Standing firmly, foursquare, on the theory that English is the artistic medium for opera in the U. S. the Chicago Opera Company presented earlier this season Charles Wakefield Cadman's Witch of Salem, a U. S. opera sung in English (TIME, Dec. 20). Last week the Company went even further, presented a German opera specially translated into English for its U. S. premiere: Tiefland, the tale of a villainous rich landowner in the Pyrenees, who has an unwilling young mistress. In the grand manner, she is rescued by a simple shepherd boy.
Announced the critics: "The most successful translation since Hansel and Gretel . . . one stirring tune. . ."