OPERA
“La Traviata." At the New Theatre.
THE Sadler's Wells Opera has replaced the Ballet at the New Theatre and will remain there during the coming week. Its repertory consists of the operas given during the company's previous visit with the addition, next Tuesday, of the solitary classical masterpiece of English opera, Dido and Aeneas, with which is coupled Arne's comedy of Thomas and Sally.
La Traviata, which was given on Monday evening, used to be regarded as essentially a smart affair, in which all that mattered was the brilliance of the soprano's coloratura and of the audience's diamonds. Then, some years ago, the Vic.-Wells Opera showed that the piece could stand on its own merits and make reasonably good sense as a drama, thanks to the sensitive- ness of Verdi's music. That result was achieved by a careful production, which established the social environment of the characters, by the elimination of the more ludicrous expressions in the standard translation and (need one add?) by a good all- round musical performance.
The limited resources, to which the company is now reduced by the necessities of touring in war-time, have compelled them to abandon all that gave the production its dramatic quality, and the action takes place before a gloomy arrangement of black velvet and white net curtains. The old bathos has crept back into the text and the singers, partly because they are hampered by the lack of scenic resources and partly because it is impossible to put any conviction into utterances in which they cannot themselves believe, have fallen back upon the old conventional gestures.
Some of the worst effects were the result of a needless com- pression—for La Traviata is not a long work. The scene between Alfred and his father was downright funny. Germont pere, who by the way bore a striking resemblance to Little Nell's grand- father, made his entry during the introduction to his well-known air. Alfred, who had not seen his father since the librettist only knows when, moved to greet him, only to be quelled by an imperious gesture that seemed to say, " This is no time for bandying compliments—don't you realise that in a couple of bars I've got to start on ' Di Provenza '? " During which song the young man, who never really succeeded in differentiating between physical and mental discomfort, displayed all the symptoms of an acute stomach-ache. And Mr. Williams's sing- ing was not as bad as all that.
Indeed', much of the singing was quite good enough to have resulted, given other things, in an enjoyable performance. Miss Hamilton-Smith phrased much of Violetta's music quite beauti- fully and managed to get a certain amount of sparkle into her coloratura. But she failed to convince us that Violetta had anything more in the way of a " past " than is implied in the foolish behaviour of a nice girl who has sipped too much champagne at her first party. I am sorry to blow cold upon a well-meaning venture, sorrier still to say anything that may adversely affect an institution whose survival is of real importance —but as a performance of La Traviata this was not good enough. It will disappoint those who know the opera and have seen the company's performance of it in their own theatre, and in those who know neither it will merely serve to confirm the prejudice against all opera as an outworn and ridiculous form of enter- tainment.
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
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