Scan 7
Musical Courier 1903-07-08: Vol 47 Iss 1215, 1903
30 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1PARIS, JUNE 26, 1903.
3The monument to Charles Garnier, architect of the present building in Paris called l'Académie Nationale de Musique et de Danse, or, in more familiar parlance, the Opéra, was inaugurated last week by M. Chaumié, Minister of Public Instruction, in the presence of a large number of people. It is placed in the courtyard of the Opéra, just at the corner of the Rue Auber and the Rue Scribe. It is a bust, said by those who knew him to be a very good likeness, placed on an elaborately ornamented pedestal, on which is carved "1825—Charles Garnier—1898." Underneath are the arms of the city of Paris and the ground plan of the Opéra, with the dates 1861-1876. When the ceremony of unveiling the monument was over, an official visit was paid to the museum of the Opéra, which contains many instruments of value, and relics, documents, scores, &c., of great interest to musicians and amateurs.
5In La Vie Musicale an exhaustive article on this museum has appeared by Mirande. From it I take the following statements: Le Musée de l'Opéra is cared for by Charles Malherbe, a well known writer on musical matters, whose musical erudition is astonishing. It was founded by M. Nuitter, who bequeathed to the Government of France a considerable collection of objects of musical interest, with a capital of 300,000 francs, the interest of which was to be employed in caring for and adding to the legacy. The present curator of the museum has divided this collection, consisting of matters related to music in general and opera in particular, into three great divisions, which include objects connected with scenery, costumes and posters of works presented at the Opéra. One can study there the complete development of the art of scene painting from the seventeenth century up to the present time. Some pastels of Moreau show us some very old scenes of a very primitive order of setting. Simply back cloths and side grooves, permitting of changes of scene, at a period when the lowering of the curtain for the entr'actes did not obtain. Other little stage models show us a little more complicated style of setting the scenes, with pieces of scenery set obliquely, instead of the flat back cloth and parallel side wings used up to 1829, at which period also the plan of lowering the curtain at the end of each act was first adopted. Models of the machinery used at the earliest performances at the Opéra enable us to notice the extraordinary strides made in this department of stage work during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
7The section of costume is not less interesting, being rich in documents, engravings of the different periods, and small models dressed in reproductions of ancient theatrical costumes, from the conventional square cut coats and perukes worn by the men singers, and panniers donned by the women, in the old versions of "Armida," "Theseus," &c. These reproduced costumes form a most interesting survey of the changes and modifications in "dressing" lyric works for the last three centuries. The most extraordinary care at present is taken in the costumes and appointments at the two lyric theatres of Paris, no pains being spared and numberless researches being made in order to arrive at historical accuracy.
9In the collection of affiches, or posters, the museum of the Opéra is also possessed of objects of great curiosity and interest. The poster of the eighteenth century, for instance, being simply an announcement of the opera or ballet to be performed, only mentioning the names of authors and composers when their works were performed for the first time, and giving, side by side with the names of the principal singers and dancers, those of the soloists of the orchestra. At the present day the names of the conductors of the orchestra do not even figure on the announcement of the Paris Opéra; an omission rectified this last season, so far as the Opera Comique is concerned, by the director, Albert Carré, who places the name of the conductor, or chef d'orchestre, as he is styled in France, always in a prominent position on the bills of that theatre. Why the name of such an important factor in operatic performances should be ignored at the Opéra I cannot say. Imagine such an oversight in the case of an orchestral concert!
11Among the most interesting of these posters, for instance, we see those announcing the first performances of works like "Les Huguenots" or "La Juive," as also the one advertising the memorable performance during which the Duc de Berri was assassinated. The documents also relating to the different vicissitudes through which has passed the Paris Opéra are interesting; as also are the models of the different buildings used at various periods for giving the performance of the subventioned lyric drama. Thus, for instance, we have a reproduction of the old theatre of the Palais Royal, occupied by Molière and his company of comedians before the Académie de Musique was installed there. This was burned in 1763. Then the Opéra was transferred to a temporary building in the Tuileries, destined to replace the Palais Royal, which, although temporary, still lasted for a period of ninety years.
13The second auditorium of the Palais Royal was erected at the corner of the Rue Saint-Honoré and the Rue Valois, or near the site of the present Comédie Française, to those who know Paris. It was there that the masterpieces of lyric drama by Gluck were first presented. Two curious sketches made on the spot by Robert represent the fire which destroyed the building in 1781.
15Among the busts and portraits which possess value from an artistic point of view, from the status of those who signed the works, are a bust of Guimard, the famous beauty and dancer, and a portrait of the once celebrated tenor Jélyotte, signed Van Loo.
17Among the autographs are different works in the handwriting of Gluck, Auber, Gounod, &c. The museum, already rich in objects of interest, is being added to by the liberality of musical amateurs, and is worthy to take its place among the many art museums of which Paris is the fortunate possessor.
19Some time ago I wrote of the movement initiated by Charpentier—the composer of "Impressions d'Italie," "Vie d'un Poète," the opera of "Louise," and other music—which has for its object the instruction in music gratuitously of the work girl of Paris. In these classes all who wish are taught the piano, harp, singing—solo and choral—and other branches of music. The idea of the enthusiastic founder was to give a certain amount of musical education to the people, and with a view later to some performance, styled the Théâtre Populaire, in which all these combined forces could be massed, somewhat after the style of the performances given in the ancient arenas of Orange, Béziers, &c. Like every other movement initiated, the scheme has its admirers and detractors. Among the former those who see in the idea the educating of the public in musical love and appreciation, and in the latter category are those who, in a musical education for the masses, which naturally can be only rudimentary and incomplete, fear the planting of a feeling of dissatisfaction with the daily routine of drudgery by which the people earn their daily bread, and perhaps the planting of a desire to leave this labor for the apparently easier and more attractive career of a life connected with music or the theatre. In La Plume a discussion has been going on having for its subject "The Artistic Education of the Contemporary Public." Two letters from Vincent d'Indy and Claude Debussy are worth translating. Both of these musicians are, be it remembered, in the very front of the advance guard of what is known as the "young school."
21Vincent d'Indy says: "Artistic education, in my opinion, ought to be either complete or nil. There are two species of the 'appreciative' public: First—That composed of well informed individuals understanding thoroughly the branch of art they are called upon to judge. Second—That composed of people totally ignorant of all that concerns artistic matters. These may sometimes be most excellent judges if they will allow themselves to be guided by their heart, by their feelings, by their intuitions; faculties which rarely mislead when trusted with a simple, confiding faith.
23"Then there is a species of 'unappreciative' public. This is recruited among those who know a little, a detestable class of people. In music it is the kind of people who have learned a little 'harmony.' This kind of public in all forms of art is harmful. In short, the artistic education of the public seems to one unnecessary, unless it can be thorough—which practically is very difficult. If this education is incomplete, it is, according to my idea, hurtful to the proper understanding of all artistic work."
25The letter of the composer of "Pelleas et Melisande" is still more disdainsful: "The artistic education of the public appears to me the most useless thing in the world. From a musical point of view it is impossible, even hurtful. Too many people nowadays are busying themselves with artistic matters. How is one to hinder, for instance, anyone who has received some little artistic training from believing himself an artist? It is this that makes one fear that a too general diffusion of art only brings about mediocrity."
27These to opinions are certainly not the opinions of everybody, but are interesting, on account of the sources from whence they come.
29The curator of the Opéra Musée, M. Ch. Malherbe, has just published an interesting pamphlet called "Thirty
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