ALIVE AND VITAL

Evening Post, Issue 113, 10 November 1930, Page 4

ALIVE AND VITAL

.OPERA NOT WANING

FAMOUS COMPOSERS TALK

PBODUCTION .DIPOKTANT

; "PJook to the future of opera with ; complete, optimism. It would survive !as ap'art'forni if'not a-single new work -, -were .tote composed. The mainteu- ' ance of-a high level of presentation is } the important thing."—Richard ; i Strauss. I "Composers will never desert opera. f And the public? A crisis of the opera ■ p-ablie simply does not exist. If its appearance exists we must, blame mcdi- ; ocre presentation, Jack of variety in . programmes, and the casting of singers I who have outlived their best." —Alban i Berg. ; The two outstanding representatives. }of the- established style of grand opera ; composition and the new had been asked for their opinions on the- "decline iof opera," about which much has been said recently, writes John MacCormac, '■ in the "New York Times." I had askied them if it was true that opera was ■ falling into disfavour because the old!cr works were played out, new compos:- . ers had failed to produce enduring sub- ; stitutes, good .singers were growing ' scarce, and a mechanised age preferred its opera as a domestic amenity, transmitted by electricity like refrigeration or light.I Dr. Richard Strauss, erstwhile director of the Berlin and Vienna Opera ' Houses, admittedly the greatest living ' composer and the only one to produce : during the last two decades, a work trhich has found a regular place on I world programmes ("Der Rosenk.lv.aHer"), was once so. "modern" as to ' Jeadi cx.-Kaiser TYilhelm of Germany to : regret that "I have nourished a snake in my bosom." ' He was modern enough even to cli- ' xect during, his American tour of 1904 ; two great concerts in "Wanamaker's ' jN'ew York store, an enterprise which , squally failed to commend itself to his ! imperial master. But a change in ;. musical fashions was eventually to " lßave*"binrfar behind, as may be deduc-"ed-frorrrr ins-answer to a. youug composer of the latest "atonal" school who .''iatl'Requested; an opinion-.of his latest if- ;ivoTKr^''My'dear fellow, I believe you pia.ve quite enough talent to be able .".to compose in quite a different manV ner.'' | ■ CHINESE MUSIC. :jJ - Alban Berg, in the opera field great--3| cst of the trio of modernists —Berg, ? Stravinsky, and Hindemith—is the S most important if not tho most extreme. 5-! exponent of atonalisml He has carried %it so far that to the unpractic'ted ear. * some of his. work'suggests nothing',so S much as Chinese- music. When his X. opera, "Wozzek," was first produced ':" in Vienna a .few weeks ago the man:j agement of'the State Opera, anticipating trouble1, had posted 50 policemen .tin the house. There was no trouble, ;;; other than. that experienced by Berg, % ihe directbr 3 -a'iid the, cast of the opera it in responding to the curtain calls with t jvhich they were showered, by a wildly 5 enthusiastic audience. But newspaper * critics attacked tho opera viciously on * the following morning on the ground :,*tbat it was "Bolshevist" music. These * were tho newspapers of the Bight, while '! those of Liberal or Socialist views ■praised "Wozzek" extravagantly. In -other, words, these journals Viewed the Scpera entirely from tho angle of .their 'Jtown,!..political leanings, which is at 4. least^one answer to those- ultra-moderns v' who contend that opera is an aittiquat- ;,. Ed art- of no significance or interest ■'.'to-day.:- '■ '<.'■- ' •■■'■ £ ' ~■■'■ NOT MENACED. £; These-.particulars will .suggest that % between ' Richard Strauss and Alban ■1. feerg lies a world of difference.- But |;in one respect I found them absolutely H agreed, that opera is neither dead nor 6 dying. They admit that it may be *: temporarily indisposed, concur as to the % cause, and prescribe the same remedies S'^—better performances and the eliminaigtion of singers whose future is all be.ghind them. It would be as wise, they % thought, to maintain that opera ,is de- % Junct because our day has not produced j,; its Wagner as to say that this is an '■* irreligious age because it has not pro"duced a St. Peter. i Richard Strauss received me, not in X the beautiful palace in -the Belvedere I Park presented to him by an admiring '1 Austrian Republic, but in the whitoi -walled room of a Vienna sanatorium 'v Where he was taking radiotherapy & treatment. His deshabille and the '"bandages with which, for some precaufctionary reason, his head was envelop- | 'ed, did not disconcert him, and for me S served only to emphasise- the vigour of :;'; this man. of 66, who, like his operas, has -survived the vicissitudes of years. '* Strauss is tall, grey-headed, with the ■ '•' brusque manner, and alert faeo of the ■'business man and organiser ra-ther than •:"the artist. His words come- readily, '.'I but his thought- is weighed. I could :i tempt him, for instance, into no defin»';ite expression of, opinion about the en- % during qualities, of atonalism, though S scepticism .was to be inferred from his :i words. But when I quoted the coron|er's verdict brought in by certain famyous singers over the supposedly rnori---■fcuna boay of grand opera his reply was ;; decisive to the.,ppint of being epigrammatic.'. ; ■;.-■. "IDLE TAtK." " "We should not ask. singers to talk -''about the-,future, of. opera," he said, fS"bUt abouttheir own. past. To speak Ti'oi the decline of opera is idle. Good *i opera, well produced, will always draw, ;;. and, as I hear from everywhere, is .I'drawing. Naturally the European eco-'-.noinic «risis has'strongly affected the ;'."■, opera public, which has always consist,:jed predominantly •of the educated ■;; middle' class. And yet just as often {*as good operas, classical or modern, when tfewly staged, aro pro- » duced, are they will attended. I '{ ;.. "Therefore I cannot in the least i this cry. of the decline of j»opera, which .the newspapers never let Sus hear the last of. What do people' "want? In the. last 150 years since 17S0 "•there have been produced, at a liberal Sestimate, 100 operas that are still alove 4 to-day, that is, which still possess value "other than as historical records or X curiosities. That means that we have Hi had two operas for every three years. %An<l even •if we consider the most period, from 1830 to 1880, ;''which produced such exceptional genius :sta .that of Meyerbeer, AVagner, and ■-■"■f-Verdi—how small, relatively, is the ■■'jiumber of operas from that age which •vhave survived! Now let us consider .the last epoch, from 1880 to 1930. What wealth of talent aud of masterpieces ■;from Puccini, Mascagni, and Leonca-v-vallo, not to mention the German and , Mother composers. And yet people talk 'j '?of a decline, because a few years pass :~ without producing an outstanding oper- j "' ■ atic success. ; EXPEOTINff TOO MUCH. \z- "1 quite seriously maintain that Jopera would survive as an art form if "not a single new work were to be eom■fposed. We haye already about 100 vmssterpieces, quite enough material if ■ produced. To demand new 4'xnasterpieces continuously is to expect -too much. Genius will not allow itself >,to be forced into the world before its j',,time. These master works arc time- ' Jess, they are truly great, and remain £..iihaffeeted by the changcKof taste, just' as xtq the plays of Shakespeare and

Goethe's writing or the orchestral music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn. "Are there fewer good singers than, there used to be? The answer is very definitely, no. Our fathers spoke of a Donna Anna, a Florestan, where, we to-day have a score. In those', days there were only six great opera houses; to-day there" are many, all w»ith their stars and their chorus singers." When I-.angled finally for an opinion on modern opera music, Strauss parried with the remark that a full-dress rehe.'irsal of. " Wozzok" would begin <ut the State. Opera House in twenty minutes, that I could see it and make up my own mind. I did. NOT NEW. "Wozzek" is ten years old and was produced live years-'ago in Berlin, but this was its premiere in Vienna, tho citadel of musical conservatism. To master its peculiar rhythms had been a work of four months oven for the Vienna Opera orchestra. It tells, in fifteen short scenes, how a poor, simple-minded-soldier is betrayed by his wife, murders lier, and drowns himself. The text, written by the short-lived German poet Bueohner moro than 100 years ago, is curiously modern in its starkness and lack of bravura. The music which \Berg has provided would not cure a headache. It lapses only sparingly into melody, notably in a cradle song and in a humming chorus by sleeping soldiers. There is also a country dance set to a strange waltz rhythm, which has a certain harmony, but a harmony of its own. The music rings strangely upon the ear, especially in the earlier passages, but is always undeniably expressive. It follows the action faithfully, always underlines it, sometimes foreshadows it. One strikingly effective conception is Berg's embodiment of ■ the whole tragedy in a single -note that, starting softly from-silence with the horns and gradually drawing iv instrument after instrument, twice swells crescendo fortissimo to H, a madness of sound jarring to' jits end in a wild outcry. The wife-.is dead and the murderer hastens to his owu end; the .music says that, in -a language which there is no mistaking.--,- ."Wozzek." is occasionally grotesque .but it is not ludicrous. It has"'strongly . impressed Vienna, where it rtyill -become a semi-permanent fear ture'tjt' opera programmes. Alban Bcrgj it-is admitted, has something to say. " NO QUESTION. 'I rail him.to earth in a Vienna coffeehouse/and asked him to say it. He wa3 quite as decisive as Strauss. -*.'-How can- there bo any question,"he asked, "of the future of opera? Why,-, for, instance, should composers ever- desert the opera form? Opera grants to the composer unbounded possibilities of expression and gives him proved aids ■to success—soloists, chorus'eSj staging, and lighting. Any composer with theatrical, talent will always turn:to;the"opera stage for expression. .:- .... : , ... ■"And%he;2)ublit? A crisis of the oppra;public simply'doesn't exist. IE (he-:app£araneGof one exists, we must lay the? :tiTanio "on. mediocre productions, insufficient variety in programmes", and tho'casting of singers who have outlived their best... It is well known that no medieval .dragon, ever guarded his treasure more closely than a singer his role, even though he may feel inwardly that it has grown away from him. New singers,-more; varied repertoire, careful production-in- .which ~di>3ctor., singers, ai«iV6rcliesti,-a,'shall approach their task's as; though they, were sacred; —-and there will be : no"more talk of opera crises."