The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-28

the world. To tell the truth, am dissatis- |
fed. There is not one portion which would |
not wish to revise, in order to patch up my |
dissatisfaction of to-day by some shadow of
satisfaction. 1t is very different thing from
having to do with reflection or inspiration.
"About the middle of April the repetitions
began; the representation was promised for
the 23d of May. On the very day of the gene
raj repetition the new overture (Which re-
mains today was still in the head of the
great master, in limbo pdtrum. On the morn
ing of the day of the representation, the
orchestra was assembled; Beethoven had not
yet arrived. After waiting fully an hour, and
losing patience, went to his house, deter
mined to bring him in, either voluntarily or
by force, dead or alive. L found Beethoven
sound asleep under covering of musical
leaves, which we're scattered about, both on
his bed and on the floor OF his chamber.
"Upon table near by was glass of
wine in which biscuit was soaking. / re-
marked the candle entirely consumed. Beet
hoven had spent the night in labor. From
that moment it was necessary to give up the
new symphony, which, Notwithstanding the
diligence of the master, was found to be too
late for execution, and to be satisfied at that
time with his overture of 'Prometheus.
every one knows what took place that
evening The crowd was immense; the opera
was pronounced q marvel. Beethoven, in
and the singers with that earnest conviction,
that genial fire, which he brought to every
thing of his art More than once his enthu-
siasm led him astray, so that there was great
risk in following him, from seeing him throw
himself without the measure. Happily the
| Kapellmeister Umlauff restrained him by look
and deed, and thus checked the disastrous in
fuence which the eccentric inspiration of the
| great man might have exercised upon the
| N INN aoY1co
success this time greeted the chet-d 6u0re,
and seventh representation was given for
! the benefit of Beethoven, on the 18th of
! July. Beethoven wrote on this occasion
second air for Le0nOra, and some verses for
the jailer.
In this opera Beethoven recalled the phe-
nomena of the heart, its mysterious sorrows,
| its throbbings, its infinite discouragemeuts.
Pathos predominates in Fydeli0-a pathos
gloomy and sad in the very midst of dark
ness and a dungeon; from beginning to
end the music stiles you by force of its
being true. No fancy can lessen between
whiles the vigorous austerity no breath from
heaven, no warming ray of light, there pene-
trates you find naught but tears and sighs
But at the last the day appears the heart
piness Joy Of Beethoven, sudden,
spontaneous, deafening; you pass
without transition from the cry of anguish to
the song of deliveranee, from imprisoned
sobs to the outburst of an intoxication which
cannot restrain itself. Your ear. accustomed
to the shades of meaning SO nicely arranged
by the school of Mozart, almost stiffens
against the abrupt event which, either by
force or voluntarily, leads you on, not with
out making you experience at times some-
thing of that dazzling which man feels who
from the obscurity of dungeon finds himself
suddenly under the full sun.
One cannot call that portion which termi-
mates the score of Beethoven a final. The
! final, such as the great masters of the stage
interpret and understand, and Mozart in par
ticular, in the Nights Of Figaro and Don
Juan, keeps up the action by invisible
means, and forms with the piece an integral
and necessary part; but in this work what do
you see? A sublime peroration, magnif-
cent hymn of graceful action, which incites
the audience to unbounded enthusiasm, but
has not an absolute connection with the
whole piece, and would in a concert-room, if
detached from the score, appear no less work
one and complete.
i would compare the final of FGdeLjO to
the epilogue in the heavens, which Goethe
has placed at the end of his poem of t'Faust,"
to that glory which unfolds itself and sheds
its light after the consnmmation of things.
We notice in the hymn of Beethoven, just as
| III the pnanldSIndBOrld Oh 0Oeune, BraDu
way of conclusion, splendid offset to the
main work. But really it is not final any
more than the sublime dialogue between
'Leonora" and the jailer occupied in digging
the grave of the prisoner is duet The in
strumental forms rule in a manner as despotic
in FideliO as in all the ChefS-dGu0re which
Beethoven has ever composed. The opera is a
symphony, but what noble and dramatic
symphony
There is in the parsonage of ''Fidelio, I"
aside from vocal difficulties almost insur-
mountable, some species of feeling of panto-
mime, of physiognomy, which always reader
it impossible for the stage to attain to the
ideal of the creation of Beethoven, and such
is the character of the score that ofttimes
it is found more practicable to play rather
than sing it. One cannot imagine what in
credible efforts, what excessive pain, a 8ir-
tuOso is obliged to undergo in rendering the
passages written for the violin or the hautboy
passages where the musician did not for a
single instant eondescend to take into con-
sideration the resources of the human voice,
and which it is necessary to sing despite the
fury of the overwhelming gust of instru-
ments.
/ wonder how many voices are injured and
ruined forever before one voice succeeds in
surmounting such difficulties, and ends by
killing itself by perilous practices?
A