MASCAGNI.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4581, 1 March 1893, Page 4

MASCAGNI.

A Chat with the Composer,

fPEOM OTTB LONDON CORRESPONDENT.} London, Jan. 5. Very few of the specials who were sent by the great dailies to Florence to attend the first performance of Mascagni'a I Bantzau were successful in obtaining an interview with the maestro. The solitary exception seems to have been Mr Sidney E. Thompson, who, if I mistake not, represented the " Timeß," and who, in this week's "Black and White," chats pleasantly of his experiences at the rehearsals to which he was admitted.

A COMPOSES IN A WHIRLWIND. I felt rather than saw a heavily bnilt man, who had been sitting in thedarknesa behind me (Mr Thompson writes), jump from his Beat, rußh down the passage between the stalk like a tempest, and leap on the stage. As soon as he got into the glare of the footlights I saw by the cleanshaven, strong.featured face that it was the man whose work I had come to see. Dressed ma verylighttweedBuit,withacbnspicuous tie ronnd his neck, he Beemed to belong to a rather a superior class of cockney. That was only when yon looked at him from a distance. When I changed my seat that I might watch him mote closely I could gee the immense power of the' face and the nervous vitality of the hands. He waB very excited ; something had gono wrong on the stage or in the orchestra, and be waß not measuring very carefully the language which he applied to the delinquents. Presently he subsided, and resumed his seat in the stalls near me. Sonzogno, the amiable despot before whom even Mascagni has to curb his vigour, was not far off; and presently he introduced os. It became apparent to me that Mascagni has a suit of extremely charming manners, which he donß instantly, as occasion demands, and lays aside with equal facility. Just then he was plainly in a state of extreme nervous tension— pardonable enough at such a time— and though he struggled hastily into the garments of civility I could see that his eyes and his thoughts were wandering to the stage. The curtain fell, and, his fascinating manners left almost visible to the physical eye on the seat, he leaped up and into the orchestra. All the strings were called round him while he explained some mistake in the parts, and showed how the passage should be played; and then he fled behind the scenes. I did not see him return; but when the last act was over I again became conscious of his excited presence. Some of the singers had been merely humming their parts. This naturally did not please Mascagni, who had wanted to hear his "effects," and once more he was raging. Vernacular Italian is not my strongest accomplishment, but at least I could make out that he was furious with the lazy artists. "When the — — will they begin to sing," he shouted. " I suppose after the first performance, when everybody will be Baying that my music is ineffective." So he continued, walking backwards and forwards like an infuriated but caged tiger. But "fierce and fickle" indeed is the South, for the storm abated as suddenly as it had begun ; the charming manners were put on again, and he was insisting on carrying us all off to Cornelio's, the largest restaurant in Florence. IDYLLS AND MELODBAMAB. Only once could I persuade Mascagni to forsake his friends and talk seriously. I fixed him with a home question. "Tell me," I said, "do you really think that these idyllic subjects — L'Amico Fritz and I j Bantzau— are your proper affair P Surely you are a melodramatist." He replied ingeniously with another question, "How on earth am I to go on writing melodramas," he said, "if by melodramas you mean works like Gavalleria? To tjegin with, it is the hardest thing in the world to get a good libretto. In Cavalleria I found a treasure, and when I find another one of the same sort, or, at least, one as spirited ' and dramatic, why, then, I will do my best to write another Cavalhria. But then there is another thing— the public taste. If I had followed my first Buccesß with an opera of the same sort, I should have had to put still more pepper in it or it would have seemed flat. Now, leaving out of the question all idea of musical inspiration and so on, I couldn't stand the nervous strain that is involved in writing two such. operaß one after the other. I . love my work, but it is frightfully exhausting. Even a thing like IRantzau, which you call idyllic and gentle, takes a tremendous deal of energy out of me." And, looking at his worn face and air of general weariness, I could well believe it. "So you see, I have thought it better to give a little rest both to the public ant! myself by varying the styles of my operas. The one that will be done next — William Radeliffe—ia melodramatic enough to satisfy even you. By the way, let me be honeat about that. I see that it is Bpoken of as a new opera; but as a. matter of fact it was written .seven years ago-^when I was twenty-two. Of course I have revised it, but it is nob to be spoken of as anew opera." "Bat yon are at work on .a really new one, are yon not?" " Oh, yea— JNerone. I have always wanted to handle that subject — it's so full of dramatic opportunities"— and bis eyes lit up with a strange fire; evidently he waß thinking of the great scenes that he would plan. MASCAGNI's AMBITION.

leaid, ."Now; I want to know another thing. Have you any .definite-musical policy— are you working to fiurther any particular views or aims for the future of Italian music P" Mascagni hesitated a moment. "If I say 'yes' outright, you might, perhaps, think me egotistic ; but I assure you I don't over-estimate my own importance. Certainly I have aims — perhaps wishes would be a better word. My artistic ideal is the even balance of verisimilitude and beauty. I want always to be true, even to the realistic, but I want never to lose beauty. I don't know how to put it quite accurately, but I can't express myself better than by saying that I should like to do for Italian music something of what Wagner did for German. I endeavour always to portray in my music the emotion of the instant, and to preserve always the ideal of Italian melody."