Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/866

 836 LONDON [MUSIC. muse urns. The drama. Scientific vastness, the British Museum and the South Kensington Museum. The zoological collection of the British Museum is still at Blooms- bury, but the departments of geology, mineralogy, and botany were removed in 1881 to a new building in Cromwell Eoad, South Kensington, called the British Museum of Natural History. The British Museum at Bloomsbury, and the South Kensington Museum, which are more directly connected with art than science, are noticed under the section Art. The Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, occupies a building in the Italian Palazzo style, erected in 1850 by Pennethorne at a cost of 30,000. It was founded in 1835 in connexion with the geological survey of the United Kingdom, and also contains specially fine collections illustrative of the application of the minerals and metals to the useful arts. In the Patent Office Museum at South Kensington there are many of the original examples of the greatest mechanical inventions of modern times ; and the United Service Museum, Whitehall, possesses relics and models illustrative both of the art of war and of the great naval and military achievements of England. DRAMA. According to Fitzstephcn, London, &quot; instead of showes upon theatres and comical pastimes,&quot; possessed in his time &quot; holy plays and representations of miracles &quot; ; and Stow mentions that in 1391 a play by the parish clerks continued three days to gether, and that another in the year 1409 lasted eight days, and was &quot;of matter from the creation of the world.&quot; In the 15th century the secular began to supersede the sacred drama ; its progress in London under Elizabeth and James I. will be touched on below (pp. 846 sq. ). After the Restoration the &quot;king s servants&quot; who had previously occupied the Globe and Blackfriars played first at the Eed Bull, then in Vere Street, Clare Market, and in 1663 removed to the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. For Davenant s company, known as the &quot; duke of York s,&quot; the Lincoln s Inn theatre was built on an improved plan in 1662, and there for the first time women actors were introduced. The two companies received each special patents in the same year. Before 1672, when Drury Lane theatre was burned, Davenant had removed to a new house built by Wren in Dorset Gardens, at a cost of 8000, and spoken of by Dryden as &quot;like Nero s palace shining all with gold&quot; ; and, as the new Drury Lane was far less magnificent in its arrangements, it generally had the worst of the costly competition in which they engaged until the union of the patents in 1682. In 1695 a licence was granted to a new theatre in Lincoln s Inn Fields, and in 1705 Haymarket theatre was opened, chiefly for Italian opera. The Dorset Gardens theatre was demolished in 1709. In 1733 the Lincoln s Inn theatre was removed to Covent Garden. The Act of 1737, which forbade the granting of new licences, gave to the patent houses a monopoly of the legitimate drama till 1843 ; but in the smUller houses, such as &quot; The Little Haymarket&quot; (erected in 1720), the Goodman s Fields theatre (1727), Sadler s Wells (1764), the Lyceum (1795), the Adelphi (about 1800), the Princess s (1830), the Strand (1831), and St James s (built by Braham, 1835), the law was evaded by the performance of miscellaneous entertainments. The most striking feature in the dramatic entertainments of London is their variety ; the old dramatic traditions of England, so closely as sociated with Drury Lane and Covent Garden, now exercise their influence rather in Germany than in London. London at present possesses about thirty theatres, and the plays of the older dramatists are revived only occasionally, chiefly at Drury Lane, the Lyceum, and the Princess s. Melodrama and the domestic drama win large support, but many theatres rely chiefly on comedy, farce, or opera- bouffe. Mcsrc. In 1673 the chequered career of English opera in London perform- was first definitely commenced by the performance at Dorset ances. Gardens of Ps&amp;gt;/che, followed by the Tempest and a little later The Prophets and King Arthur. For some time after the opening of the Haymarket theatre, Italian operas were varied by performances of English opera and the spoken drama, but the increasing success of the new entertainment soon led to its exclusive establish ment. Since 1847 Italian opera has also been established at Covent Garden. English opera has lately been successfully revived by Carl Rosa, and Italian opera is also threatened with formidable rivalry by the performance on a scale of unexampled grandeur of Wagner s operas in German. The Academy of Ancient Concerts, established in 1710, had the honour in 1732 of introducing to the world that special development of Handel s genius, the oratorio, which still excites a wider and deeper interest in England than any other form of musical composition. The Ancient Concert Society did not find a worthy successor in its special sphere till the estab lishment of the Sacred Harmonic Society in 1821, which, besides its annual series of performances, formerly in Exeter Hall and latterly in St James s Hall, has organized great triennial festivals at the Crystal Palace. Oratorio performances on a larger scale than those of the Sacred Harmonic are now given at the Royal Albert Hall, but the nature of the building renders them less suc cessful artistically. The Philharmonic Society has since its com mencement in 1813 held a leading position in the performance of Musical great instrumental works, which previous to this had been com menced at subscription concerts conducted by private enterprise, but the orchestral performances at the Crystal Palace are of equal excellence, and of late years the Richter and Halle concerts have excited a larger amount of general interest. The Monday and Saturday popular concerts for chamber music have been the special means of introducing to London audiences instrumental performers of European fame. By the formation of Henry Leslie s choir in 1855, the standard of refinement and taste in unaccompanied part- singing has been improved throughout England, and besides reviv ing general interest in glees and madrigals, it has been the principal means of giving currency to the &quot;modern part song.&quot; The choir, after the suspension of its performances since 1880, was revived in 1882 ; and there are also in London several local choirs which have attained nearly equal perfection in similar performances. The Bach Society devotes itself to the study and performance of the unaccompanied music of Bach and the older composers. The Concert earliest renderings of the great classical compositions are associated rooms. with the Hanover Square rooms, converted into a club house some years ago, and in a less degree with Willis s rooms, built in 1765, which are now used almost solely for balls and public meetings. The only concert-room in London of a convenient size for important performances is St James s Hall, Regent Street and Piccadilly ; for since the purchase of Exeter Hall, associated with the &quot;May meetings,&quot; by the Young Men s Christian Association, its use is prohibited even to the Sacred Harmonic Society, and the Royal Albert Hall is much too large for the proper realization of the finer effects either of choral, orchestral, or solo performances. This elliptical building in the Italian Renaissance style, erected from the designs of Captain Fowke, was completed in 1871 at a cost of 200,000, and has accommodation for an audience of about 9000 and an orchestra of 1000. The Crystal and Alexandra Palaces, though they present the additional attractions of fine grounds, of scientific and art exhibitions, and of various forms of out-door amusement, base their claims to support in a great measure on their theatrical and musical performances, and, besides the large central halls for promenades, possess separate concert-rooms. The Crystal Palace, Sydenham, which has a total length of 1608 feet, and a width at the nave of 312 feet, and at the central transepts of 384 feet, was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, and constructed in 1854, chiefly of iron and glass, out of the materials of the Exhibition building of 1851, at a cost of 1,500,000, includ ing the adornment of the grounds, 200 acres in extent. The Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill, situated in grounds of 300 acres, was completed in 1875, after having been burned down in 1873. It is built of brick in the form of a parallelogram, covering about 7J acres, and consists of a central hall 386 feet by 184, two courts on each side 260 feet in length, and a concert-room and theatre detached from the main building. Miscellaneous concerts and other entertainments are given at the Royal Aquarium, West minster, which was opened in 1876 at a cost of about 200,000. In London there are probably a larger number of eminent pro- Musical fessors of the various branches of music than in any other city of instruc- the world, but almost no provision for public musical instruction tion. has been made by the state. The Royal Academy of Music, instituted in 1822, and incorporated by royal charter in 1830, receives from Government only an annual grant of 500, and, though attended by over 400 students, chiefly professional, is hampered in its organization and plans by deficiency in funds. The Guildhall School of Music, in which instruction may be commenced at an earlier stage, was established by the corporation of the City in 1879, and is now attended by 1200 students. The National Train ing School at South Kensington, for which endowments for only five years were provided, is now discontinued, a proposal having been made to supersede it by a Royal College under the presidency of the Prince of Wales, and with endowments sufficient to ailbrd free education to 50 pupils, as well as maintenance and education to 50 others. The Tonic Sol-Fa College, Plaistow, was incorporated in 1875 for the special purpose of training teachers of music for the elementary schools of the country, that method of instruction in music being now used in the majority of schools where syste matic musical instruction is given. PAINTIXG, SCULPTURE, AND THE APPLIED ARTS. The most Art influential and the oldest institution in London connected with galleries, painting and sculpture is the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, founded in 1768, which, besides its annual exhibition of art in its new buildings in Burlington Gardens, Burlington House, erected in 1868-69, in the Italian Renaissance style from the designs of Smirke, has also organized classes for art instruction. The Society of Painters in Water-Colours, established in 1804, the Society of British Artists, founded in 1822 and incorporated in 1847, and the Institute of Painters in Water- Colours, hold each an annual exhibition. The National Gallery of Paintings originated in the purchase by parliament in 1824 of the collection of J. J. Angerstein for 57,000. The present Grecian building by Wilkins in Trafalgar Square (1832-38) was enlarged in 1860 and 1889, and in 1876 a new wing was added by Barry at a