New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-02

| time. its labors and its rewards In Lon
don he was astounded at the depths 10
which the art had sunk He heard plenty
OF dull music there, badly played. and'
what was even more outrageous he
found that the musical critics exerted
monstrous influence. He would not pa
cate Dawson. of THE Times wnere-
upon the critic was grossly hostile. Al
the same time. II Is probably safe 10 Jake
some of these dreary tales OF wagner
with a pinch of salt. Those VINO were
not for him were against him, ana lie
was quick to perceive. or 10 imasi"e
that he could perceive, Jealousy among
his rivals. Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Men,
delssohn. all come in for some tart re-
marks having this implication. and we
may note, by the way, that wagner
never feels any embarrassment ABOUT
saving unpleasant things of his con-
temporarles. There was the kinu-
hearted singer who had been of real ser
vice to him in the past and had had the
presumption to go on showing MS
friendship. He reappears upon the
scene and Wagner says: Il had WISH
from my old friend Tichatschek. OF
Dresden. who remained faithful to his
devotion and enthusiasm for meas far
as so uncutured person IS capapie
Of such emotions" The accents OF pat
ronage came to Wagner with the ease
of breathing. And yet while, as we
have said. one does not care to swallow
all his anecdotes whole, one follows
him trustingly enough in most OF those
matters on which he is, to put 1T mild
", critical. In other words, When the
artist in him is sitting in judgment on
another artist the tone is sometimes
little acrid, but the soundness OF what
he has 10 say is unmistakable.
His comments on Berlioz. and there
are many of them, are singularly con-
vincing Admitting the musician more
than the man praise and blame are
mixed in his sayings but all the time
YOU can feel beneath his dubiety the
| unerring instinct o. the man of tremen-
dous creative power for the limitations
| Of one who had splendid gifts, but was
not quite a demigod OF art. 1t would
| be interesting, but it would carry us,
we fear. too far afield. 20 make full
analysis Of his criticisms of the French
| COMPOSER. On MenCelssohn he is occa-
sionally biting, and there Is one fairly
cruel passage. in which he tells how he
had disillusiOnized his friend Franck,
I who believed that Mendelssohn had
shown high principle in renouncing a
salary of 5000 marks at Berlin 10 take
5000 as conductor Of the Gewandhaus
concerts at Leipzig. Wagner explained
TO him that Mendelssohn was really
receiving also a secret salary OF 5000
marks, thus winning applause for self
sacrifice at no financial cost whatever.
It is a grimy tale. but one which we
fear Wagner rather relished. He did
not like Mendelssohn.
Connoisseurs Of tempo will enjoy this
anecdote of a performance of Beetho-
vens Eighth Symphony, at which both
Mendelssohn and Wagner were present:
had noticed In the preceding rehearsal
that Reissiger had fallen into the error
of all the ordinary conductors OF this work
by taking the tempo di nlinuetto OF the
third movement at a meaningless waltz
time. whereby not only does the whole
piece lose it's imposing character. but the
trio IS rendered absolutely ridiculous by
the impossibility OF the violoncello part
being interpreted AT such a speed. ! had
called Ressigers attention to THIS delect
and he acquiesced in my opinion, promising
tc take the part in question at true minu
e,to tempo. | related this 10 Mendelssohn
when he was resting after his own per-
Torrance in the box beside me, LISTENING
10 the symphony. He, too, acknowledged
that | was right, and thought that II ought
TO be played as | said. And now the third
| movement began. Reissiger, who, II Is
true, did not possess the needful power
suddenly 10 impress so momentous a
change Of time upon his orchestra with
success followed the usual custom and
took the tempo di nlinaetto In the same
old waltz time. Just as | was about 70
express my anger Mendelssohn gave me
a friendly nod, as though ne thought that
this was what / wanted and that l had
understood the music in this way. l was
so amazed by this complete absence of
feeling on the part OF the famous musician
that | was struck dumb. and thenceforth
my own particular opinion Of Mendelssohn
! afterward confirmed by r. Schumann. The
! latter. In expressing the sincere pleasure
he had felt on listening 10 the time at
which | had taken the first movement Of
| BeethOvens Ninth symphony told me that
he had been compelled 10 hear IL year after
year taken by Mendelssohn at perfectly
dstracting speed.
In workshop talk like this the auto
biography is very rich. Like all Of
Wagner's writings it abounds in ideas
L. Iar