The record-union., 1896-05-17

SoStonian" for May, In MS StaseidHu'
thus speaks Of Duse:
.Duse is a woman to marvel at. L
marvel because, being afflicted with ex-
treme ugliness of person, awkWardness
of movement, unpleasantness OF voice
and meagerness of artistic resources,
she should have risen to the place she
occupies. / cannot call her an artlste,
for she seems to act on impulse, and,
having seen her Magda twice, l cannot
say what it is, for it differed on each
occasion.
Where at one performance she plays
scene with exquisite naturalness and
pathos, or with dramatic flre and
strength, at the next she effaces it
completely only to startle one with the
accentuation of some other scene pre-
viously left untouched. Duse changes
her Interpretation as easily as she does
her clothes One cannot commend her
manner of playing this scene or that,
for she seems to have no definite con-
ception of details; she plays as the mood
strikes her. For instance, on the even
ing of her first production of 'Magda
she rose to great dramatic nights in
the scenes with Won Kellar, particular
ly in the fourth act, where her repeated
a powerful climax.
When next she played it this scene
might as well have been eliminated
from the play, for she suppressed it
entirely, though she had earlier in the
evening brought out suggestions which
We're wholly lacking in her first per-
formance. Perhaps this is natural act
ing. 1t is certain that she has taken
q STRONG hold on ha nd hot
her audiences are sympathetically re-
sponsive. They forgive much in her
for what they get at other times. Her
opening in Camille was generally a
disappointment Bernhardt had closed
her engagement in Camille on Satur-
day night, and Duse had opened in the
same play on Monday. Bernhardt had
brought all her skill to the aid of her
genius and wrought her audience up
to pitch Of enthusiasm seldom sur
passed. Duse saw the performance
and, as someone has suggested must
have deliberately made up her mind to
do nothing that Bernhard had done
The result was that an audience left
her performance wondering why this
woman was called great"
how poor Mozart unconsciousIy wrote
his own requiem, dying of brain fever
before he could complete it, BY a coin
cidence as sad as 1t is extraordinary,
the famous sculptor Victor Tilgner COM
posed his requiem when he chiseled his
Mozart monument for Vienna, for he
died five days before the date chosen for
its unveiling. 1t was ait first supposed
that the oarar10pu uyo11l6 IN,
be postponed, but all the arrangements
had been made, and a postponement
would have frustrated Tilgner's ardent
wish that the Emperor should preside
over the unveiling. Accordingly the
new statue was uncovered on April 21st,
in presence of his majesty. the Vienna
Mannergesang- -Verein singing the cho-
rus of priests from the Magic Flute"
during the ceremony. Tilgner, famed
as a portrait sculptor, chose for his
model of Mozart's features not the we'll
known Salzburg Museum portrait, but
another one less known, which is be-
lieved to be better likeness.
=
On January 81, 1897, a hundred years
will have elapsed since Schubert was
born near Vienna. To commemorate te
llllS tNtIHl kutIc w WliI DG d oCUuDeIl C6le-
bration in that city and an exhibition
There will be performances of his prin-
cipal works and the exhibition will in
clude portraits of Schubert and his fam
lily. of buildings in which he lived, of
his friends, and of famous musicians,
like Schumann and Liszt, who have
done most to popularize Schubert's
works, etc. While he was alive the
Viennese did not care rap for Schu-
bert Even now many of his best songs
and piano pieces are music of the fu-
ture so far as the public at large is con-
cerned.
Il have seen Bernhard" said Fanny
Davenport recently, '.and do not claim
To rival her. 1 have not seen Duse and
know nothing of her methods. OF course
Bernhardt is all fireworks. Duse must
be electric, because every one says she
is 50 natural in her methods, and Yet
she seems to WELD great fascina ting
power. One thing / do claim, and that
is that put just as much study into my
parts as they do in theirs And l do an
other things that neither Sarah nor
Duse can dol translate and adapt my
own plays.
My adaptation of Gismonda was the
one thing which the New York papers
cCndescended to praise. They never
miss an opportunity of criticising me
and sitting down on me, but they did
consent to praise my adaptation Not
that they liked the play or admitted
that they did. When l put it on in Now
York the critics said il is was the worst
play that had been in New York for
don't know how long. But now? Oh
now that Sarah is playing 1t, it is a
beautiful play.
Sarah is a great artist, and admire
her genius. / can't say that have any
fondness for her personality, however
She has been saying very unpleasant
and uncalled things about me lately
and naturally don't like it. In her in
terviews she said that she understood
that my Gismonda was rotten We'll
inasmuch as she was indebted to me
for the privilege of playing 1t here al
all, ii seems to me that common cour-
tesy would have kept her from saying
such a thing She hadn't seen me her
self, and had no opinion of her own tC
express, 50 l don't think ii was excusa-
ble.''
Milan is the musical center of Italy
and Italian musical life is almost ex-
clusively operatic, while the season j:
very brief Yet Milan during the pas
carnival season heard only eight operas
La Navarraise." Hamlet Sam
son and Dalilah," Pearl Fishers.
'zY- 20 ~