NEW YORK VS. BAYREUTH

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feminine allurements, steadily preserved a spiritual quality, through which Wagner lifted this character out of the ruck of operatic sirens.

Irreverence toward the great master Wagner could hardly be charged against any of the artists who took part in the performance, inasmuch as nearly all had assisted in the representations of the work at Bayreuth. Felix Mottl, the noted German conductor, had repeatedly superintended Parsifal performances at Bayreuth. Anton Fuchs had charge of the performances given in Munich under the direction of Richard Wagner for King Ludwig of Bavaria. All the leading singers had been coached by Madame Wagner in their parts, and had been pronounced by her to interpret their respective roles according to her ideals. Other incidents added a dignity not common to the ordinary operatic representation. Parsifal was sung outside the regular subscription, and at just double the usual prices. The hour of beginning was five in the afternoon, and the acts were separated by intervals during which the audience retired for dinner. Nobody was allowed to enter the theatre after the action had begun. The gala costumes by which the boxes, as a rule, rival or overshadow the stage, gave way to apparel more in keeping with the spirit of the drama.

Richard Wagner completed Parsifal, his last work, only a few months before it was produced, though he had harbored the idea of it for many years. Some of the music for it had been written as early as 1857, and the poem was finished in 1877. He is said to have worked for three years steadily on the instrumentization of the opera, finishing the whole of it in January, 1882. He found the story in the epoch of the German Minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenback; he also drew material from Chaetrien de Troyes. Various interpretations have been made to clarify the vague and symbolic atmosphere in which the opera is enveloped. The wiser critics, however, were content to acknowledge the profound poetic impression made on the hearer, without attempting to analyze or explain too closely its medieval beauty.

Musical critics of all countries have always clashed in their opinions of Parsifal, and following its production in New York, the same dissonant voices were heard. Mr. Ernest Newman, one of the most acute and authoritative of Wagnerian critics, declared it in many ways the most wonderful and impressive thing ever done in music. Mr. James Huneker scorned it as musical rubbish, and between these

two extreme opinions the other critics took more moderate grounds, finding much to praise, as well as much to condemn. The consensus of opinion seemed to be that, while Parsifal was weaker in energy and invention that almost any of the other Wagnerian operas, in its symbols of suffering and lamentation, of sadness and terror, of pity and aspiration, it had never been surpassed. The "Good Friday music and the music of the final scene were placed at the height of Wagner's achievements.

A Good Year for Wagner

The perform

It was a good year for Wagner in a general sense. ances at the Prinz Regenten Theatre at Munich were highly successful. It will be remembered that the original plan of Wagner was to make Munich the Mecca for music lovers that Bayreuth afterward became, and there were many indications that his dream would be realized in spite of his own abandonment of it. Wagner's heirs received a total of $115,000 in royalties during the year, exclusive of the Bayreuth profits. Lohengrin, the most popular, yielded $68,000. It was given 997 times in Germany, 420 times in Holland, France and Italy, 312 times in America and Great Britain. The American managers paid $23,000 for Lohengrin alone. The next most popular opera was Tannhäuser, which netted $32,752.

Elgar in New York

Another New York performance was regarded as a significant event by musicians, though it made little noise outside the inner circles, the production of Mr. Edward Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius," by the Oratorial Society. This cantata, based on Cardinal Newman's poem of the same name, was first performed at the Birmingham Musical Festival in England in 1900. It is a description of the subjective experiences in the death of a true believer, and the disposition of his soul after death, according to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Five years previous Mr. Elgar was a comparatively obscure organist striving unsuccessfully to obtain recognition for his compositions in that London, which in 1903 honored him with knighthood. His rise was the more remarkable in view of his total lack of conservatory training. As a theorist, a composer in large

forms, and an orchestral colorist, he had worked out his own salvation. In England, Mr. Vernon Black, one of the most eminent of British musical critics, declared him an equal in certain respects of Beethoven. How far this verdict influenced the New York critics it is impossible to say, but at all events no creative achievement in recent music had evoked such instant and extraordinary praise as that awarded to the Dream of Gerontius." Mr. Krebiehl did not hesitate to say that “English festivals have given us nothing really comparable with this work," while another critic declared boldly that "England had at last produced a composer capable of handling the entire machinery of modern composition, not merely with the skill of a master technician but with the boldness and dexterity of a master musician.

The Bach Bayreuth

An event of considerable importance in the music world is the six days' performance of Bach music in the village of Bethlehem, Pa. The old Moravian church at Bethlehem has become the shrine of devotees of the marvelous man who builded better than he knew or realized the buttresses of modern music. The third annual festival marked the completion of the experimental stage of this Bach Bayreuth. A large number of visitors from outside the little Moravian community indicated the place that the festival had taken in the musical world, and the serious manner in which the work was being carried on. The performances as arranged by the director, Mr. J. Fred Wolle, had a religious as well as an artistic significance, all of them taken together forming one of the most important seasons of the Christian year, commemorative of events in the life and sacrifice of Christ. The whole performance was characterized by enthusiasm and spirit, and by perfect familiarity with the music. Bach devotees declared that the conditions were nearly perfect for hearing and pondering the work of the great master.

New Compositions

In the production of new music the year was most fertile in Italy, though a comparison of the new works with those of a decade previous shows an unexpected change in ideals. The scenes modelled according to the so-called realistic theories had disappeared, leaving

the trace of their popularity only in an occasional musical form. The old sentimental romantic drama triumphed for a second time, denying openly the gospel of realism, and wooing in the music and words the ideals of other times. Two notable examples, “Adrienne Lecouvreur, by Cilea, and "Oceanea," by Smareglia, the most successful operatic productions of recent years of the stage of Milan, belonged, frankly, to the romantic school. The same was true of "Madam Butterfly," by Puccini, and " Rolando," by Leoncavallo, two new works completed, though not produced, in 1903.

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Apart from new works by the Italian composers, only two new operas are worthy of extended notice: The Hungarian Goldmark's "Berlichingen Götz" and the French Hahn's "La Carmelite." The dramatic basis of Goldmark's opera is of course Goethe's drama “ Götz von Berlichingen" with its history of romance. It is a long work composed of five acts divided into nine scenes. As a spectacle it is superbly rich, and so appealed to a wide public. In his orchestration. Goldmark proved himself the same magnificent master, the same unsurpassable colorist as in "The Queen of Sheba." The opera, though written for Vienna and Budapest, was received as the most significant lyric drama that had been sung in Europe within a decade.

M. Faynaldo Hahn is a pupil, and to some extent an imitator of Massenet. His new opera "La Carmelite" dealt with the time of Louis XIV, having the King for its chief character. The Louis XIV of the opera is, however, a sort of poetic character quite unlike the well-known monarch of history, and the plot involves a lady of honor named Louise, who loves the King, a Marquise who comes into favor with the latter, and a Bishop who preaches, blesses and pardons. The work was beautifully mounted at the Opera Comique, and Madam Calve received new laurels for her interpretation of the leading feminine role.

APPENDIX

THE INTERNATIONAL YACHT RACES

The general interest in the great international yacht race was attested by the number of people who witnessed the twelfth attempt to lift the America's cup. The fleet of steamers, tugs, and yachts that followed in the wake of the contestants, Reliance and Shamrock III carried at least 50,000 persons. In London, Liverpool, and Glasgow vast crowds surrounded the bulletins announcing the progress of the race. An enormous sum of money had been expended in preparation for the contest. It was estimated that the cost to Sir Thomas Lipton alone was over $700,000. The total cost of his new yacht, including its various sails and experiments, was placed at $450,000. In addition thirtythree vessels, including launches, and 225 men were employed by the British yachtsman to help lift the cup. Both the new challenger and the defender represented the greatest skill and the best material available. Shamrock III had to show her superiority over her two predecessors, Shamrock I and II; while the New York Yacht Club's Reliance had to win a preliminary race over the Constitution and the Columbia before she could assume the rôle of defender.

The time chosen for the race was a month earlier than that of the two previous races, though the course decided upon was the same, fifteen miles to the windward and return, off the Jersey coast. The result was three straight victories for the American boat.

The first race, August 22, was won by Reliance by 9 minutes' elapsed time; 7 minutes, 3 seconds corrected time. The second race, August 25, was won by Reliance by 3 minutes, 16 seconds elapsed time; 1 minute, 19 seconds corrected time. In the third race, September 3, sailed after five attempts to finish a race within the time limit, Reliance was 11 minutes, 3 seconds ahead of Shamrock at the outward mark, the Irish boat failing to finish.

In the midst of the jubilation over this addition to the long list of American victories since the cup was first captured in 1851, there were many words of comfort and congratulation for the challenger. Sir Thomas Lipton took his third defeat as philosophically as could be expected, declaring that the best hoat won; that he could neither build nor sail a yacht, and that the best men