New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-29
sCROFULOCs, INHERITED,


%'N:.a1 paln-kiIng plaster. % cents
is strictly my business should never finish the
Nibclungen" in my life. Good gracious Such
sums as | might earn in America, people ought to
give me without asking anything in return beyond
what am actually doing, and which is the best
that | can do. Besides this / am much better
adapted 10 spend 10000 francs IN SIX months
than to earn" it, The latter | cannot do at all,
for it is not my business to earn money, bus
il is the business Of my admirers to give HE as
much money as want. to do my work IN a
cheerful mood.
As social beings these letters present Wagner
and List in a light which makes their contrast
most marked List is throughout the great
hearted phanthropist, the polished man Of the
world, the trained diplomat. Wagner's importu.
nifty places arduous tasks as varied as they are
numerous. upon his shoulders lie performs them
all with equal zeal and SAVIOR faire. necessarily
through his influence with dukes and princes he
abors for his friends amnesty When he is APP
Piled to for money and his own exchequer is
empty. he gets it elsewhere. He finds out what
obstructs the acceptance of " Tannhaeuser' by the
censorship at Prague aids and advises Wagner
with respect his passports, conducts the negota-
tons for the production of his operas, looks after
the criticisms which are to appear in the news
papers. himself writes feuilietons for the Paris
journals and publishes them in German as PAM
phlets after submitting them for judgment land
once for translation to Wagner and
utters no objection even when Wagner
asks him to act as police spy and
find thief at jena who had stolen money from
him in Paris. LISTS bounty was infinite and.
as the world knows it not exercised alone for
Wagner No musician can ever afford TO forget
how unwearylngly and atfectionatcy he worked all
his life for others. The warm-hearted man and
reverent musician is reflected in the herculean
work which he did to honor the memory Of
Beethoven at Bonn and Vienna, and the more
than herculean work which he accomplished in
behalf Of Wagner-a work whose unselfishness ap-
pears in Respondent light when it is remembered
that it had its beginning at time when. as Wag-
ncr confesses, he looked upon List with suspi-
cion 1t may be merely imagination, but the
reading of these volumes has suggested tho
thought that while it is Wagner who asks and
List who gives. the benefits of their intercourse
were not unequaly divided. We believe that
LISTS artistic nature was elevated and intensi-
fed by his contact with Wagner. There were two
sides to LISTS artistic as well moral nature,
and one of these sides, the least admirable, was
purged and purified by the fire which went out
from Wagner's example. There was in him a
touch of charlatansm as well as magnificent
quantity of artistic merit and honesty, just as he
blended a laxity of some moral ideas with deep
and sincere religious mysticism. 1t would have
been strange indeed if, growing into manhood as
he did in the whited sepulchres Of Partisan salon.
life, he had not accustomed himself 10 sacrifice
little of the soul of art for the sake Of vanglory
little Of it's poetry and feeling to make display OF
those dazzling digital feats which he invented.
lie was first of all q virtuoso, and his wonderful
powers and personal fascination kept him in such
an incense cloud of popular adulation as no man
other than he ever brcathed. But when he ap-
preached the music of Beethoven or Schubert no
sank all thought of self and rose to peerless
height as an Interpreting artist AS creative
musician We have not persuaded ourselves to pc
lieve him great. We find thought included IN
this journals estimate of List as composer JUS.
after his death, suggestively amplhed in one OIL
Wagncr's letters Said The Tribune writer:
It is yet an open question. which I shall not
discuss long, to what extent Liszt was gifted rs
a creative musician 1t is undenlable, however however
skill and deny him the possession of creative
genius can find abundance of proof in support OF
their position in his published works 1hey can
say with much justice that though genius may
work long and laboriously at its products ana.
as in the case of Beethoven, may shape and reshape
a composition many times before giving IL 10 tne
world, il is not OF record that it evolves SYM
phonc poems" by extending and remodelllng piano
forte studies. They may justly refuse to recognize
anything else than slilfuly orchestrated ana am
" Mazeppa" and FestlIaenge
The aLsenc. in these letters OF detailed comment
on the scores which List modestly sends to Was-
ner is noticeable circumstance, which we think
is amply explained by an extract from an ex'
! trcmely interesting letter which Wagner sent 10
| List while the latter preparing Berhozs
Benvenuto Cellini' for production at Weimar'
We must leave the reader to learn Wagners eA'
cellcnt judgment on Berlioz from the volume ana
content ourselves IN conclusion, with passage
in which he sums up an indictment against INC
Frenchman, against Joachim Ran, anu d. W.
think, ALSO List himself Hear him:
How about Raft | thought he was writing
q new work, but no; he Is remodeillns M an V ~
one Is there no life in these people! out ..
what can the artist create If he does not er''.r
out Of life, and how can this lte contain li,S as
artistically productive essence unless IL impss
the artist continually TO creations wlllcn ~
spond to life? Is this artificial remodeiilns
old motives OF life real artistic creatNehnyysss
How about the source Of all art unless new tninks
flow forth irresstibly, unless 1t Is wholly "os
sorbed in new creations On ye cfSs'S artstic
creating IL betrays no end OF sclf-complacehcy,,
combined with poverty, II we try TO prop up ss
earlier attempts If Rails opera, as you IN any
me has pleased. he ought to be satisfied III a,y ,
ease he had better reward than nau ~, io 81 scr
Feen," which was never performed "t aa, "r
my Liebesvcrbot' which had one me- rrviyal
Of which think so little that should not PET per
nit it il it contemplated anywn md Ioben.
! the Dutchman," 4" Iannhaeuscr anu - Cor
grim trouble myself with disgust and oniy in vl
the reason that know that on accoub. s y, ner
pcrfcct representations they have never oeen ~, ne
fcctiv understood Ii they had had tneir uas
anywhere | should care dcvilishy NIUE a''''
| things that have outlived a oucc
| Good people do something new, new anu h yN ~
| more new. IL YOU stick to the Old the uevh ,S 10
barrenness holds you In thraiL ana you "' V"
most miserable OF artists. ..,,cos mo
| Well, this is oil my heart; ne WHO .n' Maven:
with insincerity will have to answer 10 nc" silly.