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Show GRAND OPERA TO BE IHiLlSH American Academy of Arts and Letters to Force Important Im-portant Change. Chicago. 111., Nov. 15. The most important de elopnu tit In tho artls il life of the American people at present is thai which Is about. to Force all grand operas to be given iu Bngllah in this country This as the assertion of Reginald de Koven, principal speaker today at the annual meeting of the American Acadeim ol Arts and Letters. Urand opera will be popular with all classes of people, Mr De Koven declared, when it Is sung in the language eerybod un dcrstands "The lauguauo question is the mos-. important before I he musical world now." said .Mr De Koven. "There is riM pood argument against our having our opera in English I can take from the point of view that English is even as good a language to sing In as Italian which Is called th bent singing language. Signor Gatti-Cas-saza, director of the Metropolitan Grand Opera company became famous atthe producer of the Wagnerian Cycle Cy-cle in the theatre of La Sea la In Ml lan, Italy I asked him 'Did you produce Wagner In German, at L9 Scaia?' He answered No It was sung in Italian of course ' "That shows that Italian can have Wagner sung in Italian In the most famous opera house in the world and we can have it sung !n English here ' In addition to the thousands of Am erlcan Blngers forced to ring in Europe because there is not enough opera here to support them Mr Do Koven f.ald there are manv thousands studying opera here who could sln. before their own countrymen when opera gained its proper place here. President Woudrow Wilson and The odore Roosevelt were hailed as folio .v members of the National Institute of rt and LetterB by the Academicians Tbi .",7 members of the Academy are In ted from the 150 members of the Institute. 'Prance, the one countrv where Intellectual In-tellectual things are neld In entire respect has foi its president a leader In intellectual life In Raymond Poim-care. Poim-care. President Wilson Is the Poln-care Poln-care of America, and Poincare Is the Wilson ot Prance," said Robert Un derwood lohnson. permanent secretary of the Academy. |
