Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-30
New York Music Letter.

of Der Ring des Nibelungen' had been
published ID years before his marriage
TO Cosima. "Gotterdammerung" was
completed in score afterward and Par ,
sifal," one of the weakest works OF the /
master, was written under her eye,
though even this had been conceived
before her coronation as queen OF his
heart
Minna would have been herself .
genius IL she had grasped the signih-
canoe Of what her husband was bestow.
ing upon the world She had no dim
Guilty in piercing the sophistries Of his
letters and understanding his adulteries,
which she endured with more than
human patience It was not till his
passion for Mathilde wesendonck was
couched in frenetic language that
Minna gave up the struggle to main
tain semblance of married life. And
there has been a liberal embarrassing
Of this episode. The fact that Wagner
In after years confessed his offense to
the husband who had turned him out
OF his home was on record long enough
before the famous lost letter" came to
light. In 1900 this writer was able to
say:
rover, faithleSs husband. His misdo-.
ings amounted to more than peccadil-
loes. He was guilty of many liaisons,
and the Sybaritic character Of his self
indulgenceS increased as the years went
by. 1t is not possible to give the details
of these secrets of WagnerS life (they
were partly unknown at that time), but
it must suffice to say that, while Minna
was unsuited to him, through her in
ability to understand him, she was more
sinned against than SHINING. She was
faithful and devoted wife, patient In
adversely and modest in prosperity"
The Burrell letters show that Wagner
loved her.
Brightest, Wisest, Meanest."
In conclusion, it must be said that
THE Truth About Wagner" is an incom-
plete and not astonishingly revelatory
| work. The whole value Of the Burrell
collection will hardly be estimated cor
rectly until it is published-if, indeed, It
| does not prove to be an unfnanageable
mass from which judicious selections
must be made. That selection should
be the care of some one not engaged
In building UP special evidence, but ap-
preaching the work with an unbiased
mind and dealing with 1t in strict OBJ
servance of the laws or scientific in
vestigation.
There was once q formidable genius
4 called Francis Bacon, about whom there
was shaped by one Alexander Pope an
epigrammatic phrase describing him as
the brightest, wisest, meanest of man.
kind" People today concern themselves
little about his meanness. His works
have become the closet treasures of q
few secluded scholars Excavators ex-
cite themselves with burrowing to learn
whether 1t was not indeed he who
wrote the plays attributed to william
Shakespeare. Almost every student Of
literature has made the acquaintance of
the phrase quoted. It may be that in
some remote future age all that will
be known of Wagner will be that he
was the brightest, wisest, meanest" Of
composers. But that day Is so far OF
that it need give us no immediate
anxiety.
Dear Little Marie: shall be home
next Wednesday. Ach Colt, how de-
lighted am to be able to rest again
with you there. Il hope the rose-col-
ored pants are ready0" And more Of
this same kind in a letter to his
| servant"
was traeumte mir Won Tristan's
Ehre?"
The latter will be remembered; the
former forgotten.
Copyright. le30)