New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-06-23
4 COURT or CRITICISM.

|
| pressibly pleasant to come across musical
criticism which has all the sanction of a
formal judicial decision. This rare cOmbna-
ton of aesthetics and law has lately emanated
from the Sixth District tourt of New-Orleans,
Cooley, j., before which august tribunal the
claims of certain Miss Blanche Ellerman to
pecuniary compensation and the merits OF the
! Richings- Bernard Opera Company, Judged from
high-art standpoint. have been simulta-
neousy determined. OF the rights of Miss
Ellerman's case we are happily ignorant. For
present purposes it is enough to know that
Mrs. Richings- Bernard engaged the lady as
assistant prima-dOnna, and afterward refused
to pay her on the ground that she did not
know how to sing. Hence the New-Oreans
suit, which hinged upon the question whether
Miss Ellerman has the voice and culture
requisite for an assistant prima-dOnna. The
members of the Richings troupe testified al
most unanimously that she had not; while on
the other hand Prof. CurtO spoke of her vo-
"calizati0n as indicative of both natural ca
opacity and artistic culture" and "Prof. Sew
card confirmed the estimate of Prof
"Curto.' In this conflict of evidence
we wonder that his Honor, who has taste for
tunes, did not send for a few fddles and things
and let Miss Ellerman show on the spot what
she was good for. Instead of that he pro-
ceeded to analyze the testimony, and to give
the Rchings company one of the most slash
ing criticisms we remember ever 10 have read.
Their opinion of the capacity of Miss Blanche
"Eller1nan," said he, is seriously affected by
Z" the Overweening vanity which they exhibited
" in estimating their own talents" According
to them the troupe was composed entirely OF
A No. 1 first-class artists with the single
exception of Miss Ellerman. Their pretensiOns
were "supremely ridiculous" Their mpu-
dence and conceit made it entirely impossible
to accept their testimony upon musical mat
tiers. One of them in particular, named Dray-
ton, to the audacity of rating Caroline lach-
ings on A par With Adelina Patti, added the
still more hdeous eflrOntery of Styling him
self first-cass baritone" With a fine touch
of sarcasm, Judge Cooley adds: There may
"be grave cause 10 doubt whether the musi-
zeal talents of the witness, Drayton, are such
"that his name viii be handed down to pos
"terity as a musical prodigy but there GER
"tainly can be no doubt that, through the
Judicial archives OF this State, he will be
"knOwn by succeeding ages as one possessing
"thOse peculiar mental traits which entitle per-
"sons to compulsory and Oftentrnes pro-
"tracted residence in lunatic asylums." Of
course after this Miss Ellerman gother money.
Unfortunately the Jurisdiction of the Sixth
District Court of New-Orleans IN matters of
,eritcism does not extend to New-YOrk, and
We cannot, look for much relief
under the important precedent established by
Judge Cooley's decision. 1t would be great
comfort to the bewildered journalist, and a
Iboon to the perplexed public, if a court like
Judge CoOley's could be established at the
City Hall OF the Tombs, for the instant trial
.and sentence of musicians and actors and the
authoritative solution of all manner OF lyric
and dramatic difficulties. What dignity would
be added 10 the art OF criticism when it thus
became something in the nature q chancery
practice we need not stop to point out. The
public, Which sometimes declines to accept the
opinions Of the journalists especially when
they disagne, would not fail 10 be inn
pressed with the judgment of a regular
court formally recorded by the clerk
and stamped with the official seal.
And then think how many nuisances we
should be uid of The critic of sOciable turn,
who writes his "nOtices" with the aid of the
managers brandy and cigars, and sometimes
comes to grief Gas he often did last week at
the Rink Jubilee) by trusting the promises of
the programme without witnessing the facts
Of the performance the confidence reporter,
with a vOraciOus appetite for free passes; the
musical agent, who haunts editOrial-rOOms with
entreaties for preliminary puffs, and thinks it
SO hard if we won't copy the flaming folly of
some infatuated critic for the country press !;
Captain COstgan, who wants you to write up
his daughter, Miss Fotheringay, and is disa-
greesby cordial in his invitation to come out
and take a drink with him-all these Affections
of the editorial profession would be swept
away forever. Dangers, too, we might avoid.
Think what we might have been saved if the
Boston Jubilee, for instance, could have been
judged by regular court, instead of a defense
less person like the musical critic of THE
TRIBUNE, Shall we ever forget how that un-
fortunate man was scorched with the scorn
of Boston and prOdded with a thousand pens
because he laughed a little at the sacred shed
on the Back Bay Did MT we tremble
! at our own Jubilee, when we saw twenty-five
vengeful Boston reporters taking notes with
such vicious energyi And shan't we catch it
some time or other, when they have leisure to
do full justice to the occasion The charming
young lady who sent us such a pretty note
the other day, and called us a contemplate
miscreant" because we omitted to mention her
pet society; the ferocious Hebrew who pro-
posed to skin everybody in the building be-
cause we did not like his sisters singing-al,
if all this wrath could be turned upon a con-
stituted court, with plenty OF policemen to
protect the bench, and fines and imprison-
ment, and all that for any victim who made
fuss, how much happier we should be, and
what peace would reign in Printing House