New-York tribune., 1907-01-23


than this It believed that the true and the
beautiful were bound together IN angelic wedlock
and that all art found its highest mission in giving
them expression. But the drama has been led
through devious paths into the charnel house, and
IN "Salome' We must needs listen TO the echoes
Of fits dazed and drunken footballs The maxim
Truth before convention asserts its validity and
demands recognition under the guise Of "charac-
tertstic beauty" We may refuse TO admit that
ugliness is entitled to be raised a valid principle
in music dissociated from words stage pictures.
on the ground that thereby It contravenes and
contradicts its own nature; but may longer
do when II surrenders it's function an
preston OF the beautiful and becomes merely
illustrative element, aid TO dramatic express
sion What shall be said. then. when mu-
sic adorns itself with its loveliest attributes
and lends them to the apotheosis OF that
which is indescribably yes. inconceivably; gross
and aborninable? Music cannot lie. Not even
the genius Of Richard Strauss can make 1t
discriminate in its soaring ecstasy between a vile
object and good. There are three supremely
beautiful musical moments In "Salome" Two OF
them are purely instrumental. though they illus
trate dramatic incidents; the third is predomi-
nanty instrumental, though It has an accompani-
ment Of word and action. The first Is inter
mezZo in which all action ceases except that which
plays In the bestally perverted heart and mind of
Salome. bafied arnorous hunger changes to q
desire for revenge. The second is the music OF
the dance The third is the marvellous finale. in
which impulse which can only be conceived as
rising from the uttermcst pit Of degradation is
beatihed- CrOuching the discovered head of
the prophet SaloIne addresses it in terms OF re-
proach OF grief. OF endearment and longing, and
finally kisses the bloody lips and presses her teeth
into the geld flesh It is incredible that an artist
should ever have conceived such a scene for pub
lie presentation. In all the centuries IN which the
story OF the dance before Herod has fascinated
scuptors. painters and poets IN spite OF the
tons Of lustful incident upon the simple Biblical
story, It remained for a poet OF day 70
ceive this horror and q musician Of our day to
put forth HIS highest powers in its celebration.
There was a scene before the mental eye OF
Strauss as he wrote. It was that OF Isolde sing
ing out her life over the dead body OF Tristan. In
the music Of that we do not hesitate to say
again. as we have said before. there lies the most
powerful plea made for the guilty lovers. It
is the choicest flower OF Wagners creative faculty
the elimination OF his powers as a composer and
never before OF since has the purifying and enno-
bling capacity OF music been 90 convincngiy de-
monstrated Strauss has strlven to outdo IL. and
there are those who think that IN this episode he
actually raised music 20 iighey power He has not
only gone with the dramatist end outraged every
sacred instinct OF humanity by calling the lust for
hssh. alive dead, love, but he has celebrated her
ghoulish passion as II he would perforce make OF
her object OF that redemption Of which.
again following Wagner but along oblqua paths,
he prates so strangely In his opera Of "Guntram."
II IS obvious on a moments reflection that. had
Strauss desired. the play might easily have been
uOuLueu so as 10 avoid tnls BTeWSOIuS SplSOuS. ~
woman scorned. vengeful ana penitent would have
furnished forth material enough for his finale and
dismissed his audience with less disturbances OF
their moral and physical stomachs. But Strauss, TO
put Il mildly, IA a ssnsationast despite his genius,
and his business is large. New Workers
know ever since he wound up artistic tour OF
America with concert in a department store.
When Nietszche was the talk OF Germany We got
ALSO Sprach ZarathuBtra-" Oscar Wildes play,
too unsavory for the France for which It writ
TahO In nj boca o
been Joyously acclaimed in Germany where there
are many men who are theoretically uoentious and
practically uxorious; and Strauss willing that
his countrymen should sup their full Of delights
and horrors. To think back under the impress
sions OF the final scene to tho dance which precpi-
tated the catastrophe Is 20 bring recoectons Of
little ese than the striking originality OF Its music
It's piquancIes OF rhythm and orchsstration. its
artfay simulated OTientalism and the thrilling ef-
feet produced by a recurrence to the 'love music
C'Let kiss thy mouth JochanaAn,'O at mo-
rent before the frenetio close. when the rep
rcsentation of 5alome "a professional dancer
Miss Froehlich. is deftly substituted for Miss
FrsustRd at the Metropolitan performance ap-
proaohss the cistern IN which tie white flesh.
black hair and red lips Of her idolat-y are
immured. and casts wstful gianceS into its depths
Sinco tho outcome was 20 be what 1t became It
would have been folly IN Mr.. Conriads performance
20 attempt 20 disguiss the true character OF the
Dance OF the Seven vslls.' Miss Froehlich gave
quite unconCsrnedly danse du ventrei not
quite so pronounced rs Il has been seen in the
Oriental quarters at our worlds fairs. not quite
so free OF bodily covering tradition would have
justified Yet u served 20 emphasize its purpose
IN the play. This dance IN It's original estate IS p
dramatic dance; il IS indeed. the frankest example
OF terpsichorean symbolism within the whole range
OF tho pautoninnto dance. The conditions under
which Wilde and Strauss introduce IL IN their
drama spare all need OF thought; there IS
sufficient commentary in tho dodderinE debility OF
the pleading Herod and the lustfgI attitude OF his
protruding eyes. There fantastical persons who
like to talk about religious symbolism in connec-
tion with this dance and OF forms OF worship Of
vast antiquity. The dance IS old 1t was probably
danced in Egypt before the Exodus: in Greece
probably before orDheus sang and
'Tlion. like a mist rose into towers"
But It is not TO be seriously thought that from
those days 10 this there any doubt as TO
its significance and It's purpose which IS 70 pander
TO prurlent appetities and arouse Hbidiuous pas
sions. Always too. from those days TO this tts
performers have been the most abandoned OF the
courtesan class.
There is not whiR of fresh md healthy air
blowing through "Salome'' except that which e.--
hales from the cistern the prison house Of Jocha-
naan. Even the love OF NarrabOth. tho young
Syrian captain. for the princess IS tainted by the
jealous outbursts OF Hsrodass page. SaIome is the
unspeakable; HerOdias. though dvested OF her most
pronounced historical attributes (she adjures her
daughter not to dance. though she cloats over the
revenge which it's brings TO herr is a human hyeaa:
Herod a neurasthenic voIuptuary a group Of Jews
who shown disputlng in the manner Of Baxter
street. though conveyed by Wilde frcm Flauberts
pages. used by Strauss 10 provide a comic in
terlude. Years ago a musical humorist IN Vienna
caused muCn amusement by writing the words of
a quarrel OF Jewish pedlers under the voices OF
the fugue In Mozart's overture to "The Magic
Flute" Three hundred years ago Orazio Vecchi
composed burlesque madrigal in the severe style
of that day. in which he tried to depict the babel
1f1a