The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-11-03

into the presence of the king. Before
the king he meets her once more and
reveals himself to be the, son Of PerciyaL
and knight of the Holy Grail; being
known he is now bound TO return to its
mysterious guardianship. As he speaks
the swan drawiuG t9e ,s KIT, apncaEES
able grief he bids her an eternal fare
well. Before he steps into the SHIT h
disencharts the swan, who Is no other
tnan GG-tfried, transformed by Ortrud's
sorCcry and who now takes rlghtful pos
session Of his dukedom.
Henderson's Discussion Of lohenerln.
w. j. Henderson, the wen known critic,
and author Of popular books on music
has this to saFs about Loheugrin:
when Rcha d Wagner was collecting
the materials out Of which he OulIt the
wonderfully tragic and powerful Tam
hauser" he naturally read the famons
Old medieval poem Der Warthnrgkrieg
: mis- poem, nArratlnc the story OF a nota'
bic contest of song at the Warthug cas-
tie dealt with Wolfram Won ESchcnhlck
as If he were a Legendary parsonage,
Wagner, knowing that he was a reality,
procured his great epic "Par2ival, and
readi,g IL with enthusiasm. drew from II
much Of the material used IN tue con,
struction Of his music drama "Parslfnl,
and his more lyric work, "Lohengrin,' 1t
was while passing the summer of lSil at
! Marienbad that Wagner laid ont the plan
| of the most popular lyric oper OF our
tlmc. IIc wrote The book in the course OF
the following winter, and the music the
Ii must not he supposed that he accept
ed the Insufficient Outline Of the story MS
FOUND in Wolframs poem. Wagner s
method of literary composition was to
| gather all the versions of nptionnl
Neurological Legend, and select the incl
dents and characters which fitted into his
| plan. which was always determined by
| dramatic proDriety and ethical purpose,
Franz Muncker, in his excellent and CON.
! pact sketch OF Wagner's life and works,
tells us thar in PARTS the pooet'eom2ose
| poem of Bayarlan author recountlng the
| history of Lohengrin. son of ParSlfal,
| keeper of the Holy Grail, ana Of his jour
ney to Elsa OF Brabanf. He also read the
| legend in It's old popular form as related
| in the "Deutsche Sagen" Of the Grimm
| Bros, and he made use Of parts of Com
| younger Tlturel." and of the old Teutonic
belief that through magic human beings
can be transformed into swans:
ranged the situations and Invented the
| principal themes Of his work. He begin
| the composition NJ the mrslc with the
narrative OF Lohengrln In the last scene
ballad In 1.-THE FLYING Dub imam" that
| passage contained the musical germs Of
the whole work, rho thhd act thfn,
and March ,, 1871 while he was at Gross
graufen, near Pllnitz The first act was
composed between May i aud juno >,
1871 The secoui act was written between
| June is and August 2 1897, and the pre-
| lude was Composcd on August % Of the
same year The Instrumentation occupie
the composer during the following winter
and spring. The score OF the opera re
manned unpublished for some years, be
cause Meser who had brought ont Wag
ner's previous works. had lost much
money By them and declined to touch
| "Lohengrin. The rights of pnbllcat o
were subsequently acquired at a small PR {
| by Breitkupf & Hartel.
Managers were equally unwilling to risi
the fortunes OF public production OF q
new work by much criticised and gen
orally misunderstood master Wagner tcl.l
us how he took out the score one day, an
gazing at Il. was illed with sorrow thai
the notes might never sound fiom n
wrote to List. his good FREUD and Ia,
musical god OF Welmar, begging him q
perform the work, and back came he an
swer that II was already In preparation
till 1859, but q was produced at Weimar
Llszt conducting, on August Is, 1850
The action Of "Lohengrn' takes plac
In the Tenth century AZ the rise OF IN
curtain King Henry Is seen seated on bi
throne IN meadow. lie has come &
urge the mobiles of Brabant TO defens
Investigate domestic troubles. Count Telr'
mund accuses ELSA, daughter Of the lat
duke Of Brabant. aud relramgnd war
that he. us next heir to the duke. hp mad
ruler OF Braban and that Elsa be pun
ished. Elsa IS summoaed and Instead o
defending herself, tells OF her vision Of
knight who Is to he her defender aud he
. ! lord. The dispute between her and Tcrl
mund rs. according 10 the custom. submit
ted 70 the ordeal Of combat, Elsa declare
, that the knight Of her vision viii he he
champion. After she has prayed he al
pears coming down the river In u boa
! drawn by swan. He asks Elsa to be hi
wife. hit cxncts from her promise nov
to nsk who he Is az whence he came. IN
/ promises The combat follows. Lohengr!
D trinmphs. but spares Telramund's life.
The second act reveals Telramund an
! his wife Ortrud sltting In disgrace an
! sorrow on the steps Of the palace at Al