The realistic fire clouds and flame in the last act of “The Prophet,” when the Prophet, learning that he is betrayed, orders the fire of the palace of Münster, are done by concentrating the arc light upon colored gelatine; usually, first yellow for the fumes, then yellow and white, then yellow and red, red and white, and red and black. The sandstorm in the last act of the “Queen of Sheba” is done in yellow and black and pink gelatine before the light, and the rain by parallel scratches on a black surface, the arc light being dimmed and brightened alternately, and the glass turned this way and that, so that the parallelism of the drops shall follow a supposed changing of the direction of the wind.
GRADUAL TRANSFORMATIONS.
One of the greatest triumphs of Wagner’s scenic art is his method of scene shifting, which is carried almost to perfection. He was very much opposed to sudden changes of scenes, which are so frequent in Shakespearian plays, as he was desirous of avoiding everything which broke the continuity of the dramatic action. In the greater part of his operas he lets a single scene suffice for the entire act. Once in a great while he was obliged to provide for a shifting of a scene during an act, but in “Rheingold” the curtain remains, or should remain, raised during the whole of the performance. These changes are usually accomplished in plain sight of the audience, or else the setting of the new scene is hidden behind clouds. These effects are accomplished by means of successive gauze curtains which are raised and lowered, and by the clever use of light which is gradually diminished until almost total darkness reigns. The effect is largely enhanced by the orchestra, which symbolizes the changes which are taking place. The two best examples of this perfection of scene shifting are probably those in “Parsifal,” when the magic garden changes to the sanctuary of the Holy Grail; and the other effect is in the third act of “Götterdämmerung,” when the warriors place the dead Siegfried upon the bier and carry the body up the rocky path, while the orchestra is playing the funeral march of unearthly beauty. As the procession gradually disappears, mists rise from the Rhine. The mist gradually thickens into fog, then clouds rise upward, hiding the whole scene from view. Then the clouds rise and dissipate into mists which finally disclose the moonlit hall of the Gibichungen. The effects are produced by steam and a series of gauze curtains. The clouds really serve as a screen to prevent the scene shifters being viewed by the audience. A satisfactory effect can only be obtained when every detail is carried out with the greatest care. The superiority of this method over the conventional curtain is apparent.
Sometimes the gauze curtains are not dropped from the flies, but are run across from the side. They are “profiled,” or, in other words, they are irregular in shape, so that they help to produce the effect without any noticeable line of demarcation between the two halves of the curtain. The steam curtain is often very effective, especially in Wagnerian operas. The steam is admitted through a perforated steam pipe in a sink cut, the floor being perforated. As the steam curtain is in a straight line, the effect is apt to be a little formal.
BATTLE SCENES.
Battle scenes are particularly effective upon the stage when they are well produced, and in the midst of a desperate battle a shell is seen to fall and burst, carrying death and destruction in its wake. Our [engraving] shows the method of obtaining this result. A papier maché shell is formed of separate pieces glued together. This contains the quantity of powder sufficient to separate the pieces and produce the bursting. In the powder there is an electric primer which is ignited by a current. The primer is connected by wires which go back of the scene. At one of the sides of the stage, out of sight of the spectator, there is a charge which is also ignited by electricity at the same time that the bomb is exploded. At the proper moment a man throws the shell and touches the button, the bomb bursts, and the spectators, hearing the loud report of the cannon at the same instant, imagine that the harmless paper bomb is the cause of the formidable explosion.
