Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-15

3 y
of tn modern nnsic-drama, Richard wag-
ner (1s1slsss) Note that word extracts"
None of the numbers programmed was
written for performance by itself. Each of
them (except the "Meistersinger', prelude,
and even that bears ii6st vital relation to
the opera 1t introduces;) has been arbitrarily
cut out of the score and will be presented
without the connection, the stage scene and
the dramatic action with which it rightfuliy
forms part and parcel. The composer
dramatist created out Of all these
elements, as co-equal and inter-dependent
factors, complete and homogeneous music
drama, unlike the preya;lling s; style Of opera.
utilized to string together lot of separate
pieces of music in which the principal sing
ers could be displayed to advantage.
70 transplant such music to the concert
room is much like taking house out Of the
middle of city row, built with party walls,
and setting it down in the midst of a field
it will certainly not look as it was designed
to look, If, indeed, it is able to stand alone
at all.
Lack of Introductory Measures.
The listener need not be surprised there.
fore, to find some of the Wagnernumberslack
ing anything like the Introductory measures
that most separate pieces possess, and lack
ing, also, perhaps, any climax or conven-
tional ending, or any brilliant passages to
show off the singer.
The imagination may have to prop the
musical structure up at both ends as well as
supply the scenic. surroundings and the
dramatic life and motion belonging, to it.
In justice to Wagner's real intentions, it is
absolutely necessary to remember that he
did not write this music as music, any more
than he meant his elaborate stage directions
to be carried out in dumb-show, as o panto-
mime. Upon the highest artistic grounds.
~f. f-<xf,, n NvT.,x~x, ,x,,tu 1nkn 80
music-dramas is as much out of place in the
concert hall as the conventional italian
opera, with its set forms, fancy singing, en-
sembles and other absurdities, is out of
place on the dramatic stage. Wagner him
self realized this, of course and was most
reluctant to let pieces be chopped out of his
works and used in concert. He yielded only
in few instances and then only because of
ances in order to awaken popular interestin,
and to raise funds for his gigantic project of
the National Theater at Bayreth. The only
argument to justify the continued use in the
a similar one of expediency; the music
dramas can be heard and seen in complete
form very rarely, If at all; great masses OF
people can have no other chance of becom-
work of the great composer, dramatist and
eSsayist, whose works, dramatic andliterary,
have set the art world in such COM
motion. The people themselves de-
mand it, as proven by recent Festivals
variably the Wagner performances have
been by far the most largely attended. 1t is
important, however, for the people to realize
just what relation these concert fragments
bear to the entire conception of their creator.
The Proper Way to Enjoy Music.
While much information is, for these
reasons, desirable as to the dramatic rela-
tion and accessories, in order to the intel
lectual appreciation of Wagner's music, it
must, however, be always borne in mind
and this point cannot be too strongly urged
that the way to enjoy this music, as any
other, Is simply to open the senses and the
heart and drink it in. The sensuous beauty
of Wagner's marvellous orchestral tone
coloring, the threads of delicious melody
that gleam all through the rich maze of
tones, the virile, passionate force that thrills
in the climaxes-all these, and other ele-
ments of purely musical beauty, lie right on
tn the ' surface ready to be enjoyed to the full
cares whit about the composer or the
drama or what not. Read your programme
books and study up as much as you please
beforehand. That adds greatly to the in
tellectuaL side. of ones appreciation. But
when the music. begins, stop thinking about
it and just listen. Don't look at the pro-
gramme book then (unlesS it be at the words
being sung, and even that is dangerous), but
simply abandon yourself to the sensations
and emotions of the music itself, as it talks
straight to the heart. One who attempts,
while the music is going on, to keep track of
the various "points'' suggested by commen-
tators or even the programme" given in
words by the composer, is most likely to
miss the very soul Of the music; he will come
out like the man that could not see the
forest for the trees. This good, if gratuitous
advice is applicable to the enjoyment of all
music, but especially to Wagner's, because
the constant discussion of his meanings and
methods has come to be q great bugbear in
the way of simple, sensible folk who would
like to enjoy music without being bothered
by polemics.
Some such attempt as is above made to re-
move the widespread misconceptions re-
garding Wagner's music is deemed more use
full to the public at large than a detailed
description of this evenings programme,