The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1904-01-07
IMPRESSIONS
OF "PARSIFAL"
Wagner's Opera as Viewed by
a Musician and a DramatiSt.
WALTER DAMROSOH DISAPPOINTED

He Misses ImpreSs1yeness of Bal
reuth Production and Regrets Per-
GOrmance Here-Belasco Says Bal
Play Is Not MISUNDERSTANDING
cious! Yes"-Second Act Marvellous.
The following article in the New
York Herald contains two impressions
Of the New York production of Wag-
ner's opera "ParsifaI' from the view
point of musician and a dramatist.
Walter DamroSch, the musician, re-
cords the production of "Parsifal" as
bold and brave effort on the part of
Mr.. Conried and his company to achieve
the impossible.
! "Wagner's last will and testament
bequeathing 'ParsifaP to Baireuth eX.
clusively was no idle whim, but in
spired by an absolute conviction, born
Of an intimate knowledge of operate
conditions, that this work was of a
character so unique that proper per
Torrance is almost impossible in a
regular opera house and decidedly SO
during regular opera season.
cit would, therefore, be folly to crit
icise this performance on the lines laid
down by Wagner, for, though Mr.. Con-
ried had spent money lavishly and had
given the work fine cast of singers
and more rehearsals than are usually
vouchsafed a new production during
an opera season, and though the per-
Torrance moved briskly and almost
glibly along, Wagner's good judgment
was abundantly proved, and l cannot
help but wish that Mr.. Conried's fine
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.
"At Baireuth performances there were
imperfections- artists even there have
been known to sing out of tllne-but the
theater is 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
trivialities OF ordinary life.
81 cannot say that the performance
| reproduced on me the Baireuth i'm
preston of the beauty and solemnity of
the various ceremonials of the Chris
tan church which are enacted and sym
bolized 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. 1t
was frankly operatic,' and the scenes
might just as we'll have been taken
from some Masonic ceremonial. In the
main lines the stage business was the
same as in Baireuth, but the inner spir-
it was often wanting.
whether it was the trivial manner
In which the Holy Grail was uncovered
or the slOuchy way in which the
knights of the Grail walked or fused
! with their cloaks or the garish lighting
of the Hall of the Grail, there was but
little illusion and none of the mysticism
! which should envelop these scenes as
! with q holy mantle. 1t was heavily
borne in upon me that a performance
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
rehearsals and discipline succeed in pro-
ducing a perfect stage illusion. There
should be no betwixt and between"
Mr.. Damrosch heartily praises the
musical performance, though he criti-
ciscs the weakness Of the chorus. FL
rally, he cannot see why "Parsifap
should not be given frankly as an opera
at ordinary hours, without all this
fiummery ard affectation Of long inter
missions and trumpet calls. These. be
says. ARE but externals and cannot re-
produce the Baireuth spirit. These are
but mockery of that ideal which Wag-
ner tried 10 rear in that faraway little
| country town and which we, who starve
in great cities, can only long for as
young Parsifal longed for a sight Of the
Holy Grail in his long wanderings.'
David Belasco. the dramatist, says:
Il saw 'ParsifaP in Baire11th: saw
% Ta~soN play in Oberammergau.
~ l':s',laNt,'lg is a delicate undertake
ny. aMd 'I'ursifar is almost as difficult
: Grams 1!;,:;t rs the Passion play. Race,
a.nciA ,'on. training-all these have fit
ia M Conried for this remarkable
ISIS
There is only one great tragedy in
- world. the divine tragedy. Wag-
,ar las been influenced by it. by the
Man Of Sorrows and acquainted with
grief Stripped of its incidental adj
tuncts, 'ParsifaP deals with young
man who. IN the hope that he may
lroyp Il redeemer remains insensible to
his suffering until he becomes clair
voy#nt by the kiss of the temptress
l<nnGrr ard thereby made to under
stand the meaning Of pity. Wagner
this volcano Of emotions this creator OF
bgr,iar'anS and lusty young lovers. has
| written Il work immortalizing pity. But
| remember he wrote it at the end OF his
l!fe Already bis blood ran cold. Par
sifal' is pI. destined. Hence there is no
complication, no great fall and no great
story-that is. from dramatic stand
point. Wagnor'S earlier poems of men