The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-10-28

Something that the other critcs of .ha nJ,ho-
lnngen operas have missed IS said in an ar,ic,.
in the November Lippincott's. Desorib;no ,ha
last scene of ''Segfried," where the hero awsL.
ems Brunhllde from her enchanted sleen with
kiss, the writer says; "Tbe voluptuous char
acter of the music, heightepng words and
scenes suff1cieDtly warm in themselves 10 re-
qulre no additional G. loriDg, appealed too
strongly to the sensual aud material The
consequent feverishness and excitement were
SO great as TO exclude intellectual or emotional
pleasures of calDer but higher order. For
the nrst time the nasura OF WagDer's mn ic
stands clearly revealed 1t is essentially Ia.
teriaIstic OF passion there is sbup-
dance; of refned feeling and tenderness such
as are found IN Beethoven aod Schuuann, and
even even IN the earlier works of Wagner, but
niue 10 expressing the more violent
passions, or in illustrating scenes of pomp and
spehdor, Wagners musical genius stands un-
llva,ed; out as an exponent of those deeper aud
suotler emotions which are mans b,ohsr ma
lure u IS vastly inferior that of Beethoven"
This critic considers Guttetdamm-rnpg'' tba
greatest OF toe series, and the whole work "a
Sy SSuli.aay mon1 1ment OF a rare combination OF
model TO be followed by future composers"
on account OF its imperative demands for
special conditions of repres entatiop. and its
exsctlons OF the human voice. The future
writer of opera, says the critic. should take
such works as Fdelio (Beetboyepl, Genoyeys
lSchumannl, or Euryanthe (Weber), land
then turn With lncalculable benefit to the pro-
dqctons of Richard Wagner, which have
added SO much wealth ard originality to the
art, and have exposed in SO clear a light the
perlls to be avoided, the limits not to be trans
gressed."
Madame Janauschek's new play OF Bruphild
is incorrectly described as identical with a por-
ton OF the story Of Wagner's Nibelung operas.
This shows how specifically the newspaper
men have read Wagner. he went beyond the
German legends to their originals, the scandi-
navian, and even added to their majestic char
acter by the variations he introduced. His
Brunhlde is divine maiden, . Walkyrie, and
incapable of numbering Siegfried by treacbery,
as Janauschek's Brunhld does Her play isa
setting of the German hsro-story, the Nible-
lungenlied. made in German by E. Giebel, and
translated for her nse. There are no gods or
other supernatural machinery in it, thoash
there are correspondences Of story. Brunhilds
hand was the prize of one who should conquer
her in the tourney of Isentein; this had been
done by knight who did not reveal his feat
ures, but who was called Gunther, king of
worms. She is GnDther's queen accordingly
when the play opens; and Seefrisd, q Neither
land Knight, is husband OF Gunthers sister,
Chiemhild. Brunhild has a fondnasss sor
u
the hanghty Siegfried is not loved. 1t had
been prophesied by the priestess Slgrun that
BrunhiId should only be conquered BY Sieg-
hId's son Siegfred, aud since she is Gunthers
wife in despite of that prophecy, she demands
OF her husband the banishment of Sies-
fried, which he refuses. There is q savage
scene OF dispute between Brubhld and Chrien-
hid, in which the former fluids that she has
been the victim of cheat, and that Segfried
TN Gunthner's name) was her coIquersr. She
cevotes herself to the destruction Of Slegfrisd,
ano persua1es the king TO hire Hagen to assss-
slnate him. When Sieefried's BODY IL brouebt
10, and ChriemLild is distracted with grief,
Brunhild appears rejoicing in her triumph and
yet IN her love for the dead hero Chriemhild
attempts TO drive her back from the corse, but
Brunhild utters an impassonsd spostrophe to
Siegtrled, and. crying that naught now can
part them, falls upon a sword and dies. There
is grand opportunity here for Jansuschek's
tire emendous tragic force, and probably no other
English speaking actress could achieve success
in the character of Bruuhild