Felix Cherniavsky - News Clippings 1910s 1

Added 18th Mar 2022 by Beth Dobson (Archives and Programming Assistant, DCD) / Last update 18th Mar 2022

Maud Allan 420 51 2008-1-30.jpg
Maud Allan 420 51 2008-1-30.jpg
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Felix Cherniavsky - News Clippings 1910s 1

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Maud Allan Research Collection
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1910 MAUD ALLAN'S VISION OF SALOME -- The human mind 18 surely at times a most peculiar little machine . Ever since Maud Allan has made a most unexpectedly powerful impres sion upon the public of San Francisco there has been an in sistant demand that she should give her version of the no torious dance of Salome as embodied in Richard Strauss ' now famous opera . Every one who finally saw the announcements that Miss Allan , after considerable resistance , had consented to interpret this bit of gruesome history simply rushed to the box office and could not wait until he or she had secured the tickets . No one had any excuse to say that they did not know what the dance of Salome represented and no one bad any right to expect anything else except that scene which has been so well described in the daily papers , For this reason we have a right to assume that the Valencia Theatre was sold out for Saturday and Monday , a whole week in ad vance , because of the fact that the management of Maud Allan had announced this very " Vision of Salome . " It was exactly the character of this conception which attracted the crowds and to complain now that Miss Allan's version of this degenerate poetie idea was according to program seems to me to be the most inexcusable exhibition of hypocrisy that I ever came across . People who knowingly go to an exhibition of a questionable character and would feel offended if the management were to announce at the last moment that the program had been changed and then feel called upon to com plain of the very thing that they expected , must make any man or woman of intelligence sick and tired . And here 1 want to include Ralph B. Renaud of the Chronicle . Renaud , if he attends to his duty as critic , inust have known beforehand what the dance of Salome represented and it is rather late in the day to complain after the event has taken place . Manager Johnston only cares for the money . He does not give a rap for Miss Allan's reputation as a woman . exuberance of happinesa , her dance requires that she spr into the air such springing motion is done so gracefully a so unexpectedly feathery in lightness that it reminds one a deer or rabbit in the enjoyment of its freedom . It seem me impossible to realize how much music there D be associated with dancing and no one has any idea b realistle these dances are unless he or she witnesses th in person . There is nothing whatever of any vulgatta about this exhibition , and no one need fear any impropriety attending these events . My introductory remarks were intended as reflecting upon Miss Allan's dancing . They w merely written for the purpose of pointing out a danger t may arise from these classic dances and wlich danger n be thrust upon the public by unscruplous theatrical mi agers to whom money may mean more than propriety . Clas dances , such as I have witnessed at the Garrick Theater Tuesday evening , can only be danced by Maud Allan or so one like her and by no one else . This fact must be thoroug impressed upon the publle mind , if classic dancing is not degenerate into a vulgar exhibition . as * 線 Much of the credit of the success of Maud Allan's & Francisco appearance is due to Paul Steindorff and the orch tra under his direction . What the accompanist is to singer or the violinist at a concert , Mr. Steindorff and orchestra are to Miss Allan . Duess the numbers are poetica Interpreted and are played in a manner that matches emotionalisın or the dance , the entire atmosphere of artis effort would be destroyed . Some of the music played on th occasions is not at all easy and demands considerable m cianly skill to create from it a background upon which N Allan may draw her remarkable terpsychorean paintin Taking into consideration the limited time Mr. Steindorff to rehease these programs and also considering the difficult under which a conductor labors here when he endeavors select a competent orchestra for an evening's engagemen do not hesitate to assert that Mr. Steindorff has done wond in this instance and that his efforts should be recognized all their merit . The enthusiastic applause that greeted conclusion of the various orchestral selections , even w unaccompanied by Miss Allan's dance , testified to the en ment or the audience and to the high regard in which Steindorff is held . From a musical point of view the progr did not contain very much that is new to us and consequer a detailed criticism is not necessary . I can only add that Steindorff showed himself at his very best and certainly entitled to the words of gratitude that Miss Allan was gracious to bestow upon him at the conclusion of the 1 formance . 10 1990 The objectionable points of the Salome scene are that Miss Allan is clothed in still scantier attire than usual and thus exceeds the borders of propriety beyond artistie license , that the bloody head is altogether too gruesome a spectable for any association with art and that the subject of the story is altogether untit to be get in music or poetry or dancing . But here our objections must end . To say that Miss Allan's interpretations of the story in dance form are too vivid to be moral is inexcusably exaggeration . Mr. Renaud certainly must have a vivid imagination to see any objectionable parts of the story exemplified in Miss Allan's terpsychorian evolu tions . On the contrary I believe that Miss Allan intention ally tried to soften the coarseness of the idea and did not at any time resort to vulgarity as far as her dance was con cerned . In her dancing Miss Allan has always been artistic and she is this even in the " Vision of Salome . " But the subject is one unfit for publie performance whether it is in the form of an opera or of a dance . I will take advantage of this opportunity to correct 2 wrong impression which certain critics and certain people seem to have received in respect to the music . The composition to which Miss Allan danced was not written by Richard Strauss as may easily be learned by examining the score of Salome to be had at any leading music house , but that the music must have been especially written for Miss Allan . It is good musie and evidently in tended for a small orchestra as well as a large one . Strauss music requires over one hundred musicians in the orchestra and I am sure permission cannot be obtained to give it separate from the opera . I agree with most people that it would have been better if Miss Allan had not given the " Vision of Salome , but I went there well knowing what it was going to be and I have no right to complain now because I could have stayed away if I had wanted to . I saw exactly what I expected to see ( except that Miss Allan's dancing was far more artistic than the subject called for ) and I have no desire to see it again . ALFRED METZGER . These concluding remarks of Miss Allan's were so chosen and so appropriate in this instance that they may e be regarded as a part of the event . I refer to them h not because of their underlying pathos in reference to N Allan's childhood days in this city , but because her exp sions find a ready echo in the breast of every young stud who leaves his native city in order to return and reveal conquered mnuses . How many a student leaves San Fr cisco with a fixed determination to show to his fellow some day what he or she may accomplish ! How few of the who set themselves such purpose really succeed attaining it ! Miss Allan said that throughout the ye of her absence from her home city and of her rema able triumphs abroad and in the East , she had always e particular object before her eyes , namely , to please in P ticular her fellow citizens who have lived with her in native city during the period of early days . There was moment which she longed for and that was the moment i arrived last Tuesday evening and made Miss Allan inexpres bly happy because she succeeded in enthusing her audier and that made her audience inexpressibly happy because had an opprotunity to decide without prejudice or hypocn that another daughter of the city had won fame and hong which have been justly earned . ALFRED METZGER O