New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-08-28


THEATER-PLOT OF THE OPERA-iMPREs-
sIvENEsS OF THE MUsIC-THE ACTING AND
SINGING ADMIRABLE-rHE AUDIENCE.
IFRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF TIE TiIBUNEl
BAYREUTm, Bavaria. Aug. 13.-The experiment
which is moving to its triumphant close in Bayrcuth
is the most remarkable that has ever been made
either i'm music in any OF its sister arts. IL Is the
attempt of single man to reconstruct according to
his own ideas not only the forms of the opera after
they have been long established by the common con-
sent of all civilized nations, but indirectly many of
the rules of musical composition IN gcheral, the
fashions of the STAGE and tosome extent the methods
of all dramatic poetry. The opera of France and
Italy is product of slow growth upon which brilliant
musicians like Mozart and Rossini and nnovators
like Gluck have successfully left a more or less
durable impress. Wagner has undertaken. however,
not to modify but to destroy and rebuild His sue
cess means nothing less than revolution.
The nature of his work has been fully explained
in THE TRIBUNE heretofore that need not now dis
cuss it In detail. Briefly, he fnds music, poetry,
dramatic action, and pictorial illustration, when
were all combined in the theaer of the old Greeks,
now unnaturaly divided and all suffering from the
separation In the opera She music, so called, has
usurped everything and become degraded IN It's
isolation; have a string of unmeaning aras ana
dry recitativcs to which the poet is asked TO supply
nothing but scaifolding of more or less stupid
words. Wagner has undertaken to reunite the long
separated arts and make them join on equal terms
in the expression of the poetic emotion. In fact ac-
corng to him, every art reaches point OF develop
ment where it can go no further alone, but demands
the help of another art to complete its utterance.
Verse has been ennobed and refined until it almost
melts into music; Beethoven in his Choral Sym
phony attained a hight where the resources of the
\. hi cI ninxrp la tha nj n
tie poet. Following out this principle, Wagner
reached the conclusion that the ideal musical drama
was one IN which poet and composer should work
together by single impulse toward the expression
of one identical emotion. Verse and melody would
then surrender each some of its exclusive
claims for the sake of the greater effect to
be produced by their perfect combination.
Thus he was led by degrees to abandon
the set aria and the formal rectativc altogether and
substitute for them a kind of continuous melody"
which lent itself readily to the expression OF the
most varied and rapidly changing emotions Every
thought may say every word, came to have Its
appropriate musical phrase; every prominent idea
in the drama was distinguished by ITS own success
sion of musica sounds, called the leading motive
generally heard in the orchestra, and repeated ire
quently rs the idea recurrcd and these motives ana
phrases were continually elaborated and combined
in the most beautiful and ingenious ways. In a
word Wagner turned into the opera the full rich
stream of the music of Beethoven; and what he
saws of the construction of this masters symphonies
may be said with equal truth of tho construction OF
his own operas: THE entirely new result OF this
method was The development OF melody by the most
perfect elaboration of all the morcs contained In II,
with a great and lasting musical work which was,
IN fine nothing else but one single closely connected
4. L.. al
"tunep entirely disappeared; the set scena and
cabactta the ordinary operate aria with its intro
duction, andante, and allegro in regular sequence,
the aria di bravura the dspaypieces for each of The
principal vocalist5 i'm turn, the recitativo which
Glled the intervals between the tunes, the duet and
the noisy finale were all swept away together. The
Continuous melody" was bound by no rules, but
followed freely the poetic impulse of the poet.
The theory of Wagner has been accepted within
few years by 50 many of The best musicians and by
such large proportion of the nnlearned public that
there has been little d0ubt of its ultimate recogni-
ton ut least in its main points, by all the world Of
art The only serious question to be solved here at
Bayreuih was as to Wagner's own application of tho
theory For il was well known that in "1hc Ring
of the Nbelungs" lie had carried his principles much
further than in any of the earlier works. He had
abandoned even such relics of the cid operate forms
"a we find in Iohengrin," and pushed his reyolu-
tionary projects TO thervery last extent There was
doubt therefore whether, like other reformers, he
had not been betrayed into extravaganza by too
much zeal A great many unpreiudced persons
shook their heads ominously over the prospect OF
four days of "continuous melody and an opera
which told at such supendous length an intricate
myth OF GODS and volsungs, and daughters of the
Rhine Let me satisfy doubtful inquirers at
.ha ia nnp Df the most
pcndous successes the stage has ever WIT
messed. The most cXtrayagant expectations which
have been formed abroad of the effect of this music,
sung rs the composer meant IL should be sung, with
the aid Of the best acting, the most magnificent
stage effects, and orchestra of exceptional size
and beauty, are very far surpassed by the reality.
Familiar az we deem ourselves in Ncw-fork with
Wagncrs music must confess after this that we
do not begin to know it. l do not express my own
opinion only; reflect the judgment of every man
and woman have scotland have talked with
those Of many nations and of various musical
tastes-when ! say that nothing in the Icmotest de-
gree approaching the grandeur and effectiveness Of
what we are now hearing has ever been presented
on the lyric stage. The victory of Wagner is over
whelming. . -
WAGNER'S THEATER.
II was a great achievement for one man to force Il
new tncOly Oh uIb upou bi'Au''"hp "oiiu, anu NV
only that, but 20 persuade the world to build him
costly theater for its exhibition. Some of the pc
culiartics of the Wagner theater arc already well
understood in the United States. The scenic effects
however cannot be adequately described without a
much more eloquent pen than mine. There is moth
ing comparable to them even in our best thea
tcrs. The Hat picture let down at the back and
made to do duty as a house, field, or a river,
the case may be. is unknown here. Every scene is
built up with the most minute attention to details.
rher are no winrs but the Realistic construction of