POLYGLOT OPERA.
BY the premature and lamented death of Mr. Carl Rosa, Mr. Augustus Harris is left, like Atlas, with the whole burden of the operatic world upon his shoulders. That "amal- gamation of interests" alluded to in Mr. Harris's recently published prospectus, will no doubt be unimpaired by Mr. Rosa's death ; but its practical significance is vitally affected by his removal. For Mr. Rosa was not an impresario of the type of Barbaja, who had the legs of a piano shortened by the stage-carpenter when a prima donna complained that it was too high—referring of course to the pitch. He was not a mere man of business. In his youth he had aspired to dis- tinction as a solo violinist, and after he had renounced the career of a virtuoso for that of an operatic manager, he often proved his musical capacity by conducting his orchestra. His success to a certain extent reflects unfavourably on native -enterprise, inasmuch as it seems to have been reserved for a foreigner to make English opera pay. The phrase, we need hardly remind our readers, is misleading. "Opera in English" is nearer the mark. But the audiences to which Mr. Rosa appealed were essentially English. His chief supporters were the middle classes. The Bohemian Girl was always a trump card with him. And the sincerity of his desire to give native composers a chance, is proved by the production of half-a. dozen operas by our chief living musicians.
The perusal of Mr. Harris's prospectus gives rise to many reflections. The sight of the name of Lord Charles Beresford at the head of the organising committee may cause some surprise to the unthinking. As a matter of fact, great personal courage and resolution is required in the conduct of such enterprises. In his interesting "Memoirs," Colonel Mapleson lays the greatest stress on the testimonials to his soldierlike qualities and knowledge of the art of war. Emergencies arise in the course of operatic campaigns which call for prompt action. Great strategy must be practised, for instance, in approaching a recalcitrant tenor skilled in the savate. Again, we may be quite confident that with a com- mittee, including Lord Charles, there will be no repetition of such disasters as that which characterised a performance of The Flying Dutchman, at which we were present, when the phantom vessel shot on to the stage stern foremost. We also observe the name of Lord De Grey, who, we believe, is a wonderful shot, and will no doubt take the greatest possible interest in the mounting of William Tell. It is perhaps not too much to hope that he will induce Mr. Harris to add the Freischiltz to his repertory. The mere name of Colonel the Hon. O. Montague is the surest guarantee that nothing will be left undone to secure a perfect representation of Romeo et Juliette, which, we see, is to be performed in French. Finally, we can count upon the Right Hon. Henry Chaplin to see that the live stock, which always plays so important a part in the last two acts of Carmen as produced by Mr. Harris, is properly oared for, and that full justice is done to all pastoral music.
What chiefly strikes the reader in Mr. Harris's prospectus, is the polyglot nomenclature of his vocalists. The time has passed when every aspirant to operatic honours was obliged, whether born in the peninsula or not, to Italianise his or her name. Indeed, instances are already on record of a contrary process, that, if we may be allowed to coin the word, of de-Italianisation. There is an English singer who assumed a foreign name, and then reverted to his native appellation. But he sometimes, for purposes of identification, appends the Italian version in a bracket, thus :—Mr. Stilton. (Signor Gorgonzola). Nowadays, the possessor of the most un- compromisingly British patronymic need no longer be at pains to find the Tuscan equivalent therefor. The list of principal singers with whom Mr. Harris has already raa de engagements numbers thirty-eight, and in this modest total no fewer than twelve distinct nationalities are repre- sented. There is not a single Italian among the prime donne; America coming first with four, Germany with two, and Australia, England, and Roumania being represented with
one each. The variety is at least as great among the male singers. There are the two De Reszkes, par nob lie fratrum, who are Poles by birth ; MM. Talazac and Lassalle, from Paris ; Mr. Barton McGuckin, from Dublin ; and Signor, or, as he would rather hear, Gospodin Vinogradoff, from Russia. In the buffo department, Italy, however, has it all her own way. Signor Ciampi figures as the sole and undisputed monarch of operatic ineptitude. There is undoubtedly less deviation from the old grooves in the matter of the operas themselves, though here again symptoms of a salutary innova- tion are discernible. Eighteen works by nine composers are set down for performance. The average of two apiece is maintained in all but three cases,—Verdi, who has four, and Donizetti and Boito, who are represented by only one each. Rossini is included in the list, making the fourth Italian composer; Mozart, Meyerbeer, and Wagner are the chosen exponents of German, and Gounod and Bizet of French opera. No absolute novelties are promised, but the production of Wagner's Meistersinger to all intents and purposes comes under that category, and will be awaited with proportionate interest. Its success is a foregone conclusion, thanks to the perseverance of Dr. Richter in familiarising London audiences with such excerpts, vocal and instrumental, as best lend them- selves to concert performance. Bizet's Carmen is always acceptable, and Boito's Mefistofele is most welcome, as the work of one who, though Italian born, has no sympathy with the hard and heartlessly brilliant music which composers of the first quarter of this century wrote, not to suit the sentiment of their libretto so much as the compass and capacity of certain voices. On the whole, the selection is a good, if not an ex- citing one. It must be borne in mind that the opera is in London an institution which depends for its existence on the patronage of the least musical stratum of English society,—the "classes," in fact, who cannot dance in time, and who prefer whistling ladies to Joachim, and performing dogs to Brahma. The fact that this section of society should tolerate any other music save the florid Italian ad captandum style, is an eloquent testimony to the advance in taste that has been made amongst us in the last half-century. We may regret the decadence of Italy in the matter of fine voices ; but experience has generally shown that the best all-round performances have been attained when opera has been conducted on the principles by which Mr. Harris seems to be guided in the present instance, and which actuated the late Mr. Carl Rosa. The old Italian system, in which undue prominence was given to one or two singers, has always led sooner or later to the "star" nuisance. The greatest admirers of the Italian school, in its palmiest days, were obliged to admit the superior ensemble of the German company which visited England in 1832. Once make general efficiency rather than individual brilliancy the great desideratum, and the cosmopolitan character of an opera company becomes inevitable in such a centre as London. The retention of Italian as the best, because the most vocal medium for expression, may be cheerfully acquiesced in so long as opera remains a luxury. But if ever it is to appeal to the masses, singers, no matter what their nationality, will have to conform to the popular demand for the use of the vernacular. It is no doubt advisable to hear an opera in the tongue for which the author composed it, if one is skilled in that tongue. But the adoption of this as a fixed principle would lead to hopeless difficulties, and materially retard the production and popularity of every second opera. The logic of the situation, too, is often against the retention of the language for which the musician composed his opera. Is Boito's libretto to (Mello, with all its cleverness, likely to prove as satisfactory to English ears as the verse of Shakespeare P Opera, in the personnel of its interpreters and composers, is passing quietly out of the period of Italian domination. In those two respects it has become polyglot. In the matter of the language in which it is performed, how- ever, we expect that its tendency will be in a monoglot direction, so far as each country is concerned.
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