Evening star., 1927-08-21
The Bayreuth Festival of 1927

ures of the score. To make both
seem natural and inevitable was the
work of the artist. And it was to this
art which conceals art" that Emmy
Kruger, as Isolde, and Gotthelf
Pistor. as Tristan, failed to measure.
With the former particularly the arm
gestures seemed meaningless very
often, while one could almost count
the measures for the steps. In
short, one could see the machinery
working. Emmy Kruger is a hand
some woman. but she is not beauti-
full Isolde histrionically. Neither she
nor Amy Helm. the Brangaene, "got
inside" their roles. The men were
only few grades better. Musically.
none of the artists was equal to the
passion and tenderness demanded by
the score. OF the two women, Amy
Helm sang the better: of the three
men, Alexander Kipnis as King Mark.
The burden of the music fell heavily
upon the hidden orchestra and it's con-
ductor. Carl Elmendorf. Nevertheless.
the very rules and regulations which
Wagner laid on his singers now held
these same singers together and made
an impressive. if not inspired, ensem-
BILE that at least upheld the dignity of
Bayreuth's reputation.
1t was the performance of "Parsi-
fal." however. on the second day. that
brought one most fully under the re-
puted spell of Wagner's Theater.
Whether it was due to the rich tradi-
tions that cling to the Bayreuth pres
entation of this work. to the great
conducting Of DR.. Carl Muck (the
last exponent of these traditiOns). to
the fine artistry of the singers. or to
all three. the beauty of spirit and
effect of this performance will always
be memorable to those who witnessed
it, as this reviewer, for the first time
in its original setting. Barbara Kemp
made fOrceful, if not seductive.
kundry; Pistor, a really convincing
Parsifal. both to see and to hear;
while Ivar Andersen seemed to make
the role of Gurnemanz less prosy than
usual; Karl Hammes was sufficiently
moving as Amfortas, and Franz Ege-
nieff not too absurd as the fairy-tale
magician. Klingsor. Even the old
fashioned moving panorama from the
decor of 1882 did not disturb the illu-
sion of beauty. 1t was rare artistic
experience, as unique as it was uneX-
pected.
And it was unexpected. When one
has been immersed for weeks in mod
ern music. Bayreuth, with its more
fashioned stage devices and set. pre-
scribed gestures, looms up before the
uninitiated as a sort of historical mu-
scum. All the more surprise. then,
to be caught in it's spell. Or perhaps
1t would be surprising If one were not.
The music one has just left-the So
called music of today''-has been in
spired by machinery and has already
taken on the clang and hue and dull
mOnotony of steel. 1t is experimental
music. we are told. Experimental pho
Biography in sound would come nearer
the truth. perhaps. Richard Wagner
experimental, too. and Bayreuth was
his laboratory. But the driving forces
of his ina agination were the mighty
passions that still drive the world.
Because of this, the first four meas
ures of Tristan and Isolde" still with
stand. unscathed, the machine-gun
onslaughts of the modern" composer.
In the meantime, Bayreuth. the first
experimental theater for the music
drama, as it was the first festival
house." still remains the most nearly
perfect thing of it's kind