LE SAUTERIOT THE GRASSHOPPER

"Le Sauteriot" (Gra hopper) by Sylvio Lazzari, with a libretto by Henri Pierre Roche and Martial Perrier, based on E. de Keyserling's drama "Sacre de Printemps," is the story of a modern Cinder ell a, Orti , who lives in Lithuania. She is the natural daughter of Mikkel , whose wife Anna , lies dying as the curtain rises. The doctor gives Orti , or Gra hopper as she is known, some medicine to give the patient if she grows worse. Only ten drops though, because the remedy is a powerful poison. Anna's old mother, Trine , tells Orti the legend of the mother who prayed that she might die in place of her baby, and whose prayer was granted. Realizing herself despised and a drudge, Orti prays to die instead of Anna . Gra hopper is secretly in love with Indrik . But he has no eyes for her. All his attention is fixed upon Madda , Mikkel's youngest sister. In the second act at a village festival, Indrik , who has quarrelled with Madda , fights with his succe or in her affections, Josef . Orti rushes in and seizes Josef's hand as he is about to slay Hendrik . She is the heroine of the festival. Hendrik pays court to her and leads her to believe that he will marry her. When a few days later she discovers that he has gone back to Madda , Gra hopper commits suicide. M. Lazzari of Paris is by birth a Tyrolean, whose father was an Italian. But the composer has spent most of his life in Paris. He entered the Conservatoire at twenty-four, where his teachers were Guiraud and César Franck. His operas "L'Ensorcelée" and "La Lépreuse" were first sung in Paris. "Le Sauteriot" would also have had its first performance there. But the war made it po ible for Mr. Camp an in i to acquire it for Chicago. It was presented there on the closing day of the season, January 19, 1918. The Chicago Opera Company gave New York its first opportunity to hear the work on February 11, 1918, when it was conducted by the composer.