MUSIC
•• La Traviata." At Covent Garden Opera House. —The Promenades.
THE San Carlo Opera Co. of Naples whicll has given so much new and unexpected pleasure to so many members of our Services in Italy began its London season with a production of Traviata in which we were able to enjoy traditional Italian singing and acting of good quality. The soprano had the right figure for the consumptive heroine and thus did not, imperil the success of the opera, as her original did by her corpulence' in Verdi's beautiful and moving death scene when Traviata was first performed. Also, she had a good voice of great flexibility and technical excellence, of which the only criticism to be made was of -its somewhat glittering hardness. As Germont Pere Carlo Tagliabue gave her sound support so that the second act. was duly effective, and it was probably only nervousness that made the tenor Gustave Gallo sing distinctly flat in the first act. The Covent Garden Orchestra played well under Franco Capuana.
I am glad to be able to say that the BB.C. Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult has been giving some much better per- formances at the Promenades than were current earlier in the season. On August 24th it gave a really fine performance of Beethoven's C Minor Symphony. Such a performance would come as a revela- tion to all who heard this work for the first time—and the promoters of the " Proms " must never forget that there are always likely to be such people in its audience—and does more valuable educational work than innumerable lectures on musical appreciation. Other outstand- ing events were Rostal's performance of Bartok's Violin Concerto and the first London performance of Hindemith's Metamorphoses on themes by Weber. This is a thoroughly delightful piece, more easily accessible than much of this master's work ; it would make the best possible introduction to the music of one who, in my opinion, counts among the three leading composers alive today. W. J. TURNER.
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