Evening star., 1938-01-09
ALL AGES REPRESENTED IN COLLECTION

CarlOtta Zambelll-all are here IN
photograph, letter or autograph book.
That greatest Of all male dancers
Waslav Nijinsky-who was q personal
friend OF DR.. Batchelder, has written
his name for us in great sprawling
letters on bit of paper Carmencita,
who took New York by storm as no
other dancer before or since, in the
golden COS, lives again in vivid por-
trait In her scarlet skirts; Lola Nom
tez, who became the powerful but un-
crowned Queen of Bavaria. has
scrawled her name across page in q
little book from her library.
That most famous of all waltzes,
The Blue Danube" enters the dance
collection as bit of music inscribed
from the opening bars by none other
than the immortal Johann Strauss
himself, and the bars Of music in his
fine hand are dated Wien 81 Nov.
'98" There Is a bit, too, from the
first two-step, inscribed by its COM
poser. John Philip Sousa, with "The
Washington Post March" identifying 1t.
Books on the ballet form a very
charming part of the exhibit Head
ing the list is the greatest classic Of
the dance Of all time, written by No.
verre, the greatest dancing master
who ever lived. He 1t was who taught
the Empress Maria Teresa, Queen Ma
rie Antoinette and Catherine the Great
of Russia-and went from one Euro
pean capital to another, directing his
beautiful and intricate ballets.
Here, too. are ballets written espe-
cially for Louis the Fourteenth-wh
loved to dance in them-by Moliere.
Thinly disguised as Monsieur lie Roi,"
the King appears in the cast OF char
acters for one Of these. And in a
charming edition of the ballet These, 4"
an engraving pictures Louis In his
dancing role among members Of the
cast.
The macabre Dance Of Death"
that had such a strange and grisly
origin in early history. is represented
by a contemporary book containing an
etching wherein skeletons disport
themselves above an open grave into
which a shrouded figure has recently
fallen. This drawing is considered
the earliest perturbation Of the dance
available, and is thought to be the
work of either Wolgemuth or Durer.
The dance of death originated early
in the Middle Ages, when plague swept
Europe, Staying whole communities.
To escape this horror, the terror
stricken people would rush into the
streets, frantically leaping about and
dancing For centuries artists Law
ished the most exquisite design on this
fantastic carousal, pictured in thiB
collection In . first edition.
MUSIC is honored in the exhibit BY
A'A a case devoted to Richard Wag-
ner-the field obviously too extensive
to include more than one composer
as representative of the art. Manu-
script pages from the opera "Rienz"
and Wagner's personal copy of the
first facsimile of the manuscript of
Tristan and Isolde" are highlights,
with photos of the greatest Tristan,
Jean de Rezke, and the greatest Isolde,
Lilli Lehman, each inscribed, and also
a photo of today's great Isolde, Kristen
Flagstad, signed by the singer. Like
wise there are signed photographs of
the first Sigmund and Siglinde, the
first Brunhilde and the first Parsifal,
and a signed photograph Of the COM
poser Wagner himself.
Wagner's gondolier, Momola Tre-
visan, who rowed the maestro about
Venice, has contributed An interest,"
ing bit to the display, with the brass
oarlock from Wagner's gondola and q
signed photograph. 1t was Trevisan
who, at the conservation Of Wagner's
statue in Venice, made this simple and
memorable speech Of one sentence, II
laid the maestro in his coffin" There
are also in this case several charming
libretti, paper-covered, as first issued,
Of Wagner's operas.
Those who delight In fine bindings
and the historical pageantry Of kings
and queens will delight in the binding
exhibit, where the bindings are dis
played under the intriguing heading
Of Bindings for Kings" and Bindings
for oueens.' The theme Of the oul.