Reviews — The New York Times

From the New York Times - January 2, 1898

     The London Daily Telegraph, which is enterprising in regard to matters of art, has a long criticism of the first performance of Massenet’s “Sapho,” from which I extract the following pertinent remarks on the music and interpretation of the title rôle by our eccentric but gifted friend Emma Calvé:
     “It will surprise nobody acquainted with M. Massenet’s work to be told that the music he has embroidered on the above theme is essentially dramatic from beginning to end. He has striven successfully to give the most powerful expression at his command, not by any means to every word of the dialogue, but to the dramatic intention of every scene. Nothing could be more strikingly contrasted than the boisterous gayety of the first act to which the word vulgar might almost be applied, were the perhaps intentional vulgarity not redeemed by the delicate, skillful, and accomplished orchestration and the intensely pathetic passion of the concluding scenes. The instrumentation displays the learning and experience of M. Massenet at their apogee. He has also written admirably for all the voices, and, indeed, it would be hard to find music more essentially singable. Hence the zest with which it is given by all the artists; they learned it with pleasure and will always sing it with delight. Mme. Calvé has been treated with especial solicitude, and the part of Sapho brings out to the fullest extent her best notes, her vocal proficiency, and remarkable facility in the expression of over brimming jollity, strong passion, and trembling pathos.
     “Passing over the ball scene, where in Mme. Calvé shines as an actress rather than as a singer - for here she has little to do - her first great effect is made in the scene in which she installs herself in Jean’s home, and, leaning back at full length on the sofa, murmurs the `Megali’ song to the original words of the poet Mistral and to an authentic Provencal air. It will be remembered that Gounod made use of a French version of the song in `Mireille.’ Mme. Calvé, who is to the manner born, sings it in the Provencal dialect - one does not dare call it a patois - with the veritable accent of her native home, and she shows noteworthy dramatic instinct in repeating the song, when she sings it as an encore, with a complete change of position, attitudes, and manner.
     “The immediately preceding apostrophe to her lover, who in his innocence has been preaching the beauty of art. `Ce que j’appelle beau c’est d’avoir tes vingt ans,’ was delivered with an intensity as remarkable as the airy lightness and grace with which she rendered what is called `Les reves de Sapho’ - `Pendant que tu Travaillerals’ - wherein the model, tired of her life of adventure, dwells on her longing for a solitude a deux. But it is in the forth act, where Sapho pursues Jean into his mother’s house near Avignon, that the singer reached the highest point of vocal and dramatic passion. Such a phrase as `C’est en vain que j’espere et m’ami ne vient pas,’ could not be delivered with more poignant pathos, nor could the appeal concluding with the line `Ta bouche ne saurait oublier mon baiser’ be rendered more seductive. It may possibly be objected that the sensual nature of the heroine is brought out with excessive realism, but there can be no doubt of the tremendous effect produced.”
     The last sentence indicates that Mme. Calvé, with all her genius, has only done the expected. Every one remembers her first revelation here of the true Carmen of Merimée, the wanton of the mountains. Mme. Calvé has her limits, just as any other artist has.
     Apropos of the success which Mme. Calvé has recently gained in “Sapho,” somebody has unearthed the criticism written of her on her d‚but in Brussels as Marguerite, on Sept. 22, 1881. She was recognized as a promising artist, but she was accused of “gaucherie,” and evidently was an inexperienced actress. She was said to be best in the garden and at her feeblest in the church scene. The facts are now just the other way.
     The latest recipients of the much-coveted Jubilee Medal are Mlle. Chaminade and Edvard Grieg. Both these artists have recently played before her Majesty at Windsor, and, in the latter case, Mme. Grieg sang several of her husband’s songs - among these the ever-popular “Ich Liebe Dich.” Grieg also played his “Humoreske.”
                                                                                                    W. J. HENDERSON.

Last updated December 30, 2006