The record-union., 1898-07-10

NuODQdy) tNSiiliiS, ,
May Nannary and the full strength or
the excellent company now at Mr.. Cliff
toms house The play will be the spec
tacular drama, "At the Bottom of the
Sea-"
The story is from an old French nov
ell. Under the Sea-" In one, the scene
of the fourth act, the bed Of the ocean
is represented with the wrecked vessel
Isabel in view. Divers in their subma-
rine armor have descended to repair a
parted cable. Banalli, the villain, is
with them to secure the treasure from
the body Of the heroine's father, who
went down with the wreck. Banalli is
attacked by giant octopus, which he
conquers after a terrific combat. He
succeeds in getting the treasure and is
about to ascend to the surface, when he
is intercepted by the hero, whom he has
left for dead.
A scene Of shipwreck in the first act
and one in the third are equally in
teresting and exciting. The latter
scene shows the deck Of the French war
vessel Invincible, engaged in laying the
West India cable. AS the machinery
pays out the black coil the cable sud-
denly snaps, amid the din of terrific
thunderstorm.
This is one of the WebsterBrady
plays with which that old partnership
achieved great success. 1t is mounted
with a wealth of fine scenery and many
novel and handsome stage effects.
The Thorne family, from the elder
and patriarch, to Emily Jordan, the
beautiful daughter, were in the early
n arrx- NF Ca1s
Wilton Lackaye, the accomplished ar
tist, in speaking of the Thorne family
says: 1t was remarkable as much for
its Wit and keen humor, as for its dra-
matte ability. Charley Thorne's say
ings kept his friends in a roar off the
stage, as his power electrified his au-
diences. Emily Thorne (Mrs. Chamber
Gn) is known as one of the brightest
of women. But Ed. Thorne was the
quickest of ALL One of his gags was
the following. The elder Thorne had
produced a play called "Roderick Dhu"
at Niblo's Garden, in New York. The
play was a failure, and when the old
man said: Il am Roderick Dhu," Ed.
Thorne shouted: Yes, and so is your
rent due, Roderick," to the discomfi-
ture of the pater, and the roarS of the
audience. He promised not to repeat
that offense, but the next night when
the villain shouted Five hundred
pounds for Roderick Dhui' Ed. jump
ed from behind a set rock and re-
Piled: It's yours, manuscript and
parts"
g. e tits remarkable fact which has not
attracted sufficient notice, that the
Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Lon
don, has dropped the word Italian"
from its title, and is now simply ad-
vertised as Royal Opera, Covent Gar
dem" 1t would, indeed, have been colly
to retain that name since there is not
a single Italian singer in the big COM
pany engaged by Mr.. Grau, nor will
there be more than two or three Italian
operas in the repertoire. Sutherland
Edwards suggests that one reason why
Italian singers are neglected is that
they never learn to sing in any Ian
guage but their own. The necessity Of
being able to sing in German and
French, however, in itself indicates the
great change that has taken place. for
until a few years ago nearly all operas
given in London, even Wagner's, We're
sung in Italian. But the main reason
why Italian singers are not engaged is
IIldl none are III thlSltiiIEs llldl HDi4G
OF the first rank.
In her recently published memoirs
Miss Betham- Edwards thus describes
Liszt Il had not partaken of the l.
o'clock ordinary many times when /
noticed remarkable figure at the foot
of the table a figure once seen impos-
sdble TO forget, il was that of an elder
" rayJa almost HaTrulaan in
stature, and spare to lankiness, his long
hair hanging down in silver slips, his
face wearing a strange look only TO be
expressed by the word illumination, his
eyes OF diamond like piercingness and
brilliance. But even more striking than
build and physiogomy were the hands,
moved so restlessly and conspicuously.
II could not be said that those long,
nervous, expressive hands We're out Of
proportion with limbs so large; the
noteworthy characteristic was the
length OF each little finger, the fourth
indeed almost equalled in size the
pointer. AS he sat at table, whether
manipulating knife and fork or chat
ting to his neighbors. his hands were
never for moment still. IT seemed as
If they were restless spirits not to be
coerced into passiveness.
Sir Arthur Sullivan's "Ivanhoe" is
down 10 date the only serious opera
from British pen which has ever
achieved a run of a hundred consecu-
tive nights. The prediction is now
made that his new opera, THE Beauty
Stone" will beat that record. Never
theless, one of the critics remarks: 'It
was perfectly obvious on Saturday that
a public accustomed to the quips and
cranks of those two merry Savoyards,
Gilbert and Sullivan, were bewildered
by the almost Shakespeardan delibera-
ton with which some OF the players
spoke their lines. AT any rate, the roar
of applause which went up when Mr.
Passanore and Miss Emmie Owen plung-
ed into the only genuine break down
permitted in an opera which lasts near
" four hours, showed how much the
audience missed the familiar comic
songs and Savoy Dances"
Students of phrasing and expression
in music should read an illustrated ar
ticle by Rosenthal in the June number
of the London Musical Times" which
shows particularly the Importance
of accents Rosenthal is however,
wrong in the last OF his illustrations.
His accentuation takes all the longing
out of Schubert's Sehnsuchts Waller
The most important accents are those
which he removes.