Number.

Medallion of Inflection.

The Nature of the Colors of Each Circle in the Color Charts.

The Attributes of Reason.

Random Notes.

Part Sixth.

The Lecture and Lessons Given by Mme. Marie Geraldy (Delsarte’s
Daughter) in America.

Part Seventh.

Article by Alfred Giraudet. 
Article by Francis A. Durivage. 
Article by Hector Berlioz.

Delaumosne On Delsarte.

The Delsarte System,

by

M. l’Abbe Delaumosne,

(Pupil of Delsarte.)

Translated by Frances A. Shaw.

Francois Delsarte.

Francois Delsarte was born November 11, 1811, at Solesme, a little town of the Department of the North, in France.  His father, who was a renowned physician and the author of several inventions, might have secured a fortune for his family, had he been more anxious for the morrow, but he died in a state bordering upon poverty.

In 1822, Francois was apprenticed to a porcelain painter of Paris, but, yielding to a taste and aptitude for music, in the year 1825, he sought and obtained admission to the Conservatory as a pensioner.  Here a great trial awaited him—­a trial which wrecked his musical career, but was a decided gain for his genius.  He had been placed in the vocal classes, and in consequence of faults in method and direction, he lost his voice.  He was inconsolable, but, without making light of his sorrow, we may count that loss happy, which gave the world its first law-giver in the art of oratory.

The young student refused to accept this calamity without making one final effort to retrieve it.  He presented himself at the musical contest of 1829.  His impaired voice rendered success impossible, but kind words from influential friends in a great measure compensated for defeat.

The celebrated Nourrit said to him:  “I have given you my vote for the first prize, and my children shall have no singing-master but you.”

“Courage,” said Madame Malibran, pressing his hand.  “You will one day be a great artist.”

But Delsarte knew that without a voice he must renounce the stage, and yielding to the inevitable, he gave up the role of the actor to assume the functions of the professor.  After his own shipwreck upon a bark without pilot or compass, he summoned up courage to search into the laws of an art which had hitherto subsisted only upon caprice and personal inspiration.

After several years of diligent study, he discovered and formulated the essential laws of all art; and, thanks to him, aesthetic science in our day has the same precision as mathematical science.  He had numerous pupils, many of whom have become distinguished in various public careers—­in the pulpit, at the bar, on the stage, and at the tribune.