Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-27
fsIusicaI and Dramatic Notes,

This month there is inaugurated at
Saint Remy de Provence a monu-
ment to Gounod which will COM
memorate the fact that there the
composer wrote his opera, "Mireille, !"
| in 1868 generation later he wrote
l"Ah. Mireille,' What Radiant
| Memory of Ny Life And, as did
/ that most unhappy of all men or
| genius, Beethoven, he found the
| source of his inspiration there in
the glorious light of the sun, in the
| open air, for he adds Rising before
| the dawn / walk in shady alleys,
| listening to the songs of the birds,
the messengers of the good God" A
tablet has been placed upon the house
| in which he lived for a long time.
| Sir Edward Elgar, who. in Robert
Hichenss 1.-THE Way of Ambition"
reviewed in these columns this week.
receives tributes which he does not
| deserve. is a composer without the
| power of thematic invention. He has
now composed a symphonic Study
! For the Orchestra" 1t is entitled
"Falstaff" 1t will be produced at
the Leeds Festival in October. 1t is
in C minor with two interludes in A
minor.
| At the Berlin Opera, under the
patronage of the German emperor.
| this season, "Euryanthe" will be pro-
duced with a new text for the libretto
and new title, namely, THE Seven
| Crows The revised text is by Herr
Hans Joachim Moser. The opera, as
! is We'll known, contains some of the
| finest music of Weber, but the
| lihretto has always been considered
as obscure and misleading. Weber
| himself, it is said. was quite aware
| of this and had thought of pan
| tomimic prologue in the course of
the largo of the opera. Rellstab, says
| the Athenaeum, suggested that the
pictorial episode should be shown in
the last act just before the finale.
| Helmina Won Chevy and the stage
director of the Vienna Hoftheatre at
once protested and the idea was
abandoned The success of the opera
| has always been affected by the
| lbretto. The emperor, it is declared
in a German musical review, is deep
| Nv interested in the forthcoming pro-
duction.
| London review of Bernard Shaw's
"Androcles and the Lion says that
| it will not fall because of the offense
| il gives, but in spite of such offense.
| in the play. which is written with all
| the inimitable originality and wit of
| the author. The motive of the drama
| is the analysis of the psychological
attitude of the Christian martyrs,
| comparing it with the spirit that is
| displayed today by suffragettes. AS
| in many other of his writings. Mr..
Shaw buries under the burden of his
| wit modern laws and lawmakers.
Mr., Shaw, in the drama, presents a
group of hapless Christians con-
demned to the arena. In the group
one stands out in high relief. This
is the patrician woman, Lavinia. She
loves the noble, handsome Roman
captain Of the guard, who has
brought her and her fellow captives
to Rome. She is human and her pas
sionate feminine nature cries out for
love and for life. But the strength of
the new faith is in her bosom and she
will not yield to her lover as a sacri-
flee to Diana. Facing an unspeakable
death, she says: 81 am doing it for
Cod"
When asked by the curious, pitiless
Romans to explain the nature and
existence of the deity whom she wor-
SHIPPED and for whom she was will
ing to lay down her life, she says
that IL she. should do this she would
blasphemously try to prove her own
equality with God
In contrast to this noble picture of
womanhood, Mr.. Shaw in his play
presents lower types, and among
them Spintho. the thief and coward,
who turns the other cheek to his per-