Evening star., 1938-11-27

has grown so that, as the wheel Of
progress turns, we find cult o1
Wagner penetrating every land. 1r
this country the great music of Wag-
ner is particularly revered, and the
program which the Philadelphia Or
chestra will give on Tuesday night
Is bound to be welcome one.
Surely no more contradictory per-
son ever lived than Wagner. His
many weak points, his vanity, his
affection and his egotism were
never hidden nor CLOSED over, and
from a personal standpoint he had
little to recommend him to undying
fame. But in this individual, who
lived his life in complete disregard
of others, there gloWed an unquench-
able flame, a powerful force that was
greater than the righteousness of
more God-fearing men. This flame
was music and the force his unique
comprehension of the mystic and su-
perhuman elements that are strong,
If latent, in the human race.
In the beginning of the Wagner
cult it was the fashion to believe
that most of his music was obscure
and required deep study in order to
understand it. 1t was considered the
ne plus ultra of culture to be able
to comprehend the work of this
master. This attitude would have
vastly astonished Wagner himself,
no doubt, who, time and again, re-
iterated that he was composing for
the multitude. With the passing
of the years it has been proven how
right the master was and how much
better he understood his fellow be-
ings than they did themselves.
For he knew that hidden away in
every ones makeup is a leaning
toward that glorious land of dreams
and fables where great deeds are
done and where men are heroes in
very fact. He proved the correctness
of his belief by finding his own mu-
sical inspiration in the mythology
of the northland. by bringing to life
the gods and goddesses of the long
dead past. And in contemplating
their homeland, in re-creating their
experiences, he has written some of
the greatest music ever to be in
scribed by mortal hand.
In these marvellous creations, so
borderless in the immensity of their
ideas and sound effects, Wagner
lifts his listeners into grandeur of
mood and courage of spirit that
Is mans birthright. 1t is the mood
and courage that lies sleeping in
every one and which every one longs
to have revived in himself. The
heroes and the heroines of his music
dramas are of the same stuff that
began the molding of character in
the nursery and were the aim and
ideal of the child who is father to
the man.
Wagner understood human ma
ture well and people are beginning
to discover it. 1t is not, today, his
appeal to the. intellectual and the
cultured that counts as much as
the stirring of latent forces in every
individual which his music arouses.
He has reached his desire of being
known as a composer for the multi
tude. and as our ears are more and
more attuned to the inspired har-
monies and tonal effects which his
genius conceived the barriers that
have prevented better appreciation
of him are gradually being forced
down. Today, Wagner's music is
not strange, unnatural music. but
q music that has been drawn from
the spheres where greatness of
motives and greatness of deeds are
untouched by human frailties.
The controversy which has arisen
between Yehudi Menuhin and the
American Guild of Musical Artists
has not yet entirely died down nor
has the situation which was evoked
been remedied. Mr.. Menuhin has