The times., 1898-04-17
MUSICAL NOTES.
.cThe specter's Bride.

The veil which hides that mystic tone
poem. THE Spectcr's Bride will lift
next Tuesday evening, April 18th, at the
CONGREGATIONAL Church, metaphorcaily
sneaking. and Washington listeners will
be gratified in having an opportunity to
hear Dvorak's master-work. AS the
sounds pass by SO quickly they can re-
veal only like lightning flashes in a dark,
stormy night-combinations of scenery
and changes unexpected. And the spec
tator will find 1t difficult to grasp all the
swift-hitting views. But at least Will
the skill of orchestration be selt-eFident
to the attentive-it is descriptive and real
istic to an eminent degree; and the tone
tints are all natural and captivating. The
gift of melody is as inheritant in tins
COMPOSER as the peculiar, characteristic
rhvthms which are met with throughout
the work, Zanguil. in the Great Bow
Mystery" calls them the weird diabol-
isms of DVorak.
The ghost story which the Choral So
,.ietv will tell is one of those old German
legends that grew up with the Naikyrle
and Magic Forest Bird and Fire Music OF
Wagner, and which take as many forms
as the changing clouds Heihflch f1eihe
picture of il is this:
The maiden sleeps in her chamber
Where the trembling moOnbenmS glance;
Without there rattleth and ringcth
The melody OF dance
Il viii look just once from the window
70 see who breaks my rest.
4 skeleton fiddles before her
And sings like one POSSESSED.
.To dance with me you promised
And vuu have broken your vow;
Tonight is a bah in the urohyard,
Il dance tEsIt "a fsa ntNk
| The music bewitches the maiden;
| Forth from her home doth she 20,
| And follows the bony fiddler,
Who sings he scrapes his bow
He fddes and hops and dances,
| And rattles his bones Ae plays;
Hi, skull mods gTiinlv and strangely
In the clear moonlight rays
Upton's "Cantatas' gives this account
| of it:
The legend of the Specters Bride is
| current III various forms among all the
| SIavonic nations. There is an Austrian
version in Burgers ballad, 'Lenore, Civ
en- a symphony setting by Raft. The Boz
hemian form used by Dvorak represents
the bride gazing a, a picture OF the Vir~
| gin mourning the daath-Of her parents
and the absence of her lover who has
| failed to keep his promise TO return.
Sow flax he has told her, spin the
first year, bleach the next, make gar
ments in the third; that year we two
shall wed. She has faithfully fol-
lowed his counsel The three years have
gone by: still no tidings. AS she ap
peals to the Virgin 10 bring him back,
the picture moves, the fame of the
lamp upleaps, there is an omnous knock
at the door and the voice of the van
ished lover is heard urging her to cease
praying and follow him to his home.
She impIores him to wait until the night
IS past, but the unfortunate gentleman
bids her go with him. and she consents
They speed over rough boulders
through thorny brakes and swamps. at.
tended by the baying or wolves the
screeching of owls, the croaking OF
frogs and the fitful glo@ oI corpse can
dies. He makes her throw away, one by
one, her prayerbook, enaplet and cross
and resisting all appeals to stop and
rest, at length they reacn the church
yard wall He Gains her fears with the
assurance that the church IS his castle
and the yard his garden, and bids her