File:The critic in the Occident (1913) (14791549223).jpg

Identifier: criticinoccident01fitc (find matches)
Title: The critic in the Occident
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Fitch, George Hamlin, 1852- (from old catalog)
Subjects:
Publisher: San Francisco, P. Elder and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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, which is one hundredand seventy-seven feet long, forty-three feet wideand fifty-nine feet in height. The vaulting is orna-mented with mosaics, and this noble room is mademore splendid by huge mirrors, gilded statues andtwo marble chimney-pieces. The auditorium isbeautifully decorated, but the colors are now faded. It was my ill fortune to hear in this beautifulplace the opera of Romeo et Juliette sung in themost perfunctory way. The soprano was a finewoman in face and form, but her voice was medi-ocre, while the tenor was so atrocious that no audi-ence in any large American city would have toler-ated him. The costumes, the scenery and the greatballet at the end of the fourth act were all superb,but it was melancholy to see this fine temple ofmusic given over to commonplace singers. The audience at the Grand Opera was not large,but it interested me because of the peculiarities ofthe French playgoer. Of the three tiers of boxes,the top ones alone were well filled. In some of the (»4)
Text Appearing After Image:
The Winged Vidlory of Samothrace, One of the Finest Pieces of Greek Sculpture. It is the Chief Treasure of the Louvre in Paris and Stands in the Prow of the Stone Boat Which Was Found With the Statue Churches and Monuments of Paris lower boxes were overdressed women wearing for-tunes in diamonds and pearls; in others sat white-haired men who seemed to spend most of theirtime between the acts in leveling their opera glassesupon attractive young women in various parts ofthe house. After each act those in the parquet andorchestra circles left their seats and promenaded inthe galleries and the foyer, many taking drinks, icesand cakes at the large buffet. The men all carriedtheir silk hats into the house and between the acts,with hats on their heads, they faced about and de-liberately raked the boxes with their opera glasses.Two good-looking negroes in full dress suits occu-pied conspicuous seats in the orchestra circle. The waits between the a&s were very long andat midnight, when I l

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