| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: acknowledging the importance of the publication of this oratorio,
as an event in the art-history of America, the writer betrays
manifest disappointment that this work should not rather have
been a symphony,[63] and thus have belonged to what he calls the
"domain of absolute music." Now with regard to the assumption
that the oratorio is not so high a form of music as the symphony,
or, in other words, that vocal music in general is artistically
inferior to instrumental music, we may observe, first, that
Ambros and Dommer--two of the most profound musical critics now
living--do not sustain it. It is Beanquier, we think, who
suggests that instrumental music should rank above vocal, because
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: "Commissioner Lange is his name, I believe," replied Miss Graumann.
"H'm!" Muller and the commissioner exchanged glances.
"I think we can venture to hear more of this," said the commissioner,
as if in answer to their unspoken thought. "Can you give us the
details now, Madam? Who is, or rather who was, this John Siders?"
"John Siders came to our village a little over a year ago," continued
Miss Graumann. "He came from Chicago; he told us, although he was
evidently a German by birth. He bought a nice little piece of
property, not far from our home, and settled down there. He was a
quiet man and made few friends, but he seemed to take to Albert and
came to see us frequently. Albert had spent some years in America,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs: for milk for the human inhabitants of the city."
"And you have lived here all these years," exclaimed the
girl, "without ever seeing one of your own kind?"
The old woman nodded affirmatively.
"For sixty years you have lived here," continued Bertha
Kircher, "and they have not harmed you!"
"I did not say they had not harmed me," said the old wom-
an, "they did not kill me, that is all."
"What" -- the girl hesitated -- "what," she continued at last,
"was your position among them? Pardon me," she added
quickly, "I think I know but I should like to hear from your
Tarzan the Untamed |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: hath been -- wherever, so miserably burdened, she may have hoped
to find repose -- it hath cast a lurid gleam of awe and horrible
repugnance round about her. But there stood one in the midst of
you, at whose brand of sin and infamy ye have not shuddered!"
It seemed, at this point, as if the minister must leave the
remainder of his secret undisclosed. But he fought back the
bodily weakness -- and, still more, the faintness of heart --
that was striving for the mastery with him. He threw off all
assistance, and stepped passionately forward a pace before the
woman and the children.
The Scarlet Letter |
