New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-25
A CHASTITY CONCERT ~ PARIS.
HOW THE CATACOMBS WERE INVADED
BY PARTY THAT LISTENED TO
FUNERAL MUSIC

Paris correspondence Of The London Telegraph
Many sensational shows have been organized OF
late years in Paris but the ghosty concert whch
took place on Saturday morning in the small hours
beats the record We have had coffin cafes. inferno
tayerns. and night houses uicked out III mochciI
Of heaven itself but this ia the first time that the
Catacombs of Paris, commonly known as the Bone,
music of Beethoven and Chopin. or the 'Danse
Macabre' of Saint-Saens. The concert, called
spiritual and pTofane, was organized by band
Of the new aeshetes. who are art students. budding
doctors. lawyers, musicians ana literary people.
wear their hair plastered down the sides OF thei@
faces. like Bottices figures. and a Nile dc
were of the leading class. recruited from the or
chestras OF the opera and the concerts OF Lam
oureux and Colonne Invitations were sent out 10
the press and to other quarters, that at midnight
on Friday over one hundred people presented them
e eeTfs WIN b sreR para a. The conepiraers as
tho organizers of the CLEARINGHOUSE concert have
all the invited persons TO make as little noise as
possible when entering or leaving the street leading
All this mystery was necessary, because the con-
organizers had no Official authorization to en-
ter tho CatacOmbs. They simply brlbed two per-
sons in charge OF the place, one OF whom was In
trusted with the key of the dead mems door: This
breach of trust will. OF course be punished by the
roads and bridges officials to whose department
tho Catacombs belong but it is doubtful II the
peccant employees will be dismissed, as powerful In
iiuence will be used to save them They are al
ready spoken of in a highly euloeistlc manner as
sensation for Paris and the world at large. The
descent down the snail-like stairs OF ninety-toir
illumincd by common candles. The persons attend
ing the concert were then conducted along the
central gallery main shaft, past the myriads OF
deaths heads and crOssbones piled around. Tho
whole place eXhales an indescribable odor for II Is
deep down in the bowels Of the earth. and con
tains the bones of over three millions of past gen
erations OF Parisans collected between l1D and
1875 from the Cemetery OF the lnnocents and from
other long-vanished metropolitan and eXtra-mural
grayeyards. In the Catacombs were also placed
street fights during times Of civil war or revou-
ton. The walls are inscribed here and there with
the names Of the Old cemeteries and with Latin
as the lot of all None of these memenos OF
m tn, CatacHms 20 some Of them handled the
skulls like Hamlet in the graveyard and INDUCED
few cracked Jokes the ribs OF death and med
cal professor volunteered lecture on ANATOMY
came a little nervous. however. ard complained
that the place sadGened them; but they were con
cert This took place at a SOFT OF roads.
around which soms chairs were placed. The mu
slciana stationed themselves before their stands at
80 o'clock in the morning. and arranged their
parts by the dim light OF tho candles stuck in
When everything was ready the conductor tapped
his desk raised his baton ana The plantiye moan
violins walled through tho gloomy halls of death
as if they were played by ghosts and not by robust
There were also heard that eerie composition, the
"Danse Macabre'' of Saint-Saens. the Funeral
March from Beethovan's Heroic symphony, and
fragment from the "Perscs," the composer of which.
VI. LorouX conducted his own work. MarIet re.
Catacombes." The xylophone was also used dur
ing the concert. in order TO give an impression OF
the Changing or raspng Of dead mems bones The
extraordinary entertainment. If il can be called,
concluded toward 3 i'm the morning. ana tho
visitors to the subtcrranean vaults emerged into
the fresh air above some manfest'y Impressed
others-and they were In tho notwithstanding Ia
he unmovod 10y what they had seen and heard. II
IS not likoly that such an affair will be again al
lowed TO take place I'm tho Catacombs. ana some
credit is given to tho organizers OF the srang' con"
axtraordinarv enterprise To a successful issue.
eide Ia al
ing cxplorcrs of the subterrancan ossuary, admis-
sion TO when IS not easily granted. on the other
hand not 4 few pr0testations have been heard
against TN, dcscc .atioT az the Catacombs and the
disrespect paid by morbid sensation mongers to the
dead whose bones line the walls Of the under
ground cavities which extend bcnrsth the districts
~ pn,,t Nontrougc and MOnt-Ouris.