464 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE MUSIC OF CHINA. 



An article on the " Chinese and Their Music," 

 by A. Corbett-Smith, appears in the September 

 issue of the Musical Times. 



In accord with Chinese traditions, the first 

 authentic record of the existence of Chinese 

 music is an account of its destruction. We 

 learn that the Emperor Tsin Chi Hwangti 

 (about 200 B.C.) decreed that Chinese history 

 should begin with his own reign, and that he 

 caused all previous historical and other literature 

 to be destroyed. Thus perished the ancient 

 music of China. Nevertheless the writer thinks 

 it is safe to assert that music, singing, and 

 dancing were in constant demand for ritual and 

 •festival in China from the earliest times. In 

 more modern times, however, the practice of 

 music has fallen into disrepute, and the 

 strenuous efforts which have been made to revive 

 it have met with small measure of success. Yet 

 poetry and music are indissolubly united in the 

 Chinese mind even to-day. Confucius, some 

 2,500 years ago, made a journey through the 

 Empire, collecting and writing down national 

 songs, and his collection is one of the treasures 

 of Chinese literature. All the ballads are in 

 rhyme. Three stanzas of a poem are quoted, 

 but the writer is unable to trace any music to it. 



PIONEERS IN " PROGRAMME " MUSIC. 



At the present lime the practice of music in 

 China is considered rather contemptible than 

 otherwise. It plays an important part in festi- 

 vals and at funerals, but the professional 

 musicians belong to the lowest class of society. 

 The incidental music used in the drama is of 

 particular interest, though it is stated to be 

 more maligned by foreigners than any other 

 form of the art. In the domestic drama an 

 orchestra of flutes, strings, drums, and gongs 

 is usijd ; in martial and historical drama a simi- 

 lar orchestra is used, but without the wood- 

 wind. The character of the music and the 

 changes of tempo, etc., enable the audience to 

 tell what action to expect on the stage. It is 

 thus possible to foresee whether the general and 

 iiis army are going to be victorious or not, or 

 whether the village Romeo will be happily united 

 to the maiden of his choice. Thus the Chinese. 

 it is pointed out, were the pioneers in " pro- 

 gramine " music. Chinese music, as it still 

 exists, remains, like the Chinese mind and 

 oharacler, incomprehensible to the foreigner. 

 The orchestra plays almost entirely in unison, 

 but, as the instruments are not. constructed with 

 exact precision, the result is generally discord- 

 ant in character. The social reform whicli is 

 now spreading in China is at last beginning to 



extend to music also, and a few months ago the 

 writer was present at a concert given by Chinese 

 lady students, the programme of which was 

 almost entirely Western. Even gramophones 

 and piano-players have found their way into 

 China. 



PLUMBAGOS. 



What are plumbagos? In the September 

 issue of the Connoisseur Mr. Weymer Mills 

 explains that they are miniatures in lead pencil, 

 a style of portraiture which, it is now being 

 conceded, had its great masters. 



The great plumbago period dates from the 

 commencement of the Commonwealth to the 

 accession of Queen Anne, reaching its zenith 

 during the early years of the reign of Charles II. 

 David Loggan and William Faithorne were the 

 first of the seventeenth century plumbago 

 artists. Loggan was to the lead pencil what 

 Van Dyck was to the brush, while Faithorne's 

 portraits, asserts Mr. Mills, are more like 

 shadows of Lely. One of the finest Loggans in 

 existence is a portrait of Cardinal Mazarin, done 

 in 1659. Paton was another great plumbago 

 artist of this period ; Bellamy did Cromwell in 

 165Q; Thomas Forster's "Duke and Duchess 

 of Marlborough " reposes at the South Ken- 

 sington Museum ; and Bernard Lews (the 

 second) portrayed Bonnie Prince Charlie and 

 Peg Woffington. In Georgian days we find 

 Zincke,. the Richardsons, and others. Many 

 of these artists were also engravers. A portrait 

 of Nathaniel Lee, by Faithorne, is estimated 

 as worth its weight in precious stones. Later 

 portraits include one of Washington Irving, bv 

 Sir Thomas L.-iwrenrc, and one of .Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds, bv himself. 



10 TRIUMPHE ! 



Bliss Carman contributes an inspiriting song, 

 " Triumphalis," to the Atlantic Monthly, from 

 which we quote the first and last stanzas :■ — 



Soul, art thou sad again, 

 Witli tlic old sadness? 

 Thou shall be glad again 

 With a new gladness, 

 When .April sun and rnin 

 Mount to the teeming hrain 

 With the earlh-madncss. 



Thou shah grow strong again, 

 Confident, tender, — 

 Battle with wrong again, 

 Be truth's defender, — 

 Of the immortal train 

 Born to attempt, attain, 

 Never surYender ! 



