recall as vivid and vital a performance as that under discussion one had
to go back to the days of Mme. Johannsen and her associates, who gave
German opera in 1856. In Dr. Damrosch's performance Marianne Brandt
effected her entrance on the American stage, and the memory of her
impersonation of the heroine is still one of the liveliest and most
fragrant memories of those memorable days. The dramatic framework of
"Fidelio" is weak, its construction faulty. Only one ethical idea
is presented in it with real vividness, but it is an idea which is
peculiarly dear to the German heart--the saving power of woman's love.
"Fidelio" is a tale of wifely devotion, and Beethoven bent all his
energies to a glorification of his heroine's love and fidelity. To
represent the character faithfully has been the highest ambition of
German singers for a century. In that time not many more than a dozen
have achieved high distinction in it; and Marianne Brandt is among the
number. On its musical side her performance was thrillingly effective,
but on its histrionic it rose to grandeur. Every word of her few
speeches, every note of her songs, every look of her eyes and expression
of her face was an exposition of that world of tenderness which filled
the heart of Leonore. Nine-tenths of the action which falls to the
part of Leonore is by-play, and by-play of the kind which is made
particularly difficult by the time consumed by the music, which is not
wisely adjusted with reference to the promotion of the action. Yet all
these waits while Leonore is in view were filled by Fräulein Brandt
with little actions which tended to develop the character so sadly
left in the background by the playwright, but so lovingly treated by
the composer. It was down to its smallest detail a picture of a woman
impelled by one idea, in which her whole soul had been resolved, and
which had grown out of a lofty conception of love and duty. There was
nothing of the petty theatrical in Fräulein Brandt, and it was only an
evidence of the sincerity of her devotion to the art work which made her