New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-15
wAGNER'S FIRST OPERA.
DIE FEEN. RESCUED FROM OBLIVION.
AN EXTREMELY INTERESTING PERFORMANCE
IN MUNICH

and Of extraordinary interest in these DAYS to
musical people OF all shades of taste and belief,
that stands this week upon the bills of the
Munich Hof-und-National-Theatre Wanners car
lest operatic work, Die Fcen,' was on Friday,
June 20, after fftyiye years Of oblivion, brought
TO performance. The occasion, as may well be
imagined. gathered a remarkable asSemblage of
musicians, critics and ltterateurs into the great
Munich Theatre. the scene Of so many triumphs
for Wagner's later years. The announcement of
this event has for several months been definitely
made and widely circulated and the importance
of Yesterdays performance has naturally not been
overlooked Whatever its nature intrinsic
value, hitherto unknown work of Wagner's,
brought to its first hearing, especially work of
the historical significance of Die Feen," could
not fail 10 be recognized as of the utmost interest
10 the student of Wagners development. and TO
the musical public at large The early Symphony
in c. which has so recently occupied the attention
of musicians both sides of the Atlantic. evident
" yields in Importance TO this youthful opera.
which by name has long been familiar TO readers
of Wagncrs literary work, especially of the
essays Of an autobiOgraph cal nature
From the several rather circumstantial utter
ances Of the composer himself concerning r" Die
Feen," it's place in the history of his artistic
DEVELOPMENT is tolerably well defined. In the
Autobiographische Sluzze7 Wagner says that 1t
was composed in s33.-conseQuently in his twen-
tieth year, and year after the Symphony IN Z
was misunderstanding visit in Wurzburg, to his
brother Albert, singer in the theatre OF thaJ
place, whose experience the young composer found
of value The subject Of Die Feen' was taken
from German version of an Italian tale by
Gozzi, which had some vogue at the beginning of
the present century, and which indeed is in some
sort the basis Of Schiller's TurandCt" 1t had
also been used in several shortlved operate texts
before it presented itself TO Wagner a suitable
subject for musical treatment; but OF these
Wagner could scarcely have had any knowledge
whatever. 1t is interesting to note, as signlncaht
of the artistic necessity the young composer even
then felt for the closest union between the work
of the poet and of the musician, that for TINS
first as for all his subsequent productions wagner
himself wrote the text. As for the music beet
boven and Weber were his models so he himself
SAYS In Wurzburg portions Of Die feen were
performed by the composer in concerts during
the same year. and met with no little success ;
the ensembles and particularly the finale OF the
second act producing a great effect
In the beginning of s34, Wagner returned to
Ieipzig. with not unreasonable heres Of obtaining
for his opera a speedy performance IN the eA-
cellent Leipzig Stadt Theatre. But now Tor lhe
first time, apparently, he was brought face to lace
with the fact which was to embtter the heAO
thirty years Of his life-that German composers
as he pjthily puts il in the AutObiographlcal
Sketch were out Of credit in Germany on account
of the successes of Frenchmen and Italians
uDon the German stage and that the performance
of their works was favor 10 be begged for
Wagner found the Leipzig director busy with
novelties fresh from Paris and Milan, and though
he obtained the promise Of a speedy performance OIL
Die Fecn," the time never came. In the mean
while the composer himself Enthusiastically
lost patience. and growing indifferent to the fate
of his long-dclayed work began upon another,
Das Liebesverbot" He had already entered
too upon his career Kapellmcister IN Magde-
burg where he could no longer attend to his
Leipzic interests and gave up all the hopes he
he had ever built upon Die Fecn."
That his first opera was by 10 means for
gotten. however, is evinced by several later
references Wagner makes to this WORK III
Fine Mitthcilung an Meme Freunde,' published
in 1851. he brings it up again as showing the
starting point Of his activity IN dramatic music
He again names Beethoven and Weber together
With Iortztnq as the sources of his musical in
sDiration and the romantic oreras Of the last
t,vo composers as the models he had specially
mt before himself Die Feen,' founded upon
an Italian tale; Das Lebesverbot,' upon
Sbalzespeare's Measure for Measure and
Rienns upon Bulwer's novel, he sets form as
the products Of this earliest impulse OF ms ID
dramatic music With these he had only the
nurpose OF composing operas" for this end he
sought materials ready-made, as he says, IN WORKS
already elaborated as artistic literary productions
These three are the predecessors OF that new sptU
which dominated him in the composition OF Inc
FIvinp Dutcbman" and it is as the first product
of this early disposition toward the operate
as DISTINGUISHED from the purely dramatic
fo+o hat.
its greatest interest for students Of Wagners
DEVELOPMENT. made doubly valuable from the
stress he himself has laid upon the work
Die Feen- has no such romantic history as
attaches 10 the long-l,st Symphony in Z. Al
though Wagner himself did not set enough store
by the work in later years TO have 1t produced
II suffered no such fate as that which Mendel-
ssohn's Indifference caused the symphony. Wag-
ner made a present Of his two youthful operas 10
his patron. the late King Ludwig II OF Bavaria
among whose papers they were found AFTER MS
death. each in the shape OF three weH-preserveu
and carefully written manuscript volumes Dle
Feenn bears dedication 10 the hlng IN verse;
dated Christmas 1866. as follows:
"Ich irrte einst ind moecht' es nun verbuessen'
VIE mach, ich u&ch der Jugendsuende irelF
Ibr Werk leg ch deduetig dir III Fuessen,
Das define Gnade Inn Erloeser set'
After some friction with the Wagner heirs,
q suit at law being it is said at one time I'M
minent. the authorities Of the Royal Theatre have
prepared the work for the sfagc-not unhttmgV
in Munich, where Wagner's genius found Its hrst
permanent abiding place
Curiosity rather than the hope of any really
important addition to the worlds possessions
in Wagncr's music has been the prevailing at
titude toward Die Feen7 and sounds OF warn
ing have been abundantly issued as 10 the proper
point Of view from which the work was 70 De
judged. The result Of last night performance
however, has somewhat Unexpectedly put these
cautious utterances at fault. Die Feen' mas
shown itself to be something more than bat OF
historic material for the study Of Wagner's musl-
L. LII IL. L. Irn-