Scan 8
Musical Courier 1905-11-29: Vol 51 Iss 1340, 1905
40 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1HOTEL CECIL, LONDON, November, 15, 1905.
3FOR a bank clerk to write an opera and undertake its production himself is something of a novelty, and accordingly London heard a good deal in advance about "Gwenevere," which was produced at the Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, last Monday night. The composer is Vincent Thomas, a member of the staff of one of the well known banks of the metropolis. Three years ago he produced an operetta, "Eos and Gwvrl," which won a certain amount of praise. His new work, however, is somewhat disappointing. The libretto is by Ernest Rhys, a clever young Welsh litterateur, and deals with the familiar Arthurian story of the love of Sir Launcelot for Queen Gwenevere, King Arthur's consort.
5Mr. Rhys writes dainty verse, mostly purely lyrical (for the work is described as "a Celtic lyrical music-drama"), and his ideas are fanciful and original, but there is lacking the robust dramatic force that is an absolute necessity for an operatic libretto.
7As for Mr. Thomas' music much the same may be said. It is not dramatic; it is purely lyrical and not strikingly original. Its design is simple; the composer has used one or two "motifs" (for instance, a little love theme which pervades the whole work), but his score has not in any sense been planned out on the Wagnerian scheme.
9A good deal of the music is old-fashioned and so is the scoring, but there are some very dainty songs in the second act. To sum up, however, the opera is the work of a man who has not realized the requirements of the modern operatic stage, neither has he correctly measured his own musical strength.
11Aurélie Révy undertook the title role, and sang and acted very well; Whitney Tew sang the part of Merlin, and Robert Cunningham was a satisfactory Launcelot.
13At Covent Garden last week the chief event was the production of "Andrea Chenier" Saturday night. The story of the poet of the French Revolution, André Chenier, and his love for Maddalena di Goigny is probably familiar to most people. The story the librettist (Illica) has framed in a setting composed of Revolutionary incidents, and the result is effective and picturesque from a stage point of view.
15Giordano's music has the merit of giving everyone, soloist, chorus and orchestra—the former especially—a good "show." Otherwise I do not think much of it; it has the usual modern Italian discontinuity, and those bursts of exaggerated passion which one expects as a matter of course from young Italy. The style of the music varies a good deal, at one time old-fashioned to a degree, at another modern with more Wagnerian tendencies than most other living Italian composers. The most enjoyable thing of the evening was the fine singing of the principals, whom Giordano, as I have already remarked, has given plenty of effective work. Signor Zenatello sang very artistically as Chenier, but Signor Sammarco made the success of the evening as Gérard. In the scene where he forces his love on the heroine and afterward is overcome by remorse, Sammarco sang and acted superbly, better than he has ever done before.
17A fine performance also was that of Mme. de Cisneros, who took the part of Bersi, and an old woman who gives up her son for her country. Mme. de Cisneros is a fine actress as well as a singer, and her performance was extremely impressive and dignified. Mme. Strakosch was an effective Maddalena.
19Tonight Signor Battistini makes his London debut as the jester in "Rigoletto." He comes to us with a great reputation.
21Mme. Melba sang in "Bohème" last night. She will not appear again till next Tuesday, when the first performance this season of "Faust" will be given, the cast also including Mme. Trenteni, and MM. Zenatello, Didur, Thos and Battistini.
23In consequence of the success of the matinées that the management have been giving there will be another this afternoon, "Il Trovatore" being mounted, "Madame Butterfly" will be given again Thursday and Monday, "Tosca" Friday and "Andrea Chenier" will be repeated Saturday with the same cast as before.
25"Don Giovanni" will probably be announced at the end of next week.
27The concert to be held next Sunday evening at the Opera House ought to be very interesting. Signor di Marchi will sing an aria from "La Tosca," Melba is down for "Ah! fors e lui," Signor Sammarco has promised the prologue to "I Pagliacci," Signor Battistini will sing an excerpt from "Ernani," Mme. Giachetti will give "Vissi d'Arte," from "La Tosca," Signor Zenatello is to sing the "Flower Song" from "Carmen," Signora de Cisneros will give "O mio Fernando," and Signor Stacciari "Il Balen" ("Trovatore"), and last but not least Mischa Elman will play Saint-Saëns' introduction and "Rondo Capriccioso."
29One hears so few good pianists in London nowadays that the debut of Richard Buhlig at Queen's Hall last Tuesday evening came as a welcome surprise. He is a player who ought to do great things, for he is evidently possessed of an individuality and an uncommon intellectual grasp of the music he interprets. Buhlig's program, carried out with the help of the Queen's Hall Orchestra and Mr. Wood, was a severely classical one, consisting as it did of Brahms' two piano concertos, in D minor and B flat, and his "Tragic" overture. But he has caught the true spirit of both those noble, if somewhat austere, concertos, and his playing of the first (the D minor) was a splendid piece of work.
31Buhlig is a stylist, both in the matter of technic and interpretation, and he has a singularly clear idea of the relation of the two things—which few pianists have. As befits a Leschetizky pupil, his technic is superb, but he does not let it dominate his performance in any way.
33Buhlig is giving four recitals at Aeolian Hall, the first of which took place yesterday afternoon, and was highly successful, the program consisting of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin items.
35Mischa Elman gave his final recital in central London last Tuesday week, and repeated the new Glazounow concerto, this time with only a piano accompaniment. Brilliant and effective as the solo part is, it is not a work of striking merit and will probably not enter the little group of concertos upon which recitalists ring the changes. But the boy played it, as before, most wonderfully and no composer could ever wish for a better introduction of his work to the public than Elman has given of this concerto.
37He also played in most bewitching fashion a romance of Elgar's and seemed to fully appreciate the old-world sentiment of a Handel sonata.
39Corelli's "Folies d'Espagne" and a Spanish dance by Sarasate completed the program, and one can only say
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