Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-13

shekes with thee that thou be not an exception to
g. Visit not with thy instructor. for It pronteth
thee htlle.
Value thy tabor BY its quality and not ,s: y 4:
thSn an hour carelessly spent
The Meistersinger in italian.
The Italian performance OF "Die Meister-
singer" has set the New York connoisseurs
a.thinkinE. Here is what Mr.. James 6.
Hunsker, = sane wagnerise, says Oft:
The 'Aeistersinger' was q sword which
cut both ways last week, as the ultra admir-.
ers Of the German tongue Il don't call them
Wagner1tes, for II they were Wagnerites
they would enjoy Wagner music If it were
sung in Portuguese) discovered that some
how or other the vocal phrases of the great
master seemed all the moro vocal because
sung in Italian, and the anti -Wagnerites
lstupid, purbiind idiots) found out that
Wagner's opera was really music and that
Seidl could conduct it. Well, seven years is
a long time to walt for all this, but better
late than never, so shake hands across the
bloodless chasm of prejudice and try to sn-
JOY work of art, no matter II it does not ap-
peal to your tribal instincts"
And these lines are in THE DIsPArcH's
New York letter from the art critic, M. G..
Rensselaer,, who reaches much the same
conclusion from different point OF view
and with some side Hmarks with which all
will not agree:
81 was brought up on the 'Msistersinger'
In Germany, and still care more for 1t than
for any other opera. have heard 1t sung q
great many times and By a great many IA
nous singers. l know the German text al
most by heart, and think 1t SO merry and
witty, poetic and graceful. that should like
for once to hear 1t spoken instead of sung
with the exception, naturally, of the many
lyrics. l did not suppose that any singer
could bring out novel beauties in this music,
Oh that with other than German words it
could be at all satisfactory.
"But the other night heard It in Italian,
with Jean de Reszke, Iassalle and Albanf,
and with unrenowned italian artists In the
secondary parts And behold, it was new
thing and a lovelier than ever before. Mar
rfed TO Italian ,yocables the most familiar
passages seemed doubly melodious. and
passages which before had made no special
It was idle to protest that the text "lost"
by translation. OR course it did when one
read the book. But when one listened to De
Reszke or even to the humblest Of his fell
lows, how Infinitely 1t gainedI One little
phrase would have been quite convincing
by itself. When Walther stands by the
which begins in German. Fur dich geliebte,
and we feel that we are hearing the gem of
the whole long opera. But wien he sang 1t,
Fer te, cara, we felt that we had never
IN short, there was no note in the opera
which had not gained by the translation of
the text. Habit, sentiment, prejudice, all
went for nothing. The ear asserted itself as
the true judge in the matter, Just as the eye
does when we look at piece Of
sculpture. To hear song sung first
in German and then in Italian reveals as
then in marble. The form in both cases re-
mains precisely the same. But the sound of
the song changes as greatly as the surface OF
the statue. There is as much difference be-
tween language Of consonants and one Of
vowels as between the Opaque. .coarse-9rafned
quality OF plaster and the tine-grained, trans
lucent quality Of marble."