The Ocala evening star., 1911-03-10

and action. The first impression Is
overpowering. and we put the ques-
tion to ourselves: Does all of this orig
mate from Heaven; il is born Of
earth; it is art, or is ii both We have
never before seen the like. We have
scarcely grasped all this, when we
are suddenly placed under the spell
of the wonder of wonders. The full
filment of the promise now begins"
Now He himself appears. and a fer
vent glow of devotion pervades our
hearts. when we see before our very
eyes the figure which is so familiar
to US from the days Of our childhood.
from numberless pictures. He steps
forth before us a living form. All this
is acted. and yet not acted as il were.
for that which distinguished il from
mere acting is the spirit of true belief.
And over the audience and the per-
formers invisible web i woven,
which with a thousand threads con-
meets the one with the others. And
how really fine these moving masses
OF people are. in their bright raiments
which in way give the idea Of mere
costumes. In these figures so true
to life, we see best how wrong the
idea of our modern painters is who
can only ina gine Truth clothed in
/ the everyday dress of our European
! fashions. When we witness the
| strewing palms upon which the Son
| of man treads. his slender form in the
traditional red and grey garments
standing out in all its chastity: when
| we see the face with its expression of
| infinite gentleness and submission, we
realize that he is standing before US
| in the flesh. The representative of
| this years Christus will bear most
favorable comparison with his prede-
cessor, Mayn. The two can stand side
by side. just as we'll as the various
types of Christ of various artists
/ What Anton Lang lacks of MayE's
| spiritual fervor is replaced by his
| more dogmatically correct appearance.
Where he cannot command the depth
! of expression of his predecessor. he
| has the indescriba BILE dignity and ma
jesty, also the infinite pathos of the
whole figure. If Mayr was more the
powerful God. who in full knowledge
| Of the same. with whom only the
| human part of his nature was, to a
| certain extent. under his strong will
| shaken in its depthsand whose agoni-
/ zing groans always made you recog-
nize the conflict between the God head
iand man-so Anton Lang is entirely
the lamb of God, who without COM
planning, without resisting, bears the
sins of the world in dumb submission.
III believe that Flunger excepted there
ihas been no such typical and truly
IGerman embodiment of the "Nazarene"
during the whole of the century in
Anton Lang. When he is hanging on
the cross, it is just as if the wonder
full picture of the CrucifiXion by Over
beck in the Rosmniamim at Stresa
were before
| But let US now continue to follow
the course of the play In the mean
time Christ has alighted from the ass
and has entered the precincts of the
temple. He sees the desecrated spot
which the traders have turned into a
market place. In holy anger he raises
his hands, oyerturns the tables OF
those who sell doves, and also over
turns the cages containing the doves
and they fly away free. He brandish-
les the scourge over the heads of the
IprofanerS of the temple. The Pharisees
lbecOme enraged, the traders conspire
together for revenge; the animal ma
ture in man now associates itself with
the threatening power of the priest
lily throngs. All conspire together to
destroy him. The foundation is now
laid upon which the chief priest. the
iscribes and the elders can erect their
pernicious fabric In the next act be-
igns the conspiracy of the High Coun-
ell We may call this assembling of
the High Council masterpiece of the
text of Weiss and Daisenberger so
powerfully do those assembled work
upon us. The eminent dialects Of the
Chief High Priest, the religious fanat-
icism. the priestly hierarchy in danger
of being overthrown, the passionate
ness of the Jewish character. which
is expressed in the words IAN eye for
an eye, tooth for tooth All this
presents a picture of grandest truth
and a mastery portrayal of character
The leave-taking at Bethany follows
and the whole shadow of painful
events, described in the gospel of
St. John, seems to cast itself over our
hearts. and We shudder at the thought
of how they will come to pass. Here
for the first time the women appear;
Mary Magdalene annoints the feet of
the Lord and dries them with her long
hair. Judas is enraged a. the waste,
. and We feel that avarice has already
seized his soul. Then we witness the
sorrowful leave-taking of the Savior
and his disciples: we see the last
lleave-taking from the mother, whom
: he thanks for all her loving care which
she has shown TO him in the thirty
f three years of his life zone of the
! most beautiful and touching sceneS) t..
There is nothing more impressive than
the sight of Him. appointed to die.
who in full knowledge Of the same,
: goes to meet his destiny. All Christ )
. sorrowful preparations. in which he
; lexp1ains to his disciples the expe-
: diency of his sufferings; the effective
/ scene of the washing of feet: the sub
f ilimity of the last supper-all things
' that carry the soul through sea Of
{ approaching sorrow to the Mount