Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-06
PAGES 9 To 20.

! in life Here the Wagner audience dress as
| they please, and sit in the dark and worship
| in silence. At the Metropolitan in New
| York they sit in a glare, they wear their
| showiest harness, they hum heirs, they
| squeak fans, they litter, and they gabble all
| the time. In some of the boxes the conver,
| sation and laughter are so loud as to divide
| the attention of the house with the stage.
| In large measure the METROPOLITAN is q
showcase of rich fashionables who are NOT
trained in Wagnerian music, and have nd
reverence for it, but who like to-promotS
! art and show their clothes.
An Explanation OF the Pilgrimage.
Can that be an agreeable atmosphere tu
persons IN whom this music produces a SORT
of divine ecstasy, and to whom its creator
is very deity, his stage q temple, the
works of his brain and hands eonsecrated
things, and the partaking of them with eve
and ear sacred solemnity? Manifestly.
no. Then, perhaps, the temporary expatrias
tion, the tedious traversing of seas and con-
tinents, the pilgrimage to Bayreuth, stands
explained. These devotees would worship
in an atmosphere of devotion. 1t is only
here that they can find it without feck Of
blemish or any worldly pollution. In this
remote village there are no sights to see,
there is no newspaper to intrude the worries
of the distant world, there is nothing going
on, it is always Sunday. The pilgrim wenda
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 of tremendous emotion, and
he Is in no fit condition to do anything but
lie torpid and slowly gather back life and
strength for the next service. This opera
of Tristan and Isolde last night broke the
hearts Of all witnesses who were of the
faith, and know of some and have heard or
many who could not sleep after it, bat cried
the night away. 1 feel strongly out Of
place here. Sometimes feel like the one
sane person in a community of the mad;
sometimes 1 feel like the one blind man
where all others see; the one cropping savage
in the college of the learned, and always,
during service, feel like hereto in
heaven.
But by no means do 1 ever overlook or
minify the fact that this is one of the most
extraordinary experiences of nv life.
have never seen anything like this before.
have never seen anything SO great and
fine and real as this devotion.
Marks Sure Thing on Art.
Friday-Yesterday's opera was 'Parsi-
fal'' again. The others went and they show
marked advance in appreciation; but 1 went
hunting for relics and reminders of the
Margarine Wilhelmina, she OF the i'm.
perishable 'tMemoirs." 1 am properly
grateful to her for her (unconscious) satire
upon monarchy and nobility, and therefore
nothing which her HAND touched, or her eve
looked upon, is Indifferent to me. am
her pilgrim; the rest of this multitude here
are Wagner's.
tuesday, have seen my last two operas,
nv season is ended, and We cross over into
Bohemia this afternoon. 1 was supposing
that my musical regeneration was accom-
plished and perfected, because I enjoyed
both of these operas, singing and all, and,
moreover, one of them was ''Parsifal;" bus
the experts have disenchanted me. They
say:
''Singingl That wasn't singing; that was
the wailing and sereeching of third-rats
obscurities, palmed off on US in the interest,"
of economy"
Well, ought to have recognized the sign
the old, sure sign that has never failed
me in matters of art. Whenever I enjoy
anything in art, it means that it is mighty
poor. The private knowledge of this fact
has saved me from going to pieces with
enthusiasm in front of many and many
chrome. However, my base instinct does
bring me profit sometimes; I was the only
man out OF 8, 200 who got his money back on
those two operas. MARK TWAIN.