Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-07-30
MUSICAL MANAGES.
Extravaaanf Tendencies of the wagner
School of Music.
Temple Bar (London).

Temple Bar (London)
To quote all the downright nonsense which
the apostles of the prophet" publish il
| order to insure the peoples alteration in the
| self would be most unprofitsble and unnec.
essary. But it is curious TO see TO what an
insane degree exaggerated enthusiasm may
be driven when in reality based upon no
sincere convictions, and only bent to puff
beyond all limit man whose great qualities
are just in the inverted ratio moderated BY
many because they are 30 systematically, and
as very insult 10 common sense, overrated
| by "the few select !" who fancy thatto-taenf
only is an insight and an understanding
of this superhuman genius conceded. l will
pass over the doctrine which one Mr.. Woll-
zogen laid down, that only those who adore
Wagner have right to judge of his work.
Because, says this chancellor 10 the emperor
Of music, ito judge Wagner you must know
him, and to know him is to adore him."
Quod demonstrandum erat Just like the
sophists proved that it could never be veri-
fed whether the inhabitants of Mycen@ were
truthful people or not; because, said they,
"Aretas, an inhabitant of Mycen@, says that
they are all liars. III so, he, who is an in
habitant of MyceDm, is liar, too. In this
case what he says cannot be believed, and if
30 none is a liar. But if none is liar, he,
an inhabitant, is not liar either. His words
therefore deserve credence, and then they all
must be liars" There is no reason why this
argument should stop anywhere. Once be-
gin 10 build upon false premises, and you
may build up TO the sky, and it will all be
false.
Anyway, another apostle, Mr.. Hagen,
goes even trifie further and beats every
thing that has ever been said in praise of
Richard Wagner, because he shows how far,
once launched, fattery may go. give his
in hn fol fra olofiA
"Look up, dust-born humanity, to the sunny
light! There you see Plato, you see Kant,
you see Schopenhauer, those solitary geniuses
of all times, all powerful and gigantic. Yet
above all these towers one genius over them
Richard Wagner. Hail to thee. Plato; hail |
to thee, Kant. and to thee hail, Schopenhauer. |
Hail to all you old geniuses; but three times |
they are lunatics; but the finest part of their |
demonstration is to see how utterly false are |
their comp PARSONS and idolatries. 1t pleases
them, for instance, to compare Wagner to
the philosopher. But not |
only has Schopenhauer's philosophy, treating
human will as the source of all evil,
and acting against cne's own will as the only
consolation and escape from evil, nothing
whatever TO do with music, bat what Scho-
penhauer occasionally says about music is
totally different from what Wagner affects to
lay down as the principle of the "new srtn
Wagner says that until now the musicians
himself included in his FIRST operas-haye
been wrong. The music must be entirely
ubservient to the text. The word is every
hing. The singer ought only to speak and the
orchestra to sing. Schopenhauer, in a chap
er referring to music, distinctly says:
Music, far from being mere support Of
poetry, is an independent art, the most pow
rful, to my thinking, of all the arts. If
music were made too subservient to the
lords it would speak language which is
ot its own. OF such mistake nobody kept
. clear as did Rossini; that is why his music
peaks its own language"