Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-05
"PARSIFAL" TN NETWORK
Mime. Wagner's Views on Con-
 ried's Opera Project.
WHY SHE OPPOSES PERFORMANCE.

Wife of Famous Composer Bases Her
 Objection on the Fact That the
 Creator of the Opera Intended 1t to Be Permanently Reserved For the,
 Baireuth Theater.
 Thomas Stockham Baker, the special representative of Harper's Weekly at Baireuth, Germany, had the following interview with Frau Cosima Wagner, the wife of the composer, on the pro- posed American production of Wag- ner's ''ParsifaP' in New York: ~
 You are certainly very busy wom- Hn Frau Wagner" said. Do you not find your labors too severe?''
 Tt is not the work which exhausts me. Work rests me; but there are other things" she said.
 'ParsifaP in New YorkY' I ven- tured to ask
 "Yes, we must oppose the perform ance of *Parsifar in any other place than in the Baireuth Festival theater The creator of the work expressed very clearly his desire that 'Parsifar should be given solely here. It is not at all a question whether the performance in America can injure Batreuth, but merely whether we shall obey the di- rect commands of the master. Of course I expected that the Batreuth artists would take no part in MT. Con- ried's performance and that German singers in general would have too much professional honor and artistic pride to help in the production of a work in direct opposition to the wishes of Richard Wagner"
 "What is the true state of the case In regard to the singers who have ap- peared here?' I asked.
 ''As soon as heard that Van Rooy had accepted MT. Conried's offer in- quired of him whether this was true. He replied that he had pledged himself to learn two new Wagner roles, and he hoped that 'Parsifap would not be one of them, but he could not break his contract. He said he wanted to visit me to get my advice. I wrote to him that he must not break his contract, but that he should have made 1t a con- dition, as did Felix Mottl, that he would not have to appear in 'Parsifal.' I was very glad to go over the matter with him and wrote him that there was such q thing as an artists honor, and one could not do everything merely for money. He did not come to see me, and wrote again to him, stating what disgust his agreement with MT. Con- ried had provoked in the whole artistic world and that a spot would always rest upon his name. I asked Professor Kniese to write to the tenor Burg staller and inquire whether he had agreed to sing Parsifal. We received no reply. had the right to ask these questions of these two singers be- cause they had both been trained in Baireuth and both of them began their dramatic career here.
 "In regard to Fraulein Ternina the case is somewhat different. She came to us as recognized artist, and, al though we studied with her very care fully the part of Kundry, she could have worked out this task alone, though in a different way. To be sure, I thought that an artist of her reputa- ton would not so far forget herself as to commit sacrilege against a sacred work merely for money"
 Frau Wagner has had bitter expe- riences but nothing has affected her more deeply than the proposed per formance of "ParsifaI' in New York and more especially the desertion of her leading singers. Those who are best informed on this subject believe that if Van Rooy and Ternina and Burgstaller do sing in ''Parsifar they will never be heard again in Baireuth.