The record-union., 1896-05-03

seventeen operatic performances given
on one evening, five were Of works by
| Wagner.
w. D. Howells, in "Harper's Weekly"
says, and well says: "It will be said by
| the injudicious that the theater is now
what the people wish it to be, and that
they have a right to buy what they
wish there as elsewhere. But the peo-
pie do not suffer themselves to buy what
they wish elsewhere if they wish evil,
and tossay that they had a right to do SO
would be to justify every Internal Ii
cense and abuse. For my part believe
that the theaters are largely bad be-
cause the managers think the people
want them so, and not because the peo-
pie really want them so, or the manag-
ers want them so. The people take what
they can get, and the managers give
them empirically this thing or that. But
if a good thing finds itself on the stage
it prospers there far beyond the evil
thing The "Old Homestead" remained
two or three years at one theater in New
York; Shore Acres is now in it's third
year, and the people are not weary of it,
long as these charming and blameless
things? What lewd opera of those
called comic, has ever pleased SO long
| as Gilbert's pieces, where neither song
nor dance, nor dialogue is ever indecent?
| No, beloved, we are not as black as the
fancy of the playwrights and the man
ayers paint US. The worst of it is that
now, with the cost of the seats so great
&c t,h h1a rn1 hn tor to
off from the wholesome criticism of the
best of the American public, for the best
of the American public are people who
earn their livings, and are of such
small incomes that they cannot afford
to pay the theater prices. 1t is to lux
ury, to idleness, to surfeit, to ennui, that
the stage plays now, and strives to i'm
part a new sensation. With all our pas
sion for the drama, the average Ameri-
can cannot go to the theater.
Bismarck said the other day: 81 do
not care for music that is paid for (con-
certs) but there is nothing I like better
than music at home" He added that
he once could play himself, and was
sorry he had not continued, for music
is a faithful companion in this life"
But what interests him particularly in
music is its power on the masses, and
he thinks that German song was one
of the greatest agents in bringing
about German unity. 'It was not the
size of our army, but it's spirit, that
enabled us to conquer the French. For
this reason l hope no one will in future
undervalue the power of music in
arousing courage and devotion Our
alliance with Austria would not be so
intimate if Haydn, Mozart and Beetho-
ven had not lived there, thus creating a
true artistic bond of union between u.s.
1t is announced that the next per-
formance by the members of the Eliza
bethan Stage Society, under the direc-
| ton of William Poel, will take place in
London in June, and will be devoted to
a revival Of Marlowe's tragedy of Doc
| tor FauStuS." The stage fittings of the
sixteenth century, prepared for the re-
cent performance of Measure for
| Measure in Gray's Inn Hall, are used
in the society's revivals, together with
a valuable ana characteristic wardrobe,
mainly purchased from Mr.. Barthe;
Captain Hutton superintends matters
of old swordsmanship; and the ade-
quate Interpretation of Elizabethan
music is assured by the dictatorship of
Arnold Dolmetsch.
'The Star of India'' the latest melo-
| drama at the London Princess Theater
seems to be particularly poor speci-
men of it's class, but abounds in "sensa-
tions." The realism is found to be
chiefly on the programme which fur
nisheS map, to scale of the residences
at Manipur and the surrounding neigh
borhood. The plot, of course, is founded
remotely on the troubles in the district
a few years ago, when Mrs. Grimwood
so distinguished herself, but no good
use, apparently, has been made of the
opportunity.
Curtain calls at an operatic first night
in Italy do not mean much, but although
| Leoncavallo was called before the cur
tain thirty-seven times at the recent
performance in Rome of his new opera
"Chatterton." some of the critics think
it was a genuine success. The fact.
however, that 'tthe greater part of the
opera had to be sung twice" argues the
other way. Really good music is never
=
men" and Faust were failures at their
first productions
The latest fiasco reported from Milan
Is that of Carmen" Of course it was
not novelty, but the singers were 81
poor that the audience would not allow
the performance to be finished, but com
PEELED the lowering of the curtain in the
third act.
The withdrawal of Senior Manuel Car
cia, in his ninety-second year, from the
teaching staff of the Royal Academy of
Music in London, has directed attention
to the fact that Denmark owns an
equally elderly musician. Johann Peter
Hartmann is less than two months the
junior of Garcia, for he was born on
May IA, 1865, but he still officiates as
organist at the Church of the Virgin
Copenhagen.
The Sin of st. Hulda" is the name of
the new romantic and semilrelig-ious
play, written by G.. Stuart Ogilive. and
produced in the London Shafteshurx,
Theater recently. Lewis Waller. Charles
Cartwright and Kate Rorke PLAYED the
principal parts. There are four acts
and six scenes
"A Woman of Business" a comedy;
written by w. r. Wakes, will be tried
soon at the st. James Theater. London
with Kate Rorke, Olga Brandon. Svd-
ney Brough and Cyril Maude in tho
| chief r+c II to,