PUCCINI'S LAST OPERA

Evening Star, Issue 19274, 12 June 1926, Page 15

PUCCINI'S LAST OPERA

!' a tliq famous opera-house ol Milan, has witnessed another spectaciilnr see tie of demotion In a dead maestro. Two years ago this stage produced Bnito’s ‘ Xerotic,’ a work hitherto unheard, though the composer had been long dead." On April 25 I uenni ,s ‘ Turandot ’ was disclosed, and again the spirit of a dead master was invoked. Both ■ were gala occasions such as only Milan can summon for an operatic; event. Both operas were left unfinished by their ciea tors, and other hands were called in to complete them. At the first performance of ‘ Turandot ’ only 'the original composer’s work was rendered ; tho finale which subsequent hearers will witness was denied the attendants at the premier. Mr Toscanini, the conductor, turning to tho audience, said: “Here doses the opera, broken oif by tlie death of the maestro.” An English critic who attended the performance says that the “impression is far more visual ihaii aural, in spite of the. delights which Toscanini's magniJicant orchestra, in conjunction with a company of the first singers of the day, must always give,”