New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-20
MUSICAL COMMENT.
WAGNER AND TIE FRENCH.
REsPoN1BIL1TY OF PAR1sIAS CoMPosERs-HUGo
AND wAGNER-THE sEIDL CON-
CERTs-NEws NOTES.

AND wAGNER-THE sEIDL CON-
CERTs-NEws NOTES.
The discreet vet firm action of the police author
flies IN Paris i'm giving ample protection to the directors
OF the Grand Opera House. and thus enabling them 10
produce "Lohengrin" without Interruption has wipeu
humilatng blot from the artistic escutcheon OF uo
French people. few performances more and the ''t
obstacle win have been removed from the pain ana
Wagncr's works viii take their place in the French
rcpertory What that place is bound to be Is wei
known 10 all the students OF French musical history
From purely musical point Of view 1t Is a nice
onestion whether the French not by instinct ana
training more susceptible to Wagner's art than inc
Germans 1t should not be forgotten that 1t was III
Paris not I'm Vienna, that Gluck Wngncrs predecessor,
was insprcd to begin his reformatOry movement ana
that from the beginning French opera composers stfoVe
for dramatic expression and respected the genius oI
their tongue while German writer's contcnted thcm-
selves with initiating tho style of the Itaans-a s'Se
utterly and irrccoaclaby at variance with the spirit as
well rs the matter OF the German language. For TINS
reason as well as of the nlcompelng scnsuous
charm Of Wagncr's music and stage pictures one docs
NOT need 10 be the seventh Of seventh son TO
predict with confidence that once the way Is opehl
the most enthusiastic Wagner public in the world
will be that Of Paris.
The opposition to Wagners works has brought more
disgrace on tho composers Of Paris than any one
else The conduct of the vulgar mob, in view oil us
constitution, might find shadow of excuse lhat
mob has had no chance to know anything about
Wagner II took its cue from the stuff placed before
II by the scribblcrs for the cOmmunisuc sheetS Oh
Paris Wagner had "insulted France" ana
virtuous patriotism would close France to his dramas
Had these patriots read the foolish farce fdhe
CaDtulationp which was the vehicle of the alleged
insult they would have known that the greater part
of what little vltriOl it contains was intended by
Wagner to fall on the Germans and their theatrical
SYSTEM 1t is a foolish lampOOn, whose failure W'lS
advertised to the world in the refusal of the German
| theatres to produce It even in the midst OF the
frenzy Of National jubilatOn which followed the
triumph OF the German arms in 1870. Tho farls
mob was never told OF this although NJ.
! Gabriel Monod In 1876, published letter from
! Wagner, in which he not only distinctly dlsaVO"eu
any intention to insult the French Nation. but pointed
out that his satrical shafts in reality directed
against HIS counrymen, and that In all his refer
cnce to the French he had recognized that they alone
OF Latin peoples had preserved real creative faculty
| Even the failure of "Tannhaeuser" in 1851, was
! always discussed by Wagner without bltternesS-a
singular fact when viewed in the light OF the acldOus
spirit which in later wears prosperity cnGendered IN
him. II Victor Hugo felt hurt by Fine Captuation,'
| IT, was probably because Of wounded vanity. In the
farce which Wagner persuaded himself to believe was
in the antique style Ghough it smacks as little oil
Aristophanes as it does OF Charlotte lrchf1elcrb
Iugos egotsm is scourged Bit but the effect OF THIS
had the play ever given, would have been TO turn
the laugh on Wagner Wagner ndculns the egousin
of Victor Hugo is the most dvertng Instance on record
n the not calling the kettle black. When Hugo
said that he would not listen 10 the music OF man
who had nsulted his country he meant that ne would
not rivc couutenance TO an artist who had made fun
of him. That was all there Of 1t In fact-the rest
WAS added by the sentimental nature of French patr-
o.ism and the dcmagoc5m of communlstc and journal
! stic blaclguards of the ROchefort stripe.