New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-27
MUSICAL COMMENT.
BOON OF Won BUELOW'S LETTERS
WAGNER AND HIS YOUTHFUL. DIS
CIPLE-IIIS POIITICS-THE
CONTROVERSY WITH
HIS PARENTS.

HIS PARENTS.
very few books have been printed within, ,ho
A"S' u"cah" on the subject of music which can
'P'i' III readablencsS and interest with the
."" Oh Hans Won Bulows youthful letters.
'oo pE ms widow. There was a decided lit
erary trend in Buow's nature; n trend which
c""ie - hIm by inheritance. and was nurtured
ny jill ms youthful associations His father was
an author of so much repute that when dreams
Vi iahe came to the young musician he was
oe u write to his father Of his hope to have a
.c space below him in the next edition Of
br"' khaus's Lexicon" The cotere of enthusi-
astS VINO gathered around Wagner and List
ana fought the early battles Of the Neo-Ronan-
TIC Sch""l of music not quite fifty years ago
were clever with the pen with scarcely an excan
uoh put not one of them, not even Wagner him
"N'' 'oPh 10 IL 50 naturally Won Bulow In
every respect he was a remarkable man. and for
those VINO were personally acquainted with him
IL rs easy to believe that he would have, won
ceiepritE IN any one of the callingS which lay
open to him at the outset of his career He
would surely have made a jurist had he chosen
10 satisfy his mothers ambition for him: or a
statesman had he not at an early age developed
republican notions which would have been a bar
TO his political advancement: or an essayist had
ne given himself 10 literature What a keen
critic of things political and artistic he v,ouId
have been, But how merciIess,
H. Appleton x Co. with whose permission the
accompanying portraits are printed) are the pub
iishers If the English version of the letters
which were translated by Constance Bachc Miss
Bache reduced the bulk of the original CORE
spondence about one-half but had the approval
OF Mine" Won Bulow in her work of selection and
condenSl alton. She has also written a preface
and done To students the excellent service of
providing an index which is helpful but would
have been more so had it concerned itself with
- = he IL.
covers fourteen years of the musicians life from
May. lSit. to May. 1S-,i the first letter is that
or Il prrc"ciouS lad Of eleven to his mother; the
last that of virtuoso Of Twenty-Five. already
launched on a brilliant career. In her preface
the widow remarks with entire correctness that
the chief Importance of the publication lies in
the biographical details which the letters con-
tain. Ven Bulow not fond of retrospect: of
that fact the writer produced testimony in these
columns last September in the form of an ancc-
dote more remarkable for the forcefulness of its
languag" than its dclicacy. Mime. Won Bulow
confirms it Life is too short for reflection; il
ne faut pas remuer le passe: it is better To util-
iZe the time for fresh work: thes, We're TIN,
things h" was in the habit of saying when people
approached him the subject of Memoirs
Recolicctons.' etc" 1t is therefore all the more
delightful to have the story of his early life told
by him in his own unconstrained way. with a
tention of all the notes of affection natural
correspondence between parents and child. broth
er and sister; with free utterance of the en-
thusasm which carry him along from station to
station in the psychological journey; with proud
assertions NJ manliness and independence of pur-
pose. and humble apologies and prayers for for
gveness for grief and sufferings caused by his
acts. We purpose TO show how fully episode
OF which the world has hitherto had exceedingly
sparse inforinatio is told in this book.
The influence CT Wagner upon the life of Won
BuOw for good and evil lasted from the latter's
sixteenth year to his death It's most unfortu-
nate aspects do not invite discussion now, and
brought to mind only by circumstances that
not of the l0l letters written 10y Won Bilow
contained in this volume is addressed Wag-
ner. and that from the time when Won Bjilow
went to Weinlar To study with List to the end
of the period embraced in the volume tn al
luSionS 10 Wagner are comparatively scanty
and with single exception insignificant, Dur
ing all this period, however. Won Biow one
OF the most faithful adhcrents of the reformcr of
the lyric drama and aftcrWard of his most
vigorous champions. and it is obvious enough
that Were not the present Nine. Wagner the