,,plays  ,,acting ,,and ,,music    ,a   
,,book ,,of ,,theory    ,,by  ,,arthur  
,,symons      ,,london      #aiji       
,to ,maurice ,maeterlinck in friendship 
and admiration          ,,preface       
,when this book was first published it  
contained a large amount of  material   
which is now taken out of it2 additions 
have been made1 besides  many           
corrections and changes2 and the whole  
form of the book has been  remodelled4  
,it is now more what it ought to have   
been from the first2  what ,i saw1 from 
the moment of its publication1 that it  
ought to have  been3 a book of theory4  
,the rather formal announcement of my   
intentions  which ,i made in my preface 
is reprinted here1 because1 at all      
events1  the programme was carried out4 
,this book1 ,i said then1 is intended to
 form part of a series1 on which ,i     
have been engaged for many years4 ,i am 
gradually working my way towards  the   
concrete expression of a theory1 or     
system of sthetics1 of all the  arts4   

,in my book on ,the ,symbolist ,movement
 in ,literature ,i made a first  attempt
 to deal in this way with literature2   
other volumes1 now in  preparation1 are 
to follow4 ,the present volume deals    
mainly with the  stage1 and1            
secondarily1 with music2 it is to be    
followed by a volume  called ,studies in
 ,seven ,arts1 in which music will be   
dealt with in  greater detail1 side by  
side with painting1 sculpture1          
architecture1  handicraft1 dancing1 and 
the various arts of the stage4 ,and1 as 
life too  is a form of art1 and the     
visible world the chief storehouse of   
beauty1  ,i try to indulge my curiosity 
by the study of places and of people4 ,a
  book on ,cities is now in the press1  
and a book of imaginary  portraits is to
 follow1 under the title of ,spiritual  
,adventures4 ,side  by side with these  
studies in the arts ,i have my own art1 
that of verse1  which is1 after all1 my 
chief concern4    ,in all my critical   
and theoretical writing ,i wish to be as

 little  abstract as possible1 and to   
study first principles1 not so much as  
they  exist in the brain of the         
theorist1 but as they may be discovered1
 alive  and in effective action1 in     
every achieved form of art4 ,i do not   
understand the limitation by which so   
many writers on sthetics choose  to     
confine themselves to the study of      
artistic principles as they are  seen in
 this or that separate form of art4     
,each art has its own laws1  its own    
capacities1 its own limits2 these it is 
the business of the  critic jealously to
 distinguish4 ,yet in the study of art  
as art1 it  should be his endeavour to  
master the universal science of beauty4 
#aijc1 #aijg4          ,,contents       
,,introduction    ,an ,apology for      
,puppets                    #c          
,,plays ,,and ,,acting    ,nietzsche on 
,tragedy                     #aa        
,sarah ,bernhardt                       
#ag    ,coquelin and ,molire            
#bi    ,rjane                           

#cg    ,yvette ,guilbert                
#db    ,sir ,henry ,irving              
#eb    ,duse in ,some of ,her ,parts    
#fj    ,annotations                     
#gg    ,m4 ,capus in ,england           
#ic    ,a ,double ,enigma               
#ajj      ,,drama    ,professional and  
,unprofessional         #aji    ,tolstoi
 and ,others                      #aae  
,some ,problem ,plays                   
#abd    ,monna ,vanna                   
#acg    ,the ,question of ,censorship   
#adc    ,a ,play and the ,public        
#adh    ,the ,test of the ,actor        
#aeb    ,the ,price of ,realism         
#afb    ,on ,crossing ,stage to ,right  
#afg    ,the ,speaking of ,verse        
#agc    ,great ,acting in ,english      
#ahb    ,a ,theory of the ,stage        
#aih    ,the ,sicilian ,actors          
#bac      ,,music    ,on ,writing about 
,music                  #bbi            
,technique and the ,artist              
#bcb    ,pachmann and the ,piano        
#bcg    ,paderewski                     

#beh    ,a ,reflection at a ,dolmetsch  
,concert     #bfh    ,the ,dramatisation
 of ,song               #bgg    ,the    
,meiningen ,orchestra                   
#bhd    ,mozart in the ,mirabell-,garten
           #bij    ,notes on ,wagner at 
,bayreuth             #big              
,conclusion3 ,a ,paradox on ,art        
#cae          ,,introduction            
,,an ,,apology ,,for ,,puppets          
,after seeing a ballet1 a farce1 and the
 fragment of an opera performed  by the 
marionettes at the ,costanzi ,theatre in
 ,rome1 ,i am inclined to ask  myself   
why we require the intervention of any  
less perfect medium  between the meaning
 of a piece1 as the author conceived it1
 and that  other meaning which it       
derives from our reception of it4 ,the  
living  actor1 even when he condescends 
to subordinate himself to the           
requirements of pantomime1 has always   
what he is proud to call his            
temperament2 in other words1 so much    
personal caprice1 which for the  most   

part means wilful misunderstanding2 and 
in seeing his acting you  have to       
consider this intrusive little          
personality of his as well as the       
author's4 ,the marionette may be relied 
upon4 ,he will respond to an  indication
 without reserve or revolt2 an error on 
his part 7we are all  human7 will       
certainly be the fault of the author2 he
 can be trained to  perfection4 ,as he  
is painted1 so will he smile2 as the    
wires lift or  lower his hands1 so will 
his gestures be2 and he will dance when 
his  legs are set in motion4    ,seen at
 a distance1 the puppets cease to be an 
amusing piece of  mechanism1 imitating  
real people2 there is no difference4 ,i 
protest that  the ,knight who came in   
with his plumed hat1 his shining sword1 
and flung  back his long cloak with so  
fine a sweep of the arm1 was exactly the
  same to me as if he had been a living 
actor1 dressed in the same  clothes1 and
 imitating the gesture of a knight2 and 
that the contrast of  what was real1 as 

we say1 under the fiction appears to me 
less ironical  in the former than in the
 latter4 ,we have to allow1 you will    
admit1 at  least as much to the         
beneficent heightening of travesty1 if  
we have ever  seen the living actor in  
the morning1 not yet shaved1 standing at
 the  bar1 his hat on one side1 his     
mouth spreading in that abandonment to  
laughter which has become from the      
necessity of his profession1 a  natural 
trick2 oh1 much more1 ,i think1 than if 
we merely come upon an  always          
decorative1 never an obtrusive1 costumed
 figure1 leaning against  the wall1     
nonchalantly enough1 in a corner of the 
coulisses4    ,to sharpen our sense of  
what is illusive in the illusion of the 
puppets1  let us sit not too far from   
the stage4 ,choosing our place          
carefully1 we  shall have the           
satisfaction of always seeing the wires 
at their work1  while ,i think we shall 
lose nothing of what is most savoury in 
the feast  of the illusion4 ,there is   

not indeed the appeal to the senses of  
the  first row of the stalls at a ballet
 of living dancers4 ,but is not that a  
trifle too obvious sentiment for the    
true artist in artificial things8  ,why 
leave the ball-room8 ,it is not nature  
that one looks for on the  stage in this
 kind of spectacle1 and our excitement  
in watching it  should remain purely    
intellectual4 ,if you prefer that other 
kind of  illusion1 go a little further  
away1 and1 ,i assure you1 you will find 
it  quite easy to fall in love with a   
marionette4 ,i have seen the most       
adorable heads1 with real hair too1     
among the wooden dancers of a  theatre  
of puppets2 faces which might easily1   
with but a little of that  good-will    
which goes to all falling in love1 seem 
the answer to a  particular dream1      
making all other faces in the world but 
spoilt copies  of this inspired piece of
 painted wood4    ,but the illusion1 to 
a more scrupulous taste1 will consist   
simply in  that complication of view    

which allows us to see wood and wire    
imitating  an imitation1 and which      
delights us less when seen at what is   
called the  proper distance1 where the  
two are indistinguishable1 than when    
seen  from just the point where all that
 is crudely mechanical hides the  comedy
 of what is1 absolutely1 a deception4   
,losing1 as we do1 something  of the    
particularity of these painted faces1 we
 are able to enjoy all  the better what 
it is certainly important we should     
appreciate1 if we  are truly to         
appreciate our puppets4 ,this is nothing
 less than a  fantastic1 yet a direct1  
return to the masks of the ,greeks3 that
 learned  artifice by which tragedy and 
comedy were assisted in speaking to the 
world with the universal voice1 by this 
deliberate generalising of  emotion4 ,it
 will be a lesson to some of our modern 
notions2 and it may  be instructive for 
us to consider that we could not give a 
play of  ,ibsen's to marionettes1 but   
that we could give them the ,agamemnon4 

,above all1 for we need it above all1   
let the marionettes remind us that  the 
art of the theatre should be beautiful  
first1 and then indeed what  you will   
afterwards4 ,gesture on the stage is the
 equivalent of rhythm in  verse1 and it 
can convey1 as a perfect rhythm should1 
not a little of  the inner meaning of   
words1 a meaning perhaps more latent in 
things4  ,does not gesture indeed make  
emotion1 more certainly and more        
immediately than emotion makes gesture8 
,you may feel that you may  suppress    
emotion2 but assume a smile1 lifted     
eyebrows1 a clenched fist1  and it is   
impossible for you not to assume along  
with the gesture1 if  but for a moment1 
the emotion to which that gesture       
corresponds4 ,in our  marionettes1 then1
 we get personified gesture1 and the    
gesture1 like all  other forms of       
emotion1 generalised4 ,the appeal in    
what seems to you  these childish       
manoeuvres is to a finer1 because to a  
more intimately  poetic1 sense of things

 than the merely rationalistic appeal of
 very  modern plays4 ,if at times we    
laugh1 it is with wonder at seeing      
humanity  so gay1 heroic1 and untiring4 
,there is the romantic suggestion of    
magic  in this beauty4    ,maeterlinck  
wrote on the title-page of one of his   
volumes ,drames pour  marionettes1 no   
doubt to intimate his sense of the      
symbolic value1 in  the interpretation  
of a profound inner meaning of that     
external nullity  which the marionette  
by its very nature emphasises4 ,and so  
,i find my  puppets1 where the extremes 
meet1 ready to interpret not only the   
,agamemnon1 but ,la ,mort de            
,tintagiles2 for the soul1 which is to  
make1 we may suppose1 the drama of the  
future1 is content with as simple  a    
mouthpiece as ,fate and the great       
passions1 which were the classic  drama4
          ,,plays ,,and ,,acting        
,,nietzsche ,,on ,,tragedy      ,i have 
been reading ,nietzsche on the ,origin  
of ,tragedy with the delight  of one who

 discovers a new world1 which he has    
seen already in a dream4  ,i never take 
up ,nietzsche without the surprise of   
finding something  familiar4 ,sometimes 
it is the answer to a question which ,i 
have only  asked2 sometimes it seems to 
me that ,i have guessed at the answer4  
,and1  in his restless energy1 his      
hallucinatory1 vision1 the agility of   
this  climbing mind of the mountains1 ,i
 find that invigoration which only a    
tragic philosopher can give4 ,a sort of 
mystic soul1 as he says of  himself1    
almost the soul of a ,mnad1 who1        
troubled1 capricious1 and  half         
irresolute whether to cede or fly1      
stammers out something in a  foreign    
tongue4    ,the book is a study in the  
origin of tragedy among the ,greeks1 as 
it  arose out of music through the      
medium of the chorus4 ,we are apt to    
look  on the chorus in ,greek plays as  
almost a negligible part of the         
structure2 as1 in fact1 hardly more than
 the comments of that ideal  spectator  

whom ,schlegel called up out of the     
depths of the ,german  consciousness4   
,we know1 however1 that the chorus was  
the original  nucleus of the play1 that 
the action on which it seems only to    
comment  is no more than a development  
of the chorus4 ,here is the problem to  
which ,nietzsche endeavours to find an  
answer4 ,he finds it1 unlike the        
learned persons who study ,greek texts1 
among the roots of things1 in the  very 
making of the universe4 ,art arises1 he 
tells us1 from the conflict  of the two 
creative spirits1 symbolised by the     
,greeks in the two gods1  ,apollo and   
,dionysus2 and he names the one the     
,apollonian spirit1 which  we see in    
plastic art1 and the other the          
,dionysiac spirit1 which we see  in     
music4 ,apollo is the god of dreams1    
,dionysus the god of intoxication2  the 
one represents for us the world of      
appearances1 the other is1 as it  were1 
the voice of things in themselves4 ,the 
chorus1 then1 which arose  out of the   

hymns to ,dionysus1 is the lyric cry1   
the vital ecstasy2 the  drama is the    
projection into vision1 into a picture1 
of the exterior1  temporary world of    
forms4 ,we now see that the stage and   
the action are  conceived only as       
vision3 that the sole 'reality' is      
precisely the  chorus1 which itself     
produces the vision1 and expresses it by
 the aid of  the whole symbolism of     
dance1 sound1 and word4 ,in the         
admirable phrase  of ,schiller1 the     
chorus is a living rampart against      
reality1 against  that false reality of 
daily life which is a mere drapery of   
civilisation1 and has nothing to do with
 the primitive reality of  nature4 ,the 
realistic drama begins with ,euripides2 
and ,euripides1 the  casuist1 the friend
 of ,socrates 7whom ,nietzsche qualifies
 as the true  decadent1 an instrument of
 decomposition1 the slayer of art1 the  
father of modern science71 brings       
tragedy to an end1 as he substitutes    
pathos for action1 thought for          

contemplation1 and passionate sentiments
  for the primitive ecstasy4 ,armed with
 the scourge of its syllogisms1  an     
optimist dialectic drives the music out 
of tragedy3 that is to say1  destroys   
the very essence of tragedy1 an essence 
which can be  interpreted only as a     
manifestation and objectivation of      
,dionysiac  states1 as a visible symbol 
of music1 as the dream-world of a       
,dionysiac  intoxication4 ,there are    
many pages1 scattered throughout his    
work1 in  which ,pater has dealt with   
some of the ,greek problems very much in
 the  spirit of ,nietzsche2 with that   
problem1 for instance1 of the blitheness
  and serenity of the ,greek spirit1 and
 of the gulf of horror over which  it   
seems to rest1 suspended as on the wings
 of the condor4 ,that myth of  ,dionysus
 ,zagreus1 a ,bacchus who had been in   
hell1 which is the  foundation of the   
marvellous new myth of ,denys           
l',auxerrois1 seems  always to be in the
 mind of ,nietzsche1 though indeed he   

refers to it but  once1 and passingly4  
,pater has shown1 as ,nietzsche shows in
 greater  detail and with a more        
rigorous logic1 that this serenity was  
but an  accepted illusion1 and all      
,olympus itself but intermediary1 an    
escape1  through the sthetics of        
religion1 from the trouble at the heart 
of  things2 art1 with its tragic        
illusions of life1 being another form of
  escape4 ,to ,nietzsche the world and  
existence justify themselves only as  an
 sthetic phenomenon1 the work of a god  
wholly the artist2 and in  this sense   
the object of the tragic myth is        
precisely to convince us  that even the 
horrible and the monstrous are no more  
than an sthetic  game played with itself
 by the ,will in the eternal plenitude  
of its  joy4 ,the ,will is              
,schopenhauer's ,will1 the vital        
principle4 ,if it  were possible1 says  
,nietzsche1 in one of his astonishing   
figures of  speech1 to imagine a        
dissonance becoming a human being 7and  

what is man  but that871 in order to    
endure life1 this dissonance would need 
some  admirable illusion to hide from   
itself its true nature1 under a veil of 
beauty4 ,this is the aim of art1 as it  
calls up pictures of the visible  world 
and of the little temporary actions of  
men on its surface4 ,the  hoofed satyr  
of ,dionysus1 as he leaps into the midst
 of these gracious  appearances1 drunk  
with the young wine of nature1 surly    
with the old  wisdom of ,silenus1 brings
 the real1 excessive1 disturbing truth  
of  things suddenly into the illusion2  
and is gone again1 with a shrill  laugh1
 without forcing on us more of his      
presence than we can bear4    ,i have   
but touched on a few points in an       
argument which has itself the  ecstatic 
quality of which it speaks4 ,a good deal
 of the book is  concerned with the     
latest development of music1 and        
especially with  ,wagner4 ,nietzsche1   
after his change of sides1 tells us not 
to take this  part too seriously3 what  

,i fancied ,i heard in the ,wagnerian   
music has  nothing to do with ,wagner4  
,few better things have been said about 
music  than these pages2 some of them   
might be quoted against the programme   
music which has been written since that 
time1 and against the false  theory on  
which musicians have attempted to       
harness music in the shafts  of         
literature4 ,the whole book is          
awakening2 in ,nietzsche's own words1 a 
prodigious hope speaks in it4           
,,sarah ,,bernhardt      ,i am not sure 
that the best moment to study an artist 
is not the moment  of what is called    
decadence4 ,the first energy of         
inspiration is gone2  what remains is   
the method1 the mechanism1 and it is    
that which alone  one can study1 as one 
can study the mechanism of the body1 not
 the  principle of life itself4 ,what is
 done mechanically1 after the heat of   
the blood has cooled1 and the divine    
accidents have ceased to happen1 is     
precisely all that was consciously      

skilful in the performance of an art4   
,to see all this mechanism left bare1 as
 the form of the skeleton is left  bare 
when age thins the flesh upon it1 is to 
learn more easily all that  is to be    
learnt of structure1 the art which not  
art but nature has  hitherto concealed  
with its merciful covering4    ,the art 
of ,sarah ,bernhardt has always been a  
very conscious art1 but it  spoke to us1
 once1 with so electrical a shock1 as if
 nerve touched  nerve1 or the mere      
contour subtil of the voice were laid   
tinglingly on  one's spinal cord1 that  
it was difficult to analyse it coldly4  
,she was  ,phdre or ,marguerite         
,gautier1 she was ,adrienne ,lecouvreur1
 ,fdora1 ,la  ,tosca1 the actual woman1 
and she was also that other actual      
woman1 ,sarah  ,bernhardt4 ,two magics  
met and united1 in the artist and the   
woman1 each  alone of its kind4 ,there  
was an excitement in going to the       
theatre2  one's pulses beat feverishly  
before the curtain had risen2 there was 

almost a kind of obscure sensation of   
peril1 such as one feels when the       
lioness leaps into the cage1 on the     
other side of the bars4 ,and the  acting
 was like a passionate declaration1     
offered to some one unknown2  it was as 
if the whole nervous force of the       
audience were sucked out of  it and     
flung back1 intensified1 upon itself1 as
 it encountered the  single1 insatiable1
 indomitable nervous force of the woman4
 ,and so1 in  its way1 this very        
artificial acting seemed the mere       
instinctive1  irresistible expression of
 a temperament2 it mesmerised one1      
awakening  the senses and sending the   
intelligence to sleep4    ,after all1   
though ,rjane skins emotions alive1 and 
,duse serves them up  to you on golden  
dishes1 it is ,sarah ,bernhardt who     
prepares the supreme  feast4 ,in ,la    
,dame aux ,camlias1 still1 she shows    
herself1 as an  actress1 the greatest   
actress in the world4 ,it is all sheer  
acting2  there is no suggestion1 as with

 ,duse1 there is no canaille            
attractiveness1 as with ,rjane2 the     
thing is plastic1 a modelling of        
emotion before you1 with every vein     
visible2 she leaves nothing to the      
imagination1 gives you every motion1 all
 the physical signs of death1  all the  
fierce abandonment to every mood1 to    
grief1 to delight1 to  lassitude4 ,when 
she suffers1 in the scene1 for instance1
 where ,armand  insults her1 she is like
 a trapped wild beast which some one is 
torturing1 and she wakes just that      
harrowing pity4 ,one's whole flesh      
suffers with her flesh2 her voice       
caresses and excites like a touch2 it   
has a throbbing1 monotonous music1 which
 breaks deliciously1 which  pauses      
suspended1 and then resolves itself in a
 perfect chord4 ,her  voice is like a   
thing detachable from herself1 a thing  
which she takes  in her hands like a    
musical instrument1 playing on the stops
 cunningly  with her fingers4 ,prose1   
when she speaks it1 becomes a kind of   

verse1  with all the rhythms1 the vocal 
harmonies1 of a kind of human poetry4   
,her whisper is heard across the whole  
theatre1 every syllable distinct1  and  
yet it is really a whisper4 ,she comes  
on the stage like a miraculous  painted 
idol1 all nerves2 she runs through the  
gamut of the sex1 and  ends a child1    
when the approach of death brings       
,marguerite back to that  deep infantile
 part of woman4 ,she plays the part now 
with the accustomed  ease of one who    
puts on and off an old shoe4 ,it is     
almost a part of her2  she knows it     
through all her senses4 ,and she moved  
me as much last night  as she moved me  
when ,i first saw her play the part     
eleven or twelve  years ago4 ,to me1    
sitting where ,i was not too near the   
stage1 she might  have been             
five-and-twenty4 ,i saw none of the     
mechanism of the art1 as ,i  saw it in  
,l',aiglon2 here art still concealed    
art4 ,her vitality was  equal to the    
vitality of ,rjane2 it is differently   

expressed1 that is  all4 ,with ,rjane   
the vitality is direct2 it is the appeal
 of ,gavroche1  the sharp1 impudent     
urchin of the streets2 ,sarah           
,bernhardt's vitality is  electrical1   
and shoots its currents through all     
manner of winding ways4  ,in form it    
belongs to an earlier period1 just as   
the writing of ,dumas  fils belongs to  
an earlier period than the writing of   
,meilhac4 ,it comes  to us with the     
tradition to which it has given life2 it
 does not spring  into our midst1 unruly
 as nature4    ,but it is in ,phdre that
 ,sarah ,bernhardt must be seen1 if we  
are to  realise all that her art is     
capable of4 ,in writing ,phdre1 ,racine 
anticipated ,sarah ,bernhardt4 ,if the  
part had been made for her by a poet  of
 our own days1 it could not have been   
brought more perfectly within  her      
limits1 nor could it have more perfectly
 filled those limits to  their utmost   
edge4 ,it is one of the greatest parts  
in poetical drama1  and it is written   

with a sense of the stage not less sure 
than its sense  of dramatic poetry4     
,there was a time when ,racine was      
looked upon as  old-fashioned1 as       
conventional1 as frigid4 ,it is realised
 nowadays that  his verse has cadences  
like the cadences of ,verlaine1 that his
 language  is as simple and direct as   
prose1 and that he is one of the most   
passionate of poets4 ,of the character  
of ,phdre ,racine tells us that it  is  
ce que j'ai peut-tre mis de plus        
raisonnable sur le thtre4 ,the  word    
strikes oddly on our ears1 but every    
stage of the passion of ,phdre  is      
indeed reasonable1 logical1 as only a   
,french poet1 since the ,greeks         
themselves1 could make it4 ,the passion 
itself is an abnormal1 an insane  thing1
 and that passion comes to us with all  
its force and all its  perversity2 but  
the words in which it is expressed are  
never  extravagant1 they are always     
clear1 simple1 temperate1 perfectly     
precise  and explicit4 ,the art is an   

art exquisitely balanced between the    
conventional and the realistic1 and the 
art of ,sarah ,bernhardt1 when she      
plays the part1 is balanced with just   
the same unerring skill4 ,she seems  to 
abandon herself wholly1 at times1 to her
 fureurs2 she tears the  words with her 
teeth1 and spits them out of her mouth1 
like a wild beast  ravening upon prey2  
but there is always dignity1 restraint1 
a certain  remoteness of soul1 and there
 is always the verse1 and her miraculous
  rendering of the verse1 to keep       
,racine in the right atmosphere4 ,of    
what  we call acting there is little1   
little change in the expression of the  
face4 ,the part is a part for the voice1
 and it is only in ,phdre that  one can 
hear that orchestra1 her voice1 in all  
its variety of beauty4 ,in  her modern  
plays1 plays in prose1 she is condemned 
to use only a few of  the instruments of
 the orchestra3 an actress must1 in such
 parts1 be  conversational1 and for how 
much beauty or variety is there room in 

modern conversation8 ,but here she has  
,racine's verse1 along with  ,racine's  
psychology1 and the language has nothing
 more to offer the  voice of a tragic   
actress4 ,she seems to speak her words1 
her lines1 with  a kind of joyful       
satisfaction2 all the artist in her     
delights in the  task4 ,her nerves are  
in it1 as well as her intelligence2 but 
everything  is coloured by the poetry1  
everything is subordinate to beauty4    
,well1 and she seems still to be the    
same ,phdre that she was eleven or      
twelve years ago1 as she is the same    
,dame aux ,camlias4 ,is it reality1  is 
it illusion8 ,illusion1 perhaps1 but an 
illusion which makes itself  into a very
 effectual kind of reality4 ,she has    
played these pieces until  she has got  
them1 not only by heart1 but by every   
nerve and by every  vein1 and now the   
ghost of the real thing is so like the  
real thing that  there is hardly any    
telling the one from the other4 ,it is  
the living on  of a mastery once        

absolutely achieved1 without so much as 
the need of a  new effort4 ,the test of 
the artist1 the test which decides how  
far the  artist is still living1 as more
 than a force of memory1 lies in the    
power to create a new part1 to bring new
 material to life4 ,last year1 in       
,l',aiglon1 it seemed to me that ,sarah 
,bernhardt showed how little she  still 
possessed that power1 and this year ,i  
see the same failure in  ,francesca da  
,rimini4    ,the play1 it must be       
admitted1 is hopelessly poor1 common1   
melodramatic1 without atmosphere1       
without nobility1 subtlety1 or  passion2
 it degrades the story which we owe to  
,dante and not to history  7for1 in     
itself1 the story is a quite ordinary   
story of adultery3 ,dante  and the      
flames of his hell purged it71 it       
degrades it almost out of all           
recognition4 ,these middle-aged people1 
who wrangle shrewishly behind the  just 
turned back of the husband and almost in
 the hearing of the child1  are people  

in whom it is impossible to be          
interested1 apart from any  fine        
meanings put into them in the acting4   
,and yet1 since ,m4 de ,max has  made   
hardly less than a creation out of the  
part of ,giovanni1 filling  it1 as he   
has1 with his own nervous force and     
passionately restrained  art1 might it  
not have been possible once for ,sarah  
,bernhardt to have  thrilled us even as 
this ,francesca of ,mr4 ,marion         
,crawford8 ,i think so2  she has taken  
bad plays as willingly as good plays1 to
 turn them to her  own purpose1 and she 
has been as triumphant1 if not as fine1 
in bad  plays as in good ones4 ,now her 
,francesca is lifeless1 a melodious     
image1 making meaningless music4 ,she   
says over the words1 cooingly1          
chantingly1 or frantically1 as the      
expression marks1 to which she seems  to
 act1 demand4 ,the interest is in       
following her expression-marks4    ,the 
first thing one notices in her acting1  
when one is free to watch it  coolly1 is

 the way in which she subordinates      
effects to effect4 ,she has  her        
crescendos1 of course1 and it is these  
which people are most apt to  remember1 
but the extraordinary force of these    
crescendos comes from the  smooth and   
level manner in which the main part of  
the speaking is done4  ,she is not      
anxious to make points at every moment1 
to put all the  possible emphasis into  
every separate phrase2 ,i have heard her
 glide  over really significant phrases 
which1 taken by themselves1 would seem  
to deserve more consideration1 but which
 she has wisely subordinated to  an     
overpowering effect of ensemble4 ,sarah 
,bernhardt's acting always  reminds me  
of a musical performance4 ,her voice is 
itself an instrument  of music1 and she 
plays upon it as a conductor plays upon 
an orchestra4  ,one seems to see the    
expression marks3 piano1 pianissimo1    
largamente1  and just where the tempo   
rubato comes in4 ,she never forgets that
 art is  not nature1 and that when one  

is speaking verse one is not talking    
prose4 ,she speaks with a liquid        
articulation of every syllable1 like one
  who loves the savour of words on the  
tongue1 giving them a beauty and an     
expressiveness often not in them        
themselves4 ,her face changes less than 
you might expect2 it is not             
over-possessed by detail1 it gives      
always  the synthesis4 ,the smile of the
 artist1 a wonderful smile which has    
never aged with her1 pierces through the
 passion or languor of the part4  ,it is
 often accompanied by a suave1          
voluptuous tossing of the head1 and  is 
like the smile of one who inhales some  
delicious perfume1 with  half-closed    
eyes4 ,all through the level perfection 
of her acting there  are little sharp   
snaps of the nerves2 and these are but  
one indication  of that perfect         
mechanism which her art really is4 ,her 
finger is always  upon the spring2 it   
touches or releases it1 and the effect  
follows  instantaneously4 ,the movements

 of her body1 her gestures1 the         
expression  of her face1 are all        
harmonious1 are all parts of a single   
harmony4 ,it  is not reality which she  
aims at giving us1 it is reality        
transposed  into another atmosphere1 as 
if seen in a mirror1 in which all its   
outlines become more gracious4 ,the     
pleasure which we get from seeing her   
as ,francesca or as ,marguerite ,gautier
 is doubled by that other pleasure1     
never completely out of our minds1 that 
she is also ,sarah ,bernhardt4 ,one     
sometimes forgets that ,rjane is acting 
at all2 it is the real woman of  the    
part1 ,sapho1 or ,zaza1 or ,yanetta1 who
 lives before us4 ,also one  sometimes  
forgets that ,duse is acting1 that she  
is even pretending to be  ,magda or     
,silvia2 it is ,duse herself who lives  
there1 on the stage4 ,but  ,sarah       
,bernhardt is always the actress as well
 as the part2 when she is  at her best1 
she is both equally1 and our            
consciousness of the one does  not      

disturb our possession by the other4    
,when she is not at her best1 we  see   
only the actress1 the incomparable      
craftswoman openly labouring at  her    
work4          ,,coquelin ,,and         
,,moli,,re3 ,,some ,,aspects      ,to   
see ,coquelin in ,molire is to see the  
greatest of comic actors at his  best1  
and to realise that here is not a       
temperament1 or a student1 or  anything 
apart from the art of the actor4 ,his   
art may be compared with  that of ,sarah
 ,bernhardt for its infinite care in the
 training of nature4  ,they have an     
equal perfection1 but it may be said    
that ,coquelin1 with  his ripe1 mellow  
art1 his passion of humour1 his touching
 vehemence1  makes himself seem less a  
divine machine1 more a delightfully     
faulty  person4 ,his voice is firm1     
sonorous1 flexible1 a human1 expressive1
  amusing voice1 not the elaborate      
musical instrument of ,sarah1 which     
seems to go by itself1 cline1 cooing1   
lamenting1 raging1 or in that  wonderful

 swift chatter which she uses with such 
instant and deliberate  effect4 ,and1   
unlike her1 his face is the face of his 
part1 always a  disguise1 never a       
revelation4    ,i have been seeing the  
three ,coquelins and their company at   
the ,garrick  ,theatre4 ,they did       
,tartuffe1 ,l',avare1 ,le ,bourgeois    
,gentilhomme1  ,les ,prcieuses          
,ridicules1 and a condensed version of  
,le ,dpit  ,amoureux1 in which the four 
acts of the original were cut down into 
two4 ,of these five plays only two are  
in verse1 ,tartuffe and ,le ,dpit       
,amoureux1 and ,i could not help wishing
 that the fashion of ,molire's  day had 
allowed him to write all his plays in   
prose4 ,molire was not a  poet1 and he  
knew that he was not a poet4 ,when he   
ventured to write the  most             
,shakespearean of his comedies1         
,l',avare1 in prose1 le mme  prjug1     
,voltaire tells us1 qui avait fait      
tomber 'le ,festin de  ,pierre1' parce  
qu'il tait en prose1 nuisit au succs de 

'l',avare4'  ,cependant le public qui1  
la longue1 se rend toujours au bon1     
finit par  donner  cet ouvrage les      
applaudissements qu'il mrite4 ,on       
comprit alors  qu'il peut y avoir de    
fort bonnes comdies en prose4 ,how      
infinitely  finer1 as prose1 is the     
prose of ,l',avare than the verse of    
,tartuffe  as verse6 ,in ,tartuffe all  
the art of the actor is required to     
carry  you over the artificial jangle of
 the alexandrines without allowing you  
to perceive too clearly that this man1  
who is certainly not speaking  poetry1  
is speaking in rhyme4 ,molire was a     
great prose writer1 but ,i do  not      
remember a line of poetry in the whole  
of his work in verse4 ,the  temper of   
his mind was the temper of mind of the  
prose-writer4 ,his  worldly wisdom1 his 
active philosophy1 the very mainspring  
of his plots1  are found1               
characteristically1 in his valets and   
his servant-maids4 ,he  satirises the   
miser1 the hypocrite1 the bas-bleu1 but 

he chuckles over  ,frosine and          
,gros-,ren2 he loves them for their     
freedom of speech and  their elastic    
minds1 ready in words or deeds4 ,they   
are his chorus1 if  the chorus might be 
imagined as directing the action4       
,but ,molire has a weakness1 too1 for   
the bourgeois1 and he has made ,m4      
,jourdain immortally delightful4 ,there 
is not a really cruel touch in the      
whole character2 we laugh at him so     
freely because ,molire lets us  laugh   
with such kindliness4 ,m4 ,jourdain has 
a robust joy in life2 he  carries off   
his absurdities by the simple good faith
 which he puts into  them4 ,when ,i     
speak of ,m4 ,jourdain ,i hardly know   
whether ,i am speaking of  the character
 of ,molire or of the character of      
,coquelin4 ,probably there  is no       
difference4 ,we get ,molire's vast1     
succulent farce of the  intellect       
rendered with an art like his own4 ,if  
this1 in every detail1  is not what     
,molire meant1 then so much the worse   

for ,molire4    ,molire is kind to his  
bourgeois1 envelops him softly in satire
 as in  cotton-wool1 dandles him like a 
great baby2 and ,coquelin is without    
bitterness1 stoops to make stupidity    
heroic1 a distinguished stupidity4  ,a  
study in comedy so profound1 so         
convincing1 so full of human nature  and
 of the art-concealing art of the stage1
 has not been seen in our  time4 ,as    
,mascarille1 in ,les ,prcieuses         
,ridicules1 ,coquelin becomes  delicate 
and extravagant1 a scented whirlwind2   
his parody is more  splendid than the   
thing itself which he parodies1 more    
full of fine  show and nimble bravery4  
,there is beauty in this broadly comic  
acting1  the beauty of subtle detail4   
,words can do little to define a        
performance  which is a constant series 
of little movements of the face1 little 
intonations of the voice1 a way of      
lolling in the chair1 a way of          
speaking1 of singing1 of preserving the 
gravity of burlesque4 ,in  ,tartuffe we 

get a form of comedy which is almost    
tragic1 the horribly  serious comedy of 
the hypocrite4 ,coquelin1 who remakes   
his face1 as by a  prolonged effort of  
the muscles1 for every part1 makes1 for 
this part1 a  great fish's face1 heavy1 
suppressed1 with lowered eyelids and a  
secret  mouth1 out of which steals at   
times some stealthy avowal4 ,he has the 
movements of a great slug1 or of a      
snail1 if you will1 putting out its     
head and drawing it back into its shell4
 ,the face waits and plots1 with  a     
sleepy immobility1 covering a hard1     
indomitable will4 ,it is like a  drawing
 of ,daumier1 if you can imagine a      
drawing which renews itself at  every   
instant1 in a series of poses to which  
it is hardly necessary to  add words4   
,i am told that ,coquelin1 in the       
creation of a part1 makes his way       
slowly1 surely1 inwards1 for the first  
few weeks of his performance1 and  that 
then the thing is finished1 to the least
 intonation or gesture1 and  can be laid

 down and taken up at will1 without a   
shade of difference in  the             
interpretation4 ,the part of ,matre     
,jacques in ,l',avare1 for  instance1   
which ,i have just seen him perform with
 such gusto and such  certainty1 had not
 been acted by him for twenty years1 and
 it was done1  without rehearsal1 in the
 midst of a company that required       
prompting at  every moment4 ,i suppose  
this method of moulding a part1 as if in
 wet  clay1 and then allowing it to take
 hard1 final form1 is the method        
natural to the comedian1 his right      
method4 ,i can hardly think that the    
tragic actor should ever allow himself  
to become so much at home with  his     
material2 that he dare ever allow his   
clay to become quite hard4 ,he  has to  
deal with the continually shifting stuff
 of the soul and of the  passions1 with 
nature at its least generalised moments4
 ,the comic actor  deals with nature for
 the most part generalised1 with things 
palpably  absurd1 with characteristics  

that strike the intelligence1 not with  
emotions that touch the heart or the    
senses4 ,he comes to more definite  and 
to more definable results1 on which he  
may rest1 confident that what  has made 
an audience laugh once will make it     
laugh always1 laughter  being a         
physiological thing1 wholly independent 
of mood4    ,in thinking of some        
excellent comic actors of our own1 ,i am
 struck by  the much greater effort     
which they seem to make in order to     
drive their  points home1 and in order  
to get what they think variety4 ,sir    
,charles  ,wyndham is the only ,english 
actor ,i can think of at the moment who 
does  not make unnecessary grimaces1 who
 does not insist on acting when the     
difficult thing is not to act4 ,in      
,tartuffe ,coquelin stands motionless   
for five minutes at a time1 without     
change of expression1 and yet  nothing  
can be more expressive than his face at 
those moments4 ,in  ,chopin's ,g ,minor 
,nocturne1 ,op4 #ae1 there is an ,f held

 for three bars1  and when ,rubinstein  
played the ,nocturne1 says ,mr4 ,huneker
 in his  instructive and delightful book
 on ,chopin1 he prolonged the tone1 by  
some miraculous means1 so that it       
swelled and diminished1 and went        
singing into ,d1 as if the instrument   
were an organ4 ,it is that power of     
sustaining an expression1 unchanged1 and
 yet always full of living              
significance1 that ,i find in ,coquelin4
 ,it is a part of his economy1 the      
economy of the artist4 ,the improviser  
disdains economy1 as much as the  artist
 cherishes it4 ,coquelin has some       
half-dozen complete variations of  the  
face he has composed for ,tartuffe2 no  
more than that1 with no  insignificances
 of expression thrown away2 but each    
variation is a new  point of view1 from 
which we see the whole character4       
,r,,jane      ,the genius of ,rjane is a
 kind of finesse3 it is a flavour1 and  
all the  ingredients of the dish may be 
named without defining it4 ,the thing is

  ,parisian1 but that is only to say    
that it unites nervous force with a     
wicked ease and mastery of charm4 ,it   
speaks to the senses through the  brain1
 as much as to the brain through the    
senses4 ,it is the feminine  equivalent 
of intellect4 ,it magnetises our poor   
vertebrae1 in  ,verlaine's phrase1      
because it is sex and yet not instinct4 
,it is sex  civilised1 under direction1 
playing a part1 as we say of others than
  those on the stage4 ,it calculates1   
and is unerring4 ,it has none of the    
vulgar warmth of mere passion1 none of  
its health or simplicity4 ,it  leaves a 
little red sting where it has kissed4   
,and it intoxicates us by  its appeal to
 so many sides of our nature at once4   
,we are thrilled1 and  we admire1 and   
are almost coldly appreciative1 and yet 
aglow with the  response of the blood4  
,i have found myself applauding with    
tears in my  eyes4 ,the feeling and the 
critical approval came together1 hand in
 hand3  neither counteracted the other3 

and ,i had to think twice1 before ,i    
could  remember how elaborate a science 
went to the making of that thrill which 
,i had been almost cruelly enjoying4    
,the art of ,rjane accepts things as    
they are1 without selection or          
correction2 unlike ,duse1 who chooses   
just those ways in which she shall  be  
nature4 ,what one remembers are little  
homely details1 in which the  shadow1 of
 some overpowering impulse gives a      
sombre beauty to what is  common or     
ugly4 ,she renders the despair of the   
woman whose lover is  leaving her by a  
single movement1 the way in which she   
wipes her nose4  ,to her there is but   
one beauty1 truth2 and but one charm1   
energy4 ,where  nature has not chosen1  
she will not choose2 she is content with
 whatever  form emotion snatches for    
itself as it struggles into speech out  
of an  untrained and unconscious body4  
,in ,sapho she is the everyday ,venus   
toute entire  sa proie attache1 and she 
has all the brutality and  all the      

clinging warmth of the flesh2 vice1 if  
you will1 but serious  vice1 vice plus  
passion4 ,her sordid1 gluttonous1       
instructed eyes1 in  which all the      
passions and all the vices have found a 
nest1 speak their  own language1 almost 
without the need of words1 throughout   
the play2 the  whole face suffers1      
exults1 lies1 despairs1 with a homely   
sincerity  which cuts more sharply than 
any stage emphasis4 ,she seems at every 
moment to throw away her chances of     
effect1 of ordinary stage-effect2  then1
 when the moment seems to have gone1 and
 she has done nothing1 you  will find   
that the moment itself has penetrated   
you1 that she has done  nothing with    
genius4    ,rjane can be vulgar1 as     
nature is vulgar3 she has all the       
instincts of  the human animal1 of the  
animal woman1 whom man will never quite 
civilise4 ,there is no doubt of it1     
nature lacks taste2 and woman1 who is   
so near to nature1 lacks taste in the   
emotions4 ,rjane1 in ,sapho or in  ,zaza

 for instance1 is woman naked and       
shameless1 loving and suffering  with   
all her nerves and muscles1 a gross1    
pitiable1 horribly human  thing1 whose  
direct appeal1 like that of a sick      
animal1 seizes you by  the throat at the
 instant in which it reaches your eyes  
and ears4 ,more  than any actress she is
 the human animal without disguise or   
evasion2  with all the instincts1 all   
the natural cries and movements4 ,in    
,sapho  or ,zaza she speaks the language
 of the senses1 no more2 and her acting 
reminds you of all that you may possibly
 have forgotten of how the  senses speak
 when they speak through an ignorant    
woman in love4 ,it is  like an accusing 
confirmation of some of one's guesses at
 truth1 before  the realities of the    
flesh and of the affections of the      
flesh4  ,scepticism is no longer        
possible3 here1 in ,sapho1 is a woman   
who  flagellates herself before her     
lover as the penitent flagellates       
himself  before ,god4 ,in the scene     

where her lover repulses her last       
attempt to  win him back1 there is a    
convulsive movement of the body1 as she 
lets  herself sink to the ground at his 
feet1 which is like the movement of  one
 who is going to be sick3 it renders1   
with a ghastly truth to  nature1 the    
abject collapse of the body under       
overpowering emotion4  ,here1 as        
elsewhere1 she gives you merely the     
thing itself1 without a  disturbing atom
 of self-consciousness2 she is          
grotesque1 she is what you  will3 it is 
no matter4 ,the emotion she is acting   
possesses her like a  blind force2 she  
is ,sapho1 and ,sapho could only move   
and speak and think  in one way4 ,where 
,sarah ,bernhardt would arrange the     
emotion for some  thrilling effect of   
art1 where ,duse would purge the emotion
 of all its  attributes but some        
fundamental nobility1 ,rjane takes the  
big1 foolish1  dirty thing just as it   
is4 ,and is not that1 perhaps1 the      
supreme merit  of acting8               

,,yvette ,,guilbert    ,i      ,she is  
tall1 thin1 a little angular1 most      
winningly and girlishly  awkward1 as she
 wanders on to the stage with an air of 
vague  distraction4 ,her shoulders      
droop1 her arms hang limply4 ,she       
doubles  forward in an automatic bow in 
response to the thunders of applause1   
and  that curious smile breaks out along
 her lips and rises and dances in her   
bright light-blue eyes1 wide open in a  
sort of child-like astonishment4  ,her  
hair1 a bright auburn1 rises in soft    
masses above a large1 pure  forehead4   
,she wears a trailing dress1 striped    
yellow and pink1 without  ornament4 ,her
 arms are covered with long black       
gloves4 ,the applause  stops suddenly2  
there is a hush of suspense2 she is     
beginning to sing4    ,and with the     
first note you realise the difference   
between ,yvette  ,guilbert and all the  
rest of the world4 ,a sonnet by ,mr4    
,andr  ,raffalovich states just that    
difference so subtly that ,i must quote 

it  to help out my interpretation3      
,if you want hearty laughter1 country   
mirth--      ,or frantic gestures of an 
acrobat1    ,heels over head--or        
floating lace skirts worth      ,i know 
not what1 a large eccentric hat    ,and 
diamonds1 the gift of some dull boy--   
,then when you see her do not wrong     
,yvette1    ,because ,yvette is not a   
clever toy1      ,a tawdry doll in fairy
 limelight set 444    ,and should her   
song sound cynical and base      ,at    
first1 herself ungainly1 or her smile   
,monotonous--wait1 listen1 watch her    
face3      ,the sufferings of those the 
world calls vile    ,she sings1 and as  
you watch ,yvette ,guilbert1    ,you too
 will shiver1 seeing their despair4     
,now to me ,yvette ,guilbert was        
exquisite from the first moment4        
,exquisite6 ,i said under my breath1 as 
,i first saw her come upon the  stage4  
,but it is not merely by her personal   
charm that she thrills you1  though that
 is strange1 perverse1 unaccountable4   

,it is not merely that she can do pure  
comedy1 that she can be frankly1        
deliciously1 gay4 ,there is one of her  
songs in which she laughs1  chuckles1   
and trills a rapid flurry of broken     
words and phrases1 with  the sudden1    
spontaneous1 irresponsible mirth of a   
bird4 ,but where she is  most herself is
 in a manner of tragic comedy which has 
never been seen  on the music-hall stage
 from the beginning4 ,it is the         
profoundly sad and  essentially serious 
comedy which one sees in ,forain's      
drawings1 those  rapid outlines which1  
with the turn of a pencil1 give you the 
whole  existence of those base sections 
of society which our art in ,england is 
mainly forced to ignore4 ,people call   
the art of ,forain immoral1 they  call  
,yvette ,guilbert's songs immoral4 ,that
 is merely the conventional  misuse of a
 conventional word4 ,the art of ,yvette 
,guilbert is certainly  the art of      
realism4 ,she brings before you the real
 life-drama of the  streets1 of the     

pot-house2 she shows you the seamy side 
of life behind  the scenes2 she calls   
things by their right names4 ,but there 
is not a  touch of sensuality about her1
 she is neither contaminated nor        
contaminating by what she sings2 she is 
simply a great1 impersonal1  dramatic   
artist1 who sings realism as others     
write it4    ,her gamut in the purely   
comic is wide2 with an inflection of the
 voice1  a bend of that curious long    
thin body which seems to be embodied    
gesture1 she can suggest1 she can       
portray1 the humour that is dry1        
ironical1 coarse 7,i will admit71       
unctuous even4 ,her voice can be sweet  
or harsh2 it can chirp1 lilt1 chuckle1  
stutter2 it can moan or laugh1 be  tipsy
 or distinguished4 ,nowhere is she      
conventional2 nowhere does she  resemble
 any other ,french singer4 ,voice1 face1
 gestures1 pantomime1 all  are          
different1 all are purely her own4 ,she 
is a creature of contrasts1  and        
suggests at once all that is innocent   

and all that is perverse4 ,she  has the 
pure blue eyes of a child1 eyes that are
 cloudless1 that gleam  with a wicked   
ingenuousness1 that close in the utter  
abasement of  weariness1 that open wide 
in all the expressionlessness of        
surprise4 ,her  navet is perfect1 and   
perfect1 too1 is that strange1 subtle   
smile of  comprehension that closes the 
period4 ,a great impersonal artist1     
depending as she does entirely on her   
expressive power1 her dramatic          
capabilities1 her gift for being moved1 
for rendering the emotions of  those in 
whom we do not look for just that kind  
of emotion1 she affects  one all the    
time as being1 after all1 removed from  
what she sings of2 an  artist whose     
sympathy is an instinct1 a divination4  
,there is something  automatic in all   
fine histrionic genius1 and ,i find some
 of the charm of  the automaton in      
,yvette ,guilbert4 ,the real woman1 one 
fancies1 is the  slim bright-haired girl
 who looks so pleased and so amused when

 you  applaud her1 and whom it pleases  
to please you1 just because it is       
amusing4 ,she could not tell you how she
 happens to be a great artist2  how she 
has found a voice for the tragic comedy 
of cities2 how it is  that she makes you
 cry when she sings of sordid miseries4 
,that is her  secret1 we are accustomed 
to say2 and ,i like to imagine that it  
is a  secret which she herself has never
 fathomed4          ,,ii      ,the      
difference between ,yvette ,guilbert and
 every one else on the  music-hall stage
 is precisely the difference between    
,sarah ,bernhardt  and every one else on
 the stage of legitimate drama4         
,elsewhere you may  find many admirable 
qualities1 many brilliant               
accomplishments1 but  nowhere else that 
revelation of an extraordinarily        
interesting  personality through the    
medium of an extraordinarily finished   
art4  ,yvette ,guilbert has something   
new to say1 and she has discovered a new
  way of saying it4 ,she has had        

precursors1 but she has eclipsed them4  
,she  sings1 for instance1 songs of     
,aristide ,bruant1 songs which he had   
sung  before her1 and sung admirably1 in
 his brutal and elaborately careless    
way4 ,but she has found meanings in them
 which ,bruant1 who wrote them1  never  
discovered1 or1 certainly1 could never  
interpret2 she has  surpassed him in his
 own quality1 the macabre2 she has      
transformed the  rough material1 which  
had seemed adequately handled until she 
showed how  much more could be done with
 it1 into something artistically fine   
and  distinguished4 ,and just as1 in the
 brutal and macabre style1 she has  done
 what ,bruant was only trying to do1 so1
 in the style1 supposed to be           
traditionally ,french1 of delicate      
insinuation1 she has invented new       
shades of expression1 she has discovered
 a whole new method of  suggestion4 ,and
 it is here1 perhaps1 that the new      
material which she has  known1 by some  
happy instinct1 how to lay her hands on1

 has been of most  service to her4 ,she 
sings1 a little cruelly1 of the young   
girl2 and the  young girl of her songs  
7that demoiselle de pensionnat who is   
the  heroine of one of the most famous  
of them7 is a very different being  from
 the fair abstraction1 even rosier and  
vaguer to the ,french mind  than it is  
to the ,english1 which stands for the   
ideal of girlhood4 ,it  is1 rather1 the 
young girl as ,goncourt has rendered her
 in ,chrie1 a  creature of awakening1   
half-unconscious sensations1 already at 
work  somewhat abnormally in an anmic   
frame1 with an intelligence left to     
feed mainly on itself4 ,and ,yvette     
herself1 with her bright hair1 the      
sleepy gold fire of her eyes1 her       
slimness1 her gracious awkwardness1  her
 air of delusive innocence1 is the very 
type of the young girl of  whom she     
sings4 ,there is a certain malice in it 
all1 a malicious  insistence on the     
other side of innocence4 ,but there it  
is1 a new  figure2 and but one among the

 creations which we owe to this comic   
singer1 whose comedy is1 for the most   
part1 so serious and so tragic4    ,for 
the art of ,yvette ,guilbert is of that 
essentially modern kind which1  even in 
a subject supposed to be comic1 a       
subject we are accustomed to  see dealt 
with1 if dealt with at all1 in          
burlesque1 seeks mainly for the  reality
 of things 7and reality1 if we get deep 
enough into it1 is never  comic71 and   
endeavour to find a new1 searching1 and 
poignant expression  for that4 ,it is an
 art concerned1 for the most part1 with 
all that part  of life which the        
conventions were intended to hide from  
us4 ,we see a  world where people are   
very vicious and very unhappy2 a sordid1
  miserable world which it is as well   
sometimes to consider4 ,it is a side  of
 existence which exists2 and to see it  
is not to be attracted towards  it4 ,it 
is a grey and sordid land1 under the    
sway of ,eros vann2 it is1  for the most
 part1 weary of itself1 without rest1   

and without escape4  ,this is ,yvette   
,guilbert's domain2 she sings it1 as no 
one has ever sung  it before1 with a    
tragic realism1 touched with a sort of  
grotesque  irony1 which is a new thing  
on any stage4 ,the rouleuse of the      
,quartier  ,brda1 praying to the one    
saint in her calendar1 ,sainte ,galette2
 the  solarde1 whom the urchins follow  
and throw stones at in the street2  the 
whole life of the slums and the gutter3 
these are her subjects1 and  she brings 
them1 by some marvellous fineness of    
treatment1 into the  sphere of art4     
,it is all a question of mtier1 no      
doubt1 though how far her method is     
conscious and deliberate it is difficult
 to say4 ,but she has certain  quite    
obvious qualities1 of reticence1 of     
moderation1 of suspended  emphasis1     
which can scarcely be other than        
conscious and deliberate4 ,she  uses but
 few gestures1 and these brief1         
staccato1 and for an immediate  purpose2
 her hands1 in their long black gloves1 

are almost motionless1  the arms hang   
limply2 and yet every line of the face  
and body seems  alive1 alive and        
repressed4 ,her voice can be harsh or   
sweet1 as she  would have it1 can laugh 
or cry1 be menacing or caressing2 it is 
never  used for its own sake1           
decoratively1 but for a purpose1 for an 
effect4  ,and how every word tells6     
,every word comes to you clearly1       
carrying  exactly its meaning2 and1     
somehow1 along with the words1 an       
emotion1  which you may resolve to      
ignore1 but which will seize upon you1  
which  will go through and through you4 
,trick or instinct1 there it is1 the    
power to make you feel intensely2 and   
that is precisely the final test  of a  
great dramatic artist4          ,,sir   
,,henry ,,irving      ,as ,i watched1 at
 the ,lyceum1 the sad and eager face of 
,duse1 leaning  forward out of a box1   
and gazing at the eager and gentle face 
of ,irving1  ,i could not help          
contrasting the two kinds of acting     

summed up in those  two faces4 ,the play
 was ,olivia1 ,w4,g4 ,wills' poor and   
stagey version of  ,the ,vicar of       
,wakefield1 in which1 however1 not even 
the lean  intelligence of a modern      
playwright could quite banish the homely
 and  gracious and tender charm of      
,goldsmith4 ,as ,dr4 ,primrose1 ,irving 
was  almost at his best2 that is to say1
 not at his greatest1 but at his most   
equable level of good acting4 ,all his  
distinction was there1 his  nobility1   
his restraint1 his fine convention4 ,for
 ,irving represents the  old school of  
acting1 just as ,duse represents the new
 school4 ,to ,duse1  acting is a thing  
almost wholly apart from action2 she    
thinks on the  stage1 scarcely moves    
there2 when she feels emotion1 it is her
 chief  care not to express it with     
emphasis1 but to press it down into her 
soul1 until only the pained reflection  
of it glimmers out of her eyes  and     
trembles in the hollows of her cheeks4  
,to ,irving1 on the contrary1  acting is

 all that the word literally means2 it  
is an art of sharp1  detached1 yet      
always delicate movement2 he crosses the
 stage with  intention1 as he           
intentionally adopts a fine1 crabbed1   
personal1 highly  conventional elocution
 of his own2 he is an actor1 and he     
acts1 keeping  nature1 or the too close 
resemblance of nature1 carefully out of 
his  composition4    ,with ,miss ,terry 
there is permanent charm of a very      
natural nature1 which  has become       
deliciously sophisticated4 ,she is the  
eternal girl1 and she  can never grow   
old2 one might say1 she can never grow  
up4 ,she learns her  part1 taking it    
quite artificially1 as a part to be     
learnt2 and then1 at  her frequent      
moments of forgetfulness1 charms us into
 delight1 though  not always into       
conviction1 by a gay abandonment to the 
self of a  passing moment4 ,irving's    
acting is almost a science1 and it is a 
science  founded on tradition4 ,it is in
 one sense his personality that makes   

him  what he is1 the only actor on the  
,english stage who has a touch of       
genius4 ,but he has not gone to himself 
to invent an art wholly personal1       
wholly new2 his acting is no            
interruption of an intense inner life1  
but  a craftsmanship into which he has  
put all he has to give4 ,it is an art   
wholly of rhetoric1 that is to say      
wholly external2 his emotion moves to   
slow music1 crystallises into an        
attitude1 dies upon a long-drawn-out    
word4 ,he appeals to us1 to our sense of
 what is expected1 to our  accustomed   
sense of the logic1 not of life1 but of 
life as we have  always seen it on the  
stage1 by his way of taking snuff1 of   
taking out  his pocket-handkerchief1 of 
lifting his hat1 of crossing his legs4  
,he  has observed life in order to make 
his own version of life1 using the      
stage as his medium1 and accepting the  
traditional aids and limitations  of the
 stage4    ,take him in one of his      
typical parts1 in ,louis ,,xi4 ,his     

,louis ,,xi4 is a  masterpiece of       
grotesque art4 ,it is a study in        
senility1 and it is the  grotesque art  
of the thing which saves it from        
becoming painful4 ,this  shrivelled     
carcase1 from which age1 disease1 and   
fear have picked all  the flesh1 leaving
 the bare framework of bone and the     
drawn and cracked  covering of yellow   
skin1 would be unendurable in its       
irreverent copy of  age if it were not  
so obviously a picture1 with no more    
malice than  there is in the delicate   
lines and fine colours of a picture4    
,the figure  is at once ,punch and the  
oldest of the ,chelsea pensioners2 it   
distracts  one between pity1 terror1 and
 disgust1 but is altogether absorbing2  
one  watches it as one would watch some 
feeble ancient piece of mechanism1      
still working1 which may snap at any    
moment4 ,in such a personation1  make-up
 becomes a serious part of art4 ,it is  
the picture that magnetises  us1 and    
every wrinkle seems to have been studied

 in movement2 the hands  act almost by  
themselves1 as if every finger were a   
separate actor4 ,the  passion of fear1  
the instinct of craft1 the malady of    
suspicion1 in a  frail old man who has  
power over every one but himself3 that  
is what ,sir  ,henry ,irving represents1
 in a performance which is half precise 
physiology1 half palpable artifice1 but 
altogether a unique thing in  art4      
,see him in ,the ,merchant of ,venice4  
,his ,shylock is noble and sordid1      
pathetic and terrifying4 ,it is one of  
his great parts1 made up of pride1      
stealth1 anger1 minute and varied       
picturesqueness1 and a diabolical       
subtlety4 ,whether he paws at his cloak1
 or clutches upon the handle of  his    
stick1 or splutters hatred1 or cringes  
before his prey1 or shakes  with lean   
and wrinkled laughter1 he is always the 
great part and the  great actor4 ,see   
him as ,mephistopheles in ,faust4 ,the  
,lyceum  performance was a superb       
pantomime1 with one overpowering figure 

drifting through it and in some sort    
directing it1 the red-plumed devil      
,mephistopheles1 who1 in ,sir ,henry    
,irving's impersonation of him1 becomes 
a kind of weary spirit1 a melancholy    
image of unhappy pride1 holding  himself
 up to the laughter of inferior beings1 
with the old  acknowledgment that the   
devil is an ass4 ,a head like the head  
of  ,dante1 shown up by coloured lights1
 and against chromolithographic         
backgrounds1 while all the diabolic     
intelligence is set to work on the      
cheap triumph of wheedling a widow and  
screwing ,rhenish and ,tokay with a     
gimlet out of an inn table3 it is partly
 ,goethe's fault1 and partly the  fault 
of ,wills1 and partly the lowering trick
 of the stage4  ,mephistopheles is not  
really among ,irving's great parts1 but 
it is among  his picturesque parts4     
,with his restless strut1 a blithe and  
aged  tripping of the feet to some not  
quite human measure1 he is like some    
spectral marionette1 playing a game only

 partly his own4 ,in such a part  no    
mannerism can seem unnatural1 and the   
image with its solemn mask  lives in a  
kind of galvanic life of its own1       
seductively1 with some  mocking         
suggestion of his cousin the snake4     
,here and there some of the  old power  
may be lacking2 but whatever was once   
subtle and insinuating  remains4        
,shakespeare at the ,lyceum is always a 
magnificent spectacle1 and  ,coriolanus1
 the last ,shakespearean revival there1 
was a magnificent  spectacle4 ,it is a  
play made up principally of one         
character and a  crowd1 the crowd being 
a sort of moving background1 treated in 
,shakespeare's large and scornful way4  
,a stage crowd at the ,lyceum always    
gives one a sense of exciting movement1 
and this ,roman rabble did all  that was
 needed to show off the almost solitary 
splendour of ,coriolanus4  ,he is the   
proudest man in ,shakespeare1 and ,sir  
,henry ,irving is at his  best when he  
embodies pride4 ,his conception of the  

part was masterly2 it  had imagination1 
nobility1 quietude4 ,with opportunity   
for ranting in  every second speech1 he 
never ranted1 but played what might well
 have  been a roaring part with a kind  
of gentleness4 ,with every opportunity  
for extravagant gesture1 he stood1 as   
the play seemed to foam about him1  like
 a rock against which the foam beats4   
,made up as a kind of ,roman  ,moltke1  
the lean1 thoughtful soldier1 he spoke  
throughout with a slow1  contemptuous   
enunciation1 as of one only just not too
 lofty to sneer4  ,restrained in scorn1 
he kept throughout an attitude of       
disdainful pride1  the face1 the eyes1  
set1 while only his mouth twitched1     
seeming to chew  his words1 with the    
disgust of one swallowing a painful     
morsel4 ,where  other actors would have 
raved1 he spoke with bitter humour1 a   
humour  that seemed to hurt the speaker1
 the concise1 active humour of the      
soldier1 putting his words rapidly into 
deeds4 ,and his pride was an            

intellectual pride2 the weakness of a   
character1 but the angry dignity  of a  
temperament4 ,i have never seen ,irving 
so restrained1 so much an  artist1 so   
faithfully interpretative of a          
masterpiece4 ,something of  energy1 no  
doubt1 was lacking2 but everything was  
there1 except the  emphasis which ,i    
most often wish away in acting4         
,,duse ,,in ,,some ,,of ,,her ,,parts   
,i      ,the acting of ,duse is a       
criticism2 poor work dissolves away     
under it1 as  under a solvent acid4 ,not
 one of the plays which she has brought 
with  her is a play on the level of her 
intelligence and of her capacity for    
expressing deep human emotion4 ,take    
,the ,second ,mrs4 ,tanqueray4 ,it is a 
very able play1 it is quite an          
interesting glimpse into a particular   
kind of character1 but it is only able1 
and it is only a glimpse4 ,paula1  as   
conceived by ,mr4 ,pinero1 is a         
thoroughly ,english type of woman1 the  
nice1 slightly morbid1 somewhat         

unintelligently capricious woman who has
  gone wrong1 and who finds it quite    
easy1 though a little dull1 to go  right
 when the chance is offered to her4 ,she
 is observed from the  outside1 very    
keenly observed2 her ways1 her surface  
tricks of emotion1  are caught2 she is a
 person whom we know or remember4 ,but  
what is  skin-deep in ,paula as         
conceived by ,mr4 ,pinero becomes a real
 human  being1 a human being with a     
soul1 in the ,paula conceived by ,duse4 
,paula  as played by ,duse is sad and   
sincere1 where the ,englishwoman is only
  irritable2 she has the ,italian       
simplicity and directness in place of   
that terrible ,english capacity for     
uncertainty in emotion and huffiness  in
 manner4 ,she brings profound tragedy1  
the tragedy of a soul which has  sinned 
and suffered1 and tries vainly to free  
itself from the  consequences of its    
deeds1 into a study of circumstances in 
their ruin  of material happiness4 ,and1
 frankly1 the play cannot stand it4     

,when this  woman bows down under her   
fate in so terrible a spiritual         
loneliness1  realising that we cannot   
fight against ,fate1 and that ,fate is  
only the  inevitable choice of our own  
natures1 we wait for the splendid words 
which shall render so great a situation2
 and no splendid words come4 ,the       
situation1 to the dramatist1 has been   
only a dramatic situation4 ,here is     
,duse1 a chalice for the wine of        
imagination1 but the chalice remains    
empty4 ,it is almost painful to see her 
waiting for the words that do  not come1
 offering tragedy to us in her eyes1 and
 with her hands1 and in  her voice1 only
 not in the words that she says or in   
the details of the  action which she is 
condemned to follow4    ,see ,mrs4      
,patrick ,campbell playing ,the ,second 
,mrs4 ,tanqueray1 and you  will see it  
played exactly according to ,mr4        
,pinero'a intention1 and  played        
brilliantly enough to distract our      
notice from what is lacking in  the     

character4 ,a fantastic and delightful  
contradiction1 half gamine1  half       
,burne-,jones1 she confuses our         
judgment1 as a ,paula in real life      
might1 and leaves us attracted and      
repelled1 and1 above all1 interested4   
,but ,duse has no resources outside     
simple human nature4 ,if she cannot     
convince you by the thing in itself1 she
 cannot disconcert you by a  paradox    
about it4 ,well1 this passionately      
sincere acting1 this one real  person   
moving about among the dolls of the     
piece1 shows up all that is  mechanical1
 forced1 and unnatural in the           
construction of a play never  meant to  
withstand the searchlight of this       
woman's creative  intelligence4         
,whatever is theatrical and obvious     
starts out into sight4  ,the good things
 are transfigured1 the bad things merely
 discovered4 ,and  so1 by a kind of     
navet in the acceptance of emotion for  
all it might  be1 instead of for the    
little that it is1 by an almost perverse

  simplicity and sincerity in the       
treatment of a superficial and insincere
  character1 ,duse plays ,the ,second   
,mrs4 ,tanqueray in the grand manner1   
destroying the illusion of the play as  
she proves over again the  supremacy of 
her own genius4          ,,ii           
,while ,i watch ,duse's ,magda1 ,i can  
conceive1 for the time1 of no other4    
,realising the singer as being just such
 an artist as herself1 she plays  the   
part with hardly a suggestion of the    
stage1 except the natural  woman's      
intermittent loathing for it4 ,she has  
been a great artist2 yes1  but that is  
nothing to her4 ,i am ,i1 as she says1  
and she has lived4  ,and we see before  
us1 all through the play1 a woman who   
has lived with  all her capacity for joy
 and sorrow1 who has thought with all   
her  capacity for seeing clearly what   
she is unable1 perhaps1 to help doing4  
,she does not act1 that is1 explain     
herself to us1 emphasise herself for    
us4 ,she lets us overlook her1 with a   

supreme unconsciousness1 a supreme      
affectation of unconsciousness1 which is
 of course very conscious art1  an art  
so perfect as to be almost literally    
deceptive4 ,i do not know if  she plays 
with exactly the same gestures night    
after night1 but ,i can  quite imagine  
it4 ,she has certain little caresses1   
the half awkward  caresses of real      
people1 not the elegant curves and      
convolutions of the  stage1 which always
 enchant me beyond any mimetic movements
 ,i have ever  seen4 ,she has a way of  
letting her voice apparently get beyond 
her own  control1 and of looking as if  
emotion has left her face               
expressionless1  as it often leaves the 
faces of real people1 thus carrying the 
illusion  of reality almost further than
 it is possible to carry it1 only never 
quite4    ,i was looking this afternoon 
at ,whistler's portrait of ,carlyle at  
the  ,guildhall1 and ,i find in both the
 same final art3 that art of perfect    
expression1 perfect suppression1 perfect

 balance of every quality1 so  that a   
kind of negative thing becomes a thing  
of the highest  achievement4 ,name every
 fault to which the art of the actor is 
liable1  and you will have named every  
fault which is lacking in ,duse4 ,and   
the  art of the actor is in itself so   
much a compound of false emphasis and   
every kind of wilful exaggeration1 that 
to have any negative merit is to  have  
already a merit very positive4 ,having  
cleared away all that is not  wanted1   
,duse begins to create4 ,and she creates
 out of life itself an art  which no one
 before her had ever imagined3 not      
realism1 not a copy1 but  the thing     
itself1 the evocation of thoughtful     
life1 the creation of the  world over   
again1 as actual and beautiful a thing  
as if the world had  never existed4     
,,iii      ,la ,gioconda is the first   
play in which ,duse has had beautiful   
words to  speak1 and a poetical         
conception of character to render2 and  
her acting  in it is more beautiful and 

more poetical than it was possible for  
it to  be in ,magda1 or in ,the ,second 
,mrs4 ,tanqueray4 ,but the play is not a
  good play2 at its best it is lyrical  
rather than dramatic1 and at its  worst 
it is horrible with a vulgar material   
horror4 ,the end of ,titus  ,andronicus 
is not so revolting as the end of ,la   
,gioconda4 ,d',annunzio  has put as a   
motto on his title-page the sentence of 
,leonardo da ,vinci3  ,cosa bella mortal
 passa1 e non d'arte1 and the action of 
the play is  intended as a symbol of the
 possessing and destroying mastery of   
art and  of beauty4 ,but the idea is    
materialised into a form of grotesque   
horror1  and all the charm of the       
atmosphere and the grace of the words   
cannot  redeem a conclusion so          
inartistic in its painfulness4 ,but1 all
 the same1  the play is the work of a   
poet1 it brings imagination upon the    
stage1  and it gives ,duse an           
opportunity of being her finest self4   
,all the words  she speaks are sensitive

 words1 she moves in the midst of       
beautiful  things1 her whole life seems 
to flow into a more harmonious rhythm1  
for  all the violence of its sorrow and 
suffering4 ,her acting at the end1 all  
through the inexcusable brutality of the
 scene in which she appears  before us  
with her mutilated hands covered under  
long hanging sleeves1  is1 in the       
dignity1 intensity1 and humanity of its 
pathos1 a thing of  beauty1 of a        
profound kind of beauty1 made up of     
pain1 endurance1 and  the irony of      
pitiable things done in vain4 ,here she 
is no longer  transforming a foreign    
conception of character into her own    
conception  of what character should be2
 she is embodying the creation of an    
,italian1 of an artist1 and a creation  
made in her honour4 ,d',annunzio's      
tragedy is1 in the final result1 bad    
tragedy1 but it is a failure of a  far  
higher order than such successes as ,mr4
 ,pinero's4 ,it is written with  a      
consciousness of beauty1 with a feverish

 energy which is still energy1  with a  
sense of what is imaginative in the     
facts of actual life4 ,it is  written in
 ,italian which is a continual delight  
to the ear1 prose which  sounds as      
melodious as verse1 prose to which1     
indeed1 all dramatic  probability is    
sacrificed4 ,and ,duse seems to acquire 
a new subtlety1 as  she speaks at last  
words in themselves worthy of her       
speaking4 ,it is as  if she at last     
spoke her own language4          ,,iv   
,dumas fils has put his best work into  
the novel of ,la ,dame aux  ,camlias1   
which is a kind of slighter1 more       
superficial1 more  sentimental1 more    
modern1 but less universal ,manon       
,lescaut4 ,there is a  certain          
artificial1 genuinely artificial1 kind  
of nature in it3 if not  true to life1  
it is true to certain lives4 ,but the   
play lets go this  hold1 such as it is1 
on reality1 and becomes a mere stage    
convention as  it crosses the           
footlights2 a convention which is       

touching1 indeed1 far  too full of      
pathos1 human in its exaggerated way1   
but no longer to be  mistaken1 by the   
least sensitive of hearers1 for great or
 even fine  literature4 ,and the        
sentiment in it is not so much human as 
,french1 a  factitious idealism in      
depravity which one associates          
peculiarly with  ,paris4 ,marguerite    
,gautier is the type of the nice woman  
who sins and  loves1 and becomes        
regenerated by an unnatural kind of     
self-sacrifice1  done for ,french family
 reasons4 ,she is the ,parisian whom    
,sarah ,bernhardt  impersonates         
perfectly in that hysterical and yet    
deliberate manner  which is made for    
such impersonations4 ,duse1 as she does 
always1 turns  her into quite another   
kind of woman2 not the light woman1 to  
whom love  has come suddenly1 as a new  
sentiment coming suddenly into her life1
 but  the simple1 instinctively loving  
woman1 in whom we see nothing of the    
demi-monde1 only the natural woman in   

love4 ,throughout the play she has      
moments1 whole scenes1 of absolute      
greatness1 as fine as anything she  has 
ever done3 but there are other moments  
when she seems to carry  repression too 
far4 ,her pathos1 as in the final scene1
 and at the end of  the scene of the    
reception1 where she repeats the one    
word ,armando  over and over again1 in  
an amazed and agonising reproachfulness1
 is of  the finest order of pathos4 ,she
 appeals to us by a kind of goodness1   
much deeper than the sentimental        
goodness intended by ,dumas4 ,it is love
  itself that she gives us1 love utterly
 unconscious of anything but  itself1   
uncontaminated1 unspoilt4 ,she is ,mlle4
 de ,lespinasse rather than  ,marguerite
 ,gautier2 a creature in whom ardour is 
as simple as breath1  and devotion a    
part of ardour4 ,her physical suffering 
is scarcely to be  noticed2 it is the   
suffering of her soul that ,duse gives  
us4 ,and she  gives us this as if nature
 itself came upon the boards1 and spoke 

to us  without even the ordinary        
disguise of human beings in their       
intercourse  with one another4 ,once    
more an artificial play becomes sincere2
 once  more the personality of a great  
impersonal artist dominates the poverty 
of her part2 we get one more revelation 
of a particular phase of ,duse4  ,and it
 would be unreasonable to complain that 
,la ,dame aux ,camlias is  really       
something quite different1 something    
much inferior2 here we have  at least a 
great emotion1 a desperate sincerity1   
with all the  thoughtfulness which can  
possibly accompany passion4          ,v 
,dumas1 in a preface better than his    
play1 tells us that ,la ,princesse      
,georges is a ,soul in conflict with    
,instincts4 ,but no1 as he has drawn    
her1 as he has placed her1 she is only  
the theory of a woman in conflict  with 
the mechanical devices of a plot4 ,all  
these characters talk as  they have been
 taught1 and act according to the       
tradition of the stage4  ,it is a double

 piece of mechanism1 that is all2 there 
is no creation of  character1 there is a
 kind of worldly wisdom throughout1 but 
not a  glimmer of imagination2 argument 
drifts into sentiment1 and sentiment    
returns into argument1 without          
conviction2 the end is no conclusion1   
but  an arbitrary break in an action    
which we see continuing1 after the      
curtain has fallen4 ,and1 as in ,fdora1 
,duse comes into the play  resolved to  
do what the author has not done4 ,does  
she deliberately  choose the plays most 
obviously not written for her in order  
to extort a  triumph out of her enemies8
 ,once more she acts consciously1       
openly1  making every moment of an      
unreal thing real1 by concentrating     
herself  upon every moment as if it were
 the only one4 ,the result is a         
performance miraculous in detail1 and1  
if detail were everything1 it  would be 
a great part4 ,with powdered hair1 she  
is beautiful and a great  lady2 as the  
domesticated princess1 she has all the  

virtues1 and  honesty itself1 in her    
face and in her movements2 she gives    
herself with  a kind of really          
unreflecting thoughtfulness to every    
sentiment which is  half her emotion4   
,if such a woman could exist1 and she   
could not1 she  would be that1 precisely
 that4 ,but just as we are beginning to 
believe1  not only in her but in the    
play itself1 in comes the spying lady's 
maid1  or the valet who spies on the    
lady's maid1 and we are in melodrama    
again1 and among the strings of the     
marionettes4 ,where are the three       
stages1 truth1 philosophy1 conscience1  
which ,dumas offers to us in his        
preface as the three stages by which a  
work of dramatic art reaches            
perfection8 ,shown us by ,duse1 from    
moment to moment1 yes2 but in the       
piece1 no1 scarcely more than in ,fdora4
 ,so fatal is it to write for  our      
instruction1 as fatal as to write for   
our amusement4 ,a work of art  must     
suggest everything1 but it must prove   

nothing4 ,bad imaginative work  like ,la
 ,gioconda is really1 in its way1 better
 than this unimaginative  and           
theoretical falseness to life2 for it at
 least shows us beauty1  even though it 
degrades that beauty before our eyes4   
,and ,duse1 of all  actresses the       
nearest to nature1 was born to create   
beauty1 that beauty  which is the       
deepest truth of natural things4 ,why   
does she after all  only tantalise us1  
showing us little fragments of her soul 
under many  disguises1 but never giving 
us her whole self through the revealing 
medium of a masterpiece8          ,,vi  
,fdora is a play written for ,sarah     
,bernhardt by the writer of plays  for  
,sarah ,bernhardt1 and it contains the  
usual ingredients of that  particular   
kind of sorcery3 a ,russian tigress1 an 
assassination1 a  suicide1 exotic people
 with impulses in conflict with their   
intentions1  good working evil and evil 
working good1 not according to a        
philosophical idea1 but for the         

convenience of a melodramatic plot4 ,as 
artificial1 as far from life on the one 
hand and poetry on the other1 as  a jig 
of marionettes at the end of a string1  
it has the absorbing  momentary interest
 of a problem in events4 ,character does
 not exist1  only impulse and event4    
,and ,duse comes into this play with a  
desperate  resolve to fill it with      
honest emotion1 to be what a woman would
 really  perhaps be if life turned      
melodramatic with her4 ,visibly1        
deliberately1  she acts3 ,fdora is not  
to be transformed unawares into life4   
,but her  acting is like that finest    
kind of acting which we meet with in    
real  life1 when we are able to watch   
some choice scene of the human comedy   
being played before us4 ,she becomes the
 impossible thing that ,fdora is1  and1 
in that tour de force1 she does some    
almost impossible things by  the way4   
,there is a scene in which the blood    
fades out of her cheeks  until they seem
 to turn to dry earth furrowed with     

wrinkles4 ,she makes  triumphant point  
after triumphant point 7her intelligence
 being free to  act consciously on this 
unintelligent matter71 and we notice1   
more than  in her finer parts1          
individual movements1 gestures1 tones3  
the attitude  of her open hand upon a   
door1 certain blind caresses with her   
fingers as  they cling for the last time
 to her lover's cheeks1 her face as she 
reads a letter1 the art of her voice as 
she almost deliberately takes us  in    
with these emotional artifices of       
,sardou4 ,when it is all over1 and we   
think of the ,silvia of ,la ,gioconda1  
of the woman we divine under ,magda  and
 under ,paula ,tanqueray1 it is with a  
certain sense of waste2 for even  ,paula
 can be made to seem something which    
,fdora can never be made to  seem4 ,in  
,fdora we have a sheer1 undisguised     
piece of stagecraft1  without even the  
amount of psychological intention of    
,mr4 ,pinero1 much  less of ,sudermann4 
,it is a detective story with horrors1  

and it is far  too positive and finished
 a thing to be transformed into         
something not  itself4 ,sardou is a hard
 taskmaster2 he chains his slaves4      
,without  nobility or even coherence of 
conception1 without inner life or even a
  recognisable semblance of exterior    
life1 the piece goes by clockwork2  you 
cannot make the hands go faster or      
slower1 or bring its mid-day into       
agreement with the sun4 ,a great        
actress1 who is also a great            
intelligence1 is seen accepting it1 for 
its purpose1 with contempt1 as a  thing 
to exercise her technical skill upon4   
,as a piece of technical  skill1 ,duse's
 acting in ,fdora is as fine as anything
 she has done4 ,it  completes our       
admiration of her genius1 as it proves  
to us that she can  act to perfection a 
part in which the soul is left out of   
the question1  in which nothing happens 
according to nature1 and in which life  
is  figured as a long attack of nerves1 
relieved by the occasional interval  of 

an uneasy sleep4          ,,annotations 
,,by ,,the ,,way    ,i4 ,,pell,,as ,,and
 ,m,,lisande      ,pellas and ,mlisande 
is the most beautiful of ,maeterlinck's 
plays1  and to say this is to say that  
it is the most beautiful contemporary   
play4 ,maeterlinck's theatre of         
marionettes1 who are at the same time   
children and spirits1 at once more      
simple and more abstract than real      
people1 is the reaction of the          
imagination against the wholly prose    
theatre of ,ibsen1 into which life comes
 nakedly1 cruelly1 subtly1 but  without 
distinction1 without poetry4            
,maeterlinck has invented plays  which  
are pictures1 in which the crudity of   
action is subdued into misty  outlines4 
,people with strange names1 living in   
impossible places1 where  there are only
 woods and fountains1 and towers by the 
sea-shore1 and  ancient castles1 where  
there are no towns1 and where the common
 crowd of  the world is shut out of     
sight and hearing1 move like quiet      

ghosts  across the stage1 mysterious to 
us and not less mysterious to one       
another4 ,they are all lamenting because
 they do not know1 because they  cannot 
understand1 because their own souls are 
so strange to them1 and  each other's   
souls like pitiful enemies1 giving      
deadly wounds  unwillingly4 ,they are   
always in dread1 because they know that 
nothing is  certain in the world or in  
their own hearts1 and they know that    
love  most often does the work of hate  
and that hate is sometimes tenderer     
than love4 ,in ,pellas and ,mlisande we 
have two innocent lovers1 to  whom love 
is guilt2 we have blind vengeance1 aged 
and helpless wisdom2  we have the       
conflict of passions fighting in the    
dark1 destroying what  they desire most 
in the world4 ,and out of this tragic   
tangle ,maeterlinck  has made a play    
which is too full of beauty to be       
painful4 ,we feel an  exquisite sense of
 pity1 so impersonal as to be almost    
healing1 as if  our own sympathy had    

somehow set right the wrongs of the     
play4    ,and this play1 translated with
 delicate fidelity by ,mr4 ,mackail1 has
  been acted again by ,mrs4 ,patrick    
,campbell and ,mr4 ,martin ,harvey1 to  
the  accompaniment of ,m4 ,faur's music1
 and in the midst of scenery which  gave
 a series of beautiful pictures1 worthy 
of the play4 ,mrs4 ,campbell1  in whose 
art there is so much that is pictorial1 
has never been so  pictorial as in the  
character of ,mlisande4 ,at the         
beginning ,i thought  she was acting    
with more effort and less effect than in
 the original  performance2 but as the  
play went on she abandoned herself more 
and more  simply to the part she was    
acting1 and in the death scene had a    
kind of  quiet1 poignant1 reticent      
perfection4 ,a plaintive figure out of  
tapestry1 a child out of a nursery tale1
 she made one feel at once the          
remoteness and the humanity of this waif
 of dreams1 the little princess  who    
does know that it is wrong to love4 ,in 

the great scene by the  fountain in the 
park1 ,mrs4 ,campbell expressed the     
supreme  unconsciousness of passion1    
both in face and voice1 as no other     
,english  actress could have done2 in   
the death scene she expressed the       
supreme  unconsciousness of innocence   
with the same beauty and the same       
intensity4 ,her palpitating voice1 in   
which there is something like the       
throbbing of a wounded bird1 seemed to  
speak the simple and beautiful  words as
 if they had never been said before4    
,and that beauty and  strangeness in    
her1 which make her a work of art in    
herself1 seemed to  find the one perfect
 opportunity for their expression4 ,the 
only actress  on our stage whom we go to
 see as we would go to see a work of    
art1 she  acts ,pinero and the rest as  
if under a disguise4 ,here1 dressed in  
wonderful clothes of no period1 speaking
 delicate1 almost ghostly words1  she is
 herself1 her rarer self4 ,and ,mr4     
,martin ,harvey1 who can be so  simple1 

so passionate1 so full of the warmth of 
charm1 seemed until  almost the end of  
the play to have lost the simple fervour
 which he had  once shown in the part of
 ,pellas2 he posed1 spoke without       
sincerity1  was conscious of little but 
his attitudes4 ,but in the great love   
scene  by the fountain in the park he   
had recovered sincerity1 he forgot      
himself1 remembering ,pellas3 and that  
great love scene was acted with  a sense
 of the poetry and a sense of the human 
reality of the thing1 as  no one on the 
,london stage but ,mr4 ,harvey and ,mrs4
 ,campbell could have  acted it4 ,no one
 else1 except ,mr4 ,arliss as the old   
servant1 was good2  the acting was not  
sufficiently monotonous1 with that fine 
monotony  which is part of the secret of
 ,maeterlinck4 ,these busy actors       
occupied  themselves in making points1  
instead of submitting passively to the  
passing through them of profound        
emotions1 and the betrayal of these     
emotions in a few1 reticent1 and almost 

unwilling words4          ,,ii4         
,,everyman      ,the ,elizabethan ,stage
 ,society's performance of ,everyman    
deserves a  place of its own among the  
stage performances of our time4         
,everyman  took one into a kind of very 
human church1 a church in the midst of  
the  market-place1 like those churches  
in ,italy1 in which people seem so much 
at home4 ,the verse is quaint1 homely1  
not so archaic when it is spoken  as one
 might suppose in reading it2 the metre 
is regular in heat1 but  very irregular 
in the number of syllables1 and the     
people who spoke it  so admirably under 
,mr4 ,poel's careful training had not   
been trained to  scan it as well as they
 articulated it4 ,everyman is a kind of 
,pilgrim's ,progress1 conceived with a  
daring and reverent imagination1  so    
that ,god himself comes quite naturally 
upon the stage1 and speaks out  of a    
clothed and painted image4 ,death1 lean 
and bare-boned1 rattles his  drum and   
trips fantastically across the stage of 

the earth1 leading his  dance2 ,everyman
 is seen on his way to the grave1 taking
 leave of ,riches1  ,fellowship1        
,kindred1 and ,goods 7each personified  
with his attributes71  escorted a little
 way by ,strength1 ,discretion1 ,beauty1
 and the ,five  ,wits1 and then         
abandoned by them1 and then going down  
into the grave  with no other attendance
 than that of ,knowledge and ,good      
,deeds4 ,the  pathos and sincerity of   
the little drama were shown finely and  
adequately by the simple cloths and bare
 boards of a ,shakespearean  stage1 and 
by the solemn chanting of the actors and
 their serious1  unspoilt simplicity in 
acting4 ,miss ,wynne-,matthison in the  
part of  ,everyman acted with remarkable
 power and subtlety2 she had the        
complete  command of her voice1 as so   
few actors or actresses have1 and she   
was  able to give vocal expression to   
every shade of meaning which she had    
apprehended4          ,,iii4 ,,faust    
,,at ,,the ,,lyceum      ,in the version

 of ,faust given by ,irving at the      
,lyceum1 ,wills did his  best to follow 
the main lines of ,goethe's             
construction4 ,unfortunately he  was    
less satisfied with ,goethe's verse1    
though it happens that the verse  is    
distinctly better than the construction4
 ,he kept the shell and threw  away the 
kernel4 ,faust becomes insignificant in 
this play to which he  gives his name4  
,in ,goethe he was a thinker1 even more 
than a poet4 ,here  he speaks bad verse 
full of emptiness4 ,even where ,goethe's
 words are  followed1 in a literal      
translation1 the meaning seems to have  
gone out  of them2 they are displaced1  
they no longer count for anything4 ,the 
,walpurgis ,night is stripped of all its
 poetry1 and ,faust's study is  emptied 
of all its wisdom4 ,the ,witches'       
,kitchen brews messes without  magic1   
lest the gallery should be bewildered4  
,the part of ,martha is  extended1 in   
order that his red livery may have its  
full comic relief4  ,mephistopheles     

throws away a good part of his cunning  
wit1 in order that  he may shock no     
prejudices by seeming to be cynical with
 seriousness1  and in order to get in   
some more than indifferent spectral     
effect4  ,margaret is to be seen full   
length2 the little ,german soubrette    
does her  best to be the ,helen ,faust  
takes her for2 and we are meant to be   
profoundly interested in the love-story4
 ,most of all1 the programme  assures   
us1 ,wills strove to tell the love-story
 in a manner that might  appeal to an   
,english-speaking audience4    ,now if  
you take the philosophy and the poetry  
out of ,goethe's ,faust1  and leave the 
rest1 it does not seem to me that you   
leave the part which  is best worth     
having4 ,in writing the ,first ,part of 
,faust ,goethe made  free use of the    
legend of ,dr4 ,faustus1 not always     
improving that legend  where he departed
 from it4 ,if we turn to ,marlowe's ,dr4
 ,faustus we  shall see1 embedded among 
chaotic fragments of mere rubbish and   

refuse1  the outlines of a far finer1 a 
far more poetic1 conception of the      
legend4 ,marlowe's imagination was more 
essentially a poetic imagination  than  
,goethe's1 and he was capable1 at       
moments1 of more satisfying  dramatic   
effects4 ,when his ,faustus says to     
,mephistopheles3      ,one thing1 good  
servant1 let me crave of thee1    ,to   
glut the longing of my heart's desire3  
,that ,i may have unto my paramour      
,that heavenly ,helen which ,i saw of   
late2    and when1 his prayer being     
granted1 he cries3      ,was this the   
face that launched a thousand ships1    
,and burned the topless towers of       
,ilium8    he is a much more splendid   
and significant person than the ,faust  
of  ,goethe1 who needs the help of the  
devil and of an old woman to seduce a   
young girl who has fallen in love with  
him at first sight4 ,goethe1 it is      
true1 made what amends he could         
afterwards1 in the ,second ,part1 when  
much of the impulse had gone and all the

 deliberation in the world was  not     
active enough to replace it4 ,helen has 
her share1 among other  abstractions1   
but the breath has not returned into her
 body1 she is  glacial1 a talking       
enigma1 to whom ,marlowe's ,faustus     
would never have  said with the old     
emphasis3      ,and none but thou shalt 
be my paramour6    ,what remains1 then1 
in ,wills' version1 is the ,gretchen    
story1 in all its  detail1 a spectacular
 representation of the not wholly       
sincere  witchcraft1 and the impressive 
outer shell of ,mephistopheles1 with1 in
  ,sir ,henry ,irving's pungent and     
acute rendering1 something of the real  
savour of the denying spirit4           
,mephistopheles is the modern devil1 the
  devil of culture and polite negation2 
the comrade1 in part the master1  of    
,heine1 and perhaps the grandson and    
pupil of ,voltaire4 ,on the ,lyceum     
stage he is the one person of           
distinction1 the one intelligence2      
though  so many of his best words have  

been taken from him1 it is with a fine  
subtlety that he says the words that    
remain4 ,and the figure1 with its       
lightness1 weary grace1 alert and uneasy
 step1 solemnity1 grim laughter1        
remains with one1 after one has come    
away and forgotten whether he told  us  
all that ,goethe confided to him4       
,,iv4 ,,the ,,japanese ,,players        
,when ,i first saw the ,japanese players
 ,i suddenly discovered the meaning  of 
,japanese art1 so far as it represents  
human beings4 ,you know the  scarcely   
human oval which represents a woman's   
face1 with the help of a  few thin      
curves for eyelids and mouth4 ,well1    
that convention1 as ,i had  always      
supposed it to be1 that geometrical     
symbol of a face1 turns out  to be      
precisely the face of the ,japanese     
woman when she is made up4 ,so  the     
monstrous entanglements of men fighting1
 which one sees in the  pictures1 the   
circling of the two-handed sword1 the   
violence of feet in  combat1 are seen to

 be after all the natural manner of     
,japanese warfare4  ,this unrestrained  
energy of body comes out in the         
expression of every  motion4 ,men spit  
and sneeze and snuffle1 without         
consciousness of  dignity or hardly of  
humanity1 under the influence of fear1  
anger1 or  astonishment4 ,when the      
merchant is awaiting ,shylock's knife he
 trembles  convulsively1 continuously1  
from head to feet1 unconscious of       
everything  but death4 ,when ,shylock   
has been thwarted1 he stands puckering  
his face  into a thousand grimaces1 like
 a child who has swallowed medicine4 ,it
 is  the emotion of children1 naked     
sensation1 not yet clothed by           
civilisation4 ,only the body speaks in  
it1 the mind is absent2 and the  body   
abandons itself completely to the animal
 force of its instincts4  ,with a great 
artist like ,sada ,yacco in the death   
scene of ,the ,geisha  and the ,knight1 
the effect is overwhelming2 the whole   
woman dies before  one's sight1 life    

ebbs visibly out of cheeks and eyes and 
lips2 it is  death as not even ,sarah   
,bernhardt has shown us death4 ,there   
are moments1  at other times and with   
other performers1 when it is difficult  
not to  laugh at some cat-like or       
ape-like trick of these painted puppets 
who  talk a toneless language1 breathing
 through their words as they whisper  or
 chant them4 ,they are swathed like     
barbaric idols1 in splendid robes       
without grace2 they dance with fans1    
with fingers1 running1 hopping1  lifting
 their feet1 if they lift them1 with the
 heavy delicacy of the  elephant2 they  
sing in discords1 striking or plucking a
 few hoarse notes  on stringed          
instruments1 and beating on untuned     
drums4 ,neither they nor  their clothes 
have beauty1 to the limited ,western    
taste2 they have  strangeness1 the charm
 of something which seems to us         
capricious1 almost  outside ,nature4 ,in
 our ignorance of their words1 of what  
they mean to  one another1 of the very  

way in which they see one another1 we   
shall  best appreciate their rarity by  
looking on them frankly as pictures1    
which we can see with all the           
imperfections of a ,western             
misunderstanding4          ,v4 ,,the    
,,paris ,,music-,,hall      ,it is not  
always realised by ,englishmen that     
,england is really the  country of the  
music-hall1 the only country where it   
has taken firm  root and flowered       
elegantly4 ,there is nothing in any part
 of ,europe to  compare1 in their own   
way1 with the ,empire and the ,alhambra1
 either as  places luxurious in         
themselves or as places where a         
brilliant spectacle  is to be seen4 ,it 
is true that1 in ,england1 the art of   
the ballet has  gone down2 the prima    
ballerina assoluta is getting rare1 the 
primo uomo  is extinct4 ,the training of
 dancers as dancers leaves more and more
 to  be desired1 but that is a defect   
which we share1 at the present time1    
with most other countries2 while the    

beauty of the spectacle1 with us1  is   
unique4 ,think of ,les ,papillons or of 
,old ,china at the ,empire1 and  then go
 and see a fantastic ballet at ,paris1  
at ,vienna1 or at ,berlin6    ,and it is
 not only in regard to the ballet1 but  
in regard also to the  turns1 that we   
are ahead of all our competitors4 ,i    
have no great  admiration for most of   
our comic gentlemen and ladies in       
,london1 but ,i  find it still more     
difficult to take any interest in the   
comic gentlemen  and ladies of ,paris4  
,take ,marie ,lloyd1 for instance1 and  
compare with  her1 say1 ,marguerite     
,deval at the ,scala4 ,both aim at much 
the same  effect1 but1 contrary to what 
might have been expected1 it is the     
,englishwoman who shows the greater     
finesse in the rendering of that  small 
range of sensations to which both give  
themselves up frankly4 ,take  ,polin1   
who is supposed to express vulgarities  
with unusual success4  ,those automatic 
gestures1 flapping and flopping2 that   

dribbling voice1  without intonation2   
that flabby droop and twitch of the     
face2 all that  soapy rubbing-in of the 
expressive parts of the song3 ,i could  
see no  skill in it all1 of a sort worth
 having4 ,the women here sing mainly    
with  their shoulders1 for which they   
seem to have been chosen1 and which are 
undoubtedly expressive4 ,often they do  
not even take the trouble to  express   
anything with voice or face2 the face   
remains blank1 the voice  trots         
creakily4 ,it is a doll who repeats its 
lesson1 holding itself up  to be seen4  
,the ,french revue1 as one sees it at   
the ,folies-,bergre1 done somewhat      
roughly and sketchily1 strikes one most 
of all by its curious want of           
consecution1 its entire reliance on the 
point of this or that scene1  costume1  
or performer4 ,it has no plan1 no idea2 
some ideas are flung  into it in        
passing2 but it remains as shapeless as 
an ,english pantomime1  and not much    
more interesting4 ,both appeal to the   

same undeveloped  instincts1 the        
,english to a merely childish vulgarity1
 the ,french to a  vulgarity which is   
more frankly vicious4 ,really ,i hardly 
know which is  to be preferred4 ,in     
,england we pretend that fancy dress is 
all in the  interests of morality2 in   
,france they make no such pretence1 and1
 in  dispensing with shoulder-straps1 do
 but make their intentions a little     
clearer4 ,go to the ,moulin-,rouge and  
you will see a still clearer            
object-lesson4 ,the goods in the        
music-halls are displayed so to speak1  
behind glass1 in a shop window2 at the  
,moulin-,rouge they are on the open     
booths of a street market4          ,m4 
,,capus ,,in ,,england      ,an         
excellent ,parisian company from the    
,varits has been playing ,la  ,veine of 
,m4 ,alfred ,capus1 and this week it is 
playing ,les ,deux ,ecoles  of the same 
entertaining writer4 ,the company is led
 by ,mme4 ,jeanne  ,granier1 an actress 
who could not be better in her own way  

unless she  acquired a touch of genius1 
and she has no genius4 ,she was         
thoroughly  and consistently good1 she  
was lifelike1 amusing1 never out of key2
  only1 while she reminded one at times 
of ,rjane1 she had none of  ,rjane's    
magnetism1 none of ,rjane's exciting    
naturalness4    ,the whole company is   
one of excellent quality1 which goes    
together like  the different parts of a 
piece of machinery4 ,there is ,mme4     
,marie  ,magnier1 so admirable as an old
 lady of that good1 easy-going1         
intelligent1 ,french type4 ,there is    
,mlle4 ,lavallire1 with her brilliant   
eyes and her little canaille voice1     
vulgarly exquisite4 ,there is ,m4       
,nums1 ,m4 ,guy1 ,m4 ,guitry4 ,m4       
,guitry is the ,french equivalent of    
,mr4 ,fred  ,kerr1 with all the         
difference that that change of          
nationality means4 ,his  slow manner1   
his delaying pantomine1 his hard1       
persistent eyes1 his  uninflected voice1
 made up a type which ,i have never seen

 more  faithfully presented on the      
stage4 ,and there is ,m4 ,brasseur4 ,he 
is a  kind of ,french ,arthur ,roberts1 
but without any of that extravagant     
energy which carries the ,english       
comedian triumphantly through all his   
absurdities4 ,m4 ,brasseur is           
preposterously natural1 full of aplomb  
and  impertinence4 ,he never flags1     
never hesitates2 it is impossible to    
take  him seriously1 as we say of       
delightful1 mischievous people in real  
life4  ,i have been amused to see a     
discussion in the papers as to whether  
,la  ,veine is a fit play to be         
presented to the ,english public4 ,max  
has  defended it in his own way in the  
,saturday ,review1 and ,i hasten to say 
that ,i quite agree with his defence4   
,above all1 ,i agree with him when  he  
says3 ,let our dramatic critics reserve 
their indignation for those  other plays
 in which the characters are            
self-conscious1 winkers and  gigglers   
over their own misconduct1 taking us    

into their confidence1 and  inviting us 
to wink and giggle with them4 ,there1   
certainly1 is the  offence2 there is a  
kind of vulgarity which seems native to 
the lower  ,english mind and to the     
lower ,english stage4 ,m4 ,capus is not 
a moralist1  but it is not needful to be
 a moralist4 ,he is a skilful writer for
 the  stage1 who takes an amiable1      
somewhat superficial1 quietly humorous  
view  of things1 and he takes people as 
he finds them in a particular section   
of the upper and lower middle classes in
 ,paris1 not going further than  the    
notion which they have of themselves1   
and presenting that simply1  without    
comment4 ,we get a foolish young        
millionaire and a foolish young  person 
in a flower shop1 who take up a collage 
together in the most  casual way        
possible1 and they are presented as two 
very ordinary people1  neither better   
nor worse than a great many other       
ordinary people1 who  do or do not do   
much the same thing4 ,they at least do  

not wink or  giggle2 they take things   
with the utmost simplicity1 and they    
call upon  us to imitate their bland    
unconsciousness4    ,la ,veine is a     
study of luck1 in the person of a very  
ordinary man1 not  more intelligent or  
more selfish or more attractive than the
 average1  but one who knows when to    
take the luck which comes his way4 ,the 
few1  quite average1 incidents of the   
play are put together with neatness and 
probability1 and without sensational    
effects1 or astonishing curtains2  the  
people are very natural and probable1   
very amusing in their humours1  and they
 often say humorous things1 not in so   
many set words1 but by a  clever        
adjustment of natural and probable      
nothings4 ,throughout the play  there is
 an amiable and entertaining common     
sense which never becomes  stage        
convention2 these people talk like real 
people1 only much more  -propos4    ,in 
,les ,deux ,ecoles the philosophy which 
could be discerned in ,la  ,veine1 that 

of taking things as they are and taking 
them comfortably1  is carried to a still
 further development4 ,i am prepared to 
be told that  the whole philosophy is   
horribly immoral2 perhaps it is2 but the
 play1  certainly1 is not4 ,it is vastly
 amusing1 its naughtiness is so nave1 so
  tactfully frank1 that even the        
,american daughter might take her mother
  to see it1 without fear of corrupting 
the innocence of age4 ,on peut  trs bien
 vivre sans tre la plus heureuse des    
femmes3 that is one of  the morals of   
the piece2 and1 the more you think over 
questions of  conduct1 the more you     
realise that you might just as well not 
have  thought about them at all1 might  
be another4 ,the incidents by which     
these excellent morals are driven home  
are incidents of the same order  as     
those in ,la ,veine1 and not less       
entertaining4 ,the mounting1 simple  as 
it was1 was admirably planned2 the      
stage-pictures full of explicit         
drollery4 ,and1 as before1 the whole    

company worked with the effortless      
unanimity of a perfect piece of         
machinery4    ,a few days after seeing  
,la ,veine ,i went to ,wyndham's        
,theatre to see a  revival of ,sir      
,francis ,burnand's ,betsy4 ,betsy1 of  
course1 is adapted  from the ,french1   
though1 by an accepted practice which   
seems to me  dishonest1 in spite of its 
acceptance1 that fact is not mentioned  
on the  play-bill4 ,but the form is     
undoubtedly ,english1 very ,english4    
,what  vulgarity1 what pointless joking1
 what pitiable attempts to serve up old 
impromptus rchauffs6 ,i found it        
impossible to stay to the end4 ,some    
actors1 capable of better things1 worked
 hard2 there was a terrible air  of     
effort in these attempts to be sprightly
 in fetters1 and in rusty  fetters4     
,think of ,la ,veine at its worst1 and  
then think of ,betsy6 ,i  must not ask  
you to contrast the actors2 it would be 
almost unfair4 ,we  have not a company  
of comedians in ,england who can be     

compared for a  moment with ,mme4       
,jeanne ,granier's company4 ,we have    
here and there a good  actor1 a         
brilliant comic actor1 in one kind or   
another of emphatic  comedy2 but        
wherever two or three comedians meet on 
the ,english stage1  they immediately   
begin to checkmate1 or to outbid1 or to 
shout down one  another4 ,no one is     
content1 or no one is able1 to take his 
place in an  orchestra in which it is   
not allotted to every one to play a     
solo4          ,a ,,double ,,enigma     
,when it was announced that ,mrs4 ,tree 
was to give a translation of  ,l',enigme
 of ,m4 ,paul ,hervieu at ,wyndham's    
,theatre1 the play was  announced under 
the title ,which8 and as ,which8 it     
appeared on the  placards4 ,suddenly new
 placards appeared1 with a new title1   
not at all  appropriate to the piece1   
,csar's ,wife4 ,rumours of a late       
decision1  or indecision1 of the censor 
were heard4 ,the play had not been      
prohibited1 but it had been adapted to  

more polite ears4 ,but how8 ,that  was  
the question4 ,i confess that to me the 
question seemed insoluble4  ,here is the
 situation as it exists in the play2    
nothing could be  simpler1 more direct1 
more difficult to tamper with4    ,two  
brothers1 ,raymond and ,grard de        
,gourgiran1 are in their country  house1
 with their two wives1 ,giselle and     
,lonore1 and two guests1 the  old       
,marquis de ,neste and the young ,m4 de 
,vivarce4 ,the brothers surprise        
,vivarce on the stairs3 was he coming   
from the room of ,giselle or of         
,lonore8 ,the women are summoned2 both  
deny everything2 it is impossible  for  
the audience1 as for the husbands1 to   
come to any conclusion4 ,a shot  is     
heard outside3 ,vivarce has killed      
himself1 so that he may save the        
reputation of the woman he loves4 ,then 
the self-command of ,lonore gives  way2 
she avows all in a piercing shriek4     
,after that there is some  unnecessary  
moralising 7,l-bas un cadavre6 ,ici1 des

 sanglots de  captive6 and the like71   
but the play is over4    ,now1 the      
situation is perfectly precise2 it is   
not1 perhaps1 very  intellectually      
significant1 but there it is1 a striking
 dramatic  situation4 ,above all1 it is 
frank2 there are no evasions1 no        
sentimental  lies1 no hypocrisies before
 facts4 ,if adultery may not be referred
 to on  the ,english stage except at the
 ,gaiety1 between a wink and a laugh1   
then  such a play becomes wholly        
impossible4 ,not at all3 listen4 ,we are
 told  to suppose that ,vivarce and     
,lonore have had a possibly quite       
harmless  flirtation2 and instead of    
,vivarce being found on his way from    
,lonore's  room1 he has merely been     
walking with ,lonore in the garden3 at  
midnight  remember1 and after her       
husband has gone to bed4 ,in order to   
lead up to  this1 a preposterous speech 
has been put into the mouth of the      
,marquis  de ,neste1 an idiotic rhapsody
 about love and the stars1 and ,i forget

  what else1 which ,i imagine we are to 
take as an indication of ,vivarce's     
sentiments as he walks with ,lonore in  
the garden at midnight4 ,but all  these 
precautions are in vain2 the audience is
 never deceived for an  instant4 ,a form
 of words has been used1 like the form  
of words by which  certain lies become  
technically truthful4 ,the whole point  
of the play3  has a husband the right to
 kill his wife or his wife's lover if he
  discovers that his wife has been      
unfaithful to him8 is obviously not a   
question of whether a husband may kill a
 gentleman who has walked with  his wife
 in the garden1 even after midnight4    
,the force of the original  situation   
comes precisely from the certainty of   
the fact and the  uncertainty of the    
person responsible for it4 ,csar's ,wife
 may lend  her name for a screen2 the   
screen is no disguise2 the play2 remains
 what  it was in its moral bearing2 a   
dramatic stupidity has been imported    
into  it1 that is all4 ,here1 then1 in  

addition to the enigma of the play is a 
second1 not so easily explained1 enigma3
 the enigma of the censor1 and  of why  
he moves in a mysterious way his wonders
 to perform4 ,the play1  ,i must        
confess1 does not seem to me1 as it     
seems to certain ,french  critics1 une  
pice qui tient du chef-d'oeuvre 444 la  
tragdie des  mitres antiques et de      
,shakespeare4 ,to me it is rather an    
insubstantial  kind of ingenuity1       
ingenuity turning in a circle4 ,as a    
tragic episode1  the dramatisation of a 
striking incident1 it has force and     
simplicity1  the admirable quality of   
directness4 ,occasionally the people are
 too  eager to express the last shade of
 the author's meaning1 as in the        
conversation between ,neste and         
,vivarce1 when the latter decides to    
commit suicide1 or in the supplementary 
comments when the action is  really at  
an end4 ,but ,i have never seen a piece 
which seemed to have  been written so   
kindly and so consistently for the      

benefit of the  actors4 ,there are six  
characters of equal importance2 and each
 in turn  absorbs the whole flood of the
 limelight4    ,the other piece which   
made ,saturday evening interesting was a
 version of  ,au ,tlphone1 one of       
,antoine's recent successes at his      
theatre in  ,paris4 ,it was brutal and  
realistic1 it made just the appeal of an
  accident really seen1 and1 so far as  
success in horrifying one is  concerned1
 it was successful4 ,a husband hearing  
the voice of his wife  through the      
telephone1 at the moment when some      
murderous ruffians are  breaking into   
the house1 hearing her last cry1 and    
helpless to aid her1  is as ingeniously 
unpleasant a situation as can well be   
imagined4 ,it is  brought before us with
 unquestionable skill2 it makes us as   
uncomfortable as it wishes to make us4  
,but such a situation has  absolutely no
 artistic value1 because terror without 
beauty and without  significance is not 
worth causing4 ,when the husband1 with  

his ear at  the telephone1 hears his    
wife tell him that some one is forcing  
the  window-shutters with a crowbar1 we 
feel1 it is true1 a certain  sympathetic
 suspense2 but compare this crude       
onslaught on the nerves  with the       
profound and delicious terror that we   
experience when1 in ,la  ,mort de       
,tintagiles of ,maeterlinck1 an         
invisible force pushes the door  softly 
open1 a force intangible and            
irresistible as death4 ,in his acting   
,mr4 ,charles ,warner was powerful1     
thrilling2 it would be difficult to     
say1 under the circumstances1 that he   
was extravagant1 for what  extravagance1
 under the circumstances1 would be      
improbable8 ,he had not1  no doubt1 what
 ,i see described as le jeu simple et   
terrible of  ,antoine1 a dry1 hard1     
intellectual grip on horror2 he had the 
ready  abandonment to emotion of the    
average emotional man4 ,mr4 ,warner has 
an  irritating voice and manner1 but he 
has emotional power1 not fine nor       

subtle1 but genuine2 he feels and he    
makes you feel4 ,he has the quality1  in
 short1 of the play itself1 but a       
quality more tolerable in the  actor1   
who is concerned only with the rendering
 of a given emotion1 than  in the       
playwright1 whose business it is to     
choose1 heighten1 and dignify  the      
emotion which he gives to him to render4
          ,,drama                       
,,professional ,,and ,,unprofessional   
,last week gave one an amusing          
opportunity of contrasting the merits   
and  the defects of the professional and
 the unprofessional kind of play4  ,the 
,gay ,lord ,quex was revived at the     
,duke of ,york's ,theatre1 and ,mr4     
,alexander produced at the ,st4 ,james's
 ,theatre a play called ,the ,finding   
of ,nancy1 which had been chosen by the 
committee of the ,playgoers' ,club  out 
of a large number of plays sent in for  
competition4 ,the writer1 ,miss  ,netta 
,syrett1 has published one or two novels
 or collections of stories2  but this1  

as far as ,i am aware1 is her first     
attempt at a play4 ,both  plays were    
unusually well acted1 and therefore may 
be contrasted without  the necessity of 
making allowances for the way in which  
each was  interpreted on the stage4     
,mr4 ,pinero is a playwright with a     
sharp sense of the stage1 and eye for   
what is telling1 a cynical intelligence 
which is much more interesting  than the
 uncertain outlook of most of our       
playwrights4 ,he has no breadth  of     
view1 but he has a clear view2 he makes 
his choice out of human  nature         
deliberately1 and he deals in his own   
way with the materials that  he selects4
 ,before saying to himself3 what would  
this particular person  say or do in    
these circumstances8 he says to himself3
 what would it be  effective on the     
stage for this particular person to do  
or say8 ,he  suggests nothing1 he tells 
you all he knows2 he cares to know      
nothing  but what immediately concerns  
the purpose of his play4 ,the existence 

of  his people begins and ends with     
their first and last speech on the      
boards2 the rest is silence1 because he 
can tell you nothing about it4  ,sophy  
,fullgarney is a remarkably effective   
character as a  stage-character1 but    
when the play is over we know no more   
about her  than we should know about her
 if we had spied upon her1 in her own   
way1  from behind some bush or keyhole4 
,we have seen a picturesque and amusing 
exterior1 and that is all4 ,lord ,quex  
does not1 ,i suppose1 profess to be     
even so much of a character as that1 and
 the other people are mere  humours1    
quite amusing in their cleverly         
contrasted ways4 ,when these  people    
talk1 they talk with an effort to be    
natural and another effort  to be witty2
 they are never sincere and without     
self-consciousness2 they  never say     
inevitable things1 only things that are 
effective to say4 ,and  they talk in    
poor ,english4 ,mr4 ,pinero has no sense
 of style1 of the  beauty or            

expressiveness of words4 ,his joking is 
forced and without  ideas2 his serious  
writing is common4 ,in ,the ,gay ,lord  
,quex he is  continually trying to      
impress upon his audience that he is    
very  audacious and distinctly improper4
 ,the improprieties are childish in the 
innocence of their vulgarity1 and the   
audacities are no more than  trifling   
lapses of taste4 ,he shows you the      
interior of a ,duchess's  bedroom1 and  
he shows you the ,duchess's garter1 in a
 box of other  curiosities4 ,he sets his
 gentlemen and ladies talking in the    
allusive  style which you may overhear  
whenever you happen to be passing a     
group  of ,london cabmen4 ,the ,duchess 
has written in her diary1 ,warm         
afternoon4 ,that means that she has     
spent an hour with her lover4 ,many     
people in the audience laugh4 ,all the  
cabmen would have laughed4    ,now look 
for a moment at the play by the amateur 
and the woman4 ,it is  not a            
satisfactory play as a whole1 it is not 

very interesting in all  its            
developments1 some of the best          
opportunities are shirked1 some of  the 
characters 7all the characters who are  
men7 are poor4 ,but1 in the  first      
place1 it is well written4 ,those people
 speak a language which is  nearer to   
the language of real life than that used
 by ,mr4 ,pinero1 and  when they make   
jokes there is generally some humour in 
the joke and some  intelligence in the  
humour4 ,they have ideas and they have  
feelings4 ,the  ideas and the feelings  
are not always combined with faultless  
logic into  a perfectly clear and       
coherent presentment of character1 it is
 true4 ,but  from time to time we get   
some of the illusion of life4 ,from time
 to time  something is said or done     
which we know to be profoundly true4 ,a 
woman  has put into words some delicate 
instinct of a woman's soul4 ,here and   
there is a cry of the flesh1 here and   
there a cry of the mind1 which is       
genuine1 which is a part of life4 ,miss 

,syrett has much to learn if she  is to 
become a successful dramatist1 and she  
has not as yet shown that  she knows men
 as well as women2 but at least she has 
begun at the right  end4 ,she has begun 
with human nature and not with the      
artifices of the  stage1 she has thought
 of her characters as people before     
thinking of  them as persons of the     
drama1 she has something to say through 
them1  they are not mere lines in a     
pattern4 ,i am not at all sure that she 
has  the makings of a dramatist1 or that
 if she writes another play it will  be 
better than this one4 ,you do not       
necessarily get to your destination  by 
taking the right turning at the         
beginning of the journey4 ,the one      
certain thing is that if you take the   
wrong turning at the beginning1  and    
follow it persistently1 you will not get
 to your destination at all4  ,the      
playwright who writes merely for the    
stage1 who squeezes the breath  out of  
life before he has suited it to his     

purpose1 is at the best only  playing a 
clever game with us4 ,he may amuse us1  
but he is only playing  ping-pong with  
the emotions4 ,and that is why we should
 welcome1 ,i think1  any honest attempt 
to deal with life as it is1 even if life
 as it is  does not always come into the
 picture4          ,,tolstoi ,,and      
,,others      ,there is little material 
for the stage in the novels of ,tolstoi4
 ,those  novels are full1 it is true1 of
 drama2 but they cannot be condensed    
into  dramas4 ,the method of ,tolstoi is
 slow1 deliberate1 significantly        
unemphatic2 he works by adding detail to
 detail1 as a certain kind of  painter  
adds touch to touch4 ,the result is1 in 
a sense1 monotonous1 and  it is meant to
 be monotonous4 ,tolstoi endeavours to  
give us something  more nearly          
resembling daily life than any one has  
yet given us2 and in  daily life the    
moment of spiritual crisis is rarely the
 moment in which  external action takes 
part4 ,in the drama we can only properly

 realise  the soul's action through some
 corresponding or consequent action     
which  takes place visibly before us4   
,you will find1 throughout ,tolstoi's   
work1  many striking single scenes1 but 
never1 ,i think1 a scene which can bear 
detachment from that network of detail  
which has led up to it and which  is to 
come out of it4 ,often the scene which  
most profoundly impresses  one is a     
scene trifling in itself1 and owing its 
impressiveness partly  to that very     
quality4 ,take1 for instance1 in        
,resurrection1 ,book ,,ii41  chapter    
xxviiii41 the scene in the theatre      
during the second act of the  eternal   
',dame aux ,camlias1' in which a foreign
 actress once again1 and  in a novel    
manner1 showed how women died of        
consumption4 ,the ,general's  wife1     
,mariette1 smiles at ,nekhludoff in the 
box1 and1 outside1 in the  street1      
another woman1 the other half-world1    
smiles at him1 just in  the same way4   
,that is all1 but to ,nekhludoff it is  

one of the great  crises of his life4   
,he has seen something1 for the first   
time1 in what  he now feels to be its   
true light1 and he sees it as clearly as
 he saw  the palace1 the sentinels1 the 
fortress1 the river1 the boats and the  
,stock ,exchange4 ,and just as on this  
northern summer night there was no      
restful darkness on the earth1 but only 
a dismal1 dull light coming from  an    
invisible source1 so in ,nekhludoff's   
soul there was no longer the  restful   
darkness1 ignorance4 ,the chapter is    
profoundly impressive2 it  is one of    
those chapters which no one but ,tolstoi
 has ever written4  ,imagine it         
transposed to the stage1 if that were   
possible1 and the  inevitable           
disappearance of everything that gives  
it meaning6    ,in ,tolstoi the story   
never exists for its own sake1 but for  
the sake of  a very definite moral idea4
 ,even in his later novels ,tolstoi is  
not a  preacher2 he gives us an         
interpretation of life1 not a theorising

 about  life4 ,but1 to him1 the moral   
idea is almost everything1 and 7what is 
of  more consequence7 it gives a great  
part of its value to his realism of     
prisons and brothels and police courts4 
,in all forms of art1 the point  of view
 is of more importance than the         
subject-matter4 ,it is as  essential for
 the novelist to get the right focus as 
it is for the  painter4 ,in a page of   
,zola and in a page of ,tolstoi you     
might find the  same gutter described   
with the same minuteness2 and yet in    
reading the  one you might see only the 
filth1 while in reading the other you   
might  feel only some fine human        
impulse4 ,tolstoi sees life steadily    
because  he sees it under a divine      
light2 he has a saintly patience with   
evil1  and so becomes a casuist through 
sympathy1 a psychologist out of that    
pity which is understanding4 ,and then1 
it is as a direct consequence of  this  
point of view1 in the mere process of   
unravelling things1 that his  greatest  

skill is shown as a novelist4 ,he does  
not exactly write well2  he is satisfied
 if his words express their meaning1 and
 no more2 his  words have neither beauty
 nor subtlety in themselves4 ,but1 if   
you will  only give him time1 for he    
needs time1 he will creep closer and    
closer  up to some doubtful and remote  
truth1 not knowing itself for what it   
is3  he will reveal the soul to itself1 
like ,god's spy4    ,if you want to know
 how1 daily life goes on among people   
who know as  little about themselves as 
you know about your neighbours in a     
street or  drawing-room1 read ,jane     
,austen1 and1 on that level1 you will be
  perfectly satisfied4 ,but if you want 
to know why these people are happy  or  
unhappy1 why the thing which they do    
deliberately is not the thing  which    
they either want or ought to do1 read   
,tolstoi2 and ,i can hardly  add that   
you will be satisfied4 ,i never read    
,tolstoi without a certain  suspense1   
sometimes a certain terror4 ,an accusing

 spirit seems to peer  between every    
line2 ,i can never tell what new disease
 of the soul those  pitying and         
unswerving eyes may not have discovered4
    ,such1 then1 is a novel of ,tolstoi2
 such1 more than almost any of his      
novels1 is ,resurrection1 the           
masterpiece of his old age1 into which  
he  has put an art but little less      
consummate than that of ,anna ,karenina1
  together with the finer spirit of his 
later gospel4 ,out of this novel a  play
 in ,french was put together by ,m4     
,henry ,bataille and produced at the    
,odon4 ,now ,m4 ,bataille is one of the 
most powerful and original  dramatists  
of our time4 ,a play in ,english1 said  
to be by ,,mm4 ,henry  ,bataille and    
,michael ,morton1 has been produced by  
,mr4 ,tree at ,his  ,majesty's ,theatre2
 and the play is called1 as the ,french 
play was  called1 ,tolstoi's            
,resurrection4 ,what ,mr4 ,morton has   
done with ,m4  ,bataille ,i cannot say4 
,i have read in a capable ,french paper 

that l'on  est heureux d'avoir pu       
applaudir une oeuvre vraiment noble1    
vraiment  pure1 in the play of ,m4      
,bataille2 and ,i believe it4 ,are those
 quite the  words one would use about   
the play in ,english8    ,they are not  
quite the words ,i would use about the  
play in ,english4 ,it  is a melodrama   
with one good scene1 the scene in the   
prison2 and this is  good only to a     
certain point4 ,there is another scene  
which is amusing1  the scene of the     
jury1 but the humour is little more than
 clowning1 and  the tragic note1 which  
should strike through it1 is only there 
in a  parody of itself4 ,indeed the word
 parody is the only word which can be   
used about the greater part of the play1
 and it seems to me a pity that  the    
name of ,tolstoi should be brought into 
such dangerous companionship  with the  
vulgarities and sentimentalities of the 
,london stage4 ,i heard  people around  
me confessing that they had not read the
 book4 ,how  terrible must have been the

 disillusion of those people1 if they   
had  ever expected anything of ,tolstoi1
 and if they really believed that  this 
demagogue ,prince1 who stands in nice   
poses in the middle of  drawing-rooms   
and of prison cells1 talking nonsense   
with a convincing  disbelief1 was in any
 sense a mouthpiece for ,tolstoi's poor 
simple  little gospel4 ,tolstoi         
according to ,captain ,marshall1 ,i     
should be  inclined to define him2 but  
,i must give ,mr4 ,tree his full credit 
in the  matter4 ,when he crucifies      
himself1 so to speak1 symbolically1     
across the  door of the jury-room1      
remarking in his slowest manner3 ,the   
bird  flutters no longer2 ,i must atone1
 ,i must atone6 one is1 in every sense1 
alone with the actor4 ,mr4 ,tree has    
many arts1 but he has not the art of    
sincerity4 ,his conception of acting is1
 literally1 to act1 on every  occasion4 
,even in the prison scene1 in which     
,miss ,ashwell is so good1  until she   
begins to shout and he to rant1 and then

 the care is over1  ,mr4 ,tree cannot be
 his part without acting it4    ,that   
prison scene is1 on the whole1 well     
done1 and the first part of it1  when   
the women shout and drink and quarrel1  
is acted with a satisfying  sense of    
vulgarity which contrasts singularly    
with what is meant to be  a suggestion  
of the manners of society in ,st4       
,petersburg in the scene  preceding4    
,perhaps the most lamentable thing in   
the play is the first  act4 ,this act   
takes the place of those astounding     
chapters in the novel  in which the     
seduction of ,katusha is described with 
a truth1 tact1  frankness1 and subtlety 
unparalleled in any novel ,i have ever  
read4 ,i  read them over before ,i went 
to the theatre1 and when ,i got to the  
theatre ,i found a scene before me which
 was not ,tolstoi's scene1 a  foolish1  
sentimental conversation in which ,i    
recognised hardly more than  a sentence 
of ,tolstoi 7and this brought in in the 
wrong place71 and1 in  short1 the old   

make-believe of all the hack-writers for
 the stage1  dished up again1 and put   
before us1 with a simplicity of audacity
 at  which one can only marvel 7a thing 
imagination boggles at71 as an          
adaptation from ,tolstoi4 ,tolstoi has  
been hardly treated by some  translators
 and by many critics2 in his own        
country1 if you mention his  name1 you  
are as likely as not to be met by a     
shrug and an ,ah1  monsieur1 il divague 
un peu6 ,in his own country he has the  
censor  always against him2 some of his 
books he has never been able to print in
  full in ,russian4 ,but in the new play
 at ,his ,majesty's ,theatre we have1   
in what is boldly called ,tolstoi's     
,resurrection1 something which is  not  
,tolstoi at all4 ,there is ,m4          
,bataille1 who is a poet of nature and a
  dramatist who has created a new form  
of drama3 let him be exonerated4  ,mr4  
,morton and ,mr4 ,tree between them may 
have been the spoilers of ,m4           
,bataille2 but ,tolstoi1 might not the  

great name of ,tolstoi have been  left  
well alone8          ,,some ,,problem   
,,plays    ,i4 ,,the ,,marrying ,,of    
,,ann ,,leete      ,it was for the      
production of such plays as ,mr4        
,granville ,barker's that  the ,stage   
,society was founded1 and it is doing   
good service to the drama  in producing 
them4 ,the ,marrying of ,ann ,leete is  
the cleverest and most  promising new   
play that ,i have seen for a long time2 
but it cannot be  said to have succeeded
 even with the ,stage ,society audience1
 and no  ordinary theatrical manager is 
very likely to produce it4 ,the author1 
it  is true1 is an actor1 but he is     
young2 his play is immature1 too crowded
  with people1 too knotted up with      
motives1 too inconclusive in effect4 ,he
  knows the stage1 and his knowledge has
 enabled him to use the stage for  his  
own purposes1 inventing a kind of       
technique of his own1 doing one or  two 
things which have never1 or never so    
deftly1 been done before4 ,but  he is   

something besides all that2 he can      
think1 he can write1 and he  can suggest
 real men and women4 ,the play opens in 
the dark1 and remains  for some time    
brilliantly ambiguous4 ,people1 late    
eighteenth-century  people1 talk with   
bewildering abruptness1 not less        
bewildering point2  they1 their motives1
 their characters1 swim slowly into     
daylight4 ,some  of the dialogue is1 as 
the writer says of politics1 a game for 
clever  children1 women1 and fools2 it  
is a game demanding close attention4 ,a 
courtly indolence1 an intellectual      
blackguardism1 is in the air2 people    
walk1 as it seems1 aimlessly in and out1
 and the game goes on2 it fills  one    
with excitement1 the excitement of      
following a trail4 ,it is a trail  of   
ideas1 these people think1 and they act 
because they have thought4  ,they know  
the words they use1 they use them with  
deliberation1 their  hearts are in their
 words4 ,their actions1 indeed1 are     
disconcerting2 but  these people1 and   

their disconcerting actions1 are        
interesting1 holding  one's mind in     
suspense4    ,mr4 ,granville ,barker has
 tried to tell the whole history of a   
family1  and he interests us in every   
member of that family4 ,he plays them   
like  chessmen1 and their moves excite  
us as chess excites the mind4 ,they     
express ideas2 the writer has thought   
out their place in the scheme of        
things1 and he has put his own faculty  
of thinking into their heads4  ,they    
talk for effect1 or rather for disguise2
 it is part of their keen  sense of the 
game4 ,they talk at cross-purposes1 as  
they wander in and  out of the garden   
terrace2 they plan out their lives1 and 
life comes and  surprises them by the   
way4 ,then they speak straight out of   
their hearts1  sometimes crudely1       
sometimes with a navet which seems      
laughable2 and  they act on sudden      
impulses1 accepting the consequences    
when they come4  ,they live an          
artificial life1 knowing lies to be     

lies1 and choosing  them2 they are      
civilised1 they try to do their duty by 
society2 only1 at  every moment1 some   
ugly gap opens in the earth1 right in   
their path1 and  they have to stop1     
consider1 choose a new direction4 ,they 
seem to go  their own way1 almost       
without guiding2 and indeed may have    
escaped  almost literally out of their  
author's hands4 ,the last scene is an   
admirable episode1 a new thing on the   
stage1 full of truth within its  own    
limits2 but it is an episode1 not a     
conclusion1 much less a  solution4 ,mr4 
,barker can write3 he writes in short1  
sharp sentences1  which go off like     
pistol-shots1 and he keeps up the       
firing1 from every  corner of the stage4
 ,he brings his people on and off with  
an  unconventionality which comes of    
knowing the resources of the theatre1   
and of being unfettered by the          
traditions of its technique4 ,the scene 
with the gardener in the second act has 
extraordinary technical merit1  and it  

has the art which conceals its art4     
,there are other inventions in  the     
play1 not all quite so convincing4      
,sometimes ,mr4 ,barker1 in doing  the  
right or the clever thing1 does it just 
not quite strongly enough to  carry it  
against opposition4 ,the opposition is  
the firm and narrow mind  of the        
,british playgoer4 ,such plays as ,mr4  
,barker's are apt to annoy  without     
crushing4 ,the artist1 who is yet an    
imperfect artist1 bewilders  the world  
with what is novel in his art2 the great
 artist convinces the  world4 ,mr4      
,barker is young3 he will come to think 
with more depth and  less tumult2 he    
will come to work with less prodigality 
and more mastery  of means4 ,but he has 
energy already1 and a sense of what is  
absurd and  honest in the spectacle of  
this game1 in which the pawns seem to   
move  themselves4          ,,ii4 ,,the  
,,lady ,,from ,,the ,,sea      ,on      
seeing the ,stage ,society's performance
 of ,ibsen's ,lady from the  ,sea1 ,i   

found myself wondering whether ,ibsen is
 always so unerring in  his stagecraft  
as one is inclined to assume1 and       
whether there are not  things in his    
plays which exist more satisfactorily1  
are easier to  believe in1 in the book  
than on the stage4 ,does not the play1  
for  instance1 lose a little in its     
acceptance of those narrow limits of the
  footlights8 ,that is the question     
which ,i was asking myself as ,i saw the
  performance of the ,stage ,society4   
,the play is1 according to the phrase1  
a problem-play1 but the problem is the  
problem of all ,ibsen's plays3  the     
desire of life1 the attraction of life1 
the mystery of life4 ,only1  we see the 
eternal question under a new1 strange   
aspect4 ,the sea calls  to the blood of 
this woman1 who has married into an     
inland home2 and the  sea-cry1 which is 
the desire of more abundant life1 of    
unlimited  freedom1 of an unknown       
ecstasy1 takes form in a vague          
,stranger1 who has  talked to her of the

 seabirds in a voice like their own1 and
 whose eyes  seem to her to have the    
green changes of the sea4 ,it is an     
admirable  symbol1 but when a bearded   
gentleman with a knapsack on his back   
climbs  over the garden wall and says3  
,i have come for you2 are you coming8   
and then tells the woman that he has    
read of her marriage in the  newspaper1 
it seemed as if the symbol had lost a   
good deal of its  meaning in the gross  
act of taking flesh4 ,the play haunts   
one1 as it is1  but it would have       
haunted one with a more subtle          
witchcraft if the  ,stranger had never  
appeared upon the stage4 ,just as       
,wagner insisted upon  a crawling and   
howling dragon1 a ,fafner with a name of
 his own and a  considerable presence1  
so ,ibsen brings the supernatural or the
  subconscious a little crudely into the
 midst of his persons of the  drama4 ,to
 use symbol1 and not to use it in the   
surprising and inevitable  way of the   
poet1 is to fall into the dry1 impotent 

sin of allegory4          ,,iii4 ,,the  
,,new ,,idol      ,it was an interesting
 experiment on the part of the ,stage   
,society to  give a translation of ,la  
,nouvelle ,idole1 one of those pieces by
 which  ,m4 ,franois de ,curel has      
reached that very actual section of the 
,french  public which is interested in  
ideas4 ,the ,new ,idol is a modern play 
of  the most characteristically modern  
type2 its subject-matter is largely     
medical1 it deals with the treatment of 
cancer2 we are shown a doctor's         
laboratory1 with a horrible elongated   
diagram of the inside of the human      
body2 a young girl's lungs are sounded  
in the doctor's drawing-room2  nearly   
every1 character talks science and very 
little but science4 ,when  they cease   
talking science1 which they talk well1  
with earnestness and  with knowledge1   
and try to talk love or intrigue1 they  
talk badly1 as if  they were talking of 
things which they knew nothing about4   
,now1  personally1 this kind of talk    

does not interest me2 it makes me feel  
uncomfortable4 ,but ,i am ready to admit
 that it is justified if ,i find  that  
the dramatic movement of the play       
requires it1 that it is itself an       
essential part of the action4 ,in ,the  
,new ,idol ,i think this is partly  the 
case4 ,the other medical play which has 
lately been disturbing ,paris1  ,les    
,avaris1 does not seem to me to fulfil  
this condition at any  moment3 it is a  
pamphlet from beginning to end1 it is   
not a satisfactory  pamphlet1 and it has
 no other excuse for existence4 ,but ,m4
 de ,curel has  woven his problem into  
at least a semblance of action2 the play
 is not a  mere discussion of           
irresistible physical laws2 the will    
enters into the  problem1 and will      
fights against will1 and against not    
quite  irresistible physical laws4 ,the 
suggestion of love interests1 which come
  to nothing1 and have no real bearing  
on the main situation1 seems to me  a   
mistake2 it complicates things1 things  

which must appear to us so very  real if
 we are to accept them at all1 with     
rather a theatrical kind of             
complication4 ,m4 de ,curel is more a   
thinker than a dramatist1 as he has     
shown lately in the very original1      
interesting1 impossible ,fille          
,sauvage4 ,he grapples with serious     
matters seriously1 and he argues  well1 
with a closely woven structure of       
arguments2 some of them bringing  a kind
 of hard and naked poetry out of mere   
closeness of thinking and  closeness of 
seeing4 ,in ,the ,new ,idol there is    
some dialogue1 real  dialogue1 natural  
give-and-take1 about the fear of death  
and the horror  of indestructibility 7a 
variation on one of the finest of       
,coventry  ,patmore's odes7 which seemed
 to me admirable3 it held the audience  
because it was direct speech1 expressing
 a universal human feeling in  the light
 of a vivid individual crisis4 ,but such
 writing as this was  rare2 for the most
 part it was the problem itself which   

insisted on  occupying our attention1   
or1 distinct from this1 the too         
theatrical  characters4          ,,iv4  
,,mrs4 ,,warren',s ,,profession         
,the ,stage ,society has shown the      
courage of its opinions by giving an    
unlicensed play1 ,mrs4 ,warren's        
,profession1 one of the unpleasant      
plays of ,mr4 ,george ,bernard ,shaw1 at
 the theatre of the ,new ,lyric ,club4  
,it was well acted1 with the exception  
of two of the characters1 and the  part 
of ,mrs4 ,warren was played by ,miss    
,fanny ,brough1 one of the  cleverest   
actresses on the ,english stage1 with   
remarkable ability4 ,the  action was a  
little cramped by the smallness of the  
stage1 but1 for all  that1 the play was 
seen under quite fair conditions1       
conditions under  which it could be     
judged as an acting play and as a work  
of art4 ,it is  brilliantly clever1 with
 a close1 detective cleverness1 all made
 up of  merciless logic and unanswerable
 common sense4 ,the principal characters

  are well drawn1 the scenes are        
constructed with a great deal of        
theatrical skill1 the dialogue is       
telling1 the interest is held           
throughout4 ,to say that the characters1
 without exception1 are ugly in  their  
vice and ugly in their virtue2 that they
 all have1 men and women1  something of 
the cad in them2 that their language is 
the language of  vulgar persons1 is1    
perhaps1 only to say that ,mr4 ,shaw has
 chosen1 for  artistic reasons1 to      
represent such people just as they are4 
,but there  is something more to be     
said4 ,mrs4 ,warren's ,profession is not
 a  representation of life2 it is a     
discussion about life4 ,now1 discussion 
on the stage may be interesting4 ,why   
not8 ,discussion is the most            
interesting thing in the world1 off the 
stage2 it is the only thing that  makes 
an hour pass vividly in society2 but    
when discussion ends art has  not begun4
 ,it is interesting to see a sculptor   
handling bits of clay1  sticking them on

 here1 scraping them off there2 but that
 is only the  interest of a process4    
,when he has finished ,i will consider  
whether his  figure is well or ill done2
 until he has finished ,i can have no   
opinion  about it4 ,it is the same thing
 with discussion on the stage4 ,the     
subject  of ,mr4 ,shaw's discussion is  
what is called a nasty one4 ,that is    
neither here nor there1 though it may be
 pointed out that there is no  essential
 difference between the problem that he 
discusses and the  problem that is at   
the root of ,the ,second ,mrs4          
,tanqueray4    ,but ,mr4 ,shaw1 ,i      
believe1 is never without his polemical 
intentions1 and  ,i should like1 for a  
moment1 to ask whether his discussion of
 his  problem1 taken on its own merits1 
is altogether the best way to discuss   
things4 ,mr4 ,shaw has an ideal of life3
 he asks that men and women should  be  
perfectly reasonable1 that they should  
clear their minds of cant1 and  speak   
out everything that is in their minds4  

,he asks for cold and clear  logic1 and 
when he talks about right and wrong he  
is really talking  about right and wrong
 logic4 ,now1 logic is not the          
mainspring of every  action1 nor is     
justice only the inevitable working out 
of an equation4  ,humanity1 as ,mr4     
,shaw sees it1 moves like clockwork2 and
 must be  regulated as a watch is1 and  
praised or blamed simply in proportion  
to  its exactitude in keeping time4     
,humanity1 as ,mr4 ,shaw knows1 does not
  move by clockwork1 and the ultimate   
justice will have to take count of  more
 exceptions and irregularities than ,mr4
 ,shaw takes count of4 ,there  is a     
great living writer who has brought to  
bear on human problems as  consistent a 
logic as ,mr4 ,shaw's1 together with    
something which ,mr4 ,shaw  disdains4   
,mr4 ,shaw's logic is sterile1 because  
it is without sense of  touch1 sense of 
sight1 or sense of hearing2 once set    
going it is  warranted to go straight1  
and to go through every obstacle4       

,tolstoi's  logic is fruitful1 because  
it allows for human weakness1 because it
  understands1 and because to understand
 is1 among other things1 to  pardon4 ,in
 a word1 the difference between the     
spirit of ,tolstoi and the  spirit of   
,mr4 ,shaw is the difference between the
 spirit of ,christ and  the spirit of   
,euclid4          ,,monna1 ,,vanna      
,in his earlier plays ,maeterlinck      
invented a world of his own1 which was  
a sort of projection into space of the  
world of nursery legends and of         
childish romances4 ,it was at once very 
abstract and very local4 ,there  was a  
castle by the sea1 a well at the world's
 end1 a pool in a  forest2 princesses   
with names out of the ,morte d',arthur  
lost crowns of  gold2 and blind beggars 
without a name wandered in the darkness 
of  eternal terror4 ,death was always   
the scene-shifter of the play1 and      
destiny the stage-manager4 ,the people  
who came and went had the blind         
gestures of marionettes1 and one pitied 

their helplessness4 ,pity and  terror   
had indeed gone to the making of this   
drama1 in a sense much more  literal    
than ,aristotle's4    ,in all these     
plays there were few words and many     
silences1 and the words  were ambiguous1
 hesitating1 often repeated1 like the   
words of peasants  or children4 ,they   
were rarely beautiful in themselves1    
rarely even  significant1 but they      
suggested a singular kind of beauty and 
significance1 through their adjustment  
in a pattern or arabesque4  ,atmosphere1
 the suggestion of what was not said1   
was everything2 and in  an essay in ,le 
,trsor des ,humbles ,maeterlinck told us
 that in drama1  as he conceived it1 it 
was only the words that were not said   
which  mattered4    ,gradually the words
 began to mean more in the scheme of the
 play4 ,with  ,aglavaine et ,slysette we
 got a drama of the inner life1 in which
  there was little action1 little       
effective dramatic speech1 but in which 
people thought about action and talked  

about action1 and discussed the         
morality of things and their meaning1   
very beautifully4    ,monna ,vanna is a 
development out of ,aglavaine et        
,slysette1 and in  it for the first time
 ,maeterlinck has represented the       
conflicts of the  inner life in an      
external form1 making drama1 while the  
people who  undergo them discuss them   
frankly at the moment of their          
happening4    ,in a significant passage 
of ,la ,sagesse et la ,destine1         
,maeterlinck  says3 ,on nous affirme que
 toutes les grandes tragdies ne nous    
offrent  pas d'autre spectacle que la   
lutte de l'homme contre la fatalit4 ,je 
crois1 au contraire1 qu'il n'existe pas 
une seule tragdie o la  fatalit rgne    
rellement4 ,j'ai beau les parcourir1 je 
n'en trouve pas  une o le hros combatte 
le destin pur et simple4 ,au fond1 ce   
n'est  jamais le destin1 c'est toujours 
la sagesse1 qu'il attaque4 ,and1 on the 
preceding page1 he says3 ,observons que 
les potes tragiques osent trs  rarement 

permettre au sage de paratre un moment  
sur la scne4 ,ils  craignent une me     
haute parce que les vnements la         
craignent4 ,now it  is this conception  
of life and of drama that we find in    
,monna ,vanna4  ,we see the conflict of 
wisdom1 personified in the old man      
,marco and in  the instinctively wise   
,giovanna1 with the tragic folly        
personified in  the husband ,guido1 who 
rebels against truth and against life1  
and loses  even that which he would     
sacrifice the world to keep4 ,the play  
is full  of lessons in life1 and its    
deepest lesson is a warning against the 
too  ready acceptance of this or that   
aspect of truth or of morality4 ,here is
  a play in which almost every character
 is noble1 in which treachery  becomes a
 virtue1 a lie becomes more vital than  
truth1 and only what we  are accustomed 
to call virtue shows itself mean1 petty1
 and even  criminal4 ,and it is most    
like life1 as life really is1 in this3  
that at  any moment the whole course of 

the action might be changed1 the        
position  of every character altered1 or
 even reversed1 by a mere decision of   
the  will1 open to each1 and that things
 happen as they do because it is        
impossible1 in the nature of each1 that 
the choice could be otherwise4          
,character1 in the deepest sense1 makes 
the action1 and there is  something in  
the movement of the play which resembles
 the grave and  reasonable march of a   
play of ,sophocles1 in which men and    
women  deliberate wisely and not only   
passionately1 in which it is not only   
the  cry of the heart and of the senses 
which takes the form of drama4    ,in   
,maeterlinck's earlier plays1 in ,les   
,aveugles1 ,intrieur1 and even  ,pellas 
et ,mlisande1 he is dramatic after a    
new1 experimental fashion  of his own2  
,monna ,vanna is dramatic in the obvious
 sense of the word4  ,the action moves1 
and moves always in an interesting1 even
 in a telling1  way4 ,but at the same   
time ,i cannot but feel that something  

has been  lost4 ,the speeches1 which    
were once so short as to be enigmatical1
 are  now too long1 too explanatory2    
they are sometimes rhetorical1 and have 
more logic than life4 ,the playwright   
has gained experience1 the thinker  has 
gained wisdom1 but the curious artist   
has lost some of his magic4 ,no  doubt  
the wizard had drawn his circle too     
small1 but now he has stepped  outside  
his circle into a world which no longer 
obeys his formulas4 ,in  casting away   
his formulas1 has he the big human      
mastery which alone  could replace them8
 ,monna ,vanna is a remarkable and      
beautiful play1  but it is not a        
masterpiece4 ,la ,mort de ,tintagiles   
was a masterpiece  of a tiny1 too       
deliberate kind2 but it did something   
which no one had  ever done before4 ,we 
must still1 though we have seen ,monna  
,vanna1  wait1 feeling that ,maeterlinck
 has not given us all that he is capable
  of giving us4          ,,the          
,,question ,,of ,,censorship4      ,the 

letter of protest which appeared in the 
,times of ,june #cj1 #aijc1  signed by  
,mr4 ,swinburne1 ,mr4 ,meredith1 and    
,mr4 ,hardy1 the three highest  names in
 contemporary ,english literature1 will1
 ,i hope1 have done  something to save  
the literary reputation of ,england from
 such a fate as  one eminent dramatic   
critic sees in store for it4 ,once more1
 says the  ,athenum1 the caprice of our 
censure brings contempt upon us1 and    
makes1 or should make1 us the           
laughing-stock of ,europe4 ,the ,morning
  ,post is more lenient1 and is         
sincerely sorry for the unfortunate     
censor1 because he has immortalised     
himself by prohibiting the most         
beautiful play of his time1 and must    
live to be the laughing-stock of  all   
sensible people4    ,now the question   
is3 which is really made ridiculous by  
this ridiculous  episode of the         
prohibition of ,maeterlinck's ,monna    
,vanna1 ,england or  ,mr4 ,redford8 ,mr4
 ,redford is a gentleman of whom ,i only

 know that he is  not himself a man of  
letters1 and that he has not given any  
public  indication of an intelligent    
interest in literature as literature4   
,if1  as a private person1 before his   
appointment to the official post of     
censor of the drama1 he had expressed in
 print an opinion on any  literary or   
dramatic question1 that opinion would   
have been taken on its  own merits1 and 
would have carried only the weight of   
its own contents4  ,the official        
appointment1 which gives him absolute   
power over the public  life or death of 
a play1 gives to the public no guarantee
 of his fitness  for the post4 ,so far  
as the public can judge1 he was chosen  
as the  typical man in the street1 the  
plain man who wants a plain answer1  the
 type of the golden mean1 or mediocrity4
 ,we hear that he is honest  and        
diligent1 that he reads every word of   
every play sent for his  inspection4    
,these are the virtues of the capable   
clerk1 not of the  penetrating judge4   

,now the position1 if it is to be taken 
seriously1  must require delicate       
discernment as well as inflexible       
uprightness4 ,is  ,mr4 ,redford capable 
of discriminating between what is       
artistically fine  and what is          
artistically ignoble8 ,if not1 he is    
certainly incapable of  discriminating  
between what is morally fine and what is
 morally ignoble4  ,it is useless for   
him to say that he is not concerned with
 art1 but with  morals4 ,they cannot be 
dissevered1 because it is really the art
 which  makes the morality4 ,in other   
words1 morality does not consist in the 
facts of a situation or in the words of 
a speech1 but in the spirit  which      
informs the whole work4 ,whatever may be
 the facts of ,monna ,vanna  7and ,i    
contend that they are entirely above    
reproach1 even as facts71 no  one       
capable of discerning the spirit of a   
work could possibly fail to  realise    
that the whole tendency of the play is  
noble and invigorating4  ,all this1 all 

that is essential1 evidently escapes    
,mr4 ,redford4 ,he  licenses what the   
,times rightly calls such a gross       
indecency as ',the  ,girl from          
,maxim's4' ,but he refuses to license   
,monna ,vanna1 and he  refuses to state 
his reason for withholding the license4 
,the fact is1  that moral questions are 
discussed in it1 not taken for granted1 
and  the plain man1 the man in the      
street1 is alarmed whenever people begin
  to discuss moral questions4 ,the ,girl
 from ,maxim's is merely indecent1  it  
raises no problems4 ,monna ,vanna raises
 problems4 ,therefore1 says  the censor1
 it must be suppressed4 ,by his decision
 in regard to this  play of             
,maeterlinck1 ,mr4 ,redford has of      
course conclusively proved his          
unfitness for his post4 ,but that is    
only one part of the question4 ,the     
question is3 could any one man be found 
on whose opinion all ,england  might    
safely rely for its dramatic instruction
 and entertainment8 ,i do  not think    

such a man could be found4 ,with ,mr4   
,redford1 as the ,times  puts it1 any   
tinge of literary merit seems at once to
 excite his worst  suspicions4 ,but with
 a censor whose sympathies were too     
purely  literary1 literary in too narrow
 a sense1 would not scruples of some    
other kind begin to intrude themselves1 
scruples of the student who  cannot     
tolerate an innocent jesting with       
serious things1 scruples of  the        
moralist who must choose between        
,maeterlinck and d',annunzio1  between  
,tolstoi and ,ibsen8 ,i cannot so much  
as think of a man in all  ,england who  
would be capable of justifying the      
existence of the  censorship4 ,is it1   
then1 merely ,mr4 ,redford who is made  
ridiculous by  this ridiculous episode1 
or is it not1 after all1 ,england1 which
 has  given us the liberty of the press 
and withheld from us the liberty of  the
 stage8          ,a ,,play ,,and ,,the  
,,public      ,john ,oliver ,hobbes1    
,mrs4 ,craigie1 once wrote a play called

 ,the ,bishop's  ,move1 which was an    
attempt to do artistically what so many 
writers for  the stage have done without
 thinking about art at all4    ,she gave
 us good writing instead of bad1        
delicate worldly wisdom instead  of     
vague sentiment or vague cynicism1 and  
the manners of society instead  of an   
imitation of some remote imitation of   
those manners4 ,the play is a  comedy1  
and the situations are not allowed to   
get beyond the control of  good manners4
 ,the game is after all the thing1 and  
the skill of the  game4 ,when the pawns 
begin to cry out in the plaintive way of
 pawns1  they are hushed before they    
become disturbing4 ,it is in this power 
to  play the game on its own artificial 
lines1 and yet to play with pieces  made
 scrupulously after the pattern of      
nature1 that ,mrs4 ,craigie's  skill1 in
 this play1 seems to me to consist4     
,here then1 is a play which makes no    
demands on the pocket handkerchief1  to 
stifle either laughter or sobs1 but in  

which the writer is seen  treating the  
real people of the audience and the     
imaginary people of the  play as if they
 were alike ladies and gentlemen4 ,how  
this kind of work  will appeal to the   
general public ,i can hardly tell4 ,when
 ,i saw ,sweet  and ,twenty on its first
 performance1 ,i honestly expected the  
audience  to burst out laughing4 ,on the
 contrary1 the audience thrilled with   
delight1 and audience after audience    
went on indefinitely thrilling with     
delight4 ,if the caricature of the      
natural emotions can give so much       
pleasure1 will a delicate suggestion of 
them1 as in this play1 ever mean  very  
much to the public8    ,the public in   
,england is a strange creature1 to be   
studied with wonder  and curiosity and  
,i am not sure that a native can ever   
hope to  understand it4 ,at the         
performance of a recent melodrama1      
,sweet ,nell of  ,old ,drury1 ,i        
happened to be in the last row of the   
stalls4 ,my seat was  not altogether    

well adapted for seeing and hearing the 
play1 but it was  admirably adapted for 
observing the pit1 and ,i gave some of  
my attention  to my neighbours there4   
,whenever a foolish joke was made on the
 stage1  when ,miss ,julia ,neilson1 as 
,nell1 the orange girl1 stuttered with  
laughter or romped heavily across the   
stage1 the pit thrilled and  quivered   
with delight4 ,at every piece of        
clowning there was the same  responsive 
gurgle of delight4 ,tricks of acting so 
badly done that ,i  should have thought 
a child would have seen through them1   
and resented  them as an imposition1    
were accepted in perfect good faith1 and
 gloated  over4 ,i was turning over the 
matter in my mind afterwards1 when ,i   
remembered something that was said to me
 the other day by a young  ,swedish poet
 who is now in ,london4 ,he told me that
 he had been to most  of the theatres1  
and he had been surprised to find that  
the greater part  of the pieces which   
were played at the principal ,london    

theatres were  such pieces as would be  
played in ,norway and ,sweden at the    
lower class  theatres1 and that nobody  
here seemed to mind4 ,the ,english      
audience1 he  said1 reminded him of a   
lot of children2 they took what was set 
before  them with ingenuous good temper1
 they laughed when they were expected to
  laugh1 cried when they were expected  
to cry4 ,but of criticism1  preference1 
selection1 not a trace4 ,he was amazed1 
for he had been told  that ,london was  
the centre of civilisation4 ,well1 in   
future ,i shall try  to remember1 when  
,i hear an audience clapping its hands  
wildly over some  bad play1 badly acted3
 it is all right1 it is only the        
children4          ,,the ,,test ,,of    
,,the ,,actor      ,the interest of bad 
plays lies in the test which they afford
 of the  capability of the actor4 ,to   
what extent1 however1 can an actor      
really  carry through a play which has  
not even the merits of its defects1 such
  a play1 for instance1 as ,mr4 ,henry  

,arthur ,jones has produced in ,the     
,princess's ,nose8 ,mr4 ,jones has      
sometimes been mistaken for a man of    
letters1 as by a distinguished dramatic 
critic1 who1 writing a  complimentary   
preface1 has said3 ,the claim of ,mr4   
,henry ,arthur ,jones's  more ambitious 
plays to rank as literature may have    
been in some cases  grudgingly allowed1 
but has not been seriously contested4   
,mr4 ,jones  himself has assured us that
 he has thought about life1 and would   
like to  give some representation of it 
in his plays4 ,that is apparently what  
he  means by this peroration1 which once
 closed an article in the  ,nineteenth  
,century3 ,o human life6 so varied1 so  
vast1 so complex1 so  rich and subtle in
 tremulous deep organ tones1 and soft   
proclaim of  silver flutes1 so utterly  
beyond our spell of insight1 who of us  
can  govern the thunder and whirlwind of
 thy ventages to any utterance of       
harmony1 or pluck out the heart of thy  
eternal mystery8 ,does ,mr4 ,jones1  ,i 

wonder1 or the distinguished critic1    
really hear any soft proclaim of  silver
 flutes1 or any of the other organ      
effects which he enumerates1  in ,the   
,princess's ,nose8 ,does anyone         
seriously contest its right not  to rank
 as ,literature8 ,the audience1 for     
once1 was unanimous4 ,mr4  ,jones was   
not encouraged to appear4 ,and yet there
 had been applause1  prolonged applause1
 at many points throughout this         
bewildering evening4  ,the applause was 
meant for the actors4    ,if ,mr4 ,jones
 had shown as much tact in the          
construction of his play as  in the     
selection of his cast1 how admirable the
 play would have been6 ,i  have rarely  
seen a play in which each actor seemed  
to fit into his part  with such         
exactitude4 ,but the play6 ,well1 the   
play began as a comedy1  continued as a 
tragedy1 and ended as a farce4 ,it came 
to a crisis every  five minutes1 it     
suggested splendid situations1 and then 
caricatured  them unintentionally1 it   

went shilly-shallying about among the   
emotions  and sensations which may be   
drama or melodrama1 whichever the       
handling  makes them4 ,you see there is 
a little poetical justice going about   
the  world1 says the ,princess1 when she
 hears that her rival1 against whom  she
 has fought in vain1 has been upset by  
,providence in the form of a  motor-car1
 and the bridge of her nose broken4 ,the
 broken nose is ,mr4  ,jones's symbol   
for poetical justice2 it indicates his  
intellectual  attitude4 ,there are many 
parts of the play where he shows1 as he 
has so  often shown1 a genuine skill in 
presenting and manipulating humorous    
minor characters4 ,as usual1 they have  
little to do with the play1 but  they   
are amusing for their moment4 ,it is the
 serious characters who will  not be    
serious4 ,they are meant well1 the      
action hovers about them with  little   
tempting solicitations1 continually     
offering them an opportunity  to be     
fine1 to be genuine1 and then           

withdrawing it before it can be         
grasped4 ,the third act has all the     
material of tragedy1 but the material   
is wasted2 only the actress makes       
anything of it4 ,we know how ,sullivan  
will take a motive of mere farce1 such  
words as the ,o ,captain ,shaw6 of      
,iolanthe1 and will write a lovely      
melody to go with it1 fitting his  music
 to the feeling which the words do but  
caricature4 ,that is how ,miss  ,irene  
,vanbrugh handled ,mr4 ,jones's unshapen
 material4 ,by the  earnestness1        
sincerity1 sheer nature1 power1 fire1   
dignity1 and gaiety  of her acting1 she 
made for us a figure which ,mr4 ,jones  
had not made4  ,mr4 ,jones would set his
 character in some impossible situation1
 and ,miss  ,vanbrugh would make us1 for
 the moment1 forget its impossibility4  
,he  would give her a trivial or a      
grotesque or a vulgar action to do1 and 
she would do it with distinction4 ,she  
had force in lightness1 a vivid  malice1
 a magnetic cheerfulness2 and she could 

suffer silently1 and be  sincere in a   
tragedy which had been conceived without
 sincerity4 ,if  acting could save a    
play1 ,the ,princess's ,nose would have 
been saved4  ,it was not saved4    ,and 
the reason is that even the best of     
actors cannot save a play which  insists
 on defeating them at every turn4 ,yet1 
as we may realise any day  when ,sarah  
,bernhardt acts before us1 there is a   
certain kind of frankly  melodramatic   
play which can be lifted into at all    
events a region of  excited and         
gratified nerves4 ,i have lately been to
 see a melodrama  called ,the ,heel of  
,achilles1 which ,miss ,julia ,neilson  
has been giving  at the ,globe ,theatre4
 ,the play was meant to tear at one's   
susceptibilities1 much as ,la ,tosca    
tears at them4 ,la ,tosca is not a  fine
 play in itself1 though it is a much    
better play than ,the ,heel of          
,achilles4 ,but it is the vivid1        
sensational acting of ,sarah ,bernhardt 
which gives one all the shudders4 ,the  

,heel of ,achilles did not give me  a   
single shudder1 not because it was not  
packed with the raw material of         
sensation1 but because ,miss ,julia     
,neilson went through so many trying    
experiences with nerves of marble4    ,i
 cannot help wondering at the curious   
lack of self-knowledge in actors4  ,here
 is a play1 which depends for a great   
deal of its effect on a scene  in which 
,lady ,leslie1 a young ,englishwoman in 
,russia1 promises to marry  a ,russian  
prince whom she hates1 in order to save 
her betrothed lover  from being sent to 
,siberia4 ,the lover is shut in between 
two doors1  unable to get out2 he is the
 bearer of a ,state secret1 and         
everything  depends on his being able to
 catch the eleven ,p4,m4 train for      
,berlin4 ,the  ,russian prince stands   
before the young ,englishwoman1 offering
 her the  key of the door1 the safety of
 her lover1 and his own hand in         
marriage4  ,now1 she has to express by  
her face and her movements all the      

feelings  of astonishment1 horror1      
suspense1 love1 hatred1 distraction1    
which such  a situation would call up in
 her4 ,if she does not express them the 
scene  goes for nothing4 ,the actress   
stakes all on this scene4 ,now1 is it   
possible that ,miss ,julia ,neilson     
really imagined herself to be capable   
of rendering this scene as it should be 
rendered8 ,it is a scene that  requires 
no brains1 no subtle emotional quality1 
none of the more  intellectual merits of
 acting4 ,it requires simply a great    
passivity to  feeling1 the mere skill of
 letting horrors sweep over the face and
 the  body like drenching waves4 ,the   
actress need not know how she does it2  
she may do it without an effort1 or she 
may obtain her spontaneity by an        
elaborate calculation4 ,but to do it at 
all she must be the actress in  every   
fibre of her body2 she must be able to  
vibrate freely4 ,if the  emotion does   
not seize her in its own grasp1 and then
 seize us through  her1 it will all go  

for nothing4 ,well1 ,miss ,neilson sat1 
and walked1 and  started1 and became    
rigid1 and glanced at the clock1 and    
knelt1 and fell  against the wall1 and  
cast her eyes about1 and threw her arms 
out1 and  made her voice husky2 and it  
all went for nothing4 ,never for an     
instant  did she suggest what she was   
trying to suggest1 and after the first  
moment of disappointment the mind was   
left calmly free to watch her  attempt  
as if it were speculating round a       
problem4    ,how many ,english          
actresses1 ,i wonder1 would have been   
capable of dealing  adequately with such
 a scene as that8 ,i take it1 not       
because it is a  good scene1 but because
 it affords so rudimentary a test of the
 capacity  for acting4 ,the test of the 
capacity for acting begins where words  
end2  it is independent of words2 you   
may take poor words as well as fine     
words2 it is all the same4 ,the         
embodying power1 the power to throw open
  one's whole nature to an overcoming   

sensation1 the power to render this     
sensation in so inevitable a way that   
others shall feel it3 that is the  one  
thing needful4 ,it is not art1 it is not
 even the beginning of art2  but it is  
the foundation on which alone art can be
 built4    ,the other day1 in ,ulysses1 
there was only one piece of acting that 
was  quite convincing3 the acting of    
,mr4 ,brough as the ,swineherd4 ,it is a
  small part and an easy part1 but it   
was perfectly done4 ,almost any  other  
part would have been more striking and  
surprising if it had been  done as      
perfectly1 but no other part was done as
 perfectly4 ,mr4 ,brough  has developed 
a stage-personality of his own1 with    
only a limited range  of emotion1 but he
 has developed it until it has become a 
second nature  with him4 ,he has only to
 speak1 and he may say what he likes2 we
 accept  him after the first word1 and  
he remains what that first word has     
shown  him to be4 ,mr4 ,tree1 with his  
many gifts1 his effective talents1 all  

his  taste1 ambition1 versatility1 never
 produces just that effect3 he  remains 
interestingly aside from what he is     
doing2 you see his brain  working upon  
it1 you enjoy his by-play2 his gait1 his
 studied gestures1  absorb you2 ,how    
well this is done6 you say1 and ,how    
well that is  done6 and1 indeed1 you get
 a complete picture out of his          
representation  of that part3 a picture1
 not a man4    ,i am not sure that      
melodrama is not the hardest test of the
 actor3 it  is1 at least1 the surest4   
,all the human emotions throng noisily  
together in the making of melodrama3    
they are left there1 in their naked     
muddle1 and they come to no good end2   
but there they are4 ,to represent  any  
primary emotion1 and to be ineffective1 
is to fail in the  fundamental thing4   
,all actors should be sent to school in 
melodrama1 as  all dramatic authors     
should learn their trade there4         
,,the ,,price ,,of ,,realism            
,modern staging1 which has been carried 

in ,england to its highest point  of    
excellence1 professes to aim at beauty1 
and is1 indeed1 often  beautiful in     
detail4 ,but its real aim is not at the 
creation of  beautiful pictures1 in     
subordination to the words and actions  
of the  play1 but at supplementing words
 and actions by an exact imitation of   
real surroundings4 ,imitation1 not      
creation1 is its end1 and in its        
attempt to imitate the general aspect of
 things it leads the way to the         
substitution of things themselves for   
perfectly satisfactory indications  of  
them4 ,real water we have all heard of1 
and we know its place in the  theatre2  
but this is only the simplest form of   
this anti-artistic  endeavour to be     
real4 ,sir ,henry ,irving will use1 for 
a piece of  decoration meant to be seen 
only from a distance1 a garland of      
imitation  flowers1 exceedingly well    
done1 costing perhaps two pounds1 where 
two  or three brushes of paint would    
have supplied its place more            

effectively4 ,when d',annunzio's        
,francesca da ,rimini was put on the    
stage in ,rome1 a pot of basil was      
brought daily from ,naples in order     
that it might be laid on the window-sill
 of the room in which ,francesca  and   
,paolo read of ,lancelot and ,guinevere4
 ,in an interview published in  one of  
the ,english papers1 d',annunzio        
declared that he had all his stage      
decorations made in precious metal by   
fine craftsmen1 and that he had  done   
this for an artistic purpose1 and not   
only for the beauty of the  things      
themselves4 ,the gesture1 he said1 of   
the actor who lifts to his  lips a cup  
of finely-wrought gold will be finer1   
more sincere1 than that  of the actor   
who uses a gilded property4    ,if so1  
,i can but answer1 the actor is no      
actor1 but an amateur4 ,the true  actor 
walks in a world as real in its         
unreality as that which surrounds  the  
poet or the enthusiast4 ,the bare       
boards1 chairs1 and ,t-light1 in the    

midst of which he rehearses1 are as     
significantly palaces or meadows to     
him1 while he speaks his lines and lives
 himself into his character1 as  all the
 real grass and real woodwork with which
 the manager will cumber  the stage on  
the first night4 ,as little will he need
 to distinguish  between the gilt and   
the gold cup as between the imaginary   
characters  who surround him1 and his   
mere friends and acquaintances who are  
speaking for them4    ,this costly and  
inartistic aim at reality1 then1 is the 
vice of the  modern stage1 and1 at its  
best or worst1 can it be said that it is
  really even what it pretends to be3 a 
perfectly deceptive imitation of  the   
real thing8 ,i said once1 to clinch an  
argument against it1 by giving  it its  
full possible credit1 that the modern   
staging can give you the  hour of the   
day and the corner of the country with  
precise accuracy4 ,but  can it8 ,has the
 most gradual of stage-moons ever caught
 the miraculous  lunar trick to the     

life8 ,has the real hedgerow ever       
brought a breath of  the country upon   
the stage8 ,i do not think so1 and      
meanwhile1 we have  been trying our     
hardest to persuade ourselves that it is
 so1 instead of  abandoning ourselves to
 a new1 strange atmosphere1 to the magic
 of the  play itself4    ,what ,mr4     
,craig does is to provide a plain1      
conventional1 or darkened  background   
for life1 as life works out its own     
ordered lines on the  stage2 he gives us
 suggestion instead of reality1 a symbol
 instead of an  imitation2 and he       
relies1 for his effects1 on a new system
 of lighting  from above1 not from      
below1 and on a quite new kind of drill1
 as ,i may  call it1 by which he uses   
his characters as masses and patterns1  
teaching them to move all together1 with
 identical gestures4 ,the eye is        
carried right through or beyond these   
horizons of canvas1 and the  imagination
 with it2 instead of stopping entangled 
among real stalks and  painted gables4  

,i have seen nothing so imaginative1 so 
restful1 so expressive1 on the  ,english
 stage as these simple and elaborately  
woven designs1 in patterns  of light and
 drapery and movement1 which in ,the    
,masque of ,love had a  new quality of  
charm1 a completeness of invention1 for 
which ,i would  have given all          
d',annunzio's golden cups and ,mr4      
,tree's boats on real  ,thames water4   
,here1 for once1 we see the stage       
treated in the proper spirit1 as        
material for art1 not as a collection of
 real objects1 or the imitation  of real
 objects4 ,why should not the visible   
world be treated in the same  spirit as 
the invisible world of character and    
temperament8 ,a fine play  is not the   
copy of an incident or the stenography  
of a character4 ,a  poetical play1 to   
limit myself to that1 requires to be put
 on the stage  in such a way as to      
suggest that atmosphere which1 if it is 
a true poem1  will envelop its mental   
outlines4 ,that atmosphere1 which is of 

its  essence1 is the first thing to be  
lost1 in the staging of most poetical   
plays4 ,it is precisely what the        
stage-manager1 if he happens to have the
  secret of his own art1 will endeavour 
most persistently to suggest4 ,he  will 
make it his business to compete with the
 poet1 and not1 after the  manner of    
,drury ,lane1 with the accidents of life
 and the vulgarities of  nature4        
,,on ,,crossing ,,stage ,,to ,,right    
,if you look into the actors'           
prompt-books1 the most frequent         
direction  which you will find is this3 
,cross stage to right4 ,it is not a mere
  direction1 it is a formula2 it is not 
a formula only1 but a universal  remedy4
 ,whenever the action seems to flag1 or 
the dialogue to become  weak or wordy1  
you must cross stage to right2 no matter
 what is wrong  with the play1 this will
 set it right4 ,we have heard so much of
 the  action of a play1 that the        
stage-manager in ,england seems to      
imagine  that dramatic action is        

literally a movement of people across   
the stage1  even if for no other reason 
than for movement's sake4 ,is the play  
weak8  ,he tries to strengthen it1 poor 
thing1 by sending it out walking for its
  health4    ,if we take drama with any 
seriousness1 as an art as well as an    
improvisation1 we shall realise that one
 of its main requirements is  that it   
should make pictures4 ,that is the      
lesson of ,bayreuth1 and when  one comes
 away1 the impression which remains1    
almost longer than the  impression of   
the music itself1 is that grave1        
regulated motion of the  actors4 ,as ,i 
have said elsewhere1 no actor makes a   
gesture which has not  been regulated   
for him2 there is none of that          
unintelligent haphazard  known as being 
natural2 these people move like music1  
or with that  sense of motion which it  
is the business of painting to arrest4  
,but  here1 of course1 ,i am speaking of
 the poetic drama1 of drama which does  
not aim at the realistic representation 

of modern life4 ,maeterlinck  should be 
acted in this solemn way1 in a kind of  
convention2 but ,i admit  that you      
cannot act ,ibsen in quite the same way4
    ,the other day1 when ,mme4 ,jeanne  
,granier's company came over here to    
give  us some lessons in acting1 ,i     
watched a little scene in ,la ,veine1   
which  was one of the telling scenes of 
the play3 ,guitry and ,brasseur standing
  face to face for some minutes1 looking
 at their watches1 and then  waiting1   
each with a single1 fixed expression on 
his face1 in which the  whole           
temperament of each is summed up4 ,one  
is inclined to say3 ,no  ,english actor 
could have done it4 ,perhaps2 but then1 
no ,english  stage-manager would have   
let them do it4 ,they would have been   
told to  move1 to find business1 to     
indulge in gesture which would not come 
naturally to them4 ,again1 in ,tartuffe1
 when1 at the end1 the hypocrite  is    
exposed and led off to prison1 ,coquelin
 simply turns his back on the  audience1

 and stands1 with head sullenly down1   
making no movement2 then1  at the end1  
he turns half-round and walks straight  
off1 on the nearer  side of the stage1  
giving you no more than a momentary     
glimpse of a  convulsed face1 fixed into
 a definite1 gross1 raging mood4 ,it    
would have  taken ,mr4 ,tree five       
minutes to get off the stage1 and he    
would have  walked to and fro with a    
very multiplication of gesture1 trying  
on one  face1 so to speak1 after        
another4 ,would it have been so         
effective1 that  is to say1 so real8    
,a great part of the art of ,french     
acting consists in knowing when and  how
 not to do things4 ,their blood helps   
them1 for there is movement in  their   
blood1 and they have something to       
restrain4 ,but they have realised  the  
art there is in being quite still1 in   
speaking naturally1 as people  do when  
they are really talking1 in fixing      
attention on the words they  are saying 
and not on their antics while saying    

them4 ,the other day1 in  the first act 
of ,the ,bishop's ,move at the ,garrick1
 there is a ,duchess  talking to a young
 novice in the refectory of a ,french   
abbey4 ,after  standing talking to him  
for a few minutes1 with only such       
movements as  would be quite natural    
under the circumstances1 she takes his  
arm1 not  once only but twice1 and walks
 him up and down in front of the        
footlights1 for no reason in the world  
except to cross stage to right4  ,the   
stage trick was so obvious that it      
deprived the scene at once of any       
pretence to reality4    ,the fact is1   
that we do not sufficiently realise the 
difference between  what is dramatic and
 what is merely theatrical4 ,drama is   
made to be  acted1 and the finest       
literary play in the world1 if it wholly
 fails  to interest people on the stage1
 will have wholly failed in its first   
and most essential aim4 ,but the finer  
part of drama is implicit in the  words 
and in the development of the play1 and 

not in its separate small  details of   
literal action4 ,two people should be   
able to sit quietly in  a room1 without 
ever leaving their chairs1 and to hold  
our attention  breathless for as long as
 the playwright likes4 ,given a good    
play1  ,french actors are able to do    
that4 ,given a good play1 ,english      
actors are  not allowed to do it4    ,is
 it not partly the energy1 the restless 
energy1 of the ,english  character which
 prevents our actors from ever sitting  
or standing still  on the stage8 ,we are
 a nation of travellers1 of sailors1 of 
business  people2 and all these have to 
keep for ever moving4 ,our dances are   
the  most vigorous and athletic of      
dances1 they carry us all over the      
stage1  with all kinds of leaping and   
kicking movements4 ,our music-hall      
performers have invented a kind of      
clowning peculiar to this country1 in   
which kicking and leaping are also a    
part of the business4 ,our  melodramas  
are constructed on more movable planes1 

with more formidable  collapses and     
collisions1 than those of any other     
country4 ,is not1 then1  the persistent 
,english habit of crossing stage to     
right a national  characteristic1       
ingrained in us1 and not only a matter  
of training8 ,it  is this reflection    
which hinders me from hoping1 with much 
confidence1  that a reform in           
stage-management will lead to a really  
quieter and  simpler way of acting4 ,but
 might not the experiment be tried8     
,might not  some stage-manager come     
forward and say3 ,for heaven's sake     
stand still1  my dear ladies and        
gentlemen1 and see if you cannot        
interest your  audience without moving  
more than twice the length of your own  
feet8          ,,the ,,speaking ,,of    
,,verse      ,was there ever at any time
 an art1 an acquired method1 of speaking
  verse1 as definite as the art and     
method of singing it8 ,the ,greeks1 it  
has often been thought1 had such a      
method1 but we are still puzzling in    

vain over their choruses1 and wondering 
how far they were sung1 how far  they   
were spoken4 ,wagner pointed out the    
probability that these choruses  were   
written to fixed tunes1 perhaps         
themselves the accompaniment to  dances1
 because it can hardly be believed that 
poems of so meditative a  kind could    
have themselves given rise to such      
elaborate and not  apparently expressive
 rhythms4 ,in later times there have    
been stage  traditions1 probably        
developed from the practice of some     
particular  actor1 many conflicting     
traditions2 but1 at the present day1    
there is  not even a definite bad       
method1 but mere chaos1 individual      
caprice1 in  the speaking of verse as a 
foolish monotonous tune or as a         
foolishly  contorted species of prose4  
,an attempt has lately been made by ,mr4
 ,yeats1 with the practical  assistance 
of ,mr4 ,dolmetsch and ,miss ,florence  
,farr1 to revive or invent  an art of   
speaking verse to a pitch sounded by a  

musical instrument4 ,mr4  ,dolmetsch has
 made instruments which he calls        
psalteries1 and ,miss ,farr  has herself
 learnt and has taught others1 to chant 
verse1 in a manner  between speaking and
 singing1 to the accompaniment of the   
psaltery4 ,mr4  ,yeats has written and  
talked and lectured on the subject2 and 
the  experiment has been tried in the   
performances of ,mr4 ,gilbert ,murray's 
translation of the ,hippolytus of       
,euripides4 ,here1 then1 is the only    
definite attempt which has been made in 
our time to regulate the speech  of     
actors in their speaking of verse4 ,no  
problem of the theatre is more          
important1 for it is only by the quality
 of the verse1 and by the  clearness1   
beauty1 and expressiveness of its       
rendering1 that a play of  ,shakespeare 
is to be distinguished1 when we see it  
on the stage1 from  any other melodrama4
 ,i see no reason1 says ,lamb1 in the   
profoundest  essay which has ever been  
written on the acting of drama1 to think

 that  if the play of ,hamlet were      
written over again by some such writer  
as  ,banks or ,lillo1 retaining the     
process of the story1 but totally       
omitting  all the poetry of it1 all the 
divine features of ,shakespeare1 his    
stupendous intellect2 and only taking   
care to give us enough of  passionate   
dialogue1 which ,banks or ,lillo were   
never at a loss to  furnish2 ,i see not 
how the effect could be much different  
upon an  audience1 nor how the actor has
 it in his power to represent           
,shakespeare  to us differently from his
 representation of ,banks or ,lillo4 ,it
 is  precisely by his speaking of that  
poetry1 which one is accustomed to  hear
 hurried over or turned into mere       
oratory1 that the actor might1 if  he   
were conscious of the necessity of doing
 it1 and properly trained to  do it1    
bring before the audience what is       
essential in ,shakespeare4 ,here1  in   
the rendering of words1 is the actor's  
first duty to his author1 if  he is to  

remember that a play is acted1 not for  
the exhibition of the  actor1 but for   
the realisation of the play4 ,we should 
think little of  the dramatic effect of 
a symphony1 in which every individual   
note had  not been given its precise    
value by every instrument in the        
orchestra4  ,when do we ever1 on the    
stage1 see the slightest attempt1 on the
 part of  even the solo players1 to give
 its precise value to every word of that
  poetry which is itself a not less     
elaborate piece of concerted music8     
,the two great dangers in the speaking  
of verse are the danger of              
over-emphasising the meaning and the    
danger of over-emphasising the  sound4  
,i was never more conscious of the      
former danger than when ,i heard  a     
lecture given in ,london by ,m4         
,silvain1 of the ,comdie ,francaise1 on 
the art of speaking on the stage4       
,the method of ,m4 ,silvain 7who1       
besides being an actor1 is ,professor of
  ,declamation at the ,conservatoire7 is

 the method of the elocutionist1 but  of
 the elocutionist at his best4 ,he has a
 large1 round1 vibrating voice1  over   
which he has perfect command4 ,m4       
,silvain1 says ,m4 ,catulle  ,mends1 est
 de ceux1 bien rares au ,thtre ,franais1
 qu'on entend mme  lorsqu'ils par lent  
bas4 ,he has trained his voice to do    
everything that  he wants it to do2 his 
whole body is full of life1 energy1     
sensitiveness  to the emotion of every  
word2 his gestures seem to be at once   
spontaneous and calculated4 ,he adores  
verse1 for its own sake1 as a  brilliant
 executant adores his violin2 he has an 
excellent contempt for  prose1 as an    
inferior form4 ,in all his renderings of
 verse1 he never  forgot that it was at 
the same time speech1 the direct        
expression of  character1 and also      
poetry1 a thing with its own reasons for
 existence4  ,he gave ,la ,fontaine in  
one way1 ,molire in another1 ,victor    
,hugo in  another1 some poor modern     
verse in yet another4 ,but in all there 

was the  same attempt3 to treat verse in
 the spirit of rhetoric1 that is to say1
  to over-emphasise it consistently and 
for effect4 ,in a tirade from           
,corneille's ,cinna1 he followed the    
angry reasoning of the lines by         
counting on his fingers3 one1 two1      
three1 as if he were underlining the    
important words of each clause4 ,the    
danger of this method is that it is  apt
 to turn poetry into a kind of bad      
logic4 ,there1 precisely1 is the  danger
 of the ,french conception of poetry1   
and ,m4 ,silvain's method  brings out   
the worst faults of that conception4    
,now in speaking verse to musical notes1
 as ,mr4 ,yeats would have us do1  we   
are at least safe from this danger4 ,mr4
 ,yeats1 being a poet1 knows  that verse
 is first of all song4 ,in purely       
lyrical verse1 with which he  is at     
present chiefly concerned1 the verse    
itself has a melody which  demands      
expression by the voice1 not only when  
it is set to music1 but  when it is said

 aloud4 ,every poet1 when he reads his  
own verse1 reads it  with certain       
inflections of the voice1 in what is    
often called a  sing-song way1 quite    
different from the way in which he would
 read  prose4 ,most poets aim rather at 
giving the musical effect1 and the      
atmosphere1 the vocal atmosphere1 of the
 poem1 than at emphasising  individual  
meanings4 ,they give1 in the musician's 
sense1 a reading of  the poem1 an       
interpretation of the poem as a         
composition4 ,mr4 ,yeats  thinks that   
this kind of reading can be stereotyped1
 so to speak1 the  pitch noted down in  
musical notes1 and reproduced with the  
help of a  simple stringed instrument4  
,by way of proof1 ,miss ,farr repeated  
one of  ,mr4 ,yeats' lyrics1 as nearly  
as possible in the way in which ,mr4    
,yeats  himself is accustomed to say it4
 ,she took the pitch from certain notes 
which she had written down1 and which   
she struck on ,mr4 ,dolmetsch's         
psaltery4 ,now ,miss ,farr has a        

beautiful voice1 and a genuine feeling  
for  the beauty of verse4 ,she said the 
lines better than most people would     
have said them1 but1 to be quite frank1 
did she say them so as to  produce the  
effect ,mr4 ,yeats himself produces     
whenever he repeats those  lines8 ,the  
difference was fundamental4 ,the one was
 a spontaneous thing1  profoundly felt2 
the other1 a deliberate imitation in    
which the fixing  of the notes made any 
personal interpretation1 good or bad1   
impossible4    ,i admit that the way in 
which most actors speak verse is so     
deplorable  that there is much to be    
said for a purely mechanical method1    
even if it  should turn actors into     
little more than human phonographs4     
,many actors  treat verse as a slightly 
more stilted kind of prose1 and their   
main aim  in saying it is to conceal    
from the audience the fact that it is   
not  prose4 ,they think of nothing but  
what they take to be the expression1    
and when they come to a passage of      

purely lyric quality they give it as  if
 it were a quotation1 having nothing to 
do with the rest of the  speech4        
,anything is better than this haphazard 
way of misdoing things1  either ,m4     
,silvain's oratory or the intoning into 
which ,mr4 ,yeats' method  would almost 
certainly drift4 ,but ,i cannot feel    
that it is possible to  do much good by 
a ready-made method of any kind4 ,let   
the actor be taught  how to breathe1 how
 to articulate1 let his voice be trained
 to express  what he wants to express1  
and then let him be made to feel        
something of  what verse means by being 
verse4 ,let him1 by all means1 study one
 of ,mr4  ,yeats' readings1 interpreted 
to him by means of notes2 it will teach 
him to unlearn something and to learn   
something more4 ,but then let him       
forget his notes and ,mr4 ,yeats'       
method1 if he is to make verse live on  
the stage4          ,,great ,,acting    
,,in ,,english      ,why is it that we  
have at the present moment no great     

acting in ,england8  ,we can remember it
 in our own time1 in ,irving1 who was a 
man of  individual genius4 ,in him it   
was the expression of a romantic        
temperament1 really ,cornish1 that is1  
,celtic1 which had been cultivated  like
 a rare plant1 in a hothouse4 ,irving   
was an incomparable orchid1 a  thing    
beautiful1 lonely1 and not quite normal4
 ,we have one actress now  living1 an   
exception to every rule1 in whom a rare 
and wandering genius  comes and goes3 ,i
 mean1 of course1 ,mrs4 ,patrick        
,campbell4 ,she enchants  us1 from time 
to time1 with divine or magical         
improvisations4 ,we have  actresses who 
have many kinds of charm1 actors who    
have many kinds of  useful talent2 but  
have we in our whole island two actors  
capable of  giving so serious1 so       
intelligent1 so carefully finished1 so  
vital an  interpretation of             
,shakespeare1 or1 indeed1 of rendering  
any form of  poetic drama on the stage1 
as the ,englishman and ,englishwoman who

 came  to us in #aijg from ,america1 in 
the guise of ,americans3 ,julia ,marlowe
 and  ,edward ,sothern8    ,the business
 of the manager1 who in most cases is   
also the chief actor1  is to produce a  
concerted action between his separate   
players1 as the  conductor does between 
the instruments in his orchestra4 ,if he
 does not  bring them entirely under his
 influence1 if he 7because1 like the    
conductor of a pot-house band1 he       
himself is the first fiddle7 does not   
subordinate himself as carefully to the 
requirements of the composition1  the   
result will be worthless as a whole1 no 
matter what individual  talents may     
glitter out of it4 ,what should we say  
if the first fiddle  insisted on having 
a cadenza to himself in the course of   
every dozen  bars of the music8 ,what   
should we say if he cut the best parts  
of the  'cellos1 in order that they     
might not add a mellowness which would  
slightly veil the acuteness of his own  
notes8 ,what should we say if he        

rearranged the composer's score for the 
convenience of his own  orchestra8 ,what
 should we say if he left out a         
beautiful passage on the  horn because  
he had not got one of the two or three  
perfectly  accomplished horn-players in 
,europe8 ,what should we say if he      
altered  the time of one movement in    
order to make room for another1 in which
 he  would himself be more prominent8   
,what should we say if the conductor of 
an orchestra committed a single one of  
these criminal absurdities8 ,the        
musical public would rise against him as
 one man1 the pedantic critics  and the 
young men who smoke as they stand on    
promenade floors4 ,and yet  this1       
nothing more nor less1 is done on the   
stage of the theatre  whenever a        
,shakespeare play1 or any serious work  
of dramatic art1 is  presented with any 
sort of public appeal4    ,in the case  
of music1 fortunately1 something more   
than custom forbids3  the nature of     
music forbids4 ,but the play is at the  

mercy of the  actor-manager1 and the    
actor-manager has no mercy4 ,in ,england
 a serious  play1 above all a poetic    
play1 is not put on by any but small1   
unsuccessful1 more or less private and  
unprofessional people with any  sort of 
reverence for art1 beauty1 or1 indeed1  
for the laws and  conditions of the     
drama which is literature as well as    
drama4 ,personal  vanity and the        
pecuniary necessity of long runs are    
enough in themselves  to account for the
 failure of most attempts to combine    
,shakespeare with  show1 poetry with the
 box-office4 ,or is there in our        
actor-managers a  lack of this very     
sense of what is required in the proper 
rendering of  imaginative work on the   
stage8    ,it is in the staging and     
acting1 the whole performance and       
management1  of such typical plays of   
,shakespeare as ,hamlet1 ,romeo and     
,juliet1  and ,twelfth ,night that ,mr4 
,sothern and ,miss ,marlowe have shown  
the  whole extent of their powers1 and  

have read us the lesson we most  needed4
 ,the mission of these two guests has   
been to show us what we have  lost on   
our stage and what we have forgotten in 
our ,shakespeare4 ,and  first of all ,i 
would note the extraordinary novelty and
 life which they  give to each play as a
 whole by their way of setting it in    
action4 ,i  have always felt that a play
 of ,shakespeare1 seen on the stage1    
should  give one the same kind of       
impression as when one is assisting at a
  solemn music4 ,the rhythm of          
,shakespeare's art is not fundamentally 
different from that of ,beethoven1 and  
,romeo and ,juliet is a suite1  ,hamlet 
a symphony4 ,to act either of these     
plays with whatever  qualities of       
another kind1 and to fail in producing  
this musical rhythm  from beginning to  
end1 is to fail in the very foundation4 
,here the music  was unflawed2 there    
were no digressions1 no eccentricities1 
no sacrifice  to the actor4 ,this       
astonishing thing occurred3 that a play 

was presented  for its own sake1 with   
reverence1 not with ostentation2 for    
,shakespeare's sake1 not for the        
actor-manager's4    ,and from this      
intelligent1 unostentatious way of      
giving ,shakespeare  there come to us1  
naturally1 many lessons4 ,until ,i saw  
this performance  of ,romeo and ,juliet 
,i thought there was rhetoric in the    
play1 as well  as the natural poetry of 
drama4 ,but ,i see that it only needs to
 be  acted with genius and intelligence1
 and the poetry consumes the  rhetoric4 
,i never knew before that this play was 
so near to life1 or  that every beauty  
in it could be made so inevitably human4
 ,and this is  because no one else has  
rendered1 with so deep a truth1 with so 
beautiful a fidelity1 all that is       
passionate and desperate and an         
ecstatic agony in this tragic love which
 glorifies and destroys ,juliet4  ,the  
decorative ,juliet of the stage we know1
 the lovely picture1 the  ingenue1 the  
prattler of pretty phrases2 but this    

mysterious1 tragic  child1 whom love has
 made wise in making her a woman1 is    
unknown to us  outside ,shakespeare1 and
 perhaps even there4 ,mr4 ,sothern's    
,romeo has an  exquisite passion1 young 
and extravagant as a lover's1 and is    
alive4 ,but  ,miss ,marlowe is not only 
lovely and pathetic as ,juliet2 she is  
,juliet4 ,i  would not say that ,mr4    
,sothern's ,hamlet is the only ,hamlet1 
for there  are still1 no doubt1 points  
in ,hamlet's soul unseized by the       
,germans  yet4 ,yet what a ,hamlet6 ,how
 majestical1 how simple1 how much a poet
  and a gentleman6 ,to what depth he    
suffers6 ,how magnificently he          
interprets1 in the crucifixion of his   
own soul1 the main riddles of the       
universe6 ,in ,hamlet1 too1 ,i saw      
deeper meanings than ,i had ever seen   
in the play when it was acted4 ,mr4     
,sothern was the only quite sane        
,hamlet2 his madness is all the outer   
coverings of wisdom2 there was  nothing 
fantastic in his grave1 subdued1        

powerful1 and piteous  representation1  
in which no symbol1 no metaphysical     
,faust1 no figment of  a ,german brain1 
loomed before us1 but a man1 more to be 
pitied and not  less to be honoured than
 any man in ,elsinore4 ,i have seen     
romantic1  tragic1 exceptional ,hamlets1
 the very bells on the cap of ,fortune's
  fool4 ,but at last ,i have seen the   
man himself1 as ,shakespeare saw him    
living1 a gentleman1 as well as a       
philosopher1 a nature of fundamental    
sincerity2 no melancholy clown1 but the 
greatest of all critics of life4  ,and  
the play1 with its melodrama and its    
lyrical ecstasy1 moved before  one's    
eyes like a religious service4 ,how is  
it that we get from the  acting and     
management of these two actors a result 
which no one in  ,england has ever been 
able to get8 ,well1 in the first place1 
as ,i have  said1 they have the odd     
caprice of preferring ,shakespeare to   
themselves2  the odd conviction that    
fidelity to ,shakespeare will give them 

the best  chance of doing great things  
themselves4 ,nothing is accidental1     
everything obeys a single intention2 and
 what1 above all1 obeys that  intention 
is the quality of inspiration1 which is 
never absent and never  uncontrolled4   
,intention without the power of         
achievement is almost as  lamentable a  
thing as achievement not directed by    
intention4 ,now here  are two players in
 whom technique has been carried to a   
supreme point4  ,there is no actor on   
our stage who can speak either ,english 
or verse as  these two ,american actors 
can4 ,it is on this preliminary         
technique1 this  power of using speech  
as one uses the notes of a musical      
instrument1  that all possibility of    
great acting depends4 ,who is there that
 can give  us1 not the external gesture1
 but the inner meaning1 of some         
beautiful  and subtle passage in        
,shakespeare8 ,one of our actors will   
give it  sonorously1 as rhetoric1 and   
another eagerly1 as passionate speech1  

but  no one with the precise accent of a
 man who is speaking his thoughts1      
which is what ,shakespeare makes his    
characters do when he puts his          
loveliest poetry into their mouths4     
,look at ,mr4 ,sothern when he gives    
the soliloquy ,to be or not to be1 which
 we are accustomed to hear  spoken to   
the public in one or another of many    
rhetorical manners4 ,mr4  ,sothern's    
,hamlet curls himself up in a chair1    
exactly as sensitive  reflective people 
do when they want to make their bodies  
comfortable  before setting their minds 
to work2 and he lets you overhear his   
thoughts4 ,every soliloquy of           
,shakespeare is meant to be overheard1  
and  just so casually4 ,to render this  
on the stage requires1 first1 an        
understanding of what poetry is2 next1 a
 perfect capacity of producing  by the  
sound and intonation of the voice the   
exact meaning of those  words and       
cadences4 ,who is there on our stage who
 has completely  mastered those two     

first requirements of acting8 ,no one   
now acting in  ,english1 except ,julia  
,marlowe and ,edward ,sothern4    ,what 
these two players do is to give us1 not 
the impression which we get  when we see
 and admire fine limitations1 but the   
impression which we get  from real      
people who1 when they speak in verse1   
seem to be speaking  merely the language
 of their own hearts4 ,they give us     
every character in  the round1 whereas  
with our actors we see no more than     
profiles4 ,look1  for contrast1 at the  
,malvolio of ,mr4 ,sothern4 ,it is an   
elaborate  travesty1 done in a disguise 
like the solemn dandy's head of         
,disraeli4  ,he acts with his eyelids1  
which move while all the rest of the    
face is  motionless2 with his pursed1   
reticent mouth1 with his prim and       
pompous  gestures2 with that            
self-consciousness which brings all     
,malvolio's  troubles upon him4 ,it is a
 fantastic1 tragically comic thing1 done
 with  rare calculation1 and it has its 

formal1 almost cruel share in the       
immense gaiety of the piece4 ,the play  
is great and wild1 a mockery and a      
happiness2 and it is all seen and not   
interpreted1 but the mystery of  it     
deepened1 in the clown's song at the    
end1 which1 for once1 has been  allowed 
its full effect1 not theatrical1 but of 
pure imagination4    ,so far ,i have    
spoken only of those first requirements1
 those elementary  principles of acting1
 which we ought to be able to take for  
granted2  only in ,england1 we cannot4  
,these once granted1 the individual work
 of  the actor begins1 his power to     
create with the means at his disposal4  
,let us look1 then1 a little more       
closely at ,miss ,marlowe4 ,i have      
spoken  of her ,juliet1 which is no     
doubt her finest part4 ,but now look at 
her  ,ophelia4 ,it is not1 perhaps1 so  
great a triumph as her ,juliet1 and     
merely for the reason that there is     
little in ,ophelia but an image of  some
 beautiful bright thing broken4 ,yet the

 mad scene will be remembered  among all
 other renderings for its edged         
lightness1 the quite simple  poetry it  
makes of madness2 above all1 the natural
 pity which comes into  it from a       
complete abandonment to what is essence1
 and not mere  decoration1 in the       
spoiled brain of this kind1 loving and  
will-less  woman4 ,she suffers1 and is  
pitifully unaware of it1 there before   
you1  the very soul naked and shameless 
with an innocence beyond innocence4     
,she makes the rage and tenderness of   
,hamlet towards her a credible  thing4  
,in ,juliet ,miss ,marlowe is ripe      
humanity1 in ,ophelia that same humanity
  broken down from within4 ,as ,viola1  
in ,twelfth ,night she is the woman  let
 loose1 to be bewitching in spite of    
herself2 and here again her art  is     
tested1 and triumphs1 for she is        
bewitching1 and never trespasses  into  
jauntiness on the one hand1 or1 on the  
other1 into that modern  sentiment which
 the theatre has accustomed itself to   

under the name of  romance4 ,she is     
serious1 with a calm and even           
simplicity1 to which  everything is a   
kind of child's play1 putting no        
unnecessary pathos into  a matter       
destined to come right in the end4 ,and 
so her delicate and  restrained gaiety  
in masquerade interprets perfectly1     
satisfies every  requirement1 of what   
for the moment is whimsical in          
,shakespeare's art4    ,now turn from   
,shakespeare1 and see what can be done  
with the modern  make-believe4 ,here1 in
 ,jeanne d',arc1 is a recent ,american  
melodrama1  written ambitiously1 in     
verse which labours to be poetry4 ,the  
subject  was made for ,miss ,marlowe1   
but the play was made for effect1 and it
 is  lamentable to see her1 in scenes   
made up of false sentiment and          
theatrical situations1 trying to do what
 she is ready and able to do2  what1    
indeed1 some of the scenes give her the 
chance to be3 the little  peasant girl1 
perplexed by visions and possessed by   

them1 and also the  peasant saint1 too  
simple to know that she is heroic4 ,out 
of a play of  shreds and patches one    
remembers only something which has given
 it its  whole value3 the vital image of
 a divine child1 a thing of peace and   
love1 who makes war angelically4    ,yet
 even in this play there was ambition   
and an aim4 ,turn1 last of all1  to a   
piece which succeeded with ,london      
audiences better than  ,shakespeare1 a  
burlesque of ,american origin1 called   
,when ,knighthood was  in ,flower4 ,here
 too ,i seemed to discern a lesson for  
the ,english stage4  ,even through the  
silly disguises of this inconceivable   
production1  which pleased innocent     
,london as it had pleased indifferent   
,new ,york1  one felt a certain lilt and
 go1 a touch of nature among the fool's 
fabric of the melodrama1 which set the  
action far above our steady             
practitioners in the same art of        
sinking4 ,and1 above all1 a sense of    
parody pierced through words and        

actions1 commenting wittily on the      
nonsense of romance which so many were  
so willing to take seriously4 ,she  was 
a live thing1 defiantly and gaily       
conscious of every absurdity with  which
 she indulged the babyish tastes of one 
more public4    ,an actor or actress who
 is limited by talent1 personality1 or  
preference  to a single kind of rle is  
not properly an artist at all4 ,it is   
the  curse of success that1 in any art1 
a man who has pleased the public in  any
 single thing is called upon1 if he     
would turn it into money1 to  repeat it1
 as exactly as he can1 as often as he   
can4 ,if he does so1 he  is1 again1 not 
an artist4 ,it is the business of every 
kind of artist to  be ceaselessly       
creative1 and1 above all1 not to repeat 
himself4 ,when ,i  have seen ,miss      
,marlowe as ,juliet1 as ,ophelia1 and as
 ,viola1 ,i am  content to have seen her
 also in a worthless farce1 because she 
showed  me that she could go without    
vulgarity1 lightly1 safely1 through a   

part  that she despised3 she did not    
spoil it out of self-respect2 out of a  
rarer self-respect she carried it       
through without capitulating to it4     
,then ,i hear of her having done ,lady  
,teazle and ,imogen1 the ,fiammetta of  
,catulle ,mends and the ,salome of      
,hauptmann2 ,i do not know even the     
names  of half the parts she has played1
 but ,i can imagine her playing them    
all1 not with the same poignancy and    
success1 but with a skill hardly        
varying from one to another4 ,there is  
no doubt that she has a natural  genius 
for acting4 ,this genius she has so     
carefully and so subtly  trained that it
 may strike you at first sight as not   
being genius at  all2 because it is so  
much on the level1 because there are no 
fits and  starts in it2 because1 in     
short1 it has none of the attractiveness
 of  excess4 ,it is by excess that we   
for the most part distinguish what seems
  to us genius2 and it is often by its  
excess that genius first really  shows  

itself4 ,but the rarest genius is       
without excess1 and may seem  colourless
 in his perfection1 as ,giorgione seems 
beside ,titian4 ,but  ,giorgione will   
always be the greater4    ,i quoted to  
an old friend and fervent admirer of    
,miss ,marlowe the words  of ,bacon     
which were always on the lips of ,poe   
and of ,baudelaire1 about  the          
strangeness in the proportions of all   
beauty4 ,she asked me1 in  pained       
surprise1 if ,i saw anything strange in 
,miss ,marlowe4 ,if ,i had  not1 she    
would have meant nothing for me1 as the 
faultily faultless  person1 the ,mrs4   
,kendal1 means nothing to me4 ,the      
confusion can easily  be made1 and there
 will probably always be people who will
 prefer ,mrs4  ,kendal to ,miss         
,marlowe1 as there are those who will   
think ,mme4 ,melba a  greater operatic  
singer than ,mme4 ,calv4 ,what ,miss    
,marlowe has is a  great innocence1     
which is not1 like ,duse's1 the         
innocence of wisdom1 and  a childish and

 yet wild innocence1 such as we might   
find in a tamed wild  beast1 in whom    
there would always be a charm far beyond
 that of the  domestic creature who has 
grown up on our hearth4 ,this wildness  
comes to  her perhaps from ,pan1 forces 
of nature that are always somewhere     
stealthily about the world1 hidden in   
the blood1 unaccountable1  unconscious2 
without which we are tame christened    
things1 fit for  cloisters4 ,duse is the
 soul made flesh1 ,rjane the flesh made 
,parisian1  ,sarah ,bernhardt the flesh 
and the devil2 but ,julia ,marlowe is   
the joy of  life1 the plenitude of sap  
in the tree4    ,the personal appeal of 
,mr4 ,sothern and of ,miss ,marlowe is  
very  different4 ,in his manner of      
receiving applause there is something   
almost  resentful1 as if1 being         
satisfied to do what he chooses to do1  
and in  his own way1 he were indifferent
 to the opinion of others4 ,it is not   
the  actor's attitude2 but what a relief
 from the general subservience of  that 

attitude6 ,in ,miss ,marlowe there is   
something young1 warm1 and  engaging1 a 
way of giving herself wholly to the     
pleasure of pleasing1 to  which the     
footlights are scarcely a barrier4 ,as  
if unconsciously1 she  fills and        
gladdens you with a sense of the single 
human being whom she  is representing4  
,and there is her strange beauty1 in    
which the mind and  the senses have an  
equal part1 and which is full of savour 
and grace1  alive to the finger-tips4   
,yet it is not with these personal      
qualities  that ,i am here chiefly      
concerned4 ,what ,i want to emphasise is
 the  particular kind of lesson which   
this acting1 so essentially ,english1   
though it comes to us as if set free by 
,america1 should have for all who  are  
at all seriously considering the        
lamentable condition of our stage  in   
the present day4 ,we have nothing like  
it in ,england1 nothing on the  same    
level1 no such honesty and capacity of  
art1 no such worthy results4  ,are we   

capable of realising the difference8 ,if
 not1 ,julia ,marlowe and  ,edward      
,sothern will have come to ,england in  
vain4          ,a ,,theory ,,of ,,the   
,,stage      ,life and beauty are the   
body and soul of great drama4 ,mix the  
two as you  will1 so long as both are   
there1 resolved into a single substance4
 ,but  let there be1 in the making1 two 
ingredients1 and while one is poetry1   
and comes bringing beauty1 the other is 
a violent thing which has been          
scornfully called melodrama1 and is the 
emphasis of action4 ,the greatest  plays
 are melodrama by their skeleton1 and   
poetry by the flesh which  clothes that 
skeleton4    ,the foundation of drama is
 that part of the action which can be   
represented in dumb show4 ,only the     
essential parts of action can be        
represented without words1 and you would
 set the puppets vainly to work  on any 
material but that which is common to    
humanity4 ,the permanence of  a drama   
might be tested by the continuance and  

universality of its  appeal when played 
silently in gestures4 ,i have seen the  
test applied4  ,companies of marionette 
players still go about the villages of  
,kent1  and among their stock pieces is 
,arden of ,feversham1 the play which    
,shakespeare is not too great to have   
written1 at some moment when his  right 
hand knew not what his left hand was    
doing4 ,well1 that great  little play   
can hold the eyes of every child and    
villager1 as the  puppets enact it2 and 
its power has not gone out of it after  
three  centuries4 ,dumb show apes the   
primal forces of nature1 and is         
inarticulate1 as they are2 until relief 
gives words4 ,when words come1  there is
 no reason why they should not be in    
verse1 for only in verse  can we render 
what is deepest in humanity of the      
utmost beauty4 ,nothing  but beauty     
should exist on the stage4 ,visible     
beauty comes with the  ballet1 an       
abstract thing2 gesture adds pantomime1 
with which drama  begins2 and then words

 bring in the speech by which life tries
 to tell  its secret4 ,because poetry1  
speaking its natural language of verse1 
can  let out more of that secret than   
prose1 the great drama of the past has  
been mainly drama in verse4 ,the modern 
desire to escape from form1 and  to get 
at a raw thing which shall seem like    
what we know of the outside  of nature1 
has led our latest dramatists to use    
prose in preference to  verse1 which    
indeed is more within their limits4 ,it 
is ,ibsen who has  seemed to do most to 
justify the use of prose1 for he carries
 his  psychology far with it4 ,yet it   
remains prose1 a meaner method1 a       
limiting restraint1 and his drama a     
thing less fundamental than the  drama  
of the poets4 ,only one modern writer   
has brought something which  is almost  
the equivalent of poetry out of prose   
speech3 ,tolstoi1 in ,the  ,powers of   
,darkness4 ,the play is horrible and    
uncouth1 but it is  illuminated by a    
great inner light4 ,there is not a      

beautiful word in it1  but it is filled 
with beauty4 ,and that is because       
,tolstoi has the vision  which may be   
equally that of the poet and of the     
prophet4 ,it is often  said that the age
 of poetry is over1 and that the great  
forms of the  future must be in prose4  
,that is the exquisite reason of those  
whom  the gods have not made poetical4  
,it is like saying that there will be   
no more music1 or that love is out of   
date4 ,forms change1 but not  essence2  
and ,whitman points the way1 not to     
prose1 but to a poetry which  shall take
 in wider regions of the mind4    ,yet1 
though it is by its poetry that1 as     
,lamb pointed out1 a play of            
,shakespeare differs from a play of     
,banks or ,lillo1 the poetry is not     
more essential to its making than the   
living substance1 the melodrama4  ,poets
 who have written plays for reading have
 wasted their best  opportunities4 ,why 
wear chains for dancing8 ,the           
limitations necessary to  the drama     

before it can be fitted to the stage are
 but hindrances and  disabilities to the
 writer of a book4 ,where can we find   
more spilt  wealth than in the plays of 
,swinburne1 where all the magnificent   
speech  builds up no structure1 but     
wavers in orchestral floods1 without    
beginning or ending8 ,it has been said  
that ,shakespeare will sacrifice  his   
drama to his poetry1 and even ,hamlet   
has been quoted against him4  ,but let  
,hamlet be rightly acted1 and whatever  
has seemed mere  lingering meditation   
will be recognised as a part of that    
thought which  makes or waits on action4
 ,if poetry in ,shakespeare may         
sometimes seem to  delay action1 it does
 but deepen it4 ,the poetry is the life 
blood1 or  runs through it4 ,only bad   
actors and managers think that by       
stripping  the flesh from the skeleton  
they can show us a more living body4    
,the  outlines of ,hamlet are crude1    
irresistible melodrama1 still           
irresistible to the gallery2 and the    

greatness of the play1 though it  comes 
to us by means of the poetry1 comes to  
us legitimately1 as a  growth out of    
melodrama4    ,the failure1 the         
comparative failure1 of every           
contemporary dramatist1  however far he 
may go in one direction or another1     
comes from his  neglect of one or       
another of these two primary and        
essential  requirements4 ,there is1 at  
this time1 a more serious dramatic      
movement  in ,germany than in any other 
country2 with mechanicians1 like        
,sudermann1  as accomplished as the best
 of ours1 and dramatists who are also   
poets1  like ,hauptmann4 ,i do not know 
them well enough to bring them into my  
argument1 but ,i can see that in        
,germany1 whatever the actual result1   
the  endeavour is in the right          
direction4 ,elsewhere1 how often do we  
find  even so much as this1 in more than
 a single writer here and there8        
,consider ,ibsen1 who is the subtlest   
master of the stage since ,sophocles4   

,at his best he has a firm hold on      
structural melodrama1 he is a           
marvellous analyst of life1 he is the   
most ingenious of all the  playwrights2 
but ask him for beauty and he will give 
you a phrase1  vine-leaves in the hair  
or its equivalent2 one of the clichs of 
the  minor poet4 ,in the end beauty     
revenged itself upon him by bringing him
  to a no-man's land where there were   
clouds and phantasms that he could  no  
longer direct4    ,maeterlinck began by 
a marvellous instinct1 with plays for   
marionettes1 and1 having discovered a   
forgotten secret1 grew tired of         
limiting himself within its narrow      
circle1 and came outside his magic4     
,monna ,vanna is an attempt to be       
broadly human on the part of a man      
whose gift is of another kind3 a        
visionary of the moods4 ,his later      
speech1 like his later dramatic         
material1 is diluted2 he becomes1 in the
  conventional sense1 eloquent1 which   
poetry never is4 ,but he has brought    

back mystery to the stage1 which has    
been banished1 or retained in  exile1   
among phantasmagoric ,faust-lights4 ,the
 dramatist of the future  will have more
 to learn from ,maeterlinck than from   
any other playwright  of our time4 ,he  
has seen his puppets against the        
permanent darkness1  which we had       
cloaked with light2 he has given them   
supreme silences4    ,in d',annunzio we 
have an art partly shaped by            
,maeterlinck1 in which all  is          
atmosphere1 and a home for sensations   
which never become vital  passions4 ,the
 roses in the sarcophagus are part of   
the action in  ,francesca1 and in ,the  
,dead ,city the whole action arises out 
of the  glorious mischief hidden like a 
deadly fume in the grave of ,agamemnon4 
,speech and drama are there1 clothing   
but not revealing one another2 the      
speech always a lovely veil1 never a    
human outline4    ,we have in ,england  
one man1 and one only1 who has some     
public claim to  be named with these    

artists1 though his aim is the negation 
of art4 ,mr4  ,shaw is a mind without a 
body1 a whimsical intelligence without a
 soul4  ,he is one of those tragic      
buffoons who play with eternal things1  
not  only for the amusement of the      
crowd1 but because an uneasy devil      
capers  in their own brains4 ,he is a   
merry preacher1 a petulant critic1 a    
great  talker4 ,it is partly because he 
is an ,irishman that he has transplanted
  the art of talking to the soil of the 
stage3 ,sheridan1 ,wilde1 ,shaw1 our    
only modern comedians1 all ,irishmen1   
all talkers4 ,it is by his  astonishing 
skill of saying everything that comes   
into his head1 with a  spirit really    
intoxicating1 that ,mr4 ,shaw has       
succeeded in holding the  stage with    
undramatic plays1 in which there is     
neither life nor beauty4  ,life gives up
 its wisdom only to reverence1 and      
beauty is jealous of  neglected altars4 
,but those who amuse the world1 no      
matter by what  means1 have their place 

in the world at any given moment4 ,mr4  
,shaw is a  clock striking the hour4    
,with ,mr4 ,shaw we come to the play    
which is prose1 and nothing but  prose4 
,the form is familiar among us1 though  
it is cultivated with a  more           
instinctive skill1 as is natural1 in    
,france4 ,there was a time1 not  so long
 ago1 when ,dumas fils was to ,france   
what ,ibsen afterwards became  to       
,europe4 ,what remains of him now is    
hardly more than his first fond         
adventure the supremely playable ,dame  
aux ,camlias4 ,the other plays  are     
already out of date1 since ,ibsen2 the  
philosophy of ,tue-l6 was  the special  
pleading of the moment1 and a drama in  
which special  pleading1 and not the    
fundamental criticism of life1 is the   
dramatic  motive can never outlast its  
technique1 which has also died with the 
coming of ,ibsen4 ,better technique1    
perhaps1 than that of ,la ,femme de     
,claude1 but with less rather than more 
weight of thought behind it1 is  to be  

found in many accomplished playwrights1 
who are doing all sorts of  interesting 
temporary things1 excellently made to   
entertain the  attentive ,french public 
with a solid kind of entertainment4     
,here1 in  ,england1 we have no such    
folk to command2 our cleverest          
playwrights1  apart from ,mr4 ,shaw1 are
 what we might call practitioners4      
,there is ,mr4  ,pinero1 ,mr4 ,jones1   
,mr4 ,grundy3 what names are better     
known1 or less to  be associated with   
literature8 ,there is ,anthony ,hope1   
who can write1 and  ,mr4 ,barrie who has
 something both human and humourous4    
,there are many  more names1 if ,i could
 remember them2 but where is the serious
  playwright8 ,who is there that can be 
compared with our poets or our          
novelists1 not only with a ,swinburne or
 a ,meredith1 but1 in a younger         
generation1 with a ,bridges or a        
,conrad8 ,the ,court ,theatre has given 
us  one or two good realistic plays1 the
 best being ,mr4 ,granville ,barker's1  

besides giving ,mr4 ,shaw his chance in 
,england1 after he had had and  taken it
 in ,america4 ,but is there1 anywhere   
but in ,ireland1 an attempt  to write   
imaginative literature in the form of   
drama8 ,the ,irish ,literary  ,theatre  
has already1 in ,mr4 ,yeats and ,mr4    
,synge1 two notable writers1  each      
wholly individual1 one a poet in verse1 
the other a poet in prose4  ,neither has
 yet reached the public1 in any         
effectual way1 or perhaps  the limits of
 his own powers as a dramatist4 ,yet who
 else is there for  us to hope in1 if we
 are to have once more an art of the    
stage1 based on  the great principles1  
and a theatre in which that art can be  
acted8    ,the whole universe lies open 
to the poet who is also a dramatist1    
affording him an incomparable choice of 
subject4 ,ibsen1 the greatest of  the   
playwrights of modern life1 narrowed his
 stage1 for ingenious  plausible reasons
 of his own1 to the four walls of a     
house1 and1 at his  best1 constrained   

his people to talk of nothing above     
their daily  occupations4 ,he got the   
illusion of everyday life1 but at a     
cruel  expense4 ,these people1 until    
they began to turn crazy1 had no vision 
beyond their eyesight1 and their        
thoughts never went deep enough to need 
a better form for expression than they  
could find in their newspapers4  ,they  
discussed immortal problems as they     
would have discussed the  entries in    
their ledger4 ,think for a moment how   
the peasants speak in  that play of     
,tolstoi's which ,i have called the only
 modern play in  prose which contains   
poetry4 ,they speak as ,russians speak1 
with a  certain childishness1 in which  
they are more primitive than our more   
civilised peasants4 ,but the speech     
comes from deeper than they are  aware1 
it stumbles into a revelation of the    
soul4 ,a drunken man in  ,tolstoi has   
more wisdom in his cups than all        
,ibsen's strange ladies who  fumble at  
their lips for sea-magic4    ,and as    

,tolstoi found in this sordid chaos     
material for tragedy which is  as noble 
as the ,greeks' 7a like horror at the   
root of both1 a like  radiance at both  
summits71 so the poet will find stories1
 as modern as  this if he chooses1 from 
which he can take the same ingredients  
for his  art4 ,the ingredients are      
unchanging since ,prometheus2 no human  
agony  has ever grown old or lost its   
pity and terror4 ,the great plays of the
  past were made out of great stories1  
and the great stories are repeated  in  
our days and can be heard wherever an   
old man tells us a little of  what has  
come to him in living4 ,verse lends     
itself to the lifting and  adequate     
treatment of the primary emotions1      
because it can render them  more as they
 are in the soul1 not being tied down to
 probable words1 as  prose talk is4 ,the
 probable words of prose talk can only  
render a part  of what goes on among the
 obscure imageries of the inner life2   
for who1  in a moment of crisis1        

responds to circumstances or destiny    
with an  adequate answer8 ,poetry1 which
 is spoken thought1 or the speech of    
something deeper than thought1 may let  
loose some part of that answer  which   
would justify the soul1 if it did not   
lie dumb upon its lips4          ,,the  
,,sicilian ,,actors    ,i      ,i have  
been seeing the ,sicilian actors in     
,london4 ,they came here from  ,paris1  
where1 ,i read1 la passion parat        
dcidement1 to a dramatic  critic1 avoir 
partout ses inconvenients1 especially on
 the stage4 ,we  are supposed to think  
so here1 but for once ,london has       
applauded an  acting which is more      
primitively passionate than anything we 
are  accustomed to on our moderate      
stage4 ,some of it was spoken in        
,italian1  some in the ,sicilian        
dialect1 and not many in the ,english   
part of the  audience could follow very 
closely the words as they were spoken4  
,yet so  marvellously real were these   
stage peasants1 so clear and poignant   

their  gestures and actions1 that words 
seemed a hardly needless accompaniment  
to so evident1 exciting1 and absorbing a
 form of drama4 ,it was a new           
intoxication1 and people went1 ,i am    
afraid1 as to a wild-beast show4    ,it 
was really nothing of the kind1 though  
the melodrama was often very  crude2    
sometimes1 in a simple way1 horrible4   
,but it was a fierce living  thing1 a   
life unknown to us in the ,north2 it    
smouldered like the  volcanoes of the   
,south4 ,and so we were seeing a new    
thing on the stage1  rendered by actors 
who seemed1 for the most part1 scarcely 
actors at  all1 but the real peasants2  
and1 above all1 there was a woman of    
genius1  the leader of the company1 who 
was much more real than reality4        
,mimi ,aguglia has studied ,duse1 for   
her tones1 for some of her attitudes2   
her art is more nearly the art of       
,rjane4 ,while both of these are great  
artists1 she is an improviser1 a        
creature of wild moods1 of animal       

energies1 uncontrolled1 spontaneous4    
,she catches you in a fierce caress1    
like a tiger-cat4 ,she gives you1 as in 
,malia1 the whole animal1  snarling1    
striking1 suffering1 all the pangs of   
the flesh1 the emotions  of fear and    
hate1 but for the most part no more4 ,in
 ,la ,folfaa she can  be piquant1       
passing from the naughty girl of the    
first act1 with her  delicious airs and 
angers1 her tricks1 gambols1 petulances1
 to the  soured wife of the second1 in  
whom a kind of bad blood comes out1     
turning her to treacheries of mere      
spite1 until her husband thrusts her    
brutally out of the house1 where1 if she
 will1 she may follow her lover4  ,here1
 where there is no profound passion but 
mean quarrels among  miserable workers  
in salt-mines1 she is a noticeable      
figure1 standing  out from the others1  
and setting her prim1 soubrette figure  
in motion  with a genuine art1 quite    
personal to her4 ,but to see her after  
the  ,santuzza of ,duse1 in ,verga's    

,cavalleria ,rusticana1 is to realise   
the  difference between this art of the 
animal and ,duse's art of the soul4     
,and if one thinks of ,rjane's ,sapho1  
the difference is hardly less1  though  
of another kind4 ,i saw ,duse for the   
first time in the part of  ,santuzza1   
and ,i remember to this day a certain   
gentle and pathetic  gesture of her     
apparently unconscious hand1 turning    
back the sleeve of  her lover's coat    
over his wrist1 while her eyes fasten on
 his eyes in a  great thirst for what is
 to be found in them4 ,the ,santuzza of 
,mimi  ,aguglia is a stinging thing that
 bites when it is stepped on4 ,there is 
no love in her heart1 only love of      
possession1 jealousy1 an unreasonable   
hate2 and she is not truly pathetic or  
tragic in her furious wrestle  with her 
lover on the church steps or in her plot
 against him which  sends an            
unanticipated knife into his heart4     
,yet1 in the ,mila di ,codra of         
d',annunzio's ,figlia di ,jorio she has 

moments of absolute greatness4 ,her fear
 in the cave1 before ,lazaro di  ,roio1 
is the most ghastly and accurate        
rendering of that sensation that1  ,i am
 sure1 has been seen on any stage4 ,she 
flings herself upright  against a frame 
of wood on which the woodcarver has left
 his tools1 and  as one new shudder     
after another sets her body visibly     
quaking1 some of  the tools drop on the 
floor1 with an astonishing effect on the
 nerves4  ,her face contracts into a    
staring1 hopeless grimace1 as if about  
to  utter shrieks which cannot get past 
her lips4 ,she shivers slowly  downwards
 until she sinks on her rigid heels and 
clasps her knees with  both arms4       
,there1 in the corner1 she waits in     
twenty several anguishes1  while the    
foul old man tempts her1 crawling like a
 worm1 nearer and  nearer to her on the 
ground1 with gestures of appeal that she
 repels  time after time1 with some     
shudder aside of her crouched body1     
hopping  as if on all fours closer into 

the corner4 ,the scene is terrible in   
its  scarcely thinkable distress1 but it
 is not horrible1 as some would have  it
 to be4 ,here1 with her means1 this     
actress creates2 it is no mean copy  of 
reality1 but fear brought to a kind of  
greatness1 so completely has  the whole 
being passed into its possession4       
,and there is another scene in which she
 is absolute in a nobler  catastrophe4  
,in her last cry before she is dragged  
to the stake1 ,la  fiamma e bella6 la   
fiamma e bella6 d',annunzio1 ,i have no 
doubt1 meant  no more than the obvious  
rhetoric suited to a situation of       
heroism4 ,out  of his rhetoric this     
woman has created the horror and beauty 
of a  supreme irony of anguish4 ,she has
 given up her life for her lover1 he    
has denied and cursed her in the        
oblivion of the draught that should     
have been his death-drink1 her hands    
have been clasped with the wooden       
fetters taken off from his hands1 and   
her face covered with the dark  veil he 

had worn1 and the vile howling crowd    
draws her backward towards  her         
martyrdom4 ,ornella has saluted her     
sister in ,christ2 she1 the one  who    
knows the truth1 silent1 helping her to 
die nobly4 ,and now the  woman1 having  
willed beyond the power of mortal flesh 
to endure an  anguish that now flames   
before her in its supreme reality1      
strains in  the irrationality of utter  
fear backward into the midst of those   
clutching hands that are holding her up 
in the attitude of her death1  and1 with
 a shiver in which the soul1 succumbing 
to the body1 wrings its  last triumph   
out of an ignominious glory1 she cries1 
shrieking1 feeling  the flames eternally
 upon her3 ,la fiamma e bella6 la fiamma
 e bella6  and thereat all evil seems to
 have been judged suddenly1 and         
obliterated1 as if ,god had laughed     
once1 and wiped out the world4          
,,ii      ,since ,charles ,lamb's essay 
,on the ,tragedies of ,shakespeare1     
considered  with reference to their     

fitness for stage representation1 there 
has  been a great deal of argument as to
 whether the beauty of words1           
especially in verse1 is necessarily lost
 on the stage1 and whether a            
well-constructed play cannot exist by   
itself1 either in dumb show or  with    
words in a foreign language1 which we   
may not understand4 ,the  acting1 by the
 ,sicilian actors1 of ,la ,figlia di    
,jorio1 seemed to me to  do something   
towards the solution of part at least of
 this problem4    ,the play1 as one     
reads it1 has perhaps less than usual of
 the beauty  which d',annunzio          
elaborates in his dramatic speech4 ,it  
is1 on the other  hand1 closer to       
nature1 carefully copied from the speech
 of the peasants  of the ,abruzzi1 and  
from what remains of their folk-lore4   
,the story on  which it is founded is a 
striking one1 and the action has1 even  
in  reading1 the effect of a melodrama4 
,now see it on the stage1 acted with    
the speed and fury of these actors4     

,imagine oneself ignorant of the        
language and of the play4 ,suddenly the 
words have become unnecessary2  the bare
 outlines stand out1 perfectly explicit 
in gesture and motion2  the scene passes
 before you as if you were watching it  
in real life2 and  this primitively     
passionate acting1 working on an action 
so cunningly  contrived for its         
co-operation1 gives us at last what the 
play1 as we  read it1 had suggested to  
us1 but without complete conviction4    
,the  beauty of the speech had become a 
secondary matter1 or1 if we did not     
understand it1 the desire to know what  
was being said3 the playwright  and his 
players had eclipsed the poet1 the      
visible action had put out  the         
calculated cadences of the verse4 ,and  
the play1 from the point of  view of the
 stage1 had fulfilled every requirement1
 had achieved its  aim4    ,and still   
the question remains3 how much of this  
success is due to the  playwright's     
skill or to the skill of the actors8    

,how is it that in  this play the actors
 obtain a fine result1 act on a higher  
level1 than  in their realistic         
,sicilian tragedies8 ,d',annunzio is no 
doubt a better  writer than ,capuana or 
,verga1 and his play is finer as        
literature than  ,cavalleria ,rusticana 
or ,malia4 ,but is it great poetry or   
great  drama1 and has the skilful       
playwright need of the stage and of     
actors  like these1 who come with their 
own life and ways upon it1 in order to  
bring the men and women of his pages to 
life8 ,can it be said of him that  he   
has fulfilled the great condition of    
poetic drama1 that1 as ,coleridge  said1
 dramatic poetry must be poetry hid in  
thought and passion--not  thought or    
passion disguised in the dress of       
poetry8    ,that is a question which ,i 
am not here concerned to answer4        
,perhaps ,i  have already answered it4  
,perhaps ,lamb had answered it when he  
said1 of  a performance of ,shakespeare 
in which there were two great actors1   

that  it seemed to embody and realise   
conceptions which had hitherto assumed  
no distinct shape1 but that1 when the   
novelty is past1 we find to our  cost   
that instead of realising an idea1 we   
have only materialised and  brought down
 a fine vision to the standard of flesh 
and blood4 ,if that  is true of         
,shakespeare1 the greatest of dramatic  
poets1 how far is it  from the          
impression which ,i have described in   
speaking of d',annunzio4  ,what fine    
vision was there to bring down8 what    
poetry hid in thought or  passion was   
lost to us in its passage across the    
stage8    ,and now let us consider the  
play in which these actors have found   
their  finest opportunity for abandoning
 themselves to those instincts out of   
which they have made their art4 ,malia1 
a ,sicilian play of ,capuana1 is  an    
exhibition of the witchcraft of desire1 
and it is justified against  all        
accusation by that thrill with which    
something in us responds to it1         

admitting3 ,this is ,i1 myself1 so it   
has been given to me to sin and to      
suffer4 ,and so1 if we think deeply     
enough we shall find1 in these  sinning1
 suffering1 insatiable beings1 who      
present themselves as if  naked before  
us1 the image of our own souls1 visible 
for once1 and  unashamed1 in the mirror 
of these bodies4 ,it is we1 who shudder 
before  them1 and maybe laugh at the    
extravagance of their gestures1 it is   
ourselves whom they are showing to us1  
caught unawares and set in  symbolical  
action4 ,let not the base word realism  
be used for this  spontaneous energy by 
which we are shown the devastating inner
 forces1  by which nature creates and   
destroys us4 ,here is one part of life1 
the  source of its existence3 and here  
it is shown us crude as nature1         
absolute as art4 ,this new1 living art  
of the body1 which we see  struggling in
 the clay of ,rodin1 concentrates itself
 for once in this  woman who expresses1 
without reticence and without offence1  

all that the  poets have ever said of   
the supreme witchcraft1 animal desire1  
without  passion1 carnal1 its own       
self-devouring agony4 ,art has for once 
justified itself by being mere nature4  
,and1 here again1 this play is no       
masterpiece in itself1 only the         
occasion for a masterpiece of acting4   
,the whole company1 ,sig4 ,grasso and   
the others1 acted with perfect          
unanimity1 singly and in crowds4 ,what  
stage-crowd of a hundred drilled and    
dumpish people1 as we see it at our  big
 theatres1 has ever given us that sense 
of a real1 surging crowd as  the dozen  
or so supers in that last struggle which
 ends the play8 ,but  the play really   
existed for ,aguglia1 and was made by   
her4 ,rjane has  done greater things in 
her own way1 in her own way she is a    
greater  artist4 ,but not even ,rjane   
has given us the whole animal1 in its   
self-martyrdom1 as this woman has given 
it to us4 ,such knowledge and  command  
of the body1 and so frank an abandonment

 to its instinctive  motions1 has never 
been seen on our stage1 not even in     
,sada ,yacco and  the ,japanese4 ,they  
could outdo ,sarah in a death-scene1 but
 not ,aguglia  in the scene in which she
 betrays her secret4 ,done by anyone    
else1 it  would have been an imitation  
of a woman in hysterics1 a thing        
meaningless and disgusting4 ,done by    
her1 it was the visible contest  between
 will and desire1 a battle1 a shipwreck1
 in which you watch  helplessly from the
 shore every plank as the sea tears if  
off and  swallows it4 ,i feel as if ,i  
had died1 said the friend who was with  
me  in the theatre1 speaking out of an  
uncontrollable sympathy2 died with  the 
woman1 she meant1 or in the woman's     
place4    ,our critics here have for the
 most part seen fit1 like the ,french   
critic  whom ,i quoted at the beginning1
 to qualify their natural admiration by 
a  hesitating consciousness that la     
passion parat decidement avoir  partout 
ses inconvenients4 ,but the critic who  

sets himself against a  magnetic current
 can do no more than accept the shock   
which has cast him  gently aside4 ,all  
art is magnetism4 ,the greatest art is a
 magnetism  through which the soul      
reaches the soul4 ,there is another1    
terrible1  authentic art through which  
the body communicates its thrilling     
secrets4  ,and against all these        
currents there is no barrier and no     
appeal4          ,,music          ,,on  
,,writing ,,about ,,music      ,the     
reason why music is so much more        
difficult to write about than any  other
 art1 is because music is the one       
absolutely disembodied art1 when  it is 
heard1 and no more than a proposition of
 ,euclid1 when it is  written4 ,it is   
wholly useless1 to the student no less  
than to the  general reader1 to write   
about music in the style of the         
programmes for  which we pay sixpence at
 the concerts4 ,repeated by flute and   
oboe1 with  accompaniment for clarionet 
7in triplets7 and strings pizzicato1 and

  then worked up by the full orchestra1 
this melody is eventually allotted  to  
the 'cellos1 its accompaniment now      
taking the form of chromatic  passages1 
and so forth4 ,not less useless is it to
 write a rhapsody  which has nothing to 
do with the notes1 and to present this  
as an  interpretation of what the notes 
have said in an unknown language4 ,yet  
what method is there besides these two  
methods8 ,none1 indeed1 that can  ever  
be wholly satisfactory2 at the best1 no 
more than a compromise4    ,in writing  
about poetry1 while precisely that      
quality which makes it  poetry must     
always evade expression1 there yet      
remain the whole definite  meaning of   
the words1 and the whole easily         
explicable technique of the  verse1     
which can be made clear to every reader4
 ,in painting1 you have  the subject of 
the picture1 and you have the colour1   
handling1 and the  like1 which can be   
expressed hardly less precisely in      
words4 ,but music  has no subject1      

outside itself2 no meaning1 outside its 
meaning as  music2 and1 to understand   
anything of what is meant by its        
technique1 a  certain definite technical
 knowledge is necessary in the reader4  
,what  subterfuges are required1 in     
order to give the vaguest suggestion of 
what a piece of music is like1 and how  
little has been said1 after all1  beyond
 generalisations1 which would apply     
equally to half a dozen  different      
pieces6 ,the composer himself1 if you   
ask him1 will tell you  that you may be 
quite correct in what you say1 but that 
he has no  opinion in the matter4       
,music has indeed a language1 but it is 
a language in which birds and  other    
angels may talk1 but out of which we    
cannot translate their  meaning4        
,emotion itself1 how changed becomes    
even emotion when we  transport it into 
a new world1 in which only sound has    
feeling6 ,but ,i am  speaking as if it  
had died and been re-born there1 whereas
 it was born  in its own region1 and is 

wholly ignorant of ours4                
,,technique ,,and ,,the ,,artist        
,technique and the artist3 that is a    
question1 of interest to the student  of
 every art1 which was brought home to me
 with unusual emphasis the  other       
afternoon1 as ,i sat in the ,queen's    
,hall1 and listened to ,ysaye and       
,busoni4 ,are we always quite certain   
what we mean when we speak of an        
artist8 ,have we quite realised in our  
own minds the extent to which  technique
 must go to the making of an artist1 and
 the point at which  something else must
 be superadded8 ,that is a matter which 
,i often doubt1  and the old doubt came 
back to my mind the other afternoon1 as 
,i  listened to ,ysaye and ,busoni1 and 
next day1 as ,i turned over the         
newspapers4    ,i read1 in the first    
paper ,i happen to take up1 that the    
violinist and  the pianist are a        
perfectly matched pair2 the applause1 at
 the  concert1 was even more            
enthusiastic for ,busoni than for       

,ysaye4 ,i hear  both spoken of as      
artists1 as great artists2 and yet1 if  
words have any  meaning1 it seems to me 
that only one of the two is an artist at
 all1  and the other1 with all his      
ability1 only an executant4 ,admit1 for 
a  moment1 that the technique of the two
 is equal1 though it is not quite       
possible to admit even that1 in the     
strictest sense4 ,so far1 we have  made 
only a beginning4 ,without technique1   
perfect of its kind1 no one is  worth   
consideration in any art4 ,the          
rope-dancer or the acrobat must be      
perfect in technique before he appears  
on the stage at all2 in his case1  a    
lapse from perfection brings its own    
penalty1 death perhaps2 his art  begins 
when his technique is already perfect4  
,artists who deal in  materials less    
fragile than human life should have no  
less undeviating a  sense of            
responsibility to themselves and to art4
 ,but the performance  comes afterwards1
 and it is the performance with which we

 are concerned4  ,of two acrobats1 each 
equally skilful1 one will be individual 
and an  artist1 the other will remain   
consummately skilful and uninteresting2 
the one having begun where the other    
leaves off4 ,now ,busoni can do1 on  the
 pianoforte1 whatever he can conceive2  
the question is1 what can he  conceive8 
,as he sat at the piano playing ,chopin1
 ,i thought of ,busoni1 of  the         
,bechstein piano1 of what fingers can   
do1 of many other extraneous  things1   
never of ,chopin4 ,i saw the pianist    
with the ,christ-like head1  the        
carefully negligent elegance of his     
appearance1 and ,i heard  wonderful     
sounds coming out of the ,bechstein     
piano2 but1 try as hard as  ,i liked1 ,i
 could not feel the contact of soul and 
instrument1 ,i could  not feel that a   
human being was expressing himself in   
sound4 ,a task was  magnificently       
accomplished1 but a new beauty had not  
come into the  world4 ,then the         
,kreutzer ,sonata began1 and ,i looked  

at ,ysaye1 as he  stood1 an almost      
shapeless mass of flesh1 holding the    
violin between his  fat fingers1 and    
looking vaguely into the air4 ,he put   
the violin to his  shoulder4 ,the face  
had been like a mass of clay1 waiting   
the sculptor's  thumb4 ,as the music    
came1 an invisible touch seemed to pass 
over it2 the  heavy mouth and chin      
remained firm1 pressed down on the      
violin2 but the  eyelids and the        
eyebrows began to move1 as if the eyes  
saw the sound1  and were drawing it in  
luxuriously1 with a kind of sleepy      
ecstasy1 as  one draws in perfume out of
 a flower4 ,then1 in that instant1 a    
beauty  which had never been in the     
world came into the world2 a new thing  
was  created1 lived1 died1 having       
revealed itself to all those who were   
capable of receiving it4 ,that thing was
 neither ,beethoven nor ,ysaye1 it  was 
made out of their meeting2 it was music1
 not abstract1 but embodied  in sound2  
and just that miracle could never occur 

again1 though others  like it might be  
repeated for ever4 ,when the sound      
stopped1 the face  returned to its blind
 and deaf waiting2 the interval1 like   
all the rest  of life probably1 not     
counting in the existence of that       
particular soul1  which came and went   
with the music4    ,and ,ysaye seems to 
me the type of the artist1 not because  
he is  faultless in technique1 but      
because he begins to create his art at  
the  point where faultless technique    
leaves off4 ,with him1 every faculty is 
in harmony2 he has not even too much of 
any good thing4 ,there are times  when  
,busoni astonishes one2 ,ysaye never    
astonishes one1 it seems natural  that  
he should do everything that he does1   
just as he does it4 ,art1 as  ,aristotle
 has said finally1 should always have a 
continual slight  novelty2 it should    
never astonish1 for we are astonished   
only by some  excess or default1 never  
by a thing being what it ought to be4   
,it is a  fashion of the moment to prize

 extravagance and to be timid of        
perfection4 ,that is why we give the    
name of artist to those who can  startle
 us most4 ,we have come to value        
technique for the violence which  it    
gives into the hands of those who       
possess it1 in their assault upon  our  
nerves4 ,we have come to look upon      
technique as an end in itself1  rather  
than as a means to an end4 ,we have but 
one word of praise1 and we  use that one
 word lavishly4 ,an ,ysaye and a ,busoni
 are the same to us1  and it is to our  
credit if we are even aware that ,ysaye 
is the equal of  ,busoni4               
,,pachmann ,,and ,,the ,,piano    ,i    
,it seems to me that ,pachmann is the   
only pianist who plays the piano as  it 
ought to be played4 ,i admit his        
limitations1 ,i admit that he can play  
only certain things1 but ,i contend that
 he is the greatest living  pianist     
because he can play those things better 
than any other pianist  can play        
anything4 ,pachmann is the ,verlaine of 

pianists1 and when ,i hear  him ,i think
 of ,verlaine reading his own verse1 in 
a faint1 reluctant  voice1 which you    
overheard4 ,other players have mastered 
the piano1  ,pachmann absorbs its soul1 
and it is only when he touches it that  
it  really speaks its own voice4    ,the
 art of the pianist1 after all1 lies    
mainly in one thing1 touch4 ,it  is by  
the skill1 precision1 and beauty of his 
touch that he makes music  at all2 it is
 by the quality of his touch that he    
evokes a more or less  miraculous vision
 of sound for us4 ,touch gives him his  
only means of  expression2 it is to him 
what relief is to the sculptor or what  
values  are to the painter4 ,to         
understand1 as it is called1 a piece of 
music1  is not so much as the beginning 
of good playing2 if you do not          
understand it with your fingers1 what   
shall your brain profit you8 ,in  the   
interpretation of music all action of   
the brain which does not  translate     
itself perfectly in touch is useless4   

,you may as well not  think at all as   
not think in terms of your instrument1  
and the piano  responds to one thing    
only1 touch4 ,now ,pachmann1 beyond all 
other  pianists1 has this magic4 ,when  
he plays it1 the piano ceases to be a   
compromise4 ,he makes it as living and  
penetrating as the violin1 as           
responsive and elusive as the           
clavichord4    ,chopin wrote for the    
piano with a more perfect sense of his  
instrument  than any other composer1 and
 ,pachmann plays ,chopin with an        
infallible  sense of what ,chopin meant 
to express in his mind4 ,he seems to    
touch the  notes with a kind of agony of
 delight2 his face twitches with the    
actual  muscular contraction of the     
fingers as they suspend themselves in   
the  very act of touch4 ,i am told that 
,pachmann plays ,chopin in a morbid     
way4 ,well1 ,chopin was morbid2 there   
are fevers and cold sweats in his       
music2 it is not healthy music1 and it  
is not to be interpreted in a  robust   

way4 ,it must be played1 as ,pachmann   
plays it1 somnambulistically1  with a   
tremulous delicacy of intensity1 as if  
it were a living thing on  whose nerves 
one were operating1 and as if every     
touch might mean life  or death4    ,i  
have heard pianists who played ,chopin  
in what they called a healthy  way4 ,the
 notes swung1 spun1 and clattered1 with 
a heroic repercussion of  sound1 a      
hurrying reiteration of fury1 signifying
 nothing4 ,the piano  stormed through   
the applause2 the pianist sat           
imperturbably1 hammering4  ,well1 ,i do 
not think any music should be played    
like that1 not ,liszt  even4 ,liszt     
connives at the suicide1 but with       
,chopin it is a murder4  ,when ,pachmann
 plays ,chopin the music sings itself1  
as if without the  intervention of an   
executant1 of one who stands between the
 music and  our hearing4 ,the music has 
to intoxicate him before he can play    
with it2  then he becomes its comrade1  
in a kind of very serious game2 himself1

  in short1 that is to say inhuman4 ,his
 fingers have in them a cold magic1  as 
of soulless elves who have sold their   
souls for beauty4 ,and this  beauty1    
which is not of the soul1 is not of the 
flesh2 it is a  sea-change1 the life of 
the foam on the edge of the depths4 ,or 
it  transports him into some mid-region 
of the air1 between hell and heaven1    
where he hangs listening4 ,he listens at
 all his senses4 ,the dew1 as well  as  
the raindrop1 has a sound for him4      
,in ,pachmann's playing there is a      
frozen tenderness1 with1 at moments1    
the elvish triumph of a gnome who has   
found a bright crystal or a  diamond4   
,pachmann is inhuman1 and music1 too1 is
 inhuman4 ,to him1 and  rightly1 it is a
 thing not domesticated1 not familiar as
 a household cat  with our hearth4 ,when
 he plays it1 music speaks no language  
known to us1  has nothing of ourselves  
to tell us1 but is shy1 alien1 and      
speaks a  language which we do not know4
 ,it comes to us a divine hallucination1

  chills us a little with its airs from 
heaven or elsewhere1 and breaks  down   
for an instant the too solid walls of   
the world1 showing us the  gulf4 ,when  
d',albert plays ,chopin's ,berceuse1    
beautifully1 it is a  lullaby for       
healthy male children growing too big   
for the cradle4  ,pachmann's is a       
lullaby for fairy changelings who have  
never had a soul1  but in whose veins   
music vibrates2 and in this intimate    
alien thing he  finds a kind of humour4 
,in the attempt to humanise music1 that 
attempt which almost every  executant   
makes1 knowing that he will be judged by
 his success or  failure in it1 what is 
most fatally lost is that sense of      
mystery which1  to music1 is atmosphere4
 ,in this atmosphere alone music        
breathes  tranquilly4 ,so remote is it  
from us that it can only be reached     
through  some not quite healthy nervous 
tension1 and ,pachmann's physical       
disquietude when he plays is but a sign 
of what it has cost him to  venture     

outside humanity1 into music4 ,yet in   
music this mystery is a  simple thing1  
its native air2 and the art of the      
musician has less  difficulty in its    
evocation than the art of the poet or   
the painter4  ,with what an effort do we
 persuade words or colours back from    
their  vulgar articulateness into at    
least some recollection of that mystery 
which is deeper than sight or speech4   
,music can never wholly be detached     
from mystery1 can never wholly become   
articulate1 and it is in our  ignorance 
of its true nature that we would tame it
 to humanity and teach  it to express   
human emotions1 not its own4            
,pachmann gives you pure music1 not     
states of soul or of temperament1 not   
interpretations1 but echoes4 ,he gives  
you the notes in their own  atmosphere1 
where they live for him an individual   
life1 which has  nothing to do with     
emotions or ideas4 ,thus he does not    
need to translate  out of two languages3
 first1 from sound to emotion1          

temperament1 what  you will2 then from  
that back again to sound4 ,the notes    
exist2 it is  enough that they exist4   
,they mean for him just the sound and   
nothing  else4 ,you see his fingers     
feeling after it1 his face calling to   
it1 his  whole body imploring it4       
,sometimes it comes upon him in such a  
burst of  light that he has to cry      
aloud1 in order that he may endure the  
ecstasy4  ,you see him speaking to the  
music2 he lifts his finger1 that you may
  listen for it not less attentively4   
,but it is always the thing itself  that
 he evokes for you1 as it rises         
flower-like out of silence1 and  comes  
to exist in the world4 ,every note      
lives1 with the whole vitality  of its  
existence4 ,to ,swinburne every word    
lives1 just in the same way2  when he   
says light1 he sees the sunrise2 when he
 says fire1 he is  warmed through all   
his blood4 ,and so ,pachmann calls up1  
with this  ghostly magic of his1 the    
innermost life of music4 ,i do not think

 he has  ever put an intention into     
,chopin4 ,chopin had no intentions4 ,he 
was a  man1 and he suffered2 and he was 
a musician1 and he wrote music2 and     
very likely ,george ,sand1 and ,majorca1
 and his disease1 and ,scotland1 and    
the woman who sang to him when he died1 
are all in the music2 but that  is not  
the question4 ,the notes sob and shiver1
 stab you like a knife1  caress you like
 the fur of a cat2 and are beautiful    
sound1 the most  beautiful sound that   
has been called out of the piano4       
,pachmann calls it  out for you1        
disinterestedly1 easily1 with ecstasy1  
inevitably2 you do  not realise that he 
has had difficulties to conquer1 that   
music is a  thing for acrobats and      
athletes4 ,he smiles to you1 that you   
may realise  how beautiful the notes    
are1 when they trickle out of his       
fingers like  singing water2 he adores  
them and his own playing1 as you do1 and
 as if  he had nothing to do with them  
but to pour them out of his hands4      

,pachmann is less showy with his fingers
 than any other pianist2 his  hands are 
stealthy acrobats1 going quietly about  
their difficult  business4 ,they talk   
with the piano and the piano answers    
them4 ,all that  violence cannot do with
 the notes of the instrument1 he does4  
,his art  begins where violence leaves  
off2 that is why he can give you        
fortissimo  without hurting the nerves  
of a single string2 that is why he can  
play a  run as if every note had its    
meaning4 ,to the others a run is a      
flourish1  a tassel hung on for display1
 a thing extra2 when ,pachmann plays a  
run  you realise that it may have its   
own legitimate sparkle of gay life4     
,with him every note lives1 has its own 
body and its own soul1 and that  is why 
it is worth hearing him play even       
trivial music like  ,mendelssohn's      
,spring ,song or meaningless music like 
,taubert's ,waltz3  he creates a beauty 
out of sound itself and a beauty which  
is at the  root of music4 ,there are    

moments when a single chord seems to say
 in  itself everything that music has to
 say4 ,that is the moment in which      
everything but sound is annihilated1 the
 moment of ecstasy2 and it is of  such  
moments that ,pachmann is the poet4     
,and so his playing of ,bach1 as in the 
,italian ,concerto in ,f1 reveals  ,bach
 as if the dust had suddenly been       
brushed off his music4 ,all that in  the
 playing of others had seemed hard or   
dry becomes suddenly luminous1  alive1  
and1 above all1 a miracle of sound4     
,through a delicacy of  shading1 like   
the art of ,bach himself for purity1    
poignancy1 and  clarity1 he envelops us 
with the thrilling atmosphere of the    
most  absolutely musical music in the   
world4 ,the playing of this concerto is 
the greatest thing ,i have ever heard   
,pachmann do1 but when he went on to    
play ,mozart ,i heard another only less 
beautiful world of sound rise  softly   
about me4 ,there was the glittering     
peace undimmed1 and there  was the      

nervous spring1 the diamond hardness1 as
 well as the glowing  light and ardent  
sweetness4 ,yet another manner of       
playing1 not less  appropriate to its   
subject1 brought before me the bubbling 
flow1 the  romantic moonlight1 of       
,weber2 this music that is a little     
showy1 a  little luscious1 but with a   
gracious feminine beauty of its own4    
,chopin  followed1 and when ,pachmann   
plays ,chopin it is as if the soul of   
,chopin  had returned to its divine     
body1 the notes of this sinewy and      
feverish  music1 in which beauty becomes
 a torture and energy pierces to the    
centre and becomes grace1 and languor   
swoons and is reborn a winged  energy4  
,the great third ,scherzo was played    
with grandeur1 and it is in  the        
,scherzos1 perhaps1 that ,chopin has    
built his most enduring work4 ,the      
,barcarolle1 which ,i have heard played 
as if it were ,niagara and not  ,venice1
 was given with perfect quietude1 and   
the second ,mazurka of ,op4  #ej had    

that boldness of attack1 with an almost 
stealthy intimacy in its  secret        
rhythms1 which in ,pachmann's playing1  
and in his playing alone1  gives you the
 dance and the reverie together4 ,but ,i
 am not sure that the  ,etudes are not1 
in a very personal sense1 what is most  
essential in  ,chopin1 and ,i am not    
sure that ,pachmann is not at his best  
in the  playing of the ,etudes4         
,other pianists think1 perhaps1 but     
,pachmann plays4 ,as he plays he is     
like one hypnotised by the music2 he    
sees it beckoning1 smiles to it1  lifts 
his finger on a pause that you may      
listen to the note which is  coming4    
,this apparent hypnotism is really a    
fixed and continuous act of  creation2  
there is not a note which he does not   
create for himself1 to  which he does   
not give his own vitality1 the sensitive
 and yet  controlling vitality of the   
medium4 ,in playing the ,bach he had the
 music  before him that he might be     
wholly free from even the slight strain 

which comes from the almost unconscious 
act of remembering4 ,it was for a       
precisely similar reason that           
,coleridge1 in whose verse inspiration  
and  art are more perfectly balanced    
than in any other ,english verse1 often 
wrote down his poems first in prose that
 he might be unhampered by the          
conscious act of thought while listening
 for the music4    ,there is no         
exquisite beauty1 said ,bacon in a      
subtle definition1  which has not some  
strangeness in its proportions4 ,the    
playing of  ,pachmann escapes the       
insipidity of that beauty which is      
without  strangeness2 it has in it      
something fantastically inhuman1 like   
fiery  ice1 and it is for this reason   
that it remains a thing uncapturable1 a 
thing whose secret he himself could     
never reveal4 ,it is like the secret  of
 the rhythms of ,verlaine1 and no       
prosodist will ever tell us why a  line 
like3      ,dans un palais1 soie et or1 
dans ,ecbatane1    can communicate a new

 shiver to the most languid or the most 
experienced  nerves4 ,like the art of   
,verlaine1 the art of ,pachmann is one  
wholly of  suggestion2 his fingers state
 nothing1 they evoke4 ,i said like the  
art  of ,verlaine1 because there is a   
singular likeness between the two       
methods4 ,but is not all art a          
suggestion1 an evocation1 never a       
statement8 ,many of the great forces of 
the present day have set  themselves to 
the task of building up a large1        
positive art in which  everything shall 
be said with emphasis3 the art of ,zola1
 the art of ,mr4  ,kipling1 in          
literature2 the art of ,mr4 ,sargent in 
painting2 the art of  ,richard ,strauss 
in music4 ,in all these remarkable men  
there is some  small1 essential thing   
lacking2 and it is in men like          
,verlaine1 like  ,whistler1 like        
,pachmann1 that we find the small1      
essential thing1 and  nothing else4     
,,ii        ,the sounds torture me3 ,i  
see them in my brain2    ,they spin a   

flickering web of living threads1       
,like butterflies upon the garden beds1 
,nets of bright sound4 ,i follow them3  
in vain4    ,i must not brush the least 
dust from their wings3    ,they die of a
 touch2 but ,i must capture them1    ,or
 they will turn to a caressing flame1   
,and lick my soul up with their         
flutterings4      ,the sounds torture   
me3 ,i count them with my eyes1    ,i   
feel them like a thirst between my lips2
    ,is it my body or my soul that cries
    ,with little coloured mouths of     
sound1 and drips    ,in these bright    
drops that turn to butterflies    ,dying
 delicately at my finger tips8          
,,iii      ,pachmann has the head of a  
monk who has had commerce with the      
,devil1 and  it is whispered that he has
 sold his soul to the diabolical        
instrument1  which1 since buying it1 can
 speak in a human voice4 ,the sounds    
torture  him1 as a wizard is tortured by
 the shapes he has evoked4 ,he makes    
them  dance for his pleasure1 and you   

hear their breath come and go1 in the   
swell and subsiding of those marvellous 
crescendoes and diminuendoes  which set 
the strings pulsating like a sea4 ,he   
listens for the sound1  listens for the 
last echo of it after it is gone1 and is
 caught away  from us visibly into that 
unholy company4    ,pachmann is the     
greatest player of the piano now living4
 ,he cannot  interpret every kind of    
music1 though his actual power is more  
varied  than he has led the public to   
suppose4 ,i have heard him play in      
private  a show-piece of ,liszt1 a      
thunderous thing of immense difficulty1 
requiring a technique quite different   
from the technique which alone he  cares
 to reveal to us2 he had not played it  
for twenty years1 and he  played it with
 exactly the right crackling splendour  
that it demanded4  ,on the rare         
occasions when he plays ,bach1 something
 that no one of our  time has ever      
perceived or rendered in that composer  
seems to be evoked1  and ,bach lives    

again1 with something of that forgotten 
life which only  the harpsichord can    
help us to remember under the fingers of
 other  players4 ,mozart and ,weber are 
two of the composers whom he plays with 
the most natural instinct1 for in both  
he finds and unweaves that dainty  web  
of bright melody which ,mozart made out 
of sunlight and ,weber out of           
moonlight4 ,there is nothing between him
 and them1 as there is in  ,beethoven1  
for instance1 who hides himself in the  
depths of a cloud1 in  the depths of    
wisdom1 in the depths of the heart4 ,and
 to ,pachmann all  this is as strange as
 mortal firesides to a fairy4 ,he       
wanders round it1  wondering at the     
great walls and bars that have been set 
about the  faint1 escaping spirit of    
flame4 ,there is nothing human in him1  
and as  music turns towards humanity it 
slips from between his hands4 ,what he  
seeks and finds in music is the         
inarticulate1 ultimate thing in sound3  
the music1 in fact4    ,it has been     

complained that ,pachmann's readings are
 not intellectual1  that he does not    
interpret4 ,it is true that he does not 
interpret  between the brain and music1 
but he is able to disimprison sound1 as 
no  one has ever done with mortal hands1
 and the piano1 when he touches it1     
becomes a joyous1 disembodied thing1 a  
voice and nothing more1 but a  voice    
which is music itself4 ,to reduce music 
to terms of human  intelligence or even 
of human emotion is to lower it from its
 own  region1 where it is ,ariel4 ,there
 is something in music1 which we can    
apprehend only as sound1 that comes to  
us out of heaven or hell1 mocking  the  
human agency that gives it speech1 and  
taking flight beyond it4 ,when          
,pachmann plays a ,prelude of ,chopin1  
all that ,chopin was conscious of       
saying in it will1 no doubt1 be there2  
it is all there1 if ,godowsky  plays it2
 every note1 every shade of expression1 
every heightening and  quickening1      
everything that the notes actually say4 

,but under ,pachmann's  miraculous hands
 a miracle takes place2 mystery comes   
about it like an  atmosphere1 an icy    
thrill traverses it1 the terror and     
ecstasy of a  beauty that is not in the 
world envelop it2 we hear sounds that   
are  awful and exquisite1 crying outside
 time and space4 ,is it through         
,pachmann's nerves1 or through ours1    
that this communion takes place8 ,is  it
 technique1 temperament1 touch1 that    
reveals to us what we have never        
dreamed was hidden in sounds8 ,could    
,pachmann himself explain to us his  own
 magic8    ,he would tell us that he had
 practised the piano with more patience 
than  others1 that he had taken more    
trouble to acquire a certain touch which
  is really the only way to the secret  
of his instrument4 ,he could tell  you  
little more2 but1 if you saw his hands  
settle on the keys1 and fly  and poise  
there1 as if they had nothing to do with
 the perturbed1  listening face that    
smiles away from them1 you would know   

how little he  had told you4 ,now let us
 ask ,godowsky1 whom ,pachmann himself  
sets above  all other pianists1 what he 
has to tell us about the way in which he
  plays4    ,when ,godowsky plays he    
sits bent and motionless1 as if picking 
out a  pattern with his fingers4 ,he    
seems to keep surreptitious watch upon  
them1 as they run swiftly on their      
appointed errands4 ,there is no errand  
they are not nimble enough to carry     
without a stumble to the journey's  end4
 ,they obey him as if in fear2 they dare
 not turn aside from the  straight path2
 for their whole aim is to get to the   
end of the journey1  having done their  
task faultlessly4 ,sometimes1 but       
without relaxing his  learned gravity1  
he plays a difficult game1 as in the    
,paganini  variations of ,brahms1 which 
were done with a skill as sure and as   
soulless as ,paganini's may have been4  
,sometimes he forgets that the  notes   
are living things1 and tosses them about
 a little cruelly1 as if  they were a   

juggler's balls4 ,they drop like stones2
 you are sorry for  them1 because they  
are alive4 ,how ,chopin suffers1 when he
 plays the  ,preludes6 ,he plays them   
without a throb2 the scholar has driven 
out the  magic2 ,chopin becomes a       
mathematician4 ,in ,brahms1 in the ,g   
,minor  ,rhapsody1 you hear much more of
 what ,brahms meant to do2 for ,brahms  
has  set strange shapes dancing1 like   
the skeletons in the ghosts'  moonshine 
in a ballad of ,beddoes2 and these      
bodiless things take shape  in the      
music1 as ,godowsky plays it            
unflinchingly1 giving it to you  exactly
 as it is1 without comment4 ,here his   
fidelity to every outline of  form      
becomes an interpretation4 ,but ,chopin 
is so much more than form  that to      
follow every outline of it may be to    
leave ,chopin out of the  outline4      
,pachmann1 of all the interpreters of   
,chopin1 is the most subtle1 the one    
most likely to do for the most part what
 ,chopin wanted4 ,the test1 ,i  think1  

is in the ,third ,scherzo4 ,that great  
composition1 one of the  greatest among 
,chopin's works1 for it contains all his
 qualities in an  intense measure1 might
 have been thought less likely to be    
done  perfectly by ,pachmann than such  
,coleridge in music1 such murmurings out
  of paradise1 as the ,etude in ,f      
,minor 7,op4 #be1 ,no4 #b7 or one of    
those  ,mazurkas in which ,chopin is    
more poignantly fantastic in substance1 
more  wild and whimsical in rhythm1 than
 elsewhere in his music2 and indeed1  as
 ,pachmann played them1 they were       
strange and lovely gambols of           
unchristened elves4 ,but in the ,scherzo
 he mastered this great1 violent1       
heroic thing as he had mastered the     
little freakish things and the          
trickling and whispering things4 ,he    
gave meaning to every part of its       
decoration1 yet lost none of the        
splendour and wave-like motion of the   
whole tossing and eager sea of sound4   
,pachmann's art1 like ,chopin's1 which  

it perpetuates1 is of that  peculiarly  
modern kind which aims at giving the    
essence of things in  their fine shades3
 la nuance encor6 ,is there1 it may be  
asked1 any  essential thing left out in 
the process2 do we have attenuation in  
what  is certainly a way of sharpening  
one's steel to a very fine point8 ,the  
sharpened steel gains in what is most   
vital in its purpose by this very       
paring away of its substance2 and why   
should not a form of art strike  deeper 
for the same reason8 ,our only answer to
 ,whistler and ,verlaine is  the        
existence of ,rodin and ,wagner4 ,there 
we have weight as well as  sharpness2   
these giants fly4 ,it was curious to    
hear1 in the vast  luminous music of the
 ,rheingold1 flowing like water about   
the earth1  bare to its roots1 not only 
an amplitude but a delicacy of fine     
shades  not less realised than in       
,chopin4 ,wagner1 it is true1 welds the 
lyric  into drama1 without losing its   
lyrical quality4 ,yet there is no       

perfect  lyric which is made less by the
 greatness of even a perfect drama4     
,chopin was once thought to be a        
drawing-room composer2 ,pachmann was    
once  thought to be no serious artist4  
,both have triumphed1 not because the   
taste of any public has improved1 but   
because a few people who knew have      
whispered the truth to one another1 and 
at last it has leaked out like a        
secret4          ,,paderewski      ,i   
shall never cease to associate          
,paderewski with the night of the       
,jubilee4 ,i had gone on foot from the  
,temple through those packed1 gaudy1    
noisy1 and vulgarised streets1 through  
which no vehicles could pass1 to  a rare
 and fantastic house at the other end of
 ,london1 a famous house  hospitable to 
all the arts2 and ,paderewski sat with  
closed eyes and  played the piano1 there
 in his friend's house1 as if he were in
 his own  home4 ,after the music was    
over1 someone said to me1 ,i feel as if 
,i had  been in hell1 so profound was   

the emotion she had experienced from the
  playing4 ,i would have said heaven    
rather than hell1 for there seemed to   
be nothing but pure beauty1 beauty half 
asleep and dreaming of itself1  in the  
marvellous playing4 ,a spell1 certainly1
 was over everyone1 and  then the       
exorciser became human1 and jested      
deliciously till the early  morning1    
when1 as ,i went home through the still 
garrulous and peopled  streets1 ,i saw  
the last flutter of flags and streamers 
between night and  dawn4 ,all the world 
had been rioting for pleasure in the    
gross way of  popular demonstrations2   
and in the very heart of this up-roar   
there had  been1 for a few people1 this 
divine escape4    ,no less magical1     
soothing1 enchanting was the apparition1
 in ,queen's  ,hall1 ten years later1 of
 this unchanged creature with the       
tortured  ,burne-,jones face1 level and 
bewildering eyes1 the web of gold hair  
still  poised like a halo4 ,beauty grew 
up around him like a sudden1 exuberant  

growth1 more vigorous and from a deeper 
root than before4 ,i realised1  more    
than ever1 how the musician had always  
been the foundation of the  virtuoso4 ,i
 have used the word apparition          
advisedly4 ,there is something1  not    
only in the aspect of ,paderewski1 which
 seems to come mysteriously1  but full  
of light1 from a great distance4 ,he    
startles music into a  surprised        
awakening4    ,the art of ,paderewski   
recalls to me the art of the most       
skilled and the  most distinguished of  
equilibrists1 himself a ,pole1 ,paul    
,cinquevalli4  ,people often speak1     
wrongly1 of ,paderewski's skill as      
acrobatic4 ,the  word conveys some sense
 of disparagement and1 so used1 is      
inaccurate4  ,but there is much in      
common between two forms of an art in   
which  physical dexterity counts for so 
much1 and that passionate precision to  
which error must be impossible4 ,it is  
the same kind of joy that you get  from 
,cinquevalli when he juggles with       

cannon-balls and from ,paderewski  when 
he brings a continuous thunder out of   
the piano4 ,other people do  the same   
things1 but no else can handle thunder  
or a cannon-ball  delicately4 ,and      
,paderewski1 in his absolute mastery of 
his instrument1  seems to do the most   
difficult things without difficulty1    
with a  scornful ease1 an almost        
accidental quality which1 found in      
perfection1  marvellously decorates it4 
,it is difficult to imagine that anyone 
since  ,liszt has had so complete a     
mastery of every capacity of the piano1 
and  ,liszt1 though probably even more  
brilliant1 can hardly be imagined with  
this particular kind of charm4 ,his     
playing is in the true sense an         
inspiration2 he plays nothing as if he  
had learned it with toil1 but as  if it 
had come to him out of a kind of fiery  
meditation4 ,even his  thunder is not so
 much a thing specially cultivated for  
its own sake as  a single prominent     
detail in a vast accomplishment4 ,when  

he plays1 the  piano seems to become    
thrillingly and tempestuously alive1 as 
if brother  met brother in some joyous  
triumph4 ,he collaborates with it1      
urging it  to battle like a war-horse4  
,and the quality of the sonority which  
he  gets out of it is unlike that which 
is teased or provoked from the          
instrument by any other player4 ,fierce 
exuberant delight wakens under  his     
fingers1 in which there is a            
sensitiveness almost impatient1 and     
under his feet1 which are as busy as an 
organist's with the pedals4 ,the  music 
leaps like pouring water1 flood after   
flood of sound1 caught  together and    
flung onward by a central energy4 ,the  
separate notes are  never picked out and
 made into ornaments2 all the expression
 goes to  passage after passage1        
realised acutely in their sequence4     
,where others  give you hammering on an 
anvil1 he gives you thunder as if heard 
through  clouds4 ,and he is full of     
leisure and meditation1 brooding        

thoughtfully  over certain exquisite    
things as if loth to let them pass over 
and be  gone4 ,and he seems to play out 
of a dream1 in which the fingers are    
secondary to the meaning1 but report    
that meaning with entire felicity4      
,in the playing of the ,moonlight sonata
 there was no ,paderewski1 there  was   
nothing but ,beethoven4 ,the finale1 of 
course1 was done with the due           
brilliance1 the executant's share in a  
composition not written for  modern     
players4 ,but what was wonderful1 for   
its reverence1 its  perfection of       
fidelity1 was the playing of the slow   
movement and of the  little sharp       
movement which follows1 like the crying 
and hopping of a  bird4 ,the ear waited1
 and was satisfied in every shade of    
anticipation2  nothing was missed1      
nothing was added2 the pianist was as it
 were a  faithful and obedient shadow4  
,as you listened you forgot technique1  
or  that it was anybody in particular   
who was playing3 the sonata was  there1 

with all its moonlight1 as every lover  
of ,beethoven had known  that it        
existed4    ,before the ,beethoven there
 had been a ,variation and ,fugue on an 
original theme1 in which ,paderewski    
played his own music1 really as if  he  
were improvising it there and then4 ,i  
am not sure that that feeling  is       
altogether to the credit of the music1  
which1 as ,i heard it for the  first    
time1 seemed almost too perilously      
effective1 in its large  contrasts1 its 
,liszt-like succession of contradictory 
moods4 ,sound was  evoked that it might 
swell and subside like waves1 break     
suddenly1 and  die out in a white rain  
of stinging foam4 ,pauses1 surprises1   
all were  delicately calculated and the 
weaver of these bewildered dreams seemed
  to watch over them like a ,loge of    
celestial ingenuity4    ,when the actual
 ,liszt came1 the interminable ,sonata  
in ,b minor1 in which  the sugar and the
 fire are so strangely mixed1 it was as 
if ,paderewski  were still playing his  

own music4 ,if ever there was a show    
piece for  the piano1 this was it1 and  
if ever there was a divine showman for  
it1  it was ,paderewski4 ,you felt at   
once the personal sympathy of the great 
pianist for the great pianist4 ,he was  
no longer reverential1 as with          
,beethoven1 not doing homage but taking 
part1 sharing almost in a  creation1    
comet-like1 of stars in the sky4        
,nothing in the bravura  disconcerted or
 even displeased him1 no lack of        
coherence or obviousness  in contrasts  
disturbed him2 what was loud1           
boisterous1 explosive1 he  tossed about 
as in a colossal game1 he bathed        
luxuriously in what was  luscious in the
 melodies1 giving them almost more than 
their real worth  by the delighted skill
 with which he set them singing4 ,a more
  astonishing1 a more convincing1 a more
 overwhelming tour de force could       
hardly be achieved on the piano3 could  
an eruption of ,vesuvius be more        
spectacularly magnificent8    ,liszt's  

music for the piano was written for a   
pianist who could do  anything that has 
ever been done with the instrument1 and 
the result is  not so wholly            
satisfactory as in the ease of ,chopin1 
who1 with a  smaller technique1 knew    
more of the secret of music4 ,chopin    
never  dazzles1 ,liszt blinds4 ,it is a 
question if he ever did full justice to 
his own genius1 which was partly that of
 an innovator1 and people are  only now 
beginning to do justice to what was     
original as well as fine in  his work4  
,how many ideas ,wagner caught from him1
 in his shameless  transfiguring        
triumphant way6 ,the melody of the      
,flower-,maidens1 for  instance1 in     
,parsifal1 is borrowed frankly from a   
tone-poem of ,liszt  in which it is no  
more than a thin1 rocking melody1       
without any of the  mysterious          
fascination that ,wagner put into it4   
,but in writing for the  piano ,liszt   
certainly remembered that it was he1 and
 not some unknown  person1 who was to   

play these hard and showy rhapsodies1 in
 which there  are no depths1 though     
there are splendours4 ,that is why      
,liszt is the  test rather of the       
virtuoso than of the interpreter1 why1  
therefore1 it  was so infinitely more   
important that ,paderewski should have  
played the  ,beethoven sonata as        
impersonally as he did than that he     
should have  played the ,liszt sonata   
with so much personal abandonment4      
,between those  limits there seems to be
 contained the whole art of the pianist1
 and  ,paderewski has attained both     
limits4    ,after his concert was over1 
,paderewski gave seven encores1 in the  
midst  of an enthusiasm which recurs    
whenever and wherever he gives a        
concert4  ,what is the peculiar quality 
in this artist which acts always with   
the  same intoxicating effect8 ,is it   
anything quite normal in his fingers1 or
  is it1 in the image of a brilliant and
 fantastic writer on music in  ,america1
 ,mr4 ,james ,huneker1 a soul like the  

soul of ,belus1 the ,raphael  of the    
piano1 which1 suspended above him1 like 
a coat of many colors1  mesmerises the  
audience1 while he sits motionless1 not 
touching the  notes8    ,is ,paderewski 
after all a ,belus8 ,is it his many     
coloured soul that  magnetises our poor 
vertebras1 in ,verlaine's phrase1 and   
not the mere  skill of his fingers8     
,art1 it has been said1 is contagious1  
and to  compel universal sympathy is to 
succeed in the last requirements of an  
art4 ,of what difference is it whether1 
like ,keats1 he perpetuates his         
personal magnetism in a stanza1 or1 like
 ,paderewski1 sheds it1 like a  perfume1
 for that passing moment which is all   
the eternity ever given to  the creator 
of beautiful sounds8          ,a        
,,reflection ,,at ,a ,,dolmetsch        
,,concert      ,the interpreter of      
ancient music1 ,arnold ,dolmetsch1 is   
one of those rare  magicians who are    
able to make roses blossom in           
mid-winter4 ,while music  has been      

modernising itself until the piano      
becomes an orchestra1 and  ,berlioz     
requires four orchestras to obtain a    
pianissimo1 this strange  man of genius 
has quietly gone back a few centuries   
and discovered for  himself an exquisite
 lost world1 which was disappearing like
 a fresco  peeling off a wall4 ,he has  
burrowed in libraries and found unknown 
manuscripts like a savant1 he has worked
 at misunderstood notations and  found  
out a way of reading them like a        
cryptogrammatist1 he has first  found   
out how to restore and then how to make 
over again harpsichord1  and virginals1 
and clavichord1 and all those           
instruments which had  become silent    
curiosities in museums4    ,it is only  
beginning to be realised1 even by       
musical people1 that the  clavecin music
 of1 for instance1 ,bach1 loses at least
 half its charm1  almost its identity1  
when played on the modern grand piano2  
that the  exquisite music of ,rameau and
 ,couperin1 the brilliant and beautiful 

music of ,scarlatti1 is almost inaudible
 on everything but the  harpsichord and 
the viols2 and that there exists1 far   
earlier than these  writers1 a mass of  
,english and ,italian music of extreme  
beauty1 which  has never been spoiled on
 the piano because it has never been    
played on  it4 ,to any one who has once 
touched a spinet1 harpsichord1 or       
clavichord1 the piano must always remain
 a somewhat inadequate  instrument2     
lacking in the precision1 the           
penetrating charm1 the  infinite        
definite reasons for existence of those 
instruments of wires  and jacks and     
quills which its metallic rumble has    
been supposed so  entirely to have      
superseded4 ,as for the clavichord1 to  
have once touched  it1 feeling the      
softness with which one's fingers make  
their own music1  like wind among the   
reeds1 is to have lost something of     
one's relish  even for the music of the 
violin1 which is also a windy music1 but
 the  music of wind blowing sharply     

among the trees4 ,it is on such         
instruments  that ,mr4 ,dolmetsch plays 
to us2 and he plays to us also on the   
lute1 the  theorbo1 the viola da gamba1 
the viola d'amore1 and ,i know not how  
many  varieties of those stringed       
instruments which are most familiar to  
most  of us from the early ,italian     
pictures in which whimsical little      
angels  with crossed legs hold them to  
their chins4    ,mr4 ,dolmetsch is1 ,i  
suppose1 the only living man who can    
read lute-music  and play on the lute1  
an instrument of extraordinary beauty1  
which was  once as common in ,england as
 the guitar still is in ,spain4 ,and1   
having  made with his own hands the     
materials of the music which he has     
recovered from oblivion1 he has taught  
himself and he has taught others  to    
play this music on these instruments and
 to sing it to their  accompaniment4 ,in
 a music room1 which is really the      
living room of a  house1 with viols     
hanging on the walls1 a chamber-organ in

 one corner1  a harpsichord in another1 
a clavichord laid across the arms of a  
chair1  this music seems to carry one   
out of the world1 and shut one in upon a
  house of dreams1 full of intimate and 
ghostly voices4 ,it is a house of       
peace1 where music is still that        
refreshment which it was before it took 
fever1 and became accomplice and not    
minister to the nerves1 and brought  the
 clamour of the world into its          
seclusion4    ,go from a concert at     
,dolmetsch's to a ,tschaikowsky concert 
at the  ,queen's ,hall4 ,tschaikowsky is
 a debauch1 not so much passionate as   
feverish4 ,the rushing of his violins1  
like the rushing of an army of  large   
winged birds2 the thud1 snap1 and tingle
 of his strange orchestra2  the riotous 
image of ,russian peasants leaping and  
hopping in their  country dances1 which 
his dance measures call up before one2  
those sweet  solid harmonies in which   
7if ,i may quote the voluptuous phrase  
of a  woman7 one sets one's teeth as    

into nougat2 all this is like a very    
material kind of pleasure1 in which the 
senses for a moment forget the  soul4   
,for a moment only1 for is it not the   
soul1 a kind of discontented  crying out
 against pleasure and pain1 which comes 
back distressingly  into this after all 
pathetic music8 ,all modern music is    
pathetic2  discontent 7so much idealism 
as that67 has come into all modern      
music1  that it may be sharpened and    
disturbed enough to fix our attention4  
,and  ,tschaikowsky speaks straight to  
the nerves1 with that touch of          
unmanliness which is another            
characteristic of modern art4 ,there is 
a  vehement and mighty sorrow in the    
,passion ,music of ,bach1 by the side of
  which the grief of ,tschaikowsky is   
like the whimpering of a child4 ,he is  
unconscious of reticence1 unconscious of
 self-control4 ,he is unhappy1  and he  
weeps floods of tears1 beats his breast1
 curses the daylight2 he  sees only the 
misery of the moment1 and he sees the   

misery of the moment  as a thing endless
 and overwhelming4 ,the child who has   
broken his toy  can realise nothing in  
the future but a passionate regret for  
the toy4    ,in ,tschaikowsky there is  
none of the quieting of thought4 ,the   
only  healing for our nerves lies in    
abstract thought1 and he can never get  
far enough from his nerves to look      
calmly at his own discontent4 ,all      
those wild1 broken rhythms1 rushing this
 way and that1 are letting out  his     
secret all the time3 ,i am unhappy1 and 
,i know not why ,i am unhappy2  ,i want1
 but ,i know not what ,i want4 ,in the  
most passionate and the most            
questioning music of ,wagner there is   
always air2 ,tschaikowsky is            
suffocating4 ,it is himself that he     
pities so much1 and not himself  because
 he shares in the general sorrow of the 
world4 ,to ,tristan and  ,isolde the    
whole universe is an exultant and       
martyred sharer in their  love2 they    
know only the absolute4 ,even suffering 

does not bring  nobility to             
,tschaikowsky4    ,to pass from ,wagner 
to ,tschaikowsky1 from ,parsifal to the 
,pathetic  ,symphony1 is like passing   
from a church in which priests are      
offering  mass to a hut in which        
peasants are quarrelling1 dancing1 and  
making  love4 ,tschaikowsky has both    
force and sincerity1 but it is the force
 and  sincerity of a ferocious child4   
,he takes the orchestra in both hands1  
tears it to pieces1 catches up a        
fragment of it here1 a fragment of it   
there1 masters it like an enemy2 he     
makes it do what he wants4 ,but he  uses
 his fist where ,wagner touches with the
 tips of his fingers2 he  shows         
ill-breeding after the manners of the   
supreme gentleman4 ,wagner  can use the 
whole strength of the orchestra1 and not
 make a noise3 he  never ends on a bang4
 ,but ,tschaikowsky loves noise for its 
own sake2 he  likes to pound the drum1  
and to hear the violins running up and  
down  scales like acrobats4 ,wagner     

takes his rhythms from the sea1 as in   
,tristan1 from fire1 as in parts of the 
,ring1 from light1 as in  ,parsifal4    
,but ,tschaikowsky deforms the rhythms  
of nature with the  caprices of         
half-civilised impulses4 ,he puts the   
frog-like dancing of  the ,russian      
peasant into his tunes2 he cries and    
roars like a child in a  rage4 ,he gives
 himself to you just as he is2 he is    
immensely conscious  of himself and of  
his need to take you into his           
confidence4 ,in your  delight at finding
 any one so alive1 you are inclined to  
welcome him  without reserve1 and to    
forget that a man of genius is not      
necessarily  a great artist1 and that1  
if he is not a great artist1 he is not a
  satisfactory man of genius4    ,i     
contrast him with ,wagner because it    
seems to me that ,wagner1 alone  among  
quite modern musicians1 and though      
indeed he appeals to our nerves  more   
forcibly than any of them1 has that     
breadth and universality by  which      

emotion ceases to be merely personal and
 becomes elemental4 ,to the  musicians  
of the sixteenth and seventeenth        
centuries1 music was an art  which had  
to be carefully guarded from the too    
disturbing presence of  emotion2 emotion
 is there always1 whenever the music is 
fine music2 but  the music is something 
much more than a means for the          
expression of  emotion4 ,it is a        
pattern1 its beauty lies in its         
obedience to a law1 it  is music made   
for music's sake1 with what might be    
called a more  exclusive devotion to art
 than that of our modern musician4 ,this
 music  aims at the creation of beauty  
in sound2 it conceives of beautiful     
sound  as a thing which cannot exist    
outside order and measure2 it has not   
yet  come to look upon transgression as 
an essential part of liberty4 ,it does  
not even desire liberty1 but is content 
with loving obedience4 ,it can  express 
emotion1 but it will never express an   
emotion carried to that  excess at which

 the modern idea of emotion begins4     
,thus1 for all its  suggestions of pain1
 grief1 melancholy1 it will remain1 for 
us at least1  happy music1 voices of a  
house of peace4 ,is there1 in the future
 of  music1 after it has expressed for  
us all our emotions1 and we are tired   
of our emotions1 and weary enough to be 
content with a little rest1 any         
likelihood of a return to this happy    
music1 into which beauty shall come     
without the selfishness of desire8      
,,the ,,dramatisation ,,of ,,song       
,all art is a compromise1 in which the  
choice of what is to be foregone  must  
be left somewhat to the discretion of   
nature4 ,when the sculptor  foregoes    
colour1 when the painter foregoes       
relief1 when the poet  foregoes the     
music which soars beyond words and the  
musician that  precise meaning which    
lies in words alone1 he follows a kind  
of  necessity in things1 and the        
compromise seems to be ready-made for   
him4  ,but there will always be those   

who are discontented with no matter what
  fixed limits1 who dream1 like ,wagner1
 of a possible1 or1 like ,mallarm1  of  
an impossible1 fusion of the arts4      
,these would invent for themselves  a   
compromise which has not yet come into  
the world1 a gain without loss1  a      
re-adjustment in which the scales shall 
bear so much additional weight  without 
trembling4 ,but nature is not always    
obedient to this too  autocratic        
command4 ,take the art of the voice4 ,in
 its essence1 the art  of the voice is  
the same in the nightingale and in      
,melba4 ,the same note  is produced in  
the same way2 the expression given to   
that note1 the  syllable which that note
 renders1 are quite different things4   
,song does  not in itself require words 
in order to realise even the utmost of  
its  capacities4 ,the voice is an       
instrument like the violin1 and no more 
in  need of words for its expression    
than the violin4 ,perhaps the ideal of  
singing would be attained when a        

marvellous voice1 which had absorbed    
into itself all that temperament and    
training had to give it1 sang           
inarticulate music1 like a violin which 
could play itself4 ,there is  nothing   
which such an instrument could not      
express1 nothing which exists  as pure  
music2 and1 in this way1 we should have 
the art of the voice1  with the least   
possible compromise4    ,the compromise 
is already far on its way when words    
begin to come into  the song4 ,here are 
two arts helping one another2 something 
is gained1  but how much is lost8       
,undoubtedly the words lose1 and does   
not the  voice lose something also1 in  
its directness of appeal8 ,add acting to
  voice and words1 and you get the      
ultimate compromise1 opera1 in which    
other arts as well have their share and 
in which ,wagner would have us  see the 
supreme form of art4 ,again something is
 lost2 we lose more and  more1 perhaps  
for a greater gain4 ,tristan sings lying
 on his back1 in  order to represent a  

sick man2 the actual notes which he     
sings are  written partly in order to   
indicate the voice of a sick man4 ,for  
the  sake of what we gain in dramatic   
and even theatrical expressiveness1 we  
have lost a two-fold means of producing 
vocal beauty4 ,let us rejoice in  the   
gain1 by all means2 but not without some
 consciousness of the loss1  not with   
too ready a belief that the final       
solution of the problem has  been found4
    ,an attempt at some solution is1 at 
this moment1 being made in ,paris by a  
singer who is not content to be ,carmen 
or ,charlotte ,corday1 but who  wants to
 invent a method of her own for singing 
and acting at the same  time1 not as a  
character in an opera1 but as a private 
interpreter  between poetry and the     
world4    ,imagine a woman who suggests 
at the same time ,sarah ,bernhardt and  
,mrs4  ,brown-,potter1 without being    
really like either2 she is small1       
exuberantly blonde1 her head is         
surrounded by masses of loosely twisted 

blonde hair2 she has large grey eyes1   
that can be grave1 or mocking1 or       
passionate1 or cruel1 or watchful2 a    
large nose1 an intent1 eloquent  mouth4 
,she wears a trailing dress that follows
 the lines of the figure  vaguely1      
supple to every movement4 ,when she     
sings1 she has an old1  high-backed     
chair in which she can sit1 or on which 
she can lean4 ,when ,i  heard her1 there
 was a mirror on the other side of the  
room1 opposite to  her2 she saw no one  
else in the room1 once she had          
surrendered herself  to the possession  
of the song1 but she was always         
conscious of that  image of herself     
which came back to her out of the       
mirror3 it was  herself watching        
herself1 in a kind of delight at the    
beauty which she  was evoking out of    
words1 notes1 and expressive movement4  
,her voice is  strong and rich1         
imperfectly trained1 but the voice of a 
born singer2  her acting is even more   
the acting of a born actress2 but it is 

the  temperament of the woman that      
flames into her voice and gestures1 and 
sets her whole being violently and      
delicately before you4 ,she makes a     
drama of each song1 and she re-creates  
that drama over again1 in her  rendering
 of the intentions of the words and of  
the music4 ,it is as much  with her eyes
 and her hands1 as with her voice1 that 
she evokes the  melody of a picture2 it 
is a picture that sings1 and that sings 
in all  its lines4 ,there is something  
in her aspect1 what shall ,i call it8   
tenacious2 it is a woman who is an      
artist because she is a woman1 who      
takes in energy at all her senses and   
gives out energy at all her  senses4    
,she sang some tragic songs of          
,schumann1 some mysterious songs of     
,maeterlinck1 some delicate love-songs  
of ,charles van ,lerberghe4 ,as one     
looked and listened it was impossible to
 think more of the words than of  the   
music or of the music than of the words4
 ,one took them  simultaneously1 as one 

feels at once the softness and the      
perfume of a  flower4 ,i understood why 
,mallarm had seemed to see in her the   
realisation of one of his dreams4 ,here 
was a new art1 made up of a new  mixing 
of the arts1 in one subtly intoxicating 
elixir4 ,to ,mallarm it  was the more   
exquisite because there was in it none  
of the broad general  appeal of opera1  
of the gross recognised proportions of  
things4    ,this dramatisation of song1 
done by any one less subtly1 less       
completely1 and less sincerely an       
artist1 would lead us1 ,i am afraid1    
into something more disastrous than even
 the official concert1 with its  rigid  
persons in evening dress holding sheets 
of music in their  tremulous hands1 and 
singing the notes set down for them to  
the best of  their vocal ability4       
,madame ,georgette ,leblanc is an       
exceptional artist1  and she has made an
 art after her own likeness1 which      
exists because it  is the expression of 
herself1 of a strong nature always in   

vibration4  ,what she feels as a woman  
she can render as an artist2 she is at  
once  instinctive and deliberate1       
deliberate because it is her natural    
instinct1 the natural instinct of a     
woman who is essentially a woman1 to  be
 so4 ,i imagine her always singing in   
front of a mirror1 always  recognising  
her own shadow there1 and the more      
absolutely abandoned to  what the song  
is saying through her because of that   
uninterrupted  communion with herself4  
,,the ,,meiningen ,,orchestra           
,other orchestras give performances1    
readings1 approximations2 the           
,meiningen orchestra gives an           
interpretation1 that is1 the thing      
itself4  ,when this orchestra plays a   
piece of music every note lives1 and    
not1 as  with most orchestras1 every    
particularly significant note4 ,brahms  
is  sometimes dull1 but he is never dull
 when these people play him2  ,schubert 
is sometimes tame1 but not when they    
play him4 ,what they do is  precisely to

 put vitality into even those parts of a
 composition in  which it is scarcely   
present1 or scarcely realisable2 and    
that is a much  more difficult thing1   
and really a more important thing1 for  
the proper  appreciation of music1 than 
the heightening of what is already fine1
 and  obviously fine in itself4 ,and    
this particular quality of              
interpretation  has its value too as    
criticism4 ,for1 while it gives the     
utmost value to  what is implicitly     
there1 there at least in embryo1 it     
cannot create out  of nothing2 it cannot
 make insincere work sincere1 or fill   
empty work  with meaning which never    
could have belonged to it4 ,brahms1 at  
his  moments of least vitality1 comes   
into a new vigour of life2 but ,strauss1
  played by these sincere1 precise1     
thoughtful musicians shows1 as he  never
 could show otherwise1 the distance at  
which his lively spectre  stands from   
life4 ,when ,i heard the ,don ,juan1    
which ,i had heard twice  before1 and   

liked less the second time than the     
first1 ,i realised  finally the whole   
strain1 pretence1 and emptiness of the  
thing4 ,played  with this earnest       
attention to the meaning of every note1 
it was like a  trivial drama when ,duse 
acts it2 it went to pieces through being
 taken  at its own word4 ,it was as if a
 threadbare piece of stuff were held up 
to the full sunlight2 you saw every     
stitch that was wanting4    ,the ,don   
,juan was followed by the ,entr'acte and
 ,ballet music from  ,rosamunde1 and    
here the same sunlight was no longer    
criticism1 but  rather an illumination4 
,i have never heard any music more      
beautifully  played4 ,i could only think
 of the piano playing of ,pachmann4 ,the
 faint1  delicate music just came into  
existence1 breathed a little1 and was   
gone4 ,here for once was an orchestra   
which could literally be overheard4     
,the overture to the ,meistersinger     
followed1 and here1 for the first  time1
 ,i got1 quite flawless and             

uncontradictory1 the two impressions    
which that piece presents to one        
simultaneously4 ,i heard the unimpeded  
march forward1 and ,i distinguished at  
the same time every delicate  impediment
 thronging the way4 ,some renderings    
give you a sense of  solidity and       
straightforward movement2 others of the 
elaborate and  various life which       
informs this so solid structure4 ,here  
one got the  complete thing1 completely 
rendered4    ,i could not say the same  
of the rendering of the overture to     
,tristan4  ,here the notes1 all that was
 so to speak merely musical in the      
music1  were given their just           
expression2 but the something more1 the 
vast heave  and throb of the music1 was 
not there4 ,it was classical rendering  
of  what is certainly not classical     
music4 ,hear that overture as ,richter  
gives it1 and you will realise just     
where the ,meiningen orchestra is       
lacking4 ,it has the kind of energy     
which is required to render             

,beethoven's multitudinous energy1 or   
the energy which can be heavy and       
cloudy in ,brahms1 or like overpowering 
light in ,bach1 or1 in ,wagner  himself1
 an energy which works within known     
limits1 as in the overture  to the      
,meistersinger4 ,but that wholly new1   
and somewhat feverish1  overwhelming    
quality which we find in the music of   
,tristan meets with  something less than
 the due response4 ,it is a quality     
which people used  to say was not       
musical at all1 a quality which does not
 appeal certainly  to the musical sense 
alone3 for the rendering of that we must
 go to  ,richter4    ,otherwise1 in that
 third concert it would he difficult to 
say whether  ,schumann1 ,brahms1        
,mozart1 or ,beethoven was the better   
rendered4 ,perhaps  one might choose    
,mozart for pure pleasure4 ,it was the  
,serenade for  wind instruments1 and it 
seemed1 played thus perfectly1 the most 
delightful music in the world4 ,the     
music of ,mozart is1 no doubt1 the  most

 beautiful music in the world4 ,when ,i 
heard the serenade ,i thought  of       
,coventry ,patmore's epithet1 actually  
used1 ,i think1 about ,mozart3          
glittering peace4 ,schumann1 ,brahms1   
,wagner1 and ,beethoven all seemed  for 
the moment to lose a little of their    
light under this pure and  tranquil and 
unwavering glitter4 ,i hope ,i shall    
never hear the  ,serenade again1 for ,i 
shall never hear it played as these     
particular  players played it4    ,the  
,meiningen orchestra is famous for its  
wind1 and when1 at the first  concert1  
,i heard ,beethoven's ,rondino for wind 
instruments1 it seemed to  me that ,i   
was hearing brass for the first time as 
,i had imagined brass  ought to sound4  
,here was1 not so much a new thing which
 one had never  thought possible1 as    
that precise thing which one's ears had 
expected1  and waited for1 and never    
heard4 ,one quite miraculous thing these
 wind  players certainly did1 in common1
 however1 with the whole orchestra4 ,and

  that was to give an effect of         
distance1 as if the sound came actually 
from beyond the walls4 ,i noticed it    
first in the overture to ,leonore1  the 
first piece which they played2 an       
unparalleled effect and one of          
surprising beauty4    ,another matter   
for which the ,meiningen orchestra is   
famous is its  interpretation of the    
works of ,brahms4 ,at each concert some 
fine music  of ,brahms was given finely1
 but it was not until the fourth concert
 that  ,i realised1 on hearing the third
 ,symphony1 everything of which ,brahms 
was capable4 ,it may be that a more     
profound acquaintance with his music    
would lead me to add other things to    
this thing as the finest music  which he
 ever wrote2 but the third ,symphony    
certainly revealed to me1  not          
altogether a new1 but a complete        
,brahms4 ,it had all his intellect  and 
something more2 thought had taken fire1 
and become a kind of  passion4          
,,mozart ,,in ,,the ,,mirabell-,,garten 

,they are giving a cycle of ,mozart     
operas at ,munich1 at the ,hof-,theater1
  to follow the ,wagner operas at the   
,prinz-,regenten-,theatre2 and ,i       
stayed1  on my way to ,salzburg1 to hear
 ,die ,zauberflte4 ,it was perfectly    
given1 with a small1 choice orchestra   
under ,herr ,zumpe1 and with every  part
 except the tenor's admirably sung and  
acted4 ,herr ,julius ,zarest1  from     
,hanover1 was particularly good as      
,papageno2 the ,eva of ,die             
,meistersinger made an equally good     
,pamina4 ,and it was staged under ,herr 
von ,possart's direction1 as suitably   
and as successfully1 in its  different  
way1 as the ,wagner opera had been4 ,the
 sombre ,egyptian scenes  of this odd   
story1 with its menagerie and its       
pantomime transformation1  were turned  
into a thrilling spectacle1 and by means
 of nothing but a  little canvas and    
paint and limelight4 ,it could have cost
 very little1  compared with an ,english
 ,shakespeare revival1 let us say2 but  

how  infinitely more spectacular1 in the
 good sense1 it was6 ,every effect was  
significant1 perfectly in its place1    
doing just what it had to do1 and       
without thrusting itself forward for    
separate admiration4 ,german art of     
to-day is all decorative1 and it is at  
its best when it is applied to  the     
scenery of the stage4 ,its fault1 in    
serious painting1 is that it is  too    
theatrical1 it is too anxious to be full
 of too many qualities  besides the     
qualities of good painting4 ,it is too  
emphatic1 it is meant  for artificial   
light4 ,if ,franz ,stuck would paint for
 the stage1 instead  of using his       
vigorous brush to paint nature without  
distinction and  nightmares without     
imagination on easel-canvases1 he would 
do1 perhaps  rather better1 just what   
these scene-painters do1 with so much   
skill and  taste4 ,they have the sense  
of effective decoration2 and ,german    
art1 at  present1 is almost wholly      
limited to that sense4    ,i listened1  

with the full consent of my eyes1 to the
 lovely music1 which  played round the  
story like light transfiguring a        
masquerade2 and now1  by a lucky chance1
 ,i can brood over it here in ,salzburg1
 where ,mozart  was born1 where he      
lived1 where the house in which he wrote
 the opera is  to be seen1 a little     
garden-house brought over from ,vienna  
and set down  where it should always    
have been1 high up among the pinewoods  
of the  ,capuzinerberg4 ,i find myself  
wondering how much ,mozart took to      
himself1  how much went to his making1  
in this exquisite place1 set in a hollow
 of  great hills1 from which1 if you    
look down upon it1 it has the air of a  
little toy town out of a ,noah's ,ark1  
set square in a clean1 trim1  perfectly 
flat map of meadows1 with its flat      
roofs1 packed close  together on each   
side of a long1 winding river1 which    
trails across the  whole breadth of the 
plain4 ,from the midst of the town you  
look up  everywhere at heights2 rocks   

covered with pine-trees1 beyond them    
hills  hooded with white clouds1 great  
soft walls of darkness1 on which the    
mist is like the bloom of a plum2 and1  
right above you1 the castle1 on  its    
steep rock swathed in trees1 with its   
grey walls and turrets1 like  the castle
 which one has imagined for all the     
knights of all the  romances4 ,all this1
 no doubt1 entered into the soul of     
,mozart1 and had  its meaning for him2  
but where ,i seem actually to see him1  
where ,i can  fancy him walking most    
often1 and hearing more sounds than     
elsewhere  come to him through his eyes 
and his senses1 in the                  
,mirabell-,garten1  which lies behind   
the palace built by an ,archbishop of   
,salzburg in the  seventeenth century1  
and which is laid out in the            
conventional ,french  fashion1 with a   
harmony that ,i find in few other       
gardens4 ,i have never  walked in a     
garden which seemed to keep itself so   
reticently within its  own severe and   

gracious limits4 ,the trees themselves  
seem to grow  naturally into the pattern
 of this garden1 with its formal alleys1
 in  which the birds fly in and out of  
the trellised roofs1 its square-cut     
bushes1 its low stone balustrades1 its  
tall urns out of which droop  trails of 
pink and green1 its round flower-beds1  
each of a single  colour1 set at regular
 intervals on the grass1 its tiny       
fountain  dripping faintly into a green 
and brown pool2 the long1 sad lines of  
the ,archbishop's ,palace1 off which the
 brown paint is peeling2 the whole  sad 
charm1 dainty melancholy1 formal beauty1
 and autumnal air of it4 ,it  was in the
 ,mirabell-,garten that ,i seemed       
nearest to ,mozart4    ,the music of    
,mozart1 as one hears it in ,die        
,zauberflte1 is music  without desire1  
music content with beauty1 and to be    
itself4 ,it has the  firm outlines of   
,drer or of ,botticelli1 with the same  
constraint within  a fixed form1 if one 
compares it with the ,titian-like       

freedom and  splendour of ,wagner4 ,in  
hearing ,mozart ,i saw ,botticelli's    
,spring2 in  hearing ,wagner ,i had seen
 the ,titian ,scourging of ,christ4     
,mozart has  what ,coventry ,patmore    
called a glittering peace3 to ,patmore  
that  quality distinguished supreme art1
 and1 indeed1 the art of ,mozart is1 in 
its kind1 supreme4 ,it has an adorable  
purity of form1 and it has no need  to  
look outside those limits which it has  
found or fixed for itself4  ,mozart     
cares little1 as a rule1 for what he has
 to express2 but he  cares infinitely   
for the way in which he expresses       
everything1 and1  through the mere      
emotional power of the notes themselves1
 he conveys to  us all that he cares to 
convey3 awe1 for instance1 in those     
solemn  scenes of the priests of ,isis4 
,he is a magician1 who plays with his   
magic1 and can be gay1 out of mere      
pleasant idleness1 fooling with         
,papagenus as ,shakespeare fools in     
,twelfth-,night4 ,die ,zauberflte is    

really a very fine kind of pantomime1 to
 which music lends itself in the  spirit
 of the thing1 yet without condescending
 to be grotesque4 ,the duet  of         
,papagenus and ,papagena is absolutely  
comic1 but it is as lovely as a  duet of
 two birds1 of less flaming feather4 ,as
 the lovers ascend through  fires and   
floods1 only the piping of the magic    
flute is heard in the  orchestra3       
imagine ,wagner threading it into the   
web of a great  orchestral pattern6 ,for
 ,mozart it was enough1 and for his art1
 it was  enough4 ,he gives you harmony  
which does not need to mean anything    
outside itself1 in order to be supremely
 beautiful2 and he gives you  beauty    
with a certain exquisite formality1 not 
caring to go beyond the  lines which    
contain that reticent1 sufficient charm 
of the  ,mirabell-,garten4              
,,notes ,,on ,,wagner ,,at ,,bayreuth   
,i4 ,,bayreuth ,,and ,,munich           
,bayreuth is ,wagner's creation in the  
world of action1 as the  music-dramas   

are his creation in the world of art2   
and it is a triumph  not less decisive1 
in its transposition of dream into      
reality4 ,remember  that every artist1  
in every art1 has desired his own       
,bayreuth1 and that  only ,wagner has   
attained it4 ,who would not rather      
remain at home1  receiving the world1   
than go knocking1 humbly or arrogantly1 
at many  doors1 offering an             
entertainment1 perhaps unwelcome8 ,the  
artist must  always be at cautious      
enmity with his public1 always somewhat 
at its  mercy1 even after he has        
conquered its attention4 ,the crowd     
never really  loves art1 it resents art 
as a departure from its level of        
mediocrity2  and fame comes to an artist
 only when there is a sufficient number 
of  intelligent individuals in the crowd
 to force their opinion upon the        
resisting mass of the others1 in the    
form of a fashion which it is  supposed 
to be unintelligent not to adopt4       
,bayreuth exists because  ,wagner willed

 that it should exist1 and because he   
succeeded in forcing  his ideas upon a  
larger number of people of power and    
action than any  other artist of our    
time4 ,wagner always got what he wanted1
 not always  when he wanted it4 ,he had 
a king on his side1 he had ,liszt on his
 side1  the one musician of all others  
who could do most for him2 he had the   
necessary enemies1 besides the general  
resistance of the crowd2 and at  last he
 got his theatre1 not in time to see the
 full extent of his own  triumph in it1 
but enough1 ,i think1 to let him die    
perfectly satisfied4  ,he had done what 
he wanted3 there was the theatre1 and   
there were his  works1 and the world had
 learnt where to come when it was       
called4    ,and there is now a new      
,bayreuth1 where1 almost as well as at  
,bayreuth  itself1 one can see and hear 
,wagner's music as ,wagner wished it to 
be  seen and heard4 ,the square1 plain1 
grey and green ,prinz-,regenten ,theatre
  at ,munich is an improved copy of the 

theatre at ,bayreuth1 with exactly  the 
same ampitheatrical arrangement of      
seats1 the same invisible  orchestra and
 vast stage4 ,everything is done as at  
,bayreuth3 there are  even the three    
fanfaren at the doors1 with the same    
punctual and  irrevocable closing of the
 doors at the beginning of each act4 ,as
 at  ,bayreuth1 the solemnity of the    
whole thing makes one almost nervous1   
for  the first few minutes of each act2 
but1 after that1 how near one is1 in    
this perfectly darkened1 perfectly quiet
 theatre1 in which the music  surges up 
out of the mystic gulf1 and the picture 
exists in all the  ecstasy of a picture 
on the other side of it1 beyond reality1
 how near  one is to being alone1 in the
 passive state in which the flesh is    
able  to endure the great burdening and 
uplifting of vision4 ,there are thus    
now two theatres in the world in which  
music and drama can be absorbed1  and   
not merely guessed at4          ,,ii4   
,,the ,,lesson ,,of ,,parsifal      ,the

 performance of ,parsifal1 as ,i saw it 
at ,bayreuth1 seemed to me the  most    
really satisfying performance ,i had    
ever seen in a theatre2 and ,i  have    
often1 since then1 tried to realise for 
myself exactly what it was  that one    
might learn from that incarnation of the
 ideas1 the theoretical  ideas1 of      
,wagner4 ,the music itself has the      
abstract quality of ,coventry           
,patmore's odes4 ,i cannot think of it  
except in terms of sight4 ,light  surges
 up out of it1 as out of unformed       
depths2 light descends from it1  as from
 the sky2 it breaks into flashes and    
sparkles of light1 it  broadens out into
 a vast sea of light4 ,it is almost     
metaphysical music2  pure ideas take    
visible form1 humanise themselves in a  
new kind of  ecstasy4 ,the ecstasy has  
still a certain fever in it2 these      
shafts of  light sometimes pierce the   
soul like a sword2 it is not peace1 the 
peace  of ,bach1 to whom music can give 
all he wants2 it is the unsatisfied     

desire of a kind of flesh of the spirit1
 and music is but a voice4  ,parsifal is
 religious music1 but it is the music of
 a religion which  had never before     
found expression4 ,i have found in a    
motet of ,vittoria  one of the motives  
of ,parsifal1 almost note for note1 and 
there is no  doubt that ,wagner owed    
much to ,palestrina and his school4 ,but
 even the  sombre music of ,vittoria    
does not plead and implore like         
,wagner's4 ,the  outcry comes and goes1 
not only with the suffering of          
,amfortas1 the  despair of ,kundry4     
,this abstract music has human blood in 
it4    ,what ,wagner has tried to do is 
to unite mysticism and the senses1 to   
render mysticism through the senses4    
,mr4 ,watts-,dunton has pointed out     
that that is what ,rossetti tried to do 
in painting4 ,that mysterious  intensity
 of expression which we see in the faces
 of ,rossetti's latest  pictures has    
something of the same appeal as the     
insatiable crying-out  of a carnal      

voice1 somewhere in the depths of       
,wagner's latest music4    ,in          
,parsifal1 more perhaps than anywhere   
else in his work1 ,wagner  realised the 
supreme importance of monotony1 the     
effect that could be  gained by the     
incessant repetition of a few ideas4    
,all that music of  the closing scene of
 the first act is made out of two or    
three phrases1  and it is by the finest 
kind of invention that those two or     
three  phrases are developed1 and       
repeated1 and woven together into so    
splendid  a tissue4 ,and1 in the phrases
 themselves1 what severity1 what        
bareness  almost6 ,it is in their return
 upon themselves1 their weighty         
reiterance1  that their force and       
significance become revealed2 and if1 as
 ,nietzsche  says1 they end by          
hypnotising us1 well1 all art is a kind 
of hypnotic  process1 a cunning         
absorption of the will of another4      
,parsifal presents itself as before all 
things a picture4 ,the music1  soaring  

up from hidden depths1 and seeming to   
drop from the heights1 and  be reflected
 back from shining distances1 though it 
is1 more than  anything ,i have ever    
heard1 like one of the great forces of  
nature1 the  sea or the wind1 itself    
makes pictures1 abstract pictures2 but  
even the  music1 as one watches the     
stage1 seems to subordinate itself to   
the  visible picture there4 ,and1 so    
perfectly do all the arts flow into one1
  the picture impresses one chiefly by  
its rhythm1 the harmonies of its        
convention4 ,the lesson of ,parsifal is 
the lesson that1 in art1 rhythm  is     
everything4 ,every moment in the acting 
of this drama makes a picture1  and     
every movement is slow1 deliberate1 as  
if automatic4 ,no actor makes  a        
gesture1 which has not been regulated   
for him2 there is none of that          
unintelligent haphazard known as being  
natural2 these people move like  music1 
or with that sense of motion which it is
 the business of painting  to arrest4   

,gesture being a part of a picture1 how 
should it but be  settled as definitely1
 for that pictorial effect which all    
action on the  stage is 7more or less   
unconsciously7 striving after1 as if it 
were the  time of a song1 or the stage  
direction3 ,cross stage to right8 ,also1
  every gesture is slow2 even despair   
having its artistic limits1 its         
reticence4 ,it is difficult to express  
the delight with which one sees1  for   
the first time1 people really motionless
 on the stage4 ,after all1  action1 as  
it has been said1 is only a way of      
spoiling something4 ,the  aim of the    
modern stage1 of all drama1 since the   
drama of the ,greeks1  is to give a vast
 impression of bustle1 of people who1   
like most people  in real life1 are in a
 hurry about things2 and our actors1    
when they are  not making irrelevant    
speeches1 are engaged in frantically    
trying to  make us see that they are    
feeling acute emotion1 by ,i know not   
what  restlessness1 contortion1 and     

ineffectual excitement4 ,if it were once
  realised how infinitely more important
 are the lines in the picture than      
these staccato extravagances which do   
but aim at tearing it out of its  frame1
 breaking violently through it1 we      
should have learnt a little1 at  least1 
of what the art of the stage should be1 
of what ,wagner has shown  us that it   
can be4    ,distance from the accidents 
of real life1 atmosphere1 the space for 
a  new1 fairer world to form itself1    
being of the essence of ,wagner's       
representation1 it is worth noticing how
 adroitly he throws back this  world of 
his1 farther and farther into the       
background1 by a thousand  tricks of    
lighting1 the actual distance of the    
stage from the  proscenium1 and by such 
calculated effects1 as that long scene  
of the  ,graal1 with its prolonged      
movement and ritual1 through the whole  
of  which ,parsifal stands motionless1  
watching it all4 ,how that solitary     
figure at the side1 merely looking on1  

though1 unknown to himself1 he is  the  
centre of the action1 also gives one the
 sense of remoteness1 which  it was     
,wagner's desire to produce1 throwing   
back the action into a  reflected       
distance1 as we watch someone on the    
stage who is watching it6    ,the beauty
 of this particular kind of acting and  
staging is of course  the beauty of     
convention4 ,the scenery1 for instance1 
with what an  enchanting leisure it     
merely walks along before one's eyes1   
when a  change is wanted6 ,convention1  
here as in all plastic art1 is founded  
on  natural truth very closely studied4 
,the rose is first learned1 in every    
wrinkle of its petals1 petal by petal1  
before that reality is  elaborately     
departed from1 in order that a new1     
abstract beauty may be  formed out of   
those outlines1 all but those outlines  
being left out4  ,and ,parsifal1 which  
is thus solemnly represented before us1 
has in it1  in its very essence1 that   
hieratic character which it is the      

effort of  supreme art to attain4 ,at   
times one is reminded of the most       
beautiful  drama in the world1 the      
,indian drama ,sakuntala3 in that litter
 of  leaves1 brought in so touchingly   
for the swan's burial1 in the old       
hermit watering his flowers4 ,there is  
something of the same universal         
tenderness1 the same religious linking  
together of all the world1 in  some     
vague enough1 but very beautiful1       
,pantheism4 ,i think it is beside  the  
question to discuss how far ,wagner's   
intentions were technically  religious3 
how far ,parsifal himself is either     
,christ or ,buddha1 and how  far ,kundry
 is a new ,magdalen4 ,wagner's mind was 
the mind to which all  legend is sacred1
 every symbol of divine things to be    
held in reverence2  but symbol1 with    
him1 was after all a means to an end1   
and could never  have been accepted as  
really an end in itself4 ,i should say  
that in  ,parsifal he is profoundly     
religious1 but not because he intended1 

or  did not intend1 to shadow the       
,christian mysteries4 ,his music1 his   
acting1 are devout1 because the music   
has a disembodied ecstasy1 and the      
acting a noble rhythm1 which can but    
produce in us something of the          
solemnity of sensation produced by the  
service of the ,mass1 and are in        
themselves a kind of religious          
ceremonial4          ,,iii4 ,,the ,,art 
,,of ,,wagner      ,in saying1 as we may
 truly say1 that ,wagner made music     
pictorial1 it  should be remembered that
 there is nothing new in the aim1 only  
in the  continuity of its success4      
,haydn1 in his ,creation1 evoked        
landscapes1  giving them precision by an
 almost mechanical imitation of cuckoo  
and  nightingale4 ,trees had rustled and
 water flowed in the music of every     
composer4 ,but with ,wagner it may be   
said that the landscape of his music    
moves before our eyes as clearly as the 
moving scenery with which he  does but  
accentuate it2 and it is always there1  

not a decor1 but a  world1 the natural  
world in the midst of which his people  
of the drama  live their passionate     
life1 and a world in sympathy with all  
their  passion4 ,and in his audible     
representation of natural sounds and    
natural  sights he does1 consummately1  
what others have only tried1 more or    
less  well1 to do4 ,when1 in the past at
 least1 the critics objected to the     
realism of his imitative effects1 they  
forgot that all other composers1  at one
 time or another1 had tried to be just  
as imitative1 but had not  succeeded so 
well in their imitations4 ,wagner1 in   
his painting1 is the  ,turner of music4 
,he brings us nature1 heroically        
exalted1 full of fiery  splendour1 but  
nature as if caught in a mirror1 not    
arranged1 subdued1  composed1 for the   
frame of a picture4 ,he is afraid of no 
realism1  however mean1 because he has  
confidence in nature as it is1          
apprehended  with all the clairvoyance  
of emotion4    ,between the abyss of the

 music1 out of which the world rises up 
with all  its voices1 and the rocks and 
clouds1 in which the scenery carries us 
onward to the last horizon of the world1
 gods and men act out the brief  human  
tragedy1 as if on a narrow island in the
 midst of a great sea4 ,a  few steps    
this way or that will plunge them into  
darkness2 the darkness  awaits them1    
however they succeed or fail1 whether   
they live nobly or  ignobly1 in the     
interval2 but the interval absorbs them1
 as if it were  to be eternity1 and we  
see them rejoicing and suffering with an
  abandonment to the moment which       
intensifies the pathos of what we know  
is futile4 ,love1 in ,wagner1 is so     
ecstatic and so terrible1 because it    
must compass all its anguish and delight
 into an immortal moment1 before  which 
there is only a great darkness1 and only
 a great darkness  afterwards4 ,sorrow  
is so lofty and so consoling because it 
is no less  conscious of its passing    
hour4    ,and meanwhile action is not   

everything1 as it is for other makers of
  drama2 is but one among many modes of 
the expression of life4 ,those long     
narratives1 which some find so tedious1 
so undramatic1 are part of  ,wagner's   
protest against the frequently false    
emphasis of action4 ,in  ,wagner        
anticipation and memory are seen to be  
often equally intense with  the instant 
of realisation4 ,siegfried is living    
with at least as  powerful and          
significant a life when he lies under   
the trees listening  to the song of the 
birds as when he is killing the dragon4 
,and it is for  this that the motives1  
which are after all only the            
materialising of  memory1 were created  
by ,wagner4 ,these motives1 by which the
 true action  of the drama expresses    
itself1 are a symbol of the inner life1 
of its  preponderance over outward      
event1 and1 in their guidance of the    
music1  their indication of the real    
current of interest1 have a             
spiritualising  effect upon both music  

and action1 instead of1 as was once     
thought1  materialising both4           
,wagner's aim at expressing the soul of 
things is still further helped by  his  
system of continuous1 unresolved melody4
 ,the melody which  circumscribes itself
 like ,giotto's ,o is almost as tangible
 a thing as  a statue2 it has almost    
contour4 ,but this melody afloat in the 
air1  flying like a bird1 without       
alighting for more than a moment's      
swaying  poise1 as the notes flit from  
strings to voice1 and from voice to wood
  and wind1 is more than a mere         
heightening of speech3 it partakes of   
the  nature of thought1 but it is more  
than thought2 it is the whole           
expression of the subconscious life1    
saying more of himself than any  person 
of the drama has ever found in his own  
soul4    ,it is here that ,wagner unites
 with the greatest dramatists1 and      
distinguishes himself from the          
contemporary heresy of ,ibsen1 whose    
only  too probable people speak a       

language exactly on the level of their  
desks  and their shop-counters4 ,except 
in the ,meistersinger1 all ,wagner's    
personages are heroic1 and for the most 
part those supreme sublimations  of     
humanity1 the people of legend1         
,tannhauser1 ,tristan1 ,siegfried1      
,parsifal1 have at once all that is in  
humanity and more than is hi  humanity4 
,their place in a national legend       
permits them1 without  disturbing our   
critical sense of the probability of    
things1 a superhuman  passion2 for they 
are ideals1 this of chivalry1 that of   
love1 this of  the bravery1 that of the 
purity1 of youth4 ,yet ,wagner employs  
infinite  devices to give them more and 
more of verisimilitude2 modulating song1
  for instance1 into a kind of chant    
which we can almost take for actual     
speech4 ,it is thus the more interesting
 to note the point to which  realism    
conducts him1 the limit at which it     
stops1 his conception of a  spiritual   
reality which begins where realism      

leaves off4    ,and1 in his treatment of
 scenery also1 we have to observe the   
admirable  dexterity of his compromises4
 ,the supernatural is accepted frankly  
with  almost the childish popular belief
 in a dragon rolling a loathly bulk     
painfully1 and breathing smoke4 ,but    
note that the dragon1 when it is  thrown
 back into the pit1 falls without sound2
 note that the combats are  without the 
ghastly and foolish modern tricks of    
blood and disfigurement2  note how the  
crowds pose as in a good picture1 with  
slow gestures1 and  without intrusive   
individual pantomime4 ,as ,i have said  
in speaking of  ,parsifal1 there is one 
rhythm throughout2 music1 action1       
speech1 all  obey it4 ,when ,brnnhilde  
awakens after her long sleep1 the music 
is an  immense thanksgiving for light1  
and all her being finds expression in a 
great embracing movement towards the    
delight of day4 ,siegfried stands       
silent for ,i know not what space of    
time2 and it is in silence always1  with

 a wave-like or flame-like music surging
 about them1 crying out of  the depths  
for them1 that all the lovers in ,wagner
 love at first sight4  ,tristan1 when he
 has drunk the potion2 ,siegmund1 when  
,sieglinde gives  him to drink2         
,siegfried1 when ,brnnhilde awakens to  
the world and to  him3 it is always in  
the silence of rapture that love is     
given and  returned4 ,and the gesture1  
subdued into a gravity almost sorrowful 
7as  if love and the thought of death   
came always together1 the thought of    
the only ending of a mortal eternity71  
renders the inmost meaning of the  music
 as no ,italian gesture1 which is the   
vehemence of first thoughts  and the    
excitement of the senses1 could ever    
render it4 ,that slow  rhythm1 which in 
,wagner is like the rhythm of the world 
flowing onwards  from its first         
breathing out of chaos1 as we hear it in
 the opening  notes of the ,ring1 seems 
to broaden outwards like ripples on an  
infinite sea1 throughout the whole work 

of ,wagner4    ,and now turn from this  
elemental music1 in which the sense of  
all human  things is expressed with the 
dignity of the elements themselves1 to  
all  other operatic music1 in which1    
however noble the music as music 7think 
of ,gluck1 of ,mozart1 of ,beethoven671 
it is for the most part fettered to  a  
little accidental comedy or tragedy1 in 
which two lovers are jealous1  or       
someone is wrongly imprisoned1 or a     
libertine seduces a few women4  ,here   
music is like a god speaking the        
language of savages1 and lowering  his  
supreme intellect to the level of their 
speech4 ,the melodious voice  remains1  
but the divine meaning has gone out of  
the words4 ,only in  ,wagner does ,god  
speak to men in his own language4       
,,conclusion          ,a ,,paradox ,,on 
,,art      ,is it not part of the       
pedantry of letters to limit the word   
art1 a  little narrowly1 to certain     
manifestations of the artistic spirit1  
or1  at all events1 to set up a         

comparative estimate of the values of   
the  several arts1 a little             
unnecessarily8 ,literature1 painting1   
sculpture1  music1 these we admit as    
art1 and the persons who work in them as
  artists2 but dancing1 for instance1 in
 which the performer is at once  creator
 and interpreter1 and those methods of  
interpretation1 such as  the playing of 
musical instruments1 or the conducting  
of an orchestra1  or acting1 have we    
scrupulously considered the degree to   
which these  also are art1 and their    
executants1 in a strict sense1 artists8 
,if we may be allowed to look upon art  
as something essentially  independent of
 its material1 however dependent upon   
its own material  each art may be1 in a 
secondary sense1 it will scarcely be    
logical to  contend that the motionless 
and permanent creation of the sculptor  
in  marble is1 as art1 more perfect than
 the same sculptor's modelling in  snow1
 which1 motionless one moment1 melts the
 next1 or than the dancer's  harmonious 

succession of movements which we have   
not even time to  realise individually  
before one is succeeded by another1 and 
the whole  has vanished from before our 
eyes4 ,art is the creation of beauty in 
form1 visible or audible1 and the artist
 is the creator of beauty in  visible or
 audible form4 ,but beauty is infinitely
 various1 and as truly  beauty in the   
voice of ,sarah ,bernhardt or the       
silence of ,duse as in a  face painted  
by ,leonardo or a poem written by       
,blake4 ,a dance1 performed  faultlessly
 and by a dancer of temperament1 is as  
beautiful1 in its own  way1 as a        
performance on the violin by ,ysaye or  
the effect of an  orchestra conducted by
 ,richter4 ,in each case the beauty is  
different1  but1 once we have really    
attained beauty1 there can be no        
question of  superiority4 ,beauty is    
always equally beautiful2 the degrees   
exist only  when we have not yet        
attained beauty4    ,and thus the old   
prejudice against the artist to whom    

interpretation in  his own special form 
of creation is really based upon a      
misunderstanding4 ,take the art of      
music4 ,bach writes a composition for   
the violin3 that composition exists1 in 
the abstract1 the moment it is  written 
down upon paper1 but1 even to those     
trained musicians who are  able to read 
it at sight1 it exists in a state at    
best but half alive2  to all the rest of
 the world it is silent4 ,ysaye plays it
 on his violin1  and the thing begins to
 breathe1 has found a voice perhaps more
  exquisite than the sound which ,bach  
heard in his brain when he wrote  down  
the notes4 ,take the instrument out of  
,ysaye's hands1 and put it  into the    
hands of the first violin in the        
orchestra behind him2 every  note will  
be the same1 the same general scheme of 
expression may be  followed1 but the    
thing that we shall hear will be another
 thing1 just  as much ,bach1 perhaps1   
but1 because ,ysaye is wanting1 not the 
work of  art1 the creation1 to which we 

have just listened4    ,that such art   
should be fragile1 evanescent1 leaving  
only a memory which  can never be       
realised again1 is as pathetic and as   
natural as that a  beautiful woman      
should die young4 ,to the actor1 the    
dancer1 the same  fate is reserved4     
,they work for the instant1 and for the 
memory of the  living1 with a supremely 
prodigal magnanimity4 ,old people tell  
us that  they have seen ,descle1        
,taglioni2 soon no one will be old      
enough to  remember those great artists4
 ,then1 if their renown becomes a matter
 of  charity1 of credulity1 if you will1
 it will be but equal with the renown   
of all those poets and painters who are 
only names to us1 or whose  masterpieces
 have perished4    ,beauty is infinitely
 various1 always equally beautiful1 and 
can never be  repeated4 ,gautier1 in a  
famous poem1 has wisely praised the     
artist who  works in durable material3  
,oui1 l'oeuvre sort plus gelle    ,d'une
 forme au travail    ,rebelle1    ,vers1

 marbre1 onyx1 mail4    ,no1 not more   
beautiful2 only more lasting4      ,tout
 passe4 ,l'art robuste    ,seul         
l'ternit4       ,le buste    ,survit  la
 cit4    ,well1 after all1 is there not1
 to one who regards it curiously1 a     
certain selfishness1 even1 in this      
desire to perpetuate oneself or the     
work of one's hands2 as the most austere
 saints have found selfishness  at the  
root of the soul's too conscious1 or too
 exclusive1 longing after  eternal life8
 ,to have created beauty for an instant 
is to have achieved  an equal result in 
art with one who has created beauty     
which will last  many thousands of      
years4 ,art is concerned only with      
accomplishment1 not  with duration4 ,the
 rest is a question partly of vanity1   
partly of  business4 ,an artist to whom 
posterity means anything very definite1 
and  to whom the admiration of those who
 will live after him can seem to        
promise much warmth in the grave1 may   
indeed refuse to waste his time1  as it 

seems to him1 over temporary successes4 
,or he may shrink from the  continuing  
ardour of one to whom art has to be made
 over again with the  same energy1 the  
same sureness1 every time that he acts  
on the stage or  draws music out of his 
instrument4 ,one may indeed be listless 
enough to  prefer to have finished one's
 work1 and to be able to point to it1 as
 it  stands on its pedestal1 or comes to
 meet all the world1 with the           
democratic freedom of the book4 ,all    
that is a natural feeling in the        
artist1 but it has nothing to do with   
art4 ,art has to do only with the       
creation of beauty1 whether it be in    
words1 or sounds1 or colour1 or         
outline1 or rhythmical movement2 and the
 man who writes music is no more  truly 
an artist than the man who plays that   
music1 the poet who composes  rhythms in
 words no more truly an artist than the 
dancer who composes  rhythms with the   
body1 and the one is no more to be      
preferred to the  other1 than the       

painter is to be preferred to the       
sculptor1 or the  musician to the poet1 
in those forms of art which we have     
agreed to  recognise as of equal value4 
,,by ,,the ,,same ,,writer      ,poems  
7,collected ,edition in two volumes71   
#aijb4    ,an ,introduction to the      
,study of ,browning1 #ahhf1 #aijf4      
,aubrey ,beardsley1 #ahih1 #aije4       
,the ,symbolist ,movement in            
,literature1 #ahii1 #aijh4    ,cities1  
#aijc4    ,studies in ,prose and ,verse1
 #aijd4    ,a ,book of ,twenty ,songs1  
#aije4    ,spiritual ,adventures1 #aije4
    ,the ,fool of the ,world1 and ,other
 ,poems1 #aijf4    ,studies in ,seven   
,arts1 #aijf4    ,william ,blake1 #aijg4
    ,cities of ,italy1 #aijg4