The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-08
THEFEAST OF ST. WAGNER
WoRsHIPERs OF THE MUSICAL SAINT
AT THE BAYREUTH FESTIVAL.
Deep silence for Four Hours and q
So Much Music ut sitting.
c. W. Stevens. in London Mail.

you saw nothing and heard nothing Won
could feel the air charged with expectancy.
Up over the living darkness stole the nrst
soul-thrilling bars of the prelude to "Parsi-
fall"
Nevertheless it had taken a good hour to
get the multitude settled down into its
proper disposition of rapt attention. 1t had
begun TO take its way to that theater-the
Feast Playhouse is the right name for it
in Bayreuth-by half past ?, an hour and a
half before the first note was due Between
the regular lines of trees rolled two streams
of carriages. some Fastening to set down,
the others to find somebody to take up
again. Under the trees stood the inhabir-
ants of Bayreuth. watching the stream go
by; there jostled them long column OF
foot passengers, moving perpetually at a
steady two miles an hour up the gentle rise
towards the theater. There We're English
Americans, French and Germans, genttles
and Jews, soldiers and civilians-it was
strange to see cavalry lieutenants in uni
form. the full score under their arms, going
to hear an opera al in the afternoon--old
men and little girls, shaggy-haired vr-
tuosi, and untutored children of nature
from the Western prairies.
You may smile at Wagner as you WILL
yet, genius or charlatan it was no ordinary
personality that could draw together this
motley crowd in bis honor. Bear in mind
that you cannot pay less than G5 for your
tickets alone, to say nothing of coming to
Bayreuth and staying there. Many of these
people may have had the vaguest idea Of
the difference between a leit-motv and a
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS may hardly have
known who Wagner was Bpt the fact re-
mains that Wagner somehow impressed
himself enough on the world TO make peo-
pie think it worth spending G5 per head
and upward to hear and see his works in
the way he thought they should be heard
and seen.
We came to the red-brick theater-the
most hideous ! ever saw. 1t is the naked
skeleton of theater, with all its anatomy
vestioule, auditorium, flies, dressing rooms
sticking out unashamed, with no attempt
to hide or heautify them 1t is not built
for show Except at festival time there is
nobody to look at it, and at festival time
everybody is naturally looking at every
WORTH LOOKING AT
And assuredly everybody else was well
worth looking at l suppose it must be
rather perplexing problem how one is TO
dress for a theatrical performance in the
country which begins at 4 and ends at 10.
Wonderful, indeed, were the solutions of it.
The women, for once, were less wonderful
than the men. The women merely wore
evening dress, or dinner dress, with a bon
net, or garden-party dress, or travelling
dress, or shirts and bicycle skirts, accord
ing as they regarded it as town OF. country,
morning or eyeni5i ne aId sars an
straw felt hats and yellow boots, which
they consider good enough for any occasion
abroad But the German men, There was
just one gentleman In correct frock coat,
light trousers and tall hat Another came
very near him put mad a sraeI ms ms.
in deepest mourning. Several wore evening
dress with black ties; one had invented
kind of combination dress and frock coat
frock buttoned dress unbuttoned-whieh,
but for it's general grotesqueness, was
P Rt Ses snv We're yer g inv
beside the play of fancy which others
showed.
ciety column, we, noticed the following:
Correct morning dress, with a straw hat;
correct evening dress, WITH s snlp1l rus
and cricket cap; black morning coat, Leg
horn straw hat and kniekerboekers; frock
coat, white waistcoat and kind OF gut
deer stalker; fTock coat, sombrero gray
hair down back and bit of sausage stick
ing out of mouth; frock coat, straw hat,
duck trousers no Waistcoat tartan tie, an
oth9r kind of tartan shirt and third KIND
of tartan cricket belti brown kniekerhoek-
ers gray flannel shirt patent-leather shoes.
no coat no waistcoat, no nat.
You will imagine that time passed quick.
ly and enjoyabiy in the eonte,mpla ata %
of it there stepped to the threshold OF inc
theateF half q dozen men with brass m
struments. A little man in a frock coat
and a bowler ranged himself in front or
them. Suddenly he began TO wave ms arms
round his head, andtto this eondue5lng, tney
That meant 1t was to begin in flYe minutes;
it is the regular signal at Bayreuth. we
into the bare, undecoFated theater, II was
not more beautiful inside than out. IL Is a
vast slopng wedge Of which !, the STAGE ra IS IS
boxes for royal persons and such like; be-
tween are the stalls. There is nothing else
but stalls-tier on tier OF cans,bott4ne Toned
Each seat costs 91 and in theory eacn is
as good as each of the others. In pracuee
the back side seats-need l say mine was
a back side seat?-are not quite as good
for seeing as the front middle seats.
A PLACE TO HEAR.
On the other hand. thsy are probably bet
ter for hearing An enormous orchestra
does not combine properly unless you are
some distance from it, although at Bay
reuth, by most admirable arrangement,
the orchestra is tucked away under the
stage, and you cannot see it. Take IT al
together, this Is the most practical opera
house in the world. 1t would never do In
London; it is not very comfortable, ana the
difficulties in the way Of seeing who IS IN
the house are almost insuperable; But IN
Germany where people go to the opera
Won want Stern bare. unitarian, just sim
ply a place to see and hear from, II Is eA-
actly what you want. ,
The lights went out; the rustic OF people
went out as suddenly; the prelude pegan-
The prelude ended, and the frst act DeBan
From the audience there was not slnSlS
sound The Youngest American girls tried
a whisper or two at first, but even they
were awed into silence. There was more
than one point where ! should like TO nave
laughed: but amid this strained, attentive
rapture no laugh came. Ihe hrst ACT lastsd
an hour and three-quarters; nobody stirred
or made a sound. There was an interval
Of three-auarters OF an hour, and then the
second act lasted an hour ana a quarter;
nobody stirred or made a sound. Then an
other Interval of three-q quarters OF an hour,
and a third act of hour and a half.
Perhaps twenty people--moStly American
had gone home: still nobody made a sound.
Four hours and half of solid music, with
out a tune to hum in the W hole or IL; 1000
people a good third of them from the two
least to- o-awed peoples on earth, and not
a voice or cough, or banging seat from
the lot of them
an? With Germans you can understand IL:
they are trained to sit at attention. one
German tainted with DEVOTION which was
the only distraction of the day. But I'm
glish and American men and women don't
Sit four hours and a half mouonless. on
ment Of being cramped and uncomfortable.
Then why do they do it2 True. they have
got to do 1t. once they are inside the place;
but why do they come? Partly. perhaps,
IL is because Of the delicious holiday set
ting of the piece. You so out of the dark.
verence-stricken. human smelling play
house. after the first act to sit in the sun
and look away over the broad Bavarian
valleys with hr-grown ridges between:
after the second act, TO eat your dinner