New-York tribune., 1880-02-15
MUSIC--THE DRAMA.
HECTOR BERLIUZ - THE DAMNATlON OF
FAUST q


for the first time in America The Damnation OF
Faust" one of tine most characteristic, if not the
most colossal Of the greater works OF Hector Ber-
loz; and the performance witnessed with the
livelost interest and with many manifestations OF
delight. by an audience winch filled Stenway Hall
to OVERLOOKING.
II we we're asked to name the two musicians who
since Beethoven have most powerfully influenced
the tendencies of their art should answer with
out hesitation Richard Wagner and Hector Ber-
loz The powers of BeTlioz were at their maturity
when the genius of Wagner began to expand, and
1t can hardly be doubted that the German COM
poser learned great deal from the Innovations OF
his predecessors 1t would be a great mistake. how
ever. to suppose that Wagner was the consequence
of Berlioz We should have had "Tauuhauser
and "Trstan just the if the earlier reformer
had never lived. The use which Wagner has
made of the orchestral devices OF Berhoz IL only
that which all composers must make of the dis
ooyeries and inventions of other masters. Ahese
two great musicians dsliked each other aud de-
nounced each others work; although III certain
aspects of their art they may be said to have moved
with parallel and simultaneous steps toward the
same goal. BerliOz felt himself insultcd when
people classed him with partisans of the
Music of the Future; and Wagner wrote OF Ber-
lioz: He is separated by the whole breadth OF the
heavens from his Partisan colleagues. for he does nor
mako his music for money; but he cannot write Tor
pure art either; the whole sense OF beauty escapes
him He stands in his peculiar line. in an entirely
isolated postion: Oh his side he has only troop Of
idolators. who, themselves mediocre ana without
the slightest Judgment. welcome in him the creator
of a brapd-new musical system and entirely turn
his head and all others avoid hun as a nsdman."
The truth is that both were wrought upon by ex"
terror intellectual forces which threw the worIu OF
art fifty years ago. into violent ferWeht ana II Is
curious fact that both received their earliest
directing impulse from Shakespeare. At was an era
Of revolt in politics. in poetry. in music III the
drama On the Paris stage. Victor Hugo oy his
Hernani. Alexandra Dumas by his Henri Ill"
led the warfare of the romantic school against the
classical drama Of periwigs and red heels ana the
triumnh of the Young poets of nature and passion
over the Journalists was celebrated amidst the
widest excitement. frantic admiration Tor
Shakespeare suddenly ragged Oh the Boulevard des
ItaIieps where the cognosceDti dis ;ussed ST f0n
Stafr and " &C racissant inlet" with zeal worthy
of better understanding Germany felt the same
disturbance. Wagner was only lad at the time
tlS2SJ3O); but Shakespeare made so strong an I'M
preston upon him that he studied English IN order
to read the original and then immediately wro'e a
tremendous tragedy compounded of Lear ana
Hamlet" and ghosts aud gore. Forty-two of the
dramatlS
not enough left to finish the play, and several OF he
characters had to come back from the grave to help
in the denouement. The tragedy was mere boylsh
nonsense but the feeling that inspired it was the
first real awakening of Wagner's ambition. Two or
three years later he wrote opera on the subectoI
Measure for Measure" which reached the honor
of one unsuccessful performance.
Berlioz was ten years older than Wagner. He was
twenty-five when he first saw Hamlet repre-
scented by an English company in Paris. lie fell IN
love with Ophelia MISS Henrietta SmithsOn. whom
he married five years afterward), and he adOred the
poet Shakespeare. coming upon me thus sud
denly, struck Iae as with thunderbolt. Ills hGht-
ming opened the heaven of art to Ine with sublime
crash and lighted up its furthest depths. lrecog-
nized true dramatic grandeur beauty and truth.
saw. understood. l felt, that was alive and must
orise and walk He SAYS that he was so terrified
nv his own emotions that he vowed never to go near
Shakespeare again !; but he could not keep his VOW
The next night be saw Romeo aud Juliet" AT tie
end of the third act he could hardly breathe he
felt as if an iron hand was squeezing his heart he
exclaimed "Ah / am lost r and he believed that he
really was After that the very thought of expos
ing himself to such exquisite anguish made
him tremble. This passionate admiration tor
Shakespeare was not passing excitement; IL
lasted throug gh his life. and inspired his best work
The fair Ophelia survived her charms; Berhoz was
unhappy with her, parted from her. and found con-
ISOLATION elsewhere but in his last years, alter a
stormy and wretched career of disappoiniments
and drudgcry, half frantic with contempt and
hatred for the imbecility and dishonesty of men,
filed with bitter memories, hopeless OF this life and
of the next longing for death and cursing God, he
cried ont shakespeare Shakespeare. thou alone
art the artists God Fold to thy bosom. father
DE profundis ad to oIamdri" !" The paroxysmal vol
u1nes of Memories in which he exhibited his snter-
ings would be the most painful of autobiogrsphes
# we could feel sure that they were strictly true
Bot there was undoubtedly something theatrical IN
bis cyncism and his despair, as well as in his trans
ports of Shakespearesn enthusiasm We cannot
read the story of his life without thinking OF the
maxim which he adopted in music, that every
thing oucht TO be sacrificed for the sake OF efiect
Rightly understood this is sound principle {; but
ths trouble with Berlioz was an inability to Judge
what sort of effects were desirable. There is no
rule for distinguishing between the romantic and
the grotesoue the imposing and the horrible; every
thing must be left to the instinct OF the composer;
and the power Of discrimination is just what Ber-
oz lacks 1t is the commones defect OF the intense
sebool-particularly in France-and Berhoz shares
il with a great poet whom he strongly resembles
WIG mean Victor Hugo. His strength was IN bril-
liant and impressive illustration rather than in
original creative power and hence the Vaine OF DIS
work depended great deal more upon chance in
ths selection of his theme than upon the course OF
his intellectual development. His genius reached
its full flower in the Romeo and Juliet dramatic
symphony. with solos and chorus. He lived thirty
three years after that, but be never did anything
else so purely poetica probably because no never
had the luck TO choose another text so free from
opportunities for extravaganza. He wrote many
works on larger scale and on loftier subjects but
he always acknow lodged that Romeo and juliet
was his greatest: and musicians generally are
os tho same opipion All hIs best productions are