The Project Gutenberg eBook of The evergreen tree, by Percy MacKaye

Title: The evergreen tree

Author: Percy MacKaye

Release Date: April 7, 2023 [eBook #70498]

Language: English

Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

[i]

[ii]

[iii]

[iv]

[v]

by
PERCY MACKAYE

[vi]

Copyright, 1917, by
Percy MacKaye

All Rights Reserved

Note: For Information concerning Permission to
produce this Masque or to read it in Public, see
ANNOUNCEMENTS, on page 81 of this volume.

Printed in the United States of America

[vii]

The
EVERGREEN TREE

A Masque of Christmas Time for
Community Singing and Acting

by
PERCY MACKAYE

With Scenic and Costume Designs
by
ROBERT EDMOND JONES

Together with
Three Monographs on the Masque
written by
the Author, the Scenic Designer,
and
ARTHUR FARWELL
Composer of the Music

[viii]

[ix]

To

Those Friendly Thousands
of Men, Women and Children
in American Towns and Cities, Who Have
Shared With the Author in His Masques
a Common Devotion to the Happy Cause
of a Communal Art

This Masque is Dedicated
in Christmas Fellowship

[xi]

Always an evergreen tree points up at a star.

Always a star looks somewhere down on the cradle of a child.

Always, once in the year, a child laughs up at evergreen boughs.

Tree, star and child are triune in the poetry of nature—a constellation of man that never sets.

The antic mirth, the naïve awe of paganism, the joy and passion of Christianity, are masks happy and tragic which the Folk Spirit of childhood has worn for ages, and shall wear for ages more, in ritual of a tree that never dies.

On the verge of No-Man’s-Land, where the blasted earth reels amid war’s stench and thunder; in calm cathedrals, to carolling choirs; by lonely chimney sides, or amid the young, tense assemblies of army camps, Christmas—this Christmas of our new age—grows again in the ancient greenness of a little tree.

How may we, too, do it homage?

Not forgetting the old simple merriment of folk days gone by, how shall we say—and sing—to our tree something of that deep response which we feel to-day to the creative sadness of our time?

Our young men are going out to the war: our country is grappling the issue of a planet. Here is a dramatic conflict, not for us as spectators, but as participants. Here is a theme, not of the traditional theatre, but of a[xii] communal drama, the action of which is at once a battle and a prayer. How may we take part together in expressing such a theme, at this new Christmas time?

Surely it must be through some simple festival—chiefly of song, for song is elemental to us all: a festival in which our people—young, old, rich, poor, women, men, but chiefly our young soldiers—may share, outdoors or indoors, in a ritual, democratic and devotional, on a scale great or small, simple to act and symbolize: a drama not designed for a hollow amphitheatre of spectators, but for a level-floored cathedral of communicants: a drama in which the goal of world liberty we battle for is clearly contrasted with its opposite, that we ourselves may not lose sight of our goal or swerve from it, as our common prayer, in the midst of battle. And there, as the focus-point of our festival and symbol of it—the tree of light: light of our own childhood and of the world’s.

I do not know whether this simple masque will prove worthy to help in creating such a festival for our new Christmas time—I can only wish and hope that it may.

Percy MacKaye.

Cornish, New Hampshire,
September, 1917.

For Army Camp productions, in camps where it may not be practicable to have women as acting principals, the two mute female figures, MARY and SONG, may—if necessary—be omitted, and RUTH be acted by some well-skilled youth, as was the custom in Elizabethan days. The part of TREE, in any production, may be acted either by a young woman or by a young man (in small-scale productions preferably by a young woman). ELF and GNOME are preferably acted by children: a girl and a boy, or—if desirable—by two boys. In Chorus A, and in the first Semi-Chorus of the Outcasts, choir boys may, if need be, take the places of women.

CHORUSES

CAROLS

In modified small-scale productions of the Masque, where it may be impracticable to render all the music in its completeness, the Carols alone may be sung. In that event, the Choruses should not be wholly omitted, but may be rendered as Choral Poems spoken in chanted speech by properly qualified leaders (at Stage A and Stage B), as indicated in the “Guide to the Evergreen Tree” pamphlet, referred to in the Announcements on the last page of this volume.

is in two divisions, as follows:

CHORUS A, in White: Men and Women: located near Stage A.

CHORUS B, in Red: Men: located near Stage B.

TIME

The Time is laid on a night shortly after the birth of Christ.

PLACE

The Masque takes place in Four Regions, indicated by Two Stages, and Two Aisles, the Audience being located between the two stages.

Stage A represents the Place of Outcasts: a knoll, with path, in the Wilderness, before the Evergreen Tree.

Stage B (located opposite Stage A) represents the Place of Empire: the Gateway and Steps to the Palace of Herod.

Aisle I (located on the right of Stage B, as one faces Stage A) represents a Pathway from the land of Herod into the Wilderness.

Aisle II (located on the left of Stage B and parallel to Aisle I) represents another Pathway into the Wilderness.

See Ground Plan opposite page 69.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came Wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled....

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”

When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was....

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Now when they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt....

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under.

STAGE A: THE PLACE OF OUTCASTS

It is night.

In a dark place of the wilderness, a tree is growing.

Before it is an open space on a knoll, from which—left and right—a path leads down away into the desert.

At one side, in shadow, sit ELF and GNOME.

At centre, in starlight, stands TREE, half emerged from dim boughs.

AISLE I: A PATHWAY INTO THE WILDERNESS

Moving toward the Tree, a Procession enters singing.

First comes JOSEPH in white. He holds high a tall staff, from which a swinging lantern shines. Behind him comes, in pale blue, MARY, attended by Shepherds in white. These carry lighted candles and long crooks, and they are ranged about a Manger, borne in their midst.

STAGE A

Tree and the Fairies have watched and listened eagerly.

APPROACHING-SPACE and STEPS A; Then, STAGE A

Approaching along the path, JOSEPH and his Group pause, confronted by the BEASTS.

STAGE B: THE PLACE OF EMPIRE

Gateway and Steps in front of HEROD’S Palace.

With spears and in armor, the CAPTAIN and the Host of Herod are assembling.

With deep, pounding reverberation, Voices of the male Chorus conflict with the far, high singing of the other Chorus, now dying away.

STAGE A

Now, from the Place of Outcasts, Choral Voices sing, while once more JOSEPH, MARY and Shepherds bearing the Manger appear, coming forth from the shelter of the Evergreen. With them TREE also appears.

AISLE II: ANOTHER PATHWAY INTO THE WILDERNESS

Entering from its farther end appear, in procession, the THREE WISE MEN, and their Followers. Lighted by torches of their Attendants, this Pageant of the Kings moves onward in oriental splendor.

Each KING wears a crown of gold.

The crown of the youngest, BELSHASAR, is set on a turban. He is clean shaven, pale and recluse. The garb of him and his Group has a tone of asceticism.

The crown of the middle-aged, MELCHIOR, is placed on a helmet. He is thick-set, black-bearded and sharp-eyed. A martial glitter touches him and his Group.

The crown of the oldest, CASPAR, is set on a high-peaked hat with wide flapping brims. His beard is silver white, his face ruddy and wrinkled with laughter. His ample gown is gorgeous with red dyes and jewels. Like him in jocular splendor are his Followers.

[32]

As they approach the place of the Tree, KINGS and Followers come singing a carol, led by the KINGS.

[34]

STAGE A

The THREE KINGS enter before the Tree, their Followers grouped on the right. As he comes, King CASPAR lifts his voice in a carol, solo, in which BELSHASAR and MELCHIOR soon join with him. Each of them, in his singing, acts out the sung carol in his bearing and movement.

STAGE B AND AISLE I

From the right of HEROD’S Gate sounds the tolling of bells—from the left, the clangor of swords.

During this, HEROD comes forth and stands on his dais. There, in shifting light and darkness, Helmeted Men with swords hurry to him, confer in pantomime and depart.

Then, as HEROD stands looking down from his height, there passes below him a Procession of Outcasts, which—moving from Aisle II to Aisle I—passes on along Aisle I toward the Place of the Tree. When the last of this dirgeful Pageant has gone by him, HEROD returns in darkness within the gate.

The Procession of Outcasts is accompanied by FOUR MASKED FIGURES in symbolic garb, and consists of the Followers of these, walking before and after a stretcher, borne at the middle of the Pageant. First of the Four is a Female Figure, SONG, who leads the Procession, looking upward; last, is a Male Figure, POVERTY, bowed in stature. The other two Male Figures walk at the head[45] and foot of the stretcher, the first being SORROW, staring before him, the second one—DEATH, who bears a muffled babe in his arms, lulling it, with a calm smile.

On the stretcher a Poor Man lies wounded—a PEDLAR, with his pack for a head-rest. He wears a red jerkin and great boots and a workman’s cap. His beard is brown. His face is pale, his side bandaged. In one hand he holds a broken sword. The Man is CLAUS, whose Wife, RUTH, walks beside him, in peasant garb. At his other side walk two small tattered Figures—a BOY and a GIRL, their children.

As all pass slowly onward, the Outcasts chant their song-dirge, out of which rises momentarily, first, the Voice of RUTH, then of CLAUS, while at times Full Chorus gives deeper volume to the singing. Rhythms of tolled bells and of clanging swords accompany the two Semi-Choruses.

STAGE A

While the Outcasts have been approaching, CASPAR has come forth from the Place of the Tree and watched them coming.

Now, where he joins BELSHASAR and MELCHIOR, the THREE KINGS call, in song, to the dim Figures who draw near.

AISLE I AND AISLE II

Pouring forth from the Place of Empire, the Host of Herod and their Leaders, with spears held high, come marching on both pathways toward the Tree, singing in chorus as they march.

STAGE A

Staying his Followers, the CAPTAIN OF THE HOST approaches the THREE KINGS by the Tree.

In his hand he bears the Staff of Herod.

[67]

I.—PRELUDE

In producing this Masque, different communities will doubtless wish to observe different ways of assembling to prepare and begin its production.

Some, especially those given on a small scale, may need and desire no prelusive form of ceremony, in action, speech or song.

For productions given on a larger scale, however, since a receptive and devotional state of feeling is greatly to be desired for its proper rendering and its impression upon those who witness and take part, it is strongly recommended that some kind of brief, general Song Overture of the people be held just before the Masque begins.

With this need in mind, the suggestions here made by the author are given for whatever service they may render to the desired end.

As Prelude to the production of “The Evergreen Tree,” the following kind of Song Overture and informal Ceremony are suggested for such large-scale types of the Masque’s production as are witnessed and performed by all classes, races, ages and creeds of the community.

After night-fall, on a winter’s evening, let us imagine men, women and children of a town or city gathered together out of doors in a public square or park, or indoors within some level-floored structure, to assemble by the community Christmas Tree, and to join in general singing under a leader.

The Leader will gather the best trained singers at a central place (indicated by the roped-off circle in the Ground Plan on the page opposite), and will start the community singing, or guide its spontaneous beginnings under his leadership.

[70]

The trained Chorus will perhaps sing the “Adeste Fidelis,” or “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” and the carollers will raise their voices in such old Christmas songs as may best appeal to them. So, perhaps for twenty minutes or half an hour, the singers will hold an informal Overture, in which all the gathered people may have joined.

Meanwhile, or beforehand, the Chorus will have put on their outer garments of red and white (designed according to Mr. Jones’ costume suggestions), and will have divided into their two separate bodies—(1) the mixed voices, Chorus A, and (2) the male choir, Chorus B.

Then the Chorus Leader, or some one appointed by him, when the Masque is almost ready to begin, will rise at the centre—visible above the heads of the Chorus and the people—and will speak to the assemblage, perhaps in his own words, or perhaps—using some portion or all of the speech here given—he will speak substantially as follows:

So concluding, the Chorus Leader and his Assistant Leader will accompany their Choruses (the one—Chorus A, the other—Chorus B) to the places where they sit during the Masque (indicated on the diagram) in front of their respective stages.

As they go to their places, the Choruses will sing the carol “Good King Wencelas.” Then, when all is still, the Masque of “The Evergreen Tree” will commence with the Chorus of the Wilderness.

[72]

II.—EPILUDE

At the conclusion of the Masque, it is not advisable that any other formal ceremony should follow.

The participants, the children and the people will naturally be gathering about Santa Claus and partaking of the gifts from his pack, or otherwise sharing in happy festivity.

In order, however, that the Masque shall not end in a general, disordered scattering of the assemblage, it is recommended that those in costume, including the Choruses (now united), shall march in good order to the places of their costuming, or to such other places as the Director of the Masque may designate, singing together stanzas of the Masque hymn—easily learned, in unison, to the appealing music of Arthur Farwell—

The allurement of the communal field in drama is its freshness of opportunity—its infinite potential variety.

Definitions have not yet hedged it; criticism has not yet charted, nor pedagogy catalogued its boundless horizons and creative streams; commercialism has not yet invaded its unstinted harvests, to store and can them for the market, under the labels of middlemen.

So, in approaching this realm of “The Evergreen Tree,” I have felt something of that thrill of discovery which must more often have been felt in earlier days on American soil: a feeling, I think, such as John Muir once told me he experienced when he gazed first, from the top of a great tree, over uncharted miles of the redwood region. Only here I have seemed to look upon the conjoining of a great, structural continent—the Drama—with a primal sea—the tides of Community Song, now carolling in quiet inlets, now choral with tempestuous music from fathomless deeps.

If, then, I were to suggest the nature of this kind of community drama by a topographical line, rather than by a definition of theory, I would do so perhaps by a line such as this:

[74]

wherein the rising pyramid would represent an emerging contour of that continent (the Drama), whose base is submerged and fused with those singing tides (Community Music).

So perhaps, as dramatist, I might suggest the coming together of those two realms or “movements” of social art, to which my friend Arthur Farwell refers in his comments, as composer.

Obviously, this coming together implies a new technique of the community dramatist—a technique not for a hollowed amphitheatre (that of the traditional theatre), but for a level assembly place (that of the cathedral): where visually, from a floor thronged with choral communicants, there rises a sharp focal point of dramatic action—a small raised stage, for such few acting characters as are typical of the community dramatic ritual.

So the setting of the Masque takes form according to its nature (as indicated by the Ground Plan opposite page 69, and by the worded description in the front of this volume). And so, as the dramatic architect by his design shapes the conditions for the coöperation of the composer, he shapes also the conditions for the coöperation of the scenic producer—in this case, Robert Edmond Jones, whose fresh and fertile genius becomes in a production as significant for the eye as the creative ardor of Arthur Farwell does for the ear.

In the following pages, each of these representative artists describes briefly his distinctive approach and viewpoint toward the ensemble production. As well as may be in brief space, we hope thus to suggest—for all who read the Masque with a view to its performance on however simple a scale—something of our own feelings for the right creative and interpretive approach to this fresh field, in which we are planning to coöperate personally in at least some one production of “The Evergreen Tree.”

In the pioneering attempt of this Masque, my own purpose is to dramatize community singing—for conditions of our own time, especially in America, during this new, formative period which the world war has begun.

In other lands and ages of folk art, community song has been dramatized, as it can only be dramatized vitally, by artists moved by the spirit of religion; and relics of such forms still[75] survive amongst us in rituals of the churches. But these rituals necessarily have attained their growth—nobly classic at their best, at their worst—dully disintegrated.

Now new forces of an age religiously urgent for democracy demand a re-creation of the forms of folk art, plastic to the living currents of the new time. These currents, though continuous from the past, widen now between strange banks and other horizons; though perennial, they require fresh coördination.

The carol, for instance, and the ballad—old forms of folk art—survive with us only in their archaic appeal. We in America cannot hope or wisely desire to revive them for what they once were—spontaneous expressions of continuous communal life in villages and peasant heaths, for that life has gone from us, not to return. But we can do this—and in so doing, give them new life. We can relate them definitely to a form of art for us still living and indigenous—to the drama, and essentially to that community kind of drama which is but now beginning its renascence of world forms portentous for the future.

So in “The Evergreen Tree,” perhaps for the first time, I have embodied the acted carol and the acted ballad as structural parts of a dramatic unity—a communal dramatic unity, to which the forms of folk music are allied and essential.

Here, then, comes into being a new kind of music drama—far removed from the connotation of opera—a Song Drama of the people. From this, speech will not be absent; but it will necessarily be related to the simplicity of folk song and folk poetry, in being rhythmic and chantable in its cadences—taking on forms of spoken poetry definitely related to the people’s poetry of song.

This Song Drama, too, of its nature—though susceptible of splendid pageantry—will depend, for its dramatic conflict, far less on wills opposed in visual action than on contrasted emotions of song—of choral song, thus bringing again the Chorus back to its rightful place, heard and visible, among the people—as with the Greeks; only now for us it becomes a double Chorus, oppositional in will and definitely divided in two parts (the antiphonal Choruses, A and B, of this Masque, costumed also in visual contrast), until its parts become reconciled in emotion,[76] when—both aurally and visibly—the two unite, as at the end of “The Evergreen Tree.”

This much at least expresses my conception of a new art implied in the present work—not as an a priori theory, nor as a generalization for others—but as the working method which has seemed for me best adapted to perform a definite task in the community field involved.

The theme of the Masque I will only touch upon here to say that, in inventing its legend of Caspar and Claus, I hope I may not wholly miss that unconscious approval, which would be dearer than any other—the belief of the children.

Cornish, N. H.,
September, 1917.

[77]

II.—COMMUNITY MUSIC AND THE COMPOSER
By Arthur Farwell

The birth of our national self-consciousness in music, from the creative standpoint, occurred less than twenty years ago. Not until the last two decades did the prodigious musical studies of our young people at home and abroad produce composers in sufficient quantity to make American music, its character and potentialities, a national question.

Even so brief a period as this has, however, sufficed to witness a succession of distinct phases in our national musical attitude and achievement, phases so strongly contrasted as to represent radical changes of artistic tendency and almost complete reversals in belief and direction of effort.

The last and greatest of these changes is that one which has withdrawn attention from the composer as an abstract phenomenon, and from fruitless theories of American music, and has centered it upon the immediate service which music can render to the people of our nation. In the long run, the nation cannot go one way and its music another. That the ideal in the spirit of music must sooner or later, in this country, be reconciled to and wedded with the ideal of the spirit of democracy, is an idea which has met with general acceptance only in the last three years, although it has been ardently championed by a few individuals for nearly two decades.

Taking its rise in the compelling necessity of this principle, the “community music” movement has swept the country in the last few years, plunging it anew into violent discussion, annihilating personal theories and products of the musical hot-house, demanding the wholesome and the true—and giving the people expression.

In this movement the composer of the music for “The Evergreen Tree” has been immersed. In the communal dramatic work and ideas of Percy MacKaye, he has recognized a similar development in the art of the theatre. It was inevitable that these two movements should come together and unite their powers in seeking to make a helpful contribution to the quest for a drama—and should it not truly be a music drama?—that shall[78] serve most appropriately the deep need of the American people for expression in such a form.

Anything which may prove to be of worth in my compositions for “The Evergreen Tree,” I owe to the new influx of life which I have received from my contact with the soul of the people, as revealed in the movement which is making us a singing nation.

Cornish, N. H.,
September, 1917.

III.—DESIGNS FOR “THE EVERGREEN TREE”
By Robert Edmond Jones

The drawings in this book will prove most helpful if they are thought of merely as notes to be amplified or varied according to the special needs of each community production.

Different communities will develop the main scheme in various ways.

The production indicated here is on a large scale in the open air; but the arrangement of stages and aisles is equally impressive in the smallest church.

Facilities for lighting will vary widely in different communities.

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t an elaborate electric equipment at your disposal. Think how beautiful the Masque might be, done by candle-light in an old country meetinghouse!

The costumes are extremely simple, and depend largely for their effectiveness on the dignity with which they are worn.

The two Choruses wear surplice-like over-garments, red or white. Elf suggests a butterfly: Gnome, a beetle: Tree, a Fra Angelico angel. Wolf, Bear and Lion wear masks, rudely made, like mummers of the Middle Ages. Wolf’s tail is attached to a belt, which he pulls from side to side.

[79]

Nearly all the other costumes consist of a simple, cloak-like undergarment, over which are worn tunics and robes to characterize the Host of Herod, the Shepherds, the Followers of the Three Kings, or the Outcasts. There is nothing realistic in these clothes: they merely suggest the characters, broadly, as if they were made by children for a child’s play. They may be carried out by any dressmaker in inexpensive materials—muslin, cambric, cheesecloth, flannel—keeping always to a few brilliant, flat colors: strong red, strong blue, black and white, gray, and orange.

Make these costumes yourselves: use your own ingenuity in cutting and draping them: wear them with a sense of what each costume means. Then your ceremony will be beautiful.

New York,
September, 1917.

The Masque is performed in Twelve Actions, taking place as follows:

First Action: Stage A (Chorus; Speech).

Second Action: Aisle I (Carol; Processional).

Third Action: Stage A (Carol; Speech).

Fourth Action: Approaching Space and Steps A; then Stage A (Chorus; Carols; Speech).

Fifth Action: Stage B (Chorus; Speech).

Sixth Action: Stage A (Chorus; Speech).

Seventh Action: Aisle II (Carol; Processional).

Eighth Action: Stage A (Carols; Speech).

Ninth Action: Stage B and Aisle I (Choral Song; Chorus; Processional; Pantomime).

Tenth Action: Stage A (Carol; Speech).

Eleventh Action: Aisle I and Aisle II (Choral Song; Processional).

Twelfth Action: Stage A (Chorus; Speech).

THE MUSIC

for the Choruses and Carols of “The Evergreen Tree” has been composed by

ARTHUR FARWELL

and is Published, with the Words of the Same, by

The John Church Company

39 West 32nd Street, New York City. Price $1.50

THE PRODUCTION

of the Masque can be adapted to any scale of expense, simple or elaborate, and to any practical number of participants, few or many. With a view to assisting any community, army camp, or naval station, to organize and adapt a production to its own local conditions,

“A GUIDE TO ‘THE EVERGREEN TREE,’”

a Series of Questions and Answers relating to all phases to the Masque’s production, has been compiled by Percy J. Burrell, under sanction of the Author, Composer and Costume Designer, and will be sent, by The John Church Company, on request, free of expense to any one interested.

No Performance Without Permission first having been obtained, and No Public Readings, where money is charged for admission, can legally be given.

PERMISSION MAY BE OBTAINED to produce this Masque, or to read it in Public, by applying to the Masque Organizer of “The Evergreen Tree,” 39 West 32nd Street, New York (Care The John Church Company), who will be glad to supply further information and to arrange, wherever practicable, for personal conference in regard to productions.