The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-09-13

10
For moment a ray OF light from the
| brightly Illuminated corridor stole into the
| box Of MS majesty and a somber figure
was seen taking a seat, after which dark
ness reIgned again Louis, king OF
| Bavaria, vas ready to witness one OF his
| special performances
Only twice wear did the king leave the
voluptuous ponp Of MS chateaux and the
/ solitude OF Bavarian mountain scenes, for
| two weeks Of diversion in witnessing his
! faVorlte dramas and operas which were
| performed with such brsi.iaDcy and costI-
ness OF decoration, costume and requisites
IS has not been equailed IN the dramatic
history OF any country. Even the Iustre
OF Henry Trong and the Saxon-Aeiningen
Company paies before il.
And IL was no less interesting fact
that these dramas and operas were never
/ performed for the public and that 1t was
severely lnterdicted 10 use the smallest
| OBJECT belonging TO the special perform
ance5 for any public. representation.
-" nat mastery treatment was shown in
the floating waters of the Rhine, surging
in different directions, rising and falling
and changing their hue, and the Rhine
daughters IN act /, the giants, their plllng
/ up heap Of gold, and the rainbow in act
=! They deserve TO be called the "de-
SPAR Of stage managers, and hardly any
where except in Munich do they ind
The Munich opers-house was the only
place "Parsifal" was performed besides in
| the Wagner theater at BaYreuth. and it
was an improvement on the latter.
Il seemed as if the Injuries Of the court
OF Louis XIV. had been brought TO Munich
Tor the representation of "Narcisse," the
vagabond philosopher who scoffed at the
society of his time, and in "Voltaire" it
was difficult TO decide what was more
worthy Of admiration, the evening quiet
Of Fernay, Voltaire's exile on the lake of
Como, or his return to the French court,
in the eve Of his life, where we had the
park Of Versailles, with a part Of the water
works in full actionl
What exotic splendor In the Indian
dramasl We behold a wandering, ever
changing primeyal forest Of palms, cactus
and climbing plants, with grottos, water
falls and flying birds; cloud pictures, re-
vealing the snow-clad peaks Of the Him.
aaya, and a rainstoTm of real water. The
heroes and demi-gods Of these dramas
hoated half the time in the air on scaffold-
ings representing clouds, chariOts, etc,
invlslbiy attached to strong wires that
could be moved in any direction. The
veteran stage manager, Richter, had
represented nearly every character in his
lifetime, and had done good work IN every
line of his business. but when II came to
acting in rnidair he shook his white locks
y
in my experience. In my old age have
to turn gymnast and aerOnaut."
The company consisted entirely OF
picked artists, and vet they did not satisfy
the king. lie often sent for artists from
other court theaters.
For the first representation Of Sardou's
"TheodOra" the versatile actress Blaar
Della was summoned to Munich, Possard
played the part of Emperor Justinian, the
scenery was a copy Of the French. The
performance was, from an artistic point
Of view, almost perfect masterpiece OF
German stage managing.
However, certain limitations Of tiger
skins in Justinian's palace did not please
the king, and genuine ones had to be sub
stituted.
Orchestra, sup-rs. scenery and machin-
cry rehearsals occupied every hour of the
day from early in the morning till 10 in
the evening. The performance generally
began between IL and II, and scarcely ever
finished before in the morning, as the
king had bad habit of allowing every
thing that pleased him particularly to be
repeated. | remember how once the
prelude 10 "Rhinegold" had to be repeated
four times before the poor Rhinedaugh-
tiers, who were already strapped on to
their peculiar machines, had an oppor-
tunity of displaying their acrobatic feats.
In the plays, also, those scenes, which
were most fatiguing to the actors, were
generally repeated, indeed, sometimes en-
tire actsl
And although the king acknowledged
special efforts by really royal gifts, as, for
example, Mr.. Possart's watch of gold and
diamonds, which was exhibited at Tiffany's
during his first American tour, yet the
| majority Of the artists were discontented
at the overgreat demands made on them
and the tyrannical treatment they were
subjected to.
need not remark that these days were
some Of the most interesting in my life
as was able to enjoy them in perfect
quiet. And often during the fulI-dress re-
hearsals | slipped into the empty audito-
rum, and even ventured into the dark
royal box. and then / had my special
performances. Thus l witnessed the
''Parslfai" several times without making
special pilgrimage TO Bayreuth.
Eighteen hundred and eighty-four was
the last time the poet-king listened to the
Good Friday Spell" of his friend and
protege, Richard Wagner, for it was in the
following year, as everyone knows, that
the otherwise so graceful waves Of the
''Starnberger See" closed over his head.