present engaged on a reredos for the chapel at Luton Hoo. In the centre is the crucifix, on either side of which are the figures of the Virgin and of St. John. The Virgin, gazing upwards towards her son, is fainting with anguish; St. John watches, ready to receive her in his arms as she falls. Mr. Woolner has found an incident corner near a sheltering chair. The little portrait of [APRIL 3, 1875. Cooke, Venice, 130 gs.; W. P. Frith, New Shoes, NOTES AND NEWS. which may not improbably appear to some rather ground, the green-covered walls of the paddock, THE Moniteur des Arts states that a commission startling. He has introduced on the left hand of the cross a vulture. The vulture comes to seek his natural prey, and retreats scared from the awful neighbourhood by the Divine Presence. Mr. Woolner has also a life-size statue of a celebrated Parsee merchant on the point of completion in the marble, and a small relief of the same person destined, we believe, for the University of Edinburgh, which is also nearly finished. Besides these works, he has also recently carried out on his own account a large bust of Tennyson. To this labour of love the sculptor has devoted himself with the conscientious zeal and unscrupulous energy habitual to him, and the bust is conspicuous for excellence in the best qualities which characterise Mr. Woolner's work of this class. Mr. Rudolf Lehmann's half-length life-size portrait of Mr. Robert Browning gives great satisfaction to all the friends of both painter and poet. The figure is standing, the head slightly turned to the right, the right hand rests on the hip in an attitude which will be familiar to many. Mr. Lehmann has not addressed himself to the task of bringing out the power and vigorous character of his subject. That was successfully accomplished by Mr. Watts in his memorable profile. Mr. Lehmann has selected quite another moment of expression, not that in which we see the promise of production, but that which shows the instant of slackened effort. This, Mr. Lehmann has rendered faithfully and intelligently. An air of slight fatigue softens the accent of untameable energy which belongs to the less rare moments. The portrait is not so much of Mr. Browning the poet, as of Mr. Browning as he is known to his friends; and in this respect it will have a special value. Among other work by Mr. Lehmann which he will probably send to the Academy, may be mentioned a very pretty study of a little girl in a red jacket, caressing a black kitten, which she hugs close in her bare arms. The unconscious childish action, and the round, soft, childish contour come happily against a simple background of clear sky. After the Dance is another, and a more considerable picture also by Mr. Lehmann. The bright figure of an Italian peasant girl is seated by the wayside on a little grass-grown elevation. She gracefully poises her arms on the circle of the tambourine which rests upon her knees. An expression half of weariness, half of regret for past pleasure languishes in her face, and disposes her limbs with an idle grace. Behind her spreads itself a brightly luminous sheet of southern sky. The picture is, we believe, the property of Mr. Frederick Leland. The Mr. J. T. Nettleship has just completed some excellent portraits of dogs. A magnificent specimen of that magnificent species the mastiff in repose but alert, a sleeping brown retriever, and a black retriever gravely investigating a friendly Norwegian pony in a paddock. massive forms of the great mastiff are felt by the painter with genuine liking. He has got hold of and expressed a strong impression of the possibilities of enormous force which lurk about the beast. Full value is given to the dead weight with which the dog has stretched himself upon the floor, and to the solid front presented by the broad chest. The structure is so admirably felt and the whole so well animated by a look of character and intelligence, that we get an impression of pure strength free from any exaggeration or coarseness. The brown retriever also to a true dog-lover is delightfully and simply true. The surroundings in both cases have been wisely chosen from their respective homes. The mastiff extends himself on his well-accustomed rug with a rightful air of possession, and the retriever sleeps in his chosen the half-open gate which admits through its iron ART SALES. THE fine objects of art of the late Countess SOME modern pictures sold on the 23rd ult. at At another sale on the 22nd ult., A Village Fête at the time of Louis XV., by Le Prince, sold for 21,200 fr. Ar the picture sale on the 19th ult. at Messrs. Christie, Manson and Woods', the prices obtained were:-Van Goyen, A River Scene, with Cottages, 210 gs.; Jacob Ruysdael, A Woody Scene, with River and Figures, 255 gs.; Morland, Landscape, with Peasant and Dog tending Sheep, 95 gs.; Old Crome, A Wood Scene, with Figures, 120 gs.; Raffaelle, The Martyrdom of St. Placida, a composition of seven figures, in the artist's first manner, 188 gs.; Solomon Ruysdael, A River Scene, with Church and Ferry, 105 gs. The following day some water-colour drawings fetched the following prices:-Cooper, Milking Time, Grasmere, 365 gs.; Leader, In the Lledr Valley, 230 gs.; Birket Foster, Feeding Time, 190 gs.; E. Duncan, St. Abbe's Head, 124 gs. Paintings: -John Sver, The Road to Beddgellert, 295 gs.; W. H. Knight, The Last Change, 155 gs.; E. M. has been formed to raise by subscription a monu ment to the memory of Camille Corot, and that an exhibition of his works at the Ecole des Beaux Arts is being organised by the association of sculptors, painters and artists, under the sanction of M. Guillaume and of M. de Chennevières, Director of the Fine Arts. A GERMAN translation, by Rudolph Valdek, of Condivi's Life of Michel Angelo Buonarroti, has just been published at Vienna, in Eitelberg's schichte und Kunsttechnik." excellent series "Quellenschriften für Kunstge RAPHAEL'S Madonna di Tempi, of the Munich Gallery, is one of those charming productions of his Florentine period in which the cheerful grace of Leonardo da Vinci is added to the purity and tender devotional feeling of the Umbrian school. It is well known, having been engraved already by seven different masters, but it is scarcely possible to have too much of such a very good thing, and engraver, J. L. Raab, has just executed will certhe large engraving of it which the German tainly be acceptable to all lovers of Raphael. In many respects this engraving excels all previous attempts, for Raab has expressed in it something of that soft beauty of colour that we find in all Raphael's works, and which it is so difficult to congain this he worked, it is stated, chiefly from a vey in a black and white reproduction. In order to water-colour copy of the picture that he had made himself, and which he kept constantly before his eyes during the tedious process of engraving. The Raphaelesque mode of expression has also enfeebled, and the modelling of the forms carried been happily rendered-neither exaggerated, nor from the plate were taken in February, artist's out with perfect mastership. The first impressions proofs are now being issued, and proofs before by Friedr. Bruckmann, in Munich and Berlin. letters will be taken in May. It is published A LONG letter on the subject of the Prix de Salon, concerning which there was so much differing artists of France, and signifies their intention the Paris papers. It is signed by six of the leadence of opinion last year, has appeared in most of in which seemingly reappears in the Réglement of the of declining to serve on the Salon jury this year consequence of their disapproval of this prize, present year, though the article referring to it is not sufficiently clear to make it certain whether it has not undergone modification. In any case, however, discord would infallibly arise if they were nominated as jurors, and therefore they beg the voters to do them the honour of not returning them. THE Mikado has applied to the painter Ugolini to execute full-length portraits of all the sove reigns in Europe, as well as that of himself and his wife. They are to decorate his residence at Takeo; and if these portraits are successful, it is the intention of the Mikado to found a school of Italian painting in Japan. Ir is strange that the rich material that lies ready to the eyes and hands of artists in our great modern ironworks has not been more often seized upon for the making of pictures. Everyone who has seen the processes of smelting and forging iron cannot fail to have been struck with the many picturesque effects that they yield, effects such as Rembrandt delighted in of glowing light in surrounding darkness, of mystic beams and strange shadows casting a spell of beauty upon the most commonplace objects. A painting by our rarelyseen native painter, Wright of Derby, was exhibited two or three years ago at the Old Masters Exhibition at the Royal Academy, which repre- brandt, but according to the Berlin Post, from THE Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst is greatly taken up with Michel Angelo this month. 1. We have a short description of the statue of the youthful John the Baptist, in the possession of Count Rosselmini-Gualandi, formerly attributed to Donatello, but now affirmed by several distinguished artists and other good judges to be by Michel Angelo. (See note on the subject, ACADEMY, February 20.) 2. A critical essay by J. P. Richter on Michel Angelo's fresco of the Creation of Man, on the ceiling of the Capella Sixtina. And 3. A review of the German translation of Condivi's life of Michel Angelo, in which the reviewer brings forward several well-grounded reasons for pposing that the celebrated marble statue of the Madonna and Child at Bruges is not by the great master to whom it is usually so confidently assigned. He points out that not only Vasari, but also Condivi, whose accuracy is far less impeachable, speaks of the Madonna and Child that passed into Flanders as having been cast in bronze." He also cast in bronze," says Condivi, "a Madonna with the Child on her lap, which was bought by some Flemish merchants for 100 ducats, and sent to Flanders." Vasari speaks of it still more definitely as a bronze medallion," whereas the Madonna of Notre Dame at Bruges is executed most certainly in fine white marble. On internal evidence also this critic decides against the authenticity of the work, and unhesitatingly attributes it to one of Michel Angelo's pupils or imitators. Only the initials "C. V. L." are signed to this review, but we are informed in a note that it is by a distinguished Vienna sculptor, who for many years has devoted himself to the study of Michel Angelo's works. The other articles of the number area description by Carl Brun of two pictures by Mantegna, in the French provincial museum of Tours; the conclusion of Paul d'Albrest's notices of the new Opera House in Paris; and the conclusion of Beavington Atkinson's critique upon Landseer. The illustrations are very poor: one a smudgy etching by L. Fischer, from a landscape by Ruisdael, and the other a lithograph from Hildebrand's statue of the Sleeping Shepherd, a work which met with great success in Germany. In the March number of the Nuova Antologia, Signor Camillo Boito gives an account of an enormous mosaic now being executed in Salviati's studio at Venice. It is destined to go round the base of the new monument of Victory in Berlin, and is after a picture by the young artist Anto Wemer, lately appointed Director of the Academy at Berlin. Of this picture Signor Boito speaks in the most enthusiastic terms. It is divided into four principal groups: the first represents the provocation of France against Germany, and the surprise of the German people engaged in all kinds of peaceful pursuits at the outbreak of the war; in the second, we see the Germans preparing for the war, and here Prince Frederic Charles is the central figure; in the third, the rapid alliance concluded between the various German nations is represented; and, in the fourth, the creation of the new German Empire. The mosaic copy of the picture was begun last September, and is expected to be finished next September; unfortunately, the monument itself appears to be so poor in design and idea as to be unworthy of this decoration. THE STAGE. ROSE MICHEL." THE introduction of two or three horrible details, thought, followed instantly not by fear for her own life now at the ruffian's mercy, but by defiance of hi and horror of his crime. With no timidity she beards him alone, and in Paris Mdme. Fargueil's defiant cry, "Assassin! Assassin!" has become a celebrated thing. Rose has possessed herself of Pierre's ill-gotten money, and restored it secretly to De Buissy-the chivalrous youth who had given it to Grandchamp --and the youth, who thus learns the rashness of too much chivalry, is accused of the murder; the money being found again in his possession. He protests that he knows nothing, but protests uselessly. Rose Michel is the cnly soul, save Pierre himself, who can confirm his statement. She declares his innocence, but will bring no proofs, and the third act is devoted to the strengthening of her motive for making full disclosure. It prepares the way for the fourth act, as the first prepared the way for the second. The son's solicitation, his mother's entreaty, must do their part with Rose: the duty to good M. Bernard-after her assurance-has weighed on her, but the duty to these two is doubly pressing. And in the fourth act, urged by the Judge in private-a friend of the De Buissys, but an honest one-she does waver very much, and asks her daughter what it would cost her to give up her lover. And the simple girl says it would cost her her life; and that avowal of how much her love is engaged is too much for Rose Michel, and paralyses her action. There seems, however, one way out of the difficulty-if young De Buissy, now imprisoned in the Châtelet, can escape. Pierre, as the condition of Rose's silence, will aid the attempt, and under his wife's direction he is occupied in discovering a secret passage, when Rose hears the cry of De Buissy under torture, and rushes to the door with a shriek that they must open it, for she is "no longer a woman, no longer a mother, but a living conscience," and the right must be done. They open the door, but she is spared the misery of denouncing her husband, for soldiers, pouring in, find him planning an escape, and shoot him without waiting for explanations. Nor does there now remain any insuperable obstacle to the marriage of Louise with the Rose Michel, in 1765, is the wife of a brutalised The second act makes manifest that she was Mr. Campbell Clarke's translation of M. Blum's work is a thoroughly good o te, and he has done wisely to leave the original pretty much where he found it. Many little points of ingenious construction are necessarily lost i our telling; but, certain horrors allowed for either condemned or condoned-it is plain that the work is of seizing interest, dealing as it does from end to end with the conflict of strong and genuine emotions. and dealing with these with a robustness of which the Borough and the Outer Boulevards should not be allowed the monopoly. There are two things however of which the Borough and the Outer Boulevards are welcome to gain the monopoly-first, the sight of the knife with which murder has been done; and secondly, the hearing of De Buissy's cries under torture. With these things removed, the Gaiety performance would be more in keeping with the taste of most of its playgoers. But a much deeper objection may possibly be found to the enthusiastic reception of Rose Michel in England. The intense sentiment between mother and child in France-sentiment which is the motive of so much in French imaginative work-is perhaps not always understood by the middle-class British householder, who instead of a passion for one child, has complacent joy in a quiverful. It is however upon situations and acting alone that reliance has been placed. There is no remarkable scenery: no special decoration: no picturesque groupings. A waiting-maid is unfortunately attired in raiment very much of our century, and the Comtesse de Buissy's drawing-room, though not mean or poor, is a little suggestive of the unsubstantial splendours of Tottenham Court Road. Nor--to come to other detaiis-is there much of local colour in the manners of the dramatis personae. There is too much hand-shaking for French society. Mr. Ryder's dignity and businesslike precision will do for the French judge, and so will Miss Hollingshead's absence of affectation for the French petite bourgeoise; but in the other characters, high and low, there is neither much of courtliness nor much of vivacity. These details help or hurt the effect of the piece, but the effect of this piece depends chiefly on the acting of Rose Michel. The Rose Michel is one of Mdme. Fargueil's triumphs. At the Gaiety it is a failure. On a previous occasion we were at some little pains to point out what had seemed the unreasonableness of expecting from English artists, in a delicate and quiet piece of work, that excellence in acting which only high training and long familiarity with delicate and quiet work, can secure. English artists were imperfect, but their shortcomings were inevitable. In the present case, nothing of that kind can be said. Here is a drama of strong situations and of emotions generally readily conceived. And if we have not got our Mdme. Fargueil on the English stage, we ought to have her. Mrs. Gladstane is apparently a naturally earnest actress, with means strengthened by experience, but with little inventive power, and little grasp of a character as a whole. Like a walker on stilts, she strides from point to point; taking no account of the spaces between. Thus, she is vigorous, in the accepted fashion, at the great moments of the piece, but has never led up to them justly. The big words when they come-the "assassin" for instance, and the "living conscience -are too big, not indeed for the situations in the drama, but for such sense of the situations as she has been able to convey. She has not succeeded either by personal charm or the adroit use of many details, quickly following one another, in interesting the audience in the character, and so a burst of passionate declamation still leaves the audience' chilly-the person has not been made real, or touching to them. Mrs. Gladstane is far indeed from repeating Mdme. Fargueil's triumph. Her performance is heavy, monotonous and untrue. Miss Hollingshead gives to Louise Michel grace, tenderness, and quietude. Her voice and utterance are already excellent. More of illustrative action must come in due time. Miss Hollingshead, like the Bourbons, has something to learn-but unlike the Bourbons, she has nothing to forget. The ruffian, Pierre Michel, is earnestly played by Mr. J. C. Cowper, who if he errs, errs on the side of too much repulsiveness. As Bernard and Grandchamps, Mr. Maclean and Mr. Edgar have little to do. Mr. Hall is grotesque as the tavern-keeper's servant. Mrs. Howard appears as the Countess de Buissy. As her son, the wrongly accused, Mr. Edmund Tearle is somewhat wanting in intensity, and his long speech, in the first act, is declaimed monotonously; but in appearance he is satisfactory, and at times interesting. It is Mr. Ryder who brings to his part, of the friendly judge, a complete experience and discretion. His method of questioning the accused and the witnesses in the fourth act gives reality to a part of a scene which would otherwise surely lack it. Strongly acted, the play would have great qualities which would appeal even to an English audience; but it demands, in its principal interpreter, an art of which there is here hardly a sign. FREDERICK WEDMORE. THE Easter Festival was anticipated at the Royalty Theatre by the production on Thursday in last week of a novel cantata-the words by Mr. Gilbert, the music by Sullivan, and the subject a trial in the Exchequer. An action for breach of promise of marriage is one of the things which, even amidst the solemnity of a court of justice, an Englishman feels himself privileged to laugh at. On the boards of a theatre it should be doubly ridiculous, and at the Royalty it is in truth sufficiently comic, Mr. Gilbert being, as the "Bab Ballads" have testified, an adept in the art of funny verse-making, and Mr. Arthur Sullivan having, as his version of Box and Cor may witness, a keen sense of the humorous capacities of music. So the public is well pleased with the entertainment at the Royalty, where something of the pomp and circumstance of a court of justice is happily mocked. In actual court, the trial of a breach of promise case reveals the weaknesses of the defendant-possibly of the plaintiff. But in the court in Dean Street, Soho, the weaknesses of all humanity are humorously revealed, and excused, if not justified. There is a chorus of jurymen, all perfectly aware that each in his time has been as fickle as the defendant-it being apparently a part of Mr. Gilbert's philosophy that nobody is much better than anybody else. There is a solo for the learned judge, who is at first inclined to recommend a compromise-not strictly in accordance with statute law, but who eventually decides to marry the young woman himself-he has previously accommodated Miss Nellie Bromley with a seat on the Bench. Mr. Gilbert's moral, Mr. Sullivan's music, and Miss Bromley's appearance are alike impressive. A wittier treatment of the subject is conceivable, though it might be difficult. Here the main reliance is on the broad satire, not so much on proceedings in Court, as on frailties in the world. Mr. Sullivan, the actor, befittingly represents the wisdom of the Judge, Mr. Fisher is the heartless defendant, and Mr. Hollingsworth the counsel for the plaintiff. The piece will be a popular success. Conrad and Medora-Mr. Brough's burlesque produced some fourteen years ago at the Lyceum, just before burlesque of the coarser kind came in vogue is the piece selected by Miss Litton to strengthen the programme at the St. James's Theatre, whither she and her company have moved from the Court, and where Brighton is nightly performed. That the company possessed, in Mr. W. J. Hill and others, some efficient actors of burlesque, was already known; but it was not known that Miss Litton herself was a valuable addition to a burlesque troop. Her performance is elegant, and this-combined with the appearance of Miss Henrietta Hodson, for the first time at this theatre-secures something that is attractive, and nowadays uncommon, in the rendering of burlesque. Conrad and Medora will not be relished by those who demand the loudest dresses, the most catchy tunes, and the greatest possible amount of slang; but it will be enjoyed by some of those who used to like burlesque when Mr. Planché wrote it. THE Lyceum re-opened on Monday, as it was announced to do. The Lord Chamberlain has licensed the theatre to Mrs. Bateman, so that the series of high-class performances given there may be expected to proceed without interruption-a circumstance playgoers must welcome, if they care for good art. On Monday night, Mr. Irving gave that performance of Hamlet with which the whole town has made itself familiar; and Miss Isabel Bateman courageously undertook the part of Ophelia, as of old. MISS NELLY POWER has reappeared on the stage, as it was said she would do. She acts Sir Kenneth in the burlesque of the Talisman, every evening, at the Philharmonic at Islington, and will doubtless draw to that distant quarter those who liked her vivacity when they saw it at the Vaudeville. The Guinea Stamp-a drama of no particular merit-now precedes Blue Beard at the Globe Theatre. Mr. Lionel Brough and Miss Rachel Sanger appear in the new piece. It does not much matter what they play before Blue Beard, so long as that eccentric and lively performance is of itself sufficient to attract audiences. THE Merchant of Venice will probably be acted at the Prince of Wales's Theatre on Saturday Mr. Farnie's new after-piece at the Strand. next; and next week will see the production of David Garrick, with Mr. Sothern, Mr. Buckstone, and Miss Minnie Walton in the principal parts, is to be revived, in two or three days, at the Haymarket. MR. PHELPS and many members of the Gaiety company appeared at Manchester on Monday, PURSUING his letters to the Daily Telegraph, mentioned, is understood to be Mr. Hollingshead the "London Manager "-who, as we last week has come to the proposal of remedies for what he considers to be the abuse of authority at the theatres. He writes as follows: ment. 'It is often easier to point out absurdities than to suggest the best way to remove them, but in this case the task is not so difficult. The control of public amusements at the present time is a task requiring the undivided attention of a well-organised departIt ought to be concentrated in the hands of a public officer, and not an officer of the Crown, whose powers ought to be defined and enlarged; whose subordinates, especially surveyors, ought to be numerous; and who ought to be responsible to the Home Office. The defect of the Lord Chamberlain's authority is that it is at once too large and too limited. It is too limited in area, and too large in discretionary powers. We have checked arbitrary power in this country at the cost of much blood and treasure, and there is no reason why it should hold on to existence in the person of a Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chesterfield's me morable protest on the passing of Sir Robert Walpole's Act of 1737 is probably not forgotten. If the players are to be punished,' he said, let it be by the laws of their country, and not by the will of an irre sponsible despot.' The present abuse of this discretionary power is shown in the case of Ash Wed FRENCH plays are once more to be seen in London. The Opéra Comique opened, on Easter Monday, for their performance, and M. Pitron, who was last year at the Holborn and Princess's, is again the manager. Were it not that there was a crowded audience on Monday night, the selection of La Famille Benoiton would not have seemed a happy one. Many of Sardou's comedies are directed at the follies of an hour: none more so than La Famille Benoiton; and its hour is past.nesday. No warrant for even the general observance To read the Famille Benoiton is like reading an old newspaper: it speaks of trifling things which are gone by. But at the Opéra Comique it is pleasantly interpreted, and was, on Monday, received with much applause. Our readers will gladly hear of the engagement of Mdlle. Croizette and Mdlle. Blanche Pierson for a limited number of nights. The one had the happiness to make a sensation at a theatre where sensations are made with difficulty; and the other is, in every sense, among the best of contemporary artists. Hamlet has been performed during the week at the Surrey Theatre. Mr. Creswick taking the part of the Prince. His performance is well known as that of an experienced and judicious actor. Mr. Marston is the Ghost-as good a Ghost as can be got in London. Miss Marie Henderson is Ophelia. of this day can be respected in a Protestant country, and the restrictions on the players, and players only, which are powerless under the present licensing sys tem over one-fourth of London and nearly the whole of the country, have little more than the antiquity of a century to recommend them even to the lovers of old observances." year. He MÉLINGUE, the famous Boulevard actor of melodrama, has just died, in his sixty-third was born at Caen, and came when young to Paris, and worked at first as a sculptor, on the Church of the Madeleine. He was afterwards a miniature painter, and then became an actor, and played for a long while in the French provinces and in more distant regions. At last he was engaged in the capital: at the Porte Saint Martin Theatre, with which his successes are closely associated. He appeared there in a long list of pieces, among which are the Tour de Nesle, Benvenuto Cellini, Fanfan la Tulipe, 19 le Bossu, and Lucrèce Borgia. In these and many others he made manifest an artistic talent" plein,' as one of his critics has written, "de mouvement et d'imprévu." His last part was at the Odéon, in the revival of Ruy Blas. Were it not that old Frédérick Lemaître still lingers on the stage, it might be said that with the death of Mélingue the last great actor of drame-drame de cape et d'épée --has disappeared from the theatre. Les Ingrats is the name of the last important piece produced at the Théâtre de Cluny. M. Jules Claretie is the author. The merit of the comedy does not lie in its action, but rather in the types of character-in their development-in the vivacity of the dialogue: the good things said by the way. For all that, it is a little diffuse. It is in four acts. The people are not all as ungrateful as the name would imply. One of the principal characters is a very good fellow, and another is not that, indeed, but an egotist pure and simple. This is one Letourneur, a banker, whose selfish desire with regard to the marriage of his daughter is the foundation of such plot as there is. A financier, Paturel, who has gained everything, though he began with nothing, helps to justify the title of the play. Les Ingrats is acted by MM. Laferrière, Esquier, and Mondel, and Mdmes. Reynard and Geneviève. CLAIRVILLE AND DREYFUS are the authors of the revue brought out at the Vaudeville, and called La Revue des Deux Mondes. Mdlle. Massin, who was seen in England last year in L'Oncle Sam, has an amusing part, and there is a pleasant prologue by M.Dreyfus, excellently recited by Malle. Réjane, who was much remarked a few months back when she was leaving the Conserva toire. THE Comédie Française, finding that the "starring system has become too popular among some of its members, has put into force an article of its code for some time in disuse. This will limit the wanderings of certain artists whose journeys have thrown more than their due share of work upon the shoulders of their stay-at-home comrades. MUSIC. NEW MUSICAL PUBLICATIONS. SEVERAL educational works and pieces of sheetmusic have been for some time awaiting notice in these columns; and it will be as well to dismiss them before their number becomes excessive. In reference to new music, moreover, it may be said of the reviewer, Bis dat qui cito dat. It is impossible, however, in one article to speak in any detail of more than a dozen different works; fortunately, in the present case, a few words about each will be quite sufficient as a guide to our readers. Taking first the educational works-Mr. Henry C. Banister's Music (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell & Co.), comes before us, bearing on its title-page "Third Edition." Those who know the little book would not have been surprised to have read "thirteenth" instead of "third;" for few more excellent little manuals exist in our language. Within rather more than 300 pages of small octavo is contained a really astonishing amount of matter. Beginning with the merest rudiments of music, the work treats then of the construction of the scale, of intervals, harmony, simple and double counterpoint, modulation, rhythm, imitation and canon, and fugue. Chapters are also given on form in composition, and on the compass of the different voices and instruments. Mr. Banister is a thoroughly experienced teacher, and (so far as we have tested his book) is as correct as he is clear. A valuable portion of the work is found in the exercises in composition, which occupy nearly fifty pages; and an excellent and complete index of subjects is given at the end. The book is in all respects worthy of hearty recommendation, whether for teaching purposes, or merely as a book of reference. Time and Tune in the Elementary School, by John Hullah (Longmans), is described by its author on the title-page as "a new method of teaching vocal music." He further tells us in his preface, that some three years since he set to work to prepare a new edition of his former book -his adaptation to English use of Wilhem's method-with such improvements as the experience of years had suggested, but that as he proceeded he found that he was really at work on, not a new edition, but a new book. The result is the present volume. Mr. Hullah still adheres, of course, to the employment of the fixed Do, though with considerable modifications of detail. Into the controversy between the "fixed" and the "moveable" Do there is no occasion now to enter; both have ardent advocates, and to those who teach on the former system the present work will be heartily welcome. The exercises are very numerous, and carefully graduated in point of difficulty; and the author has shown much taste, as well as considerable ingenuity, in the tunes and part-songs which he has composed to illustrate the various intervals. The exercises are also printed without the text, in a separate form, and at a low price, for the use of classes. Twenty-four School Songs, for First and Second Trebles and Bass, by T. Crampton (London and Glasgow: W. Collins, Sons & Co.), are printed in the Tonic Sol-fa notation, and will, therefore, be available in the large number of schools where that system is taught. They are simple, melodious, and well adapted to their purpose. A work of a somewhat similar character as regards its form is Mr. F. Leslie Jones's Songs for School Use (Longmans), which are arranged for two trebles with pianoforte accompaniment. These, however, cannot be so unreservedly commended as the last named, because Mr. Jones has entirely disregarded the good old rule that in writing two-part songs the harmony for the voices accompaniment. This is by no means always the alone should be quite correct independently of the case in the present pieces; indeed, even with the piano, the effect of the harmony is occasionally somewhat uncomfortable. In other respects the book is good. A Tract on Musical Statics, by John Curwen (Tonic Sol-fa Agency), is a work which contains so much useful and valuable information on the subject of harmonics, the relations and derivations of chords, and kindred subjects, that it is impossible not to feel deep regret that Mr. Curwen should (very naturally) have adapted his book so exclusively for Tonic Sol-faists that to musicians unacquainted with that system some of it is simply unintelligible. In spite of this drawback, nevertheless, it gives such an amount of interesting matters relative to the recent discoveries of Helmholtz, Professor Tyndall, and others, that even by those who are not Tonic Sol-faists it can be read with interest. If a second edition is published, it would be worth Mr. Curwen's while to give after the sol-fa names those in ordinary use. The general acceptability of the book would thereby be much increased. Coming now to sheet-music, there is first to be noticed a number of songs, duets, and part-songs by an American composer, F. Boott, whose name is new to us. These are published by the firm of Oliver Ditson and Co., of Boston (U.S.). There is no occasion to give the list of their names, as they are of no very remarkable musical interestat least in this country. Mr. Boott has a flowing vein of melody, somewhat of the "Christy Minstrel" type; and American musical taste seems to be so different from that of the English public, that there is great probability that across the Atlantic they would be very popular. They are undeniably pretty, but in no respect great. "Ad Chloen," by Horace (Ode xxiii., Book 1), set to music by Charles Salaman (Cramer & Co.), is published both with the original Latin text, and adapted to Lord Lytton's English translation. It is one of those elegant little pieces which Mr. Salaman knows so well how to write-full of taste, and, it is almost needless to add, showing the practised hand of a thorough musician. Franz Liszt's "Thirteenth Psalm," his very pleasing "Chorus of Reapers," from Prometheus, and Schubert's God in Nature (Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co.), were spoken of by me so recently in noticing Mr. Walter Bache's concert, that it is unnecessary here to do more than call the attention of readers to the fact of their being published in a cheap edition. The printing is very good, and the form is a large octavo. Messrs. Lucas, Weber & Co. are doing excellent service to art in this country by their cheap republications of modern German music. "Duo Brillant à quatre mains pour le Piano," par Charles Edward Stephens, Op. 19 (Schott & Co.), is one of those works that occasionally (unfortunately but too seldom) appear, which prove English musicians are not unworthy to compete with their German brethren in the higher forms of that composition. The present, though not so entitled, is in reality a grand sonata in three movements, constructed strictly in classical forms, and amply developed. The first allegro is built on pleasing, though somewhat Mendelssohnian subjects; the second movement is an andante with variations (or, as Mr. Stephens prefers to call them, "parafrasi ") in the contrapuntal style, and the finale is exceedingly bright in character, and of great brilliancy. Throughout the whole duet not only is the interest well sustained, but the thematic treatment and the command of counterpoint are such as to place the work far above the average of new pianoforte pieces, and to entitle it to the epithet "classical." It is not very easy, but under the hands of two good players will be found extremely effective. The Organist's Quarterly Journal, Part 25, edited by Dr. W. Spark (Novello, Ewer & Co.), contains a "Marche Triomphale" by Frederick Archer, two Preludes by Ludwig Thal, a Concert Fantasia by Leopold de Prins, and an Andante by F. J. Read. As regards the quality of the compositions, our countrymen have decidedly the best of it. Mr. Archer's march is bold and spirited, and Mr. Read's andante, though unassuming in form, contains some very nice writing, and will be found useful as an introductory voluntary. On the other hand, Herr Thäl's preludes, though smoothly written, are somewhat colourless, and M. de Prins' Fantasia I am inclined to describe as "much ado about nothing." It is in the variation form, founded on a rather commonplace theme, and full of ad captandum effects for "vox humana," tremulant, &c., in the modern French style. Lovers of that style may admire it, but it is doubtful whether others will. EBENEZER PROUT. CRYSTAL PALACE CONCERT. As usual during Passion Week, last Saturday's concert at the Crystal Palace consisted entirely of sacred music; and it must be added that a more interesting selection than that offered to those present could hardly have been brought forward. The chief feature of the afternoon was the first production in this country of Bach's great churchcantata "My spirit was in heaviness" ("Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss.") The "KirchenCantate" was a species of composition of which Bach has left many examples; more than 220 exist out of a much larger number which he is believed to have written. In form these works may be generally described as long anthems with orchestral accompaniment. Perhaps the nearest parallel to be found to them is in such music as that of Handel's Chandos Anthems, or in the few specimens of cathedral music in which the orchestra is introduced. There is, however, one important point of difference. In Bach's cantatas great prominence is generally (though not invariably) given to the choral, which, as I have previously had occasion to remark in these columns, has in Germany a special significance to which no counterpart is to be found in our English psalm-tune. Every choral being wedded to its own hymn, the melody has its own associations which are awakened in the minds of the audience quite apart from the words to which it may be set in the cantata, or even when, as sometimes happens, it is given to instruments alone. In some of these "KirchenCantaten" the opening chorus is founded on such a choral; even more frequently one is introduced at the conclusion; and sometimes (as in the work performed on Saturday) it is found in one of the intermediate movements. In form, again, these cantatas are most varied; some have only three or four, others as many as ten or eleven movements; some are for solo voices with but few instruments accompanying, while others are laid out for a chorus and very large orchestra. The variety of their style equals that of their form; and it may be safely asserted that he who knows not these remarkable works has but an imperfect idea of the range and versatility of Bach's genius. Of the entire series of the Church-Cantatas, there is probably none finer than the work which Mr. Manns had selected for performance. It is one of the longest of its class, containing eleven movements, and is (like most of the larger cantatas) divided into two parts, the first of which was intended to be performed in divine service before the sermon, and the second after it. A detailed analysis of the whole work would occupy too much space; those who are interested in the subject will find an excellent one in the first volume of Bitter's Life of Bach, pp. 221-230. There are some points, however, which must be noticed. First of all is the most singular resemblance between the theme of the opening chorus and that of the trio "The flocks shall leave the mountains" in Handel's Acis and Galatea-a resemblance not merely in the melody and key, but extending to the actual treatment of the subject by imitation in the seventh at half a bar's interval. Handel was such an unblushing appropriator of the thoughts of others that one would be inclined to suppose he had taken Bach's subject were it not improbable that he ever had the opportunity of hearing the work. Bach's cantata was composed in 1714, but never published till 1856, when it appeared in the fifth year's issue of the Bach Society's works. Acis and Galatea was written about 1720; and though it is known that Handel was in Germany about 1717, it seems very unlikely that he should have happened to hear the cantata there. The coincidence is one of the most remarkable in the range of music-perhaps only to be paralleled by that existing between the close of the Midsummer Night's Dream overture and the "Mermaid's Song" in Oberon, which can also be proved by dates to be merely a coincidence. To return, however, to the present work: one hardly knows whether more to admire the choral or the solo portions. The final chorus of the first part. "Wherefore grievest thou, O my spirit," is a magnificent example of Bach's clear fugal writing, which, however, fine as it is, is surpassed by the concluding fugue, "Praise and honour and glory and power," a movement worthy to stand by the side of Handel's setting of the same text in the Messiah. Almost more remarkable as a characteristic specimen of Bach's treatment of the choral is the movement "Now again be thou joyful," in which the choral, "Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten" (familiar to English audiences from its introduction as "To thee, O Lord, I yield my spirit," in St. Paul), is treated with such masterly effect. While three solo voices (soprano, alto, and bass) are singing in strictly imitative passages, the tenor chorus enters with the first verse of the choral in a manner as striking as it is novel. For the second verse, the alto, tenor, and bass chorus take up the fugal subject, while the soprano voices sustain the choral as a canto fermo above the moving harmonies; and with all this scientific contrivance the music is as clear and intelligible as the simplest part-song. In the art of concealing his art Bach stands unrivalled; among modern composers Mendelssohn only has approached him. In many of Bach's Church-Cantatas are to be found songs which, to modern taste at least, are stiff and antiquated. Such, however, are not the solo portions of the present work, which are, with one exception, in his best manner. The soprano air "Sighing, weeping," with its beautiful oboe accompaniment, the exquisitely pathetic tenor Fast my bitter tears are flowing" (one of Bach's finest inspirations), and the charmingly melodious duet for soprano and bass "Come, my Saviour, and restore me," are fully worthy of the choral parts of the cantata. The tenor song, "Rejoice, O my spirit" is less happy, being more old-fashioned in style. song a AT the last Concert du Châtelet the first act of "drama biblique entitled Samson, by M. Camille Saint-Saens, was produced. The music is spoken of as elevated in feeling, but complex and not very popular in style. A GRAND Concert was given in Buda-Pest on the 10th ult., at which Franz Liszt's new composition "Die Glocken von Strassburg" was performed. The programme also included fragments from Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen and Beetho ven's concerto in E flat, played by Liszt. IT is announced that the Berlin Wagner Society intends to give a concert in that city, at which, among other things, the fragments of the Gotterdämmerung, recently performed with such extraordinary success at Vienna, are to be brought forward. A concert is also to be given at Gratz in aid of the Bayreuth enterprise, for which Wagner has given permission to perform some numbers from his Walküre. The performance as a whole was a very good one. Mr. Manns had evidently taken great pains with his chorus; for their singing of the by no means easy fugues was particularly steady. The A PERFORMANCE of Schumann's Rose Pilgersolo parts were sustained by Miss Blanche Cole, fahrt has lately taken place at Berlin, in which the Miss Palmer, Mr. Edward Lloyd and Mr. Whit-conductor's baton was in the hands of a lady, ney, none of whom need praise in these columns, Frau Dreyschock, a teacher of singing in that while the orchestra was as excellent as usual. city. Franz's judicious additional accompaniments were used, greatly to the enhancement of the general effect. Only one important blemish marred the performance. What could have induced Mr. Manns to cut out the song "Fast my bitter tears are flowing," which is unquestionably one of the gems of the work? If it were necessary to omit anything, the other tenor song "Rejoice, O my spirit," could have been far better spared. Should the work be repeated, it is to be hoped it will be given in its entirety. A second most interesting novelty on Saturday was Schubert's song "Die Allmacht," arranged for tenor solo with male-voice chorus and orchestra, by Liszt. Whatever may be thought of the principle of such transcriptions-and for myself I must confess I do not approve of them-there can be no question as to the magnificent effects which Liszt has obtained in his arrangement. If ever the end justifies the means, it does so here. The treatment of the male chorus is most felicitous, and the orchestration is superb. The music is highly characteristic of Schubert, alike in the romantic tone of its melody and the boldness of its modulations. The performance was admirable, the tenor solo being excellently sung by Mr. Lloyd, and the applause was so warm as nearly to elicit an encore. 66 The remaining pieces of the concert were the overtures to St. John the Baptist (Macfarren) and Athalie; an uninteresting song, Mea tormenta," from the oratorio of Maddalena, by Hasse, sung by Miss Palmer; the air "O God, have mercy," from St. Paul, given by Mr. Whitney; and the second and third movements of the Lobgesang symphony, which were played by the band in place of the announced Adagio and Rondo for violoncello and orchestra, which was to have been performed by Signor Piatti-for whose absence, however, an apology was made on the score of illness. The concert, which was one of the most enjoyable of the season, had the further advantage of being of only reasonable length. This afternoon Mr. Carrodus is announced to play Macfarren's violin concerto, which will be heard on this occasion for the first time at the Crystal Palace. EBENEZER PROUT. BRAHMS'S "Deutsches Requiem" was produced for the first time in Paris on the 26th of last month. The last number of the Revue et Gazette Musicale contains a long critique of the work from the pen of M. Adolphe Jullien. Although M. Pasdeloup, who directed the performance, injured the effect of the work by the omission of two entire numbers and part of a third, the im THE distinguished violinist Ferdinand Laub died on the 17th ult. at Gries, near Bozen, to which place he had gone for the benefit of his Laub was born at Prague, on failing health. January 19, 1832; his father, Erasmus Laub, was a musician in that town, and from him the son received his first musical instruction. He subseand after making various professional tours through quently studied at the Conservatorium at Prague, Europe with the greatest success, he accepted an engagement as Professor at the Conservatorium at Berlin. He subsequently filled similar posts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, resigning the last through ill-health in 1873. TABLE OF CONTENTS. BRASH'S ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF IRELAND, PAGE 337 YRIARTE'S PATRICIAN OF VENICE, by the Rev. M. CREIGHTON 339 MURRAY'S MODERN HOUSEHOLDER, by Miss FRANCES POWER COBBN . .340 TROTTER'S HISTORY OF INDIA, by Sir F. J. GOLDSMID 341 NEW EDITION OF THE COMPLETE ANGLER, by T. T. STODDART WHITE'S TE Rot, by Dr. ROBERT BROWN MARKHAM'S MEMOIR OF THE COUNTESS OF CHINCHON, by DANIEL HANBURY $42 . 342 343 314 $45 345 347 350 • THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1762, by PROFESSOR J. The Bharhut Sculptures, by Professor R. C. Childers; |