Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-12-17
The Dsgsnsracy OF the stage and How
Il Should be Elevated.
~. n..t-h.I. I.ux..l af MulIr

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The Dsgsnsracy Of the stage and How
Il Should DO Elevated.
From Dwight's Journal ofMuiic.l .n
That the drama, and especially the
opera as an amusement, offers surpass.
log attractions, must ba admitted, that
lis influence is correspondingly great
must be also conceded-so great indeed
il il as 10 raise the question whether on
slaughts upon il like that Of Chicago are
any less absurd or likely to have any
other result than that following Don
Quixote's attack on the windmills. Why,
Mr.. John Bartletts book Of Familiar
Quotations." shows us that OF phrases In
common use among the people-expres-
sions which for good or bad have reached
their hearts and brains and are influ-
encing their thoughts and actions,
Shakespeare has furnished nearly three
times as many as the Bible.
Now are the representations OF all
operas and dramas now extant attended
with evil, or have some OF them good in
fluence2 The latter, by those who at
tend the theaters, land they only can
testify will be claimed at once Who
has not felt, on beholding Macbeth.
that the terrible punishment of remorse
which crime entails is conveyed far more
wildly in this tragedy than pulpit elo-
quence could picture it2--who has not
wept aud felt elevated and bsttered by
the touching picture OF filial love in Lear;
Who has not felt his very soul and mar
row penetrated during the grand prayer
in the last scene Of Faust?
-"Ahi" says the clergyman, that
is a point against the dramn. Prayers
are sung and spoken by actors for money,
who have no heart in what they are say
ing, save the desire to impress and please
their audience. 1t is simply blasphelny
TO pray in such place"
To this it may be answered., that God
is everywhere, that all places are alike
sancti6ed unto Him; that the clergyman
alike with the actor, reheauies his prayer
and is paid for its delivery; that any pc
tition to God, or indeed any use of His
name, in other than a rsvereHtial sense
and for . good purpose is blasphemy;
but It is no worse in the theater than in
the pulpit, in the walks of daily life or in
our literature. And in judging of this
matter, we cannot ps receive the material
difference between the moral novel in
which the hero or heroine is allowed to
pray with the full concurrence and
hearty communication of both clergy and
laity, and the dramatic representation OF
the same story, except that the latter
must increase the wholesome effect which
is supposed to emanate from the former.
In many dramas prayers are introduced
upou occasion when the aim or moral of
the story does not justify them, and such
plays ought to be Stunned and con-
demned by all Christians-both audience
and actors; but there are on the other
hand notable instances where prayer,
especially when clothed in sublime
music, has sounded efficaciously in the
theater. Let those who doubt this,
watch the emotion depicted on the
faces of an entire audience during the
delivery of "Margaret's prayer in the |
last scene of Faust. But the present |
tendency of the stage is at any rate
towards evil, and it is rapidly degen- |
Grating. We have indecent librettos set |
TO music of that trashy style that the |
gamins of the street most effect-music |
not whit superior to Dixie" Bully |
for You," Not for Joseph" ct id omne |
genus, together with immoral sensation |
dramas and vulgar ballots; and the |
gamins 20 to hear and see these, and |
duly advertise them in the streets, and |
then respectable people go, and are duly |
Disguised, yet being of feeble resolution
they yield TO the charms of alluring ad-
vertisments and 60 again Just to see |
what this play ia like" and each time
that new play is brought forward under
the same suspicious auspices, do they 90,
and return disguised; yet each time does
their money and their presence contrib
ute to the success of the vile thing.
If the people who, in spite of the warn
ings Of your own and of other indepen-
dent and respectable journals, have per-
sisted in going to see the Grdnde
Duchesse. Lottery Life, White Fapn,
or the Black Crook-if these people,
say, had not put their money into the
Golfers of the managers, "just to see for
themselves whether it was as bad ss rep
resented" none of the recent 6isgraceful
and demoralizing batch of plays could
have kept the stage long enough to repay
the expense Of their production; and if
people would refuse to hear in French
or Italian, that which is unfit to hear in
English, the whole batch of operas with
vile librettos would be swept out of exist
ence.
Thoughtless people and people with
for evil, go to see these
plays, and religious people propose to
correct the growing degeneracy and i'm
morality by deserving the theater alto
yielding the victory to
their adversaries. If his nobility had
around the person of Louis
XVI, instead Of seeking safety in dis
graceful fight, the horrors of the French
revolution woSld have been avoided
Here, then, is the chance for our Chi
cago friends and their brethren to work
real good-to correct the abuse Of which
they complain. They have only to
charge calamity into the breach-ihst is,
the theater, saying to their aocks Z" Fol-
low us; 90 not to see the Black Crook
or La Belle Helene, but let us profit by
The lessons conveyed in Faust or Mac
beth" Or why should they not say to
their congregations as an eminent New
York divine has done, " II is good TO
have pleasure, if it is harmless Let us
eujey the sweet music of Fra Dfarolo,
or Maritani, or Cro,On Diamonds, or
Martha. Let Us laugh at Crispino or
the Barber Let US have reproduced
before US 10 the semblsnce Of reality the
tragic story Of Marie Antoinette. the
willy craftsmanship of Richelieu, the
homely Ksickerbocker legend of Rip |
Yam Winkle-
The conclusion which we have en-
dsavored to establish by our arguments
is this:
That the drama, aHd especially the