The Portland daily press., 1876-04-25
Art, Music and the Drama.

Au oidUdotcT OTudLlcut dUOub SiA lccb
in height was recently discovered among some
rubbish in room in the tower of the Church
of St. Nicholas in Berlin. 1t is of the finest
Italian workmanship of the Renaissance period
and represents the history of Tobias.
Two magnificent sphinxes have just been
discovered on the site of ancient Rameses.
They are covered with inscriptions, and to-
gether with two other figures discovered pre-
viously, appear to have formed part of an
avenue which led to the court of the temple
referred to by inscriptions and papyri. These
sphinxes were covered by q thick layer of
earth.
The violin which once belonged to the Count
Frautmannsdorf, grand equerry to the Emper-
or Charles VI, was sold at Dresden recently.
1t was purchased from the celebrated maker,
Stainer, on the following singular conditions:
The count paid in cash 66 golden caroluses, un-
dertaking to supply him as long as he lived
with good dinner every day, 100 forms in
specie every month, new suit of clothes with
gold frogs every year, as well as two casks of
beer, lodging, firing and lighting, and further
if he should marry as many hares as he might
want, with two baskets of fruit annually for
himself and as many more for his old nurse.
As Stainer lived sixteen years afterward, the
violin must have cost the count 20, 1000 forms in
cash. The instrument, which was last in the
hands of an Austrian nobleman, was sold to
Russian for $500 thalers-about $4,000.
Miss Dickinson's new play is entitled ga
Crown of Thorns," and she is to take in it the
part of Anne Boleyn. She has been at work
on this play since she retired from the lecture
field last winter. 1t is of course like every
thing else she does, absolutely her own
throughout. in conception and execution.
There have been none of the consultations with
actors and play-wrights, usual in the case of a
new American play, none of the usual revis-
ions and adaptations by managers. She has
wisely preferred to go before the public solely
with her own, and to stand or fall as it may
merit. For that verdict readers will wait; but
meantime it is of interest to know that Mr..
Waller, Mr.. Cheney's veteran stage manager,
says it is without exception the best manu-
script play he has ever had in his hands-that
it was ready to be put upon the stage exactly
as it was first handed him, without single
change, or the cutting of a single line. 1t is
understood to be full of dramatic situations,
and to be peculiarly an acting play rather than
one to be read. ..-.
The bronze statue OF Daniel Webster now
being cast at Munich by order of Mr.. Gordon
W. Burnham of New York, and designed as a
gift TO that city, will be an addition to the 9TH
er attractions of Central Park of no ordinary
kind. 1t is intended to make it, in that line of
art, representation of the great statesman
without an equal in this country. 1t will be of
heroic proportions, and is modelled from the
famous statuette by Thomas Ball, which twen-
ty years ago was acknowledged to he the best
OF Mr.. Webster that had been produced. This
statuette, which is thirty inches in height, has
been in the possession of Mr.. Burnham many
years, and has been pronounced by the former
friends and acquaintance of Mr.. Webster to
be the best in existence. To its perfection and
the fact that Mr.. Burnham has been a stead
fast and ardent admirer of the history and
speeches of the Sage of Marshfeld' may be
traced the idea of placing the proposed statue
in the park. The pedestal, for which the foun-
dation is now laying, is of Quincy granite. The
base or first stone is IL feet square, IL feet
thick, and weighs over thirty tons. The addi.
about 125 tons, and the whole structure will be
So feet in height-the pedestal little over 20
feet and the bronze little over IA feet.
One who has dined with Rossi, the italian
actor, says he is finer looking off the stage
than on it, His head is noble, both in form
and carriage, and he has way, when eager in
conversation, of pushing back the masses of
his profuse chestnut hair which gives sort of
leorine look to the broad massive brow and
intelligent features His love Of Shakespeare
dates from his childhood. and it was he who
The play was "Othello," and the audience
laughed all through the first acts "but," con-
tinued Rossi. looking round with a sudden
flash from bis expressive eyes, "when the
scene with Iago came they ceased to laugh;
and henceforth they laughed no more" Some
one asked him at what age and in what char
acter he had made his debut. His reply was
81 was just fourteen, and played the SOU
brette characters in an amateur company-a
degree of yraisemblance now." And he put his
head on one side, thrust his hands into pair
of imaginary apron pockets and looked around
with pert, chambermaid-l like air so absurdly
unsuited to his noble features and intellectual
brow-to say nothing of his stalwart physique
that all present shrieked with laughter. When
Rossl came to say farewell his hostess asked
him to write his autograph in her copy of
Shakespeare. He assented at once, and TAX
ing up the pen, he wrote in italian these lines:
80 Master would that L could comprehend
kIoa Al Al
his name.
The MS of the $4,000 march which Richard
Wagner wrote for the centennial at Theodore
Thomas's solicitation, has arrived and consists
of 33 large and closely written pages, all in the
composers own hand. A more beautiful musi-
cal autograph, says the Tribune is rarely seen.
Every note is as clear and elegant and symmet-
rical as print The characters are fine but dis
tinct and regular, and the expression marks are
made with extreme care. The key is the
bright, bold one of G major. and the scoring
is extremely massive, as might have been ex-
pected from Wagner on such an occasion. Be.
sides the usual stringed instruments, the music
calls for three flutes Zone of which alternates
with the piccolo,) three hautboys, three clari.
nets, three bassoons, one contra-bassoon, four
horns, three trumpets, one bass-trumpet, three
trombones, one bass-tuba, three kettle drums,
great and military drums, cymbals. gong and
triangle The demand for bass.trumpet is sin.
gular, for the instrument is practically obsolete
unless it may have been recently revived in
Germany. The'statement that artillery, etc..
had been introduced in the finale, is untrue;
although the march abounds in striking effects,
they are obtained only by musical means,
Following the example of Beethoven, Wagner
starts with an almost trihing theme, a simple
triplet, but the manner in which he develops it,
and interweaves it with other themes is mas
terly. A broad and fiery coda is appended,
made almost exclusively from the orieina,
''thematic triplet." and bringing the work to a
brilliant and satisfactory close.
DESTRUCTIVE FREsHET IN NEW BRUNSWICK.
Reports fromSt John and other points on
the st. John river, indicate an unusual ice
freshet The new railroad bridge across the
st. John at Woodstock, was carried away Sat
urday night. This bridge, which was complet-
ed only a few months since, cost about $780,
900. 1t is a serious loss to the country above
Woodstock as it was. necessary to connect the