ART IN ITALY.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 March 1922, Page 3

ART IN ITALY.

HOME OF GRAND OPERA

MR J. PROUSE’S IMPRESSIONS

WELLINGTON, March 25

Someone' has written that it is impossible to spend any appreciable length of time in Italy or other of the Latin countries'without feeling inspired with something of the. love, of. art for art’s sake inherited by those people’s/ The Englishman’s art is said to lie more in the direction of commerce than of music, painting arid sculpture, hut many an English, tourist, passing thniugli France or Italy, lias found inspiration in the treasures, both hi a terra! and ethereal, of the cultured men iff those nations. Mr John Prouse, of Wellington, who lias just returned from a lengthy sojourn on the Continent —during which lie was so fascinated with Italy, its people, its customs and its climate that lie was loath to return to the new world—is probably of more artistic temperament than the great majority of Englishmen ; at any rate he comes hack to his home town with the feeling that to one who really appreciates art there is -only one place on the face of the earth.

“I intended to, stay in Italy only three or four months,” Mr Prouse declared to a “'Times” representative yesterday, “but I made it my home for ten months, and when the time came for me to return T felt so delighted with everything I had seen and heard that it was a difficult leavetaking. I apologise for the statement, but I wondered when 1 arrived back here why I ever left Italy. To anyone who lias had an artistic education the delights of Italy and its romantic people must make an irresistible appeal. It was the most complete pleasure trip f have ever made, and I ask for nothin.; nun:' fascinating or more enjoyable. T never experienced one hour’s discomfiture the whole time I "as on tlio Continent.” TOSCANINI’S THOROUGHNESS. When Mr Prouse arrived in Italy To’ catiini had just returned from America after his tour with his famous orchestra. The great conductor’s programmes Mr Prouse described as wonderful beyond description. Every note of every work performed was memorised before the first rehearsal was conducted, no matter how exacting or how comparatively simple the composition was. Toscanini v.-.is thus thoroughly acquainted with Ids music before he heard a note of it played. When he took t'.ie baton lie was complete master of the situation. Toscanini had one very worthy characteristic in that lie gave every encouragement to the performance ol new works. Any work of promise produced by a'. voting composer he presented for what it was worth at. his (irM big comer! of the sca.-oit. This altitude towards the eticniua,Lament of musical art had earned Toscanini much respect, tor in Italy there was intense production and cultivation of music. OPERA IN MILAN. La Sea la Theatre at -Milan, the home of Italian opera and a .Mecca lor worshippers of music,.from all parts of t ;e Continent, was the scene of many hours’ pleasure.-.lor Mr .Proust?. La Scala, iie said, had been closed lor three seasons, hut was now once more the resort of thousands. Here again the thoroughness ol Toscanini was manifest. Every perlormer must be a complete artist .first, and a singer secondarily. The singing, the orchestral music, and the general atmosphere created in the'theatre had impressed him that there was nothing to compare with La 'Scala. The musical interpretation was so perfect that the most difficult music appeared quite simple. If for a moment the attention was diverted from the theme to he concentrated on one of the component pans of the production, so perfect was the combination between Ihe stage an l o;chestral forces that the opera s ill remained a beautiful unanimous whole. “Kigoletto,” played according to 3osennini’s ideas, was something ne\ci to l;i forgotten. 'Toscanini insisted upon reproducing opera as originally intended h\ the composer—nothing omitted, nothing added, nothing altered —and the icsults he achieved were untorgettah'e. One of the most interesting operatic performances witnessed by the vist'orj was at the Milan arena, a sports ground temporarily converted into an immense amphitheatre for the pi eduction of big works. In ibis novel openair auditorium, i emini ecu' of Mag-, tier's a! fresco theatre at Bayreuth;J he saw a wonderful performance of Ponehiolli’s chief" d’oeuvre “La Gioeornht7so people were engaged, and the audience consisted of between 25,000 and 30,000 enthusiastic people. He could not help reflecting that on the- other side of the world, under similar conditions, an even larger concourse of people was assembled to witncss a loss cultured exhibition of art —the Dempsey-Uarpentier fight. Ihe open-air festivals were conducted with municipal assistance, and the expenses were very heavy. The most striking performances he had seen, howevei, were at La Scala, where the opera was (omplete and beautiful in every detail, both of music, scenery and costuming Something like £30,01)0 had been spent in improving and renovating the building, which was now used as a reperi toiro theatre purely and simply, being equipped for about seventy different operas. The acoustics were as perfect as human skill could make them, and I everyone in the audience had as good a view of the stage as his neighbour. The orchestra, in accordance with the ideas instituted by Wagner, could he raised or lowered as desired. THE TENOR’S RESPONSIBILITY. The tenor in Dalian opera. Mr Pn-use declared, always had a most trying experience, for he was subjected to more criticism than any of his follow-sing-ers. The soprano, the contralto, and the baritope were not as a rule severely embarrassed by the parts set for them ; the big parts usually fell to till? tenor, and the success of an opera kas made or marred in the eyes of Italians by the standard of his performance. Apart from music, Italy lived for its art. “A man said to me,” remarked IMr Prouse, “ ‘You know, we Italians 1 are vl?ry, very poor. Everything has been so bad in Italy since the war.’ X , suggested that if they sold half their art tr'asure's they would ho one of the 1 richest nations in the world. “Oh,’ lie ■ j solemnly replied, wjt!i hjn peculiar Tt«-