Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-11-26

symbolism. which ~ the latest mood OF Inn
pressionism. has become classical by ne thsut-
neal experiments. IL MAS the habit of the more
enterprisiRg members OF the fraternity 60 rent
some little thcateT for a monthly display Of
their principles reduced To practice. When ID.
evening came the public was o. be Of the
most checkered SORT. From the boxes clubmen
looked railingly down Young men " litera-
tnre and students. This Is called the as.ocia-
non OF dandyi-in with art. No doubt tho rich
people who gather at these experiments do NOT
come mp TO the expectations OF the literary mon
IN supporting their theories But they come
70 amn~e themselves cheaply and thew usually
naNe thelr moneys worth The following is .
typical evening:
TYPICAL EVENING.
rive short pieces were given. Of which one
was IN reality an erudite dissertation. With
dramatic incidents, on the marriage Of priests
an the time OF Gregory and certain other con-
temporary heresios. such rs that Of Peiaeius
Al one point Iheodatus. who il a bishop. kneols
IN prayer with his clergy for strength 20 con-
qaer temptations OF pride and Of the flesh.
wherein the elegant portions of the audience
found Amusement by responding loudly
Amen 20 each petition.
The strong piece Of the evening was Les
ANeuglcs OF Maurice Materlinck Mr. uuwells
has noticed both this author in general and
this piece in particular with high critical praise
in the Editors Stndy" Of HaTpcrs Monthly
1 prefer recording the amazed impressions ~
W NtfctN. LOT tnffN wears the a
theater goer Of France:
The curtain rises. II Is nlwava night, TN,
stage ha6 been in darkness during the proceed
ing piecel ! see confuscdly on the stage.
which u a. black ovens mouth ten per-
sons. seated IN different positions. l cannot
very well hear what they are saving,
because they speak low. ~ one does
IN the dark. From the few words / catch
understand that these are blind men from a hos
pital by the sea. whom the chaplain has taken out
Tor a promenade and whom he has aban-
doned. Where Is the chaplain they ask We are
lost, What O'Clock is az Twelve O'Clock il
striking. Is Il noon or midniCht2 should
have thought that blind men knew how 20 die
unguish the hours of the night from DAYTIME
by the freshness OF the air and other indica-
lions One among them. and he il the only
sensible speaker. says TO his comrades: lie. us
so in the direction from which the sound ot.mes
lie Is right, this brave blind man. and the hos
pItal cannot be far away IL ihey hear the clock
strike but this would be finishing too soon.
Ihey lament and despair. They have 4 dog
This dog did not see. because il was too dark
upon the stage, bat the dog is spoken Of and
neighbor who lad a good pair of .,lass.s
could perceive that he was heading one Of the
men. lie brings him 60 body stretched across
the way. Ibe blind man bends over and feels
corpse. But he il cold, he cries Speak,
then. speak. this silence il horrible All speak
at once. IL seems that this IL the passage 10 lie
admired. For furious applause breaks forth in
tha1 part OF the house which ls occupied BIZ the
Young men. l Acknowledge thai this Maeter-
iinck makes on me the effect Of a funiiste,
whose piece is a mystifcation. - IL IL
What they eau the regeneration Of the the
lter, .
A CRITIC BORED.
ado You know? they are beginning 20 bore
us greatly with all these pretended master-
pieces. which they bring with 80 much noise
from Belgirm and England and Germany and
Scandinavia, from every country possible aud
impossible and before which thew stand in mute
admiration so much the more n they UNDER
stand them the less. Now all this is affectation
and pose. Good Lord, preserve us. preserve
those love. my coRfFeres and the good hour
geoisie. and the very symboists who triumph
IN the night. preserve us from exotic literature,
from the PLAYS Of Maeterlinck the Belgian
Shakespeare. from Ibsen the Norwegian Shnke,-
pcare, and, Il dared. / would say from Shakes
peare himself But the latter, the true one. has
at least written half dozen cosmopolitan
masterpieces, which makes me pardon him
The last piece of the evening was a rather
daring transformation of She Biblical can,icle
Of chnticles. In this what NAV be called
special orchestration was used. under the four
fold relationship of the word, the music, the
color and the perfume.
The first device was written sen l,,,qf,s DO
en- DO. potypre cigire ca enceasT All OF
which means that. while the actors were recit-
ing verses in which the vowel sound 81 pre-
dominates. but is rendered Luminous bv the
sound of 20" the music which aceompanies a
is IN do, and the stage Is n. I'D with a shiI.-
ing purple light and the perfume Of incense il
waited over the audience The joy of the spouse
has it's equivalent orchcstration. as follows:
Words in 81" made luminous with 20" music
IN re-, color bright orange. perfume white
violets' Thus. at each scene the decoration is
lighted by different color. TO this color cor
responds the tone of the music which in turn
corresponds TO the sound Of the recitatiye. and
10 the tone corresponds a perfume. For the
latter purpose there were vaporizers in the side
scenes.
TIRE Young ENTHUSIASM
Certainly II was fine TO sec the whole legion
of the young enthusiasts with their Absaiom
heads OF hair falling below their broad -brimmed
hats-hsts which. Il seems, are symbolicsl Of
genius-with ecstatic eyer. and all furionsiy
intolerant. But one of the audience. at least,
needed something more than explanation
when it was over. The vaporizers which
squirted the perfume out 20 the audience did
their work rather too thoroughly IN his case.
He successfully impregnated with the
fragrance of incense. white violets hyacinth
acacia. lily of the valley, syrinca, orange and
iessamine. that when he turned to leave the
theater the spectators gave him "a wide passage,
and he had TO hurry home TO change his
garments.
In series Of reflections on the growth OF
Madness occasioned bv the sad misfortune Of
VI. buy &c haui assant, Jnles lemaltre mis- .
chieviously turns on these latest extravagances
in literature and art: The case with some is
next to pathological. They really forget the
meaning of words. Their search after the I'M
expressed ends in infantile isplng. Often with
them there is a sharpening of the senses. which
has been regarded until now uniquely char
ac.erisnc of certain ma,adies. For them letters
have a color, colors have \ sonnd. and sounds
have odors. They have auditive vision, coiored
ambition and musical smell Many of them are
sincere. absolutely sincere. I am now con-
WINGED that they have perceptions that
have not; and their friends, the
painters. do nos see as We
do. Their ewes no longer grasp contou !. but
only luminous vibrations That which we
scarcely discover in objects is what they Tee to
the exclusion Of everything else. Because
there is little blue in certain greens they
paint trees perfectly blue. Because objects
interchange among themselves inipcrceptible
reflections. they show only the reflections,
they fannt them before ms and forget that
which is habitual ard permanent under the
changing cOlors OF things. Because absolute
black does not exist, they no longer see Gught
but blue and yellow.
"kssuredly nature il not the same for them as
il Is for us. Ought to say all? The impress
sioa which / once had from visiting n lunaric
asylum that impression several yocng men Of
today have almost given me They eeem to me
fundamentally different from us Others.
/ do not feel any communication between
them and myself. The approach to them
hos haap ma. 1avoid .