New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-14
TILE WIZ ElYRrrTH StHLNE.

THE ALU 81 ~ ( m Nt IishE.
Mr.. B. j. Lang, the distinguished Boston
musician, has received from Hans Won Wol-
zogcn one of Richard Wagner's chief friends
and representatives, Il long account OF the new
scheme for continuing the festival perform
anccs at Bayreuth. and translation of the
! letter has been published in Tie IasicGt He-
! re,c of this city. The production of . Pars'-
fal.- originally appointed for the Summer
OF 1850, has been postponed owing to lack OF
funds and new plan has now been devised
J which embraces the rcprcst nlatiOn within ten
| years of all Wagner's operas except RIcnz,
the series beginning with Parsilal" IN 1881,
and ending with the Nibeung Trloey. The
festivals are to occur mt intervals of three
years. At the fl,t Tarsifa" will be given
four times. At the second, in 1881. the pro-
gramme consists of Tristan und Isolde" and
| the " Meistersinger," three times each. AT the
/ third 1Ss7 the Flying Dutchman." Tam
hauser," and L0hengrin VIII be sung
three times each and there will be three per-
iormauces of the whole Trilcgy in 1890. This
lis making ont Dlay-bs good while ahead ;
bu, an extraordinary enterprise requires ex-
tiaordInary preparations. No tickets are to be
sold. The representations are to be witnessed
only by subscribers 70 the Bayreuth Patrons
Union.n OF which Dr. DamrOsch is the agent
in this city. the price of subsc,ip
non is, for three performances of "Parsiial,"
/ $50: for any eight performances of the
ten years. series 800; for the whole four ieS
tivals (31 performances) $500. The price Of
admission 10 tie "Rng OF the Nibelung" in
1876 Zone performance OF each of the four
parts WAS 80. The money for the coming
festivals must be paid in the course of the
year 1850, and Wagner has strong hope that
considerable sums will be obtained from the
United States.
There is perhaps no part of the world from
which he has better right to expecl en-
couraecment and aid. Nowhere except in Ger
many is his music better understood than In
| America or more kcenly enjoyed; and no.
| where-perhaps not in Germany itself-has
his anomalous position in art been so justly
appreciated. If we have seen very little of the
stirring dramatic effect Of his works, we have
nj least been enabled to judge of the splcp-
doris Of his orchestra and the dignity of his
| conceptions, and ii has been our good fortune
| to learn what these arc through the ablest and
most sympathetic of interpreters. The furious
quarres and Drejrdices which have DISTRACTED
/ the progress OF Magners reform in the Old
/ World have not been felt on this side of the
ocean. Sucs disturbing influences are not
! likely to present themselves with much force
| 10 the American mind, which is not averse to
novelties OF any sort. and has no oppressive
amount of reverence for The authority of the
past We laugh and wonder at the haired
which Wagner cxcitcs in his own county, while
the childish anger with which France refuses
l.. /. 1 4
Ifthc Bayrcuih experiment. seems 30 nmusical
Americans grotosque and extravagant, there
Is something nevertheless III its magnitude
when capdyatCs their imagination. The
scheme nav submitted to us OF ten years
course o. great festivals, organized at vast
expense and enormous pains is not so gigan-
tic as the undertaking which eliminated in
ovcrruTering success, at Bayrcuth in tie Sum
mer of 1876, a triumph entirely without pre-
cedent IN the history of art, won in despite of
appalling difficulties, and graccd by the hon.
age OF emperors, kings, courters, artists. and
pcopc,-the wise and The ignorant, The proud
and the lOwy. Bayarlan burghers and pilgrims
| from the remote ends of the earth. Only a
man of transcendent genius could have ac-
| cOmplIshed what Wagner did on that occasion
and no man of genius before has achieved SO
! signal conquest over his own generation. Ii
the festivals of 1881 and the subsequent
years reach the resul.s which we have reason
20 expect the secluded little Bavarlan city
will be recognized as the most important CEN
! ire of musical influence the world has ever
| known.
Magnetism is sometimes spoken of as a
f. shon in art which will die out with the
progress of time. But to say this, shows lg-
norance of what it is and what it has already
done. 1T has impressed upon nearly all con-
| temporary music of serious value certain
marks which can never be eifaced. 1t has de-
yeopcd the capacities of the orchestra TO an
extent which the earlier composers never
dreamed OF, and it has vastly enlarged the
scope and possibilities of the musical drama.
| Such changes are necessarily permanent.
| There are pecuharlties OF Wagner's method
which may hereafter be discarded; his taste
| in the choice of subjects may not be followed
and the characteristics of his style, beng in
dvIdual, viii no doubt in time become an
tiquated. But these are only the accidental
fcatues of his reform, not its essence. A
good part of the work and mission of his
life" is already accomplished, and it will
endure.
UINTER MILDNESS