The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-26

ideas, che entire Ring OK the Nibelungs'
Ia a. lawn tennis TO whist
IL too much stress has been laid upon
the external splendors OF the Strauss scores.
too much has been written OF his powers
AZ an intellectual musician. The latter
has led to unfair estimates Of his emotional
nature. He 10 cerebral--that may be
admitted--but his intellect is never clouded
by passion, nor. by tho same token, is he
deficient in temperament denominated
emotional. There are passages of sus-
tanned and intense passion in Don Quiz
ote,' In Also Sprach Zarathustra," In
'Heldenleben." that are not unmatched
by Wagner--for Of all modern composers
Strauss is the only one who may be mem
toned In the same breath with Wagner.
There are also touches Of grandeur rarely
heard since Beethoven; witness the OPEN
Ing, sublime in it's cosmic exaltation, of
ALSO Sprach Zarathustra"!
To talk OF the limitation of music, OF the
particular themes it must and it must not
deal with. after hearing "Don Quixote. is
the veriest philistinism. Why is IL that
the lesson OF the ages is never learned--that
all things are possible 10 the strong7 After
Michoel Angelo sculpture died away,
only to be revived in the frozen prettiness
Of Canova, the rocco fancies Of Bernini,
or the bastard classicism Of Thorwaldsen.
Then Auguste Rodin modelled living shapes
OF terror, Of beautyand there was new
thing come to life. Strauss liz not so great
an innovator as Rodin; his artistic descent
may be traced with ease; but he is, never
theless, a new thing. and the only living issue
In music to-day.
The question, then, is not for us to ask:
How does he conform to what has gone
before, but to study the problems he so
beautifully presents in each of his works. The
readers of THF Sun know by this time the va
rious meanings Of still Eulenspiegel, ""Don
Juan ALSO Sprach Zarathustra. italia
.Guntram," the Love music from "Feuers-
not and 'Tod und verklaring' These
works have been heard from well-known con-
ductors. some sympathetic some not, and
have all come In for their share Of mingled
abuse and praise; underestimate and over
praised, one Ii tempted to exclaim. The
novelties at the Strauss festival were the
aDon Quixote" and Macbeth two tone
poems poles asunder in quality in treatment;
one the greatest, because the most original
Of its composers; the other very interesting,
very characteristic, and displaying the lions
paw, though composed as far back as 1887
Mr.. Thomas few years ago produced "Don
Quixote' in Chicago-one falls into terms of
theatrical criticism IN speaking OF the
performance OF this colossal work. recall
a peculiarly vivid criticism Of the tone-poem
written by Mr.. Krehbel In the Tribune
He was in Chicago at the time, and the work
stimulated him to one OF the most brilliant
and effective studies OF his long career
1t was Of companion pattern to what Mr..
Winter did when he hrst witnessed Ibsen's
Ghosts" As l never criticise criticism,
pass on to what Don Quixote" actually is
TO me. for SUFFICIENTLY is the only criticism
In criticism let critics say what they will
of absolute standards, objectivity and all
other imposing and misleading catchwords.
Don Quixote' WAS conducted by the COM
poser at the second concert of the four
given in St. James's Hall. 1t had been pre-
coded on the programme by three songs
sung by Pauline Strauss de Alma. and by the
"Don Juan" op. 20. The fiery sweep of that
strikingly brilliant poem following Lenau's
morbid ideas, had received an adequat o
Interpretation by the symphonic Concert
gebourrs Orchestra Of Amsterdam. which,
with its leader, Willem Mengelberg I'm
presario Hugo Goerlitz brought from Hol-
land especially for this festival Mengel-
berg is a conductor of great rerre, conducts
Strauss without the score--twenty-two re-
be arsals were expended upon don Quixote"
alone--and it WAS by no means novelty
to this excellent band, which particularly
excels in The music Of Strauss All the
conditions being favorable, the composer
at the helm this ia the story of the play
At last the word has been pronounced
The Strauss tone poems infinitely more
firm in their formal contours than Lisat ;
symphonic poems are, in reality, dramas
without words. What Tschaikowsky so
eloquently executed as single figures in the
character studies Of Romeo and Juliet,
Francesca ad Rinira, Hamlet and Nan
trcd, Richard Strauss Expands TO the COM
pass Of 4 psychical torel-drama, Dispensing
with words, With actions. with the ma
chiucry of the stage, ,ust as he great
masters OF fiction supplanted tie makers Of
apics and their supernatural furniture by a
synthesis in which action, dialogue de-
scrirtion. comment are melted into homo
geneous narrative. Every INSTRUMENT in
the Strauss orchestra is an actor which
speaks its lines solo or during AN amazing
polyphony. After hearing several rehear-
sals and public performance of "Don
Quixote' one need not be told that Strauss
il not mere Tintoretto of the orchestra;
he is also its Robert Browning, both a
painter and psychologist.
Az the greatest narrator in modern prose
is Gustave Elaubert so Richard Strauss is
the greatest Of musical narrators. There
is no longer any question of form in the
classic sense: every music symbol and tie
vice hitherto known in the art of music is
utilized and reinforced by the invention
Of numberless methods for driving home
to the imagination the old world tale Of
Don Quixote and his squire. II may be
objected here that the story of Cervantes
should suffice without any of the sonorous
exfoliations Of this composer Very true.
But Strauss only Uses Don Quixote as he
uses Zarathustra or Don Juan, as type
of something that may be discovered in all
humanity. Zarathustrs symbolizes the new
being. the Over Man. who is as superior to
normal man az normal man is superior to the
ape; Don Juan il the eternal lover of Woman
and yet capable of the great remuneration,