No More Learning



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72
No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Τ
Μ
sto
ite
TELO
HARC
informs us,
2
ar
TRES
66
6
>
terms the wonderful methods of growth in injunction, but it is difficult to see how it the journals of learned societies. When the
plants, the extraordinary means adopted can be enforced.
writer describes any important building,
for seed-dispersal and fertilization, and the
On the night of Sunday, the 28th inst. , shrine, sculpture, or painting, it is hard
manner in which insects are lured to further there will be an occultation of Mars by the to say whether he has had the oppor-
the aims of the plant. Parasitic growths
moon. Disappearance will take place at tunity of studying it.
and the influence of the seasons form 2h. 34m. after midnight, and the moon,
interesting chapters. The book will be then nine days old, will set about half-past
In a chronological descriptive history
illustrated
with forty photographs by the three, so that the objects concerned will be of fine art, architecture must find a first
author and eight photo - colour plates by near the horizon when the phenomenon place because, as we have been often
Mr. H. Essenhigh Corke.
happens, and it is scarcely likely to be well told, it is the first of the fine arts to emerge
At a recent meeting of the Committee of seen from the neighbourhood of London. from barbarism in the service of religion
the British Association for the Protection
An orbit with elliptic elements has been and civic life. Mr. Vincent Smith con-
of Indian Cattle the following aims and computed for comet 1911, 9 (Schaumasse), siders that “ the originality of Indian art
objects were framed: (1) To prevent the the eighth and last discovered during the is perhaps most conspicuous in architec-
with the view of increasing the number and this comet is another of the Jupiter family, cursorily in these pages.
unnecessary slaughter of cattle in India, year just past, from which it appears that ture,” but “it is a subject treated only
improving the breed of the animals employed of which there are now more than twenty it is a subject too big for full treatment
He holds that
for the cultivation of the land. . (2) By members. These are comets whose periods in a general history of fine art; but the
this means to encourage the agricultural range from three to eight years, and which
development of the country, and so render pass near Jupiter's orbit at some point of treatment, though not full
, need not be
the United Kingdom less dependent upon their paths.
cursory. The main topics," the author
foreign countries for her raw material. (3)
dealt with in this volume
To improve the general condition and
are sculpture and painting. ” To quote
promote the more humane treatment of
cattle in India.
the language of one whose writings on
FINE ARTS
the fine arts will always retain their
A BOOK of interest to the many in this
fascination: “In the procession of the
:
country connected directly or indirectly
with the sugar industry has been issued by
fine arts sculpture always follows close
upon the steps of architecture, and at
tion under the title Histoire Centennale A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon first appears in some sense as her hand-
de la Betterave. ' It is an exhaustive tome
from the Earliest Times to the Present maid. ' Sculpture in India was in a
on the subject of sugar in general, and beet Day. By Vincent A. Smith. (Oxford, large measure the handmaid of architec-
sugar in particular, to which leading che- Clarendon Press. )
ture, and the best works of the Indian
mists, merchants, and engineers have con-
(First Notice. )
carver are often bas-reliefs.
tributed.
In view of the characteristically sensa-
MR. VINCENT SMITH has attempted an
Mr. Vincent Smith gives us in chaps. i.
tional telegram from America announcing ambitious task which was doomed to and ii. “ merely outline sketches of the
the “dissipation" of Saturn's Rings, it may comparative failure. He tells us in the leading Hindu and Muhammadan styles of
be recalled that the latest theory as to Preface :-
architecture. ” He follows in the footsteps
the constitution of the Rings ascribes their
"The purpose of this book is to give for of Fergusson, whose History of Indian
than to the reflection of sunlight from closely tory of Fine Art in India and Ceylon from the be a standard authority on the subject,
appearance to electricall radiation Father the first time a chronological descriptive His- and Eastern Architecture must always
packed discrete particles,
sparkling flocculence announced from
third century B. C. to the present day, with because it was written by one who in early
America can be explained by an electrical criticism of the esthetic merits of the life had the training of an architect, and
disturbance of the normal conditions obtain-
works described. The art history is treated who had for many years travelled over
ing in the neighbourhood of Saturn becomes throughout in close connexion with political India
and had ample opportunity of study.
and religious revolutions. In criticism the It was not a mere encyclopædic compila-
now an interesting question by which the
validity of the new theory may be further judgments of experts have been utilised as
tested.
far as possible.
tion. By the far sight which men call
Necessary limitations of
space forbid elaborate explanations of the genius he traced out the historical se-
It is one of the commonplaces of astronomy mythological or historical significance of quence of the Hindu monuments. The
that this appendage, which appears to be individual works. "
prehistoric relics of India consist of
so heavy and solid, cannot be so, from
To the homely mind, however, there is cromlechs, cairns, and other cognate
mechanical considerations, and that the
önly system of the dimensions we see which something indecorous, something almost remains built by an obscure race of
can exist is one composed of an indefinite pathetic, in an individual striving to get whom we know nothing. Between these
number of unconnected particles revolving into a volume a description of all the arts and the Buddhist remains, which come
round the planet with different velocities. of an ancient and highly civilized conti- next in order, a wide interval lies; for.
When Clerk-Maxwell demonstrated this nent, and to grasp the intention of the although in the two great epics, the
mathematically in 1857, he contemplated different minds of different races and Mahabharata’ and · Ramayana,' we read
the possibility that under certain conditions creeds. In order that the criticism of the of citadels and magnificent palaces, the
the stability
of the rings might be destroyed zesthetic merits of the works described " Aryans left nothing that has endured to
“
by mutual perturbations between the par-
ticles, but the casual appearance of a bright may be of substantial worth, the writer our time.
spot, which
may be no more than an optical should have not only the artistic nature, but It is with the reign of Asoka (273-232 B. C. )
illusion, is meagre ground for a prediction also the trained eye and the trained judg- that the history of Indian architecture
of dissolution in the near future.
ment. If the art history is to be treated begins, and for five centuries the monu-
,
The progress of wireless telegraphy is throughout in close connexion with political ments in India are Buddhist. Fergusson
.
responsible for the creation of a new legal and religious revolutions, the writer must calls this earliest style“ a wooden art
a
offence in France. For some months past have a knowledge of the three Eastern painfully struggling into lithic forms. "
accurate time-signals have been_sent out classics, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. Mr. Mr. Vincent Smith, however, points out
twice a day from the Eiffel Tower by Vincent Smith does not profess to be an that
Hertzian waves for the benefit of those at
sea, who can determine their longitude Oriental scholar, though he has produced
all authors who treat of Indian archi-
thereby if they can pick up the signal. It a most useful 'Early History of India. '
tecture notice, and are embarrassed by the
has occurred to some enterprising persons, The present volume represents a great fact, that each style when it first comes to
clockmakers and others, that it would be amount of patient labour. Indeed, in
Indeed, in our knowledge is full-grown and complete.
possible for any one to receive these signals some parts it may be said to consist The earliest specimens betray no sign of
by means of an easily constructed apparatus, almost entirely of extracts, or rather para- tentative effort, and in no case is it possible
but an injunction has been issued by the phrases of extracts, so carefully is each to trace the progressive evolution of a given
authorities, forbidding any pne to set up statement supplied with references to style from rude beginning. ”
such an appliance. Remembering that the
British Post Office derives a considerable
authorities. The authorities are well He admits that the extensive destruc-
sum from the sale of the Greenwich time- chosen and show a wide range of reading, tion of ancient monuments no doubt
signal, we can understand the reason for the not only of standard authors, but also of' supplies a partial, though not adequate
66
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No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
73
41
His
>
or
explanation. ” But he is convinced are introduced in panels on the basement “ academic ” has been so habitually used
as one of reproach that we have been obliged,
that the more fundamental explanation and elsewhere. ”
when eulogizing such an artist as Legros, to
is to be found in the assumption that all The best examples of the Dravidian or speak of him as academic ' in the better
the Indian styles are derived from proto- Southern style are the great structural sense of the word," and to claim for him a
types constructed in timber, ,bamboos, temples of Southern India, which embody grudging tolerance as an interesting historic
and other perishable materials. ” This is the ideas of Puranic Hinduism which survival.
merely saying that the progress of the succeeded Buddhism. A visit to them Even now we foresee that many critics--
human race may be traced from the wig. reveals the strength of Brahmanism as a
too conscientious to refuse comparison be-
wam to the hut, the hut to the house, the living creed, and gives the visitor a
tween the monument Legros has left behind
him, and the relatively trivial achievement
house to a palace, and from the shed for the glimpse of the volcanic forces of bigotry of this or that leader of artistic fashion-
wooden god to a temple. It is hard to and fanaticism which are still burning will yet estimate him as a fine artist in spite
believe, after closely examining Buddhist beneath a thin crust, ready to blaze of his academic outlook. This were to mis-
remains (not their photographs), that the forth at any moment. In looking at these conceive the nature of his greatness.
was a sincere and delicate talent of not
Buddhist sculptors were not the successors stupendous shrines we are at once struck
too robust a sort, the kind of talent which
of generations of artists in stone. These with wonder at something strange, is popularly supposed to be in danger of
remains consist of rock inscriptions; lats, but it requires many a visit to realize extinction if its owner does anything but
slender monolith pillars with inscriptions ; their artistic skill and their fitness to follow the line of least resistance to his
topes or stūpas, solid cupolas of brick or
represent the sensuousness of the gods, natural bent. What brought it to such fine
stone masonry for the safe custody of the emotional tendency of the Oriental
, fruition, and what made Legros exceptional,
relics, or to mark a spot associated with and the vital meaning of an altered mystic was his superb faith in logical and idio-
an event sacred in Buddhist legend; creed. They do not represent the old matic expression as a thing worth studying
rock-hewn temples; and veharas or monas- faith. They are comparatively modern. criticized for accepting in many of his own
for its own sake. We have heard Legros
teries. The stupa or tope at Sānchi is No Hindu temple has been discovered in drawings, and for imposing sometimes upon
the largest and finest in Central India, Southern India older than the eighth his pupils, a scheme of shading in line of the
and has been frequently described. Mr. century A. D. , but from that time forward same direction throughout-one example
Vincent Smith gives two illustrations of it: the building activity of the Dravidians among many of his instinctive sense that
one before restoration, and one after. We
was enormous, and culminated in the the complete exploration of the possibilities
prefer the one before restoration. Rails sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In of a simple convention serves to educe that
play an important part in the history of all of the temples they erected some dis- appreciation of refinements in its applica-
tion which is latent in the student, and as
Buddhist architecture, for it was on them tinct elements are to be observed. There capable of conscious development as any
that the carvers in stone lavished all the is the huge, massive wall, enclosing a vast other natural gift. For him art without
resources of their art, and the gateways, area meant to protect the rich jewels of convention would have been like a game
or torans as they are properly called, were the gods from bandits. As a rule, in the without rules, embryonic merely, even if
covered with most elaborate sculptures. centre of the outer wall, both in front and sometimes magnificently so.
The rail at Barhut, discovered by Cunning in the rear, are the gateways, above which
An examination of Legros's etchings in
ham in 1873, is perhaps the most inter- are raised lofty pyral.
Grafton Street shows how largely the charm
are raised lofty pyrali. . :1 towers
esting historical monument known to gopuras. A second enclosure succeeds and perfect employment of simple means.
of this delightful etcher consists in the full
exist in India.
the first, which has generally one gate His influence for good upon modern etchers
For long ages Buddhism struggled pyramid, and within it is the temple in this country can hardly be overrated. It
against the religion and complex social itself, which consists of two porches or is largely thanks to him that there are still a
system of Brahmanism, but the ancient mantapas, an ante-temple, and the shrine few who have trained themselves to test first
Sanskrit gods asserted themselves, and or cell (Vimana), which is the object of the possibilities of the distribution of line
in a single biting, and maintain always a
there arose the great shrines which suited worship. In addition to the principal certain economy in the number of different
the requirements of Brahman thought. temple, the enclosures contain smaller weights and different directions of line,
The varied styles in which they were temples, sacred tanks, gardens filled with avoiding the miscellaneous jumble of all the
built were divided by Fergusson into flowers, and the halls or cloisters sup- possible tricks of etching and printing which
two main divisions-Northern or Hindu ported by columns of stone, the front makes latter-day English etching on the
Such a plate as
Aryan, and the Southern or Dravidian. rows of which are often shaped by the whole so flaccid a thing,
The finest examples of the former style craftsmen into various sacred animals No. 62, Un Mendiant, might be proposed as a
model to the student of etching-almost
are found in the Puri district of Orissa, rampant, ridden by their respective deities. entirely one clean biting, with just the small
and Fergusson considers that “ the Orissa The mighty, gateways are decorated with addition of cobweb line playing its part so
group forms in itself one of the most com- sculpture charged with life and beauty definitely, and blending so perfectly in the
plete in all India. ” A most picturesque and individuality, but too often bearing scheme. No. 3, Faiseurs de Fagots, may be
account of the temple is to be found in
witness to the sensual debasement of the noted as an example of the artist's ex-
** Orissa,' by Andrew Sterling, who visited race wrought by Puranic Hinduism. It haustive use of a single direction of shade
lines. In No. 23, a mild and dreamy Rodin,
it in 1820. Fergusson has given an archi- is a matter for regret that Mr. Vincent
we see shade lines in two directions utilized
tect's precise
and prosaic description. The Smith did not pay
due attention to these for ordering the tones into categories. These
.
pagoda he mentions is a solid and square great monuments of Indian art.
are apparently simple exercises, yet it is on
tower built wholly in stone from the base
He devotes a chapter to the Indo- such a basis that the magnificent work
to the apex, and, “what unfortunately Mohammedan styles of architecture, but of Legros the etcher is built up. Were it
no woodcut can show, every inch of the we must leave further discussion of his not for the dramatic and intensely human
surface is covered with carving in the book to another article.
emotion in many of his plates, which proves
most, elaborate manner. ”
him a man who “ lived as well as knew,'
Like Sterling,
we might fitly celebrate his departure by
he states that “the sculpture is of a very
chanting 'The Grammarian's Funeral, so
high order and great beauty of design. ”
WORKS BY ALPHONSE LEGROS.
clear is it that the exquisite use of the lan-
Mr. Vincent Smith's description of the
guage of art is the essence of his message
Great Temple is brief :
THE magnificent display of Legros's etch-to mankind, even more than his subject-
ings at Mr. Gutekunst's Gallery, together matter, sincere as was his interest in that.
* A second and later variety of the style is with the Fine Art Society's show of his Perhaps the best tribute his followers can
adequately represented by the Great Temple, other remaining works, should stimulate to pay his memory is to raise again the question
which has a high steeple tower, with sides enthusiasm the respect and appreciation whether, after all
, his faith in a training in
vertical for the most part, and curving only universally accorded
to the late artist at academic principles may not
be justified. At
near the top. The roof of the porch has the present day. The chorus of praise least this is what best permits an artistic idea
considerable elevation,
and in many details amid which he passed away seems on the to be passed on from
hand to hand and
the design differs from that of the earlier face of it odd, when we consider
the general gradually perfected. Thus even in his finest
wariety: Sculptures of remarkable merit, trend of artistic opinion for the past and most
spontaneous works --such, for
which will be illustrated in a later chapter, ten years. During that time the term I example, as Les Bacherons (15), or the idyllic
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74
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
&
are
was
Mouton retrouvé (34), or his exquisite essays THE appointment of M. Léon Bérard as
in puro landscape (65, 66, and 67)-Legros is Under-Secretary of State for Fine Arts con-
treading in paths where others have preceded tradicts current gossip in Paris that the
him. Now it is Millet who beckons, now Departments of Fine Arts, hitherto
MUSIC
the landscape painters of the sixteenth and branch of the Ministry of Public Instruc-
seventeenth centuries, and now Rembrandt ; tion, would be made into a separate
while in some of his later drawings at the ministry. This change has long been urged
Fine Art Society we seem to see the influence by many powerful advocates, while others
of Prud'hon. In the latter exhibition the hold that a more satisfactory arrangement
OUR LIBRARY TABLE.
fine series of portraits of members of his would be the appointment of a permanent
own family is the principal feature. On the and non-political director of Fine Arts in lotte Milligan Fox.
Annals of the Irish Harpers. By Char-
(Smith & Elder. )
whole, it reveals him in a less virile mood place of an Under-Secretary or any other
The author tells us how her book came
than does the collection of his etchings, political minister.
to be written. A lecture which she heard
falling as he did sometimes, in his later days,
into too facile a harmony.
M. JACQUES DOUCET, founder of the
on Edward Bunting, delivered by Mr.
Students' Library of Art and Archæology at
Robert Young, first awoke her interest in
Paris, has decided to sell his well-known
the subject, and soon after she was
collection of eighteenth-century pastels and fortunato in making acquaintance with a
drawings, decorative furniture, and other grandson and granddaughter of Bunting,
OTHER EXHIBITIONS.
works of art. The date of the sale has not yet who both placed at her disposal musical
At the Galleries of the Royal Society of been fixed, but it is expected to take place notebooks, letters, &c. ;, and on examin-
British
ing these manuscripts she found material
Artists, Messrs. Yamanaka
early this spring.
for a book.
exhibiting a collection of ancient Japanese
M. ROLL has acceded to the unanimous
screens of great interest, if of somewhat desire of his colleagues on the Council, and music, published
Bunting's first collection of Irish harp
in 1796,
the
unequal artistic merit. It is difficult to
withdrawn his resignation as President of earliest of any importance. Dr. Petrie,
gauge fairly the stature of their producers, the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. whose volume of Irish airs appeared in 1855,
in comparison with modern artists, because
while criticizing, though with great re-
there are few of the works which have not
A PARIS CORRESPONDENT writes :-
luctance, some features of Bunting's work,
altered considerably under the effects of time.
When the alterations have been disastrous,
The export of old masters to the United speaks of the “ zealous exertions” for
States is not confined to England. Messrs. Druet the preservation of national music which
we instinctively make allowances, but when
& Co. have this month sent to New York a repre- “should entitle his name to be for ever
they have been happy we never attempt to sentative who takes with him across the Atlantic held in grateful remembrance by his
estimate to what extent
beauty is really accidental. In No. 26 in in Sir George Donaldson's collection, Hoppner's country. ” Petrie, moreover, contributed
Portrait of Mrs. Bentley,' and other important an essay to Bunting's third collection
the present collection time and the artist
examples of deceased masters. Rousseau's 'Le (1840).
have conspired to produce a splendidly Pêcheur, formerly
in the collection of M. Periere
resonant harmony which we can the more of Paris, has been bought for 40,0001. by Mr.
In the volume before us interesting
easily believe to be deliberate because the George F. Baker of New York. ”
details are given of Bunting's early life.
design is so vividly eloquent, the line at
Born in 1775 at Armagh, he was sent to
once so confident and so expressive. Yet
M. FRÉDÉRIC ALPHONSE MURATON, whose Belfast in 1781, and soon showed taste
there are other screens as ably drawn which death at the age of 88 is announced from and talent for music; but it was the great
have not matured into the same subtle La Source-Macé. near Ménars, was born at Harpers' Festival held in that city in 1792
perfection; Nos. 22, 50, and 53 may be noted Tours, and had been until the last year which first specially drew his attention
as brilliant examples.
or so a regular exhibitor at the Salon since to the folk-music of his native country.
1859. He studied under Drolling and For four years he collected melodies,
Of the four French painters exhibiting Jacquinet, and resided for some time at and when his first collection appeared he
at the Goupil Gallery, M. Maurice Denis is the monastery of La Trappe, painting there was only 21 years of age.
the best known. His works are pleasing,
one of his best-known pictures, ‘Un Reli- later Moore's melodies were published,
but nowise profound, and to the present gieux en Méditation, which was bought and the poet acknowledged his great
He also indebtedness to Bunting.
In the Preface
writer his reputation has always been some by the State and is now at Tours.
to the fourth volume of his collected
what of a mystery: Soir de Septembre (26) is painted portraits and genre subjects.
works Moore says :
“ It was in the year
the best. His companions are also of the
school loosely termed Post-Impressionist who has also just died in his 47th year, was a
THE sculptor M. Antoine Clair Forestier, 1797 that, through the medium of Mr.
(not, however, of the branch of that move-
Bunting's book, I was first made ac-
ment which appears to us to be a hopeful at the Salon. One of his most noteworthy music. ” Moore altered both melodies and
native of Cannes and a constant exhibitor quainted with the beauties of our nativo
portent). M. George Desvallières, however,
is an exception; he shows a couple of clever works was 'La Feuille et l'Ouragan,' which
measures of the old airs, whereas Bunting
is now at Saint Germain. To last year's believed that the harpers had accurately
pieces of realism, La Couture (36) and Au
Salon he sent a marble statuette, ‘L'Attente. ' transmitted the melodies from one gene-
Moulin Rouge (38). Here we have the
ration to another. The variants of
matter-of-fact vision of Signor Mancini, but THE example of the Vasari Society and
happily not his distressful technique.
the Société de Reproduction des Dessins de
melodies given by Sir Charles Stanford in
his valuable edition of Petrie's collection
Maîtres is being followed in Germany. The
Prestel-Gesellschaft, whose headquarters are
show, however, that the transmission was
at the address Rossmarkt 14a, Frankfurt-
not always accurate ; Bunting, at any rate,
tried to obtain them from the best avail-
am-Main, proposes to issue to its members,
able sources.
Fine Art Gossip.
in return for an annual subscription of thirty and frequently destroyed their archaic
Moore wilfully altered them,
marks, thirty facsimiles of drawings by old
character.
GALLERIES IX. to XII. of the National masters produced by the Berlin firm of
Portrait Gallery, containing the portraits of Albert Frisch. The responsible secretary Among the harpers at the Belfast Festival
Denis
the eighteenth century, were opened to the is Herr Rudolph Schrey, of the Städel
Hempson, blind, 97 years
public last Tuesday. The portrait in oils Institut, who has had much to do with the old, and Charles Byrne, aged 80, who as a
of Henry Fawcett (with his wife Millicent excellent publication, now approaching com-
boy acted as guide to his blind uncle, a
Garrett Fawcett), by Ford Madox Brown, pletion, of the drawings in that choice contemporary of Carolan, who was born.
in 1670 and died in 1738.
bequeathed
new society intends to
to the Gallery by the late collection. The
Of Hempson,
Sir Charles Dilke, has been placed in reproduce in its first portfolio, to appear in
who lived to the age of 112, a portrait,
Room XXV.
the spring, a selection of the drawings in taken from an old engraving, is included
the Grand-Ducal Museum at We ar, nearly among other illustrations. Our author
An echo of the controversy on the ques. all of which are unpublished.
gives details of these and the other
tion whether photography constitutes an
harpers who attended the Festival. Many
art or no comes from France, where the THE tomb of Ambrose Dudley, the pages are devoted to the Memoir of
Court of Toulouse has peremptorily declared good ” Earl of Warwick, in the Beauchamp Arthur O'Neill, who had travelled in his
that the law of 1793, which safeguards the Chapel, St. Mary's, Warwick, is in sad need calling over all parts of Ireland, and
proprietary rights of artists, is not applicable ! of repair. The great weight of the super gives graphic accounts of these journeys.
to photography. A decision of the French | incumbent effigy is thrusting out the sides | The 'Memoir' has never been published,
courts on the subject of portrait photo- of the tomb, and the whole has to be tem- although many facts and anecdotes were
graphs also lays it down that the sitter alone porarily held together by a surrounding coil used
by Samuel Ferguson for the essay he
has the right of sale or reproduction.
of wire.
contributed to the third Bunting collection. .
Eleven years
were


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No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
75
at
PERFORMANCES NEXT WEEK.
Brn. Concert, 3. Royal Albert Hall.
Funday Copcort Society, 3. 30, Queen's Hall.
Sunday League, 7, Queen's Hall.
Raturday. )
Tung. Richard Buhlig's Planoforte Recital, 8 30, Steinway Hall.
Mrs. Toni Cohen's Pianoforte Recital, 8. 15, Eolian Hall.
THURS. Twelve o'clock Chamber Concert, Eolian Hall.
Mr. Jonot Holbronke's Pianoforte Recital, 8. 15. Enlinn Fall.
Sergei Tarnowsky's Pianoforte Recital, 8. 15, Rechstein Hall.
Anciety of Women Musicians, 8 30. Queen's (Small) Ball.
SAT.
Henkel Pianoforte Quartet, 3, Bechstein Hall.
7. 30, Alexandra Palace.
6
Three chapters give extracts from the
Le Ménestrel of last Saturday speaks of Zolas and Merediths—especially the Mere
diary and letters of Patrick Lynch, a
an invasion of the Wagner territory by a
diths-impress him too easily ; perhaps
noted Gaelic scholar, and diligent collector Strauss company. The old Theatre in the he loves too well the literary tradition,
of Irish songs.
town of Bayreuth has been engaged—so it the European tradition of four hundred
is said-for a series of performances of years, to understand that the greatest
Strauss's
operas, including the new one,
Ariana at Naxos. '
Ausical Gossip.
These are to take poetry is rarely poetical :-
place about the time of the Bayreuth A Voice, a Voice, that is borne on the Holy Way!
Festival.
What art thou, O Heavenly One, O Word of the
THE programme of the concert given last
Houses of Gold ?
FOUR AUTOGRAPH
Monday by the London Symphony Orchestra
LETTERS of Johann Thebes is bright with thee, and my heart it
at Queen's Hall was devoted to Russian
Sebastian Bach have been found at Sanger- leapeth ; yet is it cold,
And my spirit faints as I pray.
music. It opened with Tschaikowsky's 'Fran- hausen. They have never been published ;
cesca da Rimini' fantasia, and owing to the
their very existence, indeed, was up to now
1-ê! 1-ê!
What task, O Affrighter of Evil, what task shall
fine conducting of M. Safonoff, the inequali- unknown. The town intends to present
thy people essay?
ties of the music were to a large extent
them to the Bach Museum at Eisenach.
One new as our new. come affliction,
hidden : a great deal of it is inspired, but
Or ay old toil returned with the years?
Unveil thee, thou dread benediction,
the passion is times overstrained.
Hope's daughter and Year's.
Arensky's Variations for strings (Op. 54,
No. 5) are neat, clever, and effective. Two
This is very pretty, but is it Sophocles
movements were given from a Caucasian TUES. , WED. , Fri. , and sar. London Opera House. (Matinée also on or Swinburne ? Still, grace there is,
Suite by Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, the whole of
and distinction, in all that Prof. Murray
which has already been heard in London.
WxD. Classical Concert Society, 3. Rechstelp Hall,
writes-qualities that are not accentuated
The first of the two short movements,
by the mouthings of the protagonist, Mr.
entitled ‘Dans l'Août,' is dainty and pic-
Martin Harvey, the uninspired drone of
turesquely scored. It ends with a dance,
Chappell Ballad Concert, 2. 80 Queen's Hall.
the lively rhythm of which is marked on a
the chorus, or the intermittent shrieking
Madame Clara Butt and Mr. Kennerley Rumford's Concert,
primitive kind of drum which M. Safonoff
and bawling of the crowd. In the trans-
brought from Russia. The second number,
lation of the Professor the simple pro-
Cortège du Sardar,' is bright, though some-
fundities of the poet become delicate
what commonplace. Rimsky-Korsakoff's
verse, which in the mouth of the histrion
* Easter' Overture (Op. 36) was apparently
DRAMA
is turned into rhythmless rhetoric.
inspired by Tschaikowsky's ‘1812,' but we
prefer the original to the imitation. Mr.
But, after all, in performances of this
Wesley Weyman played the solo part of
sort it is not the play, but the production,
Rubinstein's Pianoforte Concerto in D minor, EDIPUS REX' AT COVENT that is the thing-though that is less true
but his reading lacked colour.
GARDEN
of this than of any other Reinhardt
THE second concert of the Société des
entertainment we have yet seen. Still,
Concerts Français at Bechstein Hall on
THERE need be nothing anachronous or
deeds not words: it is by theatrical
Wednesday evening was devoted entirely archæological about a performance of effects and stage decoration, if by any
to old masters of the seventeenth and Edipus' at Covent Garden. There is means, that the message of Sophocles is to
eighteenth centuries. First came a series
no reason why the plays of Sophocles be conveyed to the people of London.
of five charming movements from the should move us less than they moved the That both are remarkable cannot be
Campra's first work for the stage (1697). Athenians twenty-three hundred years denied. 'Edipus' is a fine show. It is
Another concerted number was 'Les Carac ago, and there is some for supposing that erudite, striking, and ingenious ; but it
tères de la Danse,' a series of eight short we, who live in the twentieth, are is not a work of art. What is it, then ?
old suite movements, preceded by a Prelude more likely to appreciate them than those To borrow an expressive, though un-
and followed by a Finale. The French who lived in any intervening century. necessarily insulting term from our neigh-
twenty-four violins of the royal band, and the plicity and significance, and art more
composer, Jean Ferry Rébel, was one of the For everywhere to-day, is a cry for sim- bours, it is “ Le faux bon. ”
And what is “Le faux bon” ? It is
is most dainty. Both works were performed simple and significant than the Attic something exceedingly difficult to pro-
by the Société des Concerts d'Autrefois drama does not exist. In less than ten duce. We do not wish to belittle it ;
(Mlle. M. Delcourt, harpsichord ; and MM. thousand words Sophocles tells all that
we wish to make plain its nature. If we
L. Fleury, F. Mondain, G. Desmonts, G. can be told about a terrible and complex succeed, we shall show also how choice and
Taine, and E. Nanny, fute, oboe d'amore, tragedy. Zola or Meredith in ten times
viola da gamba, viole et vielle, and double- the space would have added nothing. rate, it keeps good company. The plays
rare a thing this “Edipus' is.
court played pieces by Couperin and They would only have put flesh on bone of Mr. Stephen Phillips are classical
Rameau, interpreting them on the harpsi- and muscle ; they would have given us examples of the faux bon,” and, to
chord with skill and delicacy. Mlle. Hélène trappings and ornament where Sophocles remove a suspicion of disparagement, we
M. Luquiens contributed some old French gives nothing but bare springs and forces. hasten to add that the plays of M. Rostand
chansons skilfully, and, in spite of a bad
Yet in this flat, lean, Attic drama all and FitzGerald’s paraphrase of Omar are
cold, successfully.
Latin realism and Celtic romance, all examples too. The brilliant and enter-
CHARPENTIER'S · Louise' will be per- details and suggestions, are implicit. It taining pictures of Mr. Nicholson and Mr.
formed at the London Opera-House next
states just those fundamental things of Orpen serve our purpose even better, so
Wednesday evening, and again on the
following Saturday evening. The cast will
which all the rest are but manifestations closely do they resemble the first-rate.
include Mlle. Vallandri (Louise), M. Jean
or consequences. There is much And now in this, the latest art, the new
Auber. (Julien), and Mlle. d'Alvarez and M. psychology in the scene between Edipus art of the theatre, come M. Bakst with his
Francis Combe (the Mother and Father). and Jocasta, a matter of some seventy Scheherazade,' and Prof. Reinhardt with
A LEAD tablet was affixed on Tuesday lines, as could be forced into seventy Sumurun' and The Miracle,' levy-
last, the 16th inst. , to 12, Seymour Street, pages by a modern novelist. A change of ing contribution on all the others, culling
Portman Square, to commemorate the resi- feeling that it would take Mr. Henry from them all those features that people
dence of M. W. Balfe, who lived there from James a chapter to elaborate is indicated of taste expect and recognize in a work
1861 until 1864.
by a statement, a question, and a reply. of art.
MEYERBEER was born in Berlin, where for Sophocles could never be satisfied with For “ le faux bon” is produced to meet
many years his operas were very successful. anything short of the essential: that he the demands of a tasteful and cultivated
It is therefore natural that a monument stated ; the rest he left out.
should be erected to him in his native
society—a society that knows as much
city. Wagner, as is known, disliked both
Though Prof. Gilbert Murray is, about art as can be taught. People who
the man and his music. It was, however, every. knows, a charming and have been brought up on terms of fami-
Meyerbeer who gave Rienzi' there in 1847 sensitive scholar, he is not the ideal liarity with the arts learn to recognize all
on the occasion of the King's birthday. translator of Sophocles. Perhaps the those features that a work of art ought
At any
as
6
as
one


## p. (#76) #################################################

76
No. 4395, Jan. 20, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Important
Announcement.
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AUTHORS' AGENTS
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BLACKWELL
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EXHIBITIONS
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UNWIN
WARNER
to possess ; they know the effects that it Abbey Theatre, Dublin, last week. The
ought to produce; but, unless born with piece is tragic in tone throughout, and is
the power of reacting emotionally and unrelieved by the humour which pervades
directly to what they see and hear, they performed by the members of the Abbey
the author's earlier work. It was creditably
cannot understand what a work of art is. School of Acting under the direction of Mr.
Such people are numerous in these days. Nugent Monck.
Far too intelligent to be duped by imita-
tions of particular plays, or poems, or
THE 290th anniversary of Molière's birth
was celebrated during the week at the
pictures, what they require is imitation art. Comédie Française by a performance of ' Le
And that is what they get. In Prof. Compliment au Roi.