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ABATCHOF PARISIAN PLAYS

KEAU I rf Till STACK OF THECOM EDI K FRAXCAISEI-

tlolx Smnshrd In Octave Mlrbrni Portrait of a Sivlndllnc Sinn of AITal-

rIa iinboulllciiio of Totally IJItlcrent Kind Anttole Frances KnMBlug tltlle Episode at the HenaUsancr

If Mollcre could revisit the Rllintmes of

the CoinSdla Francalse would he lx shocked

or not at Ootnve Mlrlxans U1 Affaires

fiont les Affaires The pay is Htnrtllngly

realistic for a houso which lion so faithfullyconserved thoclatwle tradition of tho French

Ktago A fow iwwons itjo Mlrbenus Les-

MauvaU Borfiera created a mild seneatioit-

bccaueeof the doctrines it set forth Tolstoy

Ism Hwenlsru and hoveral other latterdayIsms ran rampant through the flvo acts

He has also written three of one Hot

each two of them comedies LKpldemio-

Vleux Manages Le Portofeullle Itis nQt necessary now to allude to this wri-

ters short etorlos Some of them powerfulhave an odor which is said to

all China Le Journal dunede Chambro has had a vogue being

in tho In the original edition Ithas I am sorry to Hay been translated

Le Jardin lee Sttppliees betrays an ex-

traordinary Imagination but a maleficent

one is read to better advantageIn Sebastian Roch and In plays

tLea Affaires Soot leu Affaires Business

Js Business is In the repertory of thefor good M Clfiretle has shown

considerable elasticity in of judg-

ment before this yet I ho ever

risked such a piece on tho venerable boards-

of tils official theatre It Is not alone Its

modern note but smashing of Idolsclerical aristocratic socialistic and com-

mercial wherein this comedy offendsSeldom a performance without hissingcheering in the lob-

bies The night I witnessed the piny tho

third act set rival parties hissing

each other After all our beloved Frenchcousins take the art of the theatre seriously

Is moro than a digestive diversion andlittle less than n religion

fobbeau is not the first dramatist to puta swindling man of before the foot-

lights Lo Sages is a merename today for most students of the dramayet it was considered a dangerouslyportrait a century ago And Balzacs

that play which he builtso many hopes gavo his contemporaries aterrible picture of a financier But in Bal

sioinoyels may bo found a regular gallery-of bankers with shady reputations queerstockbrokers usurers Thefigure of is an Imperishable oneOctave Feufflets areproduction of a Balzac character broughtdown to the times of the Second Empirewhile Zola In expanded hUepical gifts of description In imagining ascoundrel speculator Nor must Daudets

Nabob bo forgottenMlrbfcau naturally Is nearer to us for

the present than his predecessorshas gone to tha Bourse as did Zola andstudied hU men on the spot Some personshere hint that Isidore Lechat Is a fulllengthdrawing of the late Lebaudy father of MaxLebaudy known on the Boulevard as LePetit Seeder But others Insist that thetame Isidore has It racial significance-that Lechnt might have been Katzenstelnbefore the tamlly moved from Alsace No

matter Isidore Lechat Is today thevital figure on the stage and asDe is superb

And he might have stepped out of arao book for he is the very incarnation of

energy Twice arrested fortwice an inmate of prisons this

Napoleon of finance manages to escape thelaw by technicalities which moans In

as does elsewhere that justicehoodwinked

Leehat has repudiated his debts twiceho Is owner of a newspaper behindthe types of which he manages tomanipulate the stock market to float allsorts and conditions of shaky companies-to swindle at his glorious leisure Notthat he is a man of Joisure No dra-

matic character was over so active as isIsidore Ltchat A dynamic energy ex-

haustless terrifically noisy he stirs allabout him by his torrential flow of oonver-Mlion his ceaseless unrest He has thatmock air of hail fellow well met which de-

ceives the average man and woman and aniggard life he throws moneyaway in public to the blaring of brass bandsand proletarian shoutings

Ltchil Is never lovable though he interestn A bigger blackguard never trodshoe leather It is his supreme scamphoodwhich piques and startles the spectatorwho follows his fortunes with almost theregard bestowed upon a great tragic figureFor this Mirbeaus realistic art is the cause

a century ago when tho wellmadethe endall of French dramatists

wicha BJtce of real life Business Is Bustwptild havfi been publicly and criti-

cally hooted It is pitchforked on theftaRi thlawquldb the cry In realityus a pice of dramatic constructioncomedy is nbtailmirablo It runs to lengthsIn of pn ches It no begin-ning no end It might he taIled A Div in

of a Swindler just as Mirbeaucalled a nasty hook of his TwentyoneDays of n Neurasthenic

I have not explained the breadth andthe financiers politics He is awith leanings toward conserva-

tisrn that JB bo mints with the houndsend runs with the His mngnificent-claeAU ftdjojrei Impoverished es-

tate of Porcellet TIre Margvie alreadyowep frahci He has a sonLtchct has n daughter To see aristocracyand finance united is his own

pelted one of gaudy housea Mend of dukes a 10000

is a of the mostapproved and modish kind The daughtor Gcrmainc jcfint Is a study only seeand in intwpst tn her father After read-Ing the play and seeing it twice ncted Ithintr a stronger or rather a mornxultable actress than Mils Lara ther6lowould gain enormously This young ladyhas studied her scales assiduously afterthe ntethods of the Shehas distinction dignity and plenty of temrwr fenrlmt those attributes are canalwed in the classic Mylei and we miss thefreedom the touch of tho vulgar necessaryfor exact delineation of Germainc Lethai She l her fathers daughter In herImperious will and stubbornness in the faceof cttsarter and she has something of hermothers bourgeois love of comfort andhatred of display A course of socialisticreading and a study of womanshave stt her against her father Whenthese two wills collide in war

Of the fnolhcr to be saidexcept that tho skilled and sympatheticinvestiture of the part by Madamo BlancheIierson lends it a reasonableness andvitality Tho poor woman her brainfuddled by the constant boiling of the potin which ehe is immersed watches her hus-band in a scared furtive way She know

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lllt la a thief but feebly defends himwhen her daughter by hU elfIsljness and him

would be thebest of men w re It not for business but an

soon as he begins business I admit his con-

science takes leave of him A fair thoughnot sweeping enltaph for a mansheadstone

The first scene discovers the gardensof the CliAteau dn Vauperdu now LeehafMadame Ltchat sits wondering why O rmaine who is at hand can read ho manyhours without conversing These booksare the bane of tho old ladys life Theyhave rendered Gcrmame unapproachabletaciturn She seldom mingles In the gay-

eties of the chateau for the reason thatshe bitterly resents the troops of peopleher father brings home with him everynight people whoso names he has nevermemorized It Is all business and Ocrmains loathes tha word She hates thevain bustle and display of the establish-ment and with household affaIrs she willhave no commerce For all these short-

comings hor mother reproaches her reher also for tholack of respect

she evinces In the of her fatherAfter all he Is her father Germaine turnsaway in disgust

A young gardener comes In and we catchon unpleasant perspective of LcchaVs

a the man andhis family have been turned away withoutmoney without a future Oermaine interests u now for her heart overflowsat the misfortunes of the gardener It U

a pretty bit and It Is prettily played by

Lara and Ravel Its relevance to thestory is not very great

At last the hero comes a conqueringhorn who enters his halls to accom-

paniment of cheers the wily cheers ofhis socialistic constituents To them thegreat man throws money and sends thenaway As ho has two guests with himIt may be reasonably suspected that thislittle demonstration has been organlzocnt Ltchat headquarters Asby tho man Is a study In ex

has a nose the pre-

daceous of a bird he frames It In

side whiskers shaves tho chin a protrud-ing boldly modelled though not a prognathlo chin Short potbellied curlyhaired oye half closed but ever reetleesnnd brilliant Feraudy dresses In a cut-

away business suit a showy waistcoatflaring cravat anti spats He wears hishat on tho side and he continually fingersthe brim A type and an individualnt the same time He chatters madlythe outpourings of a headstrong selfwilled human of temperament sanguineApoplexy you foresee will bo his end but

time shall arrive the worldmust hoar much of Isidore Locket

Can a scoundrel be sympathetic Thatquestion is forever asked after it has beenanswered As Lethal fidgets about In-

troducing his friends whose names healways forgets boasting of his estatebullying his overseer a decayed noblemanwhich fact he mentions you feel a sort ofinverted admiration for the monster HeIs a reversion to the typical male savagewho goes forth every morning to slay andreaches home at evening spent but contentfor he has his booty with him What ho

carry he eats like the true canniis Leehat well named because

of his tricky feline traits is a bandit anassassin but ho goes to his home and familyevery night with the spoils of his daysvictories

What happens further in this sceneMore guests drop in and the motley crewenter the It may not be academicin structure but it exposes the peopleof the play satisfactorily One more factan Important one wo learn that Oermaineis In love has for a lover Lucien Oarrauda young chemist of genius employed onthe estate They go oft into the woodsas the curtain falls Little doubt that thefather has a surprise in store for him

In act II Oermaine has rather an affect-ing interview with her mother who begsher to go to church She refuses and thoIrritated woman almost cries as she de-

fines hor position No one loves heris never home oxeopt asking for money

from his Indulgnnt parent Her daughterIs immersed in her books Her husbandseldom notices her except with a pacifyinglittle pat on tho there tItersold woman you mean well but you dontknow all this wealth this show has itbrought happiness Germaine pets herbut wo see the rift in the family lute plainlyenough

The young lovers meet later and thereOermaine exposes her soul She ititecdnto run away If Lucien wIll go nil thebetter If not she will go alone Her sur-roundings are poisoning her She knowsher father for what he is recognizes thenailed brutal fist and vile heart concealedas It is to some by his perpetual bonhomie

She has heard from a widows lips how herfather swindled a partner in an enterpriseGabriel Dauphin Is his name who drivento the precipice commits suicide es thetasted way out of terrible misery Butho leaven a widow and children behind himIt is infamous this thief this assassin

father whoso blood circulates in herveins It is horrible to hear a daughtercurse a parent though it seems logicalenough at the time Pacified by herlovers prccii that an elopement is thoonly hope of happiness she consents toremain for a M1 longer

Tim twomen Phinc and Orugglc whoaccompanied Ltchat home the previousevening are a previous pair They arepresent for tha purpose of securing Lechatsinterest In a wildcat scheme Great scoun-drels they nevertheless underrate theirhosts acuity A threecornered game ofdesperate ttcamotagc begins Lechatswears that he always plays with the cardson the table His superior penetrationenables him to pierce the operation of hisguests They to pUt him downto figures he rings for port old port gen-

tlemen priceless port vintage of I

they badger him He smilinglythen his portrait painted by Bonnat

which he at a bargain for 35000francs the re-

treat with n promise toThe act closes lifter a visit to his fath r

from Xavier Ltchat This young hope-

ful roundshouldered aniemlc drawlingfatigued has automoblled front Ostendwhere ho lost a lot of money gamblingwith a Duke The proud parent signs acheck giving conventional advice andUnions with unfeigned delight to his sonstories of the aristocracy of n mysteriousmistress of Here we see-

the weak pot In th armor of a formidablebrigand

But It Is Act III that Is worth all tItlepreamble undramatlc loquacious andsometimes futile Tho last acts of manyfamous plays are failures The last act ofBusiness Is Business Is not only the bet

hut It is the only act that may be truthfullydramatic Despite the long parley

what and the JarguiIn which tho new and the old social

are cleverly contrasted despitenot because of It the scene

In intensity to a climax so nowPeel like standing up with all the excitedFrenchmen and crying Bravo Mirbeau

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I It U very simple In the analysis th

the marriage between his son and Lockedaughter Every objection has been over-

ruled Honor has been made to assumea fantastic appearance wealth U lauded

blood religion even the churchj by tho wily Isidore M a sort of

spiritual accomplice in mundane mattersI Determined to strike while the Iron Is hot

Leehat rings for his daughter antf wifeThoy arrive Formally and with the

i accents of a tortured man the Alarquiademands the hand of illle Lechat of herconfused mother Plaittl she mumbles

I The victorious father ls soon toppled fromhis pround eminence

I decline the honor declares tho girl

arising Why She is craZY Jfanutsunexpected honorl How decline

fochat draws nearer his fists clenchedhis big neck purple-

I have a lover Insists the now furiousgirl A horrible scene ensues The dis-

tracted man rushes from his wife to hisdaughter bullying cursing threateningbut to no avail The Marquis withdrawsIn his most frozen manner Canaille

the halfmad Locket after him Heto his daughter The mother

prevents physical violence The girl callsfor Lucien and on his appearance there Is

another explosion The manof business begins to realize that thereare certain combinations he cannot under-stand lie the man away swearsthat he his daughter andleaves the apartment This gives theplaywright a chance to set the womenweeping Mother and daughter part and-

I did not regret the departure ofAt base she Is selfish Inconsiderate forher place is with her wretched motherThis sounds quite antiIbsen I know butMlrbeaii is to blame Oermaine Levhatnever strikes an altogether sympatheticchord there is too much of her father inher makeup She is an exaggeration ofthe Ibsen girl

Lechat rushes fumingly in reproacheshis wife for tho education of the ungratefuldaughter and blackguard that heabuse upon the poor bewildered creatureShe turns on him though briefly It in

you your accursed wealth He shrugshis shoulders a deep breath andgrinds his be It if his household Is against him he will still fight onBut a trump card of sorrow upher sleeve and throws it on the table atthis juncture Lcchatt man of affairsrushes In announcing In terrified tonesthe death of Yorier who has been killedby an accident Thrown from his racingmachine he was smashed against aEven now they are bringing the body inThis is an awful stroke Locket reels tearsat his neck gasps for air and falls on acouch Apoplexy nearly claims him ashe is reviving enter the two vultures truefuneral buzxards hastening to a possiblefeast Phinck and Gruggle have seized theopportunity when the great man Is over-

come sorrow to force their scheme upon

himThen the animal grandeur of Lechatis seen at its top notch Calling the pairbrigands ho in a harsh voice commandsWrite All the financial details of the

transaction are to in the hands of Isidore-Lechat All all Not a move is to bo madewithout him the stupe-fied men do colossalwill power of Isidore fachat has overcomethem his cunning brain has outwittedtheir plans Again the word is broughtthat the remains of Yarier Lechat havereached hi house Sign Sign bellowsLechat They sign He rushes out of thoroom leaving them dejected annihilatedBusiness Is business

No need to dwell further upon De Fer-

raudys Interpretation It is the delightof Paris and rightfully so This actorshare with Grimier of the OMan the his-

trionic honors of the town His rapidityof soeech clearness of enunciation lithevigorous nervous movements and his per-

fect elfcontrol fit him for the role Oc-

tavo Mirbeau is lucky In possessing suchan able collaborator Leloir excels in thodelineation of musty aristocrats His oldMarquis is an elaborate portrait not adetail is missing He held in thefccne A faire Of particular interest werethe two speculators impersonated by

and Garry The former Is ns usualhurly the latter Is fine an a solicitor Hereally suggested glacial gulfs of villainyMirbeau knows Balrac thoroughly Thelover is Raphael Duflos comparativelya new acquisition the Heleaves one cold IH It not a commentaryon this piece that tho peoplein it are scoundrels and selfish the good arelull or mediocre Mlrbenus literary abilityis manifest in the brilliant polished re-

strained style He makes rapier thrustsnt church state and society and being aradical at all ho does not care whomhe wounds

Of a totally different genre is La Ra-

bouilleuse at tho Odeon Made over into-

a drama by M Fabre from the little knownnovel of Balzac too little known I amafraid the piece unless enacted bymight easily laps into melodrama All

the material is at hand especially as theadapter has altered tho finale of the novel-

to meet dramatic requirements It Is

effective enough this ending though itgives a violent Basics talemagnificent acting redeems somequarter hours Grimier as a Colonel anold Napoleonic campaigner is really re-

markable His picture in the Salon isalways surrounded by admirers Yourtrue Parisian dearly loves an actor

Balzao will recall at once thestory of Flare Brazier whowheedled her way into the household ofold in the little town of Issoudun She had been as a girl a raboull

i e a digger after crayfish Toribouillor In the parlance of Berry is

to agitate a stick in the muddywhere may ho found the edible

Flora is a good looking girland soon sat In tho parlor completely amistress of the situationto threaten departure and the feeble dotardfalls at her His sister accompanied by her younger sort Joseph

a painter comesto beg a largo amount of money Itsave tim honor of the name for her olderBOH Col Brideav has gambled nml pzzled and finally become a politicalconspirator Tho old man would haveloosened his purse strings If Flore had notInterfered The sister Roe away with anempty hand Flare has a lover Max Oilet-

In tho novel ho is an Important porHoiiiiRoa jolly mi cMef loving fellow In the playho serves as a buffer for Col Brideauand a peg upon which to hang n dtfnouoment

The first act is labored and full of talkBut from tho moment Brideau enters allchanges A bully rapiii cutpurse of thinEmpire rogue swaggerer ho Intimidatesall about him by sheer physical pluck HoIs a picturesque figure long tailed

shaped curling brimmed hat his heavyknobbed cane fierce mustachlos and rakeicIly gait He has acquainted himselfwith the situation in his uncles house anddetermines to worst Flora He U success

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tub H proyes her unfaithful Ha routsMax and whenever ffore speaks of re-

prisals he threatens a duel in which as aheknows Aax fall He would b nomatch for of fortune

With insolence and an effrontery breathcatching Brideau topsyturvies the house-

hold and makes the enamored uncle seethat ho has ben deceived Finally a duelis forced upon him by Max Then occursthe best episode of the play Having apresentiment that her beloved Mtt willbe slain Flore tries her seductions upon

tIe Colonel But he Is too seasoned Hoshows to her her folly and proposesan audacious scheme marry hIs uncleand after his easily anticipated deathmarry Col Brideau In Paris they canlive at ease on their illgotten wealthShe Is fascinated by the picture Nothingcomes of It Max is killed In the duel andlater the Colonel Is murdered by a faithfulold soldier a servitor of Max The climaxIs thrilling but more In the stylo of EugeneSue than Balzac

The acting alone saves this cumbersomedrama There are some good things tn

metIng of tho old soldiers at thehouse This demands Infallibleensomblo work and it was not missing attho performance

Is an actor of Imagination andhis diction is perfect The little more andwhat a difference The little less andCol Bridfau would have been a con-ventional lay figure of melodrama AsIt Is every ono In the cost Js happilydisposed Mmo Mdjard Is an intensePore and tho Koigct of Jnnvler worth asecond across tho Slene Dorlval was nsreal a liar as the dramatist gave him thochance while Mine Bonnet paintsthe small part of a domestic with all thefidelity of a Miens or an Ostndo How-ever tho chief Impression garnered Is

the picture of diabolic energy of Vautrinlike will exampled in the astonishing actingof Gentler

The announcement that the Renaissancewould close Its doors for the summer pentmany to that house for Anatolo Francesengaging little episode Cralnquebllle wasnightly played as an afterpiece to La-

Prlncesse revival of an antiqueDumasfllial comedy I wished to judge-If the praise given with generous hands-to the France tableaux was just and I alsodesired to see again that impossibly charm-ing young actress Mart he Brandos in hersurroundings for sIte U a recent secedefrom the Comedic Franchise household-

No need of introducing that spirituellewriter Anatole Tliihault known as AnatoleFrance America lies long appreciatedhis Thais his manycolored short storieshis delicate Irony Crainquebillo Is not-a play but a transcript from low life by atitan of singularly sensitive temperamentAlphonse Daudet was fond of the phrase

Russian pity in writing about Tolstoyor M France has thispity in abundance only It evokes

the manes of Charles Dickens ratherthan the MuKcovitish masters of fiction

Crainqtiebilte is one of those street venderspeculiar to Paris a wretchedlooking old

grizzled mustaches and weatherbeatei face who pushes his old slowlybefore ilm through steep aCid

Montmartre is often well named Cab-

bage carrots peas potatoes onions hesells and Is beloved In the Quarter for hiskindly ways As if to show the unexpectedtricks fate can play the old Oman whilewaiting for 14 cents owed by a womanto whom he has sold some vegetablesinto an altercation with a policeman Inter-

feres with traffic is arrested is unjustlyaccused and imprisoned When he returnsto lila beloved Montmartro after fifteen

absence ho finds thingswill have anything to do

he is insulted jeered at and finally starv-ing is forced to take refuge with a streetArab in an old building-

To achieve his portrait the dramatistresorts lo miniature painting With smallsly strokes ho shows Grain lucbillea goodheart Croinyttbilkf honesty Crsin ieblues faith in the gqodness of men Craiit-qucbillcs disillusionment his utter despairand eventual submission lo fates decreeAll this is simply accomplished LucienGtiitry is a gifted IlltisiotiUt He sug-gests more with n shoulder shrug than Homeactors do with a torrent of rhetoric HU-

Crcinyvtbille is hoarsethroated laconican dog whose eyes ant more slits filled

rheum of age whose movementsare creaky M an unoilcd door Buthe is full of humor ns tho court score showHumor sentiment neverare traits of this little transcript fromlife All the players were capital the effectproduced being one of lifelike candor andDickens was suggestive In every sceneparticularly in of the French

In comparison with this Invertebrate-yet norm real quivering life Ia-Princesse Georges seemed as old as Nonhsark It have been written before thflood tiresome thesis that womennnifit forglvo maritalthat second net with its mechanical weav-ing of events its fashionable dn mes who gos-sip In the mode Timenouement Is lugged In by tho hairand posi-tively the was unendurableafter first If it had not been for Mart heBrands You wonder M JulesClarotie ever allowed title delicious erratumto leave time protectingold theatre addition to beingadorably lovely lots temperamental of n

projects upon it as If it wero a disk Illuminedall the tenderness tragic

terror animal anti genuine passionDumas demanded when he wrote rolefor Desclee She was adequately sup-ported as tho

an asinine character Bertha CornyNoizeaux Nerny and the InvaluableSamary JAMES HrNEKEK

HIS PLATf Mil A

Suggestion a Mn Vtio l vc Luxuryns Well M Country

The news that a Is soon to bo builton the site of a historic home overlookingLong Island Sound has led some New York-ers to wonder whether thnt Is the hotelof which they have sometimes dreamedThe number that has discussod this subjecti largo enough to it te m thatHiccesn such on enterprise-

I haw thought for FOIIIO years ono

in his tho other that such n hoteln I In mind might to be a great min-ces I know a tomany persons like mo who frequently wantto out of town for a or two hut nrotoo selfish to stand the restraint of a pri-vate house

hotel most he within an hour ofYork raid in service food anti equip-

ment mutt he a ofbust establishment Tim It would bo asort of Tuxedo limit available to all whowere and could theand not only to the members It beopen all around no the ex-cuse for deficiencies in hotels out of town

that tho season Is so short could nothold Such a place would he equallyattractive in summer winterfurnish the only resort of the kind near NewYork or matter In the United States-a hotel in the country as as tho bestin town-

I believe theres a fortune in store fortIme man courageous enough to make tho

not to givehim tills tip for nothing but to supplywith the names of at leastpeople who would Profuse to visit him in

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ARTHUR XlKtSCU RUNS AFOVOF METRONOME

TIle Value of Tradition In

of Ileelhoveni Symphonic Impoilance of Kcblnrtltri Discredited Ttftl

Musical Sims In Score

Is musical criticism the most inexacscience in the world There bewho declare that such It is and who dsneer and snicker at tho proclamations o

the scribes These sneerers and snickare for tho most part not professor

more or less divine art When theprofessor desires to sneer he retires into i

darkened corner of his private abode anexercises much care that the man wittho power of writing notices doesdetect hlmn the act But after all tbcriticism of is of a truthand Mr Gilbert remarksIn Tho Gondoliers Bless you it aldepends-

If critics know their business and some-times do they will seldom fall inUdisagreement OH to the merits and demerit

It is in matterof interpretation that they are to

perhaps thisis but another way of al1-

mubio Is Tho word subjectivehas a pretty metaphysicalmakes an essay assume u learned lookbut It Is not formidable

Is all musld subjective Does Its inter-pretation on conception of thoperformer Or should certain

facts about each compositionto which performerrespect When are

impossible to avoid a singleanswer a piece ofcannot bo to whims ofall its assailants To be sure thru IK theominent example of Shakespeare s Han

Mr whatcnn be done with that drama Which re-calls the practical observation of John

tragedian He saidHamlet is the one any good

actor can make a he will just letMetaphysics alone and attend to stage

There Is a substratum of sound common-sense in this and tho principlewell be by when a

to experimenting with acomposition his first with

Oh those tempicritical remrirkH about seem to puzzletime art Tempo dearren cabalistic It Is just-a Italian word meaning timewhen applied to a it signifiesthe rate through a movement

of proper rate Isof the gravest Importance person

at once himselffamiliar pathetic air and or It

as fast as you have habitually heardll and you will at ones itsentire nature U chin od Converselyperform a lively piece much too slowly

or solemnNow of all compositions In the world

Beethovens ought tobo well known fl ought bythis time to lw establishedno two conductors to aboutit Theodore Thoma certainly did notdirect as did andneither of them as Walter

reading diTerad wholly fromof and

treated tin work as Arthur Mkisch did notwhile Anton Seidl altor plating themovement ns If it weroDanube waltz took the ncberzo so fast

tho tiara players could not play thetrio

Mr NikLsch not long ago conducted tho-Eroioa in Berlin where is the director

of the Philharmonic concsrtP and some ofthe upon tempi tooth and nailThero waunl most us a disturbance-of the restlunic atmosphere OH there was inthis town when be hi conception-of the work atthe admired medium of tIlt Bostonphony Orohestia in tine halcyon days ofnever when

respectable prsone of oomfortablawero disturbed

Mr Nikisch failed to bow to tra-dition Men of excellent information andconservative judgment declared that hehad no right to The Eroicahad always en In a certain wayrind it was eciiitrlc yea evencoOs to play it in other way

old way right way of coursebecause va old vine the inwhich Beethoven himself would have liked-to her his symphony conducted Not hose who havewith MMvllssohn had thy beenat tin eiTOrmanct ofcymphony about wliisli Kchard Wagnercimts so in hi admirable

On Conduct Ho iyNow tIn late of

Dresden rmco conducted this symphonythere nnd I happened to lie at

with MendelssohnWe talked about the dilemma de-

scribed time of making certainpassages intelligible when at thecustomary tempo its solution

I told MendelssohnI believed I hail convincedtad promised thnt he would take the tempo

Mendelssohn perfectlyagreed with me We listened

and I was terrified ohhearing precisely old lAidler tempobut before vent to my annoy-ance Mendelssohn smiled andnodded his head if lo say Now Its all

Bravo So terror changed toastonishment Reitwi or for reasonsI shall discuss presently may not have lynold but indifferencewith regard to this artistic oontre

doubts my mind whetherho saw distinction difference inthe case at 1 standing

of superficialityOf course tine root of difference of

between arid Mendelssohnwns n difference as to Beethovens designsA similar disagreement gave rise tor theconfusion ofreading of tho ErnlcS Every livingsoul the warring assentto time proposition that whichviolated of Beethoven was In-

defensible The question to be decidedin these davis Is were the wishes ofBeethoven

There c n bo no dispute that the funda-mental element in n proper interpretationis a correct temod of Beethovens symphonies are established toolargely by It Is true that metron-ome are to be found on score

that Beethoven placed nil of them therel een disputed an author to whom

entirely too credence is ThUis Schindler whose biographical

sketch of the composer mivThe Life of edited Ignace

Moschelos timid published in this countryl Ditflons

After quoting MathesonVt dictum that amovement must be taken a noireslowly by a large ohnru or orchestra thah

a one Schindler that thisfact Is too frequently forgotten by con-ductors nt expanse of intelligibility

I have hid frequent tothis neslect sats occasioned by

performance ofn cises tho effectvcns works anti

WHK of course n offspring of the causennd exhibited a of tineHolrlt of the To performBeethovens compositions withoutto meaning is hunting toloath the of thn

rit appears according to tide au-

thority heardof his own works In which the

were taken In spite of timeadmitted correctness of the metronomenarks In ono case ths master seriouslythought of altering title metro

was too fastHi admitted Schlndlor that the con-ductor had obeyed the metronome signbut that ho not intended that his sym-phonies should be uch

Schindler further deposes and

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HIs own ob ttons cou ledrwithaccounts received from various

the ineffective performance ofthe symphonies in consequence

Beetho-ven in time winter of 182528 to inventcause of the errors This he inpresence and ho ascertained themetronome signs in tho printed scoreswore faulty theand be declared that of thesemetronomic were not authorized

him I may mentionsymphonies from to No6 inclusivewere before the invention ofMaclzcls metronome and it Is to theseventh nod ninth symphonies that themetronomic signs can cer-tainty be sam to have been given byBeethoven Whether or not metronomed the eighth symphony thowhich waspositively determine

scorn ofI cannot

It was a rather curious fact that Schindler who was o intimately acquainted withBeethovens to metronomic of his symphonies did notknow whether he hadthe little eighth His trustworthinesshiss been called In question in recentIn fact time great biographer of BeethovenAlexander that themaster did metronome his ownand Clint he knew what he wished Thayersknowledge Is altogether indisputablefor queer heshould have been ignorant of edit Ionof the symphony a small quartolithographed by

of Vienna ns a companion tosymphony The edition to by

the second published byHaslineer of Vienna in 1827

Considering the fact them the Steinerof seventh gave the composer

much trouble because of errorsaltogether unlikely that he would have

over it as he did and neglected the little one Asa matter of fact

prints a letter from Beethevento the In it he

The of this symphony the sev-enth to me since it is

unfortunately the case that neither thenor scorn is correct In the

which are already prepared the mistakesmust he corrected ink which

his do and a listof all without exception mustalso be andas engraved have beenthe most it is an inaccuratedefective affair such as has never appearedof any of my workp This Is

of your inattention to the correc-tions and riot sent It to TOO

for my revision or not having remindedme about It You have treated thepublic with neglect and tIne innocent authorsuffers In reputation

Beethoven his symphonya we well know limit It

Improbable that its score so Incor-rect would have corrected it andno attention to the eightb for which hohad also a certain amount of affectionThe truth undoubtedly is thai tooconductors la tIme metronomemarks and lint Incorrect tempi are heard

too ronnvy audiencesVet a adherence to

signs seems not to have been the desire ofBeethoven The signs are given In orderto indicate time general of movementamid it would be t flrfd faultwith a conductor who went a few beats outof his way to secure a beautiful andeffect not out of keeping with the characterof a movem nt

TIters Is no question that Mrperformed the scherzo faster anti the secondpart last movement more

local audiences used to be accustomedto hear thorn In the consulate ThomasThe scherzo is marked andwithout doubt some conductors take It allttlo In order to

was highly Interesting or It had a stirwas disclosed here In

Chickening Hall agoandante the last movement

thIs conductor certainly played moreslowly than says to b

thedie

b her that the

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only

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prepare fortime troublesome passage trioIt is certaimi that Mr

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played but tradition is after allin matters musical The

was its results Neverbefore did 1U eloquence seem so over-whelming its breadth BO

Two from little bookon conducting are singularly applicable to

matter The conductorbe is comprised In abilityalways to indicate tempo

tempo will show whether understands piece or not With the good

correct phrasing and expression

Induce the of trie true ten pAgain he I remember my young

to have heard olderremarks about the Eroica

Dionys Weber at Prague simply treatedas a nonentity man was IB-

hia way to recognize nothingbuttempo peculiar to that allegro he taught

the Rrbica Time result was such that onecould not agreeing with him

These latter a bearing-on the shading ofthe readingcussion to nuancewhich were introduced it would be difficultfor any one to sustain objections to themon ground of mosteffective argument against a general adoption of accelerandi and unfamiliar accentuations i

the serenity of the classicatmosphere which U to surround

worksBut it Is somewhat of an anomaly hold

that the tremendousof these symphonies must be McrifloHto of style i

to be sure has formulaed a proposition but it is offered anyono who combats the employment of romantle methodswhich seem lo clamor for them It wouldha absurd for any one to assort that Beethovan this deeply dranntiothird symphony lo

classic profile of the M

Mr Niklsclfs discovery of the expres ivnof passages

by him was a credit to j l

We have no satisfactory record fBeethovens desires tp these ma-tter The best evidence in favor of the n wdepartures U the splendor of their nrxlau-

vtwn i TVMUI C munion the admirable Hector Berlinsthat whatever agood as that whatever a had one

bad and that the authority of a Hundredold men even if were a hundredand twenty years of nee cannot innvc

beautiful riotthat which U ugly

It was a long time ammo that Mr Nil ohconducted Krolivi nt ChlckerluK Hall

be that he has altered his i Z

since then butt comments on hU reontwecm to show that he has not

has conducted thn symphony many tIm inGermany and no one so loudly

a II the across the Atlanttotill this time Doubtless hs will conduct

work tunes more and In the endthe critics will come to regard his nstrue tempi

Possibly In the course of v illnil over the Continent and then

busy old tradition will proceed to esoordown thin vale of yours as the rii

will be and nrar H mland countless generations of music criticyet unborn dig up the wise words of

In support of the comfortingthat did not rnetrom

the symphony and that thereforeto a to take It at any tempo titsuits hint But will some diff-iculty In convincing thinking that

a to itnt tempi thatsuit it

Mr Nikisch modifications were by nomeans radical they were enough tomake a noticeable But other con

I upon him In going faster Certainly thenlamented Seldl did But

Mr Bedlls metier WM certainly not Beel-hoven

I

broadening of the niorement of the poco

his

players the trueand con

vetselyphrasing and expression wtU

at play

thatthtv disturb

iLqV

one

andaileiro

other miii backdictum of

good

1

Ittim

lie

time

is open

do not

doctors will strive to

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