The Washington herald., 1906-12-23
BERNESE MUSIC MAD.

Correspondence Of The Washington Herald
Bern, Dec. 1o.-We have nothing If not
musical in Bern! This weeks programme
Will prove it with the Announcement con-
cert on Tuesday. the Iong-heraIded re-
appearance of Nine Mario Gay IN
Carmen on Wednesday and Friday. and
on Saturday the wel-beloved Marie
Brema in a programme half song and
half recitation, the latter given by her
talented daughter, Miss Tlta Brand.
They say the Bernese people are a cold.
self-restrained people and Unconditional
wish you could have seen and heard
them Tuesday at the Advancement con-
cert at the close of every one of the
seven songs of the prima donna. Fri. TnIv
koenen. from Holland They carried on
like mad and called and recalled her. and
found almost as much pleasure IN the low
obeisance that she made in acknowledg-
ment as IN the songs themselves.
Wednesday the theater was jammed for
Carmen and the cold" Bernese almost
tore Nine. Gay to bits with their en-
/ thusiasm. After every act she mad 10
come before the curtain four or five times.
and even in the open scene" as It is
called, she was often applauded. some
thing which is never done in Europe.
They say that Carmen" was created for
her many years ago-even so many as
twenty years aEo-but 20 look at her
one would never believe that she could
count back so far. However. she is car
men'-it is no more acting, it is living
the part the way she interprets il. one
enthusiast exclaimed. Potts Dounerwet-
ter! So solite man sic habenr' and an
other in my neighborhood, n course "a
man, sighed, 20, Ia belle bete,'
It seems that the last time she was
here she received five offers Of marriage
from as many cold Beruese gentlemen
Imagine the disappointment Of these FIVE
TO be told that SIX reasons prevented her
from accepting their most dattering offers
namely, husband and FIVE children, ]
hear she is engaged i'm New York for next
season, and / am sure she VIII make
good isn't that your expression for
/ the New Workers like something spicy. ]
believe. and la Gays" Carmen" is am
spice. The house is already sold out for
Brema, as she is a favorite with us.
Miss Brand will give scenes from Shake
speare. and that draws immensely. for il
I is the style IN Bern TO adore the English
language and 20 show on all occasions
one S mastery over H. I must say il is
astonishing. too how wen every ono
knows it, IT is taught In the schools
very thoroughly. and ali the young folks
can answer intclligently any simple ques-
ton put % them after a year Of study;
further the young ladies. after gradua-
ton, are sent fer one year 10 French
Switzerland 10 learn French. and then one
year 90 England TO learn English. some
times this latter trip has a very bad
effect on the character of the girls. as
for instance. in the case Of the daughter
OF a Well-knOWn caTved-WOOd merchant
/ here, who came back from a six weeks
/ stay in England and spoke with scorn of
/ somebody as being shop Talk about
your pot and kettle
There is a dear lady here whom I am
/ very fond of. but who convulses me with
her English. Anything funny is Ito
/ laugh, anything sad Ito weep" while
as for that troublesome word get" she
translates the German equivalent "be-
/ kommen" by become The result is
that in the spring she laments 20, 1 can
become no cook nor no proper maid
Really it is TO weep" and TO laugh,
too.
Speaking Of languages, Bern is really a
I pOlyglot town. For instance. the tele-
/ phone rings and I 90. 1 call Halo" and
/ the answer is Bon jour. list Frau H.da ?'
/ Then I answer ia and the conversation
/ continues in German. At the end Of the
! conversation we say: ALSO, adieu. Merci
/ beaucCup," or what is even more mixed
/ ''Merci viel vielmaIr'
/ Yesterday was a prize day in this re-
/ spect, I mean in the language line. All
/ the morning a girl was with me who
+ speaks very good English. In the after
/ noon the Italian club met at my house
In the evening I went with my brother
/ in-law, who always speaks French to me
/ to a German opera, and in between al
| day long I had 10 give my orders in the
/ household in the Bernese dialect.
The ladies here are very ambitious. and
every one 1 know takes lessons of some
/ sort Some go TO the gymnasium. some
go to the university q hear that Prof
! Weese's lectures on art are so popular
/ that you can hardly find a seat even il
| you go early)-some go to the Berlitz
/ SchOOl, ana some fence. mere IS udIulA
any one who does not belong to one OF
| two little clubs called 'KTanzil," where
they meet once a fortnight. do fancy
work, drink tea, and consume piles OF
those delicious little cakes that the con-
! fectioners know so well how to make
/ here, and talk over the latest events of
the season. And the singing teachers
! here would form an army.
! Every girl wants 10 be a prima donna,
and every married lady has secret am
billions to follow in the footsteps of la
| Brema" and discover at forty or there
about that she is a genius. All this is
very good indeed in a town where so
| ciety is divided up into infnitesimal
cliques and really as such does not exist
at all: and everybody knows that an idle
woman is the prey of-well 1 won't say
! whom FRAU II.