Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-26
"King's Highway !"

| This book and its title Will nave
peculiar attraction for the intelnsent
fraction of the multitudes who traVei
| TO Coney Island on the Brighton
Beach line of the Brooklyn RAPID
Transit system. Kings Highway
10 the imaginative mind conjures up
strange fancies. 1t is a station not
far from the world-famed beach,
and the guards on the trains even
seem to feel that herel is a chance
to show their slAll in infection and
vocal timbre. The name is called out
in bold tone-coloring; it assumes the
rhythm of a chant or the erescenao
falsetto of the cockney. But IN each
instance tho charm of the cognomen
| is felt.
The Kings Highway" indeed,
arouses ideas of ages of history.
| One thinks of the Appian way, the
wondrous Corniche road, the Roman
roads and highways scattered
throughout Europe which defy the
rayages of time and even the rush
of the tourist in his high-powered
automobile The Kings Highway,
too is a reminder that even when
the subject was little better than,
a serf he still had the perpetual
right of passage over the common
road, equally with the sovereign.
This inalienable right has been a
powerful, indeed, paramount inilu-
ence In the administration of public
roads from the time of the Romans,
whose highways are still the wonder
of the world. The work of Mr.. ana
Mrs. Webb will repay reading by
those who are interested in good
roads.
1.-THE STORY OF THE KINGS HIGH
WAY" BY Sidney and Beatrice WeDo.
Longmans, London and New York, 1913.
"
Mozart and His Operas.
Those who do not know the operas
of Mozart do not know the genius
of this transcendent musician. The
work of Mr.. Bent is one of the best
ever written on the composer. Its
chief merit is it's sympathetic touch.
The operas of Mozart, Don Giovan-
nj and Figaro" are well known,
but "The Zauberfloete," the work
which contains the most brilliant ef-
forts of Mozart, is scarcely ever per-
formed This is due, for one reason,
to the difficulty of finding a queen
of the night who can sing the music
of the role. 1t may be added, also,
that the libretto is incomprehensible
trash. The beauties of 1.-THE Zauber-
hoete" are innumerable. AS well as
the fugue which opens the overture,
Mozart. like Handel, borrower
when he felt so inclined, included in
the score three old chorales. The
singer for whom the music of the
"Regina di Notte" was written was
Nine. Hofer, the composers sister
in-law. One of those who sang this
role in modern days was Carlotta
Patti. The magnificent aria in the
second act is one of the most dill
cult in musical literature. 1t contains
several bars in staccato quavers IN
high c and two passages in F altis-
simo. 1t is said that Nine. Hofer
compelled Mozart to write this vocal
gymnastic exercise that she might
rival the greatest alto-soprano OF
whom there is any record. This was
La Aguijare, whose death occurred
| in 1888. In this country there is on
record a like achievement to that OF
| Mime. Hofer by an alto-soprano who
sang many years ago in the Catholic
Church of st. John in Philadelphia.
| The singers powers filed the church
| to overlooking, especially at the YES
per service.
Da Ponte, who wrote the wretched
| libretto for Don Giovanni, emil
grated to New York and died there
! in extreme poverty
MOZART OPERAS; CRITICAL
| STUDY" By Edward j. Bent. Chatto
and Windus, London and New York.
Roman Architecture.
The evolution Of Roman architec-
ture is well and even nobly treated in
this book With the establishment of
| the empire of the Caesars there came
the demand for the expression of the
grandeur of the new organization in
buildings to be scattered over nearly
the whole of the known world. The
| Roman had a varied choice at his
command, in his conquered prov
inces. And, in accordance with
his discipline of heroic common
sense. he chose the expression best
fitted to indicate his own solidlty
and strength. Indeed, as Margaret
Fuller Ossoli said, architecture was
above all others, the art in which
Rome excelled. The Romans did not
grow, they built themselves up, or
were built up by the fate of Rome. as
a temple for Jupiter Stator. Thus, as
the empire sprang, full-fiedged, into
being. the Roman chose his architec-
| tural style with an impartial, cosmo-
politan eclecticism, subordinating all
things to his imperial pride. Again,
as Countess Ossoli said, we are never
| better understood than when we
speak of a Roman virtue, a Roman
outline. Their impression was indel-
ible. So the citizen of Rome, in his
grandeur, melted kingdoms into a Ro-
man mass. to use the noble phrase OF
Tertullian, and assimilated all which
he considered served his purpose in
the land she conquered. Baths, aque-
ducts, amphitheatres and churches. or
temples, arose in countries and ell
mates widely diverse and separated,
but always bearing the imprint, Ro-
man. Through this evolutionary process
there arose the Byzantine and Ro-
1 manesaue architecture. It's deterrhin-
ing features in all quarters of the
earth were the arch and the vault.
| BYZANTINE AND ROMANESQUE
ARCHITECTURE" By Thomas Graham
Jackson Two vols Cambridge. The
University Press. 1913.
Literary Notes.
Longmans Oondon and New York;
have just published an introduction
to the study of Indian music. The
book is by e. Clements. A great
| musical critic Thus characterizes the