New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-15
MUSIC.
SPONTINI AND WAGNER.

past three were devoted to Ferdinand COrtez" and
| ono to Sieg;Y ed" spontin and Wagner were thus
brought into such intimate association that an inquiry
was but natural concerning those points Of resemblance
bewecn the and their creations which have caused
them frequently to be represented as touching hands
| in the story Of the development Of the lyric drama
| To q student who went 10 the metropolitan
represent atoms with his mind unburdened by imaginary
opinions drawn from articles Spontini, contributed
| by Dr. sNtts Groves Dictionary. or the really ed
urabe essay to be found in Beriozs collected literary
works It must frequently have seemed as II the rell-
tionship bet Gacsed Italian and the intensely
| natiye German was moro imaginary than real There
| are MANY things I'm that department portion Of
music criticism which has become crystaGIzed Into
history that are in the case. How often do
| find wagner discussed II in some mysterious man.
ner no was the direct heir In art Of Guck when as .
matter Of fact as Euryanthe" has demonstrated to
local students his relationship with Gluck Is extreme
ly remote except In belief while his sonshp TO Weber
Is as plain as day. II Euryanthe' and siegfred'
we're brought into juxtaposon as Cortez' ana oeg'
fried" been 1t would be interesting to discover
| the gifts OF heredity in tho latter work
There many more points Of resemblance between
spontnl and Wagner representatives OK prihcip'os
in art, than there between their creations ana
there are traits Of character which the men bore
strong likeness to each other Before WaSner there
was probably composer who worked so constantly
ntellIgently and earnestly as Spontnl 10 AZ
depreciation. When Wagner as young man Jour
neyrd to Eerlin In the vain hope OK having
the opera which no had made out Of Shakespeare
| Measure for Measure" brought out In one OF tho
theatres of the Pnssian capital the most powerful
art Impression that he received came from represen
taton of Ferdinand Cortez' under the direction OK
| the composer at tho Royal opera. Here he saw
| precision in all departments that he had probably
never dreamt of-singers. actors, stage machinists
and musicians all acting II pred by the Same
thought, aim and emotion lie heard an orchestra
that had been drilled to respond only To the VIII
of It's leader and to publish his intentions TO tho
utmost nicely. An orchestra that could bring out
a forssimo like the crashing Of thunder bolt and
In the next second panlssimo like the eShaiation
of a spirit {" Ren qu'un soufien was spontinPs Gus
tomary direction to the musicians when he wished
them to play piansslmol 1t Is not unlikely that tho
Berlin performance of COrtez7 which wagner istehe"
70 I'm 1886 was an incident which had a lasting
inauence on his career. Tho aims and effects
of his conducting like spontins though the means
adopted were strlkinsly dIssimar. There was some
thing Of the soldier In Spontini and 1t Is not unhey
that it was this something that won him the la'or oh
Napoleon. The military spirit found expression even
in the words which he Wont 10 address to his
musicians during rehearsal " Allez !" En- avant.'
Marteezln he would command and when after al
most numheress rehearsas he was SATISFIED TO Orihs
work forward he would dismiss his forces from tho
last rehearsal with the words revoir champ de
called the Napoleon Of Muslc.' Wagner was MIL
liant man. but In another field of activity. He was
soldier in the cause of intellectual and artistic progress
Last February The TRIBUNE published an interview
with Herr sedl in the course Of which he said:
IA a conductor technically and intellectually Wag-
ner can surely he given the highest place lie ruled
his musicians completely with his gestures; yes even
sometimes me T arv MS Realms Of his Imagination and
confded tasks to them which they had never before
thought Of He infamed them with his fiery eyes;
an energetic sweep of his baton would bring out a
he.vy chord from his orchestra such as had never
been heard from It. He could charm as ravlshlng
piano out OF the brass instruments as our OF VIOLIN
extract pianlssm simultaneously rom an .n9
instruments Of the orchestra was the most wond.r,l
feature of his conducting He able to initiate tho
musicians in the meos OF composition ~no utsy r
mark would throw more light on wagner's Intentions
fau whole books which have been written about con-
troverted passages
To the iudicous the significance Of this parallel
between the conducting Of Spontini and Wagner Is
plain enough. Sincerity devotion, reverence, were
the mansprings of their effort In the Interpretation
of art works. These qualities are not so common
among musicians might be supposed and they
less common when the taste fostered py
/ such composers as Rossini dominated the
theatre and concert rOom aud II one wishes really
to learn why Spontnls music acquired SO much sig
nlfcance In modern music history he must compare S
spirit with that of the fashionable operas OF lts day.
Study purued on such lines will do justice to
Spontinl without enjoinng fictitious belief in tho
present Of his creations, such as has been ex-
pressed lately in some Of tho newspapers of New
York His manner is antiquated and though his
rectative and meos at times swing themselves
up to lofty plane of expressiveness, they are on th6
whole wearisome and wanting in real vital beauty.
Spontlni was a poor methodist, and melody is now, al
ways was and always will be in SIC cula sauiorun
the essence of music be It lyric or dramatic.
Like Gluck and Cherublni Spontni was foreigner,
who coming to Paris. abandoned Italian ideals and
essayed to write up the dramatic spirit OF the I'M
spoiled element in the French people The hrs greas
battle In behalf of the lyric drama had been won ny
Gluck and spontin adopted the works CT the German
/ reformer as his models. A dozen Italian operas az
| least lay behind him when he set out upon MS ne"
course and it is characteristic Of tho man and OF tho
sIneerity OF his aims that when he had embraced
the now art evange he looked upon his taah score'
| only as the toys Of his youth The music oi paoh'
! Handel Gluck, Haydn, Mozart and finally bec'no'en
received tho admiration of his artistic maturity anu
! only his colossal vanity and egousm, We are sure
prevented him recognizing the genius OF his riva
! Weber, In tho consciousness OF his own
merit spontini was monumental; even Was
ner's colossal egotism seems ms gnhcaht IN
comparison though there Is one trait that 'ho
two men had in common: an unwillingness 10 recog-
nze the excellence Of their contemporaries. When
spontini came to Dresden, in 1874, to conduct his
Yestale, Wagner asked permission to submit an
opera score to him for judgment. "Jeune homme,'
replied spontin " what do you want to compose IL
YOU want Romans you have my Vestae II you want
Greeks, you have my olympia IL you want Span
iards, you have my Cortez'; II you want Indians
you have my Nourmahal'"
1t is also related by of Spontini's biographers
that being recognize tho fact that Weber Az
Der and Rossini had been admitted to the ranks OK
the dramatic composers through the merits Of " fre
schctz, Muette" and "wll.am rcIl' he cried out
angry: C'est moi qui a mis- la brechc par laqueiio
ia m arc hent tous touss Berlloz, whose admir-
alton for Spontin boundless and who did not hes
tate TO adopt many Of his methods las those who heard
Les Troyens Carthage last winter Will have guessed
eco Dis that while sp mimi came tn hear his music no
lever spoke Of except on two occasions In defining
his own style Bsrln Cls ned that the dominant quail
tiles Of his music were passionate expression internal
fire. rhythmic animation and unexpected changes, and