The Portland daily press., 1875-04-29
Art, Music and the Drama.

1t is a well known fact that among amateur
musicians bass voices outnumber tenors twenty
per cent, first and second soprani and alti are
plentiful, but good tenors are rare.
Colonel Forney writes II visited this morn
ing most of the American studios In Rome,
and my only regret is that have not the time
to relate all the incidents of the occasion.
There was enough to fill a small library, every
studio was book in ITSELF and every statue or
picture biography or romance. Mr.. William
W. Story, who since the death of the lamented
Powers. maybe called the dean of his guild,
received us with graceful courtesy, and allowed
US tho full range of his magnificent collection.
the ripe fruits of years Of high culture and
congenial toll. Mr.. Story is the son of the
late illustrious Joseph Story of Massachusetts,
one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of
the United States, and outside OF his high po-
sition as a sculptor is also a profound lawyer
and successful poet. 1t is difficult to say
whether his fame rests most upon the offspring
of his chisel or the products OF his pen. 1t
was natural, therefore, as looked into the face
of the statue of his father standing near those
of Peabody and Shakespeare, and in close
proximity to the venerable Josiah Quincy, of
Boston, and Edward Everett and from these
turned to his superb Cleopatra, a more than
full length reclining figure, with her Egyptian
visage, voluptuous form, and marvelously ORR
entail ornaments and robes and then followed
the line of glttering marble, including Bee
thOven, Saul, Sappho, Salome, Judith, and
many more idealisms of Scripture and mythol-
ogy, ending with fine realistic statuette OF
himself (by an italian brother) leaning against
a column upon whichlwas engraved partial
list of his sculptures, that from this study
remembered the catalogue Of his printed poe
try. 1 could not help saying that the gifted
son was worthy of the great father. There has
been so much debate whether Mr. Story win be
represented at the Centennial, that am hap
py to settle all doubts by stating that he will
not be absent in one of his latest achievements
from that goodly company"
As illustrative of Rossini's laziness and gen.
ius, it is related that he used to compose In
bed, and that once, when q fine duet that he
was writing and had almost finished, slipped
off the bed and beyond his reach, rather than
get up for it he took another sheet and COM
posed another duet entirely different from the
first.
How can we object to the programme music
in 1876, played an organ solo at Bremen, enti-
tied "The Day of Judgment" and the descrip-
tion in the bill was as follows: mo. 1. Mag
nifcent introduction. No. 2. The trombone
| reechoes through the grayes-they open. No.
g. The incensed Judge pronounces the dread
l full sentence upon those who are rejected-their
| fall in the abyss-gnashing of teeth and vail
| ing. No. 4. God takes the righteous into
I bliss-tbeir ecstasy No. 8. The voice of the
blessed unite with the choruses of the angels
Clement Papi, who recently died at Flor
| ence. of apoplexy, was the most eminent of
| modern founders in bronze, for which work he
abandoned the profession of sculpture. He at
tanned success beyond even that of the great
artists of the Florentine school, Ghiberti, Mi
chael Angelo and. Benvenuto Cellini. After
many years of study he was able to cast life
size or colossal statues lin one piece, thus dis
covering a lost art. The modern practice is to
cast statues in sections, which are afterward
fitted together, and finished with the chisel
and file. Papi's were not only in one piece,
but so perfect as not to require the finish OF in
struments. Benvenuto Cellini cast his group
of Perseus and Medusa in two portions, but
Prof Papi ontrivalled the famous metal-work-
er by casting the same group in one. Benvenu-
to ascribed his success in the operation to the
fearful :oaths he swore; Papi, before running
the metal into the mold made his assistants
kneel round the group and pray earnestly for
an hour for the success of the casting. One of
his castings is the colossal ''Falconer," now in
the Central Park Of New York. 1t is feared
that many secrets in bronze founding have