New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-05-03
PARTISAN TOPICS.
CHURCHES. MUSIC AND PREACHING.

rrpou THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF TRIBUSs.l
PARIS. April 15.-In some of the Paris churches
and chapels fresh s,lmulants 10 devotion were re-
sorted to in the Holy Week. We were given IN
them tabeaux vivans Of the stations OF the Gross
These exhibitions began on the Monday before
Easter and closed the following Saturday IL
WAS seriously discussed in the presence of Coadju-
tor RIchaud and the heads of some of the religious
confraternitIes, whether on Palm Sunday there
should not he a tabeau vvant in remembrance OF
Christ riding in triumph to Jerusalem. The laugh
fer which the introduction of upon the scene
must have Occasioned caused the project to be
vetoed In Brittany and in the rural parts OF the
South of France where the love of spectacular
cult Is deeply rooted the scoffers voice would not
have found an echo. But in Paris II would nave
carried all before il. At the coronation pageant OF
the First Napoleon. everything spoiled by the
Pope's Chamberlain insisting on the mule OF his no
| illness being led before the carriage in which ne
rode. II was too much for the sightseers ranged
along the streets. Somebody cried 3" one le bdndet
and the populace took it ND so heartily that the
WHAT'S raised by the police and military for Napo-
leon, were drowned in the good-humored cheering
i'm honor of the mule, which had more III 1t OF the
| ass than of the horse.
The idea of stimulating devotion by tableaux
vivants Is not a new one. Among the Jesuts II has
been always in favor. Last year IL was very sue
| cessfully resorted to in Lent by Madame Ratazzl'
who undertook to enrich by exhibitions OF TINS
kind the treasury of ST. JOsephs Hospital Tor Ola
! and infirm men. She appeared on the stage IN
theatre which she constructed in her mansion in the
| Avenue de Bots de BoulOgne. and for the occasion,
| fitted M as a chapel, as Saint Moncaca dying on
! the breast of her son. Saint Augustine; as SAINT
| Celia performing the Tyre; as the Daughter OF
Herodas and as Saint Elizabeth of hungary
..gT l.rrvf Son
/ Italian girls and her daughter Roma a beautiful
child Of nine years old, were introduced IN other
Living pictures The show took Madame
Ratazzi threw wide open the doors of her villa and
any one who was led by curiosity to pay three
francs Tor seeing it allowed to enter and pass
before the stage.
The accessories in some Of her tableaux vivants
| of the Holy Week were purely theatrical. In the
church of St. Nicholas they were borrowed from the
properties of the Italian Opera House, which now
belong to Capoul the singer. Others were furnished
By painters who work for ecclesiastical buildings
In my divers Passion Week experiences in France
and elsewhere, l never beheld sDectaclcs less
adapted 10 call I'D reverential feelings in hearts and
souls which were not already satur, I'd with the
puerile devotion that came into fashion when
Fuc6nie de Montijo was Empress of the French. At
the same time l am bound to state, that the ner-
vous systems of many ladies and women of the
lower classes were violently agitaed by what they
saw. They Wept abundantly before the CruchxlOn
scene ard when they had passed round by the aisle
TO tho door entered the chancel to sob and pray
upon their knees. In spectaces of the kind L de-
scribe the effect greatly depends the early
Citations of the spectator. The mind habituated in
infancy TO be aroused 20 devotional sensations by
images of the Stable at Bethlehem, the Alteration of
the Magi, the Crucifxon, the Resurrection. the
Last Meeting with the Disciples, and the House at
Nazareth Will be profoundly stirred by tableaux
wants which to those brought up IN more abb
tract cult must appear absurd, if not blasphemous.
Music is the art that Is enthroned above every
other in Holy Week. Ii the darkened churches
painting and sculpture not very visible. Con-
certs supersede comedy from the Paques Feuries,
as Palm Sunday is POLITICALLY named, to Easter.
On Good Friday were performed at the COnserva-
toire Beethovcn's " Heroic Symphony" CherubinPs
REQUIEM and Mozart's Symphony in minor At
PasdelouD's concert rooms, where the instrumental
music is the best in Paris, there were given
Chopins Funeral March and the Pilgrims
March, of Berlioz. II flowers beaten down by
storm were able to sigh ont a lament upon those
blossoms which were utterly crushed, they might
do so in music analogous to ChOpin's. 1t is in
finitely sad, sweet and delicate. Mile Iayau, n
Hungarian ylOHnlst, played on her ldFofite lhstfu-
meat GOdards IutermezzJ. She Is a gliI OF pc
Wltchiug grace and exquisite senslDlItlgs. Htr
violin she Identifies with herself. Inc vocal paris OF
." The Resurrection Of Lazarus were sustained by
ten operate singers of prime exec cuCe VI. de C?-
Tonne, the Chatelet brought on, IN NJ MassenetS
Eve Ms Thursby Patti ana Moo
linz, who NJ ed in Paris on " Spy "Wednesday"
went 90 hear r The score or this OratOO Is OF the
earth, earthly Eve burns with an unholy namg; she
is counterp; 70 OF Belots " Femme de feG." VINO
was dragged Uy her passions into the mre OF -cnsu-
aiity. Miss IhuTsby promises well, but mas Inuch
! to learn. Her voice j. clear, manageable and eZ-
] II ID
soprano key, with unetuness and precision. II she
has adopted model IL is Abani, whose style 1t Is
dangerous To initiate. Her skill IN vOcallZation Is
superior 10 her taste. When she has been some time
with LAMBERT, of Milan she ought TO spend the
months of April and Of May in the .c0pses ana
among the hedgerOws OF Ia Nendee, dong nOthlhg
but listening 10 the song birds. There are 10 Guch
models and believe their style Is catching when
the voice is flexible and OF ample range. Natures
feathered MINISTRIES nave spontdnelty, ease, grace.
ghtness, and out Of the iulncss OF tler niue grca
hearts they pour forth melody and ioritad. Patti
Is the most F f 5 f a eyg ea She has
a rare voice, and her ear is very Just.
In taking for my theme the Lent preachers, am
embarrassed where to begin. There sixty-twO
e. urches in Paris, the pulplts OF which in most
cases were in the Lenten period occupied by men
of elOquence and ability. The most brilliant
speakers Of the secular clergy We'd with the most
renowned orators of the regular AT 81
Augustine there was the favOrite of the Or
leanist aristocracy. the Able FHulst, whom l
heard deliver at Orleans, four years ago, his
pauegyric on Joan of Arc and the heroines Of
monarchcal France. He Is a man of old family
aud fortunes was brought up at soreze by La
cordai-e, and has every quality that study and art
can impart to a Of correct taste. But he lacks
the sacred fire which lights up souls aud fuses a
vast congregation into on homogeneous mass. Pere
Monsabr6 who has filled the pulpit at N6tre Dame
ever since the marriage of Pere HyaCnthe, Is
gifted with this quality, which gives taking
SAVIOR 10 his very defects. Tie has spOnauelty, bold
ness and an amount Of originality which would not
De supported by Partisan church-gOers were It not
carrlcl off DIV reuLu.. A fnmlLLAr tome Is ntlen