New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-09-11
MUSIC.

of the opponents of Wagners theories IN music anu
his little book on musical aesthetics, though much
criticised is among the modern classics OF muscai
literature. Though his name is used as oue"-
boo in the Wagner household, and is synonym
with the Warnertes of phihstinism, his criticisms
which are Respondent models OF German feullIeton
writing ar, singulary free from personal bias, ana
fran, and enthusiasto i'll their recognition OF the
| ,rcotncss of some of Wagncrs accom-
nhshments. Dr. Hanslick recently published
a review of Wagner's "Parsifal " in four
| letters taking up in turn, the story OF the
play its literary merit. the musical setting ana
finally the performance. While pralslng without
stint the dramatic and mechanical skill shown DS
Wagner i'll the construction OF the piece ne oeaIS
down heavily on what he considers the objection
able features introduced by Wagner in the old Ger
man poem of Wolfram Won Eschenbach upon when
the story Of "Parsifal" is based. lie
condemns the aesthetic and moral turgldlty
which led Wagner to commingle the hottest
with the unholest feelings in the scene where hun-
drv in the character of temptress. makes use OF
the story of his dying mother to secure the sylnpa
thy of PdrSifal and excite him with sensual ecstasy
He remarks with establishment " how III the course
of the play, a growing nimbus gathers around
the head of the 'guileless fool until under Wag
ner's hand he develops into the Rcdcemer of Man
kind. In he scene IN which hundry "a penitent
Magdalen washes his feet and dries them with her
har Parsdl actually creeps into the body of Christ
AT the conclusion indeed, white dove. the en-
bodinent of the Holy Ghost, descends upon him.
while invisible voices sing, Highest miracle OF
redemption Salvation to the Saviour" Comment
ing on these incidents in the play Hanslick says:
Others must tell us what WagneI's Tdrsfdt
has done 10 Justify this shameless identification
with the Saviour and Others too may decide
whether or not the spirit of true Christianity is
furthered by such scenes. We only inquire when
we meet in 'Parsifal' episodes from the life OF
Jesus 81 thnly masked. why Wagner did not rather
glorify Jesus Himself in a stage-consccrat-
ing-festival play We entirely IN
earnest The personality and life of
the Saviour the highest sense
dramatic, and it is not easy TO why called poet
should not go to work such drama with the
same pious bent of mind as for instance, Mum
kacsy on a modern and realistic representation of
the historical Christ. Frederick Hebbel cherished
| Ions the plan of Christ drama, the most power
full of all tragedies but died before he touched
pen to paper Wagner is not behind
| Hebbel in artistic courage, and he may venture
more than liebbel dared, or any other man dare to-
| day. Tho Last SUPPER grouped after Leonardo
| da Vinci's painting would certainly offer a picture
| a thousand-fold more moving, If less ostenatious,
than the love-feat of the Knights Of the Grail i'll
| Parsifal' which after all is only transparent
masquerade of that Last Supper The primitive
| picture would, perhaps be less shocking TO truly
| Christian natures than the serious parody"
Dr. Hanslick objects to the drama that it has too
little of human feeling and sympathy and too much
| of the supernatural and miraculous. He contrasts
| Lohengrin with its naturaness of feeling even
| in the character of the scraphc soldier who IS
| obliged blindly to obey his commander the grail
| viii al i'm w he il
ALL determines all. What is the grail to Us
A legendary curiosity, wholly foreign
| to the consciousness of the people
well that of the scholars long ago forgotten
| requisite of fantastic superstition. We are
| told that il is WagneT's lOftest accomplishment
that he gloried the grail, the highest ideal of the
Christian gion' To whom among us is the
grail religious ideal7 To whom has it ever been
Cne' The Christianity of our time is very different
from the neutrality-suspicious. of the Knights Of
the Grail and perhaps, not worse. 1t has been
srikiugy said of Shakespeare that he Is in no place
religious and yet everywhere religious The Chris
tian ecstasy in Parsifal' forms direct antithesis
to Shakespcare's poetic sanity, and not nfrequenty
it reminds us Of the rhymed devotional-cramps of
the German pietists." lie then pllories Wagner fer
Inconsistency in now seeking to find the salvation
of art in the Christian mysteries, while in
his book on Art and Religion" pub
ished In 1850, he denounced the influence
of Christianity inimlcal TO art and the one de-
sIrable and natural development of humanity.
OF the music to "Parsifal" DR.. Hansck says
that the grand scale which it is projected and
the smallest detail of the work publish alike the
originality of its creator. Like the BabylOnian
monarch who stamped his cartouch into every
brick of his great structures the author of "ParS
fail impressed an invisible II. W. upon every
II. M ,ra1 ooft 1,ou
will be recognized with certainty by the remotest
invest gators Different and contrasting feelings
are excited by different portions of the opera, but
the hs.lner always feels himself in the power of
mighty personality with peculiar but i'm
urcgnable convictions Respect is com
PEELED. and admiration, but not always
sympathy. "Parsiial" has an advantage over
The Ring Of the Nibelung" in n more homogene
Gus FORM and its impressions are more direct. The
dramatically false form Of the tetralogy has been
abandoned, but Wagner has remained consistent
with himself in the method of musical composition;
II j. still the style based the endless orchestral
melody. Whoever did not knowlt already from the
statements of WagneI's famlllaTs would be com
PEELED TO guess that as a rule he always sketches
the orchestral part of his operas first ana then adds
| the vocal part The connected, homogeneous unit
in the work is the symphonic orchestral part; what
| is sung TO II fragments whose significance lies
in the words and not IN the tones. Save tor a few
respondent and exceptional pieces OF melodies OF
| Insufficient beauty "Parsifal" presents the
spectacle Of an orchestral composition full of allu-
| Sons and Specifications, on INC surface OF which
| tOat BITS Of excited dramatic cantllatlOn.
second trait essentially characteristic of Wag-
ner's latest STYLE Is the bOundless license OF his
| meditation. In "Parslfal" there is no m0duatiOn.
! correctly speaking but instead an endless surgng
lnOdulatlng in which all sense of definite tOuaity Is
| lost. Like The Ring of the NIbclung" however,
Parsial" hasa few passages of qulcscent tOnally;
! they arr delightful, and at times ravlshmg eXcep
lions but only exceptions and for The greater part
| lcet'ng. OF Wagner C.cdtlye power, Us exhibited
| in the opera, DR.. HanslIck says:
" For man OF Nagners age and Waeners sys-
TEN II still appears amazing to Inc in Parsial.i