New-York tribune., 1920-03-14

the spectator more of the purpose of
poet or composer. more of the mood of
the poem or composition can be pro-
jected by conventionalism than imita-
ton.
In this case, instead of the delinea-
tion Of forest. with it's open glade,
its placid lake, home for beasts and
birds, filled with the murmur of leaves
and the songs of birds (to which there
are illusions in the text and suggestive
music), we have a few massive tree
trunks, their tops lost in the flies and
their branches strangely and symmet-
rlcally interlocking to form gothic
arches. Through these arches we look
rushing turbulently past the foot of
mountainous cliffs. Here. surely, there
is a jumble of conceptions--symbe
IN the foreground, realism (dehant of
the dramatic concet Of the part) in
the background. The blooming meadow
of the first scene Of the third act is a
very rolling country indeed, and the
picture is without the warmth, Tor want
of bright color, which should appear
in the background through fringe Of
forest in the foreground. Wagner con-
ceived the "Blumenaue," as it is called,
bright with blossoms.
|; The Temple of the Grail
A great deal of admiration has been
excited by Mr.. Urban's temple and the
Castle of Klingsor, which is archi
tecturally in harmony with it. Whether
or not the temple is pagan" as our
respondent says. we do not know. 1t
is impressive by reason of its massi-
ness, especially that of its columns.
We shall not discuss its propriety or
find fault with those who found the
reflection of a. spirit more in conso-
nance with the drama in the picture as
it was presented in earlier years. Sim
ply as study of what the Temple of
the Grail was in the minds Of the poets
who permitted the subject to possess
their imaginations, we shall try to
draw a picture Of the sanctuary in
which the sacred talisman was sup
posed to be kept. We draw the pict-
ure from the source to which Wagner
went for his ject-Wolfram Won
Eschenbach; but not to his poem
"Parzival," but to "Titurel," a poem
which has unique value as contain
ing the only significant description of
an architectural monument in the
medieval literature of Germany. Its
author fourished in the last decade OF
the twelfth century and the first few
decades of the thirteenth. He was a
Won Ofterdingen, who is supposed by
some to have stood for the portrait Of
Wagner's "Tannhauser" and with that
minstrel-knight takes part in the opera
as ne did in the contest of song in the
Wartburg which, according to tradi-
ton, was held in 1907.
A short prelude: the chalice which
had been used at the Last Supper and
into which Christ's blood flowed at
the Crucifxion or burial was caught
up by angels, who, themselves inyis-
ible, held it lowering between earth
and heaven. In various forms of the
legend it became a tombstone, the
source Of bodily sustenance to those
who adored it, and an oracle, like many
talismans before and after it. To Tit
urel, a son of the first Christian King
of France, and his pieus knights it led |
the way to place where a sanctuary
was to be built for it. This place was
Mons Salvatsch (Mons Salvatus), which |
reared its summit amid dense forest
in Salvatore, supposedly Salvatarra.
not n. far from vittoria, in Biscay. Spain.
The place was said to be familiar to
all those who made the pilgrimage |
from Biscay to St. Iago di Csmpestella !
in Galicia. When it stood still over
Mons Salvatsch, Titurel leveled the |
summit of the mountain, which was of |
solid onyx, and polished an area meas
uring over 500 feet square. On the |
polished surface he one day found the |
plans Of the temple, drawn by the |
Grail itself, and built the fame. The
temple was round, like all the churches |
built by the Knights Temrlar. as may
still be seen in the Temple Church in
London, in imitation of the Church Of |
the Sepulture in Jerusalem, which was
ORIGINALLY a MOSQUE built bv the Ca
liphs In Jerusalem between "A. D. 63A
and TIA on the site Of Solomon's Tenn
pie. (Ths church in the Inner Temple,
London, was completed A. d. 1850
Titurerx temple was surrounded By
chapsls or choirs, octaepnFl
,s.s. Z ssss { s5a 81 aass Mn rs &: