New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-18
MUSICAL MATTERS.
THE co,rRsE OF wAGNERIAN CRITICISM
SOME NOTES ON MR. NEwMANs
ROCK MUSICAL DoINGs IN
cINCINNATI-A LETTER
BY NICOLAI.

cINCINNATI-A LETTER
BY NICoLAI.
A. :, was impossible to make Wagner by poiemcs
IN his favor Il will be impossible to mar MN WI"
,,.s asa,nst him The seven volumes OF MS
nrose writings which MT Ashton Ellis mas ni'i'eu
the readers of English to ponder ana oses' ~
norteutous enough bookshelf anu IA 0
bu, neep into their ne shall find enough seiiou.
nsss Of purpose. strength Of conviction ana STOUT
- :, tauh 20 move a range OF mountains. yer
az sa,,or might have been seventy French ltailan
Notch Spanish. Portuguese and Russian Eiises
..,oh. have nut them all into their various '""
,uages and Europe might have crahmeu ns ape
cious intellectual nav with them yet "ouu ~
have been no Wagner had there been no Lone"-
.,rsp., or tristan" Some such convection mas Pc
session Of the mind Of Ernest Newman an fiis'sn
litter who has recently put out book Uhrous"
q p putnam's Sons in New-YorD called "A o'uus
OF Wagner" II is a good book 10 reao' oe0"S
e circumspect temperate. pleasantly argumeh,a
tive and respectful-virtues which are not oo'Sp
nous In the body OF specialist literature 70 w.
che hook belongs 1t Is also foolish booK because
s,.,ns walled the musician Wagner TO peerless
,,rnacle II attempts to prove him lloslcai any
inconsistent in the very creative processes 10 49,
the works which form the lofty pedestai on "'"''
he stands owe their existence.
Mora than fifteen years ago The Tribune ha'iea
,h odvent Of the stvle OF criticism which the pest
,oo,,,res of Mr. Newmans book exempl1y III
o,,,o,v NJ Edward Kulkes book, Richard wagner ;
seine Anhanger. ind seine Gegner' rie'i''
there had been much 10 sreve the luulciouS "
dent whether friend or foe. OF Inc Was"e' 'd
Suo,no IN the hooks and pamphlets published on
the subject The two extremes OF iauoauoh anu
abuse were illustrated in the writings OF frieurie"
N,e,zsche and among the gratifying features IN
1.-The Case Of Wagner the circumstance 'ha'
one of the best answers 10 that forceluHy
hook was put forward by the very kulKe VINO ioui
wears earlier had found many openings Ior ms
lance in the armor Of the doughty Rlcharu pu'
Kulkes lance bright and clean VIM WIZ
Nietzsche's bore an envenomed point Nietzsche
position was summed I'D by the present "rl.ei IA
a review of the Bayreuth festival OF 1881 "Io" op
neared in "Scrbner's Magazine. In 1910 I>ie'~'S"e
considered Wagner not only the discoVerer Vi
new art but Of art itself and OF us true
70 human society Wagner was MUSICIAN pm
losonber historian aesthetican. critic, master OF
language 'mythologist and mytho-poet. II seeiieu
81 least a debatabe point in the nina OF 'ne 81"
thuslastc professor of classical phioiosy "He."e'
a visit 10 Bayreuth not enough IN ltseh ~
furnish an answer In the affirmative 10 the ques'io
,ho,ber or not life was worth living-an answer
which TO the simple minded is out OF all harihoHs
with the philosophy of pessimism when wagner
works were supposed to preach. But that was II
1876 In 1855 the same Nietzsche doubted II Was"ei
was either dramatist or musician lie uiu NO.
know indeed whether the god OF MS carrier iuo'
airy was entitled TO be called a German Oh even
human being (mensch). He was sure. however 'ha'
ne was "a modern Cagliostro, who mad mace
music III" a master Of hypnotic tricks Ills
music was "endIessness with melody the gym
nastics Of uglness the tghtrope OF olscoru ,
his dramatic characters "a gallery OF ihNdhus'
Bayreuth was nothing more than grano OPERA anu
not even good grand opera In TINS instance I"
discrediting personal equation was too obvious 10
huf violence
professor Nietzsche proclaimed his apostasy re-
NAMED inexplicable until information OF his mental
advancement followed hard on the heels Oh his
book. Der Fall Wagner"
s,,co the davs of Nietzsches fulgurant paradox
several changes have come over Wagnerian crlti-
cism. The most gratifying Of these is the ehmha-
lion Of tho element Of bitterness which character
lzea tho early controversy. This change was large
" though not wholly. due to Wagners uedth
Wagner was never less conciatory In manner imam
in the closing years Of his career. when he turned
his thoughts more and more toward the things
With which there occasion for him to med
die (such as metaphysics and social philosophy OF
which Mr. Newman thinks he ludicrously ig-
noranO and became and more antipathetic
toward all manifestations his own, In the
art for which he had done the most But before
he died opposition his art works had been en-
quilted by the wave of popular and professional
him was found 10 be as idle an occupation as
grimacng at the moon IN the hope OF anteverting
an eclipse. 1t IL noticeable. however. that the de-
crease in viruence part of the opposition has
not been met with corresponding modification Of
the extravaganza which marks the utterances OF
those who claim the right to speak for the master
But It is significant In this phase of the that
these utterances do no longer come from the cham
pions OF twenty years ago. but from parcel Of
young who draw their inspiration straight
from the household of the masters widow. Their
leader is Houston Stewart Chamberlain English
man. When II is recalled how strenuously Wag-
insisted upon the Teutonsm Of every phase Of
his artistic and phosophic thought and deed the
circumstance that the pair who have them
selves up the court OF last resort are his widow
who is half Hungarian and half French and an
Englishman, is at least amusing But a truce to
the question of nationality; 1t is a mere bagatelle
after all. while thing of pith and moment is the
fact that there have been so many departures from
Wagner's teachings and examples at the festivals
In Bayreuth that an effort is making In Ger
many under the leadership of of the old cham
pions Of Wagner. named Moritz Wirth, TO organize
society for the restoration of "Das Rhengold" to
Its original purity in performance. 1t is Herr
Wirth's contention-and he is unquestionably right
IN the matter-that If ''Das Rheingold" prop
erly staged and performed II would become one Of
the most popular OF repertory pieces OF the period
With, by the way, of the leaders in the
attempt TO hold the Wagner Society to It's original
purpose and preserve for II its original rights
when ne saw the Bayreuth festivals degenerating
into the kind OF ney-making show which Wag-
ner used TO thunder against The Wagner Society
Is no longer factor In the Wagneran cult as prac-
tised at Bayreutb because IT is no longer needed
Its function. far as wahnfried is concerned ia
now performed by the peripatetic Briton and Amer
lean The announcement has already gone forth
that all the tickets for the festival this summer
sold. Why, nothing comes auiss. 30 money comes
withal"
Mr.. Newman's book would have been timely any
time within the last twenty-five years, but we fame,
that 1t would have been more influential even a
decade ago than 1t will be now. We mean, OF
course. ia London which city has been from ten u