The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-04-16
VONBULOW'S CONFESSION
He NOW BELIEVES IN BACH AND
BEETHOVEN.

Young5Lady's Album-Rope dancing
on the Piano-Liszt's Experience with
the Gear.
copyrighted, 1881
New York, April 1S.-"In music, Amer
lea has advanced with seven leaugue boots,
and with Edison electricity pace, if l may
be permittel so to term it, l came too soon
before. and besides was in bad health, and
in ANYTHING but a pleasant temper"
ans Won Bulow, the great German plan
ist smiled and puffed his cigarette vigor-
Nv when ne finished the remarks above.
He was seated in an arm chair at the Hotel
Normandie and conversing with some
friends. For three hours previous he had
been rehearsing, and he said that he felt
ANYTHING but lively. His actions and con-
yersation, however, showed that he was
very much elated and anything but ia
tipuei. He wore blac frock coat some
what frayed around the edges, and pair
of trousers that may have seen service when
he visited the country years ago. Rghtin
in the front and on the top of his head he
is bald, and unlike many aged but vain men
he never attempted to plaster over the ex-
posed surface with the fringe OF gray hair
doing duty lower down on his Uranium.
The doctor has blue eyes, a little gray
goatee and mustache, aud looks more ike
q Frenchman than a German.
"Then you come to America this time in
your normal condition, do you not, doctor"
asked the writer
"AhI come, as | should have come be-
fore, feeling in splendid condition, and in
good humor 1t makes all the difference in
the world. The fact is | expect to find the
fountain of youth in America, and renew
myself. Everything is so different from
what it was when first came over. do
not think there will be any fau1 pas to
mar the pleasure OF my trip.
81 find that Wagner's music has taken hold
of the people here, and in many respects,
that is commendable. 1t shows some ad-
vancement When was here before the
Italian school was all the rage"
What do you think of Herr Seidl as a
CONDUCTOR
Herr Seidl can conduct for the Bayreuth
school but he will not do for the classical
For Beethoven and such composers, / do
not for a moment think he can interpret
them correctly Why, Walter Damrosch
can conduct such operas as Tannhauser and
Lohengrin better than Herr Seidl | was
surprised to see the orchestra at the Metro
politan opera house had only one harp.
Wagner always had two, and the effect is
much better recommended another harp
to Mr. Stanton and l think he has taken
my advice. l confess, however, that the
operas here are put on the Stage better than
they are in Europe. The singers7 Well,
now, / intend to speak plainly. Wagnerian
singers are highly interesting as rule, but
they get to barking many OF them, and
where is the meodyl There was Schott and
Niemann, whom Americans praised highly,
who were only two great bankers. Take the
Walkiere for instance, and what did they
do in that but play mimics-they knew
nothing about phrasing. The fact is Wag
ner's operas, many of them, give singer a
chance merely to pose before a large audi
ence, and make a noise, for they do not
sing. Now there is Alvary. do not
blame New York women for kissing and
hugging him because he is really singer
1t is true, he was nobody in Germany, but
he has developed in America. | call him
phoenix, a product of the new world"
"Do | understand you to say that you are
not W agnerian above and to the exclusion
of other composersp
"You did, for | am not ultra Wagnerian,
and | deprecate the attempt to place his
works on pedestal above many other
great composers. knew Richard Wagner
well, and helped to advance the Wagnerian
school in Germany, but l am sensible and
unprejudiced enough to believe there are
QUIET COulDO5tIhs appreciate Ills
ness and recognize the compliment paid
him in America, but l want it distinctly
understood that am not an ultra Wag-
merriam
Then you do not put Wagner at the
head of the list of composersp
81 will answer that by telling you what
/ wrote in a young lady's album recently.
It was L believe in Bach the father, Bee
thoven the son, and in Brahms the holy
ghost of music To Johannes Brahms, of
Vienna, | owe my redemption from the ul-
ira Wagnerian school. The fact is l re-
newed my musical youth by his acquain-
tance. He taught me that there are many
composers, many musicians, not one, and |
owe him much for bringing me out of the
sloughs of prejudice where the one man
worship prevails. Icould talk to you for
hours about that great musician, but what
have already said will show you that he
Is broad and catholic in his musical views"
do you ever see Verdi these daysp
"Do you mean Verdi, the Italian?
Humph / hear of him now and then. l.
there anv music in his Othello? | cannot
understand how an omelette can be made
without eggs, and do not see how music
can be made without melody. Verdi has
no melody in anything he composes. He
cannot help it because it is not in him.
Wagner is anything but international |
Verdi, as some uneducated people do,
as a universal expondent Of music,
then l become filed with laugh
ter and regard it as pre-
posterous assumption. Think or rather try
to imagine Russian or Italion Washing
ton, and then consider Verdi from must
cal standpoint His alleged melodies smell
Of low people, Of the vulgar, the uneduca-
ted. Where is that perfect expression, the
eyes. the nose, the entire face, that CONVEYS
the resemblance, in fact the exact portrait
ure of beautiful woman or handsome
man, 50 TO speak to be found in Verdi's
work. 1t is not there. An eye, or part of
the musical face is there, but that is all.
We find perfect expression though in
such operas as Sonnambula and Norma. |
do like one thing, however, in Othello, and
that is its dramatic blood. 1t is there, fiery
and like lava stream, but the other in
gradients are lacking. Verdi is dramatic
and asthmatic Donizetti has dramatic
beauty IN some of his compositions.
Have you made friends withe Ruben
stein yetf'
There was no big row between US as re-
ported. If he had written to me as reported,
/ can tell you that | would have given a
sharp reply. 1t would not have been milk
and cider sentiments, / can assure you. The
between us arose from the fact
that ] refused 10 play the entire seven parts
of his Ocean Symphony. 1t would have
emptied the house before had half flnished
Ruoenstein IS peculiar, / must confess.
Well, omitted some parts Of the symphony,
and substituted Meddlesshon's Scotch