Life, 1914-01-22 · page 26 of 40
Life — January 22, 1914 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mocks composer Richard Strauss through a critical review of his opera *Rosenkavalier*. The author argues that Strauss is a master of **commercial exploitation** rather than genuine artistry—comparing him to Theodore Roosevelt in politics and Bernard Shaw in literature as a figure who sustains fame through publicity. The review's central complaint: Strauss's orchestral genius cannot redeem the opera's absurd, vulgar libretto. The critic claims the plot is so ridiculous it wouldn't be tolerated in cheap American burlesque shows. The article suggests Strauss deliberately courts controversy (*Salome*, *Elektra*) and that wealthy opera companies and audiences are complicit in overpaying for his "commercialized music." The page also includes unrelated content: a poem, fashion sketches, and a humorous caption about a child's definition of "blizzard." The overall tone is one of sophisticated cultural criticism disguised as satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: Poet 'T is so easy for my spirit-bark To breast the wide, unfathomed seas of dream, The slightest breath will stir its fragile sails, The smallest waves will slip it, all Athwart the silver waters as they lie In magic peace, beneath the silent sky. And on—and on—the elfin wings will fly— Then who so rich and who so glad as 17 Leolyn Louise Everett, Musical Comedy De Luxe AS Theodore Roosevelt is to politics, as Bernard Shaw is to literature, and as Jack Johnson is to pugilism, so is Richard Strauss to music. He is the one consistent and dependable sensa- tion in his own field of endeavor. There have been moments of rela tion in his career, to be sure—brief periods in which he has stepped almost cut of the limelight of publicity. But whenever there seems to be any dan- ger of his subsiding permanently, Richard has invariably come back into his own with redoubled vigor, a bigger, better and more astonishing sensation than ever before. The American public, with appetites whetted by the atrocities of “ Salome” and “Elektra”, have waited two years for the much-heralded Straussian comic opera, “Rosenkavalier”. It came; New York saw; Strauss conquered. Sheer genius for personal exploitation tri- umphed again as it has triumphed in the past. The Metro- politan Opera Company dug deep into its pockets to pay the preposterous royalties demanded by the composer; the Americans grudgingly paid the advanced prices of ad- mission necessitated by the enormous expense of produc- tion; the newspapers devoted columns of print to the discussion of a subject which has long ago lost in- terest. for Europeans, and everyone agreed that the new sensation was well worth the price. It has all been a huge joke to the master-humorist of commercialized music, Of “ Rosenkavalier” itself there is little to be said. It has long been known that Richard Strauss can do more uncanny things with an orchestra than any man living. He has again displayed this power liberally, and has con- descended, in addition, to write a few real melodies which faintly suggest the tunefulness of the Viennese school Whatever value the music may have, however, intrinsically or academically, is absolutely destroyed by the utter ab- surdity and futility of the libretto. The wearisome horse- play and laborious vulgarity of “ Rosenkavalier” would not be tolerated even in the cheapest and most stereotyped of American burlesque shows. S.S. “TEACHER, 1 KNOW. A ‘BLIZZARD’ IS THE INSIDE OF A TURKEY” A HELPFUL HINT WITH = AN ORDINARY NIGHT DRESS, A PAIR OF SCISSORS, A FEW PINS AND A SASH, IT IS A VERY SIMPLE PROCESS TO MAKE—— A STYLISH EV! cowN comicbooks.com