"The Day's News"

Of all places in the world, none is more popularly associated with singing than the bathroom. Last week, grand opera reached the bathroom. The curtain of Berlin's Second State Opera House, rising for the world premiere of Neues vom Tage (The Day's News), latest opus of ultra-modern Composer Paul Hindemith, revealed Primadonna Crete Stueckgold seated in a tub with real-looking soapsuds up to her chin, warbling about the delights of a hot bath.

Less atonal in its harmonies but in spirit akin to Composer Ernst Krenek's much- discussed Jonny Spielt Auf, the bathroom opera's subject matter is a farcical treatment of divorce. The soprano's opening song becomes a duet when a man, employed by her husband to provide divorce grounds, enters the room. The duet becomes a trio when another feminine guest of the hotel comes in to demand the use of the bath. Finally the noise grows so loud that all the employes stream in. The finale is exciting, uproarious.