The Sunday Oregonian., November 08, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 6, Image 52

TIIE SUXDAT OREGOXUN. PORTLAXP, XOVEMBEE 8, 1903.
Or i rlCi rilvsrt-EiSTTKMLTiS1-
EXHAOtSTING
J&tDNECm&iSI-
TATEiS TAKING
I FOOD BE -
TWESNA(?Tl5)
i
BI ALMA A. ROGB:RS.
' N MV la loiter I promised to say
sorm-thinK about tl:e new opera, "Tief
land."' written by the famous pianist.
IV Albert. cf Berlin, which will be pre
sented to the American public at the
Metropolitan Opera House. New York,
with Eric Schmedes. of the Vienna Hofo
per. In the tenor role. The opera has
scored a grrat success here, where the
critics are said to be the most merciless
in the world. The music is fresh, original
nd modern, this last without being at all
trausseso,ue, and while it is not to be
classed with the tremendous things, like
the Wagner creations, the opera will no
doubt continue to please wherever pre
sented. The story is of that old and thread
bare type which certainly must be rooted
in average human nature, as the public
never sce:i:s to tire of it in whatever
guise tl:e puppets appear. In this In
stance the amour is strictly in the Euro
pean fashion, with the country lord for
villain, the pretty peasant girl the victim,
rfd the honest shepherd lover her aven
ger. These elements of tragedy create a
spirited action in the play, which at times
even suggests the melodramatic, as In the
climax, where, after having strangled the
villain lord and called the peasantry In
to witness the deed, the hero swings the
weeping bride to a seat on -hia shoulder
and bears h.T away amid the plaudits of
Ms friends. j?ciimedes" herculean frame
carries it off very well, however, but with
a shorter Into and a heavier fraulein
one can Imagine how a hint of absurdity
might creep in.
The scenes, which are laid ir. the
Pyrennes. accord perfectly with the hot
temper of the unschooled European blood,
with which knives flash out as readily as
the fist of the Irishman of the American
funny column.
Knife play Is no joke In Europe, how
ever, as any one knows who has had
even a gllnipso of peasant life toward the
southern parallels. I had been most cu
rious to observe the flow of human nature
In the peasantry of the remote districts,
and unexpectedly had the opportunity
cir qu::e as much as found I wanted
this funnier in the mountainous regions
of Southern Austria. In a village of
peorUj .there were three murders in as
many weeks, the result not of causo or
premeditation, but Just the unmecneo.
fury of tciuS'TS Inflamed hy wine over
tri ial disagreements.
When shuts U eyes of one's mind
to the evil In the world. It Is possible to
dream of the near approach of the niil
leniutn. In America there Is a wave of
progressive thought that bears the dream
forward. But Kurope is a ruda disturber
of Idealistic philosophy. It will be aeons
before the masses are even fit for self
government. Mini I'm thinking the sun
will grow cold before that millsnimn ap
pears. The growing habit of American operatic
managers t swoop down upon eiur:n
and carry c-ff the best It produces has
fallen heavily upn the Hofoper of Wein
this year. Pesld Schmedes. whose
American tour Is already mentioned. De
mount, the best s'nger. baritone, of the
Hofoper. g -es to New York; also Kurz,
soprano. Tiie engagement of artists with
the Hofoper penults a six months' vaca
tion, hl. h may h utilised, as in the
rM or thesn artists, for a foreign sea-
n. The new management promises to
bring most of the stars of the world here
befoic the year Is over, so there will be
new voices lor the vacancies.
A group of students were recently dis
cussing the Improbability of finding an
other Siesfried who could please the Vien
nese public as does Kric Schmedes. He
certainly makes an Ideal Siegfried. His
acting Is perfect, his figure likewise suit
ed to the part, and though his voice is
tnjr and above the ordinary. It Is not the
equal of his oilier qualifications. To be
hie to sing Is but one of the essential
elements oC operatic success. Above ail
else one mum know how to act. .how to
create the illusion of reality and thus
bring Into play the psychological element
the modern public demands. An audience
of tO'Lly is no iv.ore satisfied with perfect
vocalization only than It would consent
to hear M"art and Haydn take the place
Of V apner.
We saw Schmedes i-s Stecfried for the
.cond time hist night a:id were more
than evrr impressed with bis art. In the
first scene he is Just the b'g rollicking
boy "Warner pictures, fond of rough bear
play and 'ifeit!y natural when he
throws himself on hia stomach and kicks
up hs heels like the healthy young an
imal he is. Then as the action proceeds
Ms nature awakens, emotional stress
transforms the unthinking boy Into the
maturity of a flower suddenly opened.
ThrougU every phase of the process
Schmedes preserves that spirit of youth
which is to me the chief fascination of
the character. He is charmingly and Ir
resistibly young every moment on the
stage. Fearless li mhid. pure In heart,
perfect In physluue. Siegfried creates an
Ideal of yourg manhood.
The scene of the forcing of bis great
sword Nothung is so perfectly done as to
lave notiiiiur to be deird. and the sword
song is splendidly suns. Nw scenery
was Introduced in the third act to repre
sent the inagie fire which surrounds
Brunnhilde on her rocky fastness through
which he breaks to reseus her. Jaast year
this scene wa-j quite dissatisfying, de
parting so largely from Wasner's direc
tions as to dispose the sb-eping Brunn
Mlde on a ort of nfa. The stngirg at
he Hofoper usually so perfectly con
ceived that this anachronism appeared
miaccourtahl. The fire a!io did not en
circle the spot, but broke out in the rear.
Interposing no Imaginable obstacles to the
hero s approach. These may be small
points, but they are the kind of which an
artistic ensemble is made.
The new scenery was perfectly adapted
to the Wagnerian idea. Siegfried is seen
forcing Iiki way through the wall of fire
with his magic eword in hand. Then by
a quick succession of transparencies and
cloud effects Brunnhllde's hiding place is
revealed aid the hero advances, having
penetrated the encircling fire. The duet
which presently follows when the goddess
finds her eyes once more opened on earth
and H'-aven. and a hnrdsom youth as
well, calls for the hichest order of dra
inat.c and artitlic powers. Fraulein yon
t u tcs . - : .
m3Mitm&- - -' H
MildeDburg sang the . part better H:han
usual, and Siegfried well earned the en
thusiastic applause he received. Success
to him In America.
The new tenor. Dalmores, who is en
gaged at the Manhattan, New York, sang
the role of Lohengrin last week. I thought
I had seen this opera in America, but
after witnessing the magnificent presen
tation at the Hofoper; concluded I hadn't.
Dalmores has a voice destined for fame.
It has a peculiar and indescribable quality
different from any voice I have heard,
unlike the usual ringing tenor, although
It rlngB. His Swan Sor.g was an exquisite
piece of art, sung in a tender, pianissimo
key for the most part that no one who
heard It could forget. He la fully equal to
the dramatic demands of the later scenes,
and altogether his work was one of the
best things heard in the Hofoper.
Contrary to the custom of the former
director, Mahler, who has also been
gathered into the fold of the Metropoli
tan, the Ring has not been given rx en
tirety this season. Three times a year
Fall, Winter and Spring the Viennese
were wont to crowd the Hofoper rangs
as at no other performances of the year.
The new incumbent. Weingartner, prom
ised Innovations and we seem to be get
ting them. The latest a the ballet
Aschenbrodel, whose staging costs 80.000
kronen. More acceptable news is of a
performance of -Electra. by Dr. Richard
Strauss, to follow the initial presenta
tion of this opera at Dresden.
Francis Richter has now seen all of
the Wagner operas, some of them more
than once. No other work seeins to af
ford so much material to the student.
TheitThg cycle alone, composed of four
operas Rheingold, Walkure. Siegfried
and Gotterdammerung stands as the
greatest creation of human genius. But,
indeed, much as I bow before its crea
tor. I still wish that he had concentrated
his genius into less space. For one must
be almost mora than mortal like to the
gods and goddesses - he deals with to
endure the strain of seeing the Ring
in succession.
All the Wagner operas are very long,
lasting from four to five hours. To go
at 7 and sit until 12 is something of an
ordeal, unless you are born a musical
genius and Fate supplies you a seat that
doesn't make you break your back lean
ing forward to see, as .mine did when
we saw the Ring a year ago. Seats are
always difficult to obtain at this time.
Then, as early as 7 o'clock in the morn
ing the line before the box office began"
to form. At 8:30 the time of opening,
the crowd filled all the corridors and
spread for the length of a block and more
beyond the doors. At 11 the member
of our party deputed to purchase seats
succeeded In reaching the window, only
to find that none remained under ten
kronen, and two and a half hours had
gone for nothing. Recourse was had to
the bureaus.
A detailed description of the Ring
would probably be tiresome. It can be
characterized in one word stupendous.
The adjective can also be applied to the
orchestral rendering and the artistic per
formance, as well as to the genius of its
composer. The Hofoper orchestra is al
ways increased for the Ring from its
usual number of about 80 artists to more
than a hundred. I use theterm "artist"
with intention, for no man can play in
the Hofoper Who is not. Their work
quite bears out their reputation of the
world's best.
The whole Ring is too big to grasp at
one. seeing. Francis Richter. who cer
tainly has the endowment necessary for
appreciation, always enjoys the repeated
performances best. For the uninitiated,
the stage pictures and the melodies are
about as much as can be taken, in the
first time. One young critic of my ac
quaintance, whose comparisons incline to
a gastronomic basis, was so overwhelmed
by his first experience that he declared
seeing the Ring ail at once Is like eating '
a whole turkey.
Now that I have been brought down
to things material. I am reminded of
some of the amusing sidelights flashed
on our first. For instance. I learned
that ham sandwiches are the natural
accompaniment of Wagner opera. When
the curtain dropped on the first scene
of the Rheingold. my attention was
attracted" by a rustling of papers in all
directions and an issuance of sandwiches
of various form and bulk thereiorm.
Closer observation showed that the more
delicately disposed carried them in their
opera bags. But everybody had them.
I put this iteni dow n in .my notebook
of "local color" as a new and strange
phase of things European. But after
sitting through one production I realized
that the ham sandwich as related to the
stupendous Ring has a sound scientific
basis, appealing to the first law of na
ture. It is necessary to the preservation
of the individual.
It occurs to me to wonder if It is in
order to explain that the observation
above recorded refers only to the multi
tude, as viewed from the top gallery. 1
would not have it thought that the ele
gant ladies and gentlemen who fill the
parquet and boxes take their refresh
msnts in this way! They go out for
them, and a very pretty scene is made
by the movement of exquisite gowns and
jewels in the promenade.
. Before giving up this epicurean topic I
must tell about a happy couple not young
who sat just across the aisle from me
the night of the Gotterdammerung. and
who may be taken as a type of their
class. They looked like substantial shop
keepers. The wife no doubt, as so often
Is the case here, tended shop ana cooKea,
with perhaps a maid to clean and wash
the dishes. She wore a bright silk waist,
very tight, with a collar embroidered by
her own hard-working fingers. He was
in a cutaway coat, also very tight. A
white fringed napkin containing sand
wiches, with generous pink edges of ham
protruding, was introduced after the nrsi
curtain. When the bell rang the warn
ing, and people walking in the halls came
back, the napkin disappeared, and its
owners settled themselves with the most
absorbed attention to following another
chanter in the destruction of the gods.
As at each intermission the napkin ap
peared again with contents apparently
undiminished. I began to think the magic
of the play had got Into It, and became
fascinated in watching the steady process
of consumption. I am positive that at
least three sandwiches remained when
Walhalla went up in smoke.
Since it really seems a crime against
art to leave the taste of ham sandwiches
in the reader's mouth when be has been
decoyed to a Wagner feast. I shall re
tract and outline very briefly the story
of the Ring.
Wagner chose from old German folk
wore a theme for this series of music
drama that is rich In dramatic possibili
ties. It deals with gods and goddesses
who build for their glory the palace of
heroes called Valhalla; with gnomes
delving down under the earth, and with
the giants upon it. Existence on these
various planes seems to be fairly satis
factory until the theft of the gold from
the Rhine-maidens. three charming
nymphs who guard it by command of the
Domestic Science Popular in East-Side -High School
GIRLS IN KITCHEN LABORATORY SHOW EAGERNESS TO LEARN AND PLEASURE IN THE WORK
THE kitchen laboratory or tne i-orr-land
East Side High School la the
mnixt recently eauinDed but by no
means the least useful or interesting feat
ure of the building. No knowledge or in
dustry is more important to human hap
piness and well-being than that which
makes the home; and it is in this room
with its stoves and cooking tables and
busy white aproned workers, that In
struction la being given In those practical
arts which will fit the students to meet
their distinctive duties as women the
home-makers and the health-keepers of
the world.
Of the young girls at work, some are
taking ths regular domestic science
course, this year Included in the curricu
lum, others are taking cooking and home
economics as an additional study, but in
all classes eagerness to learn and pleas
ure In-working seem to be the rule.
The laboratory has been carefully
planned for Individual work. Each girl
has her own set of simple kitchen uten
sils, her own little oven and gas plate.
She must depend upon her own Judgment
and accuracy in the carrying out of any
assigned task. "Don't try to use your
neighbor's brains,'" says the teacher. "If
she knows, you ought to know; If she
doesn't know, she can't help you." So
each one tries to do her Independent best,
with the aid of her notebook and occa
sional advice from the teacher, until the
time comes for what Miss. Tingle some
times calls "the day of Judgment, " when
all the "products" must be arrayed on a
long table for Inspection and comparison.
Then Is the time for learning by both
your own and your neighbor's mistakes
or successes and failure la often more
educative than success. It Is also the
time for tasting an Interesting ceremony
inwhich the lucky visitor is often glad
to take part.
What is done .with the cooked food?
"People usually ask that question,"
says Miss Tlnjrle. smiling. "It is not
really a very difficult problem. In the
first place, we are not dealing with
very large quantities, nor are we actu
ally cooking every day and all the time.
Each cook has usually 'a tasting of
what she has made. That Is necessary
for the cultivation of skill and Judg
ment. If she wishes to take the prod
uct home, she may do so, on paying
for the material; but more often, if the
dish Is of a saleable kind and quality,
we try to dispose of it in the cafeteria,
the money thus received going to re
duce the total expense for material.
Then again, we are often able to use
the same material for more than one
lessan. Here, for Instance, is a small
lesson In economy."
She pointed to some Jars full of
something rather like a new break
fast' food. It appeared, however, that
they really contained dried and sifted
crumbs, made from the biscuits of a
former lesson, and now awaiting a fur
ther career of usefulness In .puddings,
scalloped dishes, croquettes or pan
cakes. Each girl Is required to keep her own
table Slid outfit in good order, but for
the sake of speed, dish washing partner
ships are usually permitted for the les
son period has a w-ay of passing; all too
quickly. Every day a "housekeeper" is
appointed whose business it i to keep
neat the kitchen as a whole, and to look
after the large stove, the sink and the
larger utensils used In common by the
class. This affords opportunity for In
struction in the art of cleaning as well
as of cook'rnr. and for study of proper
methods and materials for such work.
But cooking, dish-washing and clean
ing are by no means the only things
taught and practiced In the domestic sci
ence rooms. The study of food materials
and food values is era-phasized, and a
oontlnual attempt is made to show the
sound theoretical and scientific bases
which underlie household dutlea. Extend
ed observation lias shown that a rational
study of domestic aclenca helps to bind a
girl to her home, to center her interest
there and to ehow her the worth and
beauty of family life. It haj been well
said that this subject, above all others,
forges the facts of science and art into
practical tools by whose aid the homes
efficiency in the prodiictlon of health and
character la materially Increased.
1!
4
i
If
'I
L -
" . :-. -;1.
1 1
La
COOKIXG CLASS AT WORK l.V EAST SIDE HIGH IUHOOL- LABORATORY.
'5 :
mm
its
:V; " V.,;.N:.:i-,;::-:":.-?.--hii-:iv:i.S4i:s;-:-i:
" J i-: ;: ; ji-'v 1.4 ; -.4 ;.:-f.i' ::i ''4 is:;.;s.'i s4'
iW-; ; V-u 4 ; -4 1 i : ,, 44' 44: y 4 444t 4:4' . I.1 1444 i
'v&yf'x .;r J::v -:i r :14444;4'44':
-.; -i.. , . :
v f i f ! 4:
.- ii- :- : ' . --Vs."::- .: '"."?" J"' V S i J
- : . . . ' ,' Jif.j. - 1 - J .' 'J -.li-f . 'l -i" ;fe
: "' "4 4;i4i;4: 4 S J .wtefi';,
:? 4s4' '4,444,4a44':4A
F" ;'-'4 4:' ' "I .T-U!
5 . ' i 'I',-? ! 4 t . ''v." I;.'.
" ' 4- : i 4 l ' j-:-ii':
.. . ' v
4:4
4- i 4V : f is :t '
StW-S -ri,: : fi -41
&&.-.:: . ;. -. fr
i
5.
-i
::::
44-S:4.v
if
jr ....
mm 4 4-:- ;.."
44:::;444S4J J MMk :l-4Wx4
t-k' - . !4f;Sw'fe4:
m- r'l ' I m:,mmg
- 4W i I mmmmM:: .
fl, t
ANOTHER 11KW OF" THE LABORATORY WHERE MODERJI COOKIXG METHODS ARE TAUGHT.
master-god. Wotan. This. is. the gold
which afterward is shaped into the Ring.
Trouble begins for everybody. For the
Ring carries a curse with it. and . as
gnomes, gods and giants each possess it
in turn, and each lust after the power
it bestows, or which they think it will
bestow, the ultimate function of the Ring
Is to sweep everybody out of existence,
which it does pretty cleanly. The whole
order of the world is toppled over. Wotan
himself loses his godhood. even the heroic
devotion of the lovely Brnnhilde cannot
avert the doom that snatches from her
her lover and culminates In her death
upon the funeral pyre of Siegfried. There
Is much burning of rert tire about this
time, and at last Walhalla itself is en
veloped in flames, and tho curtain drops.
To see these operas is to be assured
that Wagner was an innovator. Not
merely his style of composition is as dif
ferent from the conventional Italian type "
as the sea from the land, but also his
treatment of the themes. I have no
means at hand of ascertaining if an opera
without a chorus was ever heard of be
fore Wagner's day, but I'd like to know.
In the Ring he departs boldly from the
chorus, thus throwing additional burdens
upon the slngrers. In Rhinegold is none, in
Walkure one. Siegfried is in realty a se
ries of solos with a single relief of duets,
the whole tremendous creation being car
ried by just six people, of whom the hero
does much the greater part. The Goter
dammerung contains one slight chorus.
That Wagner In spite of such unique dis
position of his material was able to cre
ate masterpieces that hold their auditors
fascinated. Is sufficient proof of the di
vine right of genius to establish new
standards. The chorus in the Walkure.
though limited to the eight Walkyrles. sis
ters of Brunhllde, who are Wotan's mes
sengers to bear the fallen heroes to Wal
halla, thrills beyond a host. In the Got
erdammerung one thinks more about tha
wonderful music which laments the death)
of Siegfried than the lack of people.
Further, and perhaps most wonderful of
all. he wrought out his ideals In the faca
of a bitter scorn and poverty that would!
have crushed a emaller soul to bits, real
izing In large degree the thorny truth that
all who depart from the accepted order of
things must expect opposition and con
tumely. Vienna, Oct. 17.
STOPPING THE WASTE IN
OCR TIMBER SUPPLY,
ASHIN'GTOX- Nov. 2. Spec!aI
Correspondence or The Sunday
Oregonian.) "We are now cutting
timber from the forests of the United
States at the rat of 600 feet board
measure a year for every man woman,
and child. In Kurope they use only 60
board feet."
Few statements could be made which,
would better convince tho average man
that this country leads the world in the
demand for timber. It is made by Tread
well Cleveland, Jr., In a circular which
treats of the conservation of the forests,
aoil, water and all the other great nat
ural resources, which has Just been pub
lished by the United States Forest Serv
ice. In speaking further of the con
sumption of timber in this country, Mr.
Cleveland says;
"At this rate. In less than 30 years all
our remaining virgin Umber will be cut.
Meantime, the forests which have been
cut over are generally in a bad way for
want of care; they will produce only
Inferior second growth. We are clearly
over the verge of a' timber famine.
"This Is not due to necessity, "for the
forests are one of the renewable re
sources. Rightly used, they go on pro
ducing crop after crop Indefinitely. The
countries of Europe know this, and
Japan knows it; and their forests are
becoming, with time, not less but more
productive. We probably still possess
sufficient forest land to grow wood .
enough at home to supply our own needs.
If we are not blind, or willfully waste
ful, we may yet preserve our forest In
dependence and, with it, the fourth of
our great industries.
"Present wastes in lumber production
are enormous. Take the case of yellow
pine, which now heads the list In the vol
ume of annual cut. In 1907 it is esti
mated that only one-half of all the yel
low pine cut during the season was used,
and that the other half, amounting to
8,000.000 corda, was wasted. Such .waste
is typical. R. A. Long, in his address on
'Forest Conservation," at the conference,
pointed out that 20 per cent of the yel
low pine was simply left In the wooda
a waste which represent the timber
growing on 300,000 acres.
"The rest of the waste takes place at
the mill. Of course, it would 'never do to !
epeak of the material rejected at the ;
mill as waste unless tills material could'
be turned to use by some better and
more thorough form of utilization. Butt
in many oases we know, and In many '
other cases we have excellent reason to
believe, that most, if not all, of this ma
terial could be used with profit. It is
simply a question of intelligent Investi
gation, and. more than all, of having tho
will to economize.
"But there are other ways to conservo
the forests besides cutting in half tho
present waste of forest products. Tho
forests can be made to produce three or
four times as rapidly as they do at pres
ent. This Is true of both tho virgin for
ests and the cut-over lands. Virgin for
ests are often fully stocked with first
class timber, but this stock has been laid
In very slowly, on' account of the waste
ful competition which is carried on con
stantly between the rival trees. Then,
too, in the virgin forests there are very
many, trees which have reached matu
rity and stopped growing, and these oc
cupy space which, if held by younger
trees, would be laying in a new stock
constantly. As regards the cut-over land,
severe cutting, followed by fire, has
checked growth so seriously that in most
cases reproduction Is both poor and slow,
while in many other cases there Is no
true forest reproduction at all at present,
and there is but little hope for the fu-ture."
price the Candidate Must Pay.
Chicago Record-HeraM.
One my mother thoujrht m) gf"d.
Once she spoke of me with pride;
That was ere uhe understood
That was ere her trust had died;
Once she happily believed
That I had a sense of shame;
Now she sits downcast, ajrirrleved.
For a stain Is on my name;
Once she thought that I some day
Should be numbered with the great.
But her faith is swept away
I't become a candidate.
Once my wife had faith In me.
It was not so long ago;
Once she thought that I was free
From the vires of the low;
Once she thought my record clean,
Once she would have thought you lied
Had you told her I was mean
Or old Nick personified;
Once she did not think my touch
Might, somehow, contaminate;
Now she doubts me very much
I've become a candidate.
Once my children thought me grand,
Once they vied for my caress;
Now they shun my proffered hand.
Thinking of my sbamelessness;
Once they met me at the door.
Thinking I deserved their trust.
But they run to me no more,
They regard me with disgust;
Once I urged them not to stray
From the narrow path and straight;
Now, alas. I never may
I've become a candidate.
Room at the Top.
Robert T. Hardy in Llpplncott'a.
There Is always room at the top,
know !"
The friend of an artist cried.
Said the painter, "That's where
mostly go.
But I don't like my pictures skied!'
they