Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-03-16
A Lesson at the Opera
BY ADA PATTERSON.

There is more to- ha heard at tho
cpefa than rich voices raised In song,
Irore to be seen than r1cn and women
III colors and costumes of romance
Have YOU ever watched tho direct
ing hand at tho opera? Hand, no.
hands, for there arc tpno. Theirs the
controlling power that threatens and
coaxes the music out Of the men and
thcir Instruments. tho women and
their voices.
Last niSht went to tine great opera
thought of tho hands Indispensable
hands without which tho music would
degenerate into crashing discordS amt
the concourso of swcoL-1ounds would
become noise.
The conductor stands with his baton
IN front OF the first and second violin
ist; the big mourni'll- soul ding violin
the man with the huge d,ssn and tho
man with tic little piccho and the
man With the far boominir horn. He
watches them as Il mother watches
her children at play near, a. cliff or
the sea. There is danger. there. for
one OF the men players. might tumble
over into an abyss of disc prd and tho
conductor jerks his baton as though
TO pull rapid notes from the violin
soothingly to soften the govt of the
cello and the biare or the drum. Efc
CoaXcs the Diccolo with a loIring finger
and commands the horn to cease. And
the result is harmony.
If you sit 1T either sido of the
house and close to tile stage you will
sec another directing hand. Under
hood-like frame OF metal you Sc.
fingers rythmically moving. II you
ere near enough you may occasionally
hear issuing from nj voice a voice
speaking words at which TIE singer
clutches violently as a swimmer mt
floating plank. The oodIi2lc fran.
eeaied beneath it is the prompter.
Were a. singer to walk upon the stage
and miss the anxious face with the
score spread before it and the nervous
would be flung into a paHic. Ho Or
size feels rca soma bly, safe while that
helping hand is in sight.
directing hands are needed to proven,
order becoming chaos. Every one or
us is voice in the great world
not independently, but in h.on,iny with
the rest. Imagine every person IN
town bursting out into a different
song. Flow We should ALI cover our
hush That is what happens when
We set out in our own way to do our
own work regardless of all others.
The result Is anarchy. WHEN we work
without plan our work is all but
wasted. There is need of a guiding
hand.
would have dashed gaily off in a high
shower Of high notes and left the
liesurcly drum behind. The violin
would have sounded its almost human
notes and the cello would have wailcd.
The horn would have Iumbled and the
flute would have been heard. but not
occupied the three THOUSAND chairs.
nor the two hundred OF the music
hungry, who stand listening for three
hours the breadline of the opera,
SO in the symphony of the WORLD 5
effort there must be leaders. There
must be guiding hands. There must
be plan.
own kind of instrument. Maybe we
Zig booming drums. Perhaps we are
ccllos when We would have chosen
TO be first violins. That is not ours
to choose. Ours only TO use the In
| strumcnt that is granted us with our
Utmost ability.
| ourselves nor to ourselves. We mus,
| follow the conductors baton lest We
| produce discord.
| Across the Atlantic there has been
! discord that has shaken the earth
| What should have been the music OF
! prosperity. became the crash OF
| murder the screams OF pain and fury
! the death rattle in chilling threats
| Eecause there was no universal plan.
| Because some OF the singers and play
! ers sang and played In their own key
and time, Because they listened nc
more to the prompter conscience, nor
watched the guiding hand of duty.
Go into any Office, shop Or factory
! wherever workers assemble. That
place where the best work is done is
one in which the workers harmonic