Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 12 (1929-09)

400 The Phonograph Monthly Review September, 1929 time in October or November. Rev. Satcher has planned each index in seven major divisions, as follows: I. GENERAL INDEX. An alphabetical list of contents, including titles of all articles, de- partments, and notes without captions. II. CONTRIBUTORS. This includes not only authors of articles and managers of departments, but also all contributors to the correspondence department. III. ILLUSTRATIONS. IV. RECORDS REVIEWED. 1) Alphabetical list of classifications of records by nature, nation- ality etc, 2) Principal records reviewed listed alphabetically under composers with dates, opus numbers, etc. 3) Records impracticable to in- clude in the above section, listed alphabetically by title, with composer (when known) in paren- theses after the title. V. RECORDS RELATING TO PARTICULAR PERSONS OR ORGANIZATIONS OR SPEC- IAL SUBJECTS. This index shows the location of the valuable lists appended as record biblio- grapheis to various articles in the magazine. VI. RECORDING ARTISTS. The task is one of the greatest magnitude but Rev. Satcher has worked it out with a remarkable thoroughness of detail. The indices will be in- dispensible to every record collector and student of the phonograph. Massenet and His Music By JAMES HADLEY (Continued from the last issue) T HREE years after the production of “Le Roi de Lahore” in May, 1880 — Paris heard “La Vierge,” a legende Sacree in four scenes, but even the presence in the cast of Mile. Krauss, a famous dramatic soprano, could not carry the work to success. Its failure is diffi- cult to understand, since the score is marked by an abundance of beautiful melodies, and it writ- ten with all the dexterity and charm that we asso- ciate with the name of Massenet. Of this ill-fated score only two numbers have survived. One of these is the “Danse Galileenne”, of an exotic allure, which occurs in the second scene, The Marriage of Cana. The Assumption, the fourth scene, opens with a prelude entitled “The Last Sleep of the Virgin,” which has attained a world- wide popularity. We must be prepared for the essentially sentimental spirit of French art when religion is concerned in it, so this elegant and gracefully lyrical treatment of a sacred subject rouses in us no especial surprise. The principal motive of this famous Prelude is an adorable phrase murmured by the solo Violon- cello, over an accompaniment played by muted violins. Victor Wilder says in “Le Menestrel”:— “Nothing more suave and more seraphic could be imagined than this ravishing Prelude.” “Le Dernier Sommeil de la Vierge”—to use its French title—has been recorded sympathetically and with much beauty of tone by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the eminent Henri Verbrugghen. It is a gold seal Brunswick record, No. 50058-A, and is one of the most desirable of recent issues. The libretto of Massenet’s opera, “Herodiade,” is founded, of course, upon the Biblical story of John the Baptist at Herod’s court, his wrath at the wickedness of the king and his queen, Her- odias, and the licentiousness of the kingdom, terminating in the death of the Prophet. After Oscar Wilde’s mentally-diseased Salome, it was both a surprise and a relief to see a Salome, who, pursued by the unwelcome attentions of her step-father, Herod, far from demanding the head of John the Baptist, loves him with “a cnaste flame”, and stabs herself when, she learns that he has been executed by the order of Queen Hero- dias, her mother. It will be seen at once that “Herodiade” is scriptural romancing a la Par- isienne; a very much modernized form—a Paris version, so to speak—of the sacred story. “Hero- diade” was first queen at Brussels, and more than four hundred Parisians travelled thither to wit- ness the premiere. The opera was accorded a veritable ovation, Massenet himself being the recipient of such a welcome as had never befor been witnessed at the Theatre de la Monna Three years later,—in February, 1884—it was given in Paris, with Jean and Edouard de Reszke and Victor Maurel in the cast of singers. When the opera was revived at the Theatre de la Gaite, in 1903, the role of Salome was assumed by Mile.