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THE DRAMA . IN WEIMAR . Weimar , October 6 . Obeb-Weimar is a little village , about a mile from tills , lying as it were in the park . At the entrance to this village , on the banks of the Dm , they have a Tivoli—a most primitive and German affair— -what in England would be called a barn . The seats -were a few rough planks , not even shaped into benches . The walls were hedges and trees . The canopy was furnished by the bluest of August skies . We sat on the aforesaid planks , in front of a little theatre ; an orchestra , with a conductor ! made ambitious efforts at an overture . Beer , and coffee , -were freely enjoyed by the spectators , and every male mouth was occupied with cigar or pipe . Through the hedges peeped several of those who could not afford the few pence of
entrancemoney ; while from the branches of the trees hung clusters of adventurous boys , dividing their attention between the . interest of the play and the difficulty of their balance . The quiet of a summer evening , the mixture of foliage and scenic preparations , the beer and pipes , all made a most curious impression . The acting , which was witnessed in perfect stillness , was really not so bad as one sees at many a provincial theatre ; it was free from our besetting sin of exaggeration . The dresses , scenery , and properties were also respectable—wonderful , when the prices of admission were considered . In so small a space tlere was of course no room for scenery , such as a stage furnishes . This was remedied by the scenes being rolled up at each " change . "
On another occasion I saw Kotzebue ' s Arme Poet ( the original of tha t Monsieur Jacques , which Eouffe and Wigan have made so memorable ) , and our well-known farce of The Lottery Ticket . It was instructive and amusing to observe in Kotzebue ' s piece , as compared with the piece it suggested , the striking difference "between the idea of a drama and the drama itself . Nothing can be weaker , dramatically speaking , than Kotzebue ' s Arme Poet ; but the French authors have turned it inta a capital little play . As far as I can judge—and it is fifteen years since my acquaintance with the German stage began—the G-ermans are utterly incompetent to the production of a really good drama . Except Lessing , I do not know a single writer who has united theatrical with dramatic excellence . When the dramatists have a good idea , which is rare , they cannot work it out dramatically .
The only play I lave seen during this visit , besides my Tivoli ventures , was Die Journalisten , by Gustav Frcitag , a comedy which has had great success in Germany , but which would be unendurable elsewhere . In it there is some lively writing ( German liveliness , remember !) , and some good " intentions ; " but the whole piece is so gemacht , as they say—so mechanically put together , and with such supreme disre gard to the ennui of an audience—that only the patient Germans would sit it out . Yet , although that is my critical opinion of tho piece , I must confess that never have I seen a German comedy which amused me so much—thanks to the acting . There is an actor here named Genast—interesting as being the son of the Genast mentioned'Tay Goethe—who played the part of an old wine merchant
with such colossal bonhomie , with such finesse of observation , with such a play of countenance and gesture , that . I can compare it to nothing but Liston . I roared , I shrieked with laughter . His face liaunted me for a couple of days afterwards , and I cannot even now write his name without a pleasant smile . Yet this Genast is a tragic actor , the leading tragedian of Weimar , and , I am nssurcd , tho finest William Tell in Germany . Next to him , I must mention Ihrr Grans ( whom you may remember at the St . James ' s Theatre in 185 1 , playing Laertes ami Bmckenburg to Emile Devrient's Hamlet and Er / monl ) . What would we now give for such an actor on our
stage ! Ho plays tho part of a young journalist full of animal spirits , and plays it with an entrain which never deserts him and never allows gaiety to riot into exaggeration , with a grace and gentlemanly bearing such aajaunespremiers seldom possess ; and when the serious passages arrive , he fulls into them with the most faithful truthfulness , touching them lightly , not carelessly , and never committing tho too frequent mistakes of being tragic . Altogether , this play wus remarkably well acted . The ensemble wus such as I scarcely remember in a comedy containing so many pnrts . One and nil were froo from exaggeration—when the acting w « s poor , it wus at least inoffensive . Tho " make-up , " oven of tho subordinate purls , was excellent .
If Mr . Mitchell again contemplates ( j crmun performances , lotino earnestly direct his attention to u comedy troupe . Tho public which yawns at tragedies Jill performed , will appreciate comedy well performed . Hitherto my experience of the Weimar Theatre bus boon confined to one comedy and three oper / iH ; for although I venture on a " huir of tho clog that bit me , " I have no fancy to lot tho dog bite mo nguin . The opernN have been Verdi ' a Ernani Wagner ' s TannlUiuscr , and FIoLow ' h Mtirthe . To tho student of German literature and German music , who first cornea to Germany with his head full of chefs-cl'ccuvre , expecting to see them everywhere performed and discussed groat and vexatious is tho disappointment , lie . iinds the theatre occupied
with Scribe , Dumas , or Birch Pfeiffer , and not in the least anxious about Goethe , Schiller , or Lessing ; he finds the opera supplied by Donizetti , Bellini , Verdi , Auber , A . dam , even Flotow and Balfe—the public having had enough of Beethoven , Mozart , Gluck , Rossini , Weber . The c 7 iefs-d ' azuvre are well enough to swear by , but a public demands amusement , and amusement must be novel . To be candid , how many of us spend our lives with chefs-d ' eeuv re ? When we are young we study them with great eagerness ; but once studied , do we not place them on our shelves , content with reverence , and an occasional re gret that we haven't time to read them again ? When I first learned German , my reading was of nothing but masterpieces . It is twelve years at least since I read a line of Schiller : and if Goethe is a
constant companion , that lies less in the fact of his works being masterpieces than in the fact of his being , like Shakspeare , inexhaustible , and , above all writers , the modern writer . Yet , whatever deductions one may have to make from Schiller , he is assuredl y of infinite value compared with the German poems , plays , and criticisms ( Goethe excepted ) I have read since still he is old , and the novelty of the day attracts the daily reader . That is my confession . How fares it with you , dear reader ? Are you incessantly , are you even occasionally occupied with Homer , Sophocles , Lucretius , Dante , Ariosto , Moliere , Racine , Shakspeare , Spenser , Milton , Pope , Byron , Wordsworth ? It would be better for you to read them than Loose Thouqhts b Lad Random Rh The Bandit of
y a y , or ymes , or the Abruzzi . Yet you do not . I should like to have the statistics of Readers and Buyers , setting forth the relation between those who buy Montesquieu and those who read him . When I enter Bobus's library , and see the shelves graced with serious authors side by side , with all those works " which every gentleman ' s library should be without "~ when I see the gravity and learning silently beckoning to Bobus , I am tempted to- envy him the possession of such wealth , until my eye glances at the table , and there detects the literature with which B . is actually occupied—a new novel , the last quarterly , the magazines of the month , Biggs on- ihe " Crimea , " and Timbs on the " Turks . " With a contemptuous shrug , I seat myself in his study-chair , and take up the novel , which lasts till lunch .
Besides the Tivoli Theatre and the Court Theatre ( Ho / Theater ) , I have been delighted with an original and very charming Natur Theater , -which &cethe arranged at Belvidere , one of the Duke ' s summer palaces . Imagine i garden arranged into a theatre , the walls of which , the Jlats ( or tide Entrances ) and the proscenium , are trees in full foliage , but trimmed into high hedges . A . sunk fence forms the division of orchestra and audience , riie performances took place during the summer nights before the Court , a-nd the performers were all amateurs belonging to the Court circle ; a more enchantin g form of private theatricals one cannot conceive . Private theatricals , formerly " all the . rage" in German Courts , an 1 in Weimar carried to an extraordinary pitch , now scarcely exist in Germany , and this Natur Theater has been silent for many years . Dreary as we usually find the performance of amateurs , I think we shoul dall enjoy a play in such a theatre .
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The theatrical news of the week comes to us from Paris . Madame George Sand ' s K « wn ' w / o lias been produced at the Gymnask with a success of reputation and curiosity rather than of dramatic interest . Fluminio is nothing more than an adaptation of her charming story , Teverino , published some two years ago , but with the darlinp : of that story , Madeleine M / ileze , the bird . fancier and pruteytc of Teverino , reduced to the proportions of a figurante ! For the rest , Flaminio is anotber ^ vcrsion of that eternal artist-vagabond ideal whose apotheosis Madame Hand seems never tired of celebrating . ' This exceptional creation of poet , painter , tenor , marioneltixt , contrabandist , engineer , all embraced in one magnificent organisation , is surrounded by tho most fantastic , and impossible personages , and the " artist" does nothing but uome , see , arid conquer through the four acts . Jules Janin writes one of his most savage J ' cuillctons on FLiminio , in his subtlest style of malicious banter ; and the more friendly critics speak with evident regret of the sacrifice of so great a reputation to the aUige . Madame Sund , we know , speaks of tho drama as the art comprehending' all other arts ; but we foar she has lost her way in committing the glowing and tender grace of her genius to tho withering ordeal of tho foot- lamps .
Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli has , it seems , made her pence with tho Imperial Opera . The semi-official Patric offers the following rather lame explanation of the capricious lady ' s defection ;—" It was in connequoncc of a misuiHlersjtiinding Unit MutUmiotaello Cruvelli ' s absence C'tuwid a disappointment as to lior jierfonn « noo nt tho Opur . a . The portion chared to inform tho munugcmiont of her departure did not execute his cominimion . Mademoiselle Cruvelli , terrified at the cifl ' wt which cnaiicd , had not dared to uiuko li « r reappearance- bcl ' orti the public . Comprehending now that tho prolongation of her Hlweiico might ng-gravatu her involuntary fault , shu has requested and obtained J «« ve to resume immodiutiily her duties at the Opura . " No doubt tho loss oI'MsidcinoiHelle Cruvelli would bo difficult to replace under the present circumstances of tho Imperial Aenderny of Music ; but , it maybe doubled whether this easy victory of a winger , who threw all engagements to tho winds in a lit of passion , is not a dangerous precedent in that operatic world which is already too muuh a dynasty of spoiled children .
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Mr . Charles ICean'n manipulator of French plays appears to have done his worst to turn Paul Mnurice'a imaginative and ingenious driuua of Schainyl into u disjointed compromise ofbalderUaHh and bluo lire . All tho weakness of tho company of tho 1 ' hinokmh ' h—excepting Mr . Charles Koan himself , wlio reserves hit ) geniuH for thu villains in the early part of tlio evening—is lavished on this spectacle ; there is abundance of patriotic declamation , of quasl-Cauuaaian scenery , of water more or loss real , and properties moro or Icbs new . The dancing is effective , and the acting equal to tho occasion . It may do as an afterpiece , but it is an elaborate mistake
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself ;—Goethe .
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November 11 , 1854 ] THE LEADER . 1077
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 11, 1854, page 1077, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2064/page/21/
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