AT THE OPERA.

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 57, 4 September 1926, Page 15

AT THE OPERA.

The opera at Covont Garden has come and gone and has been a success from an attendance point of view. Neither the house nor the orchestra compare favourably with that of Now York. One is too near everything at Covcnt Garden, and the orchestra is much smaller and not so beautiful tonally as tho one at tho Metropolitan. The same applies to the orchestra for the Russian Ballet, We had the pleasure of seeing and hearing two now works, Havel's "Tj'Heure Espagnole," and "Granma Schicchi," by Puccini. They are both comedies and delightful. Even the highbrows accept the Puccini work, while Ravel's opera is a monster work which somewhat puts Puccini's work in the shade. The story is about a clockmaker with a flirtatious wife. In the beginning of the work all the clocks in the shop go off one after the other. This is all interwoven with a web of the most delicate musical texture, creat-

ing an atmosphere which is to give the keynote to this fascinating and subtly beautiful work. There is not a set number in th« opera, and yet you get the effect that you have listened to the most delightful songs, ballets, ensembles, etc. It is very difficult to write, where all is suggestion. One doubts if it could last out a three-act work, but as it is short (one act) it was as the Scotchman would say 'On!;----just right." The Russian Ballet is still with us. The great novolty is "Les Noces," by Stravinsky. Two doublo-ended pianoo, played by four players on the stage, a choir in the place of the orchestra (of which only the percussion are used), and some solo singers make up an unusual combination. The scenery was of tho crudest. Yet, in spite of the adverse criticism by Ernest Newman and, apart from taste in matters musical, the conclusion forced itself upon w> that Stravinsky set himself to picture elemental and primative things, and with a stroke of genius he succeeded. One may not like this sort of music, bue one feels its sincerity, and its truth. It is "big stuff," and means a lot to those who can receive its message. Th 9 "Three-Cornered Hat," by de Falla, seemed like the work of a pupil, by comparison. It was interesting to notice that both in opera and ballet, our fine English conductors Percy Pitt, Adrian Boult, and Eugene Groscns were in charge of the orchestra. Georgo Lambert's son was responsible for th-.> music for one of the ballets.