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THE MUSIC TRADE
64
REVIEW
GOOD LIBRETTOS RARE.
DRISLANE SONG FOR WITMARKS.
IT'S EASY WHEN YOU KNOW HOW.
The Securing of a Satisfactory Libretto One of
the Difficulties Facing the Producers of
Comic Operas—How Adaptations Suffer.
"Have a Heart" with Music by Harry Arm-
strong, a Novel and Clever Number.
Aspiring Composer Tells Just How He Wrote a
Grand Opera—Unpronounceable Names the
Chief Asset—And They Criticize Ragtime.
"Most people," says the musical critic of the
London Telegraph, "imagine that the writing of
a libretto suitable for a comic opera is a task
calling for no very great effort, let alone any ex-
ceptional order of talent. As a fact, they are
vastly mistaken. Every experienced producer of
plays in this country will tell you that it is ex-
traordinarily difficult to obtain a really serviceable
'book 'for that class of work. In recent years
some of the best specimens indubitably have come
from Vienna. Nevertheless most of them have
had to undergo considerable revision before they
were deemed likely to meet the requirements of
English audiences—to say nothing of the censor.
"Recently one 'heard of the success of a musical
play in Vienna, which was said to promise to rival
'The Merry Widow' in popularity. But a well-
known musician who has seen it informed the
present writer that the book would be simply im-
possible in this country for the reason indicated.
French authors, in many cases, have a happy knack
(jf turning out workmanlike librettos, but recent
years, so far as we know, have brought forth no
particularly brilliant specimens of the kind in Paris.
"Among English authors excellent work has
been accomplished by Captain Basil Hood, but of
late he seems to have confined himself to adapta-
tions. As a general rule the modern musical play
suffers either from having too little plot, in which
case it is voted 'thin,' or from having too much,
in which case, as often as not, the author and com-
poser get in each other's way, and through no fault
of the latter, some of his music is liable to be con-
sidered an intrusion."
USING A LIQUID MELODY.
The writer of lyrics hurried to the composer of
high-brow music.
"I want you to write a tune for me," he said.
"I? Sir, I am a musician. I never wrote a tune
in my life!"
"I know it, but you can. I want you to write
me a drinking song. I'll pay you money for it."
"Er—well—how shall I do it?"
"Why a drinking song ought to be easy. A
liquid melody, you know—and have stops in every
bar."—Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The first work under the Witmark banner by
Jack Drislane, who recently joined the song writing
staff of M. Witmark & Sons, is "Have a Heart,"
with lyrics based on the popular expression and
music of interesting character by Harry Arm-
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strong, composer of "Sweet Adeline," "Slip Your
Cilad Rags on and Come With Me" and a number
of other popular song successes which have won
quite a vogue with singers and the general public.
""Have a Heart" is novel and clever, full of
original humor and, being possessed of a pleasing-
melody, has found much favor with singers prom-
inent in the vaudeville field. Harry Armstrong,
the composer, who is a member of the successful
vaudeville team of Armstrong & Clark, is featur-
ing the new number in that act.
"What do you think? I've written a grand
opera. It looked easy, but it wasn't; just the same
I stuck to the job, and it's a wonderful little piece
of artistry—believe me.
"You see, Gwynth, get on to these names—aren't
they grandoprey right from the overture on—
Gwynth loves Hertl, but old Brchq, her father, is
the King, and he wants her to marry Yglw.
That's the reason that Strth—she's her sister—
comes on in the first act and sings:
" 'Where red beams on the hills so fair the dawn.'
"How's that? I tell you I had to work to get
that line. I was prompted to write the blessed
thing:
" 'Where the dawn beams red on the fair hills/
but just in lime I remembered that this was grand
opera.
"But then that isn't a sixteenth note compared
with what Tholsprwx sings in Act 2.
"You see, the scene is a cave, and all you get
is the light from the forge. This is his big line:
"'Cling! Clang! Of the armorer on the anvil
resonates the hammer!'
"Great, don't you think? I've studied these
librettos till I know just the sort of stuff that sets
'em .crazy.
"But the real hit will be where Jktphrew has the
soprano solo in Act, the Next:
"'Why me hast forsaken thou?'
"Can you beat it? And the music is just as
good. There are two extra washboilers and a
compressed air riveter in the orchestra, and four
members of the Stonebreakers' Union No. 48 are
going to beat the drums.
"In the last act Squirthyl kills Gwynth, and
Hertl kills her, and Strth takes poison and Brchq
kills Hertl. Tholsprwx and Yglw and a couple of
others are dead already, so the only person left on
the stage is Jktphrew. She grabs hold of Brchq
and jumps into the furnace with him as the curtain
goes down.
"Then the holder of the lucky seat number is
allowed to kill the leader of the orchestra.
"It's going to be a winner. If it isn ? t, I'll eat
every darn volume of Richard Wagner's auto-
biography !"
"JULIEN" FOR THE METROPOLITAN.
If you are a salesman, tuner or traveler, and
desire a position, forward your wants in an ad-
vertisement to The Review in space not'to ex-
ceed four lines and it will be inserted free of
charge and replies sent to you.
Gustave Charpentier's new opera, "Julien," has
been purchased for production at the Metropoli-
tan Opera House, New York. The composer has
accepted an invitation to be present at the first
performance next February.
Another Ballad by Ernest R. Ball
I'll Change The Shadows
To Sunshine
Don't fail to order these Songs
My Dixie Rose
Who shall Wear them
Lyric by
George Graff, Jr.
You or I, Love?
Writers of "Till
the Sands of the
D e s e r t Grow
Cold," "Goodbye,
My Love, Good-
bye," " H e r e ' s
Love and Suc-
cess to You," "Lt't Us Have Peace," "Call-
ing of the Sea," "When Irish Eyes Are
Smiling," "Lost Melody," "Where Is the
Love of Yesterday?" etc.
The demand for this beautiful song is
growing steadily.
M. WITMARK & SONS
Witmark Bldg., 144-146 West 37th St.
NEW YORK CITY
Chicago
San Francucs
London
Pari*
Melbourne
BUY YOUR NMJSIC FROM
BOSTON
WALTER JACOBS
187 Tremont S t ,
BOSTON. MASS.
Publisher of
"Kiss of Spring," "Some Day When Dreams Com* True "
And Some Others World Famous.
OLIVER
DITSON
COMPANY
BOSTON
NEW YORK
Amticipate and Supply Every Requirement of Music Dialers
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