Random Notes.

It is within himself that man should find the reason of all he studies. In the angels he should find the secret of his being: they are his prototypes. Lastly, it is in the Divine archetype that we are to look for the universal reason.

The Senses.

Taste and smell say: It is Good.
Sight and touch say: It is Beautiful. Hearing and speech say: It is True.

Every agreeable or disagreeable sight makes the body reäct backward. The degree of reaction should be in proportion to the degree of interest caused by the sight of the object presented to our sight.

The soul is a triple virtue, which, by means of the powers that it governs, forms, develops and modifies the sum total of the constituent forces of the body.

The body is that combination of co-penetrating forces whose inherent powers govern all acts under the triple impulse of the constituent forces of the being.

The immanences are powers which, under the impulse of the constituent virtues of the being, govern and modify the co-penetrating forces of the body.

The powers govern the forces under the impulse of the virtues.

The virtues are the impulses under the sway of which the powers govern and direct the forces.

Light is the symbol of order, of peace, of virtue.

Science and art form two means of assimilation: The one by means of absorption, the other by means of emanation. The one, more generous than the other, gives and communicates; the other unceasingly receives and appeals. Science receives, art gives. By science man assimilates the world; by art he assimilates himself to the world. Assimilation is to science what incarnation is to art.

If science perpetuates things in us, art perpetuates us in things and causes us to survive therein.

If by science man makes himself preëminent in subjugating the things of this world, by art he renders them supernatural by impressing upon them the living characters of his being and of his soul.

Art is an act by which life lives again in that which in itself has no life.

Art should move the secret springs of life, convince the mind and persuade the heart.

Beauty purifies the sense,
Truth illuminates the mind, Virtue sanctifies the soul.

The more lofty the intellect, the more simple the speech. (So in art.)

Accent is the modulation of the soul.

The artist who does not love, is by that fact rendered sterile.

Art is a regenerating or delighting power.

Routine is the most formidable thing I know.

If you would move others, put your heart in the place of your larynx; let your voice become a mysterious hand to caress the hearer.

Nothing is more deplorable than a gesture without a motive.

Perhaps the best gesture is that which is least apparent.

There is always voice enough to an attentive listener.

Persuade yourself that there are blind men and deaf men in your audience whom you must move, interest and persuade! Your inflection must become pantomime to the blind, and your pantomime, inflection to the deaf.

The mouth plays a part in everything evil which we would express, by a grimace which consists of protruding the lips and lowering the corners. If the grimace translates a concentric sentiment, it should be made by compressing the lips.

Conscious menace--that of a master to his subordinate--is expressed by a movement of the head carried from above downward.

Impotent menace requires the head to be moved from below upward.

Any interrogation made with crossed arms must partake of the character of a threat.

When two limbs follow the same direction, they cannot be simultaneous without an injury to the law of opposition. Therefore, direct movements should be successive, and opposite movements should be simultaneous.

There are three great articular centres: the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Passional expression passes from the shoulder, where it is in the emotional state, to the elbow, where it is presented in the affectional state; then to the wrist and the thumb, where it is presented in the susceptive and volitional state.

Three centres in the arm: the shoulder for pathetic actions; the elbow, which approaches the body by reason of humility, and reciprocally (that is, inversely) for pride; lastly, the hand for fine, spiritual and delicate actions.

The initial forms of movements should be--in virtue of the zones whence they proceed--the only explicit, and consequently the only truly expressive ones.

Bad actors exert themselves in vain to be moved and to afford a spectacle to themselves. On the other hand, true artists never let their gestures reveal more than a tenth part of the secret emotion that they apparently feel and would hide from the audience to spare their sensibility. Thus they succeed in stirring all spectators.

No, art is not an imitation of nature: art is better than nature. It is nature illuminated.

There are two kinds of loud voices: the vocally loud, which is the vulgar voice; and the dynamically loud, which is the powerful voice. A voice, however powerful it may be, should be inferior to the power which animates it.

Every object of agreeable or disagreeable aspect which surprises us, makes the body recoil. The degree of reaction should be proportionate to the degree of emotion caused by the sight of the object.

Without abnegation, no truth for the artist. We should not preoccupy the audience with our own personality. There is no true, simple or expressive singing without self-denial. We must often leave people in ignorance of our own good qualities.

To use expression at random on our own authority, expression at all hazards, is absurd.

The mouth is a vital thermometer, the nose a moral thermometer.

Dynamic wealth depends upon the number of articulations brought into play; the fewer articulations an actor uses, the more closely he approaches the puppet.

A portion of a whole cannot be seriously appreciated by any one ignorant of the constitution of that whole.

An abstract having been made of the modes of execution which the artist should learn before handling a subject, two things are first of all requisite:

  1. 1. To know what he is to seek in that subject itself;
  2. 2. To know how to find what he seeks.

Is not the essential principle of art the union of truth, beauty and good? Are its action and aim anything but a tendency toward the realization of these three terms?

We have a right to ask a work of art by what methods it claims to move us, by which side of our character it intends to interest and convince us.

Speech is external, and visible thought is the ambassadress of the intellect.

How should the invisible be visible when the visible is so little so!

One cannot be too careful of his articulation. The initial consonant should be articulated distinctly; the spirit of the word is contained in it.

Two things to be observed in the consonant: its explosion and its preparation. The t, d, p, etc., keep us waiting; the ch, v, j, prepare themselves, as: "vvvenez." The vocals ne, me, re are muffled.

Rhythm is that which asserts; it is the form of movement.

Melody is that which distinguishes.

Harmony is that which conjoins.

Let your attitude, gesture and face foretell what you would make felt.

Be wary of the tremolo which many singers mistake for vibration.

If you cannot conquer your defect, make it beloved.

A movement should never be mixed with a facial twist.

Things that are said quietly should sing themselves in the utterance.

Part Sixth.
Lecture and Lessons Given by Mme. Géraldy (Delsarte's Daughter) in America.

[Illustration: Mme. Marie Delsarte-Géraldy.]