The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-02-05
FIVE HOURS OF
MUSICAL AGONY
New YoTk's Experiment IN Wagner Ia sayr.utb Is leo
Elacb Eysn for TIE E1sbusias&s.


VIEW YORK Jan. zi-New York has
I'M heea Gearing Wzgner's trliogy Tor
Il " t1e first tsEsae IA Eayreuth. X
Ii safe - asSssrse tGat hereafter
and fu- al tine i VII 20 n favor q Ia
Customary cats Fgrc hours % agony 3
too f1ae0 even for an an6esl,ed Wasaerte,
A. ts4s ,sEvtsT nance % Die Ws1kgre " the
gsaeTs 81 re Metroqo3-san had several
dozen OF .a3nt5Rg yemen on Their hands.
Tas p<rtcr1, &ssca began az s-s5 p. m, n4;a
z5olI cNe-ast~f ths audience n tGeir seats.
The ether half dropped IN from time -
t4-De during The nrst act, Ra.ch lasted rT0
12u9s- WaEaer a.rsse-f would neger have
t6oaghi L practical - give rs Nibeluns
E1teslC dramas IL taslr entirety n any 9th
& pace taan Bsyreu;a. or under similar
existing conditions The conditions under
aEiCS ne Operas are given az b&syseNth
cannot be reproduced n NcT York. 4:
the former place fae performance a such
q drama as '+S5eGfFiet! begins at - II
the afternoon. Every one has come to The
city foT tne express purpose Of hearing me
Eork. There IS no g3lss. 10 scramble, for
sea.s- When the trumpet sounds the gig
Ta&I al enter the eGl.dng and wait III rev
eTeGt silence FOR IRE first note % the pre-
lGGe. ~ the End q eAca at there = an
interrli sslon OF al boar or more. The
audience can wander al ALL IN the sun
shine and talk u the music and tAe sing
act.
But apart from the tlreSome length. tina
>lb%lung dramas gain IL dramatic colei-uc-
Aon ny reason Ok tae cu.s \ good drama
tells ais that - necessary. and no Mere.
Repetition IS ttresaTus. even II i is music
ally eloquent. There = good sense Ia Paul
lAn3au's remark apropcss Of Wot4ns l5ag
explanation 10 Br1tnhildc III Die Wal
k2re,' of the CAUSES III rs unfortunate
eunarraS s1neat-''If :; i absolutely nec-
esSafy that 8ruDhliae should know all
that. then W0tan should buy her q l.bretto
or 'Das Rheingold and let her read L oe-
Iweea the acts"
The best expression Of Waguer's genius
i not 10 be found IN Der Ring des y be-
iuaScn.' The music CT IN. ring dramas
Is often marvellous but even marvellous
niusic cannot quicken the modern ana gan
alton sufficiently - give i sense Of reality
70 story Of gods and giants and dwarfs
hooaobiins. monsters. German singing
birds. magic disappcaranccs and trans
fotaaa tons The idea : TOO foreign TO the
mature MIND OF this perssd. our enjoyment
* hampeTed by d Sense % the ridiculous
Wagner IS AZ his greatest when he Is con-
td.ag a simple personal truth. II Tam
hauser" he told the StoEy of his own soul
and < turned oIl 10 be a universal story.
one result Of the performance OF der
Ring dts N5heunsen" has been 10 bring
the explanatory lecture much iuto vogue
These explanatory talks ara undoubtedly
great comfort 10 persons TOO INDECENT to
study the operas for themselves The ex-
planaiory lecture was sure 10 come in with
The Wagner cult The old-lashioned way
II hear an opera was 10 know little or
nothing of the story. Qay 40 attention 10
she recitaiiye and merely listen 10 certain
famous ar4as, which were practically sorgs
without words No ore thought Of aellv-
erlag oiscoGrses with piano illustrations IN
the operas OF Gouncd or Verdi But this
method OF listening becomes Impractical
waen Tristan and Isolde or "Siegfrte8"
IS performed. There are nc arias 10 listen
to-only continuous musical dialogue.
Even the muslcaiiy UNFRAMED ear soon dis
covers novelty In Wagner's method OF con-
structtou. The oil-fash.ouea listener finds
there is naTveiousiy close association
between the words and the music, and he
wants 10 know what il all means. lie goes
to me lecture as the easiest way to md
o4t The lecturer gives him running
translation OF the text ana musical pre-
sentatio1 OF the various leading motives
The listener goes away with q vague ldea
that his chief business IS 10 learn the mo-
tives. A lecture tbat made clear the jif-
ference between the Wagnerian and the