New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1862-12-29
SiUSIC ABROAD.
Thenfers, &c.

On Christmas day the public exercised its usual
privileges, filling first itself, and afierward all con-
venient places of entertainment TO such excess as
had not before been Witnessed this season-not even
on Thanksgiving night. Otherwise, the week just
past was undstingushed by any theatrical incident
Of importance. The various playhouses, it is salts
factory to know, thriyed according to their merits
Those which presented poor Shows" languished
before poor audiences Those which dealt well by
the public were duly and handsomely rewarded. 1t
is getting to be toleraby settled fact-the ncredu-
lily of sundry managers notwithstanding III
the dramatic, as in other trades, good ware gets
the readest market. And by good ware we do
not mean that sort which mondaciously assumes
a virtue when il has it not; but the sound
and hearty stock Of the profession, with no
false pretense about it. Mixed magnifcence and
muck do not constitute good theatrical stuff.
pound Of brilliant paint does not sufficiently redee m
volume Of rhetorical drve to lift it TO the standard
Of proper playhouse material. The unwholesome
precedenis which led TO present enterprises of this
sort were decisions and snares, managers begin TO
learn The public may make fool Of itself once
and twice bnt not many times more in the same di-
rection. Whoever shall .invcnt new methods by
NAV reap emolumen,s and alteration; bu! 10 follow
an utterly exhausted track is neither polite nor in
genious, and nowadays results in purses that ache
wi III emptiness. The seventh-raie order Of "show
piece" has run lis course. The public is tired Of IT,
1t has no claim now, upon curiosity, and those
who long for better things In theatrical art may con-
sole themselves with the reflection that iis expiring
breath is mingng with the blue fires that illuminate
is last and cheapest devices.
The representation Of trashy draraas ut our beet
thea,ers is annoying in precisely the same way as
the presence Of select group Of bores would be at
all otherwise agreeable dinner table, They offend
not only by their own intrusion, but also because
they exclude the betiers who might fiji their places.
a dozen weeks cut out Of the heart Of season, aud
given up to all q at il contemplate, inierieres in
every way with theatrical progress. II lowers the
prestige of the iheaers, and renders them Incapable
Of worheF achievements. a management which
for half season stimulates the worst instincts Of the
public cannot thereafter hopefully appeal to the best
The experiment has been tried. After two Seasons
Of profitable degradation at one place Of entertain
ment the higher plane was momcntarily attempted
OF course il was in vain. Tie audiences had been
trained to low expectations, and would not be lifted
above them. SO the extreme plan was adopted Of
dropping below them. The Last of unclcan dramas
appeared
Sinking from deep TO deep svas, profound"
and it failed. We are very glad Of it. lis failure is
evidence that the vulgarest instincts Of the public
are not those to which all theatrical hopes cannot
be trusted.
The element Of scenic effect should always be a
subordinate one ut every theator. As such, too
great attention cannot be paid to it, But to make IT
the sole feature of dramatic entertainment is simply
absurd. Otherwise we might better have puppets
than actors aud let the movement pass in dumb
show 50 far as tho two principal scenic pieces Of
the season are concerned, it would be deal pleas
an,er if all did really pass in dumb show. There s
nothing nice about the language the sentiment Of
either Of them. Something would seem 10 DO due 10
The sensibtes of the decent among an audience. |
Bat this is point studousy overlooked not only at
one or two but at all Of our theatres passion for
loose jests and coarse repartee is a vice from which
no stage in Ncw-YoIk is free. Upon what ground
udcEcacy is literally laysl cd we cannot imagine
IAN Tie outlaws Of the gallery have weght in their
favor which cannot BIS counteracted by the disgust
Of the better part OF the housel On this account
alone il is really pity that Kissing is lost art in
America. 1t should be cultivated once more,-never
Tor the personal humiliation Of man or woman, but
or the prompt rebule Of those offences against taste
md decency which, if more privately perpetrsied
would be punished with merciless severity.
The Broadway theatrical announcements for the
PRESENT week are sufficiently varied. At Wallacks
variety of comedies will be presented, beginning
his evening with "The Invisible Husband" and
with "The School for Scandal" "The
jlandestiEe Marriage "Thc Invisible Husbsnd"
gain for New-Year's Night" Love and Money"
nd " a Bachelor of Arts At the Winter Garden
lr. andMrs Barney Williams will perform in L" The
rslI ambassador" and The Lakes Of Killarney"
the lattef of which they were especially successful
lst week, attracting overlooking audiences. At
'iblos Garden " faust and Marguerite" is an
ounced for repetition every evening.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music will be opened
ext Wednesday and Thursday evenings by Miss
aeman the termination Of whose brilliant engage
rents in Boston and Providence affords her the OPP
ortunty OF renewing her successes the house
! the early part Of the season. The IIunchback"
nd The Lady Of Lyons" will be presented, in I
9th OF which Miss BateInan will be supported as |
sual, by Mr.. j. w. Walack, jr., and Mr.. Edwin a
dams. II
At the French Theater, NibloS Saloon a" La Dame I
TX Capelias," the original play by Dumas, fills, o