THE “PROMETHEUS.”
It took some time for Langhetti to make his preparations in London.
September came before he had completed them. To his surprise these
arrangements were much easier than he had supposed. People came to him
of their own accord before he thought it possible that they could
have heard of his project. What most surprised him was a call from the
manager of Covent Garden Theatre, who offered to put it into his hands
for a price so low as to surprise Langhetti more than any thing else
that had occurred. Of course he accepted the offer gratefully and
eagerly. The manager said that the building was on his hands, and he did
not wish to use it for the present, for which reason he would be glad to
turn it over to him. He remarked also that there was very much stock in
the theatre that could be made use of, for which he would charge
nothing whatever. Langhetti went to see it, and found a large number
of magnificently painted scenes, which could be used in his piece. On
asking the manager how scenes of this sort came to be there, he learned
that some one had been representing the “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” or
something of that sort.
Langhetti’s means were very limited, and as he had risked every thing
on this experiment he was rejoiced to find events so very greatly in his
favor.
Another circumstance which was equally in his favor, if not more so,
was the kind consideration of the London papers. They announced his
forthcoming work over and over again. Some of their writers came to
see him so as to get the particulars, and what little he told them they
described in the most attractive and effective manner.
A large number of people presented themselves to form his company, and
he also received applications by letter from many whose eminence and
fortunes placed them above the need of any such thing. It was simply
incomprehensible to Langhetti, who thoroughly understood the ways of the
musical world; yet since they offered he was only too happy to accept.
On having interviews with these persons he was amazed to find that they
were one and all totally indifferent about terms; they all assured him
that they were ready to take any part whatever, and merely wished to
assist in the representation of a piece so new and so original as his
was said to be. They all named a price which was excessively low, and
assured him that they did so only for form’s sake; positively refusing
to accept any thing more, and leaving it to Langhetti either to take
them on their own terms or to reject them. He, of course, could not
reject aid so powerful and so unexpected.
At length, he had his rehearsal. After various trials he invited
representatives of the London Press to be present at the last. They
all came, and all without exception wrote the most glowing accounts for
their respective journals.
“I don’t know how it is,” said he to Beatrice. “Every thing has come
into my hands. I don’t understand it. It seems to me exactly as if there
was some powerful, unseen hand assisting me; some one who secretly put
every thing in my way, who paid these artists first and then sent them
to me, and influenced all the journals in my favor. I should be sure
of this if it were not a more incredible thing than the actual result
itself. As it is I am simply perplexed and bewildered. It is a thing
that is without parallel. I have a company such as no one has ever
before gathered together on one stage. I have eminent prima donnas who
are quite willing to sing second and third parts without caring what I
pay them, or whether I pay them or not. I know the musical world. All I
can say is that the thing is unexampled, and I can not comprehend it.
I have tried to find out from some of them what it all means, but they
give me no satisfaction. At any rate, my Bicina, you will make your
_debut_ under the most favorable circumstances. You saw how they admired
your voice at the rehearsal. The world shall admire it still more at
your first performance.”
Langhetti was puzzled, and, as he said, bewildered, but he did not
slacken a single effort to make his opera successful. His exertions were
as unremitting as though he were still struggling against difficulties.
After all that had been done for him he knew very well that he was sure
of a good house, yet he worked as hard as though his audience was very
uncertain.
At length the appointed evening came. Langhetti had certainly expected
a good house from those happy accidents which had given him the
co-operation of the entire musical world and of the press. Yet when he
looked out and saw the house that waited for the rising of the curtain
he was overwhelmed.
When he thus looked out it was long before the time. A great murmur had
attracted his attention. He saw the house crammed in every part. All the
boxes were filled. In the pit was a vast congregation of gentlemen and
ladies, the very galleries were thronged.
The wonder that had all along filled him was now greater than ever.
He well knew under what circumstances even an ordinarily good house is
collected together. There must either be undoubted fame in the prima
donna, or else the most wide-spread and comprehensive efforts on the
part of a skillful impresario. His efforts had been great, but not such
as to insure any thing like this. To account for the prodigious crowd
which filled every part of the large edifice was simply impossible.
He did not attempt to account for it. He accepted the situation, and
prepared for the performance.
What sort of an idea that audience may have had of the “Prometheus” of
Langhetti need hardly be conjectured. They had heard of it as a novelty.
They had heard that the company was the best ever collected at one time,
and that the prima donna was a prodigy of genius. That was enough for
them. They waited in a state of expectation which was so high-pitched
that it would have proved disastrous in the extreme to any piece, or any
singer who should have proved to be in the slightest degree inferior.
Consummate excellence alone in every part could now save the piece from
ruin. This Langhetti felt; but he was calm, for he had confidence in his
work and in his company. Most of all, he had confidence in Beatrice.
At last the curtain rose.
The scene was such a one as had never before been represented. A blaze
of dazzling light filled the stage, and before it stood seven forms,
representing the seven archangels. They began one of the sublimest
strains ever heard. Each of these singers had in some way won eminence.
They had thrown themselves into this work. The music which had been
given to them had produced an exalted effect upon their own hearts, and
now they rendered forth that grand “Chorus of Angels” which those who
heard the “Prometheus” have never forgotten. The words resembled, in
some measure, the opening song in Goethe’s “Faust,” but the music was
Langhetti’s.
The effect of this magnificent opening was wonderful. The audience sat
spell-bound--hushed into stillness by those transcendent harmonies which
seemed like the very song of the angels themselves; like that “new song”
which is spoken of in Revelation. The grandeur of Handel’s stupendous
chords was renewed, and every one present felt its power.
Then came the second scene. Prometheus lay suffering. The ocean nymphs
were around him, sympathizing with his woes. The sufferer lay chained to
a bleak rock in the summit of frosty Caucasus. Far and wide extended
an expanse of ice. In the distance arose a vast world of snow-coveted
peaks. In front was a _mer de glace_, which extended all along the
stage.
Prometheus addressed all nature--“the divine ether, the swift-winged
winds, Earth the All-mother, and the infinite laughter of the ocean
waves.” The thoughts were those of Aeschylus, expressed by the music of
Langhetti.
The ocean nymphs bewailed him in a song of mournful sweetness, whose
indescribable pathos touched every heart. It was the intensity of
sympathy--sympathy so profound that it became anguish, for the heart
that felt it had identified itself with the heart of the sufferer.
Then followed an extraordinary strain. It was the Voice of Universal
Nature, animate and inanimate, mourning over the agony of the God of
Love. In that strain was heard the voice of man, the sighing of the
winds, the moaning of the sea, the murmur of the trees, the wail of bird
and beast, all blending in extraordinary unison, and all speaking of
woe.
And now a third scene opened. It was Athene. Athene represented Wisdom
or Human Understanding, by which the God of Vengeance is dethroned, and
gives place to the eternal rule of the God of Love. To but few of those
present could this idea of Langhetti’s be intelligible. The most of them
merely regarded the fable and its music, without looking for any meaning
beneath the surface.
To these, and to all, the appearance of Beatrice was like a new
revelation. She came forward and stood in the costume which the
Greek has given to Athene, but in her hand she held the olive--her
emblem--instead of the spear. From beneath her helmet her dark locks
flowed down and were wreathed in thick waves that clustered heavily
about her head.
Here, as Athene, the pure classical contour of Beatrice’s features
appeared in marvelous beauty--faultless in their perfect Grecian mould.
Her large, dark eyes looked with a certain solemn meaning out upon the
vast audience. Her whole face was refined and sublimed by the thought
that was within her. In her artistic nature she had appropriated this
character to herself so thoroughly, that, as she stood there, she felt
herself to be in reality all that she represented. The spectators
caught the same feeling from her. Yet so marvelous was her beauty, so
astonishing was the perfection of her form and feature, so accurate
was the living representation of the ideal goddess that the whole
vast audience after one glance burst forth into pealing thunders of
spontaneous and irresistible applause.
Beatrice had opened her mouth to begin, but as that thunder of
admiration arose she fell back a pace. Was it the applause that had
overawed her?
Her eyes were fixed on one spot at the extreme right of the pit. A face
was there which enchained her. A face, pale, sad, mournful, with dark
eyes fixed on hers in steadfast despair.
Beatrice faltered and fell back, but it was not at the roar of applause.
It was that face--the one face among three thousand before her, the
one, the only one that she saw. Ah, how in that moment all the past came
rushing before her--the Indian Ocean, the Malay pirate, where that face
first appeared, the Atlantic, the shipwreck, the long sail over the seas
in the boat, the African isle!
She stood so long in silence that the spectators wondered.
Suddenly the face which had so transfixed her sank down. He was gone, or
he had hid himself. Was it because he knew that he was the cause of her
silence?
The face disappeared, and the spell was broken. Langhetti stood at the
side-scenes, watching with deep agitation the silence of Beatrice. He
was on the point of taking the desperate step of going forward when he
saw that she had regained her composure.
She regained it, and moved a step forward with such calm serenity that
no one could have suspected her of having lost it. She began to sing. In
an opera words are nothing--music is all in all. It is sufficient if the
words express, even in a feeble and general way, the ideas which breathe
and burn in the music. Thus it was with the words in the opening song of
Beatrice.
But the music! What language can describe it?
Upon this all the richest stores of Langhetti’s genius had been
lavished. Into this all the soul of Beatrice was thrown with sublime
self-forgetfulness. She ceased to be herself. Before the audience she
was Athene.
Her voice, always marvelously rich and full, was now grander and more
capacious than ever. It poured forth a full stream of matchless harmony
that carried all the audience captive. Strong, soaring, penetrating, it
rose easily to the highest notes, and flung them forth with a lavish,
and at the same time far-reaching power that penetrated every heart, and
thrilled all who heard it. Roused to the highest enthusiasm by the sight
of that vast assemblage, Beatrice gave herself up to the intoxication of
the hour. She threw herself into the spirit of the piece; she took deep
into her heart the thought of Langhetti, and uttered it forth to the
listeners with harmonies that were almost divine--such harmonies as they
had never before heard.
There was the silence of death as she sang. Her voice stilled all other
sounds. Each listener seemed almost afraid to breathe. Some looked at
one another in amazement, but most of them sat motionless, with their
heads stretched forward, unconscious of any thing except that one voice.
[Illustration: “THE APPEARANCE OF BEATRICE WAS LIKE A NEW REVELATION.”]
At last it ceased. For a moment there was a pause. Then there arose a
deep, low thunder of applause that deepened and intensified itself every
moment till at last it rose on high in one sublime outburst, a frenzy
of acclamation, such as is heard not seldom, but, once heard, is never
forgotten.
Beatrice was called out. She came, and retired. Again and again she
was called. Flowers were showered down in heaps at her feet. The
acclamations went on, and only ceased through the consciousness that
more was yet to come. The piece went on. It was one long triumph. At
last it ended. Beatrice had been loaded with honors. Langhetti was
called out and welcomed with almost equal enthusiasm. His eyes filled
with tears of joy as he received this well-merited tribute to his
genius. He and Beatrice stood on the stage at the same time. Flowers
were flung at him. He took them and laid them at the feet of Beatrice.
At this a louder roar of acclamation arose. It increased and deepened,
and the two who stood there felt overwhelmed by the tremendous applause.
So ended the first representation of the “Prometheus!”