Page 2 JANUARY 1920 TI1E ETUDE He was right in that. The reception accorded to Tannhduser in Paris on its first performance proved the truth of his statement. In 1861, through the inter-cession of the Princesse Metternich, the Emperor ordered the production of Tannhduser at the Paris Grand Opera,,commanding that the work should be mounted in the most magnificent style and that Wag -ner should choose his own singers and have as many rehearsals as he saw fit. There were 153 rehearsals in all. The production is said to have cost something like $40,000. He rewrote the opening scene entirely and as a sort of educational campaign published a translation of his libretto with a prefatory explanation of his aims and views. In spite of the elaborate prep-arations, the failure was one of the greatest on record. Three performances were given, of which it is difficult to say whether the performance was on the stage or in the auditorium, for the uproar in the house drowned whatever sounds came from the stage. The members of the Jockey Club, who were prejudiced against the performance, were armed with shrill whistles, and the din and confusion were appalling. 1869 Wagner was already planning the building of a theater devoted only to the representation of his own works. The cost of the Bayreuth Theatre was orig-inally estimated at 330,000 thalers, and was to be raised upon 1,000 certificates, each entitling the holder to a seat at three performances. tAs this scheme came to a standstill, it was suggested to found Wagner socie-ties. At last, 28 years after its first conception, August, 1876, the Ring of the Nibelung was performed at Bayreuth under the direction of Hans Richter. In spite of the sacrifices readily made by each and all of the artists concerned, there was a deficit of $37,500. At different times I have seen all of Wagner's works performed in Bayreuth. I have also examined the interior of the playhouse, and must readily recognize the great advantages of Wagner's ' innovations, some of which have been introduced into the most modern theaters, but which we, nevertheless, will summarize, as they are of great importance. The advantages of the sunken and concealed orches-tra are threefold: musical, dramatic and aesthetic. Everyone must have noticed that if we listen to music at a certain distance the tones will be somewhat veiled but idealized, and that it is difficult to distin-guish by what instrument they are produced. If, how-ever, we go nearer we discover that we mistook the timbre; for instance, piano tones, for those of a violin, violoncello for the human voice, etc. At the same time one will notice that before he could deter-mine with certainty the timbre of the sounds they were so full of charm and so mysterious that we were loath to break the strange spell of this incorporeal music. Wagner's sunken orchestra brings about a similar effect. A kind of veil covers the orchestral tone waves, and by this means the excessive sonority of Wagner's instrumentation is muffled and softened. It gains, moreover, in delicacy and harmoniousness as the tones reach the ear, as it were, chemically amal-gamated, and we are almost unable to distinguish the elements contained in the fusion. In this way Wag -ner enriched his orchestral palette with new color effects. The players of the Bayreuth orchestra were not only hidden from the audience, but the whole disposition of the orchestra was an entire departure from the usual one; they were disposed amphitheatrically. The or-chestral arena consists of six steps; upon the upper one are the violins, which can still be seen from the stage; the conductor is still higher, indeed, on the same level with the stage. The noisy brass instruments occupy a space on the lowest step which descends into a kind of grotto spreading under the stage. The sound waves which rush forth from this depression must first strike a large shell that rises above the orchestra, and before they reach the auditor they have lost their violence and roughness. The other instruments are distributed over the intermediate ranges, the violas above, parallel with the violins, then the violoncelli, encircled by the contrabassi, among these the wood instruments between the harps, and then the less important brass instruments. Con-ductor and players enjoy complete freedom in the choice of their clothing, as they cannot be seen from the public. N o evening dress, but shirt sleeves, and often still less. A still further advantage is that we are spared the by no means aesthetic sight of the conductor exerting himself in the guidance of his host of singers and instrumentalists and reminding us every moment that we are witnessing a mere play. The complete darkness must still be mentioned. I am not talking here of semi-darkness, but total ob-scurity, so that, only the stage holds the attention of the listeners. If the physical obscurity of the opera house in Bayreuth compels the attention of the public, the mental gloom of the city of Bayreuth contributes to the same end. The stranger waits with impatience for the performance to begin, not only on account of its merit, but also to escape from the everlasting tedious-ness of the town. Of course, that forms only the framework. I do not need to speak of the "picture," as all Wagner's works have been performed everywhere (with the ex-ception of Parsifal). W e have seen that Wagner had always to complain about "lack of funds." After his return to Zurich (1850) the question of trying his fortune in America was agitated. The prospect seemed, however, to alarm him. He wrote: "America is a terrible night-mare. If the New York people should ever make up their mind to offer me a considerable sum I should be in the most awful dilemma. If I refused I should have to conceal it from all men, for everyone would charge me in my position with recklessness. Good gracious! Such sums as I may earn in America, peo-ple ought to give me without asking anything in re-turn beyond what I am actually doing. Besides this I am much better adapted to spend 60,000 francs in six months than to earn them. The latter I cannot do at all, for it is not my business to earn money, but it is the business of my admirers to give me as much money as I want to do my work in a cheerful mood." T o be sure, an artist has the privilege to be above any monetary consideration, but, especially fro m the American point of view, it appears inconceivable that this man refused to riake any effort to earn his money in a legitimate way, and insisted on obtainin& it as a gift. Some of Wagner's views: "I believe in God, Mozart r.nd Beethoven, and in their disciples and apostles." "Let me establish first of all the fact that the one true form of music is melody; that without melody music is unthinkable, and that music and melody are inseparable." "In instrumental music I am a reactionaire, a con-servative. I dislike everything that requires a verbal explanation beyond the actual sound." (What would say the partisans of "program music"?) Monarchy he always considered as the "indispens-able center of all social organization." Religion he loved, but hated priests. An anecdote: "When Wagner was conductor of the London Phil-harmonic concerts, he rehearsed a Beethoven sym-phony from memory. As Mendelssohn had always le ! from a score, the directors thought there must be something radically wrong in Wagner's method of procedure, and remonstrated with him so strongly that he promised to conduct from the score at the concert. Accordingly that evening he had a music book on his desk and turned the leaves from time to time as he conducted the symphony. After the con-cert one of the directors came up to him and said: "Now, Herr Wagner, you must admit that the sym-phony went much better with the score than without it." Wagner ironically pointed to the score he had used. It was Rossini's Barber of Sevilla. As most salient elements in Wagner's artistic career we find: The unshakable faith in his own genius, which was so deep-rooted that no failure—no seemingly insur-mountable obstacle—could deflect him from his aims. His truly radical reforms of the music drama. The scenic and acoustic innovations of the Bayreuth theater. The bold adroitness he used to interest people in his own plans. The "ready pen" which in his hand became a pow-erful offensive and defensive weapon against his enemies. The angel-friend, Franz Liszt, who with unheard of generosity tried continuously to quench Wagner's in-extinguishable thirst and unblushing demand for money—Money—and again MONEY ! A GREA T ARTIS T WHO M W E ADMIRE , BU T WHO M W E CANNO T LOVE . "The Gymnasium of the Soul" A Musical Education is Essential for All By Julius Koehl "IT is hard to discover a better method of education than that which the experience of so many ages has evolved; and this may be summed up as consisting in gymnastics for the body and music for the soul." This statement of truth we find in the form of a footnote to Edgar Allan Poe's beautiful essay, entitled "The Colloquy of Monas and Una." A musical education is not only good for the soul of the individual, but is one of the greatest developers of the mind, character and personality known. Let us see how the study of music may be classified as a mental developer. 1. Mental Development Any great piano composition will do as an example, but we will use one of the Beethoven Sonatas here as a basis. The many intricacies in rhythm and changes in tempo that we find in these masterpieces make the student shrewd in calculating and in perceiving the relative value of time qualities and their divisions and sub-divisions. No less than three of the senses are brought into acute activity du.fing the practice hour— Sight, Hearing and Feeling. When three of the senses are centered on one subject, the result must be, Con-centration—-that greatest of factors, to which all emi-nent men in all walks of life attribute their success. Then again let us take technique into consideration. Muscle cbntrol is nothing else than mental control, because every movement made with the fingers is first prompted by the mind. So you see that serious musi-cal study is bound to be a great developer of the mind, if the student puts the best he has into his work while practicing. 2. As a Character Developer Any student of the piano can talk for hours about the amount of stick-to-itiveness necessary to become a truly fine pianist. Honest, self-criticism is another, "often dormant," quality brought into play. Accuracy,* precision and a great deal of "plugging" are necessary when striving for the goal. If a student brings these finer points of his character into play for six or seven hours daily, he is sure to possess them as a definite and abiding asset when deal-ing with his fellow-men during the remainder of the day. So you see that music helps to make one a better member of society, of the community, country and world. 3. The Personality I believe that one's personality reflects one's soul. Edgar Allan Poe writes this about the effect music has upon the soul: "It causes harmony and rhythm to penetrate most intimately into the soul, taking the strongest hold upon it, filling it with beauty and mak-ing the man beautiful minded; he will praise and ad-mire the beautiful; will receive it with joy irrto his soul; will feed upon it, and assimilate his own con-dition with it." If we possess integrity, a staple char-acter, and a "music-lighted" soul—the result is a charm-ing personality! For proof of this statement, come into contact with any of our really great artists. Every child should have a proper musical education. It is a parent's duty to the child and to society to see to this. Another point—"Any teacher" zuon't do, to begin with. When one thinks of the enormous amount of talent lying dormant—yes, perhaps even genius undeveloped —because of inadequate and erroneous instruction, one cannot but feel that Poe's beautiful essay on the impor-tance of a musical education has been written in vain! Two Songs of Great Wars A Contrast EMPEROR Wilhelm I, thought so much of the value of Die IVacht am Rhein in its influence upon the mili-tary situation between France and Germany, that he pensioned the composer, Karl Wilhelm, whose version of the song was first sung in 1854. Wilhelm received $700 a year and a fine monument in his native town. George C. Coh£n, American composer of Irish-Catholic descent, wrote Over There. In a few months he sold the words and the music for $25 000 and gave this and subsequent royalties to Uncle Sam for war purposes. Surely the times do change.
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