New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-19

p8TClClcS-bne
cules-of the teapot were in brisker movement than
YOURS and by contact set up unpleasant activity
in your cuticlc. When you took the skin off your
buckles on the icy blade of your skates last winter
the process was reversed, and you were the
active party. So with light and sound, and with
electricity In all its phases it is presumed to be
but form OF motion, circulation a fluctuation
among the component molecules of material sub
stance. Fancy what rustic and stir there must
he among the whirling bobbins of tho dynamo
arnature, with currents joined and broken and
cores magnetized and denagletized, scores nav
hundreds, OF times i'll second Now this molecular
thrl Is regular and rhythmic, and such it makes
musical lone. Listen to that big Farcot generator
over there with the savage hum of its polished
mature. and the fiendsh, wicked-looking little lvd
green sparks, splitting and swapping OF the commu-
tator where the brushes fail to take the fluid fast
enough. Then walk down along the line and listen
10 the different notes of the various machines
enough, almost, II sounded together, TO make up a
lull chord of an octave. Aud each of these ma.
chimes may, under favoring circumstances send its
note through the wires into the pencils OF the arc
hght 1t happens to be running. What possibilities
the thought opens up in the way of musical lnven-
tons! You remember tho queer device Of finger
bowls playedson with the moist finger, on which a
weli-meanlng mn ican insisted performing tho
prayer from Noise in Egito ito Rossini and
how the sensitive composer aed the ROOM prom sing
TO return when the good Old gentleman " had got
done rinsing his prayerp Who shall say that We
may not have, some day. the Electro IIarmonlcon
with commutators for keys dynamos for registers,
and battery instead OF a hoy at the bcllowsl
And, speaking of music, ct us hurry back to the
Salon des Additions for turn at the opera, Us
heard by the tel phone. In q corridor of the north
west gallery we find long queue of people pressing
slowly along, one by one, between wooden barriers,
as at the theatres orthcir at the wonder-work
lry IA 81,
after half hour So enlivenod by no httle good
| natured chat and Jest, we--that is a group of nf-
teen or twenty of us-dle into the room. We find
ourselves III HIGH square salon, hung and carpeted
WI n heavy, dark Persian rugs, and lit by an Anglo
| American BRUSH chandelier. while around the
walls hang little gutta-percha and nickel trun-
pets on hooks. just our abonlinabe lack.
We have landed neatly the beginning of an entr'-
acte; so the whole company placidly camp down on
the soft carpet and with more quips and comments
wear away the next quarer-hour speaking in low,
subdued tones, however, for the lamps burned dim,
absorbed by the dark hangingS. All outside sounds
came to us nuffled and faint, and the room is filed
with strange atmo sphcre Of my stcry and hushed
expectancy. Ting-a-lng the call for the second
act. In an instant everyone is on his feet at hIs
post, with the two receivers lightly pressed to his
ears. For moment there is silence while the cur
tam slowly rolls up, and then with long, clear
echoing chord the orchestra launches into the rou-
Ree OF the act. few bars of orchestral score and
then strong and ringing, close AT our side il almost
seems come the voices of the tenor aud baritone IN
| the duo of Roberto" From the different corners
of the roon-our rooln-we hear tho mntterrd exca-
nations of the auditors in the polygot dialect of
modern Paris Uaderschon 20 Epatant!"
stunning! amt itW Really, il ~ stunning" Not
in the acoustic sense, to he sure but intellectually
Every note of the vocal score, every ccrroiemcnt of
the Singers voice. every change of stress or phIas-
Il if,ra fr4l Il. 4.
torlum. When, IN the course of the stage business
the artist moves toward he mouth of the rccevtetr
which il set up near the prompter's box you start
| with queer feeling that the unseen singer is some
| how pushing up against your elbow. Yet
with all this distinctness, there is blended a
certain spectral, far-o1, miniature element
which is hari to define II might be compared
| to effect have noticed, when in Old journalistic
days, have l"ungeI In tie ooaiisses of tho opera.
and, standing behind the painted back scene have
heard Nilsson or Kellogg or Clpoal, just at hand
but e?arated from me by the light screen In def
hi ion the vocal effect Is perfect while dynamocaly
| the sound is papably fainter than il would be If
| heard from the parquet A techncist could have
gone OH after an honr or two of snch listening and
written well considered crtique on the arti,t's
voice. method and style, the orches IA being ONLY
reflected INTO the receptear. and, still the APP
| plause from the house is perceptbly less strong
and distinct. But what's the matterf Dead silence
| All! lhey have merely turnci off the Curreui. and
| our precious three or four minutes are over Out
| We troop, therefore. with endless eXclamations-
loud, this tiIne--of amazenent and pleasure while
another set of curious bad1is file in o our places
AT our right another line is pressing in the tee-
| phone of the Theatre Francais but the queue is
long, 1t is late, and tir d. We will keep that
| phase Of the matter for next visit
Before going down take "a hasty run through the
! ligh ed galleries, all agow with every variety of
light, plus the pretty little incandescen bulbs
| with their fairy-lilIe loops of paper, bast hemp
| bamboo, or other carbonizable material See how
well the high white light of the globes brings ont
the tones of he fine pictures in the southwest art
| room. II will be possible henceforth to hold art
! exhibitions at night without conloundng green
trees and blue sky, and especially without finding
precisely the coarscst and most superficial work the
most striking, as is apt to be the case under
| gas. What a beautiful bit of scenery too
| In the little specimen theatre, with its open city
square and quain MEDIEVAL architecture, standing
out, III the radiance of the whit glo @ footlights
| and standards with daylight distnctuess Think
for u moment of the dirty, smoky. gloomy and i'll
odOred quinquets tho tallow pots and oil lanps that
shone the splendid parterre of the Versailles
| Theatre under Louis XIV. and measure the distance
| betwent $50 and 1880! Think, too of the luxury
of sitting through performance, in even the most
crowded and incouvenient auditorium, untouched
! BY oughts of the ghasly pain and terror of the
| Brook yn holocast!
| Pass with rapid glance of inspection by the
! Presidents private room and dining room, cast a
look at tho large hail In the northwest corner with
the bailoo fitted cut with all i'm ri able cleo
trio apparatus FOR meeoroogic observation its tank
| In the centre, where one two toy Gamers moved
tArU and 4.