The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-01
HERR WAGNER AND THE JEWS.
From the Pau Maa Gazette.

In one respect we may llken Herr hlcnard
Wagner TO Haman. He enjoys the friendship
of royalty, and, according TO ms own account
the admiration of the populace Neyerthe-
Less Herr Wagner is discontented Mordecai
lbe dailyr press of Germany, France, and
Enoland-wiil not do obeisance, but scowls
upon him as q mere frivolous bungler' in
matters of art. Herr Wagner's annoyance at
this is not lessened by the demands of his
astonshed friends for an explanation. Tell
ma the Why of so remarkable a phenomenon"
saw the latter among whom Madame Marie
Muchanoff nee Countess Nesselrode, appears
conspicuous Herr Wagner is ready to tell
the Why, and does so in pamphlet addressed
10 the noble lady just named.
He begins by going back to the year 1890
and quoting the whole of an article which
then appeared in the Neue HoGtschrqt JHr
MUSSb, signed X. Freigedank The object OF
that article was to strike blow at the ''Jewl-
Rcation" of music by giving free expression
to certain reasons why according to the
writer) everything Jewish is looked upon with
instructive repugnance. Herr trelgedank
believed in a Hebraic domination which it
was desirable TO overturn, and which, in his
opinion, could best be overturned after tins
fashion. Nobody ever set about task OF the
kind in a more thorough-going spirit, or with
a greater determination to speak plainly. At
the outset, Herr Freigedank separated the
jew from humanity in general by as
serting that he possesses a God all
to himself 1--WE quote from an excel
lent translation Of the turgid Origi-
nal contributed to the MtStcd5 VOr5d).
and described his external appearance as a
''disagreeable freak of nature, both repul-
sive and inconceivable as an object of repre-
sentative art. According to the same au-
thority, Jewish speech is a compound of hiss,
screech, buzz and grunt, which offends by
the absence Of all purely human expression
Being thus repulsive in appearance and Ian
guage, it is not surprising that "a singing
Jew absolutely drives us away directly we are
no longer attracted by the utter righteousness
of such an exhibition Nevertheless this
strange being, so utterly incapable of artistic
manifestation. had obtained supreme sway
over public taste in the most widely spread of
any kind of modern art--namely, music.
Herr Freigedank accounted for the pheno-
menon after this manner:-AIodern education
being purchasable article, the educated Jew
has become a fact But his education is
mere luxury which he knows not how
to use, and which has separated him
from his own race only to isolate
him among community he is
unable to understand. The influence of this
upon music is peculiarly disastrous. The
true poet, no matter in what department of
art he produces his poetic work, always de-
affectionate contemplation of spontaneous
life, such as meets his gaze among the people
alone" Nowhere can the educated Jew find
spontaneous life comprehensive to him out
side his own community. The synagogue
alone supplies Hebrew composer with intel
hgible motives. He can at least understand
the 'guttural shrill, gabbling noise which
stands for Jewish religious music. Hence
the synagogue tinges all his compositions,
oh in ot1 and pan mi
be, cold and confused reproductions of the
most palpable features of Christian art This
is why Jewish musical works often produce
upon us the same effect as, for instance,
poem by Goethe would produce if
recited in the Jewish jargon," and also
why they present a hash of all styles and
forms belonging to all masters and times.
Having thus, by means of the educated Jew,
led up to Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Herr
Freigedank proceeded to attack the great
master, then but three years dead;-In the
case of one so marvellously endowed there
was something tragic in his utter inability to
touch the heart. He could charm the ear, but
nothing more. Even ''all formal power of
production" failed him when approaching
dramatic music, and there was nothing for it
but to copy predecessor. His choice of that
predecessor was significant. Pedantry and
Journalism were large elements in Bach'S
most easily initiated. For this reason alone
he became a model to educated Judaism
Only when Mendelssohn wrote under an op
pressive sense of powerlessness did he excit
sympathy, though even then sympathy wa
checked by feeling that he had no real
painful, purifying consciousness of hi
incapacity. Dismissing Mendelssohn thu
Herr Freigedank turned upo
Meyerbeer yet more savagely:-Meyerbee
made it the study of his life to beguile tn
WEAKNESS of his operatic audiences by weari
ness of another kind. He palmed off hi
Jewish jargon as the piquant modern expires
sion of familiar ideas, and did 50 with perfeC
success He was simply a clever charlata
who so well deceived others that at last
deceived himself by believing in an artist
reputation gained without an artists re
sources. That men like these two Jew
should be able to dominate modern mus
Herr Freigedank explained by a reference [
the 'incapability of our epoch in music
art" Modern music, on his showing, has Il
capacity for life. Down to the time of Be-
thoven there was not single Jewish con
poser, because such a foreign element coul
not exist in vital organization. 1T is NJ
till body is evidently dead within that IL
elements lying outside are able to obtain po
session of it.
After quoting the article epitomized abov
Herr Wagner tells us, what we are not su
prised to learn, that storm broke about Il
head of Franz Brendel, the editor of the No
ZeitSchrir The storm was brief, howeve
and the article soon dropped into oblivio
We might attribute this result to contemr
but Herr Wagner assures us it sprang fro
policy. "K Freigedank" and Richard Wa
ner were one, and from the moment Tho