Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-30
BY w. ]. HENDERSON.

NEW YORK, March 20.
THE personality of Wagner is thrown
once more into the spotlight
through the publication by the Fred
erick A. Stokes Co. of The Truth
About Wagner" by Philip Dutton Hurn
and Waverly Lewis Root. The basis OF
this book is the collection Of Wagner
manuscripts and letters made by an
English woman, the Hon. Mrs. VII
loughby Burrell, who died in 1898.
Her collection has only lately become
valuable-leSs than a year ago. in fact.
For 81 years" the authors say, ut
gathered dust in Victorian jewel boxes
hidden away in a safe deposit vault
while other priceless manuscripts mold
cred in the bottom of clothes hampers"
The authors declare that Cosima Wag-
ner tried to gain possession OF every
scrap of Wagner correspondence in Eu-
rope. mainly with the purpose Of sup
pressing what went toward making out
q favorable case for Minna, Wagners
first wife. and enabling Cosina to prove
that she alone was the great mans true
mate
The book damages its own very strong
case by its incorporate methods. It Is
not written judicially, but, one might
say, angrily. Cosima appears in its
pages as a monster of mendacity, a
Planer Is represented as victim. The
famous autobiography Is held up to
scorn as a deceptive and artiflcially
constructed piece of fiction. We are
shown Cosima as endeavortng to prove
that she saved Wagner from his first
wife, whereas the true cause Of the
break between him and Minna was
Mathilde Wesendonck The lost let
ter" to this lady has turned up in the
Burrell collection. There are other let
tiers which go to reveal the nature OF
Wsgner's private life and his affairs
with women of various degrees, from
Jessie Lausot to a serving maid. There
is rich food for salacious appetites.
That there is an impressive amount
of new Wagner material in the Bur-
rell collection is beyond dispute. That
IL explains many things hitherto not
perfectly understood is incontestahle
That 1t fundamentally alters what has
for many years been known about Wag-
ner, Minna and Cosima may be ques-
toned. The laSt-named parsonage. who
still fingers in the seclusion Of Wahn-
fried, has never hesitated to employ
any means within her reach to frame
plausible story Of her relations with
Wagner. She has been q woman OF
tremendous energy, egotiSm and dicta-
torial power. When she desired 1t, she
could pose as the incarnation of mod
esty and self-Sacrifice.
Wagner's Love and Loves.
The writer Of these lines had not a,
his disposal In 1900 the mass of evil
dence contained in the Burrell collec-
ton, but even at that time it was i'm
possible for him to be deceived as to
the responsibility of Wagner as q hus-
band and the devotion Of the bitterly
tried Minna. Whether she understood
his genius or not, she was q good wife
And how many did perceive the great
ness of Wagner? Did Hanslick? Did
Davidson of the London Times?
According to the authors of the vol
ume before us, the Burrell letters make
1t very clear that Wagner leaned heav.
! lily upon Minna when he needed her
and he needed some woman's help al
the time. He left her and returned tc
her again and again, and she repaid his
abuse with aid and comfort. The au-
thors are insiStent upon the point that
Wagner's great works we're nearly all
created while he and Minna were still
united and not after the royal influence
Of CoSima had entered his life. Thi,
hardly requires proof. The entire poem