Reviews — The New York Times

From the New York Times - December 12, 1895

CALVE IN LA NAVARRAISE
The First Novelty of the Season at the
Metropolitan Opera House.
A ONE-ACT OPERA BY M. MASSENET
A Work in Which Incidents Move
Too Rapidly to Admit of Good
Musical Presentation Is
Well Performed.

     Massenet’s one-act opera, “La Navarraise,” written especially for Mme. Calvé, was brought forward at the Metropolitan Opera House last night. The audience which assembled to hear it was not large, but was generous with its applause. Perhaps, the managers will find in the smallness of this audience another evidence that the public does not desire new works. It is certain that no one desires in these days to pay $5 for the privilege of sitting through two hours of Gluck’s “Orfeo” in order to hear fifty minutes of Massenet and Calvé. The new work is certainly brisk and exciting enough in its incidents to satisfy the most jaded; but whether it will take high rank as an opera is another question.
     The story of the opera is as follows: A girl from Navarre, Anita by name, loves a Royalist soldier named Araquil. At the opening of the opera she is waiting for him. He comes, and of course, sings a passionate duet with the young woman. The two lovers forget the existence of every one else in the world; but unfortunately Araquil, like Armand, has a father. This Remigio has a little money, and he looks with scorn upon the poor Navarraise. He says most emphatically that his son shall not marry her. She pleads desperately, and then he imposes what he regards as an impossible condition - that she shall provide herself with a dowry of 2,000 duros. About the same time Araquil is informed of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, and the proud father carries him off.
     Anita, loitering about in despair, hears the Royalist commander exclaim that he will give a fortune to any one who will capture Zuccaraga, the Carlist chief. Anita declares that she will undertake it for 2,000 duros. The officer, not taking her seriously, accepts. She goes to the Carlist camp. She returns pale, excited, wounded. She has visited Zuccaraga in his tent and slain him. She demands her money, and the Royalist officer, horrified, pays her and says he will keep her secret. Araquil enters wounded. He has been told that Anita went to Zuccaraga’s tent. He accuses her of infidelity and points to the money, which she produces in triumph, as evidence of her guilt. He is dying, but as he dies, he learns the truth and is shocked at her crime. Anita goes mad and thinks that the bell tolling for Zuccaraga’s funeral is her wedding bell.
     As a lyric work, “La Navarraise” is unique. It carries to a logical outcome the methods of condensation employed by Mascagni and Leoncavallo; but it goes wide of the brilliant mark which both of those composers made. There is too much incident in “La Navarraise” to admit of successful musical treatment. As a play it is swift, sure, and tragic in its movement, but the denouement is reached by a series of actions which are of such brief duration in themselves that they afford the composer no opportunity to express in the language of music the rapidly changing emotions. It is absolutely essential for success in the musical setting of a drama that the salient emotions shall endure long enough to enable the composer to make a musical mood picture, to establish what might be called an emotional tonality. In “La Navarraise” this is possible only at one point - the meeting of the lovers in the first scene - and as an inevitable result that is the only point at which Massenet has given us an expressive and tangible melody.
     Most of the remainder of the work is a bustling and incoherent series of exclamatory phrases, without melodic sequence and without even characteristic homogeneity. The trumpets and the instruments of percussion do yeoman’s duty, and the violas strive vigorously to paint the general darkness of the mood. But it is in the main formless music, with little or no intrinsic value. It serves as a sort of melodramatic accompaniment to a rapid and theatrical effective action.
     Everything that could be done for the work with the resources of the Metropolitan Opera House was done. The chorus was well drilled in its acting, and the return of the defeated troops reminded one of “Shenadoah.” The orchestra was in tolerably good form, and the pretty nocturne which separates the two scenes was neatly played. Signor Bevignani deserves credit for this. As for Mme. Calvé, it can be said of her that she presented a distinct and forcible characterization, of which more may be said hereafter. But her Anita will probably not eclipse her Santuzza, simply because the composer has not given her the same opportunities for the display of her notable art, which, in spite of some uncertainties in pitch, is as truly lyric as it is dramatic. M. Lubert gave a vigorous and even passionate performance of Araquil, and in some passages sang with more art than he has hitherto displayed. M. Plancon as Garrido, the Royalist General, was a fine picture in his uniform, and sang well. The audience applauded the performance heartily, but not over-enthusiastically.
     The performance of Gluck’s “Orfeo” was smooth and inoffensive. The work is pretty and interesting, but the day of its musical power is past. Miss Marie Brema was a convulsively emotional Orpheus, and she sang most of the music affectedly. She overacted and lacked repose. Miss Marie Engle was a delicate Eurydice, so far as voice and style went, and she was rather German than Greek in appearance. Mlle. Bauermeister was a satisfactory Amor. The absurd ballet, was wisely cut out. Hades, being eternal, was appropriately a mixture of ancient and modern.

Last updated December 30, 2006