Evening star., 1939-03-31
BY ALICE EVERSMAN.

1t Is a fortunate thing for the
world that Richard Wagner was so
thoroughly convinced of his power,
SO determined to follow his destiny.
With the pattern into which his
personal life was woven. with the
character Of the people with whom
he was forced to associate, with the
wide divergence between his unique
mentality and that of the ordinary
mortal. he might easily have sue
cumbed to the pressure Of all these
things and, disheartened, aban-
doned the struggle to bring his
genius to light. A less resilient man
would have done so, as would one
whose musical birthright was cor
roded with the mold Of doubt or
weakness.
But Wagner's whole being was SO
impregnated with the power of his
talent that it was impossible to deny
1t expression. Dimly sensed in his
younger years, 1t grew as he grew,
possessing him to the exclusion Of
all else until he was compelled to
gather together all the threads Of
bis existence, his friends and family,
his very manner of living. to the
service of that Unsuitable spirit with
in him. Looking back through the
distance which time has given us,
there is no code by which he can
be judged either as man or musician,
for what he has given posterity is
so boundless in its beauty and magic
that all applicable rules of life be-
come valueless beside it.
Two Natures in Wagner.
There were two natures side by
side in Wagner's makeup. The one
was small and worthy of disdain, the
other magnificent in its understand
ing. its nobility and its compassion.
Judged from the standpoint Of an
ordinary mortal, he had everything
that is cuStomarily looked upon with
contempt. He was supremely selfish,
inconsiderate, changeable, lacking in
moral fiber. A friend was drained
of his friendliness to the last drop.
He could make those closest to him
suffer physically and mentally with
out a qualm. He believed implicitly
that the world owed him q living.
He had no conscience about money,
borrowing and sqaandering with
equal thoughtlessness. and he loved
ease and luxury to an extravagant
degree.
Nothing could change these faults
Of character, some Of which became
intensified as he aged. His way
through life was strewn with the
sorrow of his disillusioned friends,
the bitterness of his enemies, the
tragedies of the women whom he
had loved. Such, in the abstract,
was Richard Wagner.
In the light of the great music he
has left us, the stupendous might of
the four Ring" operas. the sublim-
ity of his "Parsifal." the beauty of
his Tristan" and 'Meistersinger,"
the world judges this selfish man
differently. 1t realizes today that
the greatness of his talent, de-
termined at all cost to achieve
fruition, drove him to the nefarious
means by which he regulated his
life. It realizes that the true man
found fulfillment in his music. that
the real soul of him was disclosed
in the unsurpassed nobility and
grandeur Of his greatest works.
The history of mankind has re-
corded few who could surpass him or
equal him. Were he not a great
musician he could have been a great
writer, a poet or a dramatist. His
mental equipment was extraordinary
and his interests widespread and in
tensive. Bound to this was a fiery
emotionalism that drove him re-
lentlessly when his interest was en-
gagged. He lived each day fully,
amongst men and women, and from
them found the inspiration that
others sought in the beauties of
nature or their own sublime
thoughts. He had no time for
dreaming except the magnificent
dream, the idealized, that later
found immortality in hts operas.
Underlying all the trouble Of his
life were those ideals that later
were given form In his operate
characters, and for whom he sought
in every human relation. Failing to
flnd them, he created them in his
operas, weaving into their mythical
lives the richness Of his own COM
prehenoion. He gave them, the
qualities of selflessness and devotion
which, in spite Of the evidence Of
his daily association, he understood
80 well. Purity of life and. of
thought, sacrifice and remuneration