MOKiilLL, LOT M. 



MUSIC. 



571 



through Algeria the natives everywhere pressed 

 near to see him, and to be allowed to touch his 

 and completely loaded him down with 

 presents. His wife, a Miss Keiine, was govern- 

 i-s-i in the house of the British consul-general 

 in Tangier, when the shorif saw her and fell 

 in love with her. She consented to be his 

 wife on the condition that he removed all his 

 other women, which he accordingly did. He 

 secured to her a dower of 100,000 francs, and 

 800,000 francs in case she should survive him. 

 A special mission was sent during 1876 to 

 France and Italy to negotiate commercial trea- 

 ties, which was well received in both countries. 



MORRILL, LOT M., was born at Belgrade, 

 Mo., May 3, 1813. He studied a year in Water- 

 ville College, was admitted to the bar in 1839, 

 and became a prominent leader of the Demo- 

 cratic party in the State. In 1854 he was 

 elected to the lower branch of the Legislature, 

 and in 183(5 to the Senate, of which he was 

 iiri<L' president. Dissatisfied with the position 

 of his party on the slavery question, Mr. Mor- 

 rill joined the Republicans, by whom he was 

 elected Governor in 1857. He continued in 

 this offiae, by reBlection, till I860,' when he 

 was chosen to serve in the United States Sen- 

 ate the unexpired term of Hannibal Hamlin, 

 who had been elected Vice-President of the 

 United States. He took his seat January 17, 

 1861, and was appointed a member of the 

 Committees on Commerce, District of Colum- 

 bia, and Claims. He was a warm supporter of 

 the war-policy of the Government, and in 1863 

 was reflected to the Senate for the term end- 

 ing in 1869. During this time he served as 

 chairman of the Committees on Expenses, on 

 the District of Columbia, on Appropriations, 

 and on Indian Affairs. He was defeated by 

 Mr. Hamlin for reelection to the Senate, but 

 on the death of Senator Fessenden, in 1869, 

 he was appointed to serve out the unexpired 

 term. In 1871 he was elected for the full term 

 ending in March, 1877. He voted against the 

 inflation bill, and in favor of the resumption 

 act. On the resignation of Secretary Bristow, 

 in June, 1876, Senator Morrill was appointed 

 Secretary of the Treasury. 



MUSIC. The attention of the musical world 

 is directed to the new German school of com- 

 position, and a feeling of uncertainty and sus- 

 pense as to the real meaning and ultimate in- 

 fluence of the " Music of the Future " disqui- 

 ets the minds of lovers of music. Great as 

 has been the triumph of Wagner, which was 

 confirmed and crowned this year at the Bai- 

 reuth festival, there is a vague feeling that his 

 music lacks those popular elements which are 

 present in the works of Meyerbeer and other 

 admired masters, whose reputations he atta-k^, 

 and that it can never become equally familiar 

 and dear to the people. The influence of the 

 German school is marked, and is most apparent 

 in the works of composers whose reputations 

 are founded upon productions in styles entire- 

 ly different. There is no reason to believe 



that the world's ideas of mnsio will be revo- 

 lutionized or the limits and destiny of the art 

 greatly enlarged by the new tendency ; yet it 

 cannot be denied that this school of mu-ie alone 

 shows signs of living development nowaday*; 

 for the Italian musical drama, in its best days 

 too given to formalism and artifice, has passed 

 its time of growth and productivity, and thu 

 French style of comic music cannot pretend to 

 any of the qualities of serious art. 



A symphony by J. K. Paine was produced 

 at the concerts of Theodore Thomas, and was 

 well received by the New York people and the 

 musical critics ; a scherzo in the second move- 

 ment and the adagio in A flat in the third sec- 

 tion were specially commended. The work is 

 entirely genuine, and free from sensational 

 effects ; its melodiousness, the fine orchestral 

 coloring, its unity, and naturalness, and free- 

 dom from dry passages, won for it immediate 

 popularity. Wagner's "Centennial March," 

 written by Herr Wagner for the Woman's Cen- 

 tennial Union, for which the composer received 

 the price of $5,000, was played at the opening 

 of the Philadelphia Exhibition, under the di- 

 rection of Theodore Thomas ; the scoring is 

 very elaborate, and novel effects are produced 

 by sounds made upon wood and brass and by 

 percussion, and even a gong is included in the 

 instruments. 



Henry Gadsby's attempt to set the "Alces- 

 tis" of Euripides to music was spoken of not 

 unfavorably by the English critics. The work 

 was given in the Crystal Palace, in the begin- 

 ning of December. The music consists of nine 

 choral and melodramatic numbers, with an 

 overture. Necessarily, owing to the structure 

 of the verse, there was a strong resemblance 

 to the music of Beethoven's " Antigone " and 

 " CEHipus." Another English work of an un- 

 usual class was F. H. Cowen's opera, " Pau- 

 line," founded on Bulwer's " Lady of Lyons," 

 the libretto by Henry Hersee. It shows some 

 of the qualities of the French comic opera of 

 the higher class, but is defaced by the intro- 

 duction of several songs of incongruous char- 

 acter, simply designed for popular effect. A 

 sacred cantata by John Francis Barnett, called 

 " The Good Shepherd," is inferior to ' Tlu> An- 

 cient Mariner " by the same composer, but its 

 failings may be charged to the barren charac- 

 ter of the libretto. A cantata, "St. Doro- 

 thea," founded on the early Christian legend, 

 composed by Madame Sainton-Dolby, is spoken 

 of with approbation. 



No new work of striking merit has been 

 produced on the Paris stage this year. Yet 

 several pieces, both serious and humorous, 

 have succeeded in gaining for a few days the 

 attention of the public. Lecocq's u La Petite 

 Mari6e " shows an improvement in style, ap- 

 proaching nearer to the true comic opera than 

 any of his earlier works. " Le Deluge," a sa- 

 cred composition by M. Camille Saint-Saens, is 

 spoken of as able, but wanting in sentiment 

 An orchestral piece by the same composer, 



