The record-union., 1897-05-09

DOOk Oh t1OW ~
to Music" says of the cello and treble
bass: The 'cello's voice is a bass-it
might be called the baritone of the
choir-and in the olden time of simple
writing little else was done with it
than to double the bass part one octave
higher. But modern composers, appre-
clating its marvellous capacity for ex-
preston, which is next to that of the
violin, have treated it with great free
dom and independence as a solo instru-
ment. Its tone is full of voluptuous
languor. 1t is the signing lover of the
instrumental company, and can speak
the language of tender passion more
feelingly than any of it's fellows. The
raVishing effect of multiplication OF
its voice is tellingly exemplified in the
opening of the overture to William
Tell which is written for five solo 'celli
though it is often heard in an arrange
ment which gives two of the middle
parts to violas. When Beethoven wish
ed to produce the emotional impression
of peacefully rippling brook in his
Pastoral symphony, he gave a mur-
muring figure to the divided violoncel-
los, and Wagner uses the passionate
accent of four of these instruments
playing in harmony to support Sieg-
mund when he is pouring out the costa
sy OF his love in the first act Of Die
Walkure.' In the love scene of Ber-
Ioz's Romeo and Juliet symphony it
Is the ViolOncello which personifies the
lover, and holds converse with the
modest oboe.
The patriarchal double bass is known
TO all, and also its mission of providing
the foundation for the harmonic struct-
ure of orchestral music 1t sounds an
octave lower than the music written
for it, being what is called trans
posing instrument of sixteen-foot tone.
Solos are seldom written for this in
strument in orchestral music, though
Beethoven, with his daring recitals in
the ninth symphony, makes it medi-
atOr between the instrumental and vo-
cal forces. Dragonetti and Bottesini.
two Italians, the latter of whom is still
alive, won great fame as solo players
on the unwieldly instrument The lat
ter uses a small bass viol. and strings
it with harp strings; but Dragonetti
played a full double bass, on which
he could execute the most difficult
passages written for the yioloncello"
=
HIM Stanley is about to bring out a
popular edition Of his book, In Dark
est Africa" 1t will be in one volume,
with all the old illustrations and a map.
The text viii be somewhat revised and
the author will supply a new preface.
The Athenaeum: The discovery is re-
ported from Sandwich of another orig
inal copy of Mrs. Browning's The Bat
tie of Marathon" which was printed
for w. Lindsell 81 Wimpole street.
Cavendish Square, in 1920 1t was
bought at a local sale with a number
of other books for few shillings. Up
to the year 1891 but three copies of
this scarce work were known to exist.
and the only one that has ever been
sold at auction realized 1880 at the
FOOte sale held in New York a couple
of years ago. This may have been one
of the three copies already mentioned.
but in any case only FIVE at the most
can be accounted for at the present
time. The book is consequently
scarcer than Pauline" Mr.. Brown
ing had neither seen nor heard of a
copy UP TO within a short time of his
death. and when his attention was
called to it expressed doubt whether
ii might not be a fabrication.
The Risen Christ" by Leonardo da
Vinzi, takes US back to the bloom of
the Italian Renaissance, when to pro-
duce masterpieces seemed the natural
way of living, and boys not yet out of
their teens were trained artists OF all
the powerful minds of his generation
LeonardO's was the most remarka Bile
1t is said that he looked upon painting
as his profession. but he was a sculpt-
or, an architect and a musician as well
as a painter. and, outside the range of
art. he was learned in geology, in geog-
raphy, in botany, chemistry, physiolo-
gy. astronomy, anatomy, engineering
and mechanics. He was neither busi-
ness man nor a politician, but every
thing else he was, nor was there ever
an artist who did more honor to the
art Of painting" says Vasari. The ex-
ample of his work that is here repro
duced shows many of the more import
ant characteristics Of his pictures. The
kneeling woman. with her muscular
throat and her long hands crossed, is
his well-nwon type of vigorous matur-
ity; the little river curving in and out
between groups of scuIpturesque trees
is the same that slips away in the
background Of the famous Mona Lisa, -
while the architectural composition and
the splendid folds of the drapery show
his easy mastery of difficult artistic
problems.
In 1883, thirty-one years after the
birth of Leonardo, came Raphael. of
whom Vasari said quantity: Nature
made of all the rarest qualities of the
heart to shine resplendently in her Ra-
phael" His picture, The Transfigura-
ton" is the one painted just before his
death, in 1920. and contains more than
any other of our group the joyousness
OF the Renaissance and of the pro-
found belief in the actual scene repre-
sented Sir Thomas Browne expressed
the spirit of RaphaePs time as we'll as
of his own when he said of Christ: II
believe He was dead, and buried, and
rose again. Nor is this
much to believe. as we have reason;
We owe this faith 10 history" In such
serenity of conviction the artists of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries work
ed out their realistic conceptions, and
We cannot think that any hint of pos
sible incongruity disturbed RaphaePs
thought when upon either side Of the
figure OF the Christ he placed the aged
figures OF Moses and Elias dancing
over the illumined cloud so lightly-"no
sun upon an Easter day were half so
fine a sight" Throughout his short life