The record-union., 1896-12-20

lor celeofdlfHS une nunQrSdIh DIrtnudy
OF Schubert, which falls ON the 31st of
January. Several concerts, at which
only his works will be performed, are
to take place, and a commemoration
fete will be held in the Musikvereins-
saal. A medal will be coined for the
occasion. The houses where he was
born, where he lived, and where he
died, and the beautiful monument in
the Stadtpark, will be decorate The
monument is usually inclosed in a
wooden house in winter to protect it
from the inclemency of the climate.
The piece de resistance of the commem-
GRAFTON will be an exhibition of Schu-
bertiana in the Kunstlerhaus. Exhibi-
tions of this kind have changed very
much lately. They are no longer con-
fined to objects connected with the per-
son commemorated, but attempt to give
picture of his time. They try to bring
TO life again the epoch in which he lived
and the men and women among whom
he moved. In Schubert's case nothing
that was his property is known to ex-
ist except shabby piano and his
letters. Indeed, his whole effects
were at his death officially valued at
- los. The people he moved among
were comparatively poor. Not even his
portraits are to be considered very au-
tnentic. A contemporary who survives
him, on being asked what he was like,
answered, Like a tipsy Vienna cab
man.. The exhibition will comprise a
great number of Schuberts manu-
scripts, his letters. and first editions,
many of which were bought by the city
authorities and by Nicholas Duba, a
patron of the arts
New York Tribune: Many of the
fashions in amusements change, but the
tricks of the magician have continued
to amuse ever since the days of King
Rameses. The popularity Of them is.
too, that they are the same tricks year
after year, and perhaps century after
century. All the magicians try to find
novelties, but after all it is the old
tricks that almost always please best,
and even the new ones are usually only
variations Of the old ones. The audi
ence is just as much delighted when
Mr.. Hermann takes two barrels of junk
and livestock out of hat now as it
was when some former Hermann did
it a century ago.
Then there is that old trick of mend
ing a broken hat by shooting it out of
a mortar up into the dome Of the thea
ter. Mr.. Hermann is doing that just
now in a novel and pretty way. The
shot from the mortar cracks open a
little lantern hung away up against the
roof and the hat drops out of it. hung
to a silk parachute, and sails gracefully
down to the floor. But it is the same
old trick, just as surprising as ever,
and probably just as easy, when you
know how it is done. That is the ex-
asperating thing about the tricks. When
you do not know how they are done
you are consumed with a desire to
know, and as soon as you do know, it
seems so easy that you despise your
self for not guessing, and the secret
seems no longer worth having.
In an address delivered at the Unita-
rian Theological Seminary of MeadviIle,
Pa, recently, Otis Skinner declared that
the clerical friends of the drama some
times do as much wrong as the stage S
enemies in insisting that the stage
should be an educator and a sermon
izer. Mr.. Skinner stated that the first
object of the drama is to amuse ele-
vate and inspire through artistic
means; to take the playgoer into an
Ideal land that need not be instructive
or moral. He does not believe that the
drama should be immoral, but that the
playhouse would be failure as an in
CT tt11f c1 l.
the schoolhouse or the pulpit.
4
Mr.. Morrison recounts two anecdotes
in his experience dn playing Faust
At one place the trapdoor through
which he disappears in the fifth act re-
fused to work, and, to use his express
sion, his plume stood erect"
Cant you open it?" he asked in an
excited tone
There was an awful pause for a mo-
ment, when away in the gallery some
body sung out:
Holy Moses, helPs full"
AT another time, while breakfasting at
a hotel, he noticed that the colored
waiter who brought him his meal kept
staring at him. He told the waiter that
be might go. when / need you,' he
added. Il will send for you
Need me?" exclaimed the waiter.
Say, Mr.. Morrison, went to your show
last night
And how did you like it?'
Like it. Say, Mr.. Morrison, that
last scene was awful But one thing
consoled me. couldn't see any ndgger
in hell!'
The death Of the younger Salvini re-
moves from the dramatic arena one Of
the most rising men Of the time. Sal
yini promised to become a far greater
actor than he was. He pursued other
lines than those in which his distin-
guished father won his laurels, but in
his field he developed the qualities
which indicate greater things to come.
Salvini's death will be deeply deplored.
He was besides being an artist adorn-
ing his profession, man of personal
qualities that attached to him host
Of friends.
Further evidence of the truth of Mas
cagni's recent assertion that the Ger
mans have captured Milan, the musical
capital of italy. is provided by the fact
that the season in that city Will be
opened on December Goth with Wag-
ner's "Gotterdammerung" which was
such brilliant success in Turin last
season. A German singer, Frau Won
Ehrenstein, viii be the Brunnhilde, and
Maestro Vanzo, a personal friend of
Wagner, will conduct.
New York Plays and Players: Here
is bit Of expert knowledge from the
professional Woman Leagues Bazaar