The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-01-14

urSl OI Wal hers WORKS aOSOIuCely In.
comprehensiblet to ali uncultiyated ear.
! In "The Mastersingers of Nurem-
Eerg," we have music-drama which
stands in class by itself. 1t is, first, a
comic opera-nDt, of course, in the
se lse in which "rhe Prince Of Pilsen"
is comic opera, but-in the sense in
which Twelfth Night" is a comedy.
The plot abounds in humor of some
what TeutOnic type and in wit of Gallo
kee mess. One of the humorous sltua-
tions may be briefly described thus:
Towards the beginning of the second
act, which takes place in street in
Nuremberg, we are introduced to the
night watchman who goes his rounds,
just as he did Ia all civilized countries
before they invented the policeman
Later on. Be:kmess er, the old Marker
of tie guild of Mast ersingers, makes
his appearance and attempts to sing a
serenale to his inamorata. lie is in
terrupted by the tapping of tt e ham,
mer of Hans Sachs, the cobb.er-musi-
|
clan, who is fixing pair of shoes for
him. On condition that for every
mistake Beckmesser makes, he may
give tap with his hanmer, Sachs
agrees to stop his noise. The gallant
lover has no sooner begun his song,
when tap goes the hammer This
makes him nervous, and the result is
very soon duet between voice and
hammer. Naturally this gins to in
terest the neighbors. Windows fly
open, heads pop out and the ultimate
result is sire ct riot, which rises to an
intense pitch. Suddenly, above all the
din rises horn which sounds reminis-
cent, the street bs comes quiet as if by
magic, and round the corner comes the
majesty of the lsW--net squadron. of
cavalry, but the feeble old watchman
who quavers out his verse about the
time of night ana the state of the
weather. "The Mastersingers" is, of
all Wagne.'s works, the one which is
the hest answer to the ridiculous criti-
cism that he was a morbid, unbalanced
genius, and the only one in which no
element of the miraculous appears.
OF the four mighty music-dJamas
which constitute "The Ring of the
Nieoelungs," it will not lie advisable
to tt eat in detail. Suffit 1T to observe
that they are based on the "Niebelung-
er-lied," great German epic, that they
were written backwards, No. to ex-
plain No 4 and SO on, that they are
alike characterized by exquisite music,
handicapped by nebulous mythology
and extremely difficult to represent on
the sta.e. Among the difficult es are
the representation of the bottom of a
river, of dragon who sings and of a
bird equally eloquent and of a dwarf
, who changes himself first into dragon
and second into toad.
The last of Wagner's music-dramas
"Parsifal," has SO teen the most dis.
cusse1. Prior to its performa zee in
New York in 1903, it had never bet L
represented outside of Bayreuth in
> stage form. 1t must be admitted thai
: THE peculiar mixture of Christianity
: and mysticism which it contains III
repugnant to many sincere believers
> In particular, what pI Iactically amounts
| to the celebration of mass ON the
!. stage has received much condemnation
: The contrast between the devotiona
l character of the first and third act!
f and the decidedly exotic nature of tht
e second also arouses opposition. Yet i
4 is no longer possible to deny that "Par
q sifa" was conceived in entire sincerity
e and it is strange comment on mucl
8 of the criticism bestowed on it tha
j. the Good Friday music Itself, the cen
t ter of objection, has been heard il
f churches without number, as it is ia
), vorite organ recital selection.
e In this necessarily brief epitome o
> the work of Richard Wagner, enougl
: has been said to demonstrate that her
e is body of music imposing in quantit
a and in quality. It is as musician tha
&c he will be remembered. His vagu
it and grandiose theory of union of Al
n the arts has not yet been borne out b
e facts, and there seems to be no pros
y pect of any such result being attainet
l. nor any reason why it should be Al
Is tanned. His theories Of the leit-npotl
le and Of the unending melody seem I