipsic, Zu-
rich, Cologne, Konigsburg, Hamburg, Frank-
fort, Strasburg and other musical centers.
Obtaining nearly equal success were Dvor-
ak's "Russalpa," the Russian opera "An-
gelo," by Cesare Cul; "Szadko," by Rimsky
Korsakoff, and the same composer's "The
Czar's Bride."
England is represented by Stanford's
"Much Ado About Nothing'' and Sullivan's
"The Emerald Isle."
Denmark produced Enna's "Lamia;"
Holland, Dibbern's "Odjah." Bouman's
"Het Meflief van Gulpen" and DeBoeck's
"Theroigne de Mericourt" and J. Block's
"The Bride of the Sea."
Hungary produced Major's "Erzsicke"
and Franz Lehar's "Ka Kaska." Poland,
Zelenski's "Janek," Roumania, J. von Flon-
dor's "Morne Ciocarlan."
INDIAN, NEGRO AND GYPSY MUSIC
A STUDENT of Hampton, that great
**• Normal and Agricultural Institute, says
that a recent hearing of the gypsy strains of
"Manru" reminded him of the negro songs
which are given much study at the Insti-
tute. He holds that without musical resem-
blance, the one expression is as genuinely
racial and inevitable as the other, and the
duty of preserving both records of primitive
peoples equally obligatory.
Like the gypsy music, the songs of the ne-
groes seem never to have been composed,
but to be the unpremeditated utterance of
experience—of suffering, patience, submis-
sion, hope, and spiritual triumph. One can
not hear, unmoved, these memorials of the
history of an inarticulate race. As the Hamp-
ton students sing them, the voices, with their
strange cadences, their fervor, unlike the
tones of any other race, stir the source of
tears.
The Hampton collection of songs is, hap-
pily, growing, as new students from differ-
ent sections of the South bring in melodies
familiar to their own locality, but not notated.
Such Indian music as one hears at Hamp-
ton defies comparison. As students of his-
tory know, the aboriginal songs were the
only aboriginal form of prayer, and they
seem, to the careless listener, to express only
an uncouth fear and apprehension of the
strange Unknown, the Great Spirit.
.
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MASCAGNIS LATEST
VERY mail brings us news of Pietro
Mascagni, and more specifically that
he is "working on a new opera." The most
recent report says he is to have Marie An-
toinette as his heroine. She will be seen first
at the court of Mother Maria Theresa and
later when she is received in France and at
the time of her execution. The role of Louis
XVI. is to be composed for the noted bari-
tone Battistini. The opera is to consist of
several short scenes and will not be long,
taken in its entirety.
RICHARD WAGNER'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
A FOUR volume autobiography of Rich-
** ard Wagner, beginning 1864, has been
privately printed at Basel and Bayreuth.
Thirteen sets of the work have been issued
before general publication, supposedly for
the purpose of obtaining criticisms.
fa.oo PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES to CENTS
MUSIC AND MORALITY.
LJ ENRY W. STRATTON in an article in
the Arena of recent date takes an op-
posite view to that generally held that music
is a refining influence in society. He also
endeavors to show that musical appreciation
is not conducive to higher morality. Tak-
ing into consideration the character of the
world's most skilled musicians and singers,
he inquires, "Why has their arl done so little
to build up their moral fiber and make them
true men and women ?" A sample of his
reasoning will be found interesting where he
gives a number of specific illustrations of
the "enervating ' tendencies of music:
"One may be mentioned," he says, "as
producing a deleterious effect upon the moral
nature is that voluptuous slide from one tone
to another called portamento—a slide to
which singers and violinists are much addict-
ed. It is the acme of sonorous luxury, in-
duces langour, and suggests to the mind n
relapse from moral discipline." Another
source of enervation is the inordinate desire
for bizarre effects, whether accomplished by
raising the pitch for the sake of brilliancy, or
by introducing all kinds of "luxurious intri-
cacy." "The musician," declares Mr. Strat-
ton, "literally becomes the music he pro-
duces, and grows fastidiously lavish in his
tastes and habits. He loses his moral poise
and sinks into the musical vortex where
crime waits to suck him down and complete
his moral disintegration." Still another
source of weakness is the excessive use in
instrumental works of chromatic passages,
both melodic and harmonic.
\X7 HILE certain forms of music exert an
enervating and immoral influence, Mr.
Stratton holds it to be equally true that other
kinds of music help to strengthen the moral
sense. In order to serve this end, however,
there must be "a moral rectitude in the rela-
tions of musical tones." Such moral recti-
tude, declares the writer, "exists in folk-
songs, and in all simply constructed melodies
whose tone intervals are chiefly diatonic."
"The perception of moral truth can come
through no broader channel than that of mu-
sic: for, as Browning says, 'there's no truer
truth obtainable by man than comes of mu-
sic' It is the soul's armor; it is mail of
sound, and tones are the links. He who is
wrapt in this flexible but impenetrable en-
velope of sound may defy all the pressures of
being. I say 'wrapt' because, in order to be
proof against those immoral tendencies which
assail us on every side, one must wear music
next to the very vitals—must put it on like
a garment, and let the tones sink around and
clasp the life centers in a soul-tight embrace."