a
Brilliant Production of "Tristan and Isolde"
Gustav Mahler as Conductor and Olive Fremstad as Isolde Make Most Profound Impression--Madame Nazimova and Mrs. Fisk Appear
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IS;5 ri($!r 1 holm. She even hints that she must go I . ' . 5j7T7r(ll
-J lSSW) o eJ. Mrs. Kosmer, regarding a scanaai &e&?l. .LSJ IvSi5
"-O fi'cCV (f" I In Rnomorholm as the most tfrrlhln thine I rVfej-vOl I ) 1 l 7 3-
i i-- nir'i' i i " " i ixvhiii . s i
NEW YORK, Jan. 6. (Special Corre
spondence.) There has not been
much rest for the artists, around
holiday time, as this usually brings about
greater activity for those who are en
trusted with our entertainments, although
It Is a fact that special holiday offerings
have suffered seriously this season. There
have been no concerts,' to speak of,
throughout the holidays, and only the
Manhattan offered a New Year s eve at
. traction. It must be said, however, that
they turned people away.
The offering of "Tristan und Isolde"
New Year's night at the Metropolitan was
not given as a holiday attraction, but rep
resented one of the greatest events in the
musical history of this country. ' The
house was completely filled with an audi
ence which seemed to hang upon every
musical utterance.
The feature of extreme importance on
"Wednesday night was the first appear
ance of Gustav Mahler, the Vienna con
ductor, and the tirst appearance this sea
son of Olive Fremstad, who sang this role
for the first time. In the presentation of
"Tristan und Isolde" there was much of
more than ordinary importance, because
'Mahler la an influence which opera In
this country needs sorely, and the per
formance of Wednesday evening was to
many jiot only the most satisfying "Tris
tan und Isolde" ever heard In New York,
but It went far towards being the best
operatic production offered within re
membrance. Mahler's force does not lie
in radical departures from readings that
have been given here before, but he has
wonderful illuminative powers which per
meate subtly and intangibly phrasing,
shading and the inner themes. He pro
tects wonderfully the melodic lines, while
his tempi, at times faster than those to
which we have been accustomed, and at
times slower, are never robbed of majesty,
nor are they leaden weighted.
The sense of surpassing authority
and absolute purpose was ever present,
and one need not be told what Mahler
represents as taskmaster, because such
a production as the one witnessed on
Wednesday Is not the creation of the
moment, however strong both artistic
ally and psychologically a conductor
mav be. There were traces of the
rigid, the brutal hand of routine from
the setting of the stage to the smallest
Instrument In the orchestra.
The story of "Tristan und Isolde" is
so well known that It hardly needs
to be retold. Tristan, a valiant Cornish
knight, is bringing Isolde, Princess of
Ireland, over as a bride for his uncle.
King Mark. He is in love with her,
but forces himself to conceal his feel
ings. Isolde, in anger at his seeming
unkindness, decides to poison herself
and. with his consent. Tristan also.
Brangaene. her attendant, however,
changes the draught for a love potion
which Inflames their passion beyond
power of restraint. The secorld act,
which Is regarded as the most beauti
ful music ever written by Wagner,
shows Isolde, who has been wedded to
King Mark, holding a stolen interview
with Tristan, during which the lovers
In their protestations are overtaken,
Tristan having been betrayed by a
Jealous friend. Melot. Touched by
King Mark s bitter reproaches, Tristan
provokes Melot to fight and allows
himself to be mortally wounded. The
third act shows Tristan and his faith
ful servant, Kurvenal. who has carried
his wounded master to his native home
in Brittany, where he is attending him
carefully. When all else failed Isolde
was sent for, but the excitement of
her approach only hastened Tristan's
death, and he breaths his last sigh in
her arms. King Mark has followed
Isolde: he has had explanations and
is prepared to reunite the lovers, but
it Is too late. Isolde utters her lament,
the noted "Liebestod," over the body
of her lover, and she dies of a broken
heart.
Tristan and Isolde is said to embody
the greatest love music ever written, and
this fact was kept strongly in evidence
in Mahler's reading. The lo:e element,
however, is further reaching than the
all-absorbing passion of the ill-fated
pair, told in a wonderful and utterly un
translatable language woven by Wagner
and reflected by Mahler. Other types are
shown in the relations between Isolde
and her faithful serving woman, Bran
gaene. and in the moving, thrilling devo
tion of Kurvenal to Tristan. Even the
attitude of King Mark, betrayed through
the overpowering love between his wife
Isolde- and his nephew Tristan, is one in
which the strongest element is "Welt-
schmeri" infinite pity for the Ills to
which mortals are heir. .
The Isolde of ilme. Fremstad would
lend itself to' long and exhaustive treat
ment; at present, however, it can only
be aatd that she made a successful leap
from contralto to soprano, and in this
she must not be regarded as an example
for other singers. A voice is known by
Its quality and not by its range, and her
quality was, almost throughout, that of
a contralto. She is a wonderful artist,
a marvelous singer and a heroic student,
and it is probable that she will not suf
fer from what would have cost the voice
of nine hundred and ninety-nine singers
out of a thousand. There was much
beauty in her characterization which
lacked, however, on the spiritual side;
still, taking into consideration that was
her first portrayal of the role, it is not
difficult to believe that she will bring
it to great heights. Brangaene, in the
hands of Mme. Homer, was perhaps the
most flawless representation of the even
ing. This brilliant singer brings tremend
ous intelligence to bear upon her work,
and with the unusual quality of her voice
and her Inherent temperament, her of
ferings have both ease and distinction.
Burgstaller, who was to have sung Tris
tan, sprained his arm and was thereby
compelled to turn the part over to Knote,
who left much to be desired in the sec
ond act, both vocally and otherwise.
Credit, must be given him, however, for
ills work at the close of the last act,
when he4 lent more support to Mme.
Fremstad than he did earlier, although
only lasting a few moments. Van Rooy
gave a thoroughly satisfactory Kurvenal,
and Blass. as King Mark, did excellent
and impressive work. Mahler enjoyed a
thoroughly spontaneous reception and
was forced to respond repeatedly to cur
tain calls.
Mme. Nazimova opened in a new play
on Monday evening, as did Mrs. Ftske.
The latter appeared in Ibsen's "Rosmer
holm." The former was seen through the
medium of a play by Owen Johnson, who
shows the Ibsen-Sudermann and Haupt-
holm. She even hints that she must go
at once if a great scandal is to be avoid
ed. Mrs. Rosmer, regarding a scandal
in Rosmerholm as the most terrible thing
that can happen, and, seeing that it could
be averted by the marriage of Rebecca
and Rosmer, if she were out of the way,
writes a letter secretly to Rosmer's bit
terest enemy, the editor of the local rad
ical paper, a man who has forfeited his
moral reputation by an intrigue which
Rosmer has pitilessly denounced. In this
letter she implores him not to believe any
story that he may hear about Rosmer
to the effect that he is any way to blame
for anything that may happen to her;
then she sets Rosmer free to marry Re
becca and realize his Ideals, by going out
Into the garden and throwing herself into
the millstream. Everybody except Ros
mer suspects that Mrs. Rosmer was not
mad. and guesses why she committed
suicide, but the neighbors close their eyes
and condole with the bereaved clergyman
and the radical editor holds his tongue,
because he hopes with Rebecca's help to
get Rosmer bver to his side. '
Meanwhile the unexpected has again
happened to Rebecca. Her passion is
worn out: but In the long days of mourn
ing she has found the higher love and it
is now for Rosmer's own sake that she
urges him to become a man of action and
to grieve no more over the dead. After
some time. Rosmer discovers that he
really did love Rebecca" and was thereby
guilty of his wife's death. His first im
pulse is to shake off the specter of the
dead woman by marrying Rebecca, but
Bhe, knowing that the guilt was hers,
puts the temptation behind her and re
fuses. Then, a- he thinks it ail over,
his dream of ennobling the world slips
mann influence: Mme. -Nazimova is -too- away, since such work can only be done
firmly established to be harmed even by
a play which does not attract the public.
Mr. Johnson succeeded, however, in pro
viding a vehicle in which to show Mme.
Nazimova as. a heartless and ' soulless
courtesan who seeks revenge by returning,
after 17 years of drifting about as only
such women can drift, to the man upon
whom she has heaped all her hatred. In
stead, she finds his son, who is engaged
to her sister, but this means nothing to
her and she winds herself around his life
until she has won him completely and ac
complishes her ends through 'the son, who
kills himself on account of her. Mme.
Nazimova has never had a role which has
offered her finer opportunities, therefore
It may last longer than the play itself
would warrant. The cast is as follows:
Dr. Leopold Ravanel. . .Mr. Dodson Mitchell
remand Mr. Brandon Tynan
Cecilia Miss Florence Fisher
Nanna Mrs. Jacques Martin
Kllipo ...Mr. Robert Coleman
Lona Mme. Nazimova
a
Mrs. Flske in the role of Rebecca West,
in Ibsen's "Rosmerholm," has found a.
play of unusual power and a role in
which she has surpassed every achieve
ment in which she has already triumphed.
Mrs. Fiske has a unique manner, one
which for its effects depends upon quiet
and restrained power, and she compels
conviction by altogether individual means.
"Rosmerholm" is the play which followed
"The Wild Duck." The story has been
exhaustively told by Bernard Shaw and
deals with an unpractical country parson,
whose family has been for many years a
center of social influence. His nature is
a fine one, and he looks at the world as
something which needs him to ennoble it.
He is married to a woman of extremely
affectionate nature, very fond of him in
her way, but she neither regards him as
a second savior of the human race nor
does she share any of his dreams, her
only mission being to extinguish the sa
cred fire of his idealism. Her family
formed the select circle into which no out
sider may hope to gain much foothold.
Into this orbit, however, came a wander
er, one Rebecca Gamvik, otherwise Re
becca West, an orphan with no ties who
has been allowed to read advanced books
and is a free thinker and a radical all
things that disqualify for admission to
the Rosmer world. However, since this is
the only circle in which an ambitious and
cultivated woman can find powerful al
lies and educated companions, Rebecca,
being both ambitious and cultivated,
makes herself agreeable to the Rosmer
circle with such success that the affec-
tionate and impulsive, but unintelligent
Mrs. Rosmer, becomes wildly infatuated
with her. and is not content until she has
persuaded her to come and live witn
them. Rebecca, then a mere adventures?,
fighting for a foothold in polite society,
accepts the offer all the more readily be
cause she has taken the measure of Par
son Rosmer and formed the idea of play
ing upon his aspirations and making her.
self a leader in politics and society by
using him as a figurehead.
Two difficulties now arise, first, there
is Mrs. Rosmer's extinguishing effect up
on her husband, an effect which convinces
Rebecca that nothing can be done with
him while his wife, is in the way: sec
ond, a contingency quite unallowed for
in her provident calculations, she finds
herself passionately enamored of him.
The poor parson, too, falls in love with
her; but he does not know it. He turns
to the woman who understands him and
makes -her his real friend and compan
ion. The wife feels this soon enough;
and he, quite unconscious of it, begins to
think that her mind must . be affected,
since she has become so intensely mis
erable about nothing nothing that he
can see. The truth is. that she has come
under the curse of the ideal, too. She
sees herself standing a useless obstacle
between her husband and the woman he
really loves, the woman who can help to
a glorious career.. Then comes Rebecca
with A finely reasoned theory that Ros
mer's future is staked against his wife's
life and says that it is better for all
their sakes that she should quit Rosmer-
by a man conscious of his own inno-
cence.
Rebecca makes a great sacrifice and
confesses how she drove his. wife to kill
herself, and as the confession is made
in the presence of another, she ascribes
the whole plot to her ambition and says
not a word of her passion.
Then Rosmer is seized with the .old
fatal ideal of expiation by sacrifice. He
sees that when Rebecca goes into the
millstream he must go, too. The woman
has the higher light: she goes to her
death out of fellowship with the man
who Is driven thither by the superstition
which has destroyed his will. The story
ends with his taking her solemnly as his
wife and casting himself with her into
the millstream. The cast is as follows:
John Rosmer ;.. Bruce McRae
Rebecca West ' Mr. Flske
Rector Kroll .Fuller Mellish
I'lrlc Brendel George Arllss
Peter Mortensgard Albert Brunlng
Mme. . Helseth Florence Montgomery
Rosmer, confounded as he realizes what
helpless puppets they have all been in
the hands of this clever woman, for the
moment misses the point that unscrupu
lous ambition, though It explains her
crime, does not account for her confes
sion which was made to save him from
despair and to "give him back his inno
cence." He turns his back on her and
leaves the house with Kroll, his brother-in-law.
She is packing her trunk and is
about to leave, when Rosmer comes
back alone to ask why she con
fessed. She tells him why, offering him
her self-sacrifice as a proof that his
power of ennobling others was no vain
dream, since it is -his companionship
which has changed her from the selfish
adventuress she was . to the devoted
woman she had Just proved herself to be.
But he has lost faith in himself and can-
W2-TO S
not believe her. The proof is too subtle,
too artful; he cannot forget that she
duped him by flattering this very weak
ness of his before. Besides, he knows
now' that it is not true that people are
ennobled from without. She has no more
to say, for she can think of no further
proof. But he has thought of an unan
swerable one. Dare she make all doubt
impossible by doing for his sake what
the wife did? She asks what would hap
pen if she had the heart and the will to
do it. He replies: "Then I should have to
believe in you. I should recover my
faith in my mission, faith in my power
to ennoble souls, faith In the human
soul's power to attain nobility." "You
shall have your faith again." she answers.
BURN THROUGH BIG SAFE
Burglars Get $20,000 Because They
Work Scientifically.'
PARIS. Jan. 11. Burglars broke into the
premises of Martin & Baume, colonial
traders, at Marseilles, and stole money
and goods to the value of 520.DOO. Most
of their booty they, took from a safe, the
door of which they burnt through with an
apparatus giving an acetylene flame of
sufficient heat to melt the metaL
The case recalls one at Antwerp re
cently, when the thieves melted a safe
with . a combined oxygen and acetylene
flame.
The police here believe that the Mnr-
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seilles burglars are past masters of the
art, and that probably not more than a
dozen possess such a gas apparatus for
melting safes. One or more of t he
burglars may probably have been em
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lene lamps are in frequent use.
In any case, not even the finest lock
or the best steel safe can resist, say the
police, if burglars take to using oxygen
and . acetylene lamps with blowpipes.
Safe manufacturers have a new problem
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