The record-union., 1897-05-23

romanticiStS, especially Robert Schu-
mann, have been confused to the injury
of both''
The "Frankfurter Zeitung'' prints
light on Wagners idiosyncracies in re-
gard to money matters 1t isfwell known
that he was always hard up and borrow
ing right and left On the other hand,
it is no less true that when he did have
money he was sometimes too free
lin sharing it with others Thus, when
Robert Franz called on him in Switzer-
land, Wagner invited him to go an ex-
cursion When Franz said he couldn't
because his means would not allow,
Wagner pressed on him some gold
pieces, and afterward refused to take
them back. Many years later, when
the London concerts he gave to cover the
Bayreuth deficit resulted in an addition
| to the deficit he refused large sum
which his English friends had privately
collected in order to wipe out that dis
grace. A similar action of his is re-
ferred to in the ''Frankfurter Zeitung"
of February 2Sth. In 1862 he conducted
| in Frankfurt two performances of 'Lo-
hengrin' which attracted much atten-
II.
the city, and the manager, OF course,
paid his hotel bill. In view of Wagners S
embarrassed pecuniary situation the
manager subsequently sent him homo
rarium of forty friedrichsd'or (about
$165) to Biebrich. When the agent
brought the gold pieces, Wagner looked
at them and said: THAT is a large sum,
but cannot take the money. l am glad
to accept an invitation from the Frank
furt manager, but l canot accept money
| for my services After pause, he add
| ed: .If Germany refuses to help me, this
| gift, too, can do me no good Ihe
strangest thing about this story is that
poor Wagner, when he said that S1oo
was big sum for a weeks services
really meant it, He was not an opera
singer.
The London Daily News" has the
following: If we may believe the Frencn
papers, the Covent Garden manage
ment desire this season to produce
| Samson ct Dalila" on the stage, and
have accordingly asked permission OF
DR.. Saint Saens to vary the libretto and
suppress the names of the Biblical char
acters. This plan was adopted by Verdi
in "Nino," and also in the case of Ros-
sini's Moses in Egypt" which became
peter the Hermit DR.. Saint-Saens
has telegraphed in reply from Las Pai-
mas: arrangements demandes pour
Samson impossibles." The idea prop
ably came from one of the artists, for
the Royal Opera Syndicate are hardly
likely to be anxious to mount such-
work the more especially as there Is not
an instance on record of a Biblical opera
added to the repertory.
| Commenting on B. J. Lang's state
ment that he regards Beethoven's in
fuence on the musical art Of to-day
as far SURPRISING that of any other
composer" w. S. B. Mathews of Chi
| cago SAYS: Il believe that as an IN
spiration for composers two other
| names are far more influential than
Beethoven; they are Bach and Wag-
ner Bach because he represents ab-
solute music, in and Of itself, with the
least possible of the storytelling ele-
ment. Therefore, it is always fresh
and, because we come to it unhampered
by a story which we seek to make the
music fit, we are able to feel it as its
true worth. And Wagner because he
carried thematic development and or
chestral coloring so much farther than
any one else"
f. S. Willard will return to England
early next month, and expects, it is
said, if he can find theater, to play a
short season in London, producing one
of the two new plays written for him
by Hall Caine. One is a domestic Ice
landic drama and the other a romance
founded on The Christian" Upon his
return to the United States in the aut-
umn he will produce Henry A. Jones
new play, THE Physician"
Cosima Wagner has at last issued the
complete list of artists who are to par
ticipate in this summers Bayreuth Fes-
tival. 1t Includes the conductors Hans
Richter Felix Mottl. Anton Seidl and
Siegfried Wagner, and the following
singers: Mines. Sucher, Brema, Gull
branson, Mulder, NM. Vogl, Gruning,
Van Dyck, Burgstaller, Perron, Fried
richs, Elmblad, Wachter. etc.
Nine Lloyd formerly a societaire of
the Comedie Franchise, from which
body she retired on her marriage with
NJ. Vibert the painter, has died in Paris
at the age of "a Among her characters
in the classic drama were Philaminthe,
in Les Femmes Savantes, and Ell
mire, in "Tartuffe." She became a
societaire in 1881.
Nr D;orro 10 Touo a vo1,,p,ipo,c writ
er concerning the affairs of the Second
Empire, is at work upon drama in
which Napoleon Ill and his courtiers
are to be represented. The Emperor
will be shown first in the heydey of his
prosperity, and later at the period OF
his overthrow.
There will be no lack of eminent tenors
at the Bayreuth festival this summer
Vogi, Van Dyck, Gruning and BurgstaI-
Ter have been engaged.
Sir Arthur Sullivan has promised that
if he can discover a promising subject
he will write for a Leeds festival a
choral work of about the same dimen-
sions as THE Golden Legend"
Tinel's oratorio "F'ranciscus" has
within six years had nearly hundred
performances in Europe.
Either Nine Melba does not like
London or London does not like her.
According to the Daily News" she
will not appear there in opera this sea-
son. and onlv once at a concert.