Evening star., 1905-05-10
GERMAN SHAKESPEARE
LIFE AND WORK OF POET SCHIL
LER coMMEMoRATED.
One Hundredth Anniversary Of His
Death-Exercises Under Au-
spices Of Central Verein-

The German Central verein. composed OF
twenty-one German societies Of Washing
ton, met at National Rifles Armory last
night-the one hundredth anniversary OF
the death of the poet Schiller-and devoted
the evening to commemOration of the life
and work Of ''the German Shakespeare"
President Kurt Voelckner of the Central
Verein presided and gave sketch, Illus
trated by tableaux, of the poets life and
career. Representatives Of the German
embassy and prominent German residents
of the city made up the large audience
The hall was decorated with intertwined
American and German flags and profu-
sion of plants and flowers. The exercises
were conducted entirely in German.
President Voelckner related the circum-
stances of the poets death and told of his
funeral and spoke of his literary and per-
sonal history, the great works of his career
being shown with careful attention to de-
tail in the tableauX. Three Of the leading
German societies sang the Der Barde" OF
Schiller. Letters between Goethe and Schil-
ler were read and the Song of the Bee
was recited by Earnest Gilcher, and
Goethes epilogue to THE Song of the
Bell by Mr.. Fritz Pagelmann. Mr.. Chris
tan strack. editor of the Washington Jour-
nal, assisted the president in the arrange
mentS.
Six Tableaux Presented.
There were in all six tableaux. the first
being scene from Schiller's drama, 1.-THE
Robbers" Those who took part were Gott-
lieb Xander, Carl Braun, William Wiener.
]. A. Schmerger, Henry Xander Michael
Dietz. Gustav Maier, Carl Heinzman and
George Hauf.
1.-The Song of the Belr' was recited by
Ernest Gichner, and was illustrated by
three tableaux. THE Return of the
Stranger the first, showing old Ger
man home with the wanderer returning to
his German maiden, was participa ted in by
Paul Armbt, Mrs B. E. Gundlach, Miss
Margaret Meingardt and Ludwig Deisler.
The second was The Harvest Dance" re-
ycaling the dancers suspended in motion,
was enacted by Mesdames Susie Gundach,
Lena Schultz, Eliza Bagelman, Martha
Bruehl, F. b. Bueter. John Schedler, Zieg
fried Kofier Arnold Niehaus, Renhard
Schafer and Herman Schmidt. Three musi-
cians Alvin and Lewis Schmidt and Albert
Bagelman, also participated.
The third tableau, from THE Song of the
Bell" was 1.-The Hosting of the Bell" by
Frank Ehnert. Fritz Siebert. Harry F.
Schneider and Lewis and Albert Schmidt.
The latter was a perfect rendition of the
beauty of the scene pictured by the poet
The scene from "Wallensteins Camp"
was the>only active rendition. and was en-
Enthusiastically received. The costumes were
historically true, and the grouping of the
participants was excellent and artistic.
While the soldiers of the camp were con-
versing and drinking Rhine wine Mr.. F. A.
Rockar appeared as the Capuchin monk
and delivered the famous sermon.
The Participants.
Among those who participated were Au-
gust Schwarz, Frank Ehret. Fred Beuter.
Arnold Nilhaus, Fred Siebert, Lewis Her
man. Edwin Schmidt, H. F. Schneider,
John Schedler, Paul Arndt, R. E. Schaefer
and Albert Bagelman.
The final tableaux were 1.-THE Farewell of
William Tell to His Wife," from William
Tell,'' and the ''Soliloquy Of Jean Arc"
from the Maid of Orleans Jacob Brueg-
ger, Miss Pauline Holer, Henry Wassmann
and Carroll Wassmann participated, and
in the second Miss Susie Gundlach took the
part of Jean dare.
A feature was the singing of Silcer's Der
Barde" by twelve members from each OF
the leading singing societies, the Saenger-
bund, the Arion and the Germania Maen-
nerchor all under the direction of Prof
Henry Xander.
Mr. W. L. Elterich read the interesting
letter from Schiller to Goethe, dated August
81 1894 and Goethe's answer thereto, from
which dated the intimate friendship which
bound the two greatest poets of Germany
during the remainder of their lives.
The prologue to the entertainment, en-
titled 1.-The German Muse in Mourning was
spoken by Eeonore SchwarZ. and at the
close The German Muse in Hopeful JOY
both written by Mr.. Christian Strack. edi-
tor of the Washington Journal. At the con-
clusion of the exercises the Germans ad-
iourned to their respective societies ana
spent the remainder of the evening IN ceie-
brating.