Reviews — The New York Times

PARIS IN MIDSUMMER TIME
PLAYHOUSE STILL OPEN AND
MEMORIES OF OLD DAYS
AT THE GRAND OPERA AND THE FRAN-
ÇAIS - HOW TICKETS ARE SOLD -
NILSSON’S MARRIAGE NEXT MONTH

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...Another excellent engagement of MM. Ritt and Jailard’s was that of Mme. Bosman, who has sung, in turn, the two female rôles in “Le Cid.” Of baritones and bassos there is always an abundance in France, and it will be no news to people that know enough of this country to see how conservative her children are in everything but politics, that all French bassos and baritones are more or less satisfactory imitations of M. Faure. The attraction of the Grand Opéra for the last three weeks has been Massenet’s “Le Cid,” of which some account has already appeared in your columns. “Le Cid” is about to be produced in the principle theatres of Continental Europe, but I doubt if it finds its way across the Atlantic. To Frenchmen it appeals strongly through its subject, with which every schoolboy has been made acquainted through Corneille’s tragedy; an English-speaking audience might regard its action as a trifle slow. Massenet’s score, on the other hand, will impress the musical listener, whatever his nationality, in the most favorable manner. It abounds in strong dramatic music, never forced, and rarely commonplace, and the instrumentation is full, sonorous, distinctly modern in its richness and elaborateness, and free from all taint of slavish imitation.