Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/158

* BIZET. 132 BJOBNSON. tiiod liis liand. Djamihli (1872".. a one-act trag- edy of uiiieiiuited love in the Orient, was brushed away by the public as too 'a<rnerian and un- theatrical, but the author was "absolutely sure that he had found his way; he knew what he wa;; doing." Technical mastery, Gallic deftness and delicacy of touch, emotional depth and sin- cerity, were all concentrated in this tale of sup- pressed passion amid the languorous surround- ings of a Cairo hareui. Unlike David, with uhom Orientalism was the aim and essence of the composition. Bizet employed it onl_v as a back- ground, an atmosphere for universal and eternal emotions. This little masterpiece was followed in the same year by the incidental music to Daudet's drama L'Arlcsienne. The spirit of 'fair Provence' was transmuted into tones with wonderful power. The public paid no attention to the entr'-acte music, performed amid the chat- tering usual between the acts, and yet at present the music and the drama have grown to be con- sidered as inseparable as is Mendelssohn's music from Shakespeare's Midsiiiniiirr yif/ht's Dream. or Beethoven's music from Goethe's Egmoiit. The discouraged composer tempted fortune for the last time with Carmen (1875), based on Merimee's novel. Another failure, and in a few months the master died at Bougival (of consumption, probably), carrying to his grave the conviction that he had created a chef-d'teuvre — an opinion in which musicians of all schools and tastes concur at present, when Carmen is one of the half-dozen most popular operas of the lyric stage. "Dramatic and picturesque," Carmen delineates in masterly style the psychology of the wayward heroine from the whimsical co- quetry of the first scene to the fatalistic bravado of the tragic denouement. The develop- ment of the choler in the weakling Don Jos?, driven by Carmen's heartlessness to despair and inurder: the purity and devotion of the lachry- mose ilicaela : the pleasure-loving bull-fighter — all these once seen and lieard are never forgot- ten. Even to the minor ])ersonages, each speaks an individual musical language. Besides two overtures, Bizet wrote piano music and a number of songs, highly valued by con- noisseurs. Bizet was a remarkable reader of orchestral scores at sight, an erudite nuisician, a man of wide culture and strong artistic convictions. With all his admiration for the nmsic-drama, he did not overburden his Carmen with colossal orchestration, nor did he discard the time- lionored set numbers and ensembles or make use of the leit-motif, except 'remini.scentially.' The choice, too, of sul)jects for his last two works was in the direction of everyday realism, contrary to the theory that myth is the only sul)ject for a music-drama. France luidoubtcdly lost in Bizet one of her greatest musicians be- fore he had achieved what was easily within his power to achieve. Consult C. Bellaigne, "Georges Bizet." Rcrue des Deux ilondes (October 15, 188!)). BJABME, iiyiir'mr, BRVN.Tor.F. A pen-name once used liy llenrik Ibsen (q.v.). BJOBCK, hyerk, GuSTAV O.SKAB (I860—). A Swedish painter, born in St<wkholm, He at- tended the academy in that city, and studied in Munich, Venice, Rome, and Paris. He was made ft member of tlie Stockholm Academy in 1889. Although cliiefly distinguished as a portrait painter, he has worked much in other fields. BJOENEBORG, byOr'ue-bOrg, or BIOBNE- BORG ( Kinnisli I'ori). A seaport and capital of a district in the Government of Abo Bjiirne- borg, Finland, on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of Kurao, 70 miles north-northwest of Abo (ilap: Russia, B 2), and 150 miles from Helsingfors. It carries on a considerable trade, exporting principally timber (especially to England) and importing rye-flour, salt, and iron. Some shi|)-buiUling is done here. The larger vessels cannot approach the citv, and must anchor off Refso. Population, in 1888, 10,100; in 1897, 11,600. BJORNSON, byern'son, B.torxst.ierne ( 18.32 — ). A Norwegian jHiet. dranu>list, and novelist. He was born at Kvikne, December S. 1832, the son of a I.ullieran pastor. His childhood was passed in Kvikne. Romsdal, and Molde. in noble scenery rich in legendary association. He left the Uni- versity of Christiania for journalism, having al- ready, as a student, written sketches and reviews of plays, and in 1858 published his first drama. Between the Battles, and his first novel, Synnore l^olhakh-cn, translated by JIary Howitt as Trust and Trial (1858). He was made director of the theatre in Bergen, and from 1800 to 1803 trav- eled on a Government stipend, chietly in Italy. He has since resided in Norway, with frequent visits to Paris, Rome, and llunich. In the win- ter of 1880-81 he lectured in the United States. Bjornson is the greatest distinctively Norwegian writer, so intensely national that the Danish critic Brandes says that "the mention of his name in a gathering of his countrymen is like running up the national flag." He is the chief novelist, probably the chief poet, and, with Ibsen, the chief dramatist of his country's history. For more than twenty years he has been a leader of the Republican Party in Norway, and has en- gaged actively in social and religious contro- versies. The change in the flag of Norway on January I, 1901, with all that it symbolizes for independent national entity, is due to Bjornson more than to any other man. The poet and the seer has proved himself also a practical politician. As was natural, tliis lias changed the character of his literary work, which was at first purely artis- tic, but in the stress of controversy has tended to become didactic. The first period is distinctive- ly lyric. His plays of this time are sagas; his narrative epics idyllic, and imbedded in them are gems of song, many widely popular and one 'national.' These were collected in I'urms and ,Songs (1870). and in that year appeared his only epic, .rnljol dclline, founded on an epi- sode in the Ilrimsh-rinrila. Since then Bjiirnson has written little verse. He had already dis- tinguished himself in peasant novels and tales, e.g. Arnc (18,58), A Happy Boy (1800), and The Fisher Maiden (1808), primitive pastorals, genuine yet mmlern. The dramas of these years are based on the native sagas, the best of them, •Sigurd SIcmbv and Sigurd Jorsalfar (1872). on the lleiniskringla. Mary Stuart in Scotland (1804) is an isolated exce|)tion. as is the prob- lem play The Sewly M'edded Pair (1866). This latter style is characteristic of the whole drama of the second period beginning with The Editor (1874), and counting .4 Bankruptcy (1875), The King (1877), Leonardo (1879),