Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

MR.
R. AND MADAME R. SIDNEY PRATTEN, Pro- NOTICE. On Monday next, will be published, in a large

fessors of the Flute, Guitar, and Concertina, 131B, Oxford-street; where their Concertina Classes are held, and where all their compositions may be had for the above instruments.

[blocks in formation]

(cloth), price 6s., BOOSEY'S UNIVERSAL CORNOPEAN TUTOR, edited by Stanton Jones. The want of a useful cornet method having been very generally expressed by the amateurs and professors of that instrument, the publishers have been induced to employ one of the most experienced masters to preThe pare a work equally adapted for the private or professional student. Universal Cornopean Tutor" is founded on the method of Forrestier, Caussinus, and Carnaud, and unites in a condensed form all the theoretical and practical features of each of those celebrated works. It includes the system of music, technical information required for the production of a good tone and brilliant execution, and a most useful and progressive series of exercises, studies, and

TO ORGANISTS.-Twenty-four Sketches for the Church lessons, selected and original, followed by a collection of popular modern operatio

and Chamber Organ, composed by Edmund T. Chipp. Price 15s. Persons desirous of becoming subscribers to this work are requested to forward their names to the Author, at the Royal Panopticon, Leicester-square, by the 15th of August, as on that day the subscription list will be closed.

PRIVATE INSTRUCTION

IN

THE ART OF POETICAL ELOCUTION, as adapted to the several purposes of Speaking, Reading, and Singing. By the Rev. Hugh Hutton, M. A. Select Classes for the study of the elder English Poets, and the practice of General Elocution.-Address -No. 2, Provost-road, Haverstock-hill.

MD

melodies. It is, in short, a complete method, although published a
place it within the reach of the village musician. Price 6s, in cloth. Boosey and
Sons, 28, Holles-street.

SIGNOR GORDIGIANI.-In a few days will be pub

lished, Four new Albums, by L. Gordigiani, containing twenty Canti Popolari Toscana Romanzas, duette, &c. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street. HEAP COLLECTION OF THE SONGS IN LA Now ready, price 58., in a very elegant book. Selections from La Sonnambula, with English words, adapted by Sir Henry Bishop. Contents: All is lost-As I view these scenes-Do not mingle -Dearest companions-Sounds so joyful-Take now this ring, duett. Boosey and

CHEAP COLLECTION OF

DME. ANNA THILLON, AUGUSTUS BRAHAM, Sons, 28, Holles-street. FARQUHARSON, RICHARDSON, GEORGE CASE. The above popular artistes will make a tour in the provinces in September next. Applications respecting engagements should be addressed to Mr. George Case, at Messrs. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street, London.

[blocks in formation]

Tuesday Morning.-Elijah, Mendelssohn.

Wednesday Morning-Eli, au Oratorio composed expressly for this Festival, the words written by. W. Barthomolew-Costa. Thursday Morning.-Messiah, Händel.

Friday Morning.-The Mount of Olives, Beethoven; the Requiem, Mozart; A Selection from Israel in Egypt, Händel.

Tuesday Evening.-Grand Concert, comprising Overture, Ruy Blas-Mendelssohn; Cantata, Leonora-Macfarren; Overture, Der Freischutz-Weber; Selections from Operas, &c.; Overture, Masaniello-Auber; Finale, Preghiera, Mosè in Egitto Rossini.

Wednesday Evening,-Grand Concert, comprising Symphony in A Major-
Mendelssohn; Overture, Leonora - Beethoven; Finale, Lorely-Mendelssohn;
Selections from Les Huguenots, &c.-Meyerbeer Priests' March, Athalie-
Mendelssohn.

Thursday Evening.-Grand Concert, comprising Pastoral Symphony-Beet-
hoven; Finale. L'Invocazione all' Armonia-H. R. H. Prince Albert; Overture,
Guillaume Tell-Rossini; Selections from Le Prophète, L'Etoile du Nord, &c.-
Meyerbeer; Overture, Ruler of the Spirits -Weber.
Friday Evening.-A Full Dress Ball.

Parties requiring programmes of the performances may have them forwarded by post, or may obtain them (with any other information desired) on application to Mr. Henry Howell, Secretary to the Committee, 34, Bennett's-hill, Birmingham. J. F. LEDSAM, Chairman.

R. S. PRATTEN'S PERFECTED FLUTE (on the

old system of fingering.) This instrument is universally acknowledged to possess the most powerful tone, combined with perfect intonation, sweetness, and ease to the performer. Prospectus and testimonials on application to John Hudson, Manufacturer, 3, Rathbone-place.

THE

THE MODEL PIANOFORTE TUTOR will be found to give a clear and comprehensive explanation of the elementary principles of pianoforte playing; notation and a demonstration of all the intervals in music are seen in the Pianoforte Keyboard, and the various signs pointed out and illustrated. The Key Signature Dial explains the progression of keys and gives the tonic chord of each, which prepares the hand for the practice of the training finger exercises. The especial value of these exercises consists in the alternate use of the black and white keys, thereby rendering the fingers familiar to them, and strengthened by expansion and contraction according to the distances produced by the change of keys, and prevents the pupil from stumbling at the appearance of a sharp or flat. The instructions are divided in four parts, each headed by a praetical illustration-the whole forming an epitome of the study of music. It has been the object of the author to condense as much valuable and necessary matter in as cheap and small a compass as possible, leaving out nothing absolutely necessary to be learned, and instead of introducing pages of trifling tunes, most valuable FingerExercises will be found calculated to form the hand and touch, and conclude with a very useful prelude scale in major and minor keys. Price 2s. 6d. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street.

OMPLETE OPERAS WITH ENGLISH WORDS,

with English and Italian or German words, more complete, perfect, and correct than any European editions. 12 vols. are ready, splendidly bound:-Sonnambula, 12s. 6d. ; Il Barbiere, 168.; Norma, 10s. 6d.; Don Juan, 18s.; Lucrezia Borgia, 16s.; Ernani, 15s.; Figaro, 16s.; Der Freischütz, 12s. 6d.; Zauberflöte, 12s. 6d.; Iphigenia in Tauris, Ss.; Faust, 12s. 6d.; Fidelio, 15s. Any opera post free from the publishers, Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street, London.

[blocks in formation]

GR

REEN'S LITTLE SONGS for LITTLE SINGERS.— Just published, in one handsome volume, with eleven illustrations, halfbound, gilt edges, price 10s, this celebrated Selection of Juvenile Songs, by most esteemed authors and composers. Also, just published, price 12s, half-bound, gilt duets, adapted expressly for very young singers and performers. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street, London.

PIANOFORTES. To all who desire a First-rate Piano edges, Green's Nursery Songs and Duets, containing twenty-nine Boosey and

at a moderate price. Messrs. Lambert & Co., lately removed from Percystreet to 314, Oxford-street, near Hanover-square, beg to call particular attention to their new Patent Repeater Check Action Pianofortes, and method of constructing the bracing, which they warrant not to give way in any climate. For purity of tone, easy and elastic touch, and durability, Messrs. L. and Co. have no hesitation in asserting that their Pianofortes stand unrivalled. They have received most numerous and flattering testimonies to this effect, from purchasers, both at home and abroad, and they feel confident, that their instruments have only to be tried to be appreciated. Mr. Lambert gained a prize for his Patent Cottage Piano at the Great Exhibition, and is the sole inventor of the Check Action.-Pianos taken in exchange, tuned, repaired, regulated, and lent on hire. Lists may be had on application.

FERDINAND PRAEGER'S "Elfenmährchen" (Fairy

Tale), as performed by the composer at all his concerts on the Continent, the celebrated Gewandhaus Concerts at Leipzig, &c.-Published at Cramer, Beale, and Co.'s, Regent-street.

[ocr errors]

PURE, SO BRIGHT, Song, composed by John Cheshire, and sung at the author's concerts, price 2s. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street.

Published by JOHN BOOSEY, of 27, Notting Hill-square, in the parish of Kensington, at the office of BOOSEY & SONS, 28. Holles-street. Sold also by REED, 15, John-street, Great Portland-street; ALLEN, Warwick-lane; VICKERS, Holywellstreet; KEITH, PROWSE, & Co., 48, Cheapside; G. SCHEURMANN, 86, Newgatestreet; HARRY MAY, 11, Holborn-bars. Agents for Scotland, PATERSON & SONS, Edinburgh; for Ireland, H. BUSSELL, Dublin; and all Music-sellers. Printed by WILLIAM SPENCER JOHNSON, "Nassau Steam Press," 60, St. Martin's lane, in the Parish of St. Martin's in the Fields, in the County of Middlesex.— Saturday, August 4, 1855.

SUBSCRIPTION:-Stamped for Postage, 20s. per annum-Payable in advance, by Cash or Post Office Order, to BOOSEY & SONS, 28, Holles Street, Cavendish Square.

VOL. 33.-No. 32.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1855.

PRICE 4d.

{STAMPED 5d.

MR.
R. AND MADAME R. SIDNEY PRATTEN, Pro-R. S. PRATTEN'S PERFECTED FLUTE (on the

fessors of the Flute, Guitar, and Concertina. 131B, Oxford-street; where their Concertina Classes are held, and where all their compositions may be had for the above instruments.

MIS

ISS BLANCHE CAPILL-(Voice, Contralto), Peters re of clinic and song engagements may be addressed, race, Islington, where letters respecting pupils or may be

MISS

A

ISS MANNING begs to inform her friends and pupils that she has removed to 54, George-street, Portman-square.

YOUNG LADY, accustomed to Tuition, wishes an Engagement in a Gentleman's Family. She can teach English in its several branches, the piano, French, drawing, and flower-painting, the Latin grammar, and the rudiments of German. Pupils under thirteen years of age would be preferred. Satisfactory references given. Address L. M., Buckingham.

old system of fingering.) This instrument is universally acknowledged to possess the most powerful tone, combined with perfect intonation, sweetness, and ease to the performer. Prospectus and testimonials ou application to John Hudson, Manufacturer, 3, Rathbone-place.

PIANOFORTES. To all who desire a First-rate Piano

at a moderate price. Messrs. Lambert & Co,, lately removed from Percystreet to 314, Oxford-street, near Hanover-square, beg to call particular attention to their new Patent Repeater Check Action Pianofortes, and method of constructing the bracing, which they warrant not to give way in any climate. For purity of tone, easy and elastic touch, and durability, Messrs. L. and Co. have no hesitation in asserting that their Pianofortes stand unrivalled. They have received most numerous and flattering testimonies to this effect, from purchasers, both at home and abroad, and they feel confident. that their instruments have only to be tried to be appreciated. Mr. Lambert gained a prize for his Patent Cottage Piano at the Great Exhibition, and is the sole inventor of the Check Action.-Pianos taken in exchange, tuned, repaired, regulated, and lent on hire. Lists may be had on application.

WANTED a SITUATION, as Assistant in the Wholesale
Department of a Music Warehouse, by a Young Man who understands the FERDINAND PRAEGER'S

trade. First-rate reference on application to "Q.," care of Messrs. Boosey and
Sons, 28, Holles-street.

"Elfenmährchen" (Fairy Tale), as performed by the composer at all his concerts on the Continent, the celebrated Gewandhaus Concerts at Leipzig, &c.-Published at Cramer, Beale, and Co.'s, Regent-street.

PRIVATE INSTRUCTION IN THE ART OF
POETICAL ELOTION, as adapted to the several purposes of Speaking, VALUABLE MUSIC FOR SALE-A large quantity

Reading, and Singing. By the Rev. Hugh Hutton, M. A. Select Classes for the study of the elder English Poets, and the practice of General Elocution.-Address -No. 2, Provost-road, Haverstock-hill.

DME. ANNA THILLON, AUGUSTUS BRAHAM, 3000 pages of beautiful and correct manuscript, in 20 vols., half-bound; and com

MI

FARQUHARSON, RICHARDSON, GEORGE CASE. The above popular artistes will make a tour in the provinces in September next. Applications respecting engagements should be addressed to Mr. George Case, at Messrs. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street, London.

EREFORD MUSICAL FESTIVAL will be held in

HE

of accompaniments to Operas, and Oratorios, arranged from the full score for an Orchestre de Salon, or first and second violin, viola, flute, violoncello, and contra-basso; well worthy the attention of amateurs for their private musical parties, and of directors of classical chamber concerts. The collection consists of prises Händel's Alexander's Feast and Dettingen Te Deum, Haydn's Seasons, Haeser's Triumph of Faith, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn's Elijah and St. Paul, Mozart's Zauberflöte, Beethoven's Fidelio, Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, Weber's Euryanthe, and selections from the works of Auber, Balfe, Bellini, Bishop, Calcott, &c. Also a number of Full Orchestral Scores to be disposed of. Apply to Mr. W. L. Robinson, Westgate, Wakefield.

the Cathedral and Shire Hall, on August 21st and three following days, for BOOKS Fublished prices, to all parts of the United Kingdom, by William
FREE-Books, Magazines, &c., forwarded free of
expense,
Walker, 196, Strand, London. N.B.-Postage-stamps received in payment.

the benefit of the Widows aud Orphans of the Clergy of the Dioceses of Hereford,
Gloucester, and Worcester. Under the especial patronage of Her Most Gracions
Majesty the Queen. Prmeipal Vocalists-Madame Grisi, Madame Clara Novello,
Madame Weiss, Miss Dolby, Miss Moss, Mr. Sims Reeves, Signor Mario, Mr.

Montem Smith, Mr. H. Baruby, and Mr. Weiss.-Programmes forwarded on appli- PORTRAIT OF MR. COSTA. Just published, a full

[blocks in formation]

August next. Principal vocalists:-Mad. Grisi, Mdlle. Angiolina Bosio, Mad.
Mario. Signor Gardoni, Herr Reichardt, Mr. Sims Reeves, Signor Lablache,
Mr. Weiss, and Herr Formes. Organist, Mr. Stimpson. Conductor, Mr. Costa.
Outline of the Performances:

Rndorsdorf, and Mad, Castellan. Miss Dolby, and Mad. Viardot Garcia: Signor

Tuesday Morning.-Elijah, Mendelssohn.
Wednesday Morning-Eli, au Oratorio composed expressly for this Festival, the
words written by W. Barthomolew-Costa.
Thursday Morning-Messiah, Händel.

Frday Morning.-The Mount of Olives, Beethoven; the Requiem, Mozart; A
Selection from Israel in Egypt, Händel.

Tuesday Evening.-Grand Concert, comprising Overture, Ruy Blas-Mendelssobn; Caurata, Leonora-Macfarren; Overture, Der Freischutz-Weber; Selectious from Operas, &c.; Overture, Masaniello-Auber; Finale, Preghiera, Mosè in Egitto Rossini.

length portrait of Mr. Costa, drawn from life, and beautifully executed on stone by C. Baugniet. Price to subscribers (proof impressions with autograph), Sons, 28, Holles-street. 6s. Orders should be given immediately, to secure early impressions. Boosey and

ГНЕ

THE FIFE MAJOR-Complete Instructions for the

Military Fife or Flute, used in the Guards and other regiments, with the Garrison, Street, Camp, and Field Duties, foliowed by a selection of 123 Airs, Marches, etc. By James Davie. 3s. Also, Porteous's Band Atlas, 108. 6d.. and Niemitz's School for Military Instruments, 21s. London: Robert Cocks and Co., New Burlington-strect.

HE ORGAN.-On Monday next, 13th of August, will ORGAN; its History and Construction. Price to subscribers, 218.; to nonsubscribers, 31s. 6d. Subscribers are requested (where necessary) to forward to the publishers their present address. N.B. Post Office Orders should be made payable at the Post Office, Piccadilly-London: Robert Cocks and Co., New Burperor Napoleon III.

Wednesday Evening,-Grand Concert, comprising Symphony in A Majorlington-street, Music Publishers to their Majestics Queen Victoria and the Em-
Mendelssohu; Overture, Leonora - Beethoven; Finale, Lorely-Mendelssohn;
Selections from Les Huguenots, &c.-Meyerbeer; Priests' March, Athalie-
Mendelssohn.

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

ΤΟ
The Band Parts of
TO LEADERS OF BANDS, &c.
Tinney's New Valse, "THE FENELLA," are published this day Price 58.
Septet, 3s. 6d. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street.

LA

A VARSOVIANA, the only authentic edition of this Popular Dance is the one composed by H. Laurent, and played every evening at the Argyll Rooms. The Band Parts are now just ready. Price 5 Septet, 3s. Cd. Piano, 2s. Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street.

OPERA AND DRAMA.

BY RICHARD WAGNER.

(Continued from page 498.)

PART IL

FOR the so-called Romansh nations of Europe, among whom the unlimited Quixotism of the romance-mixing up all the Germanic and Romansh elements confusedly with each otherhad raged the most fiercely, this self-same romance had become most incapable of being dramatised. The impulse, out of the concentrated inwardness of human existence, to fashion the motley impressions of its former fantastic humour into decided, and clear shapes, was manifested almost solely among the Germanic nations, who transformed the inward war against torturing external laws into a Protestant fact. The Romansh nations, which remained externally under the yoke of Catholicism, continued to maintain themselves in that direction, in which they sought refuge, without, from internal division, in order as I expresed myself to divert themselves from without, in an inward direction. The plastic art, and an order of poetry, which-descriptively-was equal to it, in essence, if not in utterance, are the arts, diverting, entrancing, and amusing from without, peculiar to these nations. The educated Italian and Frenchman turned from the people's play at home; in its rude simplicity and want of form it reminded them of the complete chaos of the Middle Ages, which they were then striving to shake off as if it were some heavy, harassing dream. Going back, on the other hand, to the historical roots of their respective languages, they selected from the Roman poets, the literary imitators of the Greeks, models also for the drama, which they offered for the amusement of the elegant and aristocratic world, in the place of the popular play, which now amused only the people. Painting and architecture, the principal arts of the Romansh Renaissance, had developed the eye of the aforesaid aristocratic world to such a degree of taste and pretention, that the rude scaffolding of planks, hung round with tapestry, of the British stage, could not content it. The players obtained in the palaces of Princes the magnificent hall, as their stage, on which, with slight modifications, they had to represent their scene. The stability of the scene was fixed on as the restrictive and principal requirement of the whole drama, and in this the tendency adopted by the taste of the aristocratic world met the modern origin of the Drama presented to them—namely, the rules of Aristotle. The princely spectator, whose eye had been made, by plastic art, his principal organ for positive enjoyment, did not like to have this very sense, of all others, blindfolded, in order to render it subservient to the imagination, which was eyeless, and he was the more averse to such a course because, on principle, he avoided the excitement of the imagination, that was undecided, and delighted in the forms of the Middle Ages. He must have been offered the possibility of seeing the scene, on every occasion that the drama required a change in it, represented, strictly according to the subject, with pictorial and plastic exactitude, in order to be induced to allow such a change. It was not, however, necessary to require, in this case, what was subsequently rendered possible by the mixing-up of the dramatic tendencies, because the Aristotelean rules, according to which this fictitious drama was constructed, insisted upon the unity of the scene as a most important condition of the drama. It was, therefore, precisely that which the Briton, in his organic creation of the drama from within, yet disregarded as being of outward moment, which became the law, fashioning from without, of the French drama, which thus endeavoured to construct itself out of mechanism into life.

It is here important that we should carefully note how this external unity of the scene determined the whole bearing of the French drama, so that the representation of the action was almost entirely excluded from the stage, while, in its stead, the delivery of the words was alone admitted. Thus, the romance, puffed out with action, which was the poetical basis of the life of the Middle Ages as well as of more recent times, must, on

principle, be excluded from representation upon this stage, because it was simply impossible to produce its many membered subjects without frequent change of scene. It was, therefore, necessary to borrow from the models which had decided the French dramatic poet in his choice of the form, not only the outward form, but the whole arrangement of the action, and, finally, even the very subject of it. He was obliged to select subjects which did not require to be condensed by him to a narrower standard, suitable for dramatic representation, but such as were already contained in such a compass and ready to his hand. The Greek poets culled, from their native traditions, subjects of this kind which were the very essence of those traditions; the modern dramatist, starting from the outward rules borrowed from these poems, could not compress the poetical vital element of his time, only to be mastered by the exactly opposite course adopted by Shakspere, to a sufficient degree of compactness, for it to satisfy the outward standard applied to it, and, therefore, nothing was left him except the-naturally distorting-imitation and repetition of the above dramas, that were already written. Thus, in Racine's "Tragédie" we have, upon the stage language, and behind the scenes action; motives with movement separated from them and laid beyond their sphere; the will without the power. All art was, therefore, expended in the outwardness of the language, which, quite consistently, in Italy (whence the new style of art proceeded) was immediately lost in that musical mode of delivery, with which, as the substance, properly so speaking, of the operatic system, we have already become more nearly acquainted. French tragedy, also, passed, of necessity, into opera; Gluck expressed the true substance of this system of tragedy. Opera was thus the precocious blossom of an unripe fruit, that had grown upon unnatural and artificial soil. The element with which the Italian and French drama began, namely, external form, is that which the drama of more modern times has yet to achieve, through an organic development from within itself, in the track of the Shaksperean drama, and it is not until it has done so that the natural fruit of the musical drama will ever ripen.

Between these two extreme opposites, the Shaksperean and the Racinian drama, the modern drama now arose, and grew up to its mongrel, unnatural shape, Germany being the soil which nourished it.

Romansh Catholicism here continued, equal in strength, side by side with German Protestantism, but both were involved in so violent a conflict with each other, that, remaining undecided as it did, despite its violence, no natural blossom of art resulted from it. The inward impulse, which, with the Briton, was directed to the dramatic representation of the historic narrative and the romance, was stopped, in the case of the German Protestant, by the obstinate endeavour to settle the inward dissension inwardly. We have Luther, who, it is true, raised himself in art to the height of the religious lyric, but we possess no Shakspere. The Roman Catholic South could, however, never soar to the genial, light-minded forgetfulness of the inward strife, in which the Romansh nations gave promise of plastic art, but kept guard over its religion with gloomy seriousness. While all Europe threw itself into the arms of art, Germany remained a meditating barbarian. That only which had outlived itself abroad sought refuge in Germany, and blossomed again to a second summer on its soil. English actors, deprived of their bread by the representatives of Shakspere's dramas at home, came over to Germany, for the purpose of playing off their grotesque pantomimic tricks before the people there; it was not until long subsequently, when it had faded in England, that the Shaksperean drama itself followed; German actors, fleeing from the discipline of their dreary dramatic schoolmasters, possessed themselves of it, and adapted it for their own use.

It was from the south, on the other hand, that opera, that outlet of the Romansh drama, had forced its way in. Its aristocratic origin in the palaces of princes, was its recommendation in the eyes of German princes, so that it was they who introduced opera in Germany, while-we must particularly observe― the Shaksperean drama was brought over by the people. In opera, the most luxurious and elaborately elegant scenic decora

present the most important one for the object of my investigation. The players in question, who first transplanted Shakspere upon the German stage, proceeded so honestly in the spirit of their art, that it never struck them to render his pieces producible either by accompanying the frequent change of place in them with a varied change of their own theatrical scene itself, or, out of respect for the poet, by renouncing the actual representation of the scene altogether, and returning to the their art had already assumed, and rendered Shakspere's diversity of scene in so far subordinate to it, as altogether to omit scenes that did not strike them as important, while they amalgamated others of more consequence. It was from a literary point of view that people became aware how much of the work of Shaksperean art was lost in this process, and insisted upon restoring in representation the original proportions of the pieces, two opposite propositions being made on the subject. The one, not carried out, was Tieck's. Tieck, fully appreciating the principle of the Shaksperean drama, demanded the restoration of the Shaksperean stage, with the appeal to the imagination as the scene. This demand was perfectly logical, and founded upon the spirit of the Shaksperean drama. If a half measure of restoration has always been unfruitful in history, a radical one, on the contrary, has proved impossible. Tieck was a radical restorer, and, as such, to be respected, but he possessed no influence. The second proposition was to arrange the immense machinery of the operatic stage for the representation of the Shaksperean drama by the faithful realisation of the frequently changing scene, originally only intimated by the poet. On the more modern English stage, the Shaksperean scene was translated into the most actual reality; mechanism had invented miracles for the rapid change of the most elaborately constructed scenes, while the march of armies and battles were rendered with astounding exactitude. This course was imitated upon the large German theatres.

tions formed a most perfect contrast to the scenic deficiencies of the Shaksperean stage. The musical drama really and truly became a "show-play," while the latter remained a "play for the ears." It is not necessary for us to investigate here again the reason of this scenic extravagance in the operatic system: this loose kind of drama was constructed from without, and only from without, by luxury and magnificence, could it be kept alive. But it is important to remark how this scenic pomp, with the most unheardof motley and elaborately varied change of scenic effects pre-sceneless stage of the Middle Ages, but they retained the position sented to the eye, arose out of that dramatic tendency for which unity had originally been laid down as a law. It was not the poet-who, while compressing the romance into the drama, still left the varied nature of his subject in so far unlimited, to be able to change, for its benefit, the scene quickly and often, by an appeal to the imagination-it was not the poet, who, abandoning this appeal to the imagination for the confirmation, of the senses, invented the refined system of mechanism for the change of scenes actually represented, but it was the desire for outward amusement that was ever changing, mere eye-curiosity, which produced it. Had the poet invented this apparatus, we should be obliged to presume that he had experienced the necessity of a frequent change of scene, as inherent to the varied nature of the matter of the drama itself; since the poet, as we have seen, constructed organically from within to without, it would be proved, by such a presumption, that historical and romantic variety in the subject was a necessary condition of the drama, for only the inflexible necessity of this condition could have induced him to satisfy the exigencies of the varied nature of the matter by the invention of a scenic system, by which this variety of the matter would of necessity be displayed as a motley, diverting variety of scene as well. But the exact contrary was the case. Shakspere felt impelled by the necessity of representing the historical story and the romance; in his fresh zeal to respond to this impulse, the feeling of the necessity for a representation, true to nature, of the scene, did not yet enter his mind-had he experienced this necessity for the completely convincing representation of dramatic action, he would have sought to satisfy it by a far stricter sifting and greater compression of the varied nature of the subject of the romance, and that, too, precisely in the same manner that he had already compressed the scene of action and its duration, as well as, on their account, the varied nature of the subject. The impossibility of compressing the romance still more, an impossibility over which he would infallibly have stumbled, must then have enlightened him so far as to the nature of the romance as to prove to him that it did not, in truth, agree with that of the drama, a discovery which we were first enabled to make, when the undramatic qualities of the extensiveness of the historical subject struck us from the realisation of the scene, which, from the fact that it required to be intimated only, alone enabled Shakspere to realise the dramatic romance.

The necessity for a representation of the scene corresponding to the place in which the action took place, could not, at last, fail to be experienced; the stage of the Middle Ages had to disappear and make way for that of modern times. In Germany, it was fixed by the character of the histrionic art of the people, which, also, after the dying-out of the old Passion-Plays and Mysteries, borrowed its foundation from the historical tale and romance. At the time when German histrionic art soared-upabout the middle of the last century-this foundation was composed of the romances of domestic life, which then suited the popular feeling. It was unmeasurably more flexible, and, moreover, far less rich in matter than the historical or legendary romance at Shakspere's disposal; a satisfactory representation of the local scene could, therefore, be realised at a far less expense than that necessary for the Shaksperean dramatising of the romance. Those pieces of Shakspere, consequently, adopted by the actors before-mentioned, were, in order to be representable by them, of necessity subjected to the most restrictive system of remodelling. I shall here pass over all the reasons in accordance with which this remodelling was conducted, excepting one only; that of the purely scenic requirements, because it is at

* Bürgerlicher Roman.

The modern poet stood inquiringly, and confused, before this style of play. The Shaksperean drama had produced upon him, in a literary point of view, the elevating impression of the most perfect poetical unity; as long as it had merely appealed to his imagination, the latter had been capable of culling from it an harmonious and well-defined picture, which the poet now beheld fade completely from before his eyes, in the fulfilment of the wish, necessarily once again aroused, of seeing this picture realised to the senses, by a complete representation. The realised picture of the imagination had only shown him an endless mass of realities and actions, out of which his confused eye was totally unable to reconstruct the picture drawn by his imagination. The experiment produced upon him two principal results, both of which were manifested in his being undeceived with regard to the Shaksperean drama. The poet either renounced, henceforth, the wish to see his dramas represented on the stage, in order once again to imitate undisturbedly, and according to his mental views, the picture his imagination had drawn from the Shaksperean drama, that is to say: he wrote literary dramas for silent perusal or, in order to realise practically upon the stage the picture of his imagination, turned, more or less involuntarily, to the reflected form of the drama whose modern origin we have had to acknowledge in the antiquising drama, constructed according to the rules of Aristotle.

Both these results and tendencies are the fashioning motives in the works of the two most considerable dramatic poets of modern days-Göthe and Schiller, whom I must here consider more nearly, as far as it is requisite for me to do, for the purpose of my investigation.

Göthe commenced his career as a dramatic poet by dramatising a full-blood romance of German knight-errantry-Gotz von Berlichingen. The Shaksperean mode of proceeding was most faithfully followed in it, the romance, with all its points being translated for the stage with as much detail as the narrowed limits of the latter and the compressed period of dramatic representation would permit. Göthe hit, however, even in this instance, on the stage where the locale of the action was, in accordance with its requirements, represented, although roughly and scantily, at least with a decided purpose. This circumstance

induced the poet to remodel his poem, composed more from a literary than a scenico-dramatic point of view, prejudicially for its actual representation upon the stage; through the last form, given it out of consideration for the requirements of the scene, the poem lost the freshness of the romance without gaining the strength of the drama instead. Göthe now selected for his dramas subjects from the romance of domestic life. The characteristic element of the romance of domestic life consists in the fact that the action on which it is founded is perfectly separated from the more comprehensive connection of historical events and relations, retains only the social precipitate of these historical events as conditional adjuncts, and, within the limits of these adjuncts, which in reality are only the reaction of the said historical occurrences deadened so as to become colourless, developes itself more according to moods imperatively enjoined by these adjuncts, than according to inward motives capable of perfect plastic utterance. This action is just as limited and poor as the moods of mind by which it is called forth are devoid of freedom and independent inwardness. The dramatisation of them, however, suited the mental point of view of the public, as, also, the outward possibility of the scenic representation, because, in no instance did necessities for the practical mise-en-scène arise out of the scanty action, which the mise-en-scène was not fundamentally able to satisfy. Whatever a mind like Göthe's produced under such limitations, we must look upon as having proceeded almost solely out of the necessity he felt for subordination, under certain restrictive maxims, to the realisation of the drama generally, and certainly less from a voluntary subjection under the limited spirit of the action of the domestic drama, and the feelings of the public who patronised him. From this restriction, however, Göthe freed himself and revelled in the most unbridled liberty, by completely renouncing the real stage-drama. In his plan of Faust he only retained the advantages of a dramatic representation for the literary poem, leaving, on purpose, the possibility of the scenic production completely out of the question. In this poem, Göthe struck, for the first time, with full consciousness, the key-note of the peculiar poetical element of the present day the pressing-forward of thought into reality, which he could solve artistically, though not yet in the reality of the drama. This is the boundary between the romance of the Middle Ages reduced to the shallowness of that of domestic life, and the really dramatic matter of the Future. We must reserve for ourselves the task of dilating more fully upon the characteristics of this boundary and at present be content to regard as of importance the knowledge that Göthe, when arrived at it, was not able to produce either a real romance, or a real drama, but simply a mere poem, enjoying, according to an abstract artistic standard, the advantages of both styles.

Let us turn from this poem, which, like the ever-living vein of a gurgling spring, pervades, with fashioning incitation, the whole artistic life of the poet, and once again follows his artistic creations to where, with renewed endeavours, he devoted him

self to the scenic drama.

From the dramatised domestic drama which he attempted in Egmont, by the expansion of the surrounding adjuncts to a connection with far-spreading historical moments, to raise, from within to without, to its highest pitch, Göthe departed decidedly in his plan of Faust; if the drama still charmed him as the most perfect kind of poetry, it was principally from contemplating it in its most complete artistic form. This form, in telligible to the Italians and French, in accordance with their knowledge of the Antique, only as an outward, constraining rule, struck the more penetrating glance of German investigators as an essential moment of the expression of Greek life; its warmth was able to inspire them, as they had experienced the warmth of its life out of its monuments themselves. The German poet saw that the form of unity distinguishing Greek tragedy was not imposed upon the drama from without, but necessarily imbued with new life, from within to without, by the unity of its purport. The purport of modern life, which, as yet, could only render itself intelligible in the romance, could not possibly be compressed into such plastic unity, as ever to be able to express itself, under intelligible dramatic treat

ment, in the form of the Greek drama, and justify, or summarily beget this from out of itself. The poet, who had here to deal with absolute artistic configuration, could only now return-at least outwardly-to the course adopted by the French: he was obliged, in order to justify the form of the Greek drama in his work of art, to employ in it the subject of the Greek Mythos, ready to his hand. In selecting the subject of Iphigenia in Aulis, which was so, Göthe acted similarly to Beethoven in his most important symphonic compositions: as Beethoven possessed himself of the absolute melody ready to his hand, and, dissolving it to a certain extent, broke it up, and then joined its various members together again by new organic animation, in order to render the organisation of music itself capable of bringing forth melody-Göthe seized on the already existing subject of Iphigenia, and resolved it into its component parts, which he joined together again by an organic, vivifying poetic conformation, in order thus, similarly, to render the organisation of the drama itself capable of begetting the perfect form of dramatic art. But Göthe could succeed in this course only with the subjects already existing; he could not achieve such a success with any subject taken from modern life or from the romance; even in Tasso, the subject grew visibly cooler under his hands that fashioned it to unity; and in Eugenie it froze to ice. We will presently return to the reason of this fact; for the present it is sufficient for us to demonstrate from our survey of the form of art adopted by Göthe, that the poet turned away, also, from this trial of the drama, as soon as he had to deal not with absolute artistic creation alone, but with the representation of life itself. It was only in the romance that even Göthe was able to overcome and represent intelligibly this life in its wide-spreading ramifications and outward form, involuntarily influenced from far and near. The poet could only communicate the real essence of his views of the world in description-in the appeal to our imagination so that Göthe's influential artistic creations were necessarily again lost in the romance, out of which, at the commencement of his poetical career, he had turned with Shaksperean impulse to the drama. (To be continued.)

RACHEL.

(From the Examiner).

MDLLE. RACHEL, on her way to America, gives sudden life to play-goers in London by appearing at this theatre in four of her greatest characters. At one time this journal stood almost alone in the endeavour to describe in detail these remarkable performances. Over and over again have we expressed our wonder and admiration at the sublimity and beauty infused into the old French drama by the genius of this great actress. Before she taught us how they might be filled with every passion, how a life of woe might find expression in a sentence, we were apt to weary over the cold heroics of those famous French tragedies. But, presented by her, they amaze us with grand conceptions. Awe, pity, terror, are awakened as we look and listen, and nothing remains for our self-respect as critics but to attribute half the poetry and passion, as well as all the expression they receive, to the actress herself.

This week we have seen her once more in the Camille of Corneille's Horaces, and in the heroine of Racine's Phèdre-and in neither was a spark of the old fire wanting. It is thus in the full perfection of her powers that Mdlle. Rachel wisely resolves to seek also in America the appreciation she has met with in England. She takes no worn-out reputation to the other side of the Atlantic. Well assured of that by this week's experience, we shall be curious to observe the character of the reception given to the greatest actress of the Old World, by our brethren in the New.

To us in the meantime there will remain, not only the vivid recollection of her wonderful creations, but a new and very lifelike portrait to remind us of them. Copies have been multiplied of a full-length photograph of Mdlle. Rachel in the character of Phèdre, which is curious for its exact resemblance. Indeed it enables the distinctive features to be seen more accurately than when we look at the real Phèdre or Camille from before the footlights. It is published by Mr. Mitchell.

« ElőzőTovább »