It has been suggested before now that Opera might be improved if the
singing were done behind the scenes and the performance on the stage were
carried out in dumb show by competent actors who looked their parts. But
the idea that the movements on the stage would correspond with the
utterances off it is not encouraged by the present lack of collusion
between singers and orchestra--I refer to cases where a performer is
required to simulate music on a dummy instrument.
This reflection was forced upon me at a recent performance of _Tannhäuser_.
It is true that Miss LILLIAN STANFORD as the _Shepherd_ fingered her pipe
in precise accord with the gentleman who played the music for her. But Mr.
MULLINGS, as _Tannhäuser_, took the greatest liberties with his harp. He
just slapped it whenever he liked, without any regard to the motions of his
collaborator. As for Mr. MICHAEL, who played _Wolfram_, he was content to
fill in the vocal pauses with a little suitable strumming; but when he sang
he was so distracted by his own voice that he left his harp to play the
accompaniment without visible assistance from his hand.
For the fine performance which Mr. ALBERT COATES conducted I have no word
but of praise, except that I could have wished that Miss ELSA STRALIA had
borne a closer resemblance to what is expected of _Elisabeth_. She seemed
to want to look as much as possible like _Venus_, whose very opposite she
should have been in type as in nature. Her colouring upset the whole scheme
of contrast, and one never began to believe in the sincerity of her
spiritual ideals or that her death from a broken heart was anything but an
affectation.