Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-02-24

was as an advertising scheme. Stand
ing under the yellow portals of the
Metropolitan Opera house, calmly fold
ing his arms, his indifference to the
storm was Neapoleonic. Offend Frau
Wagner, steal the most precious jewel
away from Bayreuth, set the pulpit
ringing, fill the press with discussion
never before had advertising become
so grandly proportional. Conreid
could afford to bide his time-couli !.
well afford to say, "wait!" His time
was coming. And when it came-on
Christmas eve-all of New York
shouted, "Parsifal on earth; good will
| to Conreid." 1t was a triumphal pro-
cession-all roads lead to upper Board
way When the doors of the Metro
politan opera house opened, men, wo-
men and children fought like wild |
beasts for the prize of admission. The |
six great, golden horseshoes of the
house were damned and crammed. |
Down in the little boX-office sat Hen
rich Conreid, counting the twenty
thousand dollars which poured in
golden flood through the ticket win
dows. Never, since the days of the Co
liseum was such an audience gathered
before the foot-lights of a show house.
Never before was such rain OF money
caught in the Bayreuth umbrella OF
Wagner's "Parsifal."
~ y
Of course the "Parsifal' which we
saw here is not the "Parsifap which
burst upon the startled eyes and ears
of New Workers in the last days or
rather nights-of 1903. If we expected
either the Conreid production or the
Conreid version we have only to thank
our own provincial credulity for the
disappointment. However, under the
circumstances, we saw all we had
right to expect We saw enough to
open wide the doors of discussion an
rip. off the lid of the Pandora box of
; speculation, setting free confusing
army of pros" and ''cons"-a weird
marshalling of theories as 10 what
Wagner meant and what he didn't
mean. AS there was rush to the
Public library preceding the coming
of "Parsifal," fancy the rush is even
greater since his departure. Aside
from the observance of widow Wag-
ner's property rights in her husbands
production, the religious Draying of
: some clerical mules and the printed
SuSn OF Il IHOuSduu lShdlluo boihSii' ~
: exploiting their Wagnerian cryptic
: grams-I say aside from these, which
are amusing, "Parsifal," to me, ar
! forded nothing more than an evening
' of questionable entertainment. | say
Z this, not because l esteem Wagner the
!, less, but, because l feel my own dehc-
= fences the more-in the presence OF
: the mysterious "Parsifal" l found my
? self like a blind man in forest. 1t Is
!, not enough to say that "Parsifaf' Is
u acknowledgement the patience
- of Virtue, it's riches of opportunity and
: it's great and sure reward. 1t is not
. enough to say that "ParsifaP' reveals
{ the Christ in a new light; the story OF
! the Magdelene redeemed afresh; the
temptation of Saint Anthony, voluptu'
= ously painted and framed again In
: woman's wiles and smiles. 1t is not
= enough, l say, to assign these motives
. to "Parsifal," because they are mere
g ly incidental-part and parcel only OF
!, the Wagnerian scheme.
:, ~ ~
3 And Just what that scheme signihes
n. is the stumbling block against which
jr theory forever jams its toes. Maybe
v it was Wagner's purpose to put the
" eternal Sphinx in "Parsifal' and lie
a. the world weary itself in idle specuia
II ton. 1t may be that Buddhism, Chris