New-York tribune., 1868-05-29
A PRIZE LIBRETTO.

civilized ages, that 10 secure nne Jllng I'D
the literary line it is only necessary to offer a
large lot of money for it, Prizes are expected
to produce perfection, and the excitement of
competition to work wonders. France is the
very hot-bed of this kind of stimulus-a cOun-
try in which almost the mere idea of doing n
thing well for its own sake has been either
lost or discarded with ignOminy Just now an
operate poem is wanted in that land OF rib
bOns and rewards, in which even young misses
receive prizes for their virtue; and Marshal
Valiant, as Minister of the Fine Arts, having
offered prize for the best specimen of an opera
libretto, one hundred and sixty eight writers
sent in each a poem. This whole melOdiOus
mass NM. Gounod, Th6ophile Gautier, Am
broise Thomas Emile Augier, 'F6lcien David,
and other cognoscenti, proceeded industriOusly
to feel, smell, taste, weigh, consider, compare,
analyze, and otherwise judge; and, after Infinite
delberatiOn and nfnitesimal discrimination, 1t
was decided that the prize belonged to
librettO entitled "La Coupe du Roi de Thule"
which is Immediately to be delivered to the
composer for treatment. 1t would not at all
surprise us if the poor composer found it very
impotent and mpracticable productiOn-butt then
No. 1866 will get his money all the same. Prob
ably in this case, as in most such cases, the
Judges decided without bias, and to the best of
their critical ability. But suppose an epicure
should be appointed to taste of 1853 different
dishes of soup, and then to declare the super
lative excellence of one of them! We can see
the poor man, with a spoon in one hand and
pen in the other, and the napkin of office
tucked under his chin, pleased but puzzled,
and feeling his palate getting every moment
more and more jaded, until, the power of dis
elimination being almost gone, he pitches at
hap-hazard upon some lucky bouiltOR, and de-
clares it the pOtage for the prize We can inn
agine something of this running for luck re-
sorted to in sheer desperation by literary
Jury, which, after testing and tasting plots and
counter plots and the conduct of plots, charac-
ter and the developement artistically of char
acter, meter and the language of meter, for
many mortal hours, should even take refuge
in the sorteS VUGiliane for relief, and leave
the whole matter to the decision of destiny.
1t might he considered paradOxcal if we
should declare that this submission of many
productions to limited jury hardly admits OF
critical judgment at all, and yet to say SO
would be undoubtedly to speak the truth or
something like it. 1t is hardly possible to de-
fine the rules by which such a Judgment should
be conducted-to define, for instance, what shall
be regarded as the supreme and indispensable
merit, lacking which no production can be SO
much as considered. For it is evident that
this merit might appear under different forms
in dliferenr piGys or poems; rs, IOr example
it might be shown in the energy of the heroine
of one drama, and in the constancy of the
hero in another; and so the Committee might
be forced to go on weighing and doubling,
"now master up, now miss" and be unable to
decide between the resounding defamation OF
Matilda and the fidelity in AlexandrineS of
Orlando, at last turning a five-franc piece to
determine whether he or she more truly ex-
pressed the regning faculty. Questions like
this must be left to critical jury of several
millions, and perhaps to the arbitrament of
more than one age. In fact, in general and
usual criticism, they are questions which it Is
hardly necessary to decide at all, and the de-
termination of which may be gratuitous
labor. There is little good in the pedantic
see-saw which they usually occasion.
This is but o specimen of the difficulties
arising in these formal and prepense literary
Judgments but Others will undoubtedly suggest
themselves to the thoughtful reader, who would
not care to be called upon to strike balance
between his favorite authors, and to be perpet-
ually pitching them into the scales of his un-
derstanding. In France, where literature is
considered, in the lastiresort, as a mere step
ping stone to the Academy, and where a spirit
of competition has somewhat lowered the SIM
pie dignity of intellectual pursuits contest
for tangible prizes may be the best method of
I. 1oco- Ill h,,k,
confident that it is the very worst process for
securing works of the highest merit every
where else. How much has the Oxford medal
for poetry added to the poetical stores of En-
gland The prize poets there are like the
prize oxen Mt Smithheld-at least, if they have
not been eaten they have been forgotten.
1t is certainly true that when Music first
sang in early Greece, the result of contests
for poetical prizes was many glorious lyrics,
but we are living now and writing now under
widely different intellectual and social condi
tions; and even Pindar was not paid his win
nings in five-franc pieces and checks on the
Bank of France. 0ftenest, we suspect the
ablest writer's will shrink from such commercial |
contests, while the mediocre men will throng |
to them because they afford a chance of money |
profit and of evanescent distinction. If any
thing can be done for the poor Drama, now IN |
the last stages of marasmus, in this way, we
promise gladly to revise our opinions. If
money can buy libretto which is not weak
and fabby, clumsy and childish, thin and in
all ways contemptible-if prizes can make the |
words worthy of the scores-pray let the money |
be paid and the prizes offered!
The racing season opened favorably at Sea-
caucus yesterday with the Spring Meeting, |
which will continue three days. The popular