Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1904-01-04

No Misses ImpressfvoAOsm Of Bal
reutA Production and Regrets Per-
forEaaaoo Eore-DoIaseo Says Bal
YeztA h oztAene-Dec1ares Mystic
Play LIS Net Sacrmowf@us-AAmda
The following article in the New
York Herald contains two impressions
Of tie New York production Of Wag-
ner's opera "Parsifal" from the view
point of musician and a dramatist.
walter Damrosch. the musician, re-
cords the production Of "parsifaI'' as
bold ana brave effort on the part Of
SIR Gonried and his company to achieve
! tae impossible.
fagner's last viii and testament
beG1eathing .Parsifaf TO Baireuth ex-
clusiyely was no idle whim, but in
spired by an absolute conviction, born
OF IN intimate knowledge of operate
conditions, that this work was of
character SO unique that a proper per-
Torrance is almost impossible In
regular opera house and decidedly so
during regular opera season.
1T would. therefore, be folly to crit
icise this performance on the lines laid
down by Wagner, for, though Mr.. Con
ried had spent money laviBhly and had
given the work fine cast Of singers
and more rehearsals than are usually
vouchsafed new production DUR !
an opera season, and though the per-
Torrance moved briskIy and almost
glibly along, Wagner's good judgment
was abundantly proved. and cannot
hAJT1 hI1f wish TOrrSnds1
energy and desire to prove his mettle
had expended itself on some work less
exalted IN character and in which so
many fine points OF art and morals
were not at stake.
cat Baireuth performances there were
Observation-Disclosures even there have
been known to sing out OF tune-but the
thoater Ii ideally planned, and artists
and audiences alike are enabled to con-
centrate themselves on the work. in
spired by the unique conditions sur
rounding them and undisturbed by the
triviaIities OF ordinary life.
'I cannot say that the performances
reproduced on me the Baireuth i'm
preston OF the beauty and solemnity OF
the various ceremonfals of the Chris
tan church which are enacted and sym
bonzed before US in the first and third
acts. These scenes, which were SO deep
ly moving and impressive in Baireuth,
became dull and almost irreverent It
was frankly 'operatic,' and the scenes
might just as well have been taken
from some Masonic ceremonial. In the
main lines the stage business was the
same as In Baireuth. but the inner spir-
Ii was often wanting.
whether 1t was the trivial manner
IN which the Holy Grail was uncovered
or the sleuehy way IN which the
knights OF the Grail walked or fused
with their cleaks or the gariSh lighting
OF the Hall OF the Grail, there was but
little illusion and none Of the mysticism
which should enve!op these scenes as
with a holy mantle. 1t was Asavily
borne IN Hpon ma that performances
Of an art work dealing directly with
things and symbols most sacred should
either leave the whole stage parapher-
MALTA to the imagination or by incessant
rehssrsaln and discipline succeed In pro
ducing a perfect stage illusion. There
should be no betvixt and between"
Mr. DaErogch heartily praises the
musical performance. though he cTiH-
cfnes tia weakness Of the chorus. Ri
nally, he cannot see why "ParsifaP
should not be given frankly as an opera
at ordinary hours, without all this
Aummery and aHectation Of long inter
missions ana trumpet calls. These, he
says, "ara but sxternals and cannot re-
produce the Baireuth spirit. These are
but a nnockery Of that ideal which Wag-
ner tried to rear in that faraway little
country town and which we, who starva
in great cities, can only long for as
young Pareifal longed for sight OF the
Holy Grail in his long wanderings.'
David Belasco the dramatist. says:
'1 saw ParsifaP in Baireuth; l saw
the Passion play in Oberammergau.
Transplanting is a delicate undertak-
ing and 'ParsifaP is almost as difficult
to transplant as the Passion play. Race.
association, training-all these have fit
ted Mr. Conried for this remarkable
task
"There is only one great tragedy III
the world. the divine tragedy. Wag-
ner has been influenced by it. by the
Man Of Sorrows and acquainted with
grief Stripped OF its incidental adj
juncts, ParsifaP deals with young
man who In the hope that he may
prove a redesmer remains insensible to
hiu suffering until he becomes clair
voyant by the kiss OF tho tomptress
Kundry and thereby made to under
stand tho meaning of pity. Wagner,
this volcano Of emotions. this creator Of
barbarians and lusty young lovers, has
written a work immortalizing pity. But
remember he wrote 1t at the end of his
life. Already his blood ran cold. Par
sffaP Is predestined. Hence there is no
conlnlication. no great fall and no great