The record-union., 1898-01-30

the news that BfanfnS NiotS Aoui lcOii
bars of Schumann's opera 'GenoVeVa
1t happened this way: When that op-
era was to be produced at Hanover,
in 1874, Nine. Schumann sent to one
of the singers a version of Slegfried' S
song in the third act with fourteen
added bars by Brahms, which had met
with her cordial approval as she agreed
with Brahms that that song ended too
abruptly and needed a few additional
bars.
Several efforts have been made to in
duce Rudyard Kipling to make play
out of one of his stories, or to write an
entirely new dramatic composition, but
up to date he has steadily refused to
do so.
An attempt is to be made by COM
mittee of French financiers and artists
to rejuvenate Versailles. 1t is proposed
TO turn the large Louis XIV. hall, in the
right wing of the great chateau or PAL
ace, into a theater and concert-room.
Parisians are to be attracted to the
place by select musical programmes ar
ranged by NJ. Lamoureux, and by care
full productions of the comedies OF
Moliere, which are to be staged on a
grand scale with the ballets diVertsSe-
ments and costumes of the period. Yer
sailles will thus it is said, become the
Bayreuth of the immortal author Oh
"Tartuffe' and the Bourgeois Gentl-
honime" The proposed regeneration
of Versailles is due to the initiative OF
a painter. NJ Bertrand, who is getting
assistance from the press, but it Is
rather doubtful if Parisians will back
the scheme with enthusiasm.
An influential committee has been
formed at Vienna for the purpose of
promoting Brahms monument, to be
erected at some public place in the
Kaiserstadt. Hans Richter is one of
the Vice Presidents.
The London Musical Times de-
scribes a musical curiosity that may be
seen at Dessau: The Duke of Anhalt is
the possessor of an antique clock to
which some musical works are attached
playing a number of tunes. These, ac-
cording to tradition, are all of them
original compositions by Johann Sc
bastian Bach, and ernanating from the
period 1717-1723) during which the
great cantor was in the service OF
Prince Leopold of Anhalt- Koethen. The
tunes with their harmonies, have re-
Gently been noted down, for the hrst
time by the Dessau Court Capellemeis-
ter. Herr August Klughardt, and are
about to be published by Messrs. Brett
kopf & Hartel Of Leipsic-
The spreading of Buddhism from In
dia TO China and Japan, the division
into castes. and the tenacity with which
the three nations cling to ancient GUS
toms, during thousands OF years
without change or progress
are all of Importance in tracing
their musical history. While the
Hindoos possess a lively imagination,
the Chinese exhibit in its stead cir
cuuscribed but practical worldliness.
The Hindoo conception of the world IS
poetical and ecstatic; the Chinese pro
sale, with a pedantic trait running
throughout. Whereas Chinese art is
superficial, that of the Hindoo, on the
contrary, attempts to be profound, to
fathom the connection between mind
and matter, Uniting these with pref
erence for the transcendental, the fan
tastic and the mystic. The Chinese
are the only people who, thousands or
years ago, possessed a system of oc-
tayes. a circle OF fifths and normal
tone. The Oldest known Chinese book
of music dates from the eleventh CEN
ttry B. c. The japanese are the near
est neighbors of the Chinese, and they
are also related by blood to them. They
revere music and connect it with their
idol worship, but judged from an artist
ic point. IT is inferior to Chinese music.
we also find the music of the japanese
in strange association with their d1-
nlomacv. It is said that formerly an
ambassador in addressing a foreign
court. to which he was commissioned,
did not speak. but sang his mission.
I'm the days of Shakespeare, the
ParI of Avon. who was an actor of much
,,enown. dressed himself behind a bush
and stepped out from a sylvan retreat
1,ron the stage. In winter he played
,,ron a plain floor, while lettered posts
said This is grass!' Behold house
and so through many acts of Shakes
peare's plays.
AS late as 1850 drop curtains con-
tanned advertisements. Use Whites
pills and Browns Ointment We're the
advices that met your eyes as you
cbatted between the acts. A most in
delicate reminder of real life we should
now declare. There is hardly a great
artist now who does not paint drop
curtains and like the designing of cur
rency, it is considered a great honor.
Actresses are said to favor hand
h.st & dnflhff1l1 II
thew would not be satisfied with a less
elegant one Take the case of Mrs. Ken
dali that time she swooned and acci-
dentalIy fell too far toward the foot
lights as the curtain was falling The
stage hands deliberately allowed the
heavy roller to descend upon her head
because they feared that stopping the
curtain with a sudden jerk might in
jure the mechanism and slit the SILK.
Clara Morris told me of an experience
of her own of that kind. but one of her
company considerably dragged her
out of harms way by tugging her
gently along by one ear. while the he
roine endured the most exeruciating
agony.
Bernhardt and Henry Irving are both
the terror of managers because both IN
Sis- UPON cutting eSe-uoAeS III a vi e~AaAi-
The former to refuse TO so on unless
there is good house; and Sir Henry 50
that he may locate his friends and re-
cognize them. But this Is one of the
vagaries of genius; many a great
painter has received an agonized letter
from a theater owner imploring him TO
come at once and put head upon a
peasant that was accidentally beheaded
this afternoon by the stars penknife' !"