in them if they could have been associated with the political songs and catches current at the time.

If the social and literary history of our own or of any other country is considered worthy of serious study, then surely it is absurd to separate the art of music from the rest of life. If we are really to enter into the minds of our ancestors, their music is as important a factor in their lives as their religion or their legislation. It is positively a matter of good form to have some acquaintance with the other arts. One must at least know whether Botticelli is a wine or a cheese: but even those who profess to be musical can go through life without the remotest knowledge of Byrd and Morley, Wilbye and Weelkes. The lyrics from the Elizabethan song-books are to be found in every anthology. They have indeed tempted many a modern composer. But to have them sung to their original settings-sung properly, that is, without that modernization of both harmony and rhythm which disfigures most of the reprints-is to have a new light on the beauty of the poetry. The music and the verse become inseparable; one can hardly conceive of the one without the other.

The Elizabethan age is, as everybody knows, the most obvious example to take; in practice it may well be the most dangerous and difficult to illustrate, simply because of its enormous wealth of artistic material. To concentrate intensively on that one period, as a musician may well be tempted to do, would be to forget the purpose which I desire here to suggest. For although there are periods of history in which records of music, that is of actual pieces of music which can be performed now, hardly exist at all, and other periods in which the artistic music of a given country may have sunk to a very low level, yet there is no time at which music has not been an indispensable form of self-expression, and no adequate historical picture of the human life of any epoch or country which does not take its music into account. How far the great movements of history are reflected in the art of music and how far they may perhaps be foreshadowed in it are problems which may well engage the researcher. For the youthful student the first thing is to give him an idea not so much of the history of music, as of the music of history.

PROMENADE

EDWARD J. Dent.
CONCERTS

BEFORE discussing the music heard at the Promenades during last week, it may be opportune to say a word or two with regard to the general arrangement and lay-out of the programmes of these concerts. Reference was made in the last review to the fact that such interesting and attractive items as Ravel's "Valses Nobles" and Dvorak's Carneval " Overture were placed in the second half of the Saturday evening programme-the hour of all hours in the week when players and audience alike are most liable to relax attention and do something less than justice to the music. It is worth while to consider this in some little detail. In the first place, the length of a Promenade Concert-close on 24 hours-is so great that nobody can listen attentively to the whole of it. In the second place, the audience can be roughly classified under two heads those who do not mind much what they hear, so long as it is reasonably good-" reasonably" being in this case a very elastic term; a cynic might prefer to say so long as it is not unreasonably good "-and those who definitely want to hear certain items* and to come tolerably fresh to the hearing. The latter are probably the minority, but they have every claim to be considered when the programmes are arranged, because it is they alone who are really concerned. There is in this no question of sacrificing the majority to the minority; it is simply one of selecting an order that is acceptable to A and indifferent to B in preference to one that is highly inconvenient to A and yet

*In practice it would not usually be difficult to foretell what these items would be on any particular evening.

equally indifferent to B. In the instance under consideration, it would have been just as easy to fit the Dvorák and the Ravel earlier into the programme and bring, say, the two Hungarian Dances and the Intermezzo from Cavalleria " into Part II. Nor is this by any means an isolated instance. Two of our best and most representative English composers -Gustav Holst and Vaughan Williams-figured (their only appearance during the whole series) in last week's programmes;

"

་་

are

yet the Japanese Suite and the "Wasps Overture were both relegated to Part II., the former at the close of a long and exacting Wagner programme. So with Delius's "Brigg Fair," which might well change places on September 11 with the Solemn Melody," or even with Casse Noisette." On September 20 those who want to hear the " Meistersinger Overture and Smetana's Vltava" will have to sit through a dreary waste of Gounod, Landon Ronald, Liszt, Paganini, Gounod (again) and Edward German. That day is a Saturday; if they do not go right at the beginning they will not be able to get a seat at all. The following Saturday again, Elgar's Cockaigne and Turina's "Procession du Rocio " placed at the two extremes of the programme; in between them come Sullivan, Thomas, Tobias Matthay, Massenet, and Gounod, and a couple of very hackneyed pieces by Dvorak and Tschaikowsky. It is not suggested for a moment that the names of Gounod, Massenet, Mascagni, Offenbach, Saint-Saëns and the rest should be expunged from programmes avowedly designed to cater for every taste, but merely that some sort of method should be introduced into an arrangement that seems at present entirely haphazard and chaotic. And the broad democratic appeal of these concerts need not prevent pride of place being given to those composers who can show the loftier aim and the finer achievement.

Only one actual novelty was heard during last weekMr. Bax's new Scherzo. It is a grin. and mordant little piece that leaves one wondering rather what the future development of this gifted writer will be. He is evidently at the parting of the ways; the bitter taste of the Scherzo suggests that he has been shaken right out of his earlier romanticism and come to much closer grips with life. He may do finer work on these lines than anything he has done in the past, but admiration of the Scherzo on Wednesday was not untempered by regret for the delicate fantasy that gave us the Hills," the Faery Dance in the Sun" and "Christmas Even in the Mountains," and by a misgiving as to whether the older self may not after all be the true one.

"

"

Other items of interest during the week were Borodin's fine Symphony in B minor; Vaughan Williams's genial and witty Wasps overture; Holst's characteristic piece of work, just below the composer's best Japanese Suite ❞—a level, perhaps, but a remarkably sure and brilliant piece of orchestration-and a ballet suite made up of some of Rameau's incidental movements, very much brought up to date by Sir Henry Wood, and yet enjoyable. But the bulk of the Queen's Hall orchestra is too great for these delicate antiques; reduce the strings by one half, scale down the wind in proportion, and you will come much nearer the spirit of the old Frenchman. R. O. M.

IN anticipation of the larger volume to be published in memory of Edward Thomas, to which reference was made in a recent note, the second number of the Series Green Pastures (Morland Press, 2s. net) is entitled Edward Thomas." This well - printed pamphlet contains 'In Memoriam ; a poem by Thomas, Up in the Wind"; a short sequence of eloquent and distinguished sonnets to his memory by V. Locke Ellis; a charming essay, Edward Thomas as I

"

Knew Him," by J. W. Haines; and poems by W. H. Davies and Julian Thomas. The only blemish upon this dignified production is that the ornaments are scmetimes too flimsy for the printed page.

Of the many interesting careers cut short by the war, that of Lieut.-Col. John Hay Maitland Hardyman stands out as one of the most remarkable. he enlisted in the 4th Somerset Light Infantry in 1914. Born in Bath in 1894, He was killed in action in August, 1918, just before the close of the war. A volume of his poems, with a brief biographical foreword, is to be published almost immediately by Messrs. George Allen & Unwin, under the title "A Challenge."

890

Drama

THE ATHENEUM

SIX PLAYS BY SHAKESPEARE

T

HE Shakespeare Festival at Stratford has come to an end, and it would be wrong to lose the opportunity of again thanking Mr. Bridges Adams and his company for the work they have done. Apart from the gratitude due to anyone who gives us a chance of seeing six of Shakespeare's plays acted on six consecutive evenings, Mr. Adams has special claims upon our admiration. Though he was hampered by external difficulties, which not only limited his material resources but made adequate rehearsals impossible, his productions have been in several respects an improvement upon what we are accustomed to lament.

66

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SEPTEMBER 12, 1919

a permanent organization, such faults will no doubt be
gradually eliminated. The most annoying of them is the
temptation felt by many Shakespearian actors to emphasize
the wrong word in each sentence. This has been variously
ascribed to thoughtlessness, and to panic induced by the
difficulty of declaiming blank verse; but as it occurs with
equal regularity in "Romeo and Juliet" and in "The
Tempest," the former explanation seems the more probable.
It will be wiser, however, to pass over these smaller points
and to consider for a moment the perfected Shakespeare
performances which Mr. Adams, supported by accomplished
actors like Mr. Murray Carrington, may reasonably be
expected to produce in a few years. The contemplation
of Mr. Adams's ideals fills me, I must confess, with profound
uneasiness. They seem to differ so fundamentally from
my own that any reasoned criticism is likely to be mere
tinkering, and any expression of feeling is likely to be
volcanic. The whole basis of the Stratford performances
consisted in the traditional method of Shakespearian
acting, and no amount of alteration in details could possibly
affect it. If it is to be reformed, it must be reformed not
indifferently but altogether. It may irritate the actors
and it may bore the public, but they must be constantly
reminded that there are still people who agree with the
Prince of Denmark's opinion as to the purpose of acting
whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold,
as 'twere, the mirror up to nature." And some at least
can exclaim with him (as they have exclaimed a hundred
times before) after a visit to Stratford:

To begin with, the repertory (consisting of "Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Cæsar," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," The Merry Wives of Windsor," The Tempest," and "The Winter's Tale ") was chosen so as to allow the audience to admire Shakespeare in a variety of moods and periods, and to test at the same time the versatility of the actors. What an experience, one felt, for a single man to act in such rapid succession the parts of Mercutio, Mark Antony, Oberon, Ford, Caliban, and Leontes! What an occasion for psychological acrobatics and elocutionary virtuosity! But for the audience the great stand-by throughout the week was the fact that in all of the performances the one thing that the producer was bothering about was Shakespeare. Excrescences of every sort were rigorously forbidden. No tableaux vivants graced the plains of Philippi, no ballets enlivened the wood near Athens, no morris-dances shook the sea-coast of Bohemia. Scarcely any pieces of "business," whether traditional or clever, evaded Mr. Adams's censorship; and the comic characters were unprecedentedly restrained. In the same way, the scenery and dresses were allowed to (The scenery, indeed, was remain unnoticeable. quiet that the question arose whether it would not have been better abolished entirely. The intervals required for setting it were shorter than in most Shakespeare productions, but they were long enough to make the gallery impatient and to destroy the absolute continuity of action which is so often essential.) Similarly, too, the incidental music was as a rule tactful and unobtrusive-though perhaps the overture to the "Magic Flute" is not the most appropriate introduction to " Julius Cæsar," even when drowned with bright conversation. But such negative merits as have been mentioned, important in themselves, open the door to a still more important positive advantage. By combining them with a reasonably rapid delivery of the words, Mr. Bridges Adams was able to prove again how perfectly easy it is to act an Elizabethan play in full without extending the normal theatre-going hours. The average time of the six Stratford plays was, I believe, well under three hours, including a ten minutes' interval; and in this time we were given in each case practically. the whole of the words. "Practically," because Mr. Adams is still obliged to make a few cuts, some on the score of indecency and others (such as the scene with the musicians after the discovery of Juliet's "death") because he feels that his present actors or audiences could not cope with them. The second of these causes is of only local and temporary importance, and it may be hoped that the urgency of the first will vanish before long with the growth of more civilized manners.

course

"O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that neither having the accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan nor man, have so strutted and bellowed, that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably." How humanity can be well imitated is of more difficult problem; but the destructive criticism is platitudinous and crushing. When the traditional actor comes to a passage in the text which appears to express anger, he does not behave as though he were really angry; still less does he behave so as to seem to the audience as though he were really angry; he simply behaves as other actors behave when they are supposed to be angry. The origin of this method of behaving is a curious branch of genetic psychology; but the analysis of the mental content which accompanies the behaviour would be still more instructive. Has this histrionic anger any subjective connection at all with real anger, or with simulated anger? What is the nature of its effect on the spectator? And what is the common character in vrrtue of which histrionic anger and histrionic love may be seen to resemble each other? But whatever may be the answers to these questions, most educated people agree that this method of behaviour is both objectionable esthetically in itself and destructive as a means of fulfilling a playwright's intentions. And until this has also been grasped by those who are concerned in producing plays the very seeds of adequate Shakespearian performances will not be sown.

It would be unprofitable to criticize the many imperfections of detail in what must be regarded as an improvised series of performances. No one can be more aware of them than Mr. Adams himself, and if, as has been suggested, the present company becomes the nucleus of

"TOO MANY COOKS"

J. S.

THE machine-made play (the chief industry of our theatre) is turned out much better in America than here. The best specimens of this class of work, as they come to us from the other side, have as a rule three distinct qualities. There is usually some idea that gives unity to the fable; here and there, as a rule in the minor characters, there are shame-faced traces of actual observation; there is always humour in the dialogue, perhaps because the American tongue runs as naturally

to humour as the Italian does to music.

Without pretending that Mr. Frank Craven's "Too Many Cooks," transported from America to the Savoy,

e

ts

re

On three occasions in France-once in a front-line trench,
and twice between “bearer-relays” and
first-aid posts

I saw Mr. Sargent collecting his details. I have seen the
picture in question, also, and it is the man at the end of the
file that Mr. Sargent has portrayed in this action. It is
over-emphasis," but it is on the part of the man-not
on that of the artist.
Whether it be good art to depict
this peculiarity I am not competent to state, but it is a
depiction of the truth.

PROSODY: THE ABBÉ ST.-RÉAL

To the Editor of THE ATHENÆUM,

SIR,-Unluckily, I never saw your number of June 6, and
therefore was, till to-day, unconscious of the very absurd
blunder in my British Academy paper (ATHENEUM, Sept. 5,
p. 859). I cannot even plead Lord Randolph's ignorance of
what "the d-d dot means. It was sheer oversight, which,

I suppose, is less pardonable than ignorance. Fortunately the
blunder does not affect the argument, which turns on the
fact of the difference, and not its amount.

I have, however, no such Peccavi! to offer to your corre-
spondent Mr. de Ternant in respect of Saint-Réal (p. 854). If
he will look at my Short History of French Literature" he
will see that I know all about that
or want of accuracy, and the principles on which he worked.
historian's "
accuracy
But though a purist in history might say that the "Conjuration
des Espagnols is no more an example of that craft than
"Waverley
or the
Trois Mousquetaires," I am a little
surprised that anyone should seriously class it with them
as deserving a place in the story of the novel.
Your obedient servant,

HUMOUR: OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL

To the Editor of THE ATHENÆUM,

DEAR SIR,-Until I read THE ATHENAEUM for August 29,
I did not realize that Mr. Punch had a single enemy, and
I must own that many of your reviewer's diatribes still quite
escape my feeble wit. Surely humour, whether official or
unofficial, should support as well as entertain, and what
greater support during the past dark days have many of us
found than in the cartoons of Punch? I remember particularly
one of some starving German children. It was just almost to
sternness, yet it could give no offence to any one who had
grasped the deeper issue of the war, for it was an earnest of
our ultimate victory. I do not know whether this cartoon
has been reproduced in the History of the War," but there

is no reason it should not be.
On the other hand, whenever he can Mr. Punch is chivalrous
almost to excess. An example of this is his treatment of the
late Kaiser himself. The Kaiser is, as every one knows,
"marked by God," and a German or perhaps even a French
caricaturist would have fastened upon this. Punch has,
rightly or wrongly, other standards. He never mocks at
a man's physical deformity, even though he is the arch-fiend,
and the Kaiser has appeared every week as outwardly normal,
Punch
though sunk, of course, in every moral turpitude.
smites, but he never stabs. He expresses all that is strong
and clean in England as well as all that is tender, and his
staff, to my mind, only needs the addition of that great
draughtsman Raemækers to practically make it complete.

I hope that the above will not pain J. W. N. S., who is, if
I may say so, inclined to be sentimental. There is quite as
much sentimentality outside the readers of Punch as among
them, and it is apt to be directed to less desirable objects.
Does J. W. N. S. want us to pity rebels and Bolsheviks?

Yours faithfully,

E. S. G.

ART PRINCIPLES

"

FRE

Modern Languages

LA DOLCE FAVELLA

LA DOLCE FAVELLA: a Progressive Italian Reader. Edited, with Notes, by Ernesto Grillo. (Hirschfeld. 4s.)-Signor Grillo has been well advised to add this elementary Reader to his two volumes of selections from Italian poets and prose-writers. A Di Vernon of to-day who sought to entice a Francis Osbaldistone into the library for a little private conversation on the pretext that she needed help in the interpretation of some difficult passages in Dante would certainly run the risk of arousing doubts as to her sanity in the mind of an anxious mother or aunt, to say nothing of the young man himself. But the recent appearance of so many aids to the study of the language suggests at least the possibility of a return to the palmy days of Italian in this country. It would be interesting to learn when such a book last appeared in England.

Yet one

For a Reader of this kind, or at least for the earlier sections of it, simplicity is as essential as modernity. So Signor Grillo naturally turns to the eighteenth century, when fablewriting both in prose and verse was the fashion, and above all to Gaspare Gozzi, whose exquisitely carved cameos are the quintessence of the rather cold classical grace of the period. Their clearness and conciseness make it natural that Gozzi should supply most of the first section. Letters of his appear elsewhere, as also do fables in verse. finds oneself wishing that room had been found for some of the delightful vignettes of the Venetian life of his day which formed the chief charm of his journalistic ventures. But if a first Reader must be simple and modern, it must also be varied. The compiler must be well read, and no one is likely to find fault with Signor Grillo for not spreading his net wide enough. Manzoni naturally contributes selections from the Promessi Sposi," and there are a couple of eminently characteristic stories from De Amicis. Less-known authors have also been drawn upon for the more elementary sections, which are always the most difficult to fill. We imagine, however, that the majority of readers will find the later prose sections the most interesting part of the book. The Risorgimento has inspired some of the best historical and political prose in modern Italy, and from it a special selection has been made. Brofferio's account of the exile and death of Charles Albert or the descriptions of the siege of Messina and the battle of Calatafimi will always be read with pleasure. The collection of letters is well diversified. Leopardi figures in letters to his sister and to his brother, but it gives one a shock to find him addressing Paolina by her full name instead of the familiar Cara Pilla." There are some admirable specimens of Giusti at his best which will be a good test for a beginner, since Giusti is nothing if not racy and idiomatic.

To the Editor of THE ATHENÆUM.
Art Principles
SIR, In the review of Ernest Govett's
there is a statement which is perhaps a little superficial in
⚫ character. It runs: "We are affected in art by something
which is different from the beauty of nature" (ATHENÆUM,
Aug. 29, p. 831). That "something" evidently refers to the
æsthetic emotion" referred to farther on in the review.
Can your reviewer be quite sure that æsthetic emotion
There are a
is not evoked by scenes or objects in nature?
good many who, like myself, hold that the pleasure one
experiences in watching a sky, for example, is derived as
surely from conditions conforming to æsthetic principles as
is the pleasure derived from those principles when they are
I would go further and say that the
formulated in art.
beauties of nature are more free from those associations of
human experience and narrative, in regard to which your
reviewer sets out to make a clear distinction, than are the
beauties in pictures.

I am not defending Mr. Govett's book, which, so far, I
I am only anxious to hold a brief for Nature
have not seen.
and for naturalism in painting by maintaining that the kind
of painting which, in its commendable efforts to shake off
mere imitation (i.e., realism and literalism), turns its back
on obvious natural truth, is usually found to suffer. It does
so because the "human imagination and intelligence" rightly
postulated by your reviewer is left without any evidence of
the æsthetic principles which exist primarily in nature and
are only applied in art.

Even geometrical designs have their natural prototypes,
and there is no colour-scheme that is impossible to Nature.
The sad error creeps in when painters deliberately use natural
objects, such as the human figure, trees, and mountains.
as pictorial material, and then distort and contort them
to express trivial and banal æsthetic emotions far less lofty
and pleasurable than those normally possible to such material.
human intelligence" revolts.

It is in these cases that

Yours truly,

F. C. TILNEY.

The book is, of course, intended primarily for the young. The compiler has, he tells us, endeavoured to introduce passages instinct with living interest and inculcating many moral duties. These topics are presented in such a manner as to leave strong and durable impression on young minds and to contribute to their moral and social welfare." Signor Grillo's moral purpose comes especially to the fore in the verse section, into which the Tuscan strambotti" introduce a welcome variety. We imagine, however, that at present it will be adults rather than children who will turn to Signor Grillo for help, and though they may perhaps find parts of his book, as Pepys found the conversation of his father, "mighty innocent," there are large sections of it which they will read with genuine interest, quite apart from the Italian they learn from it, for Signor Grillo knows his business; and then let us hope they will have the sense to see that their children are taught Italian during their schooldays.

WI

E

per cent.

tew esse

MESSRS. LONGMAN & Co.'s list of forthcoming books includes a volume of Outspoken Essays on such subjects as patriotism, the birth-rate, survival and immortality, by Dean Inge; two volumes of memoirs by Dr. Ethel Smyth; and Mount Music," a new novel by E. CE. Somerville and

Martin Ross.

exam

Nat

Walden, Cheam, Surrey.

After perusing this slovenly compilation it is a relief to handle Mr. Greenfield's well-arranged, useful and interesting volume, the contents of which are as excellent as its binding and printing. The introduction consists of judicious hints on the structure of sentences and the formation of words in German, together with an intelligently grouped list of over 500 common words. The extracts themselves, derived from standard sources, not only deal with the more technical aspects of chemistry, but include also descriptive and biographical passages of a wider interest, such as collections of Robert Bunsen " by Dr. Felix Kuh, letters "Reexchanged by Wöhler and Berzelius, and popular articles or lectures on chemical topics. These are followed by notes and a vocabulary which are equally admirable. Klnieigkeit (page 324) is a misprint, while on page 258 simplex" is translated "Simplicity is the soul of truth." Veri sigillum

IN connection with the recently formed Society," Messrs. C. W. Daniel announce a new series of People's Theatre Plays for a People's Theatre." The series is intended to form the nucleus of a repertoire of plays suitable for production by a people's theatre, and preparations are being made to include in it translations of recent plays which have appeared on the Continent. The first two volumes in the series, a new three-act play of " labour" interest by D. H. Lawrence called "Touch and Go," and Douglas Goldring's play "The Fight for Freedom," will be ready this month.