GRAND OPERA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20536, 11 October 1928, Page 6

GRAND OPERA.

THE RETURN SEASON. The recent seaeon of the Fuller-Gonsalez Italian Grand Opera Company in Dunedin was an outstanding success, and the people of town and country read with delighted interest the announcement that a return visit had been arranged. Nine operas are to be given during the season, which begins on Saturday night next in His Majesty’s Theatre. .These include some of those that attracted crowded houses during the company’s previous visit. The others are masterpieces that were not staged on that occasion. There are several reasons why the coming season should at least be as successful as the last. In the first instance, grand opera is, and always has been, a form of entertainment with an irresistible appeal. Secondly, these operas are the work of the greatest musical geniuses, calling from them immortal harmonies and melodies, that nave enriched the music of the world. They haunt the memory, and there is always the desire to hear them again. Then the operas provide abundant opportunities for the singers and instrumentalists to d ; play their art in interpreting them. Lastly, the enterprise of the FullerGonsalez combination in providing such rich entertainment at a moderate tariff deserves to be encouraged. The season will be opened with Verdi’s great work, “Ernani.” This opera was written as long ago as 1844, but the passing of the years has not dimmed its lustre. The p tbos of the story waa an admirable foundation for Verdi’s musical genius, and he produced a work that has fascinated each generation since it was first staged A fine opportunity is presented for the dramatic soprano in the impassioned appeal, "Ernani Involatni ’’ ("Ernani, Fly With Me”). It is a love theme as old as life itself, and Verdi, with his magician’s wand, transformed it into an operatic setting that has become immortal. There are other notable parts ,n the opera which will be fi’led by accomplished members of the company, and it can be taken for granted that the performance as a whole will interpret faithfully Verdi’s grand ideas.