The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-01-30

80 Atalt put - hI NAA =OaAt - NN' dSAN> -
well - our politics, should be sectional.
But Just Is We are beginning 10 moralize upon the
fashions which these two thousand lovely women are
displaying for the benefit of cur philosophic minds, a
~trap-loor opens beneath the stage On either side, ana
the grand orchestra begins TO emergefrum unknown
and mysterious depths below.
How is Il grand orchestra composed? You count
nineteen first violins, led by J. Noll, and eighteen
second violins, led by L. Grill, twelve yiolas, (Which
are violins Oh 4 little larger scale, tuned one fifth
lower than the common yiolin,) led by q. Matzka,
twelve violoncellos, popularity known as " basS-ViolS, "
led by F.. Bergner. a remarkably skiltul Solo-player !;
and fourteen double basseS, immense affairs, tuned
an octave lower than the celos, and lei by an artist
with the portentous name Of PfeitienSchneider. These
complete. the stringed instruments. The wood in
struments foilow-two flutes, one picoolo, "a shrill
fife or octave iute,( two oboes, two clarinets, and
two bassoons. Then come the brass instruments,
four horns, four trumpets, three ~trombOnes, and one
bassa tuba. Drums, cynbals, and triangle, bring
up the rear of the musical forces and you see in
this array of one hundred skillful players, the ma
chine through which alone the highest expression of
music Is possible-the means which are To bring you
into contact with a rare product of genius,-to admit
you to the highest and most perfect mood Of men
whose natures were completely great
But again your meditations are interrupted by the
tumult of the tuning the yiolins are making incred-
ible discords, and the very drummerS are tapping
the iympani to see if their cords need lightning.
Carl Bergman, the skillful leader and thorough mu-
stefan, appears, a German, like all Of the orchestra.
Thanks TO the Germans, that We have good music
in New York; He taps briskly with his baton upon
the stand the tumult stops instantly-anOther tap,
and the hundred musicians are ready for the first
beat of the baton. 1t descends-and the river of
sound begins TO fow,-complex, wonderful, sweet,
a blithe current that bears you to regions where you
have never been before. 1t is the . Heroic SYM
phony - of Beethoven.
What Shakespeare gave to the world in Hamlet, -
what Raphael gave in the Stance - of the Vatican,
what the unknown sculptor carved in the Venus of
Milo, that Beethoven expressed in this symphony,
which many regard rs his greatest work, and which
is certainly one OF the greatest of musical creations.
The tone-language of music is not SO definite and
transferable as the modern school of German criti-
cism would persuade us. Music conveys certain
emotions with unmistakable distinctness but the
images to which it gives rise differ with the nearer
and TO claim that its meaning can be uniformly rem
dered into words is simply to cOnfound the provinces
of poetry and of tone. Yet it remains true that the
best way to convey an idea of a symphony is not to
%criticise it from the scientific point of view, but to
record the images which spring within your mind as
you listen. What are the images suggested by the
Heroic Symphony?
This symphony was composed during the First
Consulship of Napoleon, and was meant to illustrate
the mind of that extraordinary man. In the first
movement, the simple subject, keeping its way through
harmonies that seem Il confused chaos, the tramping
of powerful accented chords like the treading of
armies, convey the idea of Napoleon's determination
of character ; but with these chords alternate passages
as of sweet wavering sorrow, the hesitation of a ma
ture not wholly abandoned to personal ambition, the
human element contending with the Fates. The
second and longest movement, the Marcia Fune-
bre," describes the funeral honols paid to one of his
favorite generals and it was performed in Paris,
when the remains of Napoleon himself were brought
home from st. Helena. 1t opens with long sweep
ing chords into which the petulant sorrow of the clar-
inets intrudes like the sobbing of Il willful child then
comes n passage for the horns, accompanied by the
gliding sweetness of violoncelli, so human in their tone
that they seem to speak to you individually from the
midst of the great volume of sound ;and a sad clangor
of the wood and brass instruments follows their pure
articulation. Soon follow strong bursts of accent,
eliminating III tremendous chords, wild-crashing,
that seem to dash and oscillate like volcanic waves
upon the seashore, or like an avalanche that vibrates
to and fro in the bed of an Alpine valley before it
comes TO rest then an elaborate harmony breathes
from all the instruments, tapering away in a wonder
ful diminuendO and the winding up of the move
ment represents the faltering steps of the last gazers
the grave. You fancy that you hear the tears
falling upon the coffin, and the echo of the last funeral
volley.
But in the third movement, the Scherzo, all this
sadness is forgotten all the sorrow of the world
seems utterly passed away, and you are on a broad
and sparkling sea that filings out brilliant foam-bells.
more bright and sunny thought was ever put in
musical form than this. There are passages that
seem the flight of birds, singing songs as they fly
passages that describe the homeward march of the
and their delight in nearness to their homes.
The Finale is an adaptation of French Revolutionary
TO the most wonderful orchestral harmonies.
After the fourth hearing of this work you find
yourself, so far from satisfied, only anxious to hear it
times more. But now we are to hear Miss
Adelaide Phillips, the favorite American contralto.
She comes forward and sings an air from Handel,
Lascia chic pianga," a simple and noble melody
then follows Gade's overture to 9 Hamlet - a recent
elaborate work Miss Phillips renders an air
from Gluck and the First Philharmonic concert
closes with two scenes from a "SymphOnie Fantas-
tique - by Berlioz, which purpOrts to tell the history
of n romantic musician crossed in love. Its conclu-
is tragic. He dreams that he has killed the
he loves, that he is condemned to death, and
to the place of execution. The procession
advances TO the sound Of a march that is now sombre
fierce, then brilliant yet solemn the dull sound
Of heavy footsteps succeeds, without transition, to
the most turbulent shouts. At last the fired idea
reappears for a moment, like a last thought of love
interrupted by the fatal stroke.
And at this sepulchral conclusion the audience
leaves, hurrying and ~crowding away with American
haste, even before the poor musicians head can have
Z irly stopped rolling. Not one in ten of the audience
enjoys either Beethoven or Berlioz they 90 to hear
because it is fashionable. Still, it is q
good fashion to follow.
l have news from Boston of the illness of Mr..
Hunnewell, a gentleman well known at the