The Portland daily press., 1876-03-31
Art, Music and the Drama. -.

fourth act of the "Huguenots' for a frte and
banjo.
Mr.. s. B. Beckett of this city has received a
letter from kinsman in England giving par
ticulars of the famous collection of paintings of
tne Dutch school, thirty one in pumber, owned
by the late Mrs Bredel. The collection was sold
for 435,OOO The gem of the collection, an inte.
rior, by Adrian Van Der VelJe, was bought by
Baron Rothschild for e455O. Some Others were
bought by the King of Belgium, and all have
gone into we'll known collections
Marcus Watermau's picture of 'Gulliver ami
the Lilliputians,' which was the most sttrac-
tive feature of American art at the Vienna ex-
| hibition has been repainted in many parts, and
IS now nearly ready to be sent to the "Ceuten-
NAL" The scene as represented shows a sur.
prising fertility of invention aud wealth of ion.
aeleation, and the picture while full of intrin-
sic and complex detail, is kept perfec ly in mass
and carries well at distance. The multitndes
OF fantastically dressed lttle-folk who crowd
around their prostrate captive are full of inter
esting action and skilful grouping. and the
Orlillancy OF their costumes and the splendor
OF their trappiugs make the nicture glow like a
rich mosaic Boston Advertiser
The leading article upon "The Philosophy of
Art, in the last number of the Journal Of
Speculative Philosophy, is one Of the memor-
able signs of the present reaction of culture
against the new materialism The writer
George s Morris. declares true art to be essen
TALLY religious in its idea aud motive, that sits
ideal is derived from a world of ideal forms,
eternally existent in the mind of the Eterua
One, though only caught by the few favored
among mortals,'. and that the artistic genius
which is able to embody these ideas in concrete
form works under the guidance Of the
higher life of the soul through spiritual forces
what "are always to be considered as having
their origin in God, the absolute spirit" This
tendency to treat art seriously. aud to give it
high place in religion as we'll as culture, is
and literature of our time
The first picture gallery in America, ac
cording to writer in Harper's. was established
at Perth Amboy by John Watson, a Scotch
artist, who came to the colonies in 1716 In
building adjoining bis dwelling house be estab-
lshed the frst picture gallery. The collection
was probably of little value Watson, who
combined the art of portrait painting with the
business of a money lender, amassed a con-
siderable fortune. He never married, and
dying in 176S at the age of eighty-three, left
his wealth and his pictures to a nephew. TAX
ing sides with the loyalists in 1776 the nephew
was compelled to flee the country. The de
serted picture gallery left to the mercies of the
undiseiplined militia, was broken up and the
collection of paintings was SO effectualy scat
tered that all trace of them was lost. None of
the portraits executed by Watson are known
ha 10
as an obscure pioneer in the culture and devel-
| opment of taste for the fine arts in this
! country.
Mrs. Lucy Fl. Hooper writing from Paris to
Appleton's Journal, says, "Having seen some
thing of the inner workings of the music teach
ing system over here am prepared to say to
every American girl who wishes to study for
the operatic stage or the concert room. For
Heavens sake do not come abroad to do iti
Stay at home, for there at least you will be
sure of respect, kind treatment aud the sun
port of friends and relatives Besides, the
music teachers of Europe are not so marvel
lously superior to those that are to be found
in the United States. Clara Louise Kellogg.
the most successful of American prima donnas,
acquired all her snguarly perfect musical
science in New York. In Europe Il speak par
ticularly OF Paris, knowing nothing about
Milan) the one aim and object of the teacher is
to get possession of his pupils money aud to
keep her under his jurisdiction as long as
|. possible"
one OF the new works produced at Asgar
Hamerik's symphony coucerts at the Peabody
institute in Baltimore, this season, was a SYM
phonic poem in ID major, entitled 'Tn Memo
r;a l11n n Dz..u
the Baltimore Bulletin says: "The work gains
sad interest from the fact that the composer
is now in the south of France, lying of con
sumption, 'Oberon' was written by Won Weber
while he was sinking under consumption, and
was called the deathless creation of diving
man. Mozart put his last pulsati Jns of life
into his immortal requiem, and died before he
ever heard it. 1t is said that Mr. Boise has
doue the same thing-perhaps this is why be
calls his work In Memoriam.' The first move
ment IS full OF genius and originality. 1t re-
minds one now and thrn of Berloiz or of Mey-
erbeer, but not to the extent of imitation,
either of thought or treatment. IL shows great
ingenuity in the handling of the r eeds and
flutes, aud arsre appreciation of the color of
the volas and cell. The scherzo is wild and
as foil to the next movement, which is an
adsio--a'Dead March This also IS fevrrish
and pitched in the strain of iDtensest grief,
| grief keener than the funeral march of Chopin,
rather the sharp cry of anguish than the wall of
woe. Nothing but.the thought that this music
| came from the depths of genuine feeli could
redeem it from the charge of overstrained aud
theatrical sorrow The deep reed tones, and
the brass and clahgor of cymbals verge upon
the melodr amatc; but the movement has, like
the others, the stamp of decided and original
genius The last movement is the best, except
perhaps the FIR I; aud it has greater sensual
beauty than any of them"
Henry Irving's "0thello" continues the
| theme of the London correspondents of our
papers, as we'll as OF the English critics, and
there seems no doubt but that it has many ex-
cellences above the beefy notion of the part
which still prevails on the English stage,
though it is probably far inferior to his "Ham-
let" from both physical and tenperamentai
causes. Some of his ideas are at home on the
American stage in Edwin Booths preseuta-
tion; for instance, insteaI of getting himself
up as negro, he appears as Moor; not black
but swarthy, with long, straight, black hair, a
refined and noble bearing, and the very figure
to win Desdemona's eye, his costume is not
barbaric, be wears no turbau or curved scimi-
ter, nor mammoth hoops of gold in his ears.
But these good points do not atone for a con-
ception of the character which reduces the
passionate Moor to melancholy and brooding
duplicate of Hamlet,-so the letter-wrters all
intimate. But Mr.. +. j. Furnivall, noted
Shakespeare scholar, writes column letter to
the Daily News to protest against the 'uugen-
erous treatment the critics give 'the noble ef
forts of Mrs Bateman and Mr.. Irving to give
us Shakespeare theater worthy OF its naue."
He sets before the public the wretched past, in
which it has been truly sail that Shakespeare
spelis bankruptcy, So ltt'e do Eoglisnman Cara
Tor him." He po'nts to Mr. Basmau's eater
prise III trying to gain ''f,r he aorld's greatest
poet an audience aud home 10 his own land"
He auds Irving's Hamlet and. while dis
agreeing with h's idea OF Macbeth" calls tia
''due aud subtle impersonation, seq bodying