New-York tribune., 1922-09-17
Sideligghts ON Wagner's Son,
Reported Soon to Visit America
In Illuminating Conversation With London Re.
porter; Siegfried Wagner's Early Paris Ad-
ventures; A Temperamental Outburst

not DO any good I would not attempt
the thing at all. Besides, am always
guided by the best advice from my
mether and my teacher, Humperdinck."
on his symphony he spoke as fol-
lows:
well, yes, have composed SYM
phony-eVerybody writes symphony
n9V, but it proves nothing Mt ali. At
to composition-I know better. Only.
when l came out as a conductor, my
unexpected appearance startled a good
many people, who were kind enough to
say that | knew nothing Of music, and
so wrote symphony and had it per
formed to show that I do know. /
tave studied with Kiese and the best
contrapuntist we have in Germany
How, Humperdinck, and my course of
stfdies is quite complete. Humper-
dlnck, you know, is the composer of
Haqsel und Gretel,' the only success
fui German opera since 'Parsifal.'
III 1900 young Wagner was invited
to conduct Colonies orchestra in
Paris. Colonne, himself, had been
violinist in the orchestra of the opera
in 1861 when Richard Wagner's Tam
hauscr" was Kissed off the stage in the
French capital, and the invitation to
Siegfried was intended as a reparation.
Siekfried conducted two concerts at the
Chatelet, was widclys entertained and
generally exploited. His programs
were devoted to excerpts from his
fathers operas, one or two List num-
bers and the overture to his own opera,
."Der Baerenhauter." Writing from
Paris to "The Boston Transcript" Mr..
Fl. r. Parker gave the following i'm
pressions of the young mans visit:
His audiences, being too enthusiastic
cally engaged in the discovery of his
fathers music, and taking their cue
from M. Colonies idea of reparation,
applauded generally and spoke highly
OF the. young man. but as one listens
30 their talk of him one suspects that
they were more interested in him as
his fathers son than impressed by his
ability as a conductor.
Sicgfried himself, as I am told. Is
a somewhat cold and precise person of
thirty, simple and quiet in manner,
with many more interests and much
more varied information than most
musicians have. Partisan hosts and
hlm of his father and of their pretty
notion of preparation" for the intrigue
and the prejudices that wrecked "Tann-
hauser" forty years ago. The son,
however, preferred other topics, and
smiled gently at this ptoffer of formal
amends. Paris, he said, was not the
only city in which his fathers music
drama had at first Jared i'll, and if
recompense in the opera house and
the concert room had come late, it had
been ample and enthusiastic. In fact,
Slogtrled really warmed only when he
insisted that his fathers ideas, methods
and standardsand those only-were
bound for the present and for The
future to shape and to determine all
really good work for the operatic
stage.
In the spring of 1914 all Berlin was
agog over an exhibition of Wagnerian
temperament, which occurred during a
concert at the Court Hall. Siegfried
was conducting program Of works bv
his father and grandfather with ex-
cerpts from his own operas. Having
directed half the program he suddenly
! laid down his baton, brushed aside the
laurel wreath awaiting his acceptance
and strobe from the hall, followed by a
I huttering group of feminine admirers.
Dissatisfaction with the orchestra,
which had been hastily organized, was
the official reason given for this ex-
traoTdinary behavior, but it was whis-
pered that lukewarm applause and a
small audience were not entirely dis
/ connected with Mr.. Wagner's hastv
exit.
In 1899 Wagners son was reported
engaged to a soubrette of the Royal
Theater, Munich, Fraulein Centa Bree.
In 1915 he married Miss Winifred
Klindworth at Bayreuth.
/ If years have not disposed Mr..
Wagner to reticence his coming visit
should be fruitful at least in words.