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The solemn, yet unfettered, grace of its rhythmic respiration suggested to Alwyn, first darkness, then twilight then the gradual far-glimmering of a silvery dawn, till out of the shuddering notes there seemed to grow up a vague, vast, and cool whiteness, splendid and mystical, a whiteness that from shapeless, fleecy mist took gradual form and substance, ... the great concert-hall, with its closely packed throng of people, appeared to fade away like vanishing smoke, and lo! before the poet's entranced gaze there rose up a wondrous vision of stately architectural grandeur, a vision of snowy columns and lofty arches, upon which fell a shimmering play of radiant color flung by the beams of the sun through stained glass windows glistening jewel-wise, a tremulous sound of voices floated aloft, singing, "Kyrie Eleison!
In another few moments the unseen musician began to play, and a deep silence fell upon us, for he was playing our music and recalling memories of bygone days. Snatches from Italian opera, and old well-known songs followed each other as we sat in the twilight and listened, conjuring up pictures of opera-house and concert-hall in this far-away land.
This night perhaps its last should see a grand, a sumptuous feast; he invited his friends and adherents the leaders of spiritual life in Alexandria to a 'symposium', after the manner of the philosophers and dilettanti of ancient Athens, to be held in the great concert-hall of the Serapeum. How different was its aspect from that of the Bishop's council-chamber!
Their crimson sashes gave a factitious touch of gaiety to the smoky atmosphere of the concert-hall; and Heyst felt a sudden pity for these beings, exploited, hopeless, devoid of charm and grace, whose fate of cheerless dependence invested their coarse and joyless features with a touch of pathos. Heyst was temperamentally sympathetic.
The concert was over; the audience had gone; the concert-hall was dark; and even the Pavilion, where the ladies' orchestra slept after its noisy labours, showed not a gleam of light.
In the twinkling of an eye, as it were, they transformed what had been to all intents and purposes a concert-hall into a flower-decked ballroom, while the members of the band engaged for the dance began climbing agilely into their allotted places on the raised platform preparatory to tuning up for the evening's work.
With a sluggish movement the music uncoiled itself like a huge boa about to engulf a tiny rabbit. The simile forced itself against her volition; all this monstrous preparation for a rabbit! In a concert-hall the poetic idea of the tone-poem was petty. And the churning of the orchestra, foaming hysteria of the strings, bellowing of the brass would they never cease!
Thirty feet away, across the yard, Hodder saw the gleaming window from which the music came. He got to his feet. Another verse began, with more of the brazen emphasis of the concert-hall singer than ever. He glanced at the woman beside him, irresolutely. "I'll speak to her," he said. Mrs. Garvin did not appear to hear him, but flung herself down beside the lounge.
I visited the apartments of the palace; they are rich and elegant, but present nothing interesting to the artist save their ancient recessed ceilings filled with curious figures and arabesques. In the concert-hall there is a musicians' gallery in grotesque carving, silvered; its effect is really charming.
Is not this rather a pity? for England! When they entered the concert-hall, the orchestra had already begun the programme of the day with Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony.
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