SThe Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
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F!ic Lyne, the Coloratura Soprano of Mile.
Pa1owa'a Opera Company.
SO
rei
METHINO
really new In
the production '
of rrtnd opera oc
curs so seldom that
lta adrent asaumea
the proportions of an
arent worthr- of ,
more than . casual
mention. ' Such a
departure from the
well-worn thorough
fare of , opera per
formances .'In New
recently gare ; keen
York' City
pleaaiir '' to
Jaded pntrons of that form of. pub'
He entertainment, and, perhaps, .
Jastlficd a hope of further derelop-
meats along similar lines. '
Lant Reason, and for several sea
sons past, "Madams Butterfly,", an -opera
compoHod by Puccini with a
libretto adapted : from De!sco's
play with the same title, was the
most popular work In the repertory
ot the Metropolitan Opera Company.
Like the play, this opera depeuds
for. Its suceens mainly upon Its se-
ductlve exotic scene and central
(Character.. It .enacts the affectmg
love tragedy of. a naive and trust
log. Japanese 'girl amid ths sur
roundings) and In the .'deftly, sug
gnstcd afuogphere of. her native
home. . " : , ' ' '
In presenting the opera; of.
"Madame -Butterfly," however, th
lyric soprano. enacting the role of
heroine baa been one or another of
several prima' dnnne who bora not
the faintest resemblance to a Jap
anese lrl, n,r'semed to have tha
rtmotest 'conception of the. char
acter and national traits of this en- -paging
heroine of an International
tragedy. ' They were Italian, French
or American hopelewly Occidental -
opera alngers; and that was all.'
Their interpretations cost tha' af
fecting - story the chief element
of the cbsrm felt In the reading of
John Luther Long'a little master
piece, namely, a .visualisation ot
the real Japanese Clc-Clo-6an, ' tta
, heroine and the opera's main Justi
fication for seeing the light of day. -
Now, suddenly, this ponderous
error Is corrected, and by the sim
plest and most direct means. "
"Madame Butterfly.' Is lifted out of
literary commonplace .by a singer
who Is as Japanese as the heroine,
Cio-Clo-San, herself a capable op
era lyrlo soprano born In Japan of
Japanese parents and educated and
trained In her art In Toklo.
Her name ta Tamakl Mlura, and
ber opera Introduction to Western ,
audiences stands to the credit, of'
Mile. Anna Pevlowa, the celebrated '
Russian daaseuse. Btralfht from -Toklo
the Japanese opera songbird'.,
was taken first to London, where
the appeared - with the , Imperial
Russian Opera Company. When
Mils. Pavlowa took over the Boston
Grand Ojra Company, with Mas i
Itablnoff aa managing director, one
f asr first acts was to bring Ta-.
. : V
";' MHe.'Anna' -( ! i -';
Pavlowa, in the V v
' , "Snowflake" 1 ' '
Ballet, Which V ;
She) Presents in u
Her Own Opera
v':..."
Company'e
. Performance of 1
. "Madame "
Butterfly' ' : ' . 1-
makl Mlura to this country to, be .
the heroine of ''Madame ButtorfV.' ,
, The result of the Japanese fclnp
rr's first appearance In that cher
acter.ln New York, at the Manl.at
tan Opera House, entirely Justif-ed
Mile. I'avlowa'a perspicacity.. To a
certain extent It duplicated the ef
fect of Oscar Ilammersteln's Initial
presentation there of Tetrasr.lnl.'the
exhilarating Italian coloratura ao
prano, when the fortunes of that
new. temple ot grand opera were .
banging in the balance. It teemed
to. place well on lta legs the Russian
dancer's rather, risky enterprise. ''
' The. opera reviewers were onanl-
- moUsly , cordial In their published
reception ot the Indigenous Clo-Clo-8tn.
.'The dean of the New York
critical corps recorded that Tamakl
Mlura, In "Madame Butterfly." "took
the house by storm." As subsequent
audiences,, successively larger and
more representative of New York's
opera-going public, manifested the
same degree of enthusiasm, that re-
viewer's analysis ot the Japanese
singer's performance gained in sig
nificance: "
. "The enthusiasm was entirely Jus
tified, for not only is her perform
ance authoritative, aoo Occidental
conception can be, but she Is a fine
actress, reminding one of her great
countrywoman, Sada Yacco. As a
; climax to these qualifications for
this role she has a voice ot unnxual
. beauty, . power and fervor. Even
the white.' thin quality of the me
dium voice' is an asset in this part,
' aa .Tamakl' Mlura San seems to be
the child she Is supposed te be. She
Is as gay and childlike, aa full of
' lauf Iter ' aa any ' tiny Japanese
maiden -of fifteen would be, but
tfiere'ls also remarkable dignity and
, polae la bar manner ."
Mow a Native Japanese Prima Donna
Gave a Convincing
of Japan to the
m
V
BV
IM-L- Win. .s
$v0iO- M-y
And when the time arrived tot
the dainty, trusting and tender, lit
tle Japanese sweetheart to be con
fronted with the uncompromising
American wife of ber American
naval officer lover, Bhe accepted her
fate like a true Oriental. Simply,
and with fatalistic lack ot hesita
tion, and In becoming retirement
from the scene, she performed the
private and personal last rite ot
haraklrL i
The audiences at the Manhattan
could not resist an appeal . which
seemed so true to our Western ideal
of the Japaneae feminine character.'
Here appeared the results of Tamakl
Mlura'a stage training on Occident
, el lines.. Instead ot the effect of aloof
ness, and the stolid mummery ot
Oriental actors In Oriental dramas
presented la the Oriental manner,
he demonstrated possession of the
magnetic -quality, In ' stage phrase
called "personality," which , Is ' re
garded by actors of this . country
and of Europe aa their chief ass?t
for It enables them to "get their
work over the footlights that Is,
to convince and hold the audience.
To some, however. It was aad that
ao fine and novel a performance
should hsve been marred by lack of
managerial Judgment In casting the
character of the bero'a American
wife. A man In Plnkerton's post
tlon, aa officer In the United Ststea
CopyTlfht 1018,
in "Madame
Butterfly"
r1 - ,
navy, would be expected to have a
wife typical ot the class ot American
women who are notoriously well
bred and tastefully dressed. It
seemed that neither poor little na
tive Cio-Clo-San, nor the exigencies
of the plot, hardly deserved the
shock of that brutally assertive ap
parition In the "Qrand Street" mon
strosity, yclept , hat. t The disillu
sioned little Oriental could have
been trusted to save the tragedy
with barl- klrt, anyway.
' It will be of Interest to every play
and opera goer In this country
to know that thU Japanese prima
donna not only slogs Occidental
music In the Occidental, manner,
.but acquired that art In ber own
country in Toklo where opera is
given as In Europe and America,
and where muslo Is taught and
voices cultivated by the same meth
ods used In New York, London.
Paris, Dresden and Milan. -.
So there la no longer any excuse
. In grand opera for Broadway or
Piccadilly Interpretation of Japan
ese characters. Further, the advent
'here of Tamakl Mlura, with such
distinct success In a favorite opera,
shows that snore is now expected of
an opera impresario than the pres
entation of the most famous sing
ers with the most famous and ex
pensive voices. As In the case ot
the legitimate drama, tha tinblio
by ths Star Comosay. Great Britain
Heroine
Stage
V
''i.
will expect the cbaractera to be ap
propriately and faithfully interpre
ted. Japan la now added to the list
of countries which produce capable
singers who can act In greater
numbers than probably any im
presario will admit Which leaves
them no excuse for going on pre
senting Japanese, Swedish, German,
French, Russian, Eskimo and Zulu
heros and heroines in the Broadway-Piccadilly
cabaret manner.
The Pavlowa-Ilablnoff new opera
organisation thus auspiciously
started on Its career is full-fledged
on up-to-date lines, presenting with
capable artists most of the grand
operas which have won favor In
thla country.' The old opera com
poners nearly always engineered
their scenes to Include a ballet Lat
terly the cut-and-dried. stiff-corset-ted,
fluffy-skirted aggregation of
premiere and corypbeea has gone
out ot fashion In presentations of
grand opera., In Russia, however,
the ballet Is retained In the char
acteristic development demonstrated
as a performance In Itself In this
country by Pavlowa and other danc
ing celebrities of that nation. Hav
ing acquired an opera organization
of ber own, Pavlowa puts the two
together again and thus adds ad
vantages of ber own special art and
reputation to the fortunes of tha
Boston Qrand Opera Company.
Rights Rsssrvsd.
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This feature with the success ot
the real Japanese "Butterfly"
points to a possibility of another,
though lesser, opera war In New
York, with the Manhattan Opera
House as its storm centre as be-.
fore. At present this prospect is
somewhat remote owing to the fact
that the Pavlowa-Rablnoff organ
ization and the Japanese "Butterfly"
are not yet a permanent New York
institution. Boston Philadelphia,
Chicago and other large cities come
in for their attention, also, and they
do not expect to appear In New
York again until next Spring. It
may be well, Just the same, to bear
in mind recent opera history in
New York.
Ten years ago, when Oscar Ham
mersteln built the Manhattan Opera
House and announced his purpose
of becoming a grand opera Impres
ario in New York City, everybody
laughed except those who wept
over the anticipated total wreck of.
the Hammersteln fortunes. How
could anybody expect anything but
failure In a contest with the old,
entrenched, socially fortified Metro-
Bedtime No Time for Candy
CANDY Is a good thing. There
would be a lot more hungry
people In the world If it
wasn't for candy. Even In favor of
cheap candy there's a lot to be
said.
Sugar, in whatever form, is a
real food aa well as an actual
stimulant But you ought not to
eat It before going to bed.
The digestive organa work aa
well during sleep aa during wake
fulness, though not as fast, but the
salivary glands do not
Accustomed to being stimulated
1 4 M
Tamaki Mlura, the Little' Japaneae Grand
Opera Lyric Soprano Who Givea to the
Stage a, Genuine Native Opera Heroine.
polltan Opear
with its com
pany of world
famous sing
ers T
The cost ot
Mr. Hammer
eteln's new
home tor grand
opera alone
waa $1,600,000.
It bad required!
Caruso, at $2,600 a night, to spares
the Metopolltan the pain of an in?
nual deficit, in spite of the manage
ment'a enormous subscription sales:
of seats and boxes. Where would.
Mr. Hammersteln find a Caruso, at
any price? And, lacking any such
means of drawing several thousand
opera lovers past his box office at
the Manhattan for at least two or
three performances a week, how
could he stand the strain ot the
enormous ordinary expenses ot pro
ducing grand opera?
But Mr. Hammersteln bad laid
foundations for grand opera other
than those of the Manhattan Opera
House. First, be delighted New
York operagoera with a fascinating
revival of their faTorlte "Carmen.
This lifted him safely ever the first
hurdles. Then he played his trams
card. He astonished New York by
presenting a highly efficient female
foil to Caruso Tetraszlni, who
proved to be the most magnetlo
coloratura soprano ever heard in
the Eastern metropolis.
Thereafter, how Mr. Hammersteln
rattled the desslcated opera skele
tons in the Metropolitan "property"
room by ignoring the trite old work
with which the metropolis bad been
surfeited for a generation and giv
ing splendid productions of tha
great modern French operas a
revelation to American audiences
Is familiar recent history.
The Metropolitan Opera organisa
tion, with all its wealth and social
prestige, was so worried that it gave
Mr. Hammersteln a million dollars
in cold cash to go elsewhere and let
the "Diamond Horseshoe" sleep in
peace.
Is it the destiny of Mile. Pavlowa
and a native Japanese prima donna,
weighing perhaps ninety pound:
against the two hundred odd of let
raxzlnl to again disturb those
slumbers?
Q. E. D.
by the act of chewing, the Juices
that come into tne mouth readily
at that time, and often during the
day, are apt to be dormant during
Bleep.
Candy, like all sugars, requires
a great deal of the substances In
the saliva to help It through its
various transformations Into alco
hol, starches and then the various
organic compounds that the body
needs.
If we eat candy overnight we are
very likely to have a "bad taste
In the mouth" in the morning.
