The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-09


stitutes the. gamut, all the sounds beng thus
bound together sccording to their relative posi-
tiOns on tue gamut. You can now form combt-
natiOns tltdtsons) Of sounds, successive or stimuli
taneous the first order OF sounds constituting
melody, and the second harmony. THIS rs music;
it has two essential parts, based like architec-
ture on mathematical relationships, which the
artist is free to combine and modify.
"Music, however, possesses second property
which endows 1t with peculiar virtue and an
extraordinary grasp. Besides ITS mathematical
properties, sound Is the analogue OF cry. Under
this head it conveys with unrivalled precision,
delicacy, and force, moods OF suffering joy,
rage, indgnatiOn-every species OF agitation or
emotion an animated sensitive being Is capable
of, even to the most secret aud most subtle
gradetiens. From this point OF view II is SINH
lar to poetic defamation, furnishing a specific
type OF music called the music of expression,
like that OF Gluck and the Germans, in opposi.
ton to the melodious school OF Rossin and
the Italians. Whatever a composers point of
view may be, every musical work springs from
these two sources, both forming groups of sound
linked together according TO mathematical law,
and in correspondence with the passions and
diverse states OF the moral being. The musi-
clan, therefore, who conceives certain salient
important character, whether Joyous or mourn
full, the tenderest love or EXTREMIST rage, any
idea or sentiment whatever, may freely select
and combine sounds in mathematical and moral
union to manifest It,"
GOTHIC CATHEDRALs.
One of the most remark able and best written
oil bQeSe lectures Is L0aL on 'lnG dGpbk EeIlOus'
An ther lecture on "The Medieval Epoch" con-
tains most eloquent description of the pro-
cesses OF thought and action which resulted in
the Gothic Cathedral. Nothing IN the whole
book IS more brilliant than this lecture, from
which we would quote the following passages:-
Let us observe the growth Of the new Gothic
edifce. In opposition to the religions OF anti
qulty which were all local, belonging to castles
or to families, the Christian religion addresses
itselfto the multitude, aud summons all men to
salvation. 1t was necessary, accordingly, for
this new edifce to be very large, and capable of
containing the entire population OF any one city
or district-the women, the children, the serfs,
the artisans, the rich the poor, and the great.
The small celia oLce occupied by the Greek god
and tho portico devoted to the professions of
free citizens, we're not sufficiently Capacious to
accommodate this immense crowd An enormous
structure was required lofty naves, multiplied
and crossed with others, and measureless arches
and colossal columns: mountains had TO be
levelled by generations OF workmen focRing
for centuries to it to labor for the salvation
of their souls before the monument could be
completed.
The men who frequent it are saddened, and the
ideas they come in quest OF mournful. They
mediate over their miserable existence, full of
trouble and bounded with gulf, over hell and
its endless punishments, over the suiferings and
passion OF Christ Cruclhed, and those oil perse-
cuted and tortured saints and martyrs. Listen
ing to such religious teaching and supporting the
burden OF their own fears, they could lll-accom-
modate themselves to the beauty and Joyous
OF day is accordingly excluded; the interior of
the ediGce remains sombre and lugubrious; all
the light that penetrates through Its openings is
transformed into purple and crimson tnts and
the tints of topaz and amethyst, into strange
mystic flickering hues seeming to afford glimpses
OF the splendors OF paradise.
"Delicate over-eXcited lmaeinatous like these
are not content with simple architectural forms.
And first form in itself is not sufficient to inte
| rest them. 1t must be symbol OF and designate
| some august mystery. The eiiice with its trans
verse nayes represents the cross on which Christ
died; its circular window with Its brilliant petals
figures the rose OF eternity, all the leaves of
| which are redeemed souls; all the dimensions of
| It's parts correspond to sacred mum bers. Again,
these forms IL their richness, strangeneSs, bold
| ness, decacy, and immensely harmonic with
| the intemperanco and curiosity Of morbid
| fancy. Vivid sensations-lrequent bizarre, va
| red and eXtreme-are necessary for such minds.
They reject the column, the horizontal and
transverse beamt, the round arch; in short, the
| solid construction balanced proportions, and
| beautiful simplicity of antique architecture;
| they manifest no sympathy for those noble crea-
| tons that seem to have been born and to last
! without effort, whose beauty and existence are
! inseparable, and the inherent excellence OF
| which needs no addition and requires no orna-
| ment.
1.-THE principle they adopt is not the plain half
| circle of the arcade, or the simple angle formed
| by the column and the architrave, but She COM
| pliCated union OF two curves intersected by each
| other, forming the oglve. They aspire TO the
| gigantic; they cover square acres OF ground with
masses of stone bind pillars together IN mon
strous colOumns, suspend galleries IN the air,
elevate arches to the skies, and stage upon stage
OF belfry until their spires are lost IN the clouds.
| They refine on the delcaCy of forms; they sur.
round doors with sefles of statuettes and iestoon
wallswith treloils, gables, and gargoyles; they
intermingle the tortuous tracery of mullons with
the motley hues OF stained glass; the choir seems
TO be embI oideIed with lace, while tombs, altars
| stalls, and towers are covered with mazes OF
slender columns and tringes OF leaves and statues
1t seems as if they wished to attain at once inf
mite grandeur and infinite litNeness, seeking tC
oVerwhelm the mind on either side, on the one
hard with the vastness of a mass and on the
other with prodigious quantity OF details
Their object was evidently to produce an extra
ordinary sensation; they aimed to dazzle ano
bewilder.
"Proportionately, therefore. to the develop
ment OF the style OF architecture, 1t becomes
more and more paradoxical. In the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, the age of the famboy
ant Gothic OF Strasburg Milan, York, Nurem
burg, and the Church OF Brou, solidity seems tC
have been wholly abandoned for ornament. The
cathedral sometimes bristles with profusion o
| pinnacles, and its exterior is draped with
lacework OF mouldings; walls are followed GU
and almost wholly absorbed by windows; they
lack strength, and without the buttresses raised
| against them would tall; ever disintegrating, il
is necessary to establish colonies of mason
about them constantly, to repair their constan
decay. The embroidered sUonework, more an(
more frail it ascends the spire, cannot sustain
itself; 1t has to be fastened to skeleton of iron
and as iron rusts, the blacksmith is summoned
to contribute his share towards propping III
this unstable, delusiYe magnifcence. In tn
interior the decoration is so exuberant ant
complex, the groinings so richly dis
play their luxurious tangled vegetation
and the stalls, pulpit, and Talings so man
| Intricate. tOrtuOIs fantestic arahesnues tha