New-York tribune., 1903-01-25
MUSIC.
Der Ring des Nibefungen.

learned to know Wsgner's Ring OF the Nihe,ne,,
in those wonoerful years Of German opera at the
Metropolitan Opera House. 1858 and 1855 VIII be
wagging their gray boards ana informing nro,a
pert puffed up and supereilious younger genera
ton that the days when wagner's tragedy was
properly performed in America had passed before
the period IN which Z reached adolescence When
that time comes it will be hard for one who was
contemporaneous chronicier of that period to
enter valid or vigorous protest If matters con-
tnue TO so on as they have been going on
under the inspiration Of what should be the source
Of true Wagnerian tradition. but is become the
pool OF perversion instead. Those DAYS were days
OF enthusiasm. both before and behind the row OF
stage lights. There were receptive people in the
audience room, but also receptive artists on the
stage ano IN the orchestra Nobody blase.
Nobody had become wagnerian than Wagner
himself. whose death fresh memory. Bay
reuth had not begun to learn the numerous things
which It now knows. but which. because of their
lack Of truth, ought TO have become known
all. The traditions which from the festival
theatre in the old Franconian town were fresh and
vital. At times they were feeby bodied forth but
they were proclaimed with sincerity. and they went
straight to affections and convictions. With what
Joy they acclaimed When the season OF
1SS7-'Ss TO a close though "Rheingold'' had
not yet been added 10 the local list ('Siegfried'
and ''Gotte-dammerung," together with Der
Trompeter Sakkinsen" and Ferdinand
Cortez' having exhausted the creative capacity Of
the company for the nonce) there were two serial
representations of die Walkure' "Siegfried' and
"G6tterdsmmerung'' toward the close of the
son, and three additional performances of -Gotter-
dammerung' in the last week These three works
brought more people into the opera house than
any preceding five. The next year ''Rheingold'
entered the repertory Of the Metropolitan. and a
week had 20 be added to the season to permit Of
complete cycical representations of the entire
tetralogy without Interruptions.
Since then, except in the exclusively Franco
Italian interregnuH. the NibeIung cycle has been
pretty steady feature Of New-Yorks operate
activities Unquestionably, there has been growth
in appreciation of the tragedy and, also unQues-
tionably. an improvement in some features of the
performances. Have these Improvements kept
pace with the advance in public appreciation and
demand? Scarcely. From musical point of
view, and in some features Of the theatrical the
hest performances since the early days have been
those which came to conclusion last Friday
evening. The orchestral score. for instance, has
received The most vivid and vital reading vOuch-
safed il since the days OF Seidl There has been
some Improvement ia stage management but II
has been paired with blunders which all the
more blameworthy because they would have been
condemned a dozen years ago Some Of them
shall receive mention IN this retrospect.
In one respect we have returned early no
tons The dramas were not given without ex-
cisions, as they were three years ago. On the
traTy. the cuts made by MIR. Hertz were as nu-
lnerous as those made by Nj. Seidl These cuts
ought not 10 be peered into too curiously. There
is no ideal attitude toward Wagners works any
where in Germany. and one is not to be expected
here where their language is strange 10 the multi
Iude. however large the contingency OF opera
patrons that understands it Besides the fact that
all the parts of the tetralogy are brought forward
in sequence IS not for preserving their
integrity against the claims OF common sense and
communal comfort. but argument IN favor OF
their abbreviation 1t has been said in this journal
before and may be repeated, since no change OF
heart has been wrought in the reviewer by the
presentations Of recent years, that the Nibe-
lung dramas given nowadays they vex the
souls of the reasonable and judcious less when
given dissociatedly in pretence as well as In fact
than when given in the so-called cyclal
manner. It is not only that thus they are
less taxing to the endurance Of the listen
ers-4hev are also less aggravating for
they do not force attention TO the destruction OF
unities and illusions, which the artistic admin
istraton at the festival theatre in Bayreuth is al
most indifferent the artistic administration
in upper Broadway. 1t would a matter Of fact,
be the Of wisdom. all the world over, TO
give the abbreviated version when the dramas are
performed in close succession, and in ful when
they presented severally. Most of the elided
portions explanatory of incidents which have
been observed by the spectator, Wagner having
found means in each play recapitulate the con-
tents Of its predecessor OF predecessors. In Die
Walkire'' Il is done in Wotans preachment to
Brinnhilde in 'Siegfried.' in the contest at rid
dies between the Wanderer ana Mime; in Got
1erdammerung." in the prologue and the inter
views between Alberich and Hagen. Portions Of
these recitals can better be spared when all the
scenes Of the tragedy unrOlled ana proclaimed,
after the other, from the simple and homo
Eeneous beginning 10 the complex and hetero-
geneous end, than when each drama stands on It's
own footing, and must perforce explain and justify
fts elements The elisions in the recent representa-
tons were therefore not only pardorabe, but JUS
tifable and commendable. They might even have
been extended without challenging rational crit
icisr
There is q matter. however. brought into fagrant
notice by the serial performance C'serial' being
used with apologies TO the French and italian
operas which interpolated injected into the
cycle presumably 70 afford intervals Of rest and
refreshmenO, which calls for deploring comment
all the more since it has the sanction of the Wag-
merriam Institution with which New-York has been
n such close communion fer nearly two decades
This the disregard OF integrity in the physiog-
noay of the personages and scenes of the play
The nregirt rock which Brunnhilde sleeps had
different aspect at each disclosure The Valkyr
put 10 sleep in front Of the tree. and walked
Up at its side The entire landscape changed while
she abode in the cavernous domicile with Sieg-
fried. Nowhere in nature was there stability.
Persistency Of person has not yet been asked of
the plays people but might be done in
Cyclicsl performance-so-caIled? The protean Nine
schUnann-B -Beink used TO be FIVE creatures in the
Progress OF the tragedy. This time she was but
.our. Erds, Woglindc, Fricka and Waltraute, at
once the mistress. The wife and the daughter
of wotan-in Die Walkure'' wife and daughter
simultaneously. Only concert engagement else
where and the elision Of the scene Of the Nornir
In 'G0tterdammerung" prevents her from being
mother and daughter the same evening The
extgencies which bring such things about
within easy comprehension of reviewer Of musi-
cal events; and under ordinary circumstances they
would fall under more than mild condemna-
ton. But when Wagner's titralogy is given as
such, illusions ought 10 be presumed Did Wag-
ner himself presume them? No. He not only de-
stroyed them consciously in 1876. but protested
q hfS