Bob’s
World of
J. Massenet

Reviews — The New York Times

From the New York Times - February 16, 1909

MASSENET’S `JONGLEUR’ AGAIN
A Beautiful Production of a Charming
Work at the Manhattan.

     Massenet’s “Jongleur de Notre Dame” was given again at the Manhattan Opera House last evening, and evidently provided much enjoyment to the large audience that heard it. The work has a singular and persistent charm. It is unconventional and original; the note of French folk song and ecclesiastical chant that the composer has introduced into it he has managed with so much skill and suggestiveness that it never becomes wearisome or monotonous, while the atmosphere of mediaeval simplicity is kept with a similar skill.
     The appearance of Miss Garden in the part of Jean the little juggler, a part that was originally written for a tenor, raises some questions that might be more easily answered if Miss Garden’s impersonation were not quite what it is. While the substitution of a soprano voice is conceivably to be justified by the relief in vocal color it gives to an opera otherwise sung entirely by men. It is surely a mistake to introduce any obviously feminine traits into the impersonation of the character.
     There should be naiveté, simplicity, wonderment, enthusiasm; but it should be distinctly boyish. In the first act, and in at least the first half of the second, while Miss Garden represents the figure of the poor little juggler with many suggestions of pathetic charm, there are altogether too much feminine petulance and coquetry; too many evolutions on the hips, too many pretty “moues” in the facial expression. Her bearing in the scene with Boniface, when he sings her the delightful “Legend,” she has improved; and in the rest of this act, and in the enthusiasm and sincerity of the last act, she is charming. But at least the first half of the opera, seems to be one of the few places in which Miss Garden’s dramatic instinct and feeling are at fault.
     The Boniface of Mr. Renaud is one of his excellent impersonations, thoroughly studied and thoroughly consistent; and as the Prior Mr. Dufranne does some nobly beautiful singing. M. de Segurola, Mr. Vieuille, and Mr. Crabbe also contribute to the good singing in this work

Last updated December 29, 2006