542
PARTISAN REVIEW
tion of a certain evening at the Paris Opera when Sullivan was singing
the part of Arnold in Rossini's
William T ell.
In one of his letters to me
dictated to Paul Leon, Joyce said: "Perhaps Leon who is typing this
will shoot you off a pen-picture describing my antics in the stalls of
the Paris Opera for the scandal of the
blase-abanne,
and the ensuing
story in the press." Here is the pen-picture duly shot off by Leon and
no doubt checked by Joyce:
Late Spring three years ago [Note: That would be 1930. F. B.]
J. J.
came back from Zurich after a second visit to Vogt. [Note: Dr. Vogt,
the famous eye specialist. F.
B.]
Sight maybe a little better. Concert
of Volpi heard . Also much talk about a performance of
William Tell
with Volpi in the part of Arnold. Conversations with Sullivan establish
that Volpi had the entire score cut by some half of it and the key
lowered by a half note. This Volpi performance is narrated with all sorts
of compliments in the N.
Y.
H erald
(Paris edition) by their official
musical critic (M. Louis Schneider). Immediately a letter is written to
him containing a wager by Sullivan to let him and Volpi sing both the
part of Arnold in the original score in any concert hall-the arbiter to
be Mr. Schneider and the stakes to be a copy of the original full score,
nicely bound. Na turally no reply from either Schneider or Volpi. Yet
Schneider had written that nobody at present could sing the part of
Arnold as had been done by Volpi.
A week later, performance of
William Tell
with Sullivan. Sitting
in the fifth row right aisle next to the passage your obedient servant,
next to him
J.
J.,
next to him Mrs. Leon and next to her Mrs. Joyce–
somewhere in the stalls an Irish Miss, correspondent of some paper,
and a gentleman, correspondent of the
Ne ue Ziiricher Z eitung.
First and second acts pass with great applause,
J. J.
being greatly
enthused. Third act where there is no Sullivan on the stage spent in
the buffet. Fourth act after the aria
uAsile hheditaire,"
sung with great
bria
and real feeling by S., applause interminable.
J. J.
excited in the
extreme shouts, "Bravo Sullivan! M
erde paur Lauri Valpi."
The
abannes
(this being I believe a Friday) rather astonished, one of them saying:
ull va un peu fart celui
ta."
Half an huur later at the Cafe de la Paix: great conversation in
which S. joins after he has changed his clothes. At the moment of
parting the
Ne ue Ziiricher Z eitung
correspondent, having been talked to
all the evening about music, approaches
J.
J.
with the following words:
"Thank you so much for the delightful evening. I have some pull with
my paper, and should you wish I could arrange for an article or two
by you on your Paris impressions to appear there."
J.
J . : "Many thanks, but I never write for the newspapers."
The Correspondent: "Oh, I see, you are simply a musical critic."
Next day an article in the Press: "Monsieur J ames Joyce, after a
successful operation, goes with friends to the Opera to hear his compa–
triot Sullivan sing in
William Tell.
Sitting in a box after the Fourth
Act aria he takes off his spectacles and is heard saying: "Thank God I
have recovered my eyesight."
