ter_) comes forward to make plain by speech or action the
meaning of the coming scenes. This chorus is modeled after the chorus
in the Greek plays. It is composed of twenty-four singers, the best
that Oberammergau has, all picturesquely clad in Greek costumes,--white
tunics, trimmed with gold, and over these an outer mantle of some deep,
quiet shade, the whole forming a perfect harmony of soft Oriental
colors. Stately and beautiful the chorus is throughout. The time
which in ordinary theaters is devoted to the arranging of scenes behind
a blank curtain is here filled by the songs and recitations of the
guardian spirits. Once in the play the chorus appears in black, in
keeping with the dark scenes they come forth to foretell. But at the
end the bright robes are resumed, while the play closes with a burst of
triumph from their lips.

At the beginning of each act, the leader of the singers, the village
schoolmaster, comes forth from the chorus, and the curtain parts,
revealing a tableau illustrative of the coming scenes. These tableaux,
some thirty or forty in number, are taken from scenes in the Old
Testament which are supposed to prefigure acts in the life of Christ.
Thus the treachery of Judas is prefigured by the sale of Joseph by his
brethren. The farewell at Bethany has its type in the mourning bride
in the Song of Solomon; the Crucifixion, in the brazen serpent of
Moses. Sometimes the connection between the tableaux and the scenes is
not easily traced; but even then the pictures justify themselves by
their own beauty. Often five hundred people are brought on the stage
at once. These range in size from the tall and patriarchal Moses to
children of two years. But, old or young, there is never a muscle or a
fold of garment out of place. The first tableau represents Adam and
Eve driven from Eden by the angel with the flaming sword. It was not
easy to believe that these figures were real. They were as changeless
as wax. They did not even wink. The critic may notice that the hands
of the women are large and brown, and the children's faces not free
from sunburn. But there is no other hint that these exquisite pictures
are made up from the village boys and girls, those who on other days
milk the cows and scrub the floors in the little town. The marvelously
varied costumes and the grouping of these tableaux are the work of the
drawing-teacher, Ludwig Lang. Without appearing anywhere in the play,
this gift