The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-29
WILL "pARSIRAL" BE- SUNG?
can NINE. WAGNER PREVENT
CONRIEDS PRODUCTION?

stain. Of the wagner Music Dra.
mas-An Published Before the Pas
sac OF the International Copyright
Iaw-Proprietary Rights May Serve.
The announcement Of Mr.. Oonried that
he intends to produce wagner's 'Parsifal'
A. the Metropolitan Opera HOUSE hext
season has set Berlin and Beyrsuth BY the
ears, At any rate the cable. always indus
trious when matters connected with the
theatre are under discussion. depicts Nine.
Cosima Wagner as raging In the secret
places OF wahnfred. while her estimable
son. Siegfried. wears a portsntous ffown
and threatens dire consequences to the
ireverant German manager. The whole
excitement is caused BY the fact that Wag-
ner's last work is the only ono which has
never been performed outside Of BayrSuth.
which the Wagner family has always
held as the exclusive property Of their
theatre. In order to hear Q performance
of this unique drama one must 60 10 BAY
reutb. and 1t ia generally conceded that the
effect OF the solemn musical play In the
presence Of an audience Of protested
devotees OF the composer Is wonderfully
impressive.
Nevertheless, there has always been q
feeling that II ought to be given elsewhere.
Very few persons are able to 20 TO Bay
reuth, and to deprive the great mass Of
music lovers all over the world Of the right
to hear this sacred tragedy certainly seems
hardship. Consequently . great many
times the question has been asked: sWhy
cannot Parsifsr DO given anywhere ex-
oept in Bayreuth. and how Is II that II alone
Of all wsgner's works ID reserved for that
place. q
It is 90 reserved because Nine. Wagner
and her son will II. To permit 'Psrsifal'
to be performed In other theatres OF Ger
many. especially the now Prince Regent
Theatre Of Munich, which is already .
serious rival of the Festspielhaus, would
sound the death lgnell Of the Wagner festi.
walls at Bayreuth. Owing to the alterations
made In the manner OF performance there
by Nine. Wagner. to the frequent and sx.
traorciinary subversions OF Wagner's pur-
poscs by his widow, and to the decided
inferiority Of recent casts. the drawing
power of Bayreuthis not what II used TO be.
To take @Parsifal' away would Be 70 ruin
the Wagner graft The question, how
ever. arises now a. to whether tho COM
poser's widow can prevent Mr.. Conried
from performing the work in this country;
nni on that point opinions differ
great deal Of money has been made by
tie Wagner family out OF the works Of the
composer Tie idea that Bayreith is the
soe source Of profit is wholly erroneous.
Tie performances Of Wagner works all
over Germany mean royalties to the Wagner
l,s'rs. In 1899 IL wes recorded that the
v'enna Opera alone paid from 1000 TO 5000
Il. rims year for wagner's operas. There
ware shout fifty performances year In
Vienna ard about q thousand IN other cities
o: Austria and Germany. The annual
profits amounted. therefore. to rot less
Z an $50 900 a year This amount has con-
= l,rahlv 'ncr ,ased since that time. FOR
aIner's works are growing in popularity.
Wagner himself got very little. compare
tivciy speaking. He ran into debt and paid
out Of his own pocket the expenss Of pub
FISHING the scores Of .Riensi.- Der File
gcnde Hollander' and -Tannhauser.' He
sold 'Lohensrin' under pressure ard e, 9
fairly good prices when he came to dispose
ri the copyrights, but not such as they
should have brought. Breitkopf q HArtsl
psid him $500 for the score Of Tristan und
II they had supposed that II would be seven
wears after publication before II was per
formed Berlin refused him $3.50 for the
performing rights OF -TannhAuser.. and
Munich declined to give $500. Hamburg
would not give o750. nor Leipzig $50. Bres-
lau gave $50 and smaller cities carried the
price down as low as S2S.
All that II changed in these days. The
various German cities have TO pay the
tariff prices for the privilege Of performing
Bavarian capital has the dramas OF thu