Mr. Gatti-Casazza of the Metropolitan Opera House has indulged himself this year in reminiscence. There have been heard in Manhattan a number of old favorites heretofore absent for many years. His last revival was Meyerbeer's L'Africaine. It is sixteen years since this exotic dramatization of the life of Vasco di Gama, explorer, has been heard there. It will be dressed up in a brand new setting, painted by Joseph Urban.
Among other tropical misadventures, the hero (sung by Gigli), is shipwrecked, jailed, and has a woman kill herself about him—through the fumes of the fragrant manzanillo tree. Other elements involved are Brahmin rites and the rolling ocean.
The Russian Opera Company, now in Chicago, is not without ingenuity in its publicity department. Sol Hurok, its manager, has offered five cash prizes, aggregating $100, to those in the audience identifying the greatest number of melodies in the compound opera, A Night of Love. This farcical work is made up of tunes from Faust, Carmen, Aida, The Merry Widow, Rigoletto, Pagliacci, Trovatore, Russian songs, Strauss waltzes, and innumerable other well-known tunes. Several more performances of it will be given. It was first heard in Petrograd 15 years ago.
The Ying Mee Lun Hop Opera Company gave a performance in Seattle, presenting Mook Kwee Ying Ha San, or The Mountain Queen. Most of the audience was Chinese. The prima donna, Kwung Ying-Lin, is called the best-known woman on the Chinese stage. Cymbals played a prominent part in the music. The settings were somewhat sketchy. A table and two chairs represented impenetrable mountain fastnesses. Whole armies were frequently on the stage, but they were invisible except to the hard-working imaginations of the spectators.
A new symphony orchestra was organized in Providence, R. I. It is to be conducted by I. Nagel, and proposes to start in by laying emphasis chiefly on melody, trying not to go over the heads of its audiences, and then work up, step by step.
Massenet's opera, Cleopatra, is announced for production in Chicago next season. The Chicago Tribune calls it "the world's worst opera."