184 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



April 1, 1913. 



fleas are found to be almost as dan- 

 gerous. The English Commission 

 which investigated the bubonic plague 

 epidemic in India in 1 902 reported that 

 " experience points to the conclusion 

 that the flea, particularly Piilex cheopis, 

 transmits the plague infection." Dr. 

 Guiteras in Havana is able to corrobo- 

 rate this. He says : " In the rats 

 examined by me in Havana the Piilex 

 cheopis has predominated in a remark- 

 able degree over all the other kinds." 



It has been mentioned above that the 

 mortality among rats, noticed in the 

 month of June in Havana, ceased 

 shortly after that tmie In this connec- 

 tion the following observation by Dr. 

 Guiteras is interesting: — 



" In various tropical cities of import- 

 ance there has been noticed a certain 

 periodicity in the course of the epidemics 

 of the bubonic plague. This periodicity 

 has been characterised principally by a 

 notable diminution of the disease in the 

 months of June, July and August. This 

 may be referred to the considerable 

 diminution of the number of fleas in 

 man and the animals during this 

 period." 



THE STAGNATION OF OPERA. 



Mr. C. H. Clutsam, whose " Konig 

 Harlekin " was recently produced at 

 Berlin, has joined in the discussion on 

 the question of National Opera in the 

 Musical Times. 



WANTED, LIBRETTISTS — 



From the creative aspect, opera, 

 nearly all over the world, he says, is in 

 a state of stagnation. England, how 

 ever has no opera, yet the taste for opera 

 exists in the British public. The Eng- 

 lish composer, noting the evident failure 

 of other countries to produce a really 

 successful modern opera, one attractive 

 to a large general public, should find 

 the spirit of ambition in him aroused. 

 Having assimilated the most effective 

 operatic qualities of the great operatic 

 composers, and then having forgotten 

 what other people's operas are like, the 

 young (he must be young) composer 



must associate his music with a first- 

 class book, and the work must be ade- 

 quately mounted and excellently inter- 

 preted. The star-vocalist must be 

 avoided as the first-class dramatist 

 avoids the actor-manager. The text 

 will be to the point, terse and poetical, 

 and action will be supreme ; and there 

 must be a consideration and a reticence 

 on the part of the composer which will 

 permit of every word being understood. 

 In short, we must first find our libret- 

 tists before we start worrying about 

 national opera. 



— AND COMPOSERS AND SINGERS. 

 In the Century Magazine Mr. A. St. 

 John Brenow records the views of Mr. 

 Gatti-Casazza on Opera in New York. 

 Mr. Gatti, who is general manager of 

 the Metropolitan Opera House, looks 

 upon opera as an entertainment — some- 

 times popular, and sometimes austerely 

 aesthetic and intellectual — the basis of 

 singers. He believes the best subsidy 

 the opera can have is the support of the 

 public. Opera can be self-supporting 

 by discreet management, which requires 

 that the popular operas should carry 

 the musically aristocratic operas on 

 their shoulders. Though he attaches 

 great importance to fine voices, Mr. 

 Gatti is opposed to the star system, and 

 at the Metropolitan the star system is 

 dead. As to the opera of to-day, he 

 notes a tendency to prefer the dramatic 

 to the lyric or singing opera, the theatri- 

 cal element outweighing the vocal. 

 There Is still a dearth of good singers, 

 and the couriers of the Metropolitan 

 are ready to start at any moment in 

 search of a new Patti. No consideration 

 of economv would stand in the wav of 

 her engagement. There is similar diffi- 

 culty in getting new operas — that is, 

 operas which will hold their place on 

 the repertory for years to come, or even 

 for a decade. The operas of another 

 Wagnicr would run through Europe 

 and America like wildfire. The diffi- 

 culty which confronts the manager 

 looking for new works is not that of 

 getting a hearing for them, but the dif- 

 ficulty of finding them. 



