Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/711

BAY PSALM-BOOK. at Cambridge, in 1640, and after revision in 1650 remained in general use for many years. It is hard to realize how it can have ministered to edification, for it outdid Sternhold and Hopkins in harsh crudity of style, metre, and rhythm. Yet it was the product of universitymen. Mather had been a student at Oxford; John Eliot was a graduate of Cambridge. They must have served their apprenticeship there at Latin verse-making, and it is incredible that they should not have been able to write better English verse. But they were determined that the Lord's praises should be sung according to His own will, and with their ideas of literal biblical inspiration they were willing to sacrifice every element of poetry to what they imagined was faithfulness to Hebrew originals. They tell us in their preface that they "attempted conciseness rather than elegance, fidelity rather than poetry." That they thought these qualities contradictory illustrates the fatal flaw in Puritan æsthetics. How numbing this moral discipline had been to the harmonies and amenities of life may be judged from the fact that few congregations knew more than five tunes, and but ten are known to have been used in the first half-century of the Bay Psalm-Book's existence.

BAYREUTH, bl'roit (Lat. Baruthum). The capital of the Government district of Upper Franconia. Bavaria, formerly the capital of the principality of the same name, ruled by Margraves of the House of Hohenzollern (Map: Germany, D 4). It is called the Mecca of the Wagnerites, on account of the Wagner Theatre, built especially for the performance of his operas, which attracts visitors from all over the world. Bayreuth is beautifully situated on the Red Main, 126 miles north of Munich. Its streets are broad and well paved. Its principal buildings are the old palace; the new palace, containing a gallery of paintings; the old opera-house; riding-school; infirmary and town-hall. The Richard Wagner Festival Theatre, erected in 1875, on a hill overlooking the town, is reached by a broad avenue of shady trees. Among the interesting private houses are the Villa Wahnfried, the former residence of Richard Wagner, who is buried in its grounds, and the house of Joan Paul Richter. In the Central Cemetery are the graves of Jean Paul Richter and the composer Franz Liszt. Bayreuth has numerous educational and charitable institutions. There are manufactures of cotton goods, sewing-machines, and agricultural and musical instruments. There are also breweries, distilleries, and brick-kilns. Population, in 1890, 25,000; in 1900, 29,000. Consult: Meyer, Das Stadtbuch von Baireuth (München, 1896); Jones, "Bayreuth and the Wagner Festival," in Cassel's Magazine, Vol. XXVII. (London, 1899).

BAYREUTH MUSICAL FESTIVAL. The Festival Theatre of Bayreuth has been described as tlic musical slirine of Richard Wagner. The city itself is the capital of the district of Up- per Franconia, Bavaria, and is situated on the Red Main. The building of the Festival Theatre had been the dream of Wagner's life, and eventu- ally he was fortimate enough to secure the inter- est of the unhappy King Louis II., of Bavaria, from whom and through whom he secured much financial assistance, which, with the subscrip- tions received from lovers of his music, enabled

him to carry out his long-cherished scheme. The idea was first conceived in 1858, and the Te- tralogy of the Nibelungen written, composed, and reserved until there should have been mate- rialized the conditions and environments which its creator deemed necessary for its proper pre- sentation. The situation of the theatre has been admirably chosen, with the town of Bayreuth in the foreground, and the hills of Franconia for a background. Performances begin at 4 P.M. except when the Rheingold is given, when the hour is altered to 5 P.M. The artists, who invariably give their services, carry out as far as possible Wagner's directions and ideas. They never rec- ognize the plaudits of the audience, and as far as possible discourage ebullitions of feeling on the part of their auditors. Originally, the audi- ence remained silent throughout every perform- ance; but this rule is now seldom obeyed except in the solitary instance of Parsifal. In order to secure every possible artistic reinforcement, the singer is sometimes reduced to become almost the mere agent of the literary expression; the orchestra is hidden away out of sight under the stage; and the auditorium itself is plunged into darkness before and during each act. On May 22, 1872, the foundation-stone was laid, the event being marked by the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with an orchestra of 500 in- struments, comprising many of the greatest in- strumentalists of the day, among whom were Wilhelmj (q.v.), playing a first-violin part, and Hans Richter, with the tympani. The theatre was opened in 1876 with the Nibelung, the festival continuing frpm August 13th to August 17th. The next festival occurred in 1882, when Parsifal had its first presentation; since which event per- formances have been given almost every year. The festival of 1897 was especially remarkable as being the first time five complete works were given, the Tetralogy and Parsifal. To Frau Wagner and Siegfried Wagner, wife and son of the master, is mainly due the credit of main- taining intact, as far as possible, the traditions of the Bayreuth Festival. See Music Festival.

BAYRHOFFER, blr'hdf'fer, (1812-88). A German-American philosopher and publicist, from 1838 to 1846 professor of philosophy in the University of Marburg. He became a member of the Diet of Hesse-Cassel in 1848, and in 1850 was president of the Chamber. After the defeat of his party (the Democratic) he came to America in 1853 and settled in Wisconsin as a farmer, though from 1866 he lived principally by his pen. In his early writings, notably in Idea and History of Philosophy (1838), he appears as a zealous disciple of Hegel. Afterwards he became a champion of German Catholicism, and wrote Researches into the Essence, History, and Criticism of Religion (1849).

BAY RUM. An aromatic liquid prepared by mixing oil of bay with alcohol and water, and adding small quantities of oil of orange peel and oil of pimenta. Oil of bay is obtained by distilling the leaves of the Myrcia acris, a West Indian tree belonging to the natural order Myrtaceæ.

BAY SAINT LOU'IS, Fr. Creole pron. ba siiN loo'e'. A city and county-seat of Hancock County, Miss., 51 miles east by north of New Orleans. La.; on Mississippi Sound, and on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (Map: