A TURKISH FORT IN THE DARDANEUvES 



If the practical side of life in Con- 

 stantinople still has its medieval aspects, 

 it is not less so in other ways. Here, 

 again, the sojourner needs all his humor 

 and adaptability and the power of finding 

 amusement in simple ways, for he will 

 find very little in the way of formal 

 amusement. One can practically say 

 that there is no theater. The Turkish 

 theater is to be seen during one month 

 of the year .only, and few Europeans 

 would wish any more of it ! While the 

 Greek theater is really very good, it is 

 not indigenous, being supplied from 

 Athens, and not many Europeans are 

 capable of appreciating it ; and the Euro- 

 pean ^colony, large as it is, is too divided 

 to support a good theater in any one lan- 

 guage. A wandering star from Paris fills 

 a house for a few nights every season ; 

 but the only stage that really flourishes, 

 and that not too prosperously, is the 

 music hall. 



NEAR EASTERN MUSIC 



In music matters are even worse. The 

 reason, of course, is much the same — 

 the profound cleavage between the real 

 music of the country and the more fash- 

 ionable imported music of the West. Eor 

 myself, I do not share the opinion of 

 most Europeans, that Oriental music is 

 merely discord and inanity. A few Rus- 

 sian composers have used Asiatic themes 



to great effect, and I can imagine some 

 Greek genius, perhaps, formed in the 

 schools of the West, but steeped in the 

 melancholy folk-music of the Levant, 

 discovering a whole new world of music. 

 As yet, however, Constantinople is far 

 from ready for such a man ; and in the 

 meantime the few votaries of sound who 

 happen to be there feed their souls on 

 tinny bands and traveling Austrian or 

 Italian operettas. A stray virtuoso or a 

 good string quartette occasionally gives 

 a performance or two in Pera ; but a 

 decent symphony orchestra has never 

 been heard in Constantinople. 



Along other lines the resources of Con- 

 stantinople are even more limited. Such 

 a thing as a picture gallery is unheard of, 

 and still less a collection of sculpture. 

 There is, however, the imperial museum, 

 containing a small but excellent choice 

 of classic and Byzantine marbles, of As- 

 syrian and Hittite antiquities, and of 

 Turkish works of art. I must not forget, 

 either, the collection of arms which the 

 late Grand Vizier Mahmoud Shefket 

 Pasha made available to the public. It 

 is most primitively classified and labeled, 

 but at least it is there for the experts of 

 a later day to arrange. 



PUBEIC LIBRARIES 



Public libraries have long existed in 

 Constantinople — of a kind — and outsid- 



544 



