New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-23

01d afirOnts BeethOven's genius was unrec-
| ogriized until long after his death. But Wag-
ner soon passed through the brief misfOrtunes
of his turbulent youth, and compelled the
homage of all the chief capitals of the world.
Probably there never was an artist OF genus
who had such faculty for making enemies
and yet surrounded himself with such enthusl-
astc disciples who exacted so much from
mankind and lived to see his most extrava-
CANT acquisitions hOnOred. 1t is true that he
has had munifcent patron III the person
of one royal fanatic but the means for carry
ing out the Bayreuth enterprise have not been
drawn entirely from the Bavarian treasury !;
they have been contributed by art-lovers all
over the world. And there can be no stronger
testimony of the popular acceptance of Wag-
ners music than the willingness OF mankind to
build costly theatre exclusively for it, per-
Torrance, and to make long, troublesome and
costly journeys to hear it, at an immense price,
under the most ia vOrable conditions.
Bayreuth this week will present curious
spectacle if it resembles the Bayreuth of SIX
years ago. The dull AMI sOmbrc little town,
with its closely built houses of stone, its two
or three small inns, and its shabby genteel
palace of line of forgotten mars aayes, Is old
fashioned but not really ancient, Cdd but not
picturesque 1t is reached by slow, round
about and perplexng connection of railways;
but it is not on the way TO any place in par
tcular, and it has no attractions of scenery or
association to tempt a tourist. poor and
simple population offered, on the former occa-
sion, a cordial, albeit a somewhat scanty, hos
pitality to the hundreds of strangers for whom
the taverns could not provide; and the Chief
of Police char Zed himself with the duty OF
distributing billets to the pilgrims and 1xlug
the moderate price of the lodgings. Let us
hope that prosperity has not had its usual de-
mOralizing effect upon these good tOwDspeople
A circle of low hills incloses Bayreuth as
in a basin, and the summer sun beats down
upon it with tOrrid iierccness. Wagncrs
theatre is a mile away, up long
dusty slope. Thither the visitors must
trudge in the hottest part of the July after
noon, to pack themselves neatly away for five
hours or so in the close auditorium, whence
light and air are both excluded This Is going
to the opera with the utmost attainable dis
comfort but probably the Bayreuth pilgrims
will not complain. They will live for few
days in a world which is not ours. They will
not read newspapers; they viii forget Egypt,
and Ireland, and the Star Route cases, and
the United States Congress; knowledge
of what goes on beyond the circle of
the hills will be utterly unattalnable,
but they will not want it; English,
French, German, Russian, Hungarian, Polish
Italian (perhaps), and many ot1er tongues will
be heard in the streets, but all talking on the
same subject; there will be a throng of
strangers, from Piccadilly, Broadway, and the
Boulevard des Italiens. from st. Petersburg
and Chicago and San Francisco, but all gath
cred for the same purpose and thinking of the
same thing. Wagner was shrewd when he
determined to arrange such conditions for the
trial of his experiment, that his audience
should be wholly absorbed in the music not
only during the hours of actual performance,
but all through the day; removed from acct
dental distractions, and cut off from the pos
sibity of finding distractions, even If they
longed for them.