The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-02-28
SWISS ADJUSTMENTS.
Theaters and Theater -Goers---Th
Musicale and the Dance.
Special Correspondence National Tribune.

Special Correspondence National Tribune. 2
ZURICH, January %.
I have tried in several letters to give the
readers of The TRIBUNE some idea of the va
ried daily life of Enrich; of the clean, almost
deserted streets; of the quiet nights, the holi-
day Sundays, the monotonous routine of the
university, and the outburst of CHEEKY life at
Christmas. But no idea of people can be
complete which fails to include the amuse-
ments thereof In every people there is a con-
slant need of recreation; and every people sat
isles its need after. its own fashion, helpfully
or hurtfuly, according as it is tasteful or taste
less, wise or stupid, noble or brutal. The Zu-
rich methods of recreation are eminently char
acteristic, and well worth careful examination
and careful thought
Zurich is in German Switzerland, and has
besides large and active German population,
whose influence is felt in many ways, but espe-
cially in the important part which music is
made to play in social life. Music is taught in
the schools, and the number of private music
teachers is confusing; there is an excellent
conservatory, q good orchestra, and large
number of musical clubs. No social occasion,
however simple, is complete without music.
and delightful concerts may be heard almost
daily at trifling expense.
The theater, too, is capitally managed and
uniformly well filled, especially on Sunday
nights when the classic German plays are pro-
duced in turn. The theater itself is small,
compact. simple, and cosy. The scenery and
costumes are as simple as they can be made
with due regard to the needs of the play; the
expenditure is centered upon the actors them
selves, who are much more nearly uniform in
quality than is customary among our stock
companies. The troupe is fixed part of the
| theater, no stars being engaged; and the same
actor is Egmont tonight, Tiesco tomorrow,
and Tell on Sunday, or Clarchen, Giulia and
Tells wife, as the case may be. True, the act
| ing is never that of Mr.. Irving and Miss Terry
but neither does it exhibit the painful inc
| quality to which we are unhappily accustomed
| in America. Every actor knows his role and
! his feliow-players their weakness and their
| strong points; and every actor. uses his voice
with perfect knowledge of the acoustic quail
/ ties of the theater. Hence, the,aating. though
rarely brilliant, is excellent, and wholly be-
/ yond that to be found in town of seventy
| thousand inhabitants in America.
HOW LADIES GO To THE THEATER.
| pleasant part of theater- going in Zurich is
/ the freedom with which ladies go alone. Thus
| it often happens that a family subscribes for
1 single seat, and the members use it in turn;
young girls being brought TO the theater and
fetched by a servant. The formality of
being :. fetched " is however, rendered absurd
/ by the fact that the maid servant may be much
younger than her mistress. 1t is always gala
| day in the kitchen when notice is given that
/ 'das Fraulein will go TO the theater; for it
/ is a part of the general consideratiyeness of
/ this beautiful. simple, friendly Swiss life, that
the little maid is released as early as possible
| from all other work, and is admitted gratis to
| the top gallery, whence she usually sees more
/ than half the play. There is never merYier
part of the audience than the row of sturdy,
rosy dienstmadchen who, after the comedy,
await their Frauleins at the great door of the
/ little theater.
The same people oe,a:py the same places
night after night, obtaining by subscription
the best which the house affords for half dol
lar nightly. The hours are sensibly arranged,
the play beginning at seven thirty and ending
before eleven; the least possible time being
I lost between the acts. The extreme punctual-
| ity which characterizes the whole life of ZG-
/ rich adds much TO the general comfort and
| the sense of security from fire which comes
| from the use of vast iron fore-curtain, the
consciousness of an ample fire-watch always on
the spot, and the visible supply of heavy water
mains, is an unobtrusiye but important ele-
| ment of the pleasure of theater-going In Zu-
/ rich. All this, with the exceedingly low prices,
the compactness of Zurich (which makes the
| short walk home decided pleasure), and, most
of all, the uniformly high quality of the plays.
/ makes theater-g0sng thoroughly satisfying
element of the collective recreation of Zurich.
THE ZURICH BALLS.
| BILE theatrical recreations of Zurich have been
considered, there remains, unhappily, little
which can be viewed with admiration. The
| best of the Zurich balls / have already de-
scribed at length From the Accidental and
! Lake Club balls, and the entertainments of the
German society, which are mixture of dane
| ing, music conversation and amateur dramatic
| performance, the legion of balls ascends until,
| least endurable of all, the ball becomes the
| Tanz- Belustigung, Or free dance, of Sunday
| night OF all these balls whatever degree of
| conventionality may be maintained, none is
| free from two grave objections, viz, the Gus
4 tom of dancing from o'clock until 2, or from
IL o'clock until in the morning, is thoroughly
hurtful to the health and, second, the ac-
| quaintance and sort of free-masonry which
/ springs up among young men and women who
/ habitually meet at such entertainments is of
4 the most intimate and at the same time most
superficial character. It rests simply upon the
| common enjoyment OF d sort of physical exer-
/ else which, heathful and beautiful in itself, is
made vulgar and demoralizing by the condi-
| tions under which it is INDUCED IN. The damag-
! ing effect of all forms of the ball here in Zu-
| rich is greatly increased by the fact that there
exists almost no other social intercourse among
/ young men and women. There is 40 possibility
/ of the pleasant, wholesome friendship through
which young people may learn to know one
! another, more or less thoroughly, in America.
There is the acquaintance which rests upon
| skill in dancing, and there is nothing else.
/ THE DISSEMINATION TO EXERCISE.
Occasionally, the winter offers a week of
/ skating: days sleighing is a rarity remem-
bered many years, and the fine out-of-doors
sports to which the climate offers every in
/ ducement are never even mentioned, much less
! enjoyed. Cricket tennis, baseball foot ball
are unknown to Swiss school-boys and scorned
/ by Swiss men. The Anglo-American Yachting
! Club monopolizes the water-exercise of the
town, and an especially glorious October day is
required to get a score of students up the
/ Weltieberg, though the walk is not too severe
for American women and children, and the
4 view from the summit is one of the most glori-
Gus to be found in Swiss travel. Even long
forest rambles are not customary unless for
botanizing purposes; hunting is limited to an
occasional Sunday in the Black Forest, and
riding is practiced almost exclusively by the
| Reit Club, whose cruel races and heavy betting
bring it into general disrepute. The Turn
| verein does something for the physique of the
men of Zurich, but nothing can take the place
/ of out-of-door life, aud the evils of neglected
outdoor recreation are proclaimed aloud by
| the round shoulders, weak eyes, unwholesome
! skins and awkward gait of the Zurich popu-
lace. These are the purely physical disadvan-
/ tages of the neglect of outdoor life which ne
i elect goes to an extent incredible to an Ameri-
can. The Zurich school children have few
PLAYS in the fifteen mi nutes' recreation granted