New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-03-24
MUSIC.
prcuARD NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

musicians The brilliant assemblage, filling every
seat and doorway. listened with unnistakable in
tercst from half past till half past eleven.
called out the principal artists again ana again
after every act called out Signor Muzio
and Mr. Strakosch. applauded vigorously in
the few places where applause could DO permitted
and showed decided inclination to break into irn-
portant scenes with untimely hand-clapping which
the severor disciples of suppressed
But first nights are always deceptive. There is
large body of Wagnerites in New-York
and Of course they were present in force, ana
greatly excited by representation far more
effective, more careful, and more thor
oughly artistic than the most sangune had
ventured to hope for. They saw in Madame Nilsson
the ideal Elsa in Signor Campanin the ideal Lohen
grin and as one we'll set scene succeeded another
they seemed ready to call Mr.. Strakosch the ideal
manager. How much of the hearty demon
straton came from these enthusiasts, who
have studied Wagners music for years, and how
much from habitu6s of tho Academy. to
whom such an opera must have been new revea-
ton, we wait awhile to judge. This much however
is certain that "L0hengrin" was received with
delight by vast majority of the audience, and with
gratifcatioD-not unmxed perhaps with puzzled
sort Of curiOsity-by nearly all the rest.
An intelligent and unprejudiced listener, who
brings to the first performance of one OF Wagners
musical dramas mind filled with impressions of
the c0nventi0nalties of the modern opera will be
apt to come away bewildered and distressed. He
will seek in vain for the formal aria, the time
honored scena, the and dried recitatve, and the
familiar cadences. Searching for what he has no
right to expect he will miss the wonderful beauties
unfolding before him, and it is only after second
third hearing that he will comprehend what
manner of feast this is upon which he has been IN
vited to regale For Wagner's work is new from
beginning to end 1t is not q reform of previously
existing styles it is an entirely fresh creation. IL
is not opera at ALL in the common acceptation of that
word, and it differs toto carlo from the whole class
of compositions by which the average public will
perversely insist upon judging it. The Art-Work
(KunStwerN, as he calls it himself is a combination
of music poetry, mmetics, and painting in which
the different branches of art intimately united
to form one great and symmetrical whole. The
drama is not sacrificed to the exgencies of vocal dis
play; the music is not hampered by ridiculous and
sterile text; even the scene-panter and the deco
rator become collaborators instead Of servants.
Nothing in the history of the stage has ever been
constructed upon these principles before and II
they stand the test of experience Wagner will be re-
membeIed not as q renOvatOr of the opera but rs
the founder of new art. Before we proceed to
sketch the development of his theories in "Lohen-
grim we shall let him explain in his own words
what his theories are. They are not preconcelyed
notions, to which he has forced his music to cor
respond but they have been gradually formed in
the course Of composition and are subsequent IN
date TO both "Iannhauser' and "LOhengrin." 1t
seems to us important that at least slight sketch of
these principles should be given here, because Wag-
ner has been radically misunderstood, and the ten
denotes popularity attributed to him are exactly Op
posite to those which he really pursues 1t is be-
lieyed that he forswears melody while his aim is to
expand it 80 ~ to take in the whole drama and make
every phrase melodous His music is decried as
too abstract and Intellectual and yet he insists that
music ought to appeal Mt once to the emotions
Of the heart. without taxing the mental powers
of the listener at ALL He is abused as the great adj
versary of the classical school and the inventor of
outlandish and hideous forms of unmusical express
sion whereas on the contrary he is the most deyou
and reyerent follower of Beethoven, whose methods
and spirit he is attempting to apply to the operate
stage In his work. considered simply music,
there is nothing absolutely new except the IN
dvdual peculiarites which must distinguish every
product of genius In conception and treatment Of
his musical themes he follows the footsteps of
his greatest predecessor and master; it is only
in the combination of the music of Beethoven with
the poetry of the stage that he has made notable
innovation upon established forms Even the phrase
Music of the Future" involves a curious mistake.
Wagner called his musical drama the Art-Work of
the Future because he did not believe that his ideal
could be realized-as it now seems likely to be-in
our own time; but his music is substantially the
music of the Present and the Past applied under
conditions and with new combinations. Thirteen
years ago. when "Tannhiuser" was in rehearsal at
A. in ba aha1 Wit
translation of the text of four of his works, Let
ter TO French Friend on The Music OF the Future,
and from this interesting pamphlet clear statement
of his objects can be gathered
In Italy," he says where the opera first de-
veloped itself the musicians task has consisted
in little or nothing beyond writing number Of airs
for certain singers whose dramatic talents were of
less than secondary Importance. These airs were
simply intended to give the singers chance of dis
playing their specific vocal dexterity. The poem
and the scene served no purpose beyond providing
this exhibition of vocal viruOs with pretext for
time and place; the singer gave way to the dancer
who danced just what the other had sung and the
composers task consisted simply in furnishing varia
tions on the same type Of aria" Thus Italian opera
had really nothing to do with the vertable drama
Germany never had national style Of opera, but
initiated and translated the productions of other
lands. In France. where the rules Of the 1h6ire
Francois influenced the style of the Grand Opera the
dramatic performance became more important but
still remained subordinate to the music, and the
opera still continued to DO substantially what
it was in Italy,-a mere dramatic scatfolding upon
which a series Of tunes were hung out for tho public
entertainment Poet and musician both suffered
from this unnatural arrangement. libretto. be-
came the most trivial and inane travesty of the
drama Even Goethe, when he wrote operate texts,
was dull In invention and commonplace in style.
The musician, on the other hand, could not give
ideal Significance to verse which was not nOetical: