Music: European Festivals

Herewith is information for musically-minded persons planning a summer in Europe—some places and dates worth considering:

England.

London, where from April 28 to July 4 opera will be given at Covent Garden. Soprano Rosa Ponselle and Tenor Beniamino Gigli are among the artists engaged.

Oxford, where special programs will be given from May 4 to 10.

Germany.

Berlin. Special operas, concerts and dramas from May 25 to June 16. The New York Philharmonic Symphony will play in that period under Arturo Toscanini.

Bonn, Beethoven’s birthplace. A chamber music festival from May 25 to 29.

Karlsruhe. The Fourth German Handel Festival from May 30-June 1.

Bayreuth. The year’s most important festival beginning July 22, ending Aug. 19. Tannhauser will be given July 22, Aug. 1, 5, 9, 20 and Tristan und Isolde July 23, Aug. 6, 10, all to be conducted by Arturo Toscanini;* Parsifal July 25, Aug. 2, 7, 13, 21, under Karl Muck; the first Ring cycle July 25, 27, 29, 31 under Karl Elmendorff; the second Ring cycle Aug. 14, 15, 17, 19 under Siegfried Wagner.

Munich. At the Prince-Regent Theatre special Wagner performances from July 21 to Aug. 25, followed by a week of Hans Pfitzner and Richard Strauss operas. At the Residence Theatre a Mozart festival from July 22 to Aug. 24.

Nuremberg. In July and August Wagner’s Meistersinger given in its original setting.

Austria.

Vienna. In June, two festival weeks of opera, concerts, drama.

Also this year from May 6-Sept. 28 will be given the Passion Play performances in Oberammergau. Those planning to attend are warned of a new village ordinance: that none will be admitted to the theatre who have not arrived in town the day before and planned to stay until the morning after, thus contributing two nights’ lodging fees. Motorists will find a good new road from Munich. A new Christus, Alois Lang, will succeed Cousin Anton.

Metropolitan Tour

Last week at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Opera House there was an air of finality to the way the curtain fell on the grim ending of Carmen. The claque (house-paid clappers) and a handful of enthusiasts flocked to the front, shouted bravos at Mezzo-Soprano Ina Bourskaya and Tenor Antonin Trantoul. The big asbestos curtain hushed all that and the Metropolitan’s regular season was ended. Supplementary Holy Week performances were scheduled to follow. But uppermost were plans for the annual spring tour. This year’s route and repertoire:

Baltimore—A’ida, April 21; Louise, April 22; L’Elisire d’Amore, April 25; La Juive, April 26.

Washington—La Boheme, April 23; Andrea Chenier, April 24; La Traviata, April 25.

Richmond—La Traviata, April 28; A’ida, April 29; Tales of Hoffmann, April 30, matinee; L’Elisire d’Amore, April 30, evening.

Atlanta—Louise, May i; II Trovatore, May 2; La Boheme, May 3, matinee; Cavalleria and Pagliacci, May 3, evening.

Cleveland—La Gioconda, May 5; Louise, May 6; Cavalleria and Pagliacci, May 7; La Boheme, May 8; Carmen, May 9, matinee; Sadko, May 9, evening; La Traviata, May 10, matinee; Il Trovatore, May 10, evening.

Rochester—Louise, May 12; Girl of the Golden West, May 13.

Among the singers who will appear are Sopranos Rosa Ponselle and Lucrezia Bori, Tenors Beniamino Gigli and Giovanni Martinelli, Baritones Lawrence Tibbett and Giuseppe De Luca, Basso Ezio Pinza. Since no German operas are to be given on the road, German members of the company were left free to sail for Europe at the end of the home season. Proudest of those sailing this year should be Conductor Artur Bodanzky whose uncut performances of the Wagner Ring operas were the outstanding individual achievement of the season.

Eclipse

For six years one of the most enterprising of the smaller U. S. musical organizations was the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company. It had able Alexander Smallens for musical director. It presented only the best of operas and those most creditably. It was with regret last week that its admirers read a disbandment announcement by its president, Mrs. Henry M. Tracy. The reasons given were customary: excessive costs of production; lack of financial support. Onlookers wondered if perhaps the Civic Company had not been eclipsed by the increased activities of the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company, which has profited since last autumn by affiliation with the Curtis Institute of Music, the millions of Mrs. Mary Louise Curtis Bok.

*The first Bayreuth appearance of Conductor Toscanini, perhaps his farewell to opera.