The New York herald., 1922-11-26

heard it play symphony OF Bee
thoyen and swiftly arrived at the
conclusion that the conductor had
found the key to the true interpreta-
tion of the master. And what was
that key? Here are Wagner's words
as translated by Dannreuther:
'sThe French idea of playing an In
strument we'll is to be able TO sing
we'll upon 1t. And that superb or
chestra sang the symphony. The pos
sibility of it's being sung implies that
the true tempo had been found and
this is the second point which i'm
pressed me, at the time. Old Habeneck
was not the medium Of any abstract
ssthetical inspirations; he was devoid
of genius. But he found the right
tempo while persistently fixing the
attention Of his orchestra upon the
rnelos of the symphony, the right
comprehension OF the melos- These
two things are inseparable; the one
implies and qualities the other"
Wagner continued his descanting on
.se topic Of tempo by declaring that
rne German conductors did not know
now 10 Nluk a. inSiObys N'i'AiVee 0~N~N
10 found them mechanical. Their
treatment of the tempo. whether II
Sas right or wrong, was merciless In
:ts exactness. Rigorous precision In
the matter OF tempo must inevitapiy
result in cold performance. The great
finger and the great conductor are
artists who persistently Ak their at
tention upon the melos--a word which
Wagner uses to signify not only the
melodic outline but the color and
shading, and, In short, the whole as-
thetic character of the melody.
Liberties Taken by Singers.
In too many instances singers. espe-
cia1ly opera singers. are bent on ex-
hibitinz their best tones regardless
of their appositeness to the scheme OF
the composer. Those who never read
the scores of operas have no idea OF
the extraordinary liberties taken by
singers with the letter OF the text.
And yet even this may be forgiven
If the spirit Is not violated. But this
is lust where the fundamental error
creeps in.
trated OF making his own pet effects
is very likely TO use tempo which
spoils the melos of his air. He either
drags it's phrases out till they lose
their beautiful curves and become a
series of fiat lines, or he hurries them
so that the same graceful curves be-
come broken lines moving In Sc
auences Of angles. Wagner COM
planned that whereas. when he con-
Quoted "Tannhaeuser" in Dresden, the
overture took twelve minutes to per-
form: a. few years later conductors
were making II last twenty. How he
must have enjoyed the new tempo'
There is no record that he came to be-
Iieve Il better than his own.
The question of tempo was treated
with animation by some commenta-
tors after the performance of Der
Rosenkavalier" a. the Metropolitan
because those writer's perceived a
want of incislveness In the entire first
act OF the opera and attributed II to
Mr.. Bodanzky's eagerness to empha-
size details. He was obliged to pro-
ceed slowly in order that his refine
ments might not be lost In the rush
Of tone.
Tempt in Opera Always vital.
In opera tempt arc always Of vital
Importance. SO they arc in the drama.
end even in literature. intended only
10 be read. The actor who is alone on
the stage may indeed choose his own
tempo. He may speak his lines delib-
erately or vivaciously. according 10
his conception Of the theatrical values.
But when IL comes 20 this choice OF
movement he must be quite as sure
as the musical conductor that mis-
tempo ,s not such "a TO destroy tn.
effect Of his utterance. Pope put the
whole matter into four lines OF verse
when he wrote in his Essay on Criti-
cism" these words:
"when Ajax strives some rocks vast
weight to throw,
The line too labors and the words move