New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-09-28
MUSICAL LITERATURE.
"Parsifay," PrimitiUes and MOderns,
Songs and Other Themes.

THE PARsIFAL OF RICHARD WAGNER Eff witt With
and the Parziva OF Wolfram Won -scheIig151-Ute
ITansAfeG rom rom. me fFf dnarm "a With the
leading Motifs in Musical Notation ana d 5Ias
House. and an Introduction by ID r r. ~ e'''''-
THE LEGENDS OF PARsIFAI- By Mary C.,t Han Ian
ford Ford l2rno, PIP. lo2. The II. NJ Calo"e4'
Company.
PARsIFAL Story and ANALYSIS Of .., Wa n IS
The sA' Funk 9l5S' & Wagnalis Company.
THE. GRAIL. PROBLEM. From Walter Walter Map IB,, to
Richard WagneT ny y3sePh duni G.dr,, 1 1no
P Pany w. -''' -''' '''''''-' ~
THE WORLDS EARLIEST Music I 5raG1el,e 20
Evidence of Relics. Records. History and Musi-
cal Instruments from Greece ktrqrlai ESy yI
through Assyria and Baeylonia, TO the PDnlt I'VE
Home the Land Of AfSd aRe i5i,1strations
EeImann SniiR: 10 MN T SSi nv CHARLES Serb
1 her's g gp VII 3d. '''''' ''1 - ~
LIVING MASTERS OF MUSIC: HE HENRY a. j.
WOOD. 81 Rosa Newmarch. limo. pp. 100
John Lane
THE ACT OF oUcH IL ALL L, IT'S I DfDERsI nrS
pp' XII. U.s. Long.@Sns, Green Co .
GAMES AND SONGS OF AMERICAN Chill
WeIis Newell New ana en.arsed edition. S1o
pp XIV. 2Sa Harper ( Bro,
MODERN ORGAN TUNING, THE HOW AND
Charles scribner's Sons.
E3 6b G STEP ~ SF TE 1 NIBEk 81 "
Sawyer. Phi. D. With an Introductory Essay
by Professor Fritz Schultze. Ph. D svo pp. Sia
Philadelphia. The J. B. Lppincott Company.
1t seems to have been ordained that there
shall be as many different kinds of writing
about WagneI's ''Parsifal" rs there are writer's
Here we have four books and also four entirely
different treatments OF the subject. though all
have come into existence 10 supply a supposedly
popular need. Two Of them illustrate sound
scholarship and sanity Of style and serve each
q well defined end. They are the books of Kuf-
ferath and Tunison- The former is distinctively
an analysis Of Wagner's drama on its legendary
dramatic and musical sides: the latter is purely
literary essay a study of the Grail legend and
.ts development from Walter Map 10 Richard
Wagner. in the light OF the historical environ
ment Of its purveyOrs. 1t is a suggestive
ribution to literary history. an investigation Of
political and religious well as artistic mo-
tves. as they lie exposed in the various pres
enUations OF the fascinating legend. The stu
dent Of the legend qua legend or Of literature
as such. viii find II more to his taste, and also
more beneficial than the seeker after things
which Will mayhap enhance his enjoyment OF
Wagner's lyric drama. Him. N. Kufferath ad-
dresses with copious and varied instruction. For
him. too. the Rev. Mr.. Haweis and Mrs.
Ford have written though in a different vein.
The formers essay IS a reprint Of a chapter
from book entitled My Musical Memories"
which had considerable vogue and did consid-
cradle mischief to the of schoolgirls twenty
years ago. Mr.. Haweis was fond Of the sound
OF his own words and delighted in nothing so
much IS in presenting himself TO The word
person Of peculiarly exquisite sensbnities. The
chapter reprinted. which tells of the authors
visit to Bayreuth to attend performance OF
''Parsifal' IN 1888 is full of robins doves
and rose leaves that OOA IA with
drama is not at all surprised TO read much
ecstatic description OF music which has no ex-
istence in WagneTs score and. therefore.
never heard at Bayreuth. For instance, "A
restless. passion tossed prelude The Grail
subject distorted, the Spear motive thrust In
discordant, the Faith and Love theme futter-
ing like wounded dove in pain, fierce bursts OF
passion, wild shocks of uncontrolled misery.
nlingling with the 'carnal Joy music OF King
sor's magic garden and the shuddering might OF
his alchemy" This Mr.. Haweis would have US
accept as a catalogue Of the contents Of the
prelude to the second act Cnhappily, not one
OF the themes which he mentions appears in
that prelude. But the paragraph sounds as If
It meant something and this fact illustrates one
OF the curses which the order of music and
musical nomenclature has brought upon the art
OF criticism
The author Of THE Legends Of Parsfal" has
less musical discussion. but on her own account
indulges In fantasies in telling the story of
WagTteI's drama Not from the book but from
some occult source she has learned that the
swans OF Monsalvat give healing power to the
waters OF the lake in which Amfortas bathes;
that "Herodias'' laughed at Christ as he bore
the cross up Calvary, and "as a punishment for
his sin she must wander for years until she
finds savior who viii love her with a selfess
love and thus lift the curse from her.: that
Parsifal breaks his bow and declares that never
again viii he destroy innocent life; that the
music OF the bells continues all through the
holy and uplifting service Of the uncovering OF
the Grail": that Parsifal is hidden to the feast
in the Grail temple whittier Gurnemanz
had led him; that in the beginning of the
third act ''Gurnemanz has discovered Kundrv
weeping for her SINS whereas il was not until
after her baptism that she is able TO weep. hav-
ing been cursed with the curse Of laughter etc
NJ Kuferath has found no difficulty in telling
me story Of both drama and music correctly
as well as those related by Wagner's greatest
predecessors Chretien de Troies and Wolfram
Won Eschenbsch. So admirable indeed. is this
book that there is nothing but sober truth in
the words Of the Introduction which describe it
as the best Of all single helps to study Of Wag-
ners drama 1t should be known. however,
that the nysterical dedication Of the book TO
Anton Seidl. Great Artist, True Man" applies
only 10 the translation and dates back to an
earlier publication than this
Mr.. Hermann Smith is an enthusiastic anti
quarry. He cannot even write a book devoted
TO so prosaic, technical and contemporaneous q
matter as the tuning OF the modern organ with
out dipping into the musical lore of the mast
much or which is dark and mystical and requires
terVld imagination TO give it even a semblance