DECADENT MUSICAL TASTE'

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2959, 23 December 1916, Page 11

DECADENT MUSICAL TASTE'

A REGRETTABLETREND GRAND OPERA AND MUSICAL FRIVOLITY ' " (By "Sylvius.") Is ' our musical taste decadent? Among those whose business and pleasure is to note and study such things there is scarcely need to ask the question. The answer stands revealed. During tho past three weeks we have had the privilege of hearing some of the choicest gems of French and Italian grand opera', after a very long spell, and what has been the net result? It might not bo politio for the manager to speak his mind on the Bubject, but the result has been a surprise and keen disappointment to the writer, who liad cherished the fond belief that there were still big audiences for' popular grand opera, especially when it is offered by a company of unusual merit, and that, too, at prices one has to pay to see the ordinary run of comedy, drama, and musical_ inconsequentialities. It may be said that many ; have stayed away because the operas have been sung in Italian, and wero therefore not understandable, but that objection is removed almost entirely by the opportunities that have been afforded of becoming acquainted with every detail of the stories of the operas. Having an outline of the plot, the task of realising what is taking place on the stage is a simple one. The Gonsalez Opera Company has not tho combination, perhaps, that would grace the stage at Covent Garden, in London, or tlie Metropolitan Opera House in New York, but it possesses some exceptionally talented artists in Capelli, Balboni, Cacielli, and Scamuzzi, and very pleasing performers in Signorina Gonsalez and Signorina Visoni', while the ensemble is quite good. I was confident that the public would see in this company the moans of proving their interest and delight in the wonderfully extensive repertoire of operas that have been submitted during this memorable season; I had imagined that tho younger generato whom the operas of Verdi, Donizetti, and Puccini wero an unopened book, would be keen to make a first-hand acquaintance with them, and take pleasure in adding something to their store of culture under the heading of music. _ I was mistaken. Still, certain deductions have to be made, to which weight must be given. Grand opera is the rarest our theatrical menu. In the last twenty years wo have been visited by precisely four grand opera companies (including - the Gonsalez Company). One sang the operas in German, another in mixed languages, ono in English, and (the last) ono in Italian. Given the average season of three woeks to each company—some of tho seasons were not even that long—and the result is twelve weeks of grand opera in twenty years 1 When a community is starved of anything, it learns to do without it. It is so with grand opera. The average stay-at-home New Zealander knows very little of grand opera, and oares less. "What! Listen to thoso peoplo Ringing all night—iu Italian?' Not mei" That in has attitude, and perhaps thcro is something to be said for his point of view. Life, in ordinary is too strenuous an affair for him to bo bothered with tho effort to understand. '

As a contrast; in Australia iho Gonsalez peoplo enjoyed excellent seasons in Melbourne ;.nd Sydney, indifferent in Brisbane. It all bears upon the point. Melbourne and Sydney havo had grand opera seasons every two or three years, and they have.been trained by usago to appreciate the exalted pleasure that such music, ably interpreted, gives. Madame Melba, who organised the fino company that played in Australia some five years ago, is oven now under engagement to arrange auolber grand opera company for J. C. Williamson, Ltd. Before the last Melba. season, there was tho Bel Sorel Company (a scratch one, perhaps, with a fino orchestra under Signor Hazon, which gave us our first thrill of delight in Puccini's musio, nnd_ before that, again, there was an Italian opera company, which played' the samo Tepertoiro as tho Gonsalez Company,_ headed by Signors Dani and_ Larritza, aud Signori Do Vero Sapio, Bennedetto, and Bassi, while tho late Mr. George Musgrove brought out tho German opera company, and the mixed ono headed by Madame, Slapoffski. Agnes .Tanson. Lemnriere Prinale. and Boron Berthold. We were visited bv the two latter combinations, 1 and also by tho Bel Sorel Company, and thev aro tho three which, with tho company now at the Opera Housn, malto up the sum total of our grand opera during the past two decades. So the conclusion onmo to must be noverned by the fact that New Zealand has not been encouraged to know, love, and nuoreci•ate grand opera. Tt may not be wise for managers, to attempt tho task, as Khe financial risk is too great. Whilst it is a matter for regret, perhaps, no one is to blame. Our geographical portion is the unalterable cause.

Then observers must concede tliat the trend in. musieal entertainments generally-litis not'heen such as would encourage a passion for urand onera anions: the neonle as a whole. Durinsr tlip twenty-year neriod tVt. lias V«n stated the mlisieal taste of tlie public has retrograded. Tin's is a frenerallvadmittpd foet almost the world over. From a eultivatrd taste for crand owera, whieh was a "stendv drinl.-" fortv years aco, tlie voeue lias declined tfroush romie onera. to musieal oompdv. and from ill.it frivolous, if liipfhlvdivertinc. form of entertainment, to revues. which reach the limit of hanalitr, and. ofttimeg, of go"d taste, general at Tfome, Ims h»pn en'l'ni; attention to the degradation of the. musical sf.airo throupli t'ie medium of revues tliat leave j>T>"nluMv nothine to the imagination—that "rro the whole ho", and make DiVs of evervone." and in the middle of the Greatest war Snwl.tnd lias ever lien" eonneriprl in. Wliilst, liavnw had all nvudish ideas l;nop.t-pd out-o F him many Tears #«n. the writer has had his eyeJrows lifted on occasions hv some of tlie 'Mates'* and pntehipst-" snnixs. soncs that are freely Tiummcd and whistled hv our young nponle and even omcTtitdren, the words and lrenn ins: ef whieh would have our grandmothers easp witl> horror. " 'All theatre-rroers lenow this to V so, vol; are forced to aeeent it, as "just, the thine." Tn erim reality it is a, form of creen'Vrr naralvsis that must wean the Tmblic away from tho morp sober, refined, and less sensual delights of grand opera..