Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-08-25
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
EMMA ABBOTT DELIGHTED WITH THE
WAGNER OPERAS.
Flashes From the Footlish,s of MANY
Theaters-How Rip Van Wrinkle
Came on the Stage-Notes.


Miss Emma Abbott was enc of the pas
sepgers who arrived in New York on the
French steamer La Champagne. She
went at once to the Hotel Vendome, where
she was seen in the afternoon by Tribune
reporter and gave an interesting account
of the things and the people she had seen
since she went to Europe, about the first
of June. ~ have been busy every moment
that l have been away" she said, Study
| ing hard and seeing everything that
could in Paris, London and Bayreuth. l
want to tell you what treat the Ameri-
can people are to have in hearing Tamas-
no. Such a glorious voice Ineyer heard
anything like it. There were many Ital-
ians present when / heard him, and they
nearly went wild. That was in London,
| and on the same trip attended the Ital-
ian opera given in honor of the Shah. |
never saw such an array of rich and gor-
geous dresses. The Princess of Wales and
her daughter, who had Just been married,
| were there, and as they sat side by side it
seemed to me that the Princess looked
scarcely older than her daughter. These
two performances more than paid for the
| journey across the Channel
went to Bayreuth too, and heard the
| Wagner operas. | think the love of the
old Italian operas was born in me and is a
part of me, but since have heard 'Parsi-
taP at Bayreuth you may write me down
as rabid Wagnerian. Musical effects are
possible there that | have never found in
any other part of the globe, and it is be-
cause there is such perfect silence. Why, |
believe that if anybody should so much as
whisper in that house those Wagnerians
would fall upon him and murder him. |
mean to sing Wagner myself, and l shall
probably take up two of his works next
year, but have not decided which ones.
I" must tell you about the dresses that
have been made by Worth and Felix, for
my next season. There are between thirty
and forty Of them, and the makers assure
me that no Queen ever had a more mag
niticent set of dresses. One of them, by
Felix, was intended, when it was begun, to
be similar to one made for the Queen OF
Portugal, but later it was covered all over
with hand embroidery, and it is much
richer than the original. l shall wear it
in the last act of The Crown Diamonds.
Another, by Worth, is an exact reprodue-
ton of the coronation dress of the Empress
Josephine. l am an honorary member of
the Chickasaw Guards of Memphis and of
the Lomax Rifles of Mobile, and / have
gowns of the colors of both these organiza-
tons. That of the Mobile company is of
dark blue brocade and pale blue satin, en-
broidered all over with yellow jasmine.
The Exposition is grand l went to
the top of the Eiffel Tower, of course.
| started at A o'clock in the afternoon and
didn't get down to the ground again till 8
in the evening"
Miss Abbott will stay in New York till
! about the middle of next month, and will
! then start toward the West. Her regular
| season will begin soon after in Cleveland,
| and she expects to be in New York some
time in February.
RIP VAN Wrinkles FIRST APPEARANCE.
Dion Boucicault narrates in the North
| american Review for August the way that
RIP Van Wrinkle" came upon the stage.
In the summer of 1865, he says, Joseph
Jefferson arrived in London from Austria
liza, at an unfortunate moment. American
comedians were not regarded with favor by
the London public. The failure of Mr..
Ovens was of recent date Mr.. Jefferson
had no new plays. Those characters
which Mr.. Boucicault had written for him
Salem Scudder in "The Octoroon" and
Caleb Plummer in "Dot"-had been played
out. So this bright comedian found no
door open to him. The manager of the
Adelphi hazarded the remark, "If Mr..
Boucicault will write new piece for you
| will give you an appearance. He ought
to do it, for he told me you were the best
eccentric comedian living" So Jefferson
came to Bouclcault, and they tossed over a
dozen subjects. He expressed great aflec-
ton for rip Van Winkle," an old and
very bad melodrama. He admitted that
the piece had failed he had shown it to
Webster, who objected to producing such
a rag. Boucicault pointed out that the
character of a ragged old sot, however
picturesque, was not an attractive object
through three acts. ''Stay," cried the au-
thor, "a thought occurs to me. Suppose
we sweep aside Washington Irving, and
make Rip young, buoyant ne'er-do-well,
with young wife and young child. Let
him be the playfellow of all the children,
the lover of all the girls, village Bohe-
milan. Let us carry that character through
the first and second acts, and bring him
out in the third aged in appearance, but
fresh in heart after his long Sleep" Jeffer-
son was not "enthused" with this new form
of the story, but yielded, as he saw no
otner way to obtain London appearance.
In few weeks the piece was written, and
the Adelphi Theater was placed at the dis
posal of Mr., Boucicault. Jefferson's agree
ment with the manager, Webster was to
share the gross receipts nightly after $40
had been deducted for expenses. The
agreement between Boucicault and Jeffer-
son was that the author should receive
one-third of Jeferson's share. The play
and the comedian made the success of that
season. In the summer of the following
year Jefferson went to New York, and
there commenced career too well known
and remembered to require record.
ART TO THE FRONT.
"The scheme of erecting a theater in
which new works of art may be produced
independently of first-night audiences"
says the London correspondent of the Man
chester Examiner, "is rapidly advancing.
A site in Piccadilly has been selected, and
many artists are already engaged Among
others, Mr.. Willis has promised to ply his
pen. A special feature is to be made of
the music, and our leading composers will
be called on to interpret the emotions and
scenes of each play in music-language, so
that an artistic whole may result. Already
Messrs. McCunn and Goring Thomas have
undertaken to exert their powers to this
end. A young composer, known in musi-
cal circles for his uncompromising support
of serious music, w. H. Marshall Hall, has
accepted the conductorship. The theater
will probable be completed in about nine
months, and will include second and |
smaller stage for the use of students, for
whom also dramatic library will be pro- |
yided. They will be trained by past mas
tiers in the histrionic art, and will give |
public performances once month. This |
will be the first attempt in this country to !
allow art to take precedence of pecuniary |
interests"
seTHERN's PRACTICAL JOKE.
In his "Random "reminiscences Ste
phen Fiske tells of Sothern's great fond |
ness for practical joking, and relates the |
following among other incidents:
"To his ingenuity and liberality Soth- |