The record-union., 1897-08-08

are credited with excellent acting as
/ the hero and heroine, although the form
/ er is said to give way occasionally tC
some sort of the Dad habits which ne
/ has contracted in melodrama at the
+ Adelphi.
! The latest performance of the Eliz-
/ abethan Stage Society in London com
1 prised the old play, The Lamentablt
and True Tragedy of Master Arden Of
/ Feversham, in Kent" and part oi
( Edward III" These performances OF
/ drama current in Shakespeare time
are given with Eliza bethan costumes
/ before a curtained background. Thf
actors are amateurs. William Peel Is
/ the prime mover in this enterprise, the
/ aim Of which. it is needless to say, Is
not to make money. The old tragedy
! of Arden of Feversham," and Edward
III" as well. have both been attributed
to Shakespeare. Arden had place
on the stage as late as the fore par
of the present century, in the version
/ begun by George Lilo, author OF
George Barnwell," and completed D!
! Boadem. 1t is one of the very few
! Elizabethan plays treating directly OF
! the everyday life OF that period II
| England 1t is founded ON true story
/ too, a gentleman of Kent named Ar
den having been actually murdered by
one Mosby. his wife's lover, and his
confederates. in 1850: which act caused
/ considerable sensation at the time.
Yvette Guilbert is married to DR.
! Schiller, the German-American OF hei
| choice. and a very quiet marriage II
was Her great dread was to find the
SALES des merraiages at the marie fllec
with a gaping crowd Even if she is a
singer Of doubtful songs, she has hel
illusions and romantic ways OF look
ing at things, and wants her life OIL
the stage to be closed to public curl
csity. The greatest precautions were
taken to throw inquirers off the scent,
and all preparations were made with
secrecy. During the morning more thaI
twenty reporters went to the office ol
the marie for information, but all were
given the same answer: 'Yvette Guh-
bert? Don't know her; you must De
mistaken; try at the marie OF the
eighth arrondissement.
The London Musical Times, which
for many years kept up a bitter fight
against Magnetism, has collapsed ut
terly on this point, and gives leading
position in the October number to the
first of a series of admirable articles
by F. c. Frederic Corder, no doubt on
"Wagner's Methods the first of them
concerning with Wagner's melodies as
compared with those of other compos-
ers, and as gradually modified in his
later works. Mr.. Corder says it is his
opinion, after studying Wagner's music
for twenty-five years, that no other
composer affords such valuable mate
rial to the student. Composers nave
for the last twenty years regarded his
as an authority, and he thinks 1t Is
time for the schoolmen, too, to give
their formal recognition. No doubt il
is: but after all it makes exceedingly
little difference to the public what the
''schoolmen'' and the experts" do OF
say. Tt knows that Wagner's brain
weighs more than that of all his profes-
sional opponents of half a century put
! together, and acts accordingly.
! The difficulty of forcing an entrance
/ into the heads of the prejudiced for tbs
/ simplest and plainest facts in history
! has had new illustration in a renewal
! of the discussion in Germany as tc
/ whether or not Wagner's device Of q
! concealed orchestra was of his own in
! vention. but no fact in musical history
/ is better authenticated. The matter
/ has been revived by Felix Draeseke
who. in a letter to the Dresden An
( zeiger" gave an account of Wagner's
own statement made to him on the sub
iect. The letter is as follows: To
day read in your journal a letter deal
/ ing with the subject of a hidden or
I chestra. in which the presumption was
expressed that Wagner was familiar
with a French writing on the subject
and had been led by it to introduce his
! innovation Perhaps it will interest,"
you to learn that when I visited Wag-
ner at Lucerne, as early as 1899, a
/ the request of LisZt, he gave me hi:
views on this point. He said, while liv-
, ing in Paris for the first time, before
his chapelmastership in Dresden GS30
. 42). he had been greatly interested iT
I the famous Conservatoire concerts
Once he came too late and was com
PEELED to wait in a space separated from
the orchestra by a sounding board
which, though rather high, did moi
reach to the ceiling of the concert
room He was greatly surprised at the
effect of the tone of the orchestra as il
was directed upward by the sounding
/ board, since the tone reached his eal
! in a sort of compacted and transfg-
ured unity, freed from the predOmi-
nance of individual effects. This sug-
gested the idea to him to secure the
same effect at all orchestral perform
ances, and he had hoped to introduce
the innovation in a theater which he
had already planned"
Old Drury Lane Theater in London is
not to be abandoned yet awhile The
policy of the late Sir Augustus Harris is
to be kept in operation there by a cor
poration. of which Arthur Collins is the
head. Big scenic melodramas will be
produced every autumn and spectacular
pantomimes at Christmas. The gross re-
ceipts of the last two autumn dramas
and the last two pantomimes were SS422,
$50 The Duke of Bedford owns Drury
Lane Theater. He charges the new les
sees So. 900 rent the first year. and this
sum will be gradually increased to $780,
600
Rome seems to be waking up from
its long musical sleep. Among recent
performances there were Bach's B.
minor mass, Sgambati's Requiem, ant
Wagners "Gotterdammerung, anC
both Paderekski and Ysaye played
there with great success. The .Gotter.