The record-union., 1899-12-24


which have come from Bayreuth of late
years concerning the metamorphosis
which Wagner's Ring Of the Nibe-
lung" has undergone since Nine. Wag-
ner assumed artistic direction Of the
festivals. The traditions established
by Wagner have been thrown to the
Winds and, according to a most Divert
| ing anecdote related by Nine. Lilli
Lehman, who was made to feel the
displeasure of the Madame because
she refused to change the readings
which she had learned from Wagner
himself in 1876, when controversy has
arisen it has been ended by appeal to
| the recollections Of Siegfried Wagner.
who was five years old when the first
festival was given. The newest con-
| tribution to the oft told tale of Nine.
Wagner's meddling shows that her de-
sire to get her finger into the artistic
pie began long before Wagner's death.
It is contained in some "reminiscences
of the festival of 1876. published by
Professor Dopler in the "Deutsche Re-
vue" Professor Dopler is the artist
who at Wagner's request designed
what may be called the externals of the
characters in 1.-THE Ring Of the Nibe-
| lung" He fitted them with costumes
and accoutrements, very much to the
admiration of the poet-composer, but 1t
seems not wholly to the satisfaction Of
| the poet-composers wife. Professor
Dopler's task was an extremely diff
cult one, for, as is known, he strove to
illustrate the period back to which
Wagner had moved the Nibelung
! IN, fhn nd of h S
gods and goddesses. To this end he
studied the relics of the stone age and
| the bronze in the Northland and de-
signed the figures as all old Wagnerites
know them. 1t was not long after
the dress rehearsals had begun, says
Professor Dopler in effect, that he be-
gan to hear on all sides lot of learned
talk about an improper use of blue in
the costumes, improper, said the wise
acres, because blue was an unknown
color at the period, in which the .trag-
edy was supposed to. play. At that
i time, said the amateur critics, blue
would have been considered black. But
let Professor Dopler continue, although
much will be lost in the translation,
along with the German idiom and the
/ dialect of one of the speakers:
"One day received a call at 81 the
| theater just before rehearsal from a
| lady, Frau Kathy E., who invited
me to eat a plate of soup with her and
her husband on the following Sunday.
! After I had accepted the invitation she
began to pay me the most extravagant
compliments on my achievements, par
ticularly my figurfues, and suddenly
asked me why fad done so much
symbolizing with blue. 1 had heard a
deal of whispering about blue and
black and concluded at once that the
question had originated in an entirely
different quarter. I seized the little
and, patting and strokfng it the while,
I said:
My dear, good Kathy, don't get
your little head in a fever by worry
ing over unlaid eggs; and make my
compliments to Frau Cosima. Goodby,
I must get to york
But Frau Cosima was not yet sat
isfied. Soon after came her excel
! lency Frau Won S., and then the old
Countess Usedom,; with attacks upon
the, traduced blue.
But tell me, Professor, blurted out
the Countess, you have painted the
sheet of costumes SO magnifcently, but
tell me, had blue been discovered at
! that period?' '' ,reI a.
/ The original is really too good to be
lost. This was the aged Countess
speech: "Aber saggen Sic, Professor,
! Sic habben grossartig die Blatt der
! Kcstum gemalt, aber saggen Sic mir,
war der Blau damals schon erfunden ,"
Dopler kissed the old lady's hand with
out word. and turned away. Mime.
/ Wagner's anxiety to review Professor
Dopler's work grew as the rehearsals
went on. She found fault with the
shortness of the sword which Siegmund
pulls out of the tree in Hundings hut.
which was an exact copy of the long
est Germanic sword found among the
archaeological relics. One day she
drove up to the theater just as a re-
hearsal was about to begin Dopler
saw her coming, ran out and kissed her
hand Thereupon she turned to him
| and handed out large quarto. with
the remark: you see, my dear Pro-
fessor, there is longer sword than
that sticking in the tree" The book
was a treatise on the collection of
antiquities in Mayence. Dopler was
nonplussed for the nonce at the illus
tration pointed out by Nine. Wagner,
and asked the loan Of the book for an
| hour. AS soon as he looked at it in
his room he discovered that the object
pictured was not Germanic sword at
all, but a Merovingian spada.
|
| A manuscript by Schubert of a
hitherto unknown march for two piano.
fortes C'and eight performers" says
the London Musical Times" meaning
probably eight hands-four performers
at one pianoforte would be an anom-
alyD has recently been found in Heidel-
berg. 1t is dated Vienna, November,
1925" and in a corner is written the
word "Schwammerr' Qittle SPONGE.
There are doubtless many of Schu-
bert's manuscripts still existent that
have not seen the light Of day in print,
but it Is questionable whether the world
is much the poorer on this account.
Schubert not only knew the value of his
good compositions, in spite Of his pa
thetic modesty, he had also to live as
best he could off the proceeds of his
music, and, though there are excep-
lions, like the unfinished symphony,
which he never published in all proba-
bility because he never finished 1t, and
the incidental music to ''Rosamunde, -
which was forgotten probably because
the play was such a rank failure, the
majority of his compositions found and
printed in recent years have added
nothing to his fame. Especially is this
tr,,o of tho 10 OF volume of bfc CO., r-r ~,