"THE SCHOOL OF THE CROSS."

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 37, 12 August 1905, Page 13

"THE SCHOOL OF THE CROSS."

During the coming summer a large num. ber of tourists will wend their way to Oberammergau, the village in Bavaria famous the world over for its Passion Play, says an English paper. Though the Passion play proper is only held onco in ten years, and was performed in 1900, the villagers are this year to give a series of performances of "The School of tho Cross," and are to bo clad in the garments used in the Passion Play. This religious drama or mystery play, "The School of the Cross," began on June 4th, and will continue until September 17th. Ib refers to the chief occurrences! in the life of King David, which are made the prototypes of the greater events in the life of Christ. Oberammergau is a quiet place, lying in a charming valley. From Oberammergau it is a shorb walk to the famous Ettai Monastery, where the Passion Play was born, and a longer excursion, about seven miles, to Linderhof, one of the palaces of Ludwig. Ludwig 11. ia associated with tho occasion of the play which the villagers are giving during the present year. They are observing the 30th -mniversary of the samß representation before that Prince, whom they loved and still love devotedly. Ludwig it was who gave the villagers the colossal Crucifixion group in marble, larger than life, on the slope of Kofel, tho mountain which rises 4500 ft above the valley in which the village lies. On the top of this mountain is a gigantip cross, which dominates the place. The burgomaster nna communal .council of Oberammergau requested the Rev. Joseph Heeher, Court Chaplain at Munich, to prepare an entirely new rendering of "The School of the Cross" for the performance of this year. Written in blank verse, the dialogue and dramatic action throughout the seven acts turn on episodes in the life of King David. The epilogue to each act recites how striking episodes in the life of the Redeemer — which are then exhibited on the stage as tableaux, or "living picturos" — correspond with or fulfil tho Old Testament predictions. Tho. music which accompanies the "living pictures" has been composed by Professor Wilhelm Muller, of Munich. Dr. Hecher's treatment of his great theme — virtually the correlation of Old Testament promise to Now Testament performance — is broad, simple, direct. David, the living man throughout the seven acts of "The School of the Cross," is always a type or emblem of the Redeemer. Act 1 introduces us to Jesse and his sons in the home at Bethlehem, and the selection of David ; ■ act 2to David's combat with Goliath ; act 3 to his persecution by Saul; act 4 to his flight into the wilderness. The threo remaining . acts deal with Absalom's conspiracy ; David's flight from Jerusalem; his victorious return to the Holy City. The music and vocal parts accompanying the last living picture, Christ in the majesty of glory, reach a very high level indeed. Over 500 performers will be on the stage at the same time during some of the scenes. " The most prominent of the villagers at Obeiammergau is Anton Lang, the Christus of the Passion Play of 1900. Ho is not yet thirty years of age, and is a potter by trade. He has a beautiful face, a fine physique, and great simplicity of manner. It is interesting to learn how the chief parts in this wonderful play are selected. Tho villagers, it must be said, number one thousand three hundred, and the Passion Play goes back for hundreds of years, and its traditions are interwover in the common life of the little community. The ambition of the children from the very beginning is to be thought worthy some time of being chosen by unanimous consent to personate Christ or Mary, the mother. Always the first qualification at those village councils is character ; then nhysical and mental equipment is taken into account. It is no wonder, therefore, that such an ambition gives the men and women a degree of lefinement which it is not customary to find in the ordinary Bavarian village. The thought of the great Passion Play is the dominating one in their minds.