Bob’s
World of
J. Massenet

Reviews — The New York Times

From the New York Times January 25, 1911

CHICAGO COMPANY
SINGS ‘THAIS’ HERE
Mary Garden in Title Role of
Massenet’s Opera at Begin-
ning of French season.
OLD FAVORITES WELCOMED
Renaud, Dalmores, and Huberdeau
and Mme. Bressler-Gianoli Greeted
by Enthusiastic Audience.

Athanael                                 Maurice Renaud
Nicias                                     Charles Dalmores
A Servant                                Constantin Nicolay
Thais                                       Mary Garden
Crobyle                                   Serafina Scalfaro
Myrtale                                   Marie Cavan
Albine                                     Clothilde Bressler-Gianoli
General musical director, Cleofonte Campanini.

     The season of opera at the Metropolitan Opera House entered upon a new phase last evening, when the Philadelphia-Chicago Opera Company gave a performance of Massenet’s “Thaïs.” It was the first of a series to be devoted to modern French operas that will continue for ten weeks. The singers and Mr. Campanini, the conductor, came as old and well-tired friends; for thought they are now styled the Philadelphia-Chicago Opera Company and are under the management of Andreas Dippel, they are the same Mary Garden, Maurice Renaud, Charles Dalmorès, Gustave Huberdeau, and Clothilde Bressler-Gianoli who interested and delighted operagoers of this city in the seasons when Mr. Hammerstein was giving opera at the Manhattan Opera House.
     They bring to the repertory of the Metropolitan the operas that gave its former rival its principal distinction and peculiar characteristic - those of the modern French school that were little known or not at all known here, and in which Mr. Hammerstein found, in the course of his experiments, that the New York public soon took a particular interest. Mr. Gatti-Casazza ingeniously arranged that this newly awakened interest should be provided for at his own house this season by a visit from Mr. Dippel’s company after it had finished the short season that satisfied Chicago’s budding aspirations to become an operatic centre. These operas are not included in the repertory of the Metropolitan company’s own season, and, indeed, there are in that company few artists who are especially at home in the school of art they represent. The plan was ingeniously and happily devised to give both cities what they wanted without expanding the burdens of the local company; and last evening’s performance seemed to set the new arrangement into operation suspiciously.
     There was no question that the frequenters of the Metropolitan were glad to see the newcomers and that much enjoyment was expected from their cooperation. The audience was very large; it was enthusiastic, and it was hearty in its greetings and in its bestowal of applause. Mr. Campanini, when he took up his post at the conductor’s stand, was announced by a fanfare from the orchestra and by an outburst of handclapping from the audience, and there was an abundance of the same sort of manifestation for the chief singers.
     The performance was an excellent one and reflected great credit on Mr. Dippel, who is responsible for all that is done by the visiting company. The ensemble, the mounting, the general effects were all admirably cared for; the chorus was not only gorgeously costumed, but also sang with vigor and tunefulness. One of the most excellent features of the performance was the orchestra, which is a part of the visiting company, and whose playing showed fine tine, finish, and elasticity.
     “Thaïs” is closely identified with the name of Miss Mary Garden in New York - it was, in fact, the opera in which she made her first appearance before this public in November 1907; and it became speedily one of the most persistently popular. This popularity was gained by other elements than the music, which is hardly to be placed among the best that Massenet has composed. There are a few isolated numbers that have the requisites of popularity; in many places the inspiration is spread thin. The dramatic figures of Thaïs and Athanael are striking, and the spiritual conflicts in which they both engage give opportunity for dramatic power on the part of their representatives, which, is potently exercised by Miss Garden and Mr. Renaud.
     There was some doubt about Miss Garden’s ability to appear in this performance on account of her attack of grippe, and there was printed a slip in the programmes stating that she did so rather than disappoint the audience, and begging indulgence on her behalf. Her attack of the grippe, however, seemed to have no appreciable effect upon her voice; it was the same voice that was heard in new York last season. It seemed, indeed, in rather better condition than when it was last heard here. Discussion of it is not agreeable. it is as a dramatic artist that she makes the deepest impression; her swift litheness upon the stage, her incessant play of plastic pose, sometimes, as in her first scene with Nicias, exaggerated and restless in effect; the suggestiveness of her facial expression, all signify in her impersonation of the Alexandrian woman. Her representation of the spiritual revolution that ensues upon her meeting with the Christian ascetic is wrought with skill and convincing effect.
     Mr. Renaud’s Athanael is an impersonation of great nobility and fervor. The character itself is not altogether sympathetic or continuously interesting, but he makes it one to centre the attention by the consistent figure he makes of it, the fine art with which he composes it, and the breath of life that he manages to breathe into it. He sang in excellent voice. Mr. Dalmores makes a remarkably handsome and attractive figure of Nicias, a comparatively unimportant part, and sings his music superbly. Mr. Huperdeau expends very good singing upon the minor rôle of Palemon, and Mme. Bressler-Gianoli upon that of Albine. The conducting of Mr. Campanini showed the energy and authority, the true dramatic accent, that are so well remembered here.

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