There is no such criticism possible for the Gilbert Sullivan creations, those most satisfactory fusions of libret tist and composer. They have lost nothing in humorous ness by their never-failing refinement and good taste. Messrs. Sullivan and Gilbert have laughed at many solemn institutions, at the House of Lords, the navy, the army, and the police, but their satire never has wounded. The world owes them a great debt for the laughter which their dainty mock heroics have inspired.
A contemplation of the operatic situation today is not altogether a tragical proceeding, and there is no immediate necessity for hanging the harp upon the willow or giving one's self up to jeremiads whose purport is that " Fair Daphne's dead and music is no more." The modern school is indeed sturdy enough to have several characteristics of its own. It has, in the first place, declared against excessive length in operas. It also has taken a decided trend toward realism. It has discarded utterly gods and mermaids, ghosts and dryads as sadly out of date. It is fond of painting the homely scenes of everyday life, and finds sufficient material in the variegated character of the actual world. If it grows tired of squalor or seeks the glamour of another age, it is still realistic, pinning all the sounds of nature to its score with fairly startling effect.
The life which Verdi brought to Italian opera was not extinguished at his death, and the new Italian school is interesting and picturesque. Probably the strongest of its exponents is Giacomo Puccini, a man with true dramatic instinct who already has several excellent works to his credit and others under way, if report be true.
In this respect he is unlike Pietro Mascagni, whose fortunes were made in a day and whose fame still rests almost entirely upon his fiery " Cavalleria Rusticana." Rug giero Leoncavallo, of " I Pagliacci " fame, is the third upon whom Italy chiefly bases her operatic pride. Richard Strauss of Germany disputes with Puccini the distinction of being the most gifted and scholarly of living composers. More, however, than his contemporary across the Alps does he exhibit in himself the modern condition of the youngest of the arts. He disdains all the canons of the past and has well earned his title of musical anarchist. His daring, accompanied as it is by remarkable genius, has made him the most talked of composer of the day. Of the new army of tone-painters he is the most imaginative and vivid. The noise made by his admirers and detractors is weirdly similar to the battle cries which once echoed about Richard Wag ner. Another striking German figure is Engelbert Humper dinck, whose " Hansel and Gretel," an operatic rendition of a nursery tale, not only has attested his originality but has won for him a warm affection in the public heart. Siegfried Wagner, composer of several operas, is not an exception to the rule that famous men seldom have sons who in any way rival them.
The glory of France is upheld by several gifted men. There is Jules Massenet, whose subtle orchestration and sensuous melody disclose the hand of a master; Saint Saens, whose scholarly activities have extended over a period of nearly fifty years; Claude Debussy and Alfred Bruneau, both names of importance, while Gustav Charpentier, whose real istic " Louise " recently set the world to talking, is perhaps the most promising and original of them all.
Michael Glinka (1804-1857), first and greatest, Anton Rubinstein (1830-1894) and Peter Ilitch Tschaikowsky (1840-1893) are the most important names to be considered in connection with Russian work in this line, while Ignace Paderewski represents Polish endeavor. The Russians build upon the Weberian foundation, the folksong, and Russian operas are in consequence distinctly national.
Music in America has been almost as laggard as if it had never lost the depression incurred under the frowns of the Puritans, and while, at last, America is advancing in other musical paths, the page upon which her operatic his tory is to be written, is as yet almost blank. Since Manuel Garcia and his musical family gave to New York its first season of grand opera in 1825, the country has enjoyed many notable performances, and has given many distin guished singers to the operatic stage. But her composers are conspicuous by reason of their paucity.. America has yet to give a thoroughly adequate grand opera to the world. Nevertheless, it is not too optimistic to believe that her many gifted song writers are harbingers of those who will arise to put into music the noble sweep of American plains, the rugged glory of her mountains and cations and the unostentatious patriotism of her citizens, while her whole some delight in laughing at herself, her willingness to point out her own weakness, will surely give rise to notable comic opera.
America already has achieved greater success in light opera than in its more serious form. There is cleverness in the music of Reginald de Koven, of Victor Herbert, of Sousa, of Julius Eichberg of " Doctor of Alcantara " fame, and of a score of others. The land has been swept for a number of years by a perfect simoom of so-called musical comedy which fortunately is beginning to show some faint sign of abatement. These ephemeral concoctions require music, but the quality is of little consequence. Any sort of a jolly din will do to balance the boisterous jokes, and accompany the pirouettes of the chorus. One who can devise anything as fantastic as the coming to life and tune fulness of the most amazing scarecrow which ever distressed a cornfield is greater than he who can write a melody which will live for a generation. We have a Mr. George Ade who pokes fun at national institutions and typifies a pecul iarly national humor quite as effectually as Mr. Gilbert, but Mr. Ade is unfortunately as yet a Gilbert without a Sulli van. That a reaction in the musical taste of the public is sure to come is a safe prediction, and it is only a question of time until something better will be demanded for divert isement. Light music has as great a mission in the world as serious, and mere frivolity is the better for a little cleverness.