Copenhagen

TIVOLI.

is of a com paratively prim itive type, and cannot compete w ith its distinguished colleague, the A rena-Theatre, on the other side of the lake. The festive illum ination w orks its effect on the m ood of the public. T heir spirits too are as it were fanned into full glow . T he laugh ter rings out louder and freer, and the waves of talk rise h ig h e r and stronger, like a sea stirred by the wind. The strains from the two orchestras — now pom pous op e ra­ tic airs and now light dance-tunes —those from the dancing- platform , from the Variety entertainment, and from the barrel- organ of the m erry -g o -ro u n d ; the reports of the gun s from the shooting-gallery; the heavy thud of the mallet from the “trials of stre n g th “ all com bine to p roduce a sort of popular- festival sym phony, in which all the instruments together con­ tribu te to create that feeling of sympathetic enjoym ent which is the real “T iv o li-h um o u r“. It is a hum ou r which comm u ­ nicates itself to every one, even to those who from long custom are indifferent to the am usem ents in themselves. Its focus is perhap s in front of the open-air theatre. He must be a very blasé son of Copenhagen who is not to

be found now and then am o n g the crow ­ ded o p en -a ir au d ien ­ ce, look ing on at one of those pantom im es which fascinated him as a child. The Tivoli pan tom im e rests on old tradition. It was p ro ­ bably derived from the Italian “masked com e­ dy", b u t in its d evelop ­ m en t it has been influ­ enced by the easy­ g o in g geniality of the

TH E FRIGATE “SANCT GEORGE"

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