Scan 24
Musical Courier 1895-06-26: Vol 30 Iss 799, 1895
43 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 25. See the scan on archive.org.
1Scourge yourself of it, my dear Mr. Lunn of London. Cultivate tolerance if it yet remains in you this to do!
3But, now I think of it, are you the same provincial Charley Lunn, of Manchester, who had a tussle with me about ten years ago, over your ridiculous theory of the ventricles, a theory exploded by Fournié, nearly thirty years ago, by the simple statement that "Savart did not notice that their inner borders (edges of false vocal cords) lay quite out of line with the glottis"? I remember you then called me, as you rode away, "the metaphoric blacksmith." Well, I would be a highly illustrated pile driver before I would turn tail, as you did, vowing you would have no more to say to the smithy!
5Despite your vows, you have broken out again in a new place, and with your wonted virulence. I would not, were I you (you would say "yourself," I presume), give up the ghost so meekly this time. I would not sink! I would not crawl into my little hole at the first faint dawn of opposition! We know you to be ventricular and vituperative.
7JOHN HOWARD.
8321 West Fifty-ninth street, New York.
10Wagner's Debt to the Greek Drama.
11IT is difficult to be strikingly original in this age of the world. In the invention of new forms genius finds itself hard pushed; indeed, modern artistic creation consists more in new developments along old lines than in the production of novel art forms. Men of genius have been usually quite willing to admit this. Richard Wagner, the so-called most daring of innovators, declared that he had invented nothing new, but that he had joined in one great whole the arts that were already individually perfect, and developed the art work formed from this combination. After having perfected this "art work of the future," as he called it, he established the Bayreuth theatre, in which his dramas were to be performed at periodical festivals. The original of this enterprise Wagner found in the theatre of ancient Greece. His own words in regard to his debt to the Greek drama are not misleading. He says: "History furnished me with a typical model for the ideal relation I had conceived between the stage and the public. I found this in the theatre of ancient Athens; there where the theatre only opened its doors on special and hallowed festivals, where there was united with the enjoyment of art a religious celebration, in which the most distinguished men of the state took part as poets and actors, appearing like priests before the assembled populace of the city and country, which was so imbued with high anticipations of the dignity of the work to be performed that an Æschylus or a Sophocles could bring the most sublime of all poetic creations before the people, certain of their full understanding of them."
13Writers upon Wagnerian subjects often refer to the composer's admiration for the Greek drama and the inspiration that came to him from it; but here they stop, as if presupposing we were all Greek scholars and thoroughly familiar with the institutions of antiquity. But knowing that musicians generally have not time to gain this familiarity, it is the purpose of the present paper to give a general idea of this most important and popular festival of ancient Greece, and especially those elements in it that appealed most forcibly to Wagner.
15The drama of Greece took its rise in a religious ceremony connected with the worship of the god Dionysos, or, as more popularly known, Bacchus. Originally, this ceremony was nothing more than a sort of processional dance around the altar of Dionysos, during which choral hymns were sung in praise of the god. Afterward a speaker was introduced who described some event in the life of the deity. Then came the introduction of a dialogue between the speaker and the chorus, the principal part of the performance, however, still remaining with the chorus. The name of Arion in this connection will have a familiar sound to most musicians. He it was who first used the dialogue between the actor and chorus. There was, however, in this early period of dramatic growth very little action except in the evolutions of the chorus. It was simply a narrative in costume, the chorus being usually dressed like satyrs, the followers of Dionysos. Gradually a variety of mythological themes began to be used, the spectacle was enlarged, and a special building was constructed for it. The institution attained its highest perfection at the hands of Æschylus, although still remaining a drama of narration and not of action. Æschylus introduced a second actor, thus making possible a further development of the dialogue. More characters could be represented in the play, but only two could carry on a conversation. Sophocles was the first to make use of three actors in a single scene.
17The performance took place in a vast open amphitheatre, in which relative arrangement of stage and seats was very similar to that of our modern theatres, with one important difference. That part of the theatre which we sometimes term the pit, and in which are located the so-considered choicest seats in the house, with the Greeks was left open and free. In the centre of this open space, which was then called the orchestra, there was generally an altar to the god Dionysos, and around this the chorus performed the choral dance, which was the distinctive feature of the representation. But we must guard against forming a conception of these dances according to the modern meaning of the term. Dancing as we understand it was unknown to the Greeks, and on the other hand their dancing is now included among the lost arts. These dances consisted in a series of refined and artistic poses, gestures and processions, rather than in dances according to the modern acceptation of the term.
19The chorus usually entered from the right and proceeded, as they chanted their processional prelude, directly to the altar of Dionysos in the centre of the orchestra, around which they arranged themselves, looking toward the stage. Then the actor appeared upon the stage and the first scene was performed, consisting partly of a narrative soliloquy and partly of dialogue between the actor and chorus. At the conclusion of the scene the actor disappeared and the chorus, which remained in the orchestra during the entire performance, recited an ode which occupied a position analogous to entr'acte music in the modern theatre. The ode was divided into stanzas, which ran in pairs, the performance of which constituted the famous choral dance. During the first stanza, which was called the Strophe, the chorus worked their way, as they sang, to the extreme right of the orchestra; then turning they worked their way back to the altar while they chanted the second stanza, which corresponded exactly to the first in metre and length, and was called the Antistrophe. Then followed a second pair of stanzas, which were executed at the left of the altar, in exactly the same manner as the first. Sometimes there was an odd stanza in the middle of the ode. This was called the Mesod, and was executed around the altar. An odd stanza at the end of the ode was called the Epode, and performed in the same way. Then another actor would appear, and a similar scene would be enacted, and so on throughout the play. This description applies more accurately to the early period of the drama, when but one actor appeared upon the stage at a time; but the same general characteristics were preserved when more actors were introduced.
21Music also played an important part in these performances, but there is much uncertainty as to its nature. With the Greeks music was a comprehensive term, including a harmonious development of all man's faculties, being often used in this sense. Still the term also had a specific meaning, and we know that music as an individual art exercised a very powerful influence upon them. The office of music in the choral tragedy was to mark the rhythm and guide the voice. It could not have been altogether analogous to the modern chant, as has been sometimes stated, for in the chant rhythm is largely annihilated, while in the recitation of Greek poetry rhythm exercised a tyranny that would be unendurably monotonous to modern ears. Two instruments were used in these performances—the flute and the lyre. In choral tragedy the lyre was used to accompany the more serious passages, and the flute for the lighter portions. We read of the performance of flute solos, but no mention is made of the two instruments being played together. Had this been done the modern orchestra would have been anticipated by many centuries.
23(To be continued.)
25Miss Humphrys' Success.—Miss Bertini Humphrys is again with the Hinrichs Grand Opera Company, this being her fourth season with that organization. She is also meeting with more pronounced success than ever, her voice gaining in power and fullness with each successive season. The following is from the Philadelphia Times of June 20, 1895, on her first appearance this season: "Miss Humphrys sings the Queen's (Huguenots) part admirably. Her voice seems to have gained in fullness and firmness, and her execution is fluent and in perfect taste. All of the lovely music of the second act was beautifully sung, and the finale was a triumph."
27For the Fourth Time.—Colonel Mapleson, the opera impresario, has entered upon his fourth matrimonial venture, his second wife having been Marie Roze, and the third Laura Schirmer. This time Colonel Mapleson has married Mme. Robb-Millenberger, a sister of ex-Senator Robb, of New York. The wedding occurred June 20 in the English church in the Rue d'Aguesseau, Paris. Lord Dufferin, Lord Terence Blackwood, United States Ambassador Eustis and J. H. Robb stood as witnesses.
29New and Successful Music.
30PUBLISHED BY
31E. ASCHERBERG & CO., London.
32E. SCHUBERTH & CO., New York.
33SPECIALY SELECTED SONGS.
34Where Shadows Are Not (in four keys), F. H. Cowen
35Say, Yes! Mignon, and Amorita (each in two keys), Guy d'Hardelet
36Spring Is Here, She Loves Me (each in three keys), Edith A. Dick
37SPARKLING DANCE MUSIC.
38Bridesmaids' Barn Dance (Milton Wellings); Gipsies' Barn Dance (Celian Kottan); Al Fresco Barn Dance (Clifford), etc., etc.
39COMIC OPERAS AND BURLESSES.
40Cavalleria Rusticana; Pagliacci; L'Amico Fritz; I. Rantzau, Djamille, Philemon et Baucis, Signa, Lady of Longford and Quentin Durward.
41LONDON: E. ASCHERBERG & CO.
42NEW YORK: E. SCHUBERTH & CO
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