Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-07-17

their public with the emusic Of the Flu
ture." However, after long clamOring
and in response to a demand which
grew impatient under the admirable ins-
terpretatiOns and lectures Of Mr..
DanTeuther-we have at last
"LOhengrin" going on a. two
theaters simultaneous and we have
an eager, if not enthusiastic pub
lie, carefully studying the work of Wsg-
ner. [ think "RIenz" would have been
better to introduce the composer with
Though it is heresay among true blue
Wagnsrites to say so, or even "Tann-
hauser." But these no doubt, will come
in good time, and next year, or by the
time that the Bayreuth festival makes
its sensatian, | anticipate that London
will have a WagneTite furOre. But what
ever may be said or thought of the mu-
| sic, there can be no two opinions that
Christine Nilsson has reached her maxi
mum in appearance and performance as
Elisa" She really seems to have been
produced for the express purpose Of real
izing those ideals Of the TeutOnic and
Scandinavian Of which Miss Keary still
sings to us, and with which the genius
| of KaulbaCh and Frolich have covered
walls of northern countries. In the
great museum at Berlin, whose interior
Kauibach frescOed with the gods and
gOddesses Of Morse mythology, there are
various forms which seemed to start
again before my eyes, when, last Satur-
day, Christine Nilsson, her blonde beau
ty arrayed in rich and quaint attire of
ancient Brabant-and peTsOnified per-
fectly that kind Of ideal which animates
the best Of our modern poetry; that, for
instance, of TennysOn aud Morris
stepped on the stage. 1t is indeed
strange that the subject OF "Lohengrin"
should have been LETT by English poets
to be first taken hold by the BaYarian
composer. 1t hes long been known in
English lore, and at one time must have
been q popular legend; for there is a
carving in Exeter cathedral of a knight
in boat drawn bya swan. 1t is on the
oak MisereTe, and not much less than
six centuries old. The story appears in
an old English version, under the title
of "Helyas, or the Knight Of the swan"
and was printed by ThOms in his old
English prose rOmances. The legend is
that Helyas, knight Of the Swan, an
cestOr of Godfrey de BOillOn, crusader
and first king of Jerusalem, appeared at
NynsWegen, on the Rhine, to win in
tournament the heiIess OF CIeves, who
was offered as a prize to the bTavest
knight. He arrived just before the
tournament in a boat drawn by a swan,
and having won the maiden, consented
to marry her only on condition that she
should not ask his name. When she
had borne him a son she wanted to
know his name, and he had to leave
her. There is also an Icelandic saga of
Helis, in which he is represented as a
son OF Julius Caesar. Nicholas de KleTc
(l31S) refers to this legend in these words;
because formerly the dukes Of Brabant
have been much belied-tO wit, that they
have come with swami have under
taken to disclose this truth in Dutch
rhyme" This shows that it
was uncanny to be associated
with swan, which had an
evil repute of the Hurley kind among
the Flemish. There is an old French
romance on the subject in the British
museum, and in the imperial library an
ancient poem. ola Chevalier arc
Cigne") of thirty thousand lines! Wsg-
neT's drama is such real work Of poet
zeal art, and he has combined with il so
many Of the reliable themes of fable
the myth OF the Holy Grsal, for instance,
which represents the faithful knights as
released for q season from the hand of
death itself, when wrong is to be COM
bated and innocence rescued-that if he
did not aspire to the fame of a great
composer, he might claim that of a real
poet. 1t is remarkable that the myth OF
the Holy Graal, just alluded to, should
closely repeat the Oriental theory Of ava
tsrs. Vishnu was believed to appear in
one of his avaJars when any wrong was
TO be confronted which defied mortal
strength. Ia the Bhagavat Geeta,
Krishna says: Z" As often as there is 8
decline Of virtue and an instruction of
vice and injustice in the world, | make
myself evident, and thus / appear from
age TO age, for the preservation Of the
just, the destruction Of the wicked, and
the establishment OF virtue"