YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY
ee oe ces eae
ATHALIE AT HARVARD.
Racine’s Masterpiece Produced for
the First Time in America.
‘Correspondence of YALE ALUMNI WEEKELY.] -
Cambridge, Dec. 14.—The presenta-
tion of Racine’s “Athalie,’ by the
French department, during the past
week has received the warm endorse-
ment of audiences which taxed the ca-
pacity of the College theatre. Owing
to the unexpected demand for seats,
an extra performance was given on
Saturday afternoon. Not since the
Phormio of Terence was produced in
the same auditorium in 1894, have so
many distinguished guests assembled
to partake of the University’s hospi-
tality and entertainment. Presidents
and professors of many New England
Colleges attended; as well as scholars,
literati and critics besides the immedi-
ate circle of the college world.
The number included President Crafts
and Professor Van Dael of the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology, Presi-
dent Seeley and Professor Duval of
Smith, President Capen and Professor
Fay oi Tufts, President Chase of Bates,
President Butler of Colby, Professor
Dow of Dartmouth, Dean Hodges of
the Cambridge Episcopal School, Presi-
dent Lee of the French-American Col-
lege of Springefield, Rev. Professor and
Mrs. Cheyne of Oxford, Eng., Presi-
dent Brosnahan of Boston College, Pro-
fessor Angel of Bates, Professor Gettis
of Boston University, President Irvine
and Professor Virmont of Wellesley,
President Agassiz, Miss Irwin and
others of the faculty of Radcliffe, Pro-
fessor Eckstadt of Mount Holyoke,
Hon. Roger Wolcott, Col. Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, Dr. and Mrs.
John Fiske, Dr. Charles Eliot Norton,
Hon. Robert Treat Paine, Mr. Alfred
Hemenway, Mr. T. Jefferson Coolidge,
Eion. Sherman Hoar, Hon. Solomon
Lincoln, Maj. H. L. Higginson and
Mr. R. C. Lehmann. |
It is highest praise to say that in
the present instance the University has
maintained the high standard of previ-
ous similar efforts. The same care in
preparation, exquisite attention to de-
tails, and taste in the selection of cos-
tumes and stage setting, which have
provoked enthusiastic admiration on
previous occasions, were again in evi-
dence. Harvard alone of American
universities seems able to reproduce the
great plays of the past with that ease
and facility with which they are re-
vived periodically at the English uni-
yersities. Without interference with the
curriculum or apparent, excessive effort,
excellent results have been achieved.
In 1881, a memorable representation of
the Oecedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles
stirred other colleges to emulation.
In April of 1894 the Phormio of Ter-
ence was revived with such success that
a witness of the same play, as given
several years previous, by the students
of Westminister School, in obedience
to the ordinance of their charter from
Queen Elizabeth, declared that “Har-
vard’s novel enterprise even surpassed
in merit the traditional excellence of
the ancient English school.” Stimu-
lated by the example of the departments
of Greek and Latin, the English de-
partment invited the pupils of the
American Academy of the Dramatic
Arts of New York to produce Ben
Jonson’s “Epicocue”’ at Cambridge;
and the play was given in March, 18695,
in Sanders’ Theatre, with a strictly
Elizabethan stage, and an Elizabethan
audience composed of carefully drilled
Harvard students.
For some years the Cercle Frangais
of Harvard has presented annually a
French comedy to Cambridge audiences
with continued and increasing success.
The most meritorious was, perhaps,
“Te Malade Imaginairé,” by Moliére,
which was given in Cambridge and
Boston in December, 1895.
It was not until this year, however,
that the French department gave its
official recognition to this annual play.
The consent of the College authorities
was secured to present the play in
Sanders Theatre. The field of previous
effort had been limited to comedy.
It was a bold step, therefore, when the
department decided upon Racine’s mas-
terpiece. Mr. F. C. de Sumichrast, the
head of the French department, who,
as a member of the Cercle, had been
the leading spirit in the production of
the comedies by that Society, assumed
the direction and management of the
more-ambitious venture. He has worked
faithfully to make the achievement
creditable to the department, and his
success is well deserved.
STORY OF THE PLAY.
The tragedy of Athalie, dating near
the close of Racine’s life, can hardly be
said to be typical of the period. Written
to order for the school girls of St. Cyr,
the limits of the author’s volition were
closely prescribed. Mme. de Main-
tenon asked from him for her girls
“un petit ouvrage propre a inspirer
la piété.” The play holds its place as
the author’s masterpiece for its simpli-
city and beauty as a creation in litera-°
ture; not for dramatic power. The
story follows closely the biblical ac-
count of the fall of Athaliah and the
crowning of Joash after he has been
reared in the temple by Jehoiada.
Around this slender narrative, Racine
constructed his five-act tragedy, and
gave to it the name of the ill-fated
Queen, whose death, following the dis-
closure of the identity of Joash, forms
the climax of its dramatic movement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STAGE.
No attempt was made to revive the
stage conditions in France at the close
of the seventeenth century, and so
make the stage conform to that of the
period of the first production of the
play, as did the English department
two years ago, when presenting the
“Epicocue.”
But the scenery on the stage was
designed for the play. There was no
change of scene during the five acts.
To the height of the music balcony
above, the stage was framed in a re-
presentation of the front of a castellated
curtain wall of the ancient temple at
Jerusalem, with flanking towers, appar-
ently composed of blocks of marble
veined with rose and amethyst. The
curtains, of some rich, wine-colored
material, embroidered in silver designs
of severe classic simplicity, divided in
the middle of the proscenium opening
and were drawn back to either side,
where they fell in soft folds over little
colored marble railings that extended
out for two or three feet along the
front of the stage. The stage setting
showed an ante-room to a chamber
occupied by the High Priest. It ap-
peared to be hexagonal in shape, with
three curtained doorways at the back,
the center one being reached by a
flight of a few low, broad steps. There
were also two smaller doorways, un-
curtained, on each side of the room.
The decorations of the walls of the ante-
chamber were in soft, neutral tints of a
light, restful character—pale yellow,
amber, light orange and similar shades
—and the frieze showed the cherubim
with outspread wings and the trefoil
repeated again and again, while the
swinging curtains were also in light
colors, with pale blue borders.
As a spectacle the whole play was at-
tractive because unique. From the mo-
ment when the curtains were with-
drawn, disclosing the dim interior just
before the dawn, with two shadowy,
white-robed Levites standing motionless
before the main doorway, ready to
draw back the curtains for the entrance
of the High Priest, the effect was al-
ways pleasing to the eye. Sometimes
the play of colors was joyous in the
extreme; at other times, the empty tem-
ple, bare of furnishings, with its som-
ber neutral tints, impressed one with
the contrast.
LES NOMS DES PERSONNAGES.
In preparing for the presentation of
Athalie, a new departure was made in
selecting the cast. In the previous
plays all the parts had been taken by
students in the University. In the play
this year, instructors in the French de-
partment as well as graduates of the
University, and students and graduates
of Radcliffe were included. The cast
was thus arranged:
J0as. oe: oe Miles. Mary Coolidge
WthaHes ee eae Louise Cushing
POU osteo ee M. de Sumichrast
Tesaveisge.. i cies Miles. Clara May
ZACKANIE. <3 58 Grace Forbes, Radcliffe
Saloniith: y.2.<: Celia Gould, Radcliffe
Abner ace ss MM. Marin la Meslée
WATS oe a ot ee Lydiard Horton
fonisel ok Archibald Tisdale
(Edouard Malone
Chefs des Prestres et Poe ee
des Levites | Percy Brayton
| Henri Brigham
WMathan 5 33 2 eee Charles Wright
Wabal., yes Georges Cabot Ward
PEOAL 25. ve Mile. Joséphine Sherwood,
Radcliffe
and pure white,
winners of the Harvard debate are com-
The impersonation of the wicked
queen by Miss Cushing was excep-
tional, and her work would bear com-
parison with professional talent. Prof.
de Sumichrast in the role of the High
Priest, had a most difficult part, and
filled it acceptably, appearing at his
best where the dramatic action was
most pronounced. His manner seemed
formal, but that was because all the
formalities of the Jewish religion were
exemplified in the character which he
impersonated. Mr. La Meslée, an in-
structor in the French department, who
has seen service in the- French army,
took the part of Abner, one of the
principal officers in the king’s guard,
and his military bearing gave dignity
to his office. His pure French accent
brought out the music of the language
apart from any forced emphasis on the
metre of the lines. The part of Josabet
was excellently filled by Miss Clara
May, and Miss Coolidge, in the role of
the boy-king, showed careful study of
her part, and was the most attractive
figure in the tableau that concludes the
last act.
Priests and Levites in white robes
and imposing head dresses attended the
High Priest, and a chorus of young
women of the tribe of Levi occupied
the stage during the choral parts. These
handmaids of the temple, in their float-
ing gauzy veils, loose hair and flowing
draperies of lilac and violet, pale yellow,
delicate tints of blue, pink and green,
whether gracefully
swinging wreathes of roses or waving
dark green palm branches, mingled in
lovely accord with the priests in their
gorgeous turbans and holy vestments,
and the Levites in their glistening
white robes. :
The verses to the chorus, which are
regarded as the finest bits of lyrical
poetry in the seventeenth century, were
sung by the Cecilia Society of Boston,
while the beautiful music of Mendel-
ssohn was interpreted by thirty artists
from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
It was strong proof of the excellence
of the presentation, that a cast of
amateurs, appearing in a drama so
severe that it has failed signally when
. presented in France, was able to hold,
as it did, the almost uninterrupted at-
tention of the audience.
J. WESTON ALLEN.
—_—_—_—_to__—_
Chamber Concerts Stopped.
The Committee in charge of the
Chamber Concerts have announced
that, owing to a lack of funds no con-
certs will be given as formerly. These
concerts, at which the famous Kneisel
Quartette of Boston was the attraction,
have, unfortunately, never been seli-sus-
taining and the deficit has been grow-
ing larger each year.
The price of admission to these con-
certs has been kept down to a very
low figure to enable men of small
means to benefit by them. A proposed
rise in the price of admission was re-
jected, as that would make a certainty
of a still smaller audience. ;
Another reason for the discontinu-
ance of the concerts this year is that
the Kneisel Quartette have refused to
play here this season at the same price
as last year, which is much less than
they are accustomed to receive else-
where. This would necessitate a higher
price for tickets if the Kneisel Quar-
tette were engaged, and would in the
end prove a financial loss to those in
charge. It was also impossible, owing
to previous engagements of the Kneisel
Quartette, to secure suitable dates for
New Haven.
It will be necessary before the con-
certs can be renewed to have a guaran-
tee fund established and it is hoped that
this may be accomplished before next
year. In this way the concerts would
be put upon a firm financial footing
and those who take an interest in their
welfare would be insured against the
loss hitherto attached to them.
———_—_—_—__+o___—_
Looking to the Future.
[Editorial in Waterbury American.]
Prof. Hadley does not make it in the
form of a complaint, but states it as a
fact, that champion debaters are not
honored as champion athletes are. The
paratively forgotten, while the winners
of the Princeton football game will be
immortalized in college records. We had
been thinking, and had taken occasion |
to say, that it seems this year as though |
7
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the forensic heroes had risen in Colle
and in public ‘estimation and that the
Promise was of progress in the right
direction. Perhaps we were deceived
by appearances. The Springfield Re-
publican notes that the condition stated
by Prof. Hadley reveals the same
human feeling that makes military
heroes honored above statesmen, jurists
and scholars, and says that while this
feeling continues debaters will not be
glorified as athletes are. But it thinks
the time is coming when they will be.
2 SR er or Ra ret ats oe eS
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