Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-25

chorus. There are "a singers, 10 men and IA
women They come in two companies de-
scepding the steps onto the stage at the
right and the left, and form a long line
across the stage. And they look like the angels
who sang at Bethlehem. They are crowned
with golden diadems and shod with sandals.
and vested in flowing robes Of green and
brown and purple and gray and blue, made fair
with embroidery of gold, and with the colors
perfectly blended. The orchestra touches
minor chord, and the singing begins. 1t is
never the least bit STACEY never self-conscious.
never elaborate enough to suggest any adven-
turing after vocal effect" always impressive,
solemnizing perfectly fitting.
A Solemn Greeting.
ga Ii hailr' the leader sings welcome to
those whom love divine hath here assem-
bled, who wish to share the sorrows OF their
Savior, and to follow Him step by step on the
way of His sufferings to the cross and the
sepulcher." We wonder how many Of us have
really come here in this spirit Not many, per-
haps, we think, looking over the great multi
tude The chorus takes great deal for grant
ed when it includes us all in that pious greet
ing. But as the play goes on the words are
justified. The idlest tourist is touched with
the spirit of devotion. The dullest peasant
recognizes the divine meaning Of these scenes.
The thought OF the Lord Christ His sorrows
and His sufferings and the love which Is sym
bolized in them, takes possession of us all.
Two tableaux follow. The tableaux are won
derful. One is the expulsion Of our first parents
from Paradise, the other is living picture
with the cross in the center and adoring angels
all about it Some of the angels are very little
children. The garments are like the vestments
of heaven. the pose Is perfect, there Is not
trace of motion. Some OF the tablesux IN the
play have more than two hundred figures IN
them, every figure perfectly motionless, some
times for several minutes. Sometimes one tab
leau follows another Immediately. There Will
be great stage crowded with people, with
elaborate setting of scenery. Down falls the
curtain, the chorus sings, and up goes the
curtain again after a brief space, and here Is
mother tableau; again the stage is full OF
people and set with elaborate scenery. There
is a complete change of everything, done In
marveiously short time, and without the sound
of the least noise-no moving, about of heavy
pieces. no confusion of hurrying feet.
Beautiful Beyond Description.
A ND beautifulLbeautiful beyond descrip-
tion. Europe is the land of picture gal
ioEleS. 1ueTe are 30 Induy LnAL bHo bIdNSiok
wearies of them. The finest pictures in the
world are to be seen here. In the National
Gallery in London, and the Pinakothek in
Munich, and the Academy In Venice, and the
Brera In Milan, and the Louvre in Paris. are the
greatest works of the greatest masters. I'm
agine the fairest of all the lovely pictures won
derfully made alive. Let the pictured faces
have the bloom of real breathing life In their
cheeks. Let the saints come down from the
canvasses, and walk about and speak. That
will give you an idea of what the Passion Play,
in its tableaux and its acts, looks like. The
most beautiful pictures which have seen in
Europe were at Oberammergau, alive there on
the stage of the Passion Theater.
After the tableaux, follow one after another,
the events Of the last week Of our Lords life.
He enters Jerusalem, a great host of people,
with palm branches and allelenias, preceding
Him. The Sanhedrins meet and plot His
death. Judas agrees to betray Him. The Last
Supper is partaken of. The agony in Gethse-
name follows. And then the arrest, the unjust
trial, the accusation before PLATE and Herod.
the mockiDg. the scourging, the bearing OF the
cross. and finally the oruoiixion. The resur-
rection and ascension follow. Joseph Mair
who has twice before taken the part of
Christus. takes it again this year-a man of
strong. dignified bearing and sanity face, look
ing like the pictures. with long hair and parted
beard. Mary. the Virgin Mother, is as fair as
the Madonnas. Judas, with yellow robe and un-
gainly figure and tumbled hair, is the ideal
Judas. Peter and John, the one young. the 9TH
er old, look their parts admirably The play
goes on like life. 1t is all real. The walls of the
theater fade away; the centuries recede; the
hills Of Bavaria are the hills of Syria; over our
heads is the sky of Palestine; we are in Jeru-
salem at the time of the Passover, and it is all
happening over again as it happened then.
Impressions of the Play.
TIE acting is absolutely free from trace Of
self-consciousness These people went to
mass this morning at the parish church, and be-
fore the play began they met in prayer behind
the scenes. 1t Is Sunday to-day, and this is
service of religion. You are impressed by that
all the way through. A good many people 60 to
the Passion Play with some mlsgivings. but
they forget the misgivings. 1t is all
so devout, SO reverent, that the thought of pos
sible irreverence does not enter the mind. OF
course, 1t is an undertaking of the impossible
but no more than the pictures of the great
masters are, no more than the descriptions
given in the four gospels. The Passion Play is
simply the last chapters Of the gospels in liv-
ing pictures. acted out rather than read.
With the devout accompaniment of the preach
ing chorus, and the preceding and preparing
tableaux. that great, pathetic. tragic, divine
story is told at Oberammergau SO that the dull
est must understand it, SO that the most
thoughtless must be touched by it. Take the
most impressive three-hour service which you
ever heard on Good Friday and multiply it by
ten and you have the Passion Play.
There were more than 1900 people in the
audience, but at times the stiffness was almost
painful. Everybody seemed to have stopped
breathing. Again, everybody would be crying,
the men as much as the women, more than at
any funeral ever attended.
The most impressive sermon which will this
year be uttered anywhere in Christendom is
preached at Oberammergau. G.H.
ANXIOUS TO PUT ON CITY AIRS.