New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-02-14


AT every fourth measure ell through the piece ther'
REQUIRED O tortissimo pound upon the dfum, i
which the audience listened first with wonder, thei
with disgust and finally with intense amusement
The brief revolution of July, $780, swept HIN
INTO the raging torrent OF politics. he was pairoi
theoretically at least an insurGent; he consorte'
entirely with the political terati he hold that NJ
study was worth pursuing except politics; he ever
,eean a political overture. In this frame of min
he entered the University of Leipsic. not to follow
A regular course IN any of the faculties. but merely
20 bear lectures on philosophy and aesthetics
From this opportunity to educate myself" b.
.ays 81 derived practically no profit rather gave
myself up to every kind of students excuses, an'
With such recklessnesS and ardor that they sooi
l,sgusted me. At this period gave my people
great trouble and my music was almost utterly neg
ectcd." Perhaps he exaggerates a little in thu
elf-accusaton. No doubt he laid during this perlo'
determination of that love for metaphysical studio
which IS marked i'll his writings o.
art, and If his music was neglected 1t
certain that the neglect did not continu
long. Heinrich Dorm wrote IN Schumann's Ne"'
Zeitschrf fir Musk O. doubt whether there eve
was young musician who knew BeethoVehs
works more thoroughly than Wagner at his elgh
zenith year. The masters overtures and larger III
strume nta compositions he had copied for himself
rose with the charlottesville sang the songs an
whistled the concertos for his pianoforte playing
was never of the best)-in short he was possessed
with furOr Ieut0nicus. which, added 10 q
high education and rar3 mental acuN-
lty, promised to bring forth ricn .truit'
About this time he had the good fortune to fali II
with thoroughly competent teacher IheOuH
Weinlig can tor at the Thomas-schulc. gave nun ~
six months almost the only systematic instruction
the theory of composition that he ever received
corrected many of his wlld and extraVaGant no.
lions, and put him at last upon the night road
While he was with Weinlg he composed a sonata
simple and modest work, quite free from bonn
bast and this so far as we have been able to dis
cover, is the earliest of bis published pieces
EARLY COMP SiTIoNs.
An overture after the model of Beethoven, played
with applause at one of the Gewandhaus concerts
and a symphony, modelled IN certain measure
upon Mozart's Jupiter and played In 1888. were
among the compositions of this boyish pero'
which found a publisher, but quickly
passed into an oblivion from which their creator II
his maturer years. had no desire TO rescue them
For while he led an aimless and wandering hfe
writing little, dreaming little, studying little
At the age Of twenty lie was conductor OF The
chorus IN the theatre at WHrzburg, an an
cient and intensely dull little city no
far from Bayreutu uls pIOthoi A'pOiV ""0
teacher of singing at Wdrzburg and Johanna Wag-
ner, then only five years old, was already playini
chdren's parts on the stage. 1t was here tia
Wagner wrote his first opera, strange romanti'
drama called THE FAIRIES" 1888 based upon d
story bv Gozzi, which bears the aurug title q
THE Serpent Woman" He says that 1t contaneo
some good effects. but 1t was never performed 81
published and probably was only an imitation.
Hardly more fortunate was his second opera
1.-THE Love Veto" Dds Liebcsrebo1, founde'
ON Shakespeares Measure for Measure 10 whch,
however, in the spirit of Young Europe whIci
then swayed him, lie gave n sensuouS and extremely
repulsiye turn. II was begun In 1884 and finished
TWO years later, when 1T was once unsuccessfuii'
performed at Magdeburg. and then speedily forgot
ten. Wagner was conductor of the Magdeburs
opera at TINS time holding that position with SOM
success for two seasons at the end Of which ls3G
| he found himself out of employment III
consequence of the failure OF the theatre,
and burdened with debts III consequence
Of n recklsss and oxtravaGaut oourso 81 Ii'"
He did what many other men do IN desperate CIR
cu1nstances he made an mproyident ava W.
happy marriage 1896. His wife was an actress OF
K5ngsberg, where after some disippolutmen's hr
obtained the conductorship Of the theatre. We know
little about this chapter in his life, except that ID
wac a very dark one and that he soon left kGniRs-
berg 10 accept the conductorshIp of the opera n
| Riya. There is something melancholy in the idea
of a man of transcendent genius tying himself down
m the drudgery of leading a shabby opera troupc
| through the performance Of mediocre and TRIVIAL
works in little second and thrdrate provincial towns
but Wagner at this period of his life was certainly
| not conscious of his own greatness, nor had ne
| formed any definite ambitions. Il is on record
| that he made an excellent and indotatlgabl'
conductor, and 1t would appear that he was on gooh
| terms with the artists who served under him. Ill
| mnsc lid TO this time was little more than an echo
| of Beethoven. Of Weber-of Marschner, too, they
| saw aud OF some minOr composers aud once. hav-
| ing begun an opera on subject from the Arabian
| NIGHTS he DESTROYED it on discovering that 1t was
| only an echo of Adolphe Adam. Some force there
| doubtless was in these early works, but there was
hardly auy originality. Magdeburg, kOhigsberR
and Riga were schools in which he learned the prac-
| teal details of his art.
II was at Riga that he first felt the capacity for
higher things, and he tells US that his ideas were
| rpenei and his ambition was stimulated by the
| thorough relish he found In Mehuls opera oi
Joseph" while he was rehearsing 1t with his com
| pany in 1888 He had already conceived the de
| sign of grand five act opera on the story OF Buf
weTs Rienzi -; and stage would suffice for the
| presentation of 50 large and splendid work cX-
| cept that OF Paris. then the first stag.
| NJ the world So, in 1882 his two
years engagement at Riga having come to
| an end, he resolved TO 90 to Paris He had no re-
eources except few letters of introduction and the
| unfinished score of " Rienz' Together with hi
| wife he embarked in a sailing vessel zoo London II
was long and fearful voyage across the stormy
North Sea they driven out OF their course !;
they put into a Norwegian port for safety; and II
was month before they reached England, whence
they crossed into France.
IN PARIS
Mr. HuefIer, In his sketch of Wagner speculate
upon the evil consequences which might have fol
! loved IL " RenZi y lad boon accenled at tho Pan