New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-03
wAGNER's TRISTAN AND ISOLDE,

trusted TO Brang,rdi TO be Dy her sacredy guaed ana
given to Mark and ISelA their wedding night Mr..
Arnold also has these lovers drink unwittingly
- that spiced magic draught
Through their blood and binds their souls.
Working love- but working teen.
In this respect both English poets follow the German
epic of GOttfried Strassburg. Tho dramatic sgnih-
cance of wagners variation be reserved for discus
sion in the future It's value ntensfyng the charac
ter OF Isolde Is obvious at glance
Tennyson omits all mention OF the love potion and per-
mits us to imagine Trisam and ISeH couple of or
binary sinners the formers doctrines Oh the subject De-
ing published in lines like these:
Free Iove-free field love but while we may;
lr WOODS arc hnshd tnedr mns, nus, Is no i'oIo'
New Loaf new Dfo-the days OF frost are DER;
Now life. new love TO suit the newer day ,,oro.
Free loye-free held-we love but while we may
The next important variation 1--WE do not speak OF omis
sons which are inevitable in throwing epic into dra-
matte form is in the which follows the discovery
OF the lovers by Hing Mark To discuss this In all It's
bearings would require time and space than We
shall care employ for the purpose either now or here
after, but il is well know It, The wronged Marx OF
Wagner some will say as many said is not wronged
at ALL he chooses to remain inactive where the pop
ular impulse is illustrated in the Marks way or len
nyson. But the Make OK Gottfred ana me IaT Oh
swnburne scarcely more COMPREHENSIVE IN ther
conduct than Wagners MARIE In tottirled epc hler
again taken them back he Is finally convinced OF ter
guilt but before he takes action against Tristan me lat
ward the chapel for trial on the road he wrenches of
his bonds, wrings sword from horqnnrs hands Kills
him and ten knights more leaps into the sea irom Gin
and escapes, aided by Gouccraaye -, ...
In the last act Wagner has proceeded with the utmost
from the fact that authentic version OF the close Oh
the legend has been preserved slmrocK iolowi1 y,
his translation into modern German OF u,e cor,
frieds epic the episode OF I t 8, me e WIN
Tristan sends for the first iso cauoning brothern
law Nhn on IN
turning if he bring the Qtecn and black II he does not
ISOh The White hand who watching for the return OF
the ship, out Of jealousy announces that the sails are
black and EiS,ans heartstg IS snap In twain just pc
fore ISOu of Ireland enters the chamber rms version
Swnburne follows but Arnold adds a beautiful touch TO
the old legend by making the second IscW tenu her nus
band with un1inchug love and unfaiing fidelity even
While she waits for the coming of her rival Arnold gives
TriStrdm aud the second ISeM family OF children Dut
swnburne keeps the latter a maiden wife" All agree
with Wagner In having Trisds death close on the com
ing OF Isolde Bayard Taylor in writing OF Gottfreas
epic almost angry refuses TO believe that ISeH o. NE
White Hand killed her knight by tho alsehood about the
sails . =,
ing Marks too tardy reconciliation is common to all
VERSIONS and the final In the drama, when those
who wish also add to Wagner version is that OF the
grave at intage oyergrown win iosepush anu
vine curousy ntertwined that no one might separate
them.
OF the material changes which Wagner made in the
Tfstrain legend none is vital TO his dramatic
scheme than that touching the administering OF the fate
full potion. Bayard Taylor, in bis study OF Gotfrleds
epic, grows indignant at Tennyson for emitting the
ordinary sim The potion, he argues, takes the place
accorded to Fate in the classic Greek tragedy, and
through because Of it sympathes are aroused
and the characters Of Trtsam and IseuH are ennoDled
1t will be observed that the versions OF the legend which
we have hurred discussed three points OF view
from which of the tragic pair must be studied
With Gottfied Arnold and Swinburne the drinking Is
purely accidental and the passion which leads to the de-
srucon OF the lovers is something for which they are IN
wise responsible With Tennyson there no philter
and the passion all guilty. With Wagner the love ex-
lists before dreadful drinking and the potion is less
maker Of uncomfortable passion than drink which
the lovers forget duty honor and the respect
due to the of society. 1t Is favorte idea OF Wag-
ner's that the hero OF tragedy should be type OF
pure humanity freed from all the bonds OF convention
atty this theory which created the heroic character
OF siegtyied. But the tragical character or char
acters of the Nibelung tetralogy accepting
siegrnund as prototype Of SisgfriecD live far
back in mythical age whose code Of moral
would not be easy to reconstruct while T1strans
environment shows him to be contemporary with state
OF society which particularly nice IN some OF It's
ideas of honor and mutual obligation 1t Is perfectly
allowable, therefore, to accept the love potion Ill Wag
ners scheme nothing than the agency by which
the dramatst struck from his hero the shackes OF con-
vention which appear so CALLING to him.
Concerning the dramatic poetical value OF Wagners
pure humanity" do not care to speak at length.
Comparing the character OF Tristan with that of Ta'in
hsey 1t seems that the later appeals much more
to the sympathy of the world it in this than the
former and the surely lies In Its ofter ethical
purpose Taanhduser, by the dramatists own admo-
ntion be taken type OF manhood in its passion
ate desires and ideal aspirations" like the Faust OF
Goethe. All the magnificent energy of an
ideal man brought forward In the poets conception,
hut il il an energy that shattered in its fluctuations be-
tween sensual delights and ideal aspirations typied by
the aud the Elizabeth OF the play For kH:dbeMs
love- which he compelled to recognize In all It's SELF
if,,p
equally boundless, IdnnhduSer Is willing to suffer
contest and all world which they represent he re-
mains the unswervabe knight who keeps his pledge TO
sing Of the delights which have been his Here the
contradiction against which he is shattered as the
heroes OF Greek tragedy were shattered OH the rock OF
impacabe Fate But the transcendert beauty OF the
modern drama is lent by the ethical idea OF the salvation
which comes from the love of pure woman salvation
touching which be in doubt when Ianihdaser,
as impersonated by Herr Niemann sinks eless beside
the bier of the atonng saint and euss cries OF are
swallowed up by the pious canticle OF the PagrDs 1t
is this outcome of the play IA variation, again. from the
old Tannhauser Legend that dscloses the profoundly
PROFESSIONALLY, as Bayard Taylor argued, the love
draug is the Fate of the Tristan DRAMA and this brings
into notice the significance OF Wagners chief VARIATION
1t old theory too often overlooked now tnat there
faint of guilt in the conduct OF tragic
hero in order that the feeling OF pity eHeieo p ms
ings the Idea OF justice III the catas-
de epo reoas purpose Of the Greek tragedy Wagner
puts anteccdent and conscious quit at the door OF DOt
his heroic characters They love before the pter and
do pay the to the passion which III the
highest conception, 1t commands T1Sd Is carried away
gss and compels by his threats the marriage which
crime against the love which he bears Isolde ana she
bears him. There is guilt enough in Isotdes detcrinna-
ton aud effort commit murder and suicide Thus
Wagner presents us the idea of Fate III the latest ana
highest aspect that assumed in the minds OF the Greek
poets pity aud our horror, not only
by the suerngs of the principals but also by making an
innocent and aniabe prompting To underie the acton
which brings down the catastrophe. 1t Is Bfdsgaaes
love her mistress That perstdes her 10 shield her
from the crime OF murder and protect her life. From
point of view the question treated 1t seems To
US that Magners variation is an improvement on
the old legend and that the objection, which Ger
man critics urged, that the love or the pair Is
merely "A chemical product and outside OF human SYM
patty falls To the ground
Dramatically hiig Marks conduct In the second act
must appear strange and perhaps Disappointing but II Is
not to those who go 10 adraa for some
thing than DIVERSION and surely serves the pr-
increasing appreciation OF TtStdHs helpless
ness and also OF the nobility in his character, for wheu
hing Mars will not strike ftsab compels Aeot 10 WELD
the sword of retf1buon for him. wagners whole plan is
laid out 10 show the power VI the human passion which,