The Washington times., 1903-07-26


between German and Italian music go on
n the next world"
MY chifd OF nature. do you speak Sc
-iously. or do you again poke fun at an
Did man? Verify, l tell you that IN
heaven there shall be no parties nor
schools nor sehisms nor divisions. There
Donizetti shall shake hands with Haadei
and List shall lie down With Bach"
Il suppose so, father" said the boy
with the air OF one from whom heaven ia
yet far of. Look at the audience; still /
Most Popular of Composers.
"0h. yes" said the aged viola '"wag-
ner is now the most popular OF all COM /
posers. Curious, is it not? Come here |
on a night when a program of popular
music, as it is called. is offered. and /
you see a good audience, but not a
great one. The symphony nights draw
only fairly. Offer them a program of
coon songs and ragtime. which they al
ways applaud vigorously as encore num-
bers. and they would not come at all.
But let the magic name of Wagner APP
pear on the program as the composer OF
the nights music. and you can't supply
seats enough for them"
rs not that very stranger" asked the
boy This Wagner music is ALL with
one or two Insignificant exceptions. as
ISOLATED with some opera OF music
drema. To listen to it intelligently one
should know what the story is. How
can any man understand that overture
which we have just played If he knows
nothing about the awful struggle be-
tween the good and evil elements in
mans nature which it is intended to
portray? What can these people make
OF the overture OF Tristan ind Isolde.
when they do not know what Wagner
meant by it,"
My son. your questions are well put
In fact. you talk like a book, or rather
like a critical Sunday article in the col
umns OF a daily newspaper. What you
ask is what every ordinary man of the
street will ask Yet here we have the
extraordinary phenomenon of audiences
painting with emotion under the spell of
music of whose musical nature they can
not possibly know anything What sys-
tenn did Wagner employ in composing
the music of his greater works."
Wagnel's System.
The system of leading motives. or
representative themes, l suppose you
mean"
Precisely. my son. Now, in the over
ture which we have just played there
are no leading motives. We have only
the battle between the bacchanalian
music and the carnaI riotry of Tam
hauser as represented in the hymn to
Venus on the one side and piety as
represented by the pilgrims chorus on
the other. There is a symbolism beau
tifully elementary in its nature. IL does
not go a single step beyond the sym
bolism of Alessandro ScarIattf OF Carts
SINH in so far as its purpose is con-
cerned. 1t advances only in musical
manner, not in musical philosophy. The
mechanism of the earliest operate com
poser comprised monotone and sus-
tanned notes for calm thought, and agi-
tated movement and wider intervals for
emotional disturbance. What more is
there in this music of Wagner
II see. father, that there is nothing
more. 1t never struck me in that way
before. All that seems different is ex-
ternal. is it not?''
''Of course. II Is all modern treat
ment of harmony and Instrumentation.
Glory to the Soloist.
But. father. am still puzzled. The
public, which takes 70 this overture
because it is so elemental. makes Just
as great a to-do over the farewell OF
( Wotan or the immolation of Brunn-
hide. These are excerpts from dramas
in which the complex leading theme
system is carried out TO it's fullest de-
velopment'
That is true. my son; but the scenes
which you have mentioned require the
services OF a soloist."
That's a fact. and glory be to the
soloist, l suppose"
Exactly. Glory be TO the soloist, as
/ IL was In the beginning, is now and
shall be in secula secuIorum We
are going to have a solo singer tonight.
"a tolerably bad one. too but you shall
see how the throbbing populace will
I HanB upon neE| accents as though she
were the holy ST. Cecilia herself You
shall see how she will be encored and
how she will supplement 'Dich theure
/ Halle with something sweet and touch
ing by EtheIbert Nevin or Clayton
Johns. People will applaud the soloist
no matter for what"
Bach and the Masses.
Father, l think you mistake. Would
they applaud her for singing Bach?"
"Ah. rascal! Have you hit upon the
root Of the whole matter? Bach! Is h
fer the unmusical? Certainly. Yet 1t
adores Wagner. Is Wagner. Therefore,
unmusical? Is he less a musician than
Bach? Stop a moment, You know how
that thousands hasten once a year 10
listen TO The Messiah OF the mighty
Handel?"
"Oh. yes. father; DO one can forget
that"
Would those same thousands go with
the same enthusiasm TO hear the Mat
thew Passion Of old Bach?"
no, OF course not. Every one knows