The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-10-16
King Ludwig's Encore.


I am told that in German concert or
opera they hardly ever encore song j;
that, though they may be dying to hear
it again, their good breeding usually
preserves them against requiring the rep
etition. Kings may encore thatFis quite
another matter it delights everybody to
see that the king is pleased, and, as to
the actor encored his pride and gratifca-
ton are simply boundless. Still, there
are circumstances in which even q roy
al encore-but it is better to illustrate.
The king of Bavaria is a poet and has
poets eccentricities, with the advantage
over other poets of being able to crafty
them, no matter what form they may
take. He is fond of opera. but not fond
of sitting in the presence of an audience;
therefore, it has sometimes occurred in
Munich, that when an opera has been
concluded, and the players are getting
off their paint and tinery, o command has
come to get their paint and finery on
again. Presently the king would arrive
solitary and alone, and the players would
begin at the beginning and do the entire
opera over again, with only that one in
| dividual in that vast, solemn theatre for
an audience. Once he took an odd freak
in his head. High up and ont of sight
over the prodigious state of the Court
Theatre is O maze of interlaced water
pipes, so pierced that in case of fire in
Vulnerable little thread-l like streams of
water can be caused to descend, and, in
case Of need, this discharge can be aug.
mented to pouring flood. American
managers might make note of that.
The king was the sole audience. The
opera proceeded. It was piece with 0
storm in it. The mimic thunder began
to mutter, the mimic wind began to wall
and sough, and the mimic rain to patter.
The kings interest rose higher and
higher it developed into enthusiasm.
He cried out
'sIt is good, very good, indeed But
I will have real rain. Turn on the
waterp
The manager pleaded for reversal of
the command, said it would ruin the
costly scenery and splendid custumes
but the king cried
mo matter, no matter; will have a
/ real rain. Turn on the water"
So the real rain was turned on and be-
gan to descend in gossamer lances to the
mimic fiower-beds and gravel walks of
biAc S1tSe. Auo IlCtily uiooecu hchoSbcn
and actors tripped about singing bravely
and pretended not to mind it. The king
was delighted his enthusiasm grew
higher. He cried out ):
Bravo bravo More thunder! More
lightning Turn on more rain y
The thunder doomed, the lightning
glared, the wind ragged, the deluge
poured down. The mimic royalty of the
stage, with their soaked satins clinging
to their bodies, stopped around ankle
deep in the water, warbling their sweet
est and best; the fiddlers under the ewes
sawed away for dear life, with the cold
overflow spouting down their necks, and
the dry and happy king sat in his lofty
box and wore his gloves to ribbons APP
plauding
more yetr' cried the king, "more yet;
let loose all the thunder turn on all the
water. L viii hang the man who raises
an umbrella"
When the most tremendous and effec-
tive storm that had ever been produced
in any theatre was at last over, the
kings appreciation was measureless.
He cried
Magnificent magnificent Encore
Do it againl"
But the management succeeded IN
persuading him to recall the encore, and
said the company would feel sufficiently
rewarded and complimented in the mere
fact that the encore was demanded by
his Majesty, without fatiguing him with
a repetition to crafty their own vanity.
During the remainder of the act the
lucky performers were those whose parts
required changes of dresses the others
were soaked, bedraggled and uncom.
Portable lot, but in the last degree pic.
turesque. The stage scenery was ruined
trap doors were so swollen that they
wouldn't work for week afterwards, the
fine costumes were spoiled, and no end
of minor damages were done by that re,
markable storm.
1t was royal idea-that storm-and
royalty carried out. But observe the
moderation of the king. He did not in.
sist upon the encore. If he had been a
gladstone, unrefecting American opera
audience he probably would have had
his storm repeated aud repeated until be
had drowned all these people.-Mark
Twain.