The Lamar register., 1895-12-28

some of bis queer
habits. .-women's dressing gowns OF
fabulous price. rooms ntted up As
boudoirs-there is much reason
to suspect tina; he was sexual
psyehopathic. | have shown, In my
-Homme de Genie" that be seems ~
many of his letters rot only mad but
imoeeile. IL IL true. too. that he often
repeats the same concept. that ne Is
often obscure and contradictory; thA'
he delights In plays upon words. thAt'
like the mAtiolds. be underlinea the
words which seem TO him the most I'M
portant In bis works. that. when &c
wrote Judaism In Music he bad a
sort OF deiirium OF persecution against
the Jews And certainly waEnsrs
musical libretti, which his fanatics ad-
miro As wells OF philosophy, are ineon-
plete. even silly. and their verses are
horrible. But that detraets nothing
from the merit OF the musician. the
Intervening Of even shAkespeAres
dramas is often puerile. worthy OF pup
pet shows and street players; but the
immense treasure of psychology stored
IN them does not on this seeount lose
n N1olrduull pAEN pt AAh
smile at the general slaughter which
puts an end to the last scene: but ~e
close the book enthusiasts over the In
nnite power OF the genius which faith
oms the human soul down to It's gid
diest depths What matters 20 US the
philosophy which he has chosen to en-
pioy. asks Cesare Lomercso In the
Century.
So we must regard Wagner as a great
musician only. ard not as poet or
philosopher. His music is great eres-
ton, and this sufices. a great creation.
not because OF the ideas which Il tries
20 represent. but because II expresses.
with extraordinary power. one Of the
most universal sentiments. Even the
most positive man has a very strong
inclination to embeiiish hysone ages
In his imagination. with all those
flowers lacking In his own time; seeing
them from afar. he does not perceive
all those iunumerable yulgarities OF
life which make our existence 80 tedi-
GUS; and he thinks that men mus, have
been happier. Not otherwise. perhaps.
arose the widely diffnsed legends of the
Golden Age. Wagner has done no more
than color this illusion vividly. He 10
only the musician OF this universal sen
timent. which he has been able to make
objective. In forms precise and not
evanescent. As TO the accusation that
Wagner is Incapable Of creating sym
metricai melodies. and that be covered
eonnterpoint with ridicuie. and avoid
ed all burdensome labor; that he in
vented the theory OF the Leitmotiy be-
canse he was not able to differentiate
the personages OF his operas by giving
TO his music salient eharaeteTisties.
these accusations vanish merely at the
names OF his operas" Lohcngrin,
Die MeIstersinger. etc.
Nordau pronounees atayistie. and
therefore diseased. not only the CO.
operation Of the various arts which
wagner dreamed Of. bat also the ineom-
plete melody and the natural recitative
OF the wagnerian personages. AS to
the first point. be II observed that Wag-
ner tended not TO obscure the specific
characteristics Of the various arts, in
order to fuse them into one art, but to
make them work together. each with its
proper means. In the musical drama
Whence we perceive the distance which
separates this ideal (which does not