Books › Musical Courier 1927-11-17: Vol 95 Iss 20, 1927 › scan 37
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Musical Courier 1927-11-17: Vol 95 Iss 20, 1927
63 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 38. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE LIBRETTO
2By Romualdo Sapio
4The Italian word, libretto (booklet), which in musical parlance means a play in verses intended for musical setting, is one of those many words that have a special meaning when used in reference to a special thing. This musical term is not, however, as old as the opera, and its use in the operatic sense dates only from the time when the custom of printing the book of words of an opera in small size became general. This sort of pocket edition easy to carry by the opera goer is, no doubt, responsible for the nickname. A rapid survey of the history of opera will give an idea of how the partnership of poet and musician began and how, by the force of events the poet, originally the master, became the humble servant of his mighty partner.
6THE BIRTH OF OPERA
8Passing over the very early attempts at vocal declamation, such as we find in the 16th Century dramatic madrigals by Luca Marenzio, Giovanni Croce, Alessandro Striggio and many others, notable among them Orazio Vecchi (1550), whose Anfiparnasso contains in embryo the form of comic opera, we come to the first real opera, Euridice, by Jacopo Peri, performed in Florence in the year 1600.
10It is important to note that, both during the tentative preceding period and long after the opera came into its own, the music was considered only as an adjunct element to the play. The authors were allowed to share equal honors, but the play was the thing and the music an accessory de luxe.
12Opera was in fact an aristocratic form of art. Marco da Gagliano (1576-1642), called it: "a show, verily, for princes!"—
14Patronized at first only by the nobility, opera soon gained popularity with the masses. Claudio Monteverdi, the great innovator, and his followers, Manelli, Cavalli, Cesti, Legrenzi, Giacobi, and Ferrari, with their successful works gave this form of art a tremendous momentum. It was an epoch of perfect union between drama and music. But one composer, the afore-mentioned Marco da Gagliano, worked against those ideal conditions. Animated, no doubt, by the best intentions, and trying to free the music from what he considered a slavery to the drama, he enlarged the lyrical lines of the opera, giving the singers and the orchestra much more importance. In so doing he planted the seeds of what later resulted in the slow destruction of that beautiful equilibrium of two arts, never again regained to our days.
16Gagliano was overwhelmed by the opposition of his contemporaries and the drama continued to reign on equal footing with the music. The days of the humble libretto were still far distant.
18METASTASIO
20In the 18th century a great poet, handsome, dashing and fashionable, stands out in the realm of opera. Pietro Tra- passi, better known by his hellenized name of Metastasio (Rome 1698-1782), overshadowed all his Italian contemporaries as a poet and writer of vivid and fertile imagination. His plays, beautiful as literary works, were set to music by the foremost composers of his day such as Hasse, Pergolesi, Gluck, Scarlatti, Vinci, Leo, Durante and Marcello. They were sung by the greatest exponents of vocal art.
22That was the golden period of opera in Italy as well as in France, with Gluck and Lulli at the head of the French school. But these happy conditions were fatally menaced by growing tendency towards more lyrical and orchestral development, vocal virtuosity and extravagant taste for scenic splendor. The importance of the drama began to shrink; the poet dramatist began to make concessions to the compos-
24ser and the reign of operatic conventionalism before long had full sway in Italy, France and Germany.
26THE REFORM OF GLUCK AND MOZART
28The passing of Metastasio marks the end of perfect operatic balance and the beginning of musical supremacy in opera. The reform of Gluck and Mozart was practically the realization, in amplified form, of Marco da Gagliano's previous dreams. Gluck and Mozart, with their genius and greater musical resources, succeeded where Marco da Gagliano failed a century before.
30It was no question any longer of enriching with music a dramatic work of value, but rather of using a made to order article, a libretto, as a frame-work upon which to compose the music.
32The situation was rendered more humiliating for the poet by the ever increasing tyranny of impresarios, composers and vocalists. Hardly any liberty was left to the poor author of the libretto. He had to supply a given number of arias, duets and trios, whether the action in the play required them or not. He had to close one of the acts, the second in preference, with an ensemble set piece called grande finale where the producer could show the full strength of the cast with an imposing display of choristers, supers and possibly dancers. In certain countries under autocratic government, the poet had to consider political conditions and comply with police regulations. Anything savouring of liberalism or apt to provoke hostile feeling against the ruler was severely forbidden. The word liberty was never allowed. In its place the word loyalty was substituted by order of the censor. The word "Tio" (God), out of respect to the Church, was replaced by the pagan word "Nume" (Deity). Priests, monks and nuns were not to be seen on the stage. Hermits alone were allowed.
34Nor did the woes of the poet end there, for even his lyrics and blank verses, recitatives were to be arranged in a certain manner to suit the operatic forms. All of which made the task of writing a libretto a most thankless and unglorious one.
36It is not to wonder that under such conditions the best poets and dramatists avoided collaborating with musicians. The consequent deterioration in the quality of the librettos was only natural. There were, though, some exceptions. Out of the oblivion of that prolific operatic period, which was the 19th century, emerge the name of a few good poets whose fame is linked with that of great composers. Greatest among those few was Felice Romani, who furnished librettos of high literary value to Vincenzo Bellini. The poetical and dramatic beauty of his Norma and Sonnambula merit for them a higher appellation. Norma as a tragedy and Sonnambula as an idyll, are truly beautiful poems and models of their kind. Gaetano Cammarano, who wrote a great number of librettos, was another poet whose works often command admiration, and there were a few others less active and less known, whose compositions rose above the general mediocrity.
38THE WAGNERIAN REFORM
40Close on the reform of Richard Wagner, who invariably set to music his own dramas and whose titanic efforts aimed at re-establishing a better balance between music and drama, a strong wave of common sense swept over the operatic centers creating a demand for librettos built on new and totally different lines. The Wagnerian influence was strongly felt in every opera producing country, but especially in Italy, where owing to deep rooted conventionalism, the shock between the old and the new proved more violent.
42Giuseppe Verdi, who in his early career was satisfied with any kind of librettos, provided that the dramatic situations were sufficiently interesting, understood with his unerring foresight that the time had come to give the drama more right of way. His Aida, composed upon an excellent libretto by A. Ghislanzoni (1872), is a fine example of lyric and dramatic blending. But curious to note, more than Verdi at the height of his fame, a modest, almost obscure composer in those days, helped to reconcile the public with the new form of Italian opera. It was Filippo Marchetti who, with his Ruy Blas (1869), a solitary opera which enjoyed extraordinary popularity during thirty or forty years, considerably educated the masses of Italy. Upon a clever libretto by Carlo D'Ormeville based on Victor Hugo's famous play, Marchetti wrote music extremely clear, melodic, intensely dramatic and unconventional in form. The libretto of opera had already entered a new phase. It was a sort of renaissance. The best poets began to collaborate again with musicians everywhere. Arrigo Boito and Giuseppe Giacosa were among the first. The former, poet and composer, under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio, wrote librettos for Bottesini, Ponchielli, Verdi and himself. His Ero e Leandro, Gioconda, Otello, Falstaff, Mefistofele and Nerone are fine poetical works.
44THE LIBRETTO OF TODAY
46In more recent years we see the names of eminent authors and poets coupled with those of opera composers. In their number are those of Emile Zola, Henri Cain, Catulle Mendes, Anatole France, Maeterlinck, Hoffmannsthal, D'Annunzio, Illica, Forzano, Edna St. Vincent Millay, besides others less widely known. This is surely a healthy sign and very significant, but whether it will lead to the re-establishment of the old time balance between drama and music remains an open question. Looking at the development of musical resources and the eloquence of the modern orchestra, such an ultimate result does not seem possible. One may even say it is not entirely desirable.
48When Verdi said to the younger generation "torniamo all' antico" (let us go back to the past), he did not suggest a retrograde movement nor did he intend to condemn modern tendencies; he simply looked to the distant past for better and saner forms to be clothed in modern garb. And this he accomplished, as his latter manner shows.
50The libretto of today is generally a good literary article, although made to order. It is in most cases an adaptation of successful plays or novels, and only rarely built on an original plot. It must be good or woe to the composer who wastes his labor on poor canvas. But after all, the music is paramount in an opera and the libretto remains the canvas.
52If anyone entertains the slightest doubt on this point, let him answer this simple query: Among the throngs that go to hear an opera how many know, or care to know, who is the author of the libretto? Much as I feel sorry for the poet, the answer will sum up the situation for the present, and probably for a long time to come, without change.
54661st Pupils' Concert at School of Music and Arts
56Consensus of opinion was that the 661st concert of the New York School of Music and Arts, Ralfe Leech Sterner, director, at headquarters, November 10, was by far the best showing of young talents heard there. While other concerts have been longer, the high mark of vocal, violin and piano talents was reached, the concert taking on a professional aspect, for every performer gave the numbers from memory, and with marked ability. The refined quality of society represented among both pupils and audience was another feature everyone appearing in appropriate evening attire, this making the affair notable in its social aspect. Anne Cooke showed decided talent in two organ pieces by Batiste, and Dorothy Hayden's pure expressive soprano voice was admired in Mozart's aria, Vedrai Carina. Rose Slypian gave a right brilliant performance of a Chopin Impromptu, and Wilbur Lindsey did good singing, with poise and style, in an aria from Martha. A very promising young girl is Catharine Taylor, who sang Beach's Ecstasy admirably. Miss Noonan playing an effective violin obligato. Mary Lowell, a newcomer, played publicly for the third time within the month, and showed reliable technic and appropriate classic style in the first prelude of Bach; gorgeous flowers were sent her. Janice Brown has a real operatic voice and sang Musetta's waltz (La Boheme) brilliantly, with a high B of quality. Margaret Noonan, violinist, played the andante from the Mendelssohn concerto, this being an artistic, high-class performance, with broad tone and poise. Rocco Carcione, tenor, sang Una Furtiva (Donizetti) in genuine operatic style, showing unusual breath control. Alice Rosenfield is a remarkable young pianist; she played the first movement of the Grieg concerto with big breadth and bravura, as well as with expression. Mr. Riesberg playing the second piano accompaniment. Catherine Muldoon's brilliant soprano, voice was much applauded in a waltz by Bailey. She was followed by a duet for two violins, the Mascagni Intermezzo, played by Helen Klepser and Ransom Terwilliger with unity and expression. Dorothy Hayden united with Mr. Carcione in the duet from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, both singers reaching real operatic heights in their united interpretation. The closing number was Liszt's Rakoczy March, played as a piano trio by Laura Brian, Mary Lowell and Margaret Smith, which went with spontaneous brilliancy and splendid unity. Applause was showered on the young performers by the large audience, which completely filled the handsome salons, and Alice Davis was the capable accompanist in a program filled with taxing numbers, ranging from a simple song to a complicated operatic ensemble.
58Florence Trumbull Again at Hot Springs
60At her second appearance in Hot Springs, Va., on October 26, which was a concert given in conjunction with the Choral Society of Hot Springs, Mrs. Francis T. A. Junkin, conductor, in the grand ballroom of the Homestead Hotel, Florence Trumbull, pianist, was given an ovation. "The meteor of the evening was Florence Trumbull," said the Covington Virginian, and the Homestead News of Hot Springs captions its chronicle with "Miss Trumbull triumphs" and "American pianist captures distinguished audience at Hot Springs."
62After an exhaustive resumé of compositions played, Henry Kirk writes: "An artist of the grand manner, without the stiffness of the grand manner. An inspired performer, who imparts her inspiration to her hearers; who interprets the masters and herself by the same token, but without intrusion; who thrills, but does not exhaust; a mentality, but not a cold one; a charming personality in a great artist and you have Florence Trumbull."
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