In Paris

Mozart, having been a Salzburgian Austrian and therefore an enemy alien, suffered a grievous lapse in Parisian popularity during and after the War.

From this lapse he has just recently recovered gloriously. Paris had two Mozart festivals, both in the beautiful Theatre des Champs-Elysees. The first of these was the venture of the Vienna Opera, complete with orchestra, singers, scenery and Herr Direktor Franz Schalk. It was part of an "official tour." Six operas were presented. There was no "modernizing," but the strictest possible adherence, to the purest Mozart traditions. Herr Schalk accompanied sections of the Don Giovanni on a harpsichord, that ancient ancestor of the pianoforte which Mozart himself loved for its faint and delicate tinkle. Restraint and sobriety characterized the whole set of performances--and the language used by the singers was German. Paris did not object.

The second festival was under the direction of Monsieur Walther Straram, who had recruited his forces from Italian, French, American and other sources. Mme. Ganna Walska was patroness and guiding spirit, and the costumes were the last word in sumptuousness. The language was Italian.