I wrote to Martin Bernheimer about his "meretricious claptrap" reference to
"Adriana Lecouvreur" in the Financial Times and confessed -

>>I am among those who love Signor Cilea's trashy, miserable piece,
>>inferior as it is to his "Gina," "La tilda" and "Il matrimonio selvaggio."

- and received this reply:

>i said it was meretricious claptrap.  i didn't say i didn't like it.

Aha! I can certainly live with that.

I remember, years ago, when Alan Rich wrote about "Der Rosenkavalier" (in
New York magazine, I think) something like "What a cheap, manipulative work
this is, and how much I love it!"

I guess we all have our weaknesses - even to the point, in my case, of
appreciating "claptrap" even on the order of French-Italian ballet music,
Adam to Drigo.  There, I said it!

The point, obvious as it may be, is that Cilea, Strauss and Drigo are
very different animals and your titled and degreed musicologist may turn in
his/her grave even while alive at this discussion, but individual responses
to what others may call "cheap music" are - and will remain - various,
"wrong" and happily persistent.

Janos Gereben/SF
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