Omaha daily bee., 1891-12-06

You. Some Of these pilgrims here become In
effect cabinetsiscabi nets Of souvenirs of Bay
reuth. 1t is believed among scientists that
you could examipe the crop Of u dead Bay
reuth pilgrim5AJfyNhere IN the earth aud to
where he came from. But | like this ballast.
/ think a "Hermitagen scrupe-up, at 5 In the
evening, when aAthe famiue-breede have
been there and laid in their mementoes and
gone, is tho qaietest thing you can lay on
your keelson except gravel.
Th~ursday-Theg keep two teams of singers
in STOCK Tor tho other roles, and one OF these
is composed of'thn most renowned artists in
the world, withAMaterna and Alvary in the
lead. suppose a double team is necessary;
doubtless a single team would die of exhaus-
ton within a week, for all the plays last from
4 in the afternoon till 10 at night Nearly all
the labor falls upon tho nalf dozen head sing
ers, and apparently they are required to fur
nlsh all the noise they can for tho money. III
they feel a soft, whispery, mysterious feel
ing they are required TO open out and let the
public know it. Operas are given only on
Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thurs
days. with three days of ostensible rest per
week, 9nd two teams to do the four operas,
but the ostensible rest is devoted largely to
rehearslng. 1t is said that the off days are
devoted TO rehcarsing from some time IN the
morning Till 10 at night. Arc there two or
chestras alsof it is quito likely since there
are ITO names in the orchestra list.
Yesterday the opera was Iris tan and
Isolde" | have seen all sorts of audiences
-uG blSdltiS' OItTHS, CbuCtGlS, ltCtuIcS, ser
mons, funerals-but none which was twin TO
the Wagner audience of Bayreuth for fixed
and revcrentlul attention, absolute stiffness,
and petrltied attention to the end OF an act of
the attitude assumed at the beginning of il.
you detect no movement in the solid mass
OF heads ami shoulders, you seem TO sit with
tue dead In the gloom OF a tomb, Gou know
that they are being stirred to their pro-
foundest depths; that there are times when
they want TO rise and wave haudkerchiefs
ana shout their nDurODltiOu. and times
when tears are running down their faces and
1t would be a relief TO free their pcnt emo
TONS in SoDS or screams; yet you hear not
one uttcranCe till the curtain swings together
and the closing strains nave slowly faded out
and died then tho dead rise with one inn
pulse and shake the building with their APP
plause. Every seat is full i'll the first act,
there is not u vacant one In the last. If a
man would like to be conspicuous let him
como here aud retire from the opera house in
the midst of an act. IL would make him cello
brated.
The audience reminds me of nothing | have
ever seen and of nothing | have read about
except the city in the Arabian tale where
all the inhabitants nave been turuod to brass,
and the traveller finds them after centuries,
mute, motionleSs, and still retaining the atti-
tudcs which they last knew In life. Here tho
Wagner audience dress as they please, and sit
In the dark and worship in silence. At the
Metropolitan in New York they sit in n glare,
they wear their showiest harness, they hum
airs, they squeak fans, they litter, and they
gable all the time. In some of the boxes
the conversation and laughter arc so loud as
to divide the attention OF the house with the
stage. In u large measure the Metropolitan
is a wca for rich fashionaDles who are
not trained in Wagnerian music and have no
reverence for il, but who like to promote art
and show their clothes.
Can that be an agreeable atmosphere to
persons in whom this music produces a sort
of divine ecstasy. and to whom It's creator is
a very deity, his stage a temple, the works of
his brain and hands consecrated things, and
the partaking OF them with eye aud ear a sa-
cred solemnity' Manifestiy, no. Then per-
haps the tenn porary eX pairiation, the tedious
traversing of sens and continents, the pill
grimage to Bayreuth. stands explained.
These devoteesj would worship in an at
mosphere of devotion. 1t is only here that
that they can find II without fieclk or blomish
or any worldly pollution. In this remote viii
lage there arc no sights to see. there Is nc
newspa per to intrrfde the worries of the dis
tant world there is nothing going on, it is al
ways Sunday. The pilgrim wends to his
temple out OF town, sits out his moving
service, returns TO his bed with his heart
and his soul and his body exhausted
by long hours D of tremendous emo
ton, and he is in no fit condition to do any
thing but lie torp1d and slowly gather back
life and strength for the next service. This
opera of Tristan and ISOLDE last night
broke the hearts o fnil witnesses who were OF
the Earth and 1 know OF some and have heard
of MANY who could not sleep after it, out cried
the night away. | feel strongly out of place
here. Sometimes ] feel like the one sane
person in a community o fthe mad: sometimes
[ feel like the one blind man where all others
see; the one CROPPING savage i'll the college
of the learned, and always, during service, |
feel like a hereto in heaven.
But by no means do ] ever overlook or miu-
ify the fact that this is one of tho most ex.
traordinary experiences Of my life. | have
never seen anything like this before. [ nave
never seen anything so great and fine and
real as his devotion.