MODERN GRAND OPERA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 828, 28 May 1910, Page 11

MODERN GRAND OPERA.

A FEW THOUGHTS BY MR. ALFRED HILL. Characteristic melodies expressing love and hate, joy and sorrow, storm and sunshine, and beatific happiness form the warp and woof of modern grand opera. That is not to say that set forms in the shape of arias, ducts K trios, quartets, ensembles, etc., .iainly' Puccini in "Madam Butterfly" Strauss, tho most modern of all composers does not go that far, and certainly Puccini in "Madam Butterfly" and "La Boheme" uses the old forms when the occasion demands it. But the leit motif is the thing. It has boon said that although music is the language of tho emotions, and a language common and understood by all peoples, yet'music unassociated with words convoys little definite thought. 1 That may ho s.~, but in modern opera, where we have the text and context, the situation and the inflexion there can ho little doubt which is a love thenic and which a motif of sorrow. A musical theme- is like a sentence in any language, capable of more than one interpretation—expression is such a factor in proclaiming the intended meaning.

Emotions vary with the individual. Puccini's love emotion, musically expressed, would ho different to that of \Vagucr, but. none tho less true. Therefore, to appreciate any man's work we must endeavour to see with his eyes and hear with his cars.

The great point about characteristic themes is that they give us the thoughts of the character both when he is silent or singing. For instance, during the lovo duet in Act 1 of "Butterfly" the curse pronounced by the Bonze (her uncle) for her act in renouncing her religion, is twice heard in the orchestra, plainly expressing the thoughts running in' Cho Clio San's mind even at the moment she is in the arms of her lover, and is singing of the ecstasies of love. Several such instances could bo cited. Sometimes one theme is developed out of another. Then a combination of two themes produces a third—alike and yet 'unlike. An example occurs in the child theme in "Butterfly." What more natural than this themo should bo a fusion of Cho Cho -San's love themo and that of Lieutenant Pinkerton's (tile "StarSpangled Banner"). This brings us to a knowledge of the important part the orchestra plays in modern opera. It is no longer used as a mere accompaniment to the singers, but it has a distinct and varied sphere of expression of its own. It is also the psvehologieal guide to all the characters, their emotions and thoughts, and often is ,used to express hi tono colours Nature's varying moods, as, for example, where moonlight is depicted orchestrally at the end of the first act in "Butterfly."