Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-08-27

a sort Of demi-god OF harmony His com
positions affect some of US like the rum
bling OF a hsh-cart over cobblestones at
night. while they infuse into others the
most exalted and inflated delight that
melody can create"
Though the man without nerve u.s.
cusses the paper Of Mr.. Oirick I'm cau-
tious. non-cOmmittal way. be never let's
on which side he favors. but. after com
menting on the information il contains,
says
when you finish the survey under his
CMr. OrriclCs) agreeable direction. you
may have not n whit clearer ideas with
regard TO the artistic value of Wagner :
compositions but you are cheered by the
knowledge that lot OF profound people
agree with you i'm the belief that Wagner
was either a maniac or a shrewd schemer
who understood the worlds desire for
being fooled and determined TO reap per-
soual glory and benefit by supplying fool
ishuess in enormous quantities. 1t
pleases a musical Hottentot 10 discover
that. while Mr.. Krehbiel and Sidney
LanieT and an army or other infallible
judges pronounce the productions OF
Wagner the greatest things that ever
darted from a musicians brain, another
army N giants. headed by Count Lee
Tolstoi. is ready to maintain with pole
ak and bill-hook that the operas Of Rich
ard Wagner are a mass Of clashing sound
and musical deformity-in other words,
what IS vugarly termed rot The bull
dozed and brow-beaten individual who,
with a genuine capacity for enjoying
"phe Last Rose Of Summer and Dixie
and Sousa's marches and Strauss s
waltzes. is made to 90 and listen half
the night to a succession Of cracked
thunder-claps and cacOphOniOuS disJOint-
ed squawks, in which his wife or his
grandmother discerns a procession of the
paladins Of Charlemagne at midnight
with the full moon abOVe-this bulldOzed
and brow-beaten individual we say may
not find out from Mr.. Orrick's paper
whether Richard Wagner and his school
have produced music or not. but he Will
get a quantity of comfort from conten-
plating the names Of the exalted per-
sonages who don't think so. And here
we drop the subject. with a parting re-
hinder that we have not said one word
to indicate which side we Endorse our
selves. Like Mr.. Orrick. we prefer 70
observe this squabble from a convenient
distance. (N. B.-We are rapid run
ner)"
All young man of Norfolk one Of these
days you will not run after "sassng" clas-
sic music. Just wait till you marry one OF
those female "Show-pans" who climb all
over the piano worries and perpetualy
sing songs I'm which the main plot Is ira
la-la-lol-a-lolla. and the villain eternaly
replies in long-drawn-Out words which
are chopped up into mincemeat; just wait
III YOU spend $1,000 on the musical edu-
cation OF your daughters, and have them
return home from boarding school 10 rem
der etudes pronounced a-toOds) and noe
turns and sOnatas, and tc deums ana
stabat matters and a lot of other things
that are all Greek 70 you. Then you'll
know which side of the fence you're on;
then your mind'll be made up then. IN
deed, you'll think "Vorg-ner' was ma
MAC. and then, too, youll have the cour-
age TO say so. Even a worm VIII turn.
For the present perhaps your discretion
is the better part Of valOr But after oil
there's room for everybody in the world,
though we ignOramuses ought at least
to be allowed 10 ventiate our opinions.
Perhaps we know some things the musl-
clans don't know-certainly they know
many things that are beyond our ken. /
know a good game rooster when l see
one: you perhaps are a connotsseur on
bulldogs and maybe the man across the
street would go crazy over an electric
dynamo. It's all a matter OF taste. as the
old woman said when she kissed the cow
I'm simply trying 10 muzzle the music
up my way; it's too good for me; Il ousht
to be rendered where il Will be most ap-
preciated. Meanwhile. ! give the pahd
permission TO play Hello, My Baby ana
where, o Where. is My Little DOB
Gomez"