Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-03-02
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
GALLANT KNIGHTS OF ST. DENIS AND
ST. ANDREW.

Importance of Caring for the Voice Per
! tinent Questions-Stage Dialect
General Stage Notes.
In his Autobiography" in the Century
Joseph Jefferson tells this anecdote: "St
George and the Dragon" was the play
The opening act ends where the sever
champions of Christendom assemble
Young Foster was picture as the gallant
st. George of England. His manly form
was incased in rather vulnerable armol
of pure spangles, and he shone like sheet
of silver. At a given cue he vaults into
the saddle, and, waving his bright sword
and throwing back his fine, classic head
he shouts: Sup, knights, and away p'
Now, st. Denis of France, St. Patrick Of
Ireland, St. David of Wales, St. Andrew
of Scotland and one or two other knights
mount their chargers and gallop away, fol-
lowing their leader, the gallant st. George
as the curtain falls upon the animated
scene. 1t so happened that st. Denis oi
| France and st. Andrew of Scotland had
been cast to two actors who were not what
| would be called daring horseman. All Of
the knights with the exception of these
| two, mounted their horses and galloped
off. But the steeds of St. Denis and st.
Andrew had but little faith in their
knights, and the knights seemed TO have
no faith in themselves. This timidity COM
| municated itself from one to the other, and
as the riders hoped about on one leg try
ing to mount, the horses kept going slowly
round to avoid any further intimacy. The
audience was roaring with laughter. At
last the knights made a powerful effort
to "bestride their foaming steeds." /"
St. Denis, being very tall, scrambled
up, but overshot the mark. "He Ger
leaped his saddle" SO that his head
hung on one side and his heels on the
other, while the horse kept going round
with him in this dreadful position. At
this juncture the curtain came down, cut
ting off the other knight, st. Andrew, and
shutting him outside of it and close to the
footlights. Unfortunately, in the excite
ment of mounting, this gentleman had got
the wrong foot in the stirrup, so that the
gallant Scotchman found himself in pur-
suit of glory with his face toward the
horses tail. Finding that he would make
but little progress toward Christendom in
this position, he slid gently off behind,
still clinging to the bride, while the horse
dragged the unlucky warrior across the
front of the stage. The audience shouted
as the animal pulled his rider along. The
horse now changed his tactics, and, stand
ing upon his hind legs, came slowly but
surely toward St. Andrew, who scrambled
for protection into the nearest private box.
The horse, still on his hind legs, looked
down on the orchestra as if meditating a
descent upon the musicians, at which the
entire band fed, some of them retreating
under the stage, while the majority scat
tered among the audience. The curtain
had to be raised and groom sent on to
take the poor, frenzied horse in. There
was now some anxiety to know what had
become of St. Andrew That gallant High
lander, seeing that the coast was clear,
jumped out of the private box where he
had been concealed behind the curtains,
and, half denuded of his armor, rushed
frantlcally across the stage and darted be-
hind the curtain, amid the unqualified APP
probation of the audience.
CARE OF THE VOICE.
A prominent basso was heard the other
day inveighing loudly against some of the
methods of managers. Said he: "The
work that is put upon the singers in some
of our opera companies, especially the
smaller ones, is something frightful to con-
template. / think that the most of us are
fairly well disposed, and not inclined to
complain, but managers sometimes seem to
| forget that at least the voices upon which
he depends should be cared for, even il
the men and women who possess them are
to be considered of no account.
eve read great deal about the exact
ing demands of singers, and how these
artists are pampered by indulgent impress
sarios, but, although 1 have been long IN
the business, 1 have seen very little Of
this, except, perhaps, in the case of a
| few prominent stars As for the rest OF
us, we look out for ourselves, and difficult
| that is sometimes. Personally, | have
never had great deal to complain of on
the score of intentional neglect, but what
with the exactions of travelling, changes
of food, etc., |, strong man that | am
have found it no easy matter to keep in
condition the season through.
"Long jumps are the bane of our lives
was with company one season that
started out with three nights engage
ment in Massachusetts,. From there We
went to Chicago for week, then back te
Connecticut for three nights and then into
New York for run of two night stands
Such work as that is enough to ruin the
best voices that were ever heard, and OF
this occasion our company suffered sadly
The difference in our singing work at the
time we started and after we had been oui
| three weeks was marked, although by re-
peated performances the operas wen
smoother our voices were in by no mean.
good condition. The voice cannot main
| tain its best character under such circum
stances and the average opera gets peril
| ously near to being a wreck before the sea
son is ended. l would not give much tt
hear opera singing in May by an ordinary
company that has been on the road since
the previous September or October"
PERTINENT QUESTIONS.
Among strange things upon the stag,
which have survived the attacks of time
and of many critics, a few cannot fail O
being regarded as curious. Why do war
locks and witches always carry forkec
sticks like country clothes-props, and why
does one talk of their whitened locks
always hung so uncomfortably over tn,
nose? Then again, why do real stage vii
lains always have black, raven black hair,
Are there no internal scoundrels on tht
stage with light hair? There are plenty
and to spare, in real life. Why is stags
blood always pink in color and sticky il
character? When "blood- d-boltered' ghos
appears it has very often the hue of ;
picked beet-root, and its pallor is tor
frequently streaky in effect, suggestive o
the four-dredger.
Why do ruffians wear brass door-plat,
buckles to their wide waist-belts, and hay,
leather gauntlet tops to cotton gloves
Why, moreover, do they eternally tug a
these gauntlet tops as if attempting t,
pull them up over their shoulder-blades
Again, it would be curious to find out VIII
deep-dyed rufians also have ringlettec
black hair? Is that emblematic of tru,
stage villainy, and does it go along will
the Observation-Disclosures of tn,
tragedian?
| Why three curling ostrich plumes SHOULD