New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-18

90 onsrat,on NJ creative imagination and reguhu'e
rejection in his processes but to have demahoeu VI
| him that he should always adhere 10 'ne '"e.n" -
ism of n theory would have been TO reduce h'. ~
,ho ort,s,,c scaIe to the level OF the acousuc'an
| Euler. who asserted that he could inquire ou' .
| sonata There Is no more WISDOM III 'hIs sly
| criticism than there Is In that OF tne ""e
/ wirth who discusses such questions as 'ne So.
~ tho forest birds knowledge In Siegfred anu '0
| material out Of which the sheath OF the mas.
| syord sbould be made, assuming the propr,eV y,
,ha beath whether or not Fricka was chiidiess anu
| why.
The difficulty with Mr.. Newman Is that ne Is ~
.ra -, nure,v logical processes that he ignores tne
privileges of the imagination. that facu''y naVins
become atrophed in his own case IL ever II" Pc
| sessed IT, by non-use. He Is refer Ben WIN
| vengeance primrose by a rivers orim yeho"
| nr,mrose is to him. and a primrose. ana no'rhns
| Nora a. would remain II Homer. Shakespeare ana
| Donte were 10 unite In singing Its symbolism
| Read and marvel Mr.. Newman Is discussns inc
/ scene in which Wotan attempts to par sieeirleu
way I'D the rock OF the Valkyria, an attempt "hieh
seems only "farcical" because Wotan foteknew the
outcome:
The only valid explanation seems to be that
| wagner wanted to enforce the moral scheme az
this point-to show usually to the specIa,or ,rg
result of the conflict between old authorlty anu
frs Individuality II takes all the seriousness we
can summon up for this conception 10 nnns on
the stage-an old man wearing large nat suietv
Ing out sp the pieces and walking off with them
remarking TO Segfried' Advances c"""o' ''''
thee!'
comca, scene of verify But why "sies-
fried,Y Why not a young Highlander. with a pear
skin shirt who had forgotten his filibeg? Come 10
,b,ns Of n how vastly diverting that other picture
even more familiar. Of middle-aged man. WIN
NAV have had a flbeg under MS arnor' Hsh"is
TO the DEATH though he knew that birHain"oou
had come TO Dunsinane and his opponent was oi
Vvo,,id of
! ness one could summon up to keep straight race
IN the presence of that Hcschylean scene. were IL
TO be brought before us again. IN winch an o,'
man. without much as a hat on large OF Small
| who has known all along what was going 10 nap
| pen 10 him struggling with the chains that hoiu
| him suspended against the adamantne rocKs' anu
whining over his fate? Why. IL once brought
"smile Numerous" the face Of old ocean tseii'
Nearly every objection which Mr.. Newman makes
to Wagner's constructive scheme, and ne begins
| with It's fundamental principle, can be traced 10
this want Of fancy In the critic. He reads Studles
in the Wagneran Drama" and disposes or olt
OF Mr. Krehbiels exposition OF the themsuc chai
acterization in Tristan und Isolde by cohleSsihs
that he had had "ten years intimate acquaintance
with the score of Tristan" without 1t ever nav
ting struck him that there was any peculiar sig
nacance in the phrase that accompanies the entry
NJ Tristan in the fifth scene of the first act lie
should have read the Studies earlier or the scoIe
more intelligenty. The phrase Is an auehei'a
ton of one In the prelude but this Is a matter oi
no Significance, because Mr. Newman didn't see IL
for ten years and because he doesn't believe no"
that "a number Of people who are listening to inc
opera for the first time could spontaneously cor
relate the music at the beginning of Scene o. ACT l.
with this phrase" So too though ne seems "
know Wagner melody descending IN SEMI
tones as a symbol of the wounded Tristan. ne can
not see any significance in Wagners accompany
|
passage of chords; ''the downward chromatic pas
sage is no more like the melody Of the wounded
Tristan than il is like any other downward series
of chromatics." True primrose is only prim-
rose to Peter Bell but II may be more 10 an
other. who has heard something OF the symbolism
of flowers especially If picked by poet and put
| into his nosegay.
Again Failing In love with another man "iIe
is a purely conventional proceeding. and therefore
Mr. Krehbiels notion that the love potion In ITS
tan und Isolde" Is merely the agency with which
| Wagner struck from his hero the shackles OF con-
| vention is argument. OF course, Tristan una
Isolde" is merely a modern society play. ANY man
| with Mr. Newmans cairvoyance and fancy can
see that. So is "O1dipus Tyrannus" Only once
does Mr.. Newman show a glimmer of imagination
! one Of Mr.. Krehbel's defences of the ethics of
Wagner's Tristan drama compared with the iris
tan epcs is based the difference between the
treatment OF the love phtre by the dramatist and
the poets-medaeval and modern. with Gottfried
Won Strassburg Matthew Arnold and Swinburne,
the drinking OF the phre is purely accidental and
the passion which leads to the destruction OF the
lovers is something for which they are In no wise
responsible. With Tennyson there Is philtre and
the passion is all guilty. With Wagner the love
exists before the dreadful drinking and the potion
| Is less maker of uncomfortable passion than a
drink which causes the lovers to forget duty. honor
| and the respect due to the laws of society" Thus
| Mr.. Krehbiel. and It prompts Mr.. Newman TO OBJ
serve that there seems to be In the passage sug-
geston that the troubles OF the Inflated pair
about through their being under the influence of
| drink. clever flight, which we fancy will not at
all discomfort Mr. Krehblel who has been heard to
say the platform that he was so little concerned
about the ingredients Of the potion that he would
| not quarrel with who gave It the name of any
known intoxicant Mr.. Newmans book s not al
ways edifying but we hope 1t will be widely read.
Cincinnati is to be given over largely to music
during the next two weeks. From Wednesday to
Saturday of this week will be occupied by the TWEEN
ty-Hrst annual meeting of the Music Teachers Ma
tional Association. and the same days of next week
will the celebration Of the 6ftieth anniversary
Of the founding of the North American Federation
Of German Singing Societies. There will be a
| sangerfest, of course, and IL will be held In the
same city in which the first American festival Of
the kind held in 1919 1t is little singular in
view of the proverbial fondness of the Germans for
gatherings Of this character that they should have
had their beginnings in this country in the West.
The German singing societies OF New-Yor Phila-
delphia and Baltimore fifty years ago were much
| larger and more influential than those of Cncin-
natl and the towns which Joined her In giving the
first German song festival. The convention Of the
Music Teachers National Association will not diff
fer essentially from the meetings of the past,
| less II be in the superior which will be be-
slowed on the three orchestral be given
| on the evenings Of Wednesday, Thursday and Fri
day. For these concerts the Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra has been engaged. and Mr.. Frank Van
der Stucken has returned from Europe. whittier he
had gone for his annual vacation for the purpose
of conducting them. Speaking Of these concerts,
official announcement says:
IL honed that the convention Of 1874 will conn.