The record-union., 1897-08-15

such a pronounced success in Augustus
Thomas beautiful comedy drama, The
Hoosier Doctor" last season, will open
the regular season of the Grand Opera
House, Chicago, with the same play,
and largely augmented company COM
prising some of the best known ar
lists in the theatrical profession, among
whom are the Misses Laura Joyce-Bell,
Mabel Strickland, Emma Butler, Viola
Miles. Margaret owen, Jeanette Wild
er, Ethel Strickland, Clara Patte, lit
tie Ethel Vance and the Messrs. Arthur
Hoops, Frank Monroe, Herman Hirsh-
berg, Gage Clark, Frank Rushton, Ed
ward Riddle Harry Upshur, Charles
Gilman, Frank knight and others.
The success of Secret Service in
London will, doubtless, open the way
for other American plays. Louis
Nethersole has purchased the London
rights of Edwin Milton Royle's
Friends" and Charles F'rohman's Lon
don agent has secured Mr.. Royles lat
est success, Captain Impudence."
Maud Adams has at last risen to
the dignity of being called a star, an
honor which would be of more signifi-
canoe if Miss Adams had not already
enjoyed stellar prominence for several
years. Although John Drew holds an
undeniably secure position as a popular
fayorite, the honors of their joint pro-
ductions have been pretty evenly
shared.
When the Royal Society of Musicians
of Great Britain gave their one hun
dred and fifty-ninth anniversary din
ner Sir Henry Irving was requested to
preside. His speech upon that occasion
is printed in The American Art Jour
nal" It is in light vein, and though II
has, perhaps, no particular value in it
self, 1t shows one side of the dramat-
lists character as a successful after
dinner speaker. In part, he said:
s'When I began to consider the re-
sponsibility of presiding over this gath
ering I had certain visitings of COM
junction. You have heard much about
the union of the arts, and every liberal
mind must admit that the combination
of music, poetry, painting, sculpture
and acting-I am not putting them in
order of merit-will often give the high
est pleasure to a refined intelligence.
Yes; but standing here as a representa-
tive of an art which does not occupy
the minds of this distinguished COM
pany. I cannot help wondering, appre-
hensively, what musicians think some
times of the place allotted to music in
the drama. The technical term for
that position is, I believe, incidental
You look through your programme in
the theater, and if you are very
conscientious student, you may notice,
in small type, among a number of odds
and ends, the announcement that the
incidental music has been composed
by-well. probably by somebody who is
much worthier to occupy this chair
than I am This is not all. 1t may be
that the orchestra is invisible; you can
not see the stimulating gestures of the
conductor, because he is rpthlessly inn
prisoned in the bowels of the earth; at
any rate, the incidental strains rise
reproachfully from beneath the stage,
too often unheeded, l fear, during the
entr' 'actes, in the melodious hum of
conversation. Frankly, I find these
memories embarrassing. 1t is no con-
ISOLATION to reflect that I have often
died TO slow music-for it is with his
dying and not with the music, that
the actor wishes the spectators chiefly
to concern themselves. / once received
a letter, evidently written by musi-
clan, who complained of this associa-
ton of a stage death with compass
sionate chorus of violins: Either, he
said, either the acting should be good
enough without the music, or the music
is good enough without the acting I
declined to discuss such a painful di-
lemma. For the orchestra, / assure
7s,1 IN,
the theater, even when they are labor
ing underground, like the perturbed
spirit of Hamlets father And many
plays at the Lyceum have been en-
HANGED by the power Of music, which
I have acknowledged during my man.
agement by securing the cooperation
of many of our most gifted compos-
ers."
German newspapers are still brimful
of interesting things about the late Jo-
hannes Brahms, in which humor is
mingled with pathos. 1t is somewhat
surprising to hear that Brahms was
great epicure; he was fond of his oysters
and Chablis, although even wine seldom
made him communicative. The '4Neue
Wiener Tagblatt'' relates that when the
serious as to make it necessary to get
medical advice, the physician told him
promptly that he must at once begin a
strict diet. But how can -" exclaimed
Brahms. Il am invited to dine with
Strauss, and we are going TO have
chicken with paprika!" You must not
eat thati" said the doctor. Very we'll;
then you must imagine that / did not
come TO consult you till tomorrow" re-
piled Brahms, and he went to Strauss
and ate paprika-chicken. The dieting
was a great cross to him, and when the
physicians found that nothing could ar
rest the progress Of his disease, they
allowed him to eat what he pleased.
Unlike most great composers. Brahms
was not a passionate admirer of women.
Berlin Nation" declares that the sub
stance Of his opinions on women might
be summed up in the words sF'railty, thy
name is woman He never was mar
rled, and Widmann thinks that the rea-
son of that is that he was not appre-
ciated in his younger years. He relates
the following Incident:
1t was in the summer of 1887, during
q walk along the shores of Lake Thun.
that Brahms began to talk to me about
the reason why he never married II
was not the fear of being unable to
support wife and children with his art
that made him refrain. But" he said,
at time when felt most inclined to
marry. my pieces were Kissed in the
concert halls. or, at any rate, received
IL