13.
Miscellaneous
box 447
empty
towards the door, expecting to be frowned upon
by the head waiter, stranded among his smiles.
But the smiles continue. He is of your own
opinion one cannot sup à la Cruse. Perhaps
another evening ? Sometimes the Viennese are
a little sad, but they are not importunate or
angry or glum. Even in misfortune they have
the detachment of a people not inexperienced in
fortune's changes.
Though the play is not new, it was pleasant to
go to Herr Preminger's production of Old Heidel¬
berg at Reinhardt's Theater in der Josefstadt.
When the piece is performed straight," merits
appear in it which are concealed by spectacular
embellishments. Herr Jaray has a most unusual
gift for the light treatment of sentimental
passages. Fräulein Paula Wessely is clearly an
actress who might play almost any part, tragic
or comic. She has that special clearness of pur¬
pose and decision of phrase which alone could
give to her scenes at once sparkle and sincerity.
It is said that she is to play St. Joan in Berlin.
It will be a performance worth watching.
A later visit to the same theatre discovered the
first night of Tiroler-Hütchen, adapted by Hanns
Sassmann from the original of Stefan Gregg,
which describes the adventure of an English girl
and a Tirolese sking-instructor. Its last act,
having no substance left, falls away into song
and dance, but the first two are full of delicious
nonsense. Not a work of art, but a commercial
entertainment, it might, if its last act were re¬
written, run across Europe. Fräulein Leny
Marenbach, though not without technical defects,
has the stuff in her of which very popular
actresses are made, not the least of her assets
being an international dimple.
From this it is a long step to consideration of
he achievements of the State theatres. Nothing
this journey has been more reassuring than the
jourage and the elasticity of the Austrians
rtistic policy. The country is passing through
period of political complexity, but the great
heatres are used for the production of works
part on their merits, while a consistent and
successful attempt is made to reduce the financial
purden by economies and by organization of the
Audience into theatre communities. The total
deficit payable by the State has been reduced
during the last two years from approximately
even million to approximately four million
chillings (148,000). There are 2,440 regular
subscribers for drama and 1,667 for opera. In
addition to this, the theatre communities have
3,500 members.
LEHAR CONDUCTS
That even the proud tradition of the Opera is
not classically fettered is proved by its willing¬
hess to pay tribute to Lehár by producing his
Giuditta, with Frau Nowotna and Herr Tauber
in the leading parts. Lehár himself conducts.
Strictly conservative opinion may be a trife
jastonished to find so light a piece in this theatre.
Seeing the same thing from a different point of
view, a layman of music may be disconcerted to
discover Herr Tauber, whose amorous gestures
are those of an impassioned Robot, in the uni¬
form of the dashing hero of a musikalische
Komödie. But the balance is a graeful one.
The audience, its sombre appearance lightened
again by the beautiful uniforms of the past, is
alive and responsive. Herr Tauber sings as
London already knows; Frau Nowotna has a
grace and lightness of touch very rare in a
prima donna ; and it is a unique experience to
hear a Lehár score supported by the full
resources of the Viennese Opera.
The Burgtheater is, in traditional grandeur,
the dramatic equivalent of the Opera. The
magnificence of its approaches leads one to
expect an auditorium in which Drury Lane and
the Lyceum might be swallowed up. It is in fact
large but not so large as that. In a house
decorated in white and gold with curtains of red
silk Shakespeare's Richard III. was being given
in Schlegel's translation. It provided an oppor¬
tunity to see not only Werner Krauss as the King
but Hedwig Bleibtreu, the chief of Vienna's
senior actresses, as the widow of Henry VI.
Their acting throws light on the contrast in styles
of which we were aware when Herr Krauss ap¬
peared with an English company in London.
From the moment in which Richard, with
flaming hair and carrying his great two-handed
E
Miscellaneous
box 447
empty
towards the door, expecting to be frowned upon
by the head waiter, stranded among his smiles.
But the smiles continue. He is of your own
opinion one cannot sup à la Cruse. Perhaps
another evening ? Sometimes the Viennese are
a little sad, but they are not importunate or
angry or glum. Even in misfortune they have
the detachment of a people not inexperienced in
fortune's changes.
Though the play is not new, it was pleasant to
go to Herr Preminger's production of Old Heidel¬
berg at Reinhardt's Theater in der Josefstadt.
When the piece is performed straight," merits
appear in it which are concealed by spectacular
embellishments. Herr Jaray has a most unusual
gift for the light treatment of sentimental
passages. Fräulein Paula Wessely is clearly an
actress who might play almost any part, tragic
or comic. She has that special clearness of pur¬
pose and decision of phrase which alone could
give to her scenes at once sparkle and sincerity.
It is said that she is to play St. Joan in Berlin.
It will be a performance worth watching.
A later visit to the same theatre discovered the
first night of Tiroler-Hütchen, adapted by Hanns
Sassmann from the original of Stefan Gregg,
which describes the adventure of an English girl
and a Tirolese sking-instructor. Its last act,
having no substance left, falls away into song
and dance, but the first two are full of delicious
nonsense. Not a work of art, but a commercial
entertainment, it might, if its last act were re¬
written, run across Europe. Fräulein Leny
Marenbach, though not without technical defects,
has the stuff in her of which very popular
actresses are made, not the least of her assets
being an international dimple.
From this it is a long step to consideration of
he achievements of the State theatres. Nothing
this journey has been more reassuring than the
jourage and the elasticity of the Austrians
rtistic policy. The country is passing through
period of political complexity, but the great
heatres are used for the production of works
part on their merits, while a consistent and
successful attempt is made to reduce the financial
purden by economies and by organization of the
Audience into theatre communities. The total
deficit payable by the State has been reduced
during the last two years from approximately
even million to approximately four million
chillings (148,000). There are 2,440 regular
subscribers for drama and 1,667 for opera. In
addition to this, the theatre communities have
3,500 members.
LEHAR CONDUCTS
That even the proud tradition of the Opera is
not classically fettered is proved by its willing¬
hess to pay tribute to Lehár by producing his
Giuditta, with Frau Nowotna and Herr Tauber
in the leading parts. Lehár himself conducts.
Strictly conservative opinion may be a trife
jastonished to find so light a piece in this theatre.
Seeing the same thing from a different point of
view, a layman of music may be disconcerted to
discover Herr Tauber, whose amorous gestures
are those of an impassioned Robot, in the uni¬
form of the dashing hero of a musikalische
Komödie. But the balance is a graeful one.
The audience, its sombre appearance lightened
again by the beautiful uniforms of the past, is
alive and responsive. Herr Tauber sings as
London already knows; Frau Nowotna has a
grace and lightness of touch very rare in a
prima donna ; and it is a unique experience to
hear a Lehár score supported by the full
resources of the Viennese Opera.
The Burgtheater is, in traditional grandeur,
the dramatic equivalent of the Opera. The
magnificence of its approaches leads one to
expect an auditorium in which Drury Lane and
the Lyceum might be swallowed up. It is in fact
large but not so large as that. In a house
decorated in white and gold with curtains of red
silk Shakespeare's Richard III. was being given
in Schlegel's translation. It provided an oppor¬
tunity to see not only Werner Krauss as the King
but Hedwig Bleibtreu, the chief of Vienna's
senior actresses, as the widow of Henry VI.
Their acting throws light on the contrast in styles
of which we were aware when Herr Krauss ap¬
peared with an English company in London.
From the moment in which Richard, with
flaming hair and carrying his great two-handed
E