New-York tribune., 1896-10-04

HN-SS--S-ft--,: -,:1-~
and wo,an. "as il inspired by grand ''e'' S'''
'.very rcsoluteiy:
So now 10 greet the castle
Se@,ire from fear and terror
The s-vori phrase : heard afah' oesI,I''ins
riano and .vro,ling Ia crashing forhssi'''' '"'''
Voton "t.rns sclc1nly 10 Fricka
FOLLOW me wife.
In Walhala hidc with me
c~h, .c,.ua idea" with which he Is inspired Is
,,io,,s 20 all who know the tragedy. An aw'ui
,os. has dcyolved upon him Murder an" '"V'
l,c at his door and the thought o. mem Id" V'
s-urei his pleasure in the possession OF ""'.''."
u ~. d,v long With the bancful ring Tear
f,,l curse has entered the world a. the d'rec' con
s.-re,ce a. his wrongdong. Henceforih ne must
devote himself TO the work of reparauoh. May
rap the wrong may he righied by " ies'o'"''o" "a
he ,irg 20 the original owners Of the mage eod'
His cwn hands re bound. but he con'elNes u pam
= .irsr,red with grand idea" Of which the SYM
iol 3. tn. sword phrase. \ new race shall arse.
IN Irresistible sword shall aid it 10 obtain IN"
rr. and Of its own voHtion Ii shdu return '"'
,rcr 70 the element whence lust for power wres'ed
- II j. this creative thought when makes MN
aus win MS foot upon The rainbow bridge across
which the celestial household has passed into
V3iba'la Therefor, tho sword phrase flashes
,h-,IgA he porapous music. which j. the poSunde
% no tr.'oiyS prolo-ue.
- thi+ yllor0n ar1 profoundly beautiful dra-
i-e'f 10" toii"d forth in Bayr-uth oV the
~.~f rr-aI which mas been described. which j. ~
,:,oqj,al as f. is sillv and stupidity materiastic.
r.frer the giant he representative OF brute
strength would not have discarded weapon, nor
v.ulG lis greedy hear. nave wiihs;oOd the glitter
# No:htag's h..; Ncreover IT. j. mainly ind a;ed
in The drama 'ha; the magic power of the sword
W V--.an.S creation md he inference is plain
& lf,nn
n.r recourse 20 the clsprap device for accounting
fcr a musical phrase without making an appeal TO
ne intelligence aud Imagination Of the pubic u INK"
his change Ot the ethical scheme in 'farshai ioi
IN. : ke Of ne theatrical effect Of healing the
wound OF Amfortas 10y touch Of ihe lance IN
.irAd ~ the question illustrative o: conpassloh'
whi.h ..rvcs Wolfram Won Eschenbach. and Is AZ
tre foundation OF "Iohengrin" 1t also recalls IN"
change which Wagner made in ''Tannhauser aite'
i's first representations originally neither Venus
nor the corDse OF Elizabeth was visible In the iast
scene Both were present In the imagination OF the
audience. the death OF the saint being indicated
b. mo .oug Of the bell OF the Wartburg ana the
presence Of the temptr~ss Dy rosy light IN the
valley Thinking that the recognition Of these
things exacied TOO much from the public Wagner
composed the present finale. which compels us to
t.ink that Elizabeth climbed up to tho castle. died
prepared for burial and brough. back to the
valley while Tannhsuser engaged IN telling the
story Of his pilgrimage 10 Rome Great men can
sometimes commit great blund"rs
,ari Re.necke mas contributed a pa;heticaly IN
,erestjng chapter TO the story Of Schumann's n-
sanity In an article published In the ''Deufschen
Revue" ne writes:
In my pers ,nal intercourse with Schumann ! OBJ
served from about the year $50 change in his
nature but OF course. without suspicion OF It,
cause He had become more silent than ever, at
lines seemed 10 be A; loss for words. and com
mod
a tone. sometimes several tones ringing loudI! ior
a quarter OF an hour AZ time when. a. matter
o. fact. complete silence surrounded him. It was
the ominous illusion of his senses. Gradually too.
MS condu.,ing became less trusiworthy. and re-
member particularly painful concert rehearsal al
waica mad 10 d Under his irec
ton The solo player who had been engaged was
taken H. and Schumann SUMMONED me- on me morn
ing Of the day of the concert from Ioiogne 10 D.s @
seidor: Hastily gathering the needful articles . TO-
geiher steamed Dusseldorf and hurried to the re-
painful and exnaustng affair. for Schumann could
enough and We had TO repeat Infinitely until a, last
the oncertneister and ! took charge OF the con, con-
sombrs memories OF evenings after concerts when
the glorious master. scourged by hallucinatio sat
for periods that seemed endless 10 nS WIN ms
head supported by his hand. while we sal around
silent, Also of the time the only time In his, ms NE
when he was unfrendy to me- re ~" ar for
hands one SUNDAY forenoon for us young musi-
clans who enjoyed the privilege OF rreqen1 m hor b
fore meal time and the Schumanns excused them
selves till then We retired TO our room, Dut LOON
the Ball Scenes" which naturally Interested us
very much with us and began TO play them Suu-
denly Schuma mn appeared his look filled WIN anger
snatched the music from the rack ana disappeared
without word We were utterly crushed, ana ap-
peared at dinner with anything but pieasant M Ieei-
ings. can easily be guessed But our icdrs were
Idle for apparently Schumann had forgiven ana
forgotten and was doubly gracious In the midst or
masquerade party In the Cologne CarneVal thc
terrible news reached that Schumann whose
mind was completely clOuded. had thrown nimscii
INTO the Rhine. He was rescued. as Is known Dut
the tragedy took It's course without cessaLon
until the angel Of death relieved the unhappy suHer-
er on July %. 1856.
Herr Rcineckc's story OF Schumann's incapachy
as a conductor has many parallels In the memories
OF the Lepsic musicians OF forty odd years ago
IL did not spring wholly from the decay OF his
mental powers. however. Schumann never was u
sood conductor He did not know how to tell the
musicians wha; he wanted OF them al rehearsal
nor could ne enforce his wishes by the customary
conventional signs at concert. lie also seemed
20 nave no conception OF tempt when before an
Ucnestra. The late Otto Singer told the writer
hans years ago that as a conservatory pup'l nv
a." a." attended a concert at which Schilmann con-
..v.ei MS cantatl, Paradise and the Peri: Eacn
thc siO far No n