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diff --git a/5724-8.txt b/5724-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..daa9548 --- /dev/null +++ b/5724-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8782 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Operas, by Henry Edward Krehbiel +#3 in our series by Henry Edward Krehbiel + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: A Book of Operas + Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their Music + +Author: Henry Edward Krehbiel + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5724] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 17, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF OPERAS *** + + + + +The HTML version of this text produced by Bob Frone can be found +at <http://www.intac.com/~rfrone/operas/Books/oper-books.htm> + +Plain text adaption by Andrew Sly. + + + + + + +A BOOK OF OPERAS + +THEIR HISTORIES, THEIR PLOTS, AND THEIR MUSIC + +BY HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL + + + +TO + +LUGIEN WULSIN + +AN OLD FRIEND + + +"Old friends are best."--SELDEN. + +"I love everything that's old,--old friends, old times, old manners, +old books, old wine."--GOLDSMITH. + +"Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust! +Old authors to read!"--MELCHIOR. + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter I "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" + +First performance of Italian opera in the United States--Production of +Rossini's opera in Rome, London, Paris, and New York--Thomas Phillipps +and his English version--Miss Leesugg and Mrs. Holman--Emanuel Garcia +and his troupe--Malibran--Early operas in America--Colman's "Spanish +Barber"--Other Figaro operas--How Rossini came to Write "Il Barbiere" +--The story of a fiasco--Garcia and his Spanish song--"Segui, o caro" +--Giorgi-Righetti--The plot of the opera--The overture--"Ecco ridente +in cielo"--"Una voce poco fà,"--Rossini and Patti--The lesson scene +and what singers have done with it--Grisi, Alboni, Catalani, Bosio, +Gassier, Patti, Sembrich, Melba, and Viardot--An echo of Haydn. + +Chapter II "Le Nozze di Figaro" + +Beaumarchais and his Figaro comedies--"Le Nozze" a sequel to "Il +Barbiere"--Mozart and Rossini--Their operas compared--Opposition +to Beaumarchais's "Marriage de Figaro"--Moral grossness of Mozart's +opera--A relic of feudalism--Humor of the horns--A merry overture +--The story of the opera--Cherubino,--"Non so più cosa son"-- +Benucci and the air "Non più andrai"--"Voi che sapete"--A marvellous +finale--The song to the zephyr--A Spanish fandango--"Deh vieni non +tardar." + +Chapter III "Die Zauberflöte" + +The oldest German opera current in America--Beethoven's appreciation +of Mozart's opera--Its Teutonism--Otto Jahn's estimate--Papageno, the +German Punch--Emanuel Schikaneder--Wieland and the original of the +story of the opera--How "Die Zanberflöte" came to be written--The +story of "Lulu"--Mozart and freemasonry--The overture to the opera-- +The fugue theme and a theme from a sonata by Clementi--The opera's +play--"O Isis und Osiris"--"Hellish rage" and fiorituri--The song of +the Two Men in Armor--Goethe and the libretto of "Die Zauberflöte"-- +How the opera should be viewed. + +Chapter IV "Don Giovanni" + +The oldest Italian operas in the American repertory--Mozart as an +influence--What great composers have said about "Don Giovanni,"-- +Beethoven--Rossini--Gounod--Wagner--History of the opera--Da Ponte's +pilferings--Bertati and Gazzaniga's "Convitato di Pietra"--How the +overture to "Don Giovanni" was written--First performances of the +opera in Prague, Vienna, London, and New York--Garcia and Da Ponte +--Malibran--English versions of the opera--The Spanish tale of Don +Juan Tenorio--Dramatic versions--The tragical note in the overture +--The plot of the opera--Gounod on the beautiful in Mozart's music +--Leporello's catalogue--"Batti, batti o bel Masetto"--The three +dances in the first finale--The last scene--Mozart quotes from his +contemporaries--The original close of the opera. + +Chapter V "Fidelio" + +An opera based on conjugal love--"Fidelio," "Orfeo," and "Alceste"-- +Beethoven a Sincere moralist--Technical history of "Fidelio,"--The +subject treated by Paër and Gaveaux--Beethoven's commission--The +first performance a failure--A revision by the composer's friends-- +The second trial--Beethoven withdraws his opera--A second revision +--The revival of 1814--Success at last--First performances in London +and New York--The opera enriched by a ballet--Plot of "Fidelio"-- +The first duet--The canon quartet--A dramatic trio--Milder-Hauptmann +and the great scena--Florestan's air--The trumpet call--The opera's +four overtures--Their history. + +Chapter VI "Faust" + +The love story in Gounod's opera--Ancient bondsmen of the devil-- +Zoroaster, Democritus, Empedocles, Apollonius, Virgil, Albertus +Magnus, Merlin, Paracelsus, Theophilus of Syracuse,--The myth-making +capacity--Bismarck and the needle-gun--Printing, a black art--Johann +Fust of Mayence--The veritable Faust--Testimony of Luther and +Melanchthon--The literary history of Dr. Faustus--Goethe and his +predecessors--Faust's covenant with Mephistopheles--Dr. Faustus +and matrimony--The Polish Faust--The devil refuses to marry Madame +Twardowska--History of Gounod's opera--The first performance-- +Popularity of the opera--First productions in London and New York-- +The story--Marguerite and Gretchen--The jewel song--The ballet. + +Chapter VII "Mefistofele" + +Music in the mediaeval Faust plays--Early operas on the subject-- +Meyerbeer and Goethe's poem--Composers of Faust music--Beethoven-- +Boito's reverence for Goethe's poem--His work as a poet--A man of +mixed blood--"Mefistofele" a fiasco in Milan--The opera revised-- +Boito's early ambitions--Disconnected episodes--Philosophy of the +opera--Its scope--Use of a typical phrase--The plot--Humors of the +English translation--Music of the prologue--The Book of Job--Boito's +metrical schemes--The poodle and the friar--A Polish dance in the +Rhine country--Gluck and Vestris--The scene on the Brocken--The +Classical Sabbath--Helen of Troy--A union of classic and romantic +art--First performance of Boito's opera in America, (footnote). + +Chapter VIII "La Damnation de Faust" + +Berlioz's dramatic legend--"A thing of shreds and patches"--Turned +into an opera by Raoul Gunsbourg--The composer's "Scenes from Faust" +--History of the composition--The Rakoczy March--Concert performances +in New York--Scheme of the work--The dance of the sylphs and the +aërial ballet--Dance of the will-o'-the-wisps--The ride to hell. + +Chapter IX "La Traviata" + +Familiarity with music and its effects--An experience of the +author's--Prelude to Verdi's last act--Expressiveness of some +melodies--Verdi, the dramatist--Von Bülow and Mascagni--How +"Traviata" came to be written--Piave, the librettist--Composed +simultaneously with "Il Trovatore,"--Failure of "La Traviata," +--The causes--The style of the music--Dr. Basevi's view--Changes +in costuming--The opera succeeds--First performance in New York, +--A criticism by W. H. Fry--Story of the opera--Dumas's story and +harles Dickens--Controversy as a help to popular success. + +Chapter X "Aïda" + +Popular misconceptions concerning the origin of Verdi's opera--The +Suez Canal and Cairo Opera-house--A pageant opera--Local color-- +The entombment scene--The commission for the opera--The plot and +its author, Mariette Bey--His archaeological discoveries at Memphis +--Camille du Locle and Antonio Ghislanzoni--First performance of +the opera--Unpleasant experiences in Paris--The plot--Ancient +Memphis--Oriental melodies and local color--An exotic scale--The +antique trumpets and their march. + +Chapter XI "Der Freischütz" + +The overture--The plot--A Leitmotif before Wagner--Berlioz and +Agathe's air--The song of the Bridesmaids--Wagner and his dying +stepfather--The Teutonism of the opera--Facts from a court record +--Folklore of the subject--Holda, Wotan, and the Wild Hint--How +magical bullets may be obtained--Wagner's description of the Wolf's +Glen--Romanticism and classicism--Weber and Theodor Körner--German +opera at Dresden--Composition of "Der Freischütz"--First +performances in New York, (footnote). + +Chapter XII "Tannhäuser" + +Wagner and Greek ideals--Methods of Wagnerian study--The story of +the opera--Poetical and musical contents of the overture--The +bacchanale--The Tannhäuser legend--The historical Tannhäuser--The +contest of minstrels in the Wartburg--Mediaeval ballads--Heroes +and their charmers--Classical and other parallels--Caves of Venus-- +The Hörselberg in Thuringia--Dame Holda--The tale of Sir Adelbert. + +Chapter XIII "Tristan und Isolde" + +The old legend of Tristram and Iseult--Its literary history--Ancient +elements--Wagner's ethical changes--How the drama came to be written +--Frau Wesendonck--Wagner and Dom Pedro of Brazil--First performances +in Munich and New York--The prelude--Wagner's poetical exposition-- +The song of the Sailor--A symbol of suffering--The Death Phrase--The +Shepherd's mournful melody--His merry tune--Tristan's death. + +Chapter XIV "Parsifal" + +The story--The oracle--The musical symbol of Parsifal--Herzeleide-- +Kundry--Suffering and lamentation--The bells and march--The +eucharistic hymn--The love-feast formula--Faith--Unveiling of the +Grail--Klingsor's incantation--The Flower Maidens--The quest of the +Holy Grail--Personages and elements of the legend--Ethical idea of +Wagner's drama--Biblical and liturgical elements--Wagner's aim--The +Knights Templars--John the Baptist, Herodias, and the bloody head-- +Relics of Christ's sufferings--The Holy Grail at Genoa--The sacred +lances at Nuremberg and Rome--Ancient and mediaeval parallels of +personages, apparatuses, and scenes--Wagner's philosophy--Buddhism-- +First performances of "Parsifal" in Bayreuth and New York, (footnote). + +Chapter XV "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" + +"Ridendo castigat mores"--Wagner's adherence to classical ideals of +tragedy and comedy--The subject of the satire in "Die Meistersinger" +--Wagenseil's book on Nuremberg--Plot of the comedy--The Church of +St. Catherine in Nuremberg--A relic of the mastersingers--Mastersongs +in the Municipal Library--Wagner's chorus of mastersingers, (footnote) +--A poem by Sixtus Beckmesser--The German drama in Nuremberg--Hans +Sachs's plays--His Tannhäuser tragedy--"Tristram and Iseult"--"The +Wittenberg Nightingale" and "Wach' auf!"--Wagner's quotation from an +authentic mastersong melody--Romanticism and classicism--The prelude +to "Die Meistersinger." + +Chapter XVI "Lohengrin" + +Wolfram von Eschenbach's story of Loherangrin--Other sources of the +Lohengrin legend--"Der jüngere Titurel" and "Le Chevalier au Cygne" +--The plot of Wagner's opera--A mixture of myths--Relationship of +the Figaro operas--Contradictions between "Lohengrin" and "Parsifal" +--The forbidden question--Wagner's love of theatrical effect--The +finale of "Tannhäuser,"--The law of taboo in "Lohengrin"--Jupiter and +Semele--Cupid and Psyche--The saga of Skéaf--King Henry, the Fowler. + +Chapter XVII "Hänsel und Gretel" + +Wagner's influence and his successors--Engelbert Humperdinck--Myths +and fairy tales--Origin of "Hänsel und Gretel"--First performances-- +An application of Wagnerian principles--The prelude--The Prayer Theme +--The Counter-charm--Theme of Fulfilment--Story of the opera--A relic +of an old Christmas song--Theme of the Witch--The Theme of Promise-- +"Ring around a Rosy"--The "Knusperwalzer." + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA" + + +The history of what is popularly called Italian opera begins in the +United States with a performance of Rossini's lyrical comedy "Il +Barbiere di Siviglia"; it may, therefore, fittingly take the first +place in these operatic studies. The place was the Park Theatre, +then situated in Chambers Street, east of Broadway, and the date +November 29, 1825. It was not the first performance of Italian opera +music in America, however, nor yet of Rossini's merry work. In the +early years of the nineteenth century New York was almost as fully +abreast of the times in the matter of dramatic entertainments as +London. New works produced in the English capital were heard in New +York as soon as the ships of that day could bring over the books and +the actors. Especially was this true of English ballad operas and +English transcriptions, or adaptations, of French, German, and +Italian operas. New York was five months ahead of Paris in making +the acquaintance of the operatic version of Beaumarchais's "Barbier +de Séville." The first performance of Rossini's opera took place in +Rome on February 5, 1816. London heard it in its original form at +the King's Theatre on March 10, 1818, with Garcia, the first +Count Almaviva, in that part. The opera "went off with unbounded +applause," says Parke (an oboe player, who has left us two volumes +of entertaining and instructive memoirs), but it did not win the +degree of favor enjoyed by the other operas of Rossini then current +on the English stage. It dropped out of the repertory of the King's +Theatre and was not revived until 1822--a year in which the +popularity of Rossini in the British metropolis may be measured by +the fact that all but four of the operas brought forward that year +were composed by him. The first Parisian representation of the opera +took place on October 26, 1819. Garcia was again in the cast. By +that time, in all likelihood, all of musical New York that could +muster up a pucker was already whistling "Largo al factotum" and +the beginning of "Una voce poco fà," for, on May 17, 1819, Thomas +Phillipps had brought an English "Barber of Seville" forward at a +benefit performance for himself at the same Park Theatre at which +more than six years later the Garcia company, the first Italian +opera troupe to visit the New World, performed it in Italian on +the date already mentioned. At Mr. Phillipps's performance the +beneficiary sang the part of Almaviva, and Miss Leesugg, who +afterward became the wife of the comedian Hackett, was the Rosina. +On November 21, 1821, there was another performance for Mr. +Phillipps's benefit, and this time Mrs. Holman took the part of +Rosina. Phillipps and Holman--brave names these in the dramatic +annals of New York and London a little less than a century ago! +When will European writers on music begin to realize that musical +culture in America is not just now in its beginnings? + +It was Manuel Garcia's troupe that first performed "Il Barbiere +di Siviglia" in New York, and four of the parts in the opera were +played by members of his family. Manuel, the father, was the Count, +as he had been at the premières in Rome, London, and Paris; Manuel, +son, was the Figaro (he lived to read about eighty-one years of +operatic enterprise in New York, and died at the age of 101 years in +London in 1906); Signora Garcia, mère, was the Berta, and Rosina was +sung and played by that "cunning pattern of excellent nature," as a +writer of the day called her, Signorina Garcia, afterward the famous +Malibran. The other performers at this representation of the Italian +"Barber" were Signor Rosich (Dr. Bartolo), Signor Angrisani (Don +Basilio), and Signor Crivelli, the younger (Fiorello). The opera was +given twenty-three times in a season of seventy-nine nights, and the +receipts ranged from $1843 on the opening night and $1834 on the +closing, down to $356 on the twenty-ninth night. + +But neither Phillipps nor Garcia was the first to present an +operatic version of Beaumarchais's comedy to the American people. +French operas by Rousseau, Monsigny, Dalayrac, and Grétry, which may +be said to have composed the staple of the opera-houses of Europe in +the last decades of the eighteenth century, were known also in the +contemporaneous theatres of Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and +New York. In 1794 the last three of these cities enjoyed "an opera +in 3 acts," the text by Colman, entitled, "The Spanish Barber; or, +The Futile Precaution." Nothing is said in the announcements of +this opera touching the authorship of the music, but it seems to +be an inevitable conclusion that it was Paisiello's, composed for +St. Petersburg about 1780. There were German "Barbers" in existence +at the time composed by Benda (Friedrich Ludwig), Elsperger, and +Schulz, but they did not enjoy large popularity in their own +country, and Isouard's "Barbier" was not yet written. Paisiello's +opera, on the contrary, was extremely popular, throughout Europe. +True, he called it "The Barber of Seville," not "The Spanish +Barber," but Colman's subtitle, "The Futile Precaution," came from +the original French title. Rossini also adopted it and purposely +avoided the chief title set by Beaumarchais and used by Paisiello; +but he was not long permitted to have his way. Thereby hangs a +tale of the composition and first failure of his opera which I +must now relate. + +On December 26, 1815, the first day of the carnival season, Rossini +produced his opera, "Torvaldo e Dorliska," at the Teatro Argentina, +in Rome, and at the same time signed a contract with Cesarini, the +impresario of the theatre, to have the first act of a second opera +ready on the twentieth day of the following January. For this opera +Rossini was to receive 400 Roman scudi (the equivalent of about +$400) after the first three performances, which he was to conduct +seated at the pianoforte in the orchestra, as was then the custom. +He seems to have agreed to take any libretto submitted by the +impresario and approved by the public censor; but there are +indications that Sterbini, who was to write the libretto, had +already suggested a remodelling of Paisiello's "Barber." In order +to expedite the work of composition it was provided in the contract +that Rossini was to take lodgings with a singer named Zamboni, to +whom the honor fell of being the original of the town factotum +in Rossini's opera. Some say that Rossini completed the score in +thirteen days; some in fifteen. Castil-Blaze says it was a month, +but the truth is that the work consumed less than half that period. +Donizetti, asked if he believed that Rossini had really written the +score in thirteen days, is reported to have replied, no doubt with +a malicious twinkle in his eyes: "It is very possible; he is so +lazy." Paisiello was still alive, and so was at least the memory of +his opera, so Rossini, as a precautionary measure, thought it wise +to spike, if possible, the guns of an apprehended opposition. So +he addressed a letter to the venerable composer, asking leave to +make use of the subject. He got permission and then wrote a preface +to his libretto (or had Serbini write it for him), in which, +while flattering his predecessor, he nevertheless contrived to +indicate that he considered the opera of that venerable musician +old-fashioned, undramatic, and outdated. "Beaumarchais's comedy, +entitled 'The Barber of Seville, or the Useless Precaution,'" +he wrote, "is presented at Rome in the form of a comic drama under +the title of 'Almaviva, ossia l'inutile Precauzione,' in order +that the public may be fully convinced of the sentiments of respect +and veneration by which the author of the music of this drama is +animated with regard to the celebrated Paisiello, who has already +treated the subject under its primitive title. Himself invited to +undertake this difficult task, the maestro Gioachino Rossini, in +order to avoid the reproach of entering rashly into rivalry with +the immortal author who preceded him, expressly required that 'The +Barber of Seville' should be entirely versified anew, and also +that new situations should be added for the musical pieces which, +moreover, are required by the modern theatrical taste, entirely +changed since the time when the renowned Paisiello wrote his work." + +I have told the story of the fiasco made by Rossini's opera on its +first production at the Argentine Theatre on February 5, 1816, in an +extended preface to the vocal score of "Il Barbiere," published in +1900 by G. Schirmer, and a quotation from that preface will serve +here quite as well as a paraphrase; so I quote (with an avowal of +gratitude for the privilege to the publishers):-- + + +Paisiello gave his consent to the use of the subject, believing that +the opera of his young rival would assuredly fail. At the same time +he wrote to a friend in Rome, asking him to do all in his power to +compass a fiasco for the opera. The young composer's enemies were +not sluggish. All the whistlers of Italy, says Castil-Blaze, seemed +to have made a rendezvous at the Teatro Argentina on the night set +down for the first production. Their malicious intentions were +helped along by accidents at the outset of the performance. Details +of the story have been preserved for us in an account written +by Signora Giorgi-Righetti, who sang the part of Rosina on the +memorable occasion. Garcia had persuaded Rossini to permit him to +sing a Spanish song to his own accompaniment on a guitar under +Rosina's balcony in the first act. It would provide the needed local +color, he urged. When about to start his song, Garcia found that he +had forgotten to tune his guitar. He began to set the pegs in the +face of the waiting public. A string broke, and a new one was drawn +up amid the titters of the spectators. The song did not please the +auditors, who mocked at the singer by humming Spanish fiorituri +after him. Boisterous laughter broke out when Figaro came on the +stage also with a guitar, and "Largo al factotum" was lost in the +din. Another howl of delighted derision went up when Rosina's +voice was heard singing within: "Segui o caro, deh segui così" +("Continue, my dear, continue thus"). The audience continued "thus." +The representative of Rosina was popular, but the fact that she +was first heard in a trifling phrase instead of an aria caused +disappointment. The duet, between Almaviva and Figaro, was sung amid +hisses, shrieks, and shouts. The cavatina "Una voce poco fà" got a +triple round of applause, however, and Rossini, interpreting the +fact as a compliment to the personality of the singer rather than +to the music, after bowing to the public, exclaimed: "Oh natura!" +"Thank her," retorted Giorgi-Righetti; "but for her you would not +have had occasion to rise from your choir." The turmoil began again +with the next duet, and the finale was mere dumb show. When the +curtain fell, Rossini faced the mob, shrugged his shoulders, and +clapped his hands to show his contempt. Only the musicians and +singers heard the second act, the din being incessant from beginning +to end. Rossini remained imperturbable, and when Giorgi-Rhigetti, +Garcia, and Zamboni hastened to his lodgings to offer their +condolences as soon as they could don street attire, they found him +asleep. The next day he wrote the cavatina "Ecco ridente in cielo" +to take the place of Garcia's unlucky Spanish song, borrowing the +air from his own "Aureliano," composed two years before, into +which it had been incorporated from "Ciro," a still earlier work. +When night came, he feigned illness so as to escape the task of +conducting. By that time his enemies had worn themselves out. The +music was heard amid loud plaudits, and in a week the opera had +scored a tremendous success. + +And now for the dramatic and musical contents of "Il Barbiere." At +the very outset Rossini opens the door for us to take a glimpse at +the changes in musical manner which were wrought by time. He had +faulted Paisiello's opera because in parts it had become antiquated, +for which reason he had had new situations introduced to meet the +"modern theatrical taste"; but he lived fifty years after "Il +Barbiere" had conquered the world, and never took the trouble to +write an overture for it, the one originally composed for the opera +having been lost soon after the first production. The overture which +leads us into the opera nowadays is all very well in its way and a +striking example of how a piece of music may benefit from fortuitous +circumstances. Persons with fantastic imaginations have rhapsodized +on its appositeness, and professed to hear in it the whispered +plottings of the lovers and the merry raillery of Rosina, contrasted +with the futile ragings of her grouty guardian; but when Rossini +composed this piece of music, its mission was to introduce an +adventure of the Emperor Aurelian in Palmyra in the third century of +the Christian era. Having served that purpose, it became the prelude +to another opera which dealt with Queen Elizabeth of England, a +monarch who reigned some twelve hundred years after Aurelian. Again, +before the melody now known as that of Almaviva's cavatina (which +supplanted Garcia's unlucky Spanish song) had burst into the +efflorescence which now distinguishes it, it came as a chorus from +the mouths of Cyrus and his Persians in ancient Babylon. Truly, +the verities of time and place sat lightly on the Italian opera +composers of a hundred years ago. But the serenade which follows the +rising of the curtain preserves a custom more general at the time of +Beaumarchais than now, though it is not yet obsolete. Dr. Bartolo, +who is guardian of the fascinating Rosina, is in love with her, or +at least wishes for reasons not entirely dissociated from her money +bags to make her his wife, and therefore keeps her most of the time +behind bolts and bars. The Count Almaviva, however, has seen her on +a visit from his estates to Seville, becomes enamoured of her, and +she has felt her heart warmed toward him, though she is ignorant of +his rank and knows him only under the name of Lindoro. Hoping that +it may bring him an opportunity for a glance, mayhap a word with his +inamorata, Amaviva follows the advice given by Sir Proteus to Thurio +in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"; he visits his lady's chamber +window, not at night, but at early dawn, with a "sweet concert," and +to the instruments of Fiorello's musicians tunes "a deploring dump." +It is the cavatina "Ecco ridente in cielo." The musicians, rewarded +by Almaviva beyond expectations, are profuse and long-winded +in their expression of gratitude, and are gotten rid of with +difficulty. The Count has not yet had a glimpse of Rosina, who is +in the habit of breathing the morning air from the balcony of her +prison house, and is about to despair when Figaro, barber and +Seville's factotum, appears trolling a song in which he recites his +accomplishments, the universality of his employments, and the great +demand for his services. ("Largo al factotum dello città.") The +Count recognizes him, tells of his vain vigils in front of Rosina's +balcony, and, so soon as he learns that Figaro is a sort of man +of all work to Bartolo, employs him as his go-between. Rosina +now appears on the balcony. Almaviva is about to engage her in +conversation when Bartolo appears and discovers a billet-doux which +Rosina had intended to drop into the hand of her Lindoro. He demands +to see it, but she explains that it is but a copy of the words of an +aria from an opera entitled "The Futile Precaution," and drops it +from the balcony, as if by accident. She sends Bartolo to recover +it, but Almaviva, who had observed the device, secures it, and +Bartolo is told by his crafty ward that the wind must have carried +it away. Growing suspicious, he commands her into the house and +goes away to hasten the preparations for his wedding, after giving +orders that no one is to be admitted to the house save Don Basilio, +Rosina's singing-master, and Bartolo's messenger and general +mischief-maker. + +The letter which Rosina had thus slyly conveyed to her unknown lover +begged him to contrive means to let her know his name, condition, +and intentions respecting herself. Figaro, taking the case in hand +at once, suggests that Almaviva publish his answer in a ballad. This +the Count does ("Se il mio nome saper"), protesting the honesty and +ardor of his passion, but still concealing his name and station. He +is delighted to hear his lady-love's voice bidding him to continue +his song. (It is the phrase, "Segui, o caro, deh segui così," which +sounded so monstrously diverting at the first representation of the +opera in Rome.) After the second stanza Rosina essays a longer +response, but is interrupted by some of the inmates of the house. +Figaro now confides to the Count a scheme by which he is to meet his +fair enslaver face to face: he is to assume the rôle of a drunken +soldier who has been billeted upon Dr. Bartolo, a plan that is +favored by the fact that a company of soldiers has come to Seville +that very day which is under the command of the Count's cousin. The +plan is promptly put into execution. Not long after, Rosina enters +Dr. Bartolo's library singing the famous cavatina, "Una voce poco +fà," in which she tells of her love for Lindoro and proclaims her +determination to have her own way in the matter of her heart, in +spite of all that her tyrannical guardian or anybody else can do. +This cavatina has been the show piece of hundreds of singers ever +since it was written. Signora Giorgi-Righetti, the first Rosina, was +a contralto, and sang the music in the key of E, in which it was +written. When it became one of Jenny Lind's display airs, it was +transposed to F and tricked out with a great abundance of fiorituri. +Adelina Patti in her youth used so to overburden its already florid +measures with ornament that the story goes that once when she sang +it for Rossini, the old master dryly remarked: "A very pretty air; +who composed it?" Figaro enters at the conclusion of Rosina's song, +and the two are about to exchange confidences when Bartolo enters +with Basilio, who confides to the old doctor his suspicion that the +unknown lover of Rosina is the Count Almaviva, and suggests that +the latter's presence in Seville be made irksome by a few adroitly +spread innuendoes against his character. How a calumny, ingeniously +published, may grow from a whispered zephyr to a crashing, +detonating tempest, Basilio describes in the buffo air "La +calunnia"--a marvellous example of the device of crescendo which +in this form is one of Rossini's inventions. Bartolo prefers his +own plan of compelling his ward to marry him at once. He goes +with Basilio to draw up a marriage agreement, and Figaro, who has +overheard their talk, acquaints Rosina with its purport. He also +tells her that she shall soon see her lover face to face if she will +but send him a line by his hands. Thus he secures a letter from her, +but learns that the artful minx had written it before he entered. +Her ink-stained fingers, the disappearance of a sheet of paper +from his writing desk, and the condition of his quill pen convince +Bartolo on his return that he is being deceived, and he resolves +that henceforth his ward shall be more closely confined than ever. +And so he informs her, while she mimics his angry gestures behind +his back. In another moment there is a boisterous knocking and +shouting at the door, and in comes Almaviva, disguised as a cavalry +soldier most obviously in his cups. He manages to make himself known +to Rosina, and exchanges letters with her under the very nose of her +jailer, affects a fury toward Dr. Bartolo when the latter claims +exemption from the billet, and escapes arrest only by secretly +making himself known to the officer commanding the soldiers who +had been drawn into the house by the disturbance. The sudden and +inexplicable change of conduct on the part of the soldiers petrifies +Bartolo; he is literally "astonied," and Figaro makes him the victim +of several laughable pranks before he recovers his wits. + +Dr. Bartolo's suspicions have been aroused about the soldier, +concerning whose identity he makes vain inquiries, but he does +not hesitate to admit to his library a seeming music-master who +announces himself as Don Alonzo, come to act as substitute for Don +Basilio, who, he says, is ill. Of course it is Almaviva. Soon the +ill-natured guardian grows impatient of his garrulity, and Almaviva, +to allay his suspicions and gain a sight of his inamorata, gives him +a letter written by Rosina to Lindoro, which he says he had found in +the Count's lodgings. If he can but see the lady, he hopes by means +of the letter to convince her of Lindoro's faithlessness. This +device, though it disturbs its inventor, is successful, and Bartolo +brings in his ward to receive her music lesson. Here, according to +tradition, there stood in the original score a trio which was lost +with the overture. Very welcome has this loss appeared to the +Rosinas of a later day, for it has enabled them to introduce into +the "lesson scene" music of their own choice, and, of course, +such as showed their voices and art to the best advantage. Very +amusing have been the anachronisms which have resulted from these +illustrations of artistic vanity, and diverting are the glimpses +which they give of the tastes and sensibilities of great prime +donne. Grisi and Alboni, stimulated by the example of Catalani +(though not in this opera), could think of nothing nobler than +to display their skill by singing Rode's Air and Variations, a +violin piece. This grew hackneyed, but, nevertheless, survived +till a comparatively late day. Bosio, feeling that variations were +necessary, threw Rode's over in favor of those on "Gia della mente +involarmi"--a polka tune from Alary's "A Tre Nozze." Then Mme. +Gassier ushered in the day of the vocal waltz--Venzano's, of +amiable memory. Her followers have not yet died out, though Patti +substituted Arditi's "Il Bacio" for Venzano's; Mme. Sembrich, +Strauss's "Voce di Primavera," and Mme. Melba, Arditi's "Se saran +rose." Mme. Viardot, with a finer sense of the fitness of things, +but either forgetful or not apprehensive of the fate which befell +her father at the first performance of the opera in Rome, introduced +a Spanish song. Mme. Patti always kept a ready repertory for the +scene, with a song in the vernacular of the people for whom she was +singing to bring the enthusiasm to a climax and a finish: "Home, +Sweet Home" in New York and London, "Solovei" in St. Petersburg. +Usually she began with the bolero from "Les Vêpres Siciliennes," or +the shadow dance from "Dinorah." Mme. Seinbrich, living in a period +when the style of song of which she and Mme. Melba are still the +brightest exemplars, is not as familiar as it used to be when they +were children, also found it necessary to have an extended list of +pieces ready at hand to satisfy the rapacious public. She was wont +at first to sing Proch's Air and Variations, but that always led +to a demand for more, and whether she supplemented it with "Ah! +non giunge," from "La Sonnambula," the bolero from "The Sicilian +Vespers," "O luce di quest anima," from "Linda," or the vocalized +waltz by Strauss, the applause always was riotous, and so remained +until she sat down to the pianoforte and sang Chopin's "Maiden's +Wish," in Polish, to her own accompaniment. As for Mme. Melba, not +to be set in the shade simply because Mme. Sembrich is almost as +good a pianist as she is a singer, she supplements Arditi's waltz +or Massenet's "Sevillana" with Tosti's "Mattinata," to which she +also plays an exquisite accompaniment. + +But this is a long digression; I must back to my intriguing +lovers, who have made good use of the lesson scene to repeat their +protestations of affection and lay plots for attaining their +happiness. In this they are helped by Figaro, who comes to shave Dr. +Bartolo in spite of his protests, and, contriving to get hold of the +latter's keys, "conveys" the one which opens the balcony lock, and +thus makes possible a plan for a midnight elopement. In the midst +of the lesson the real Basilio comes to meet his appointment, and +there is a moment of confusion for the plotters, out of which Figaro +extricates them by persuading Basilio that he is sick of a raging +fever, and must go instantly home, Almaviva adding a convincing +argument in the shape of a generously lined purse. Nevertheless, +Basilio afterwards betrays the Count to Bartolo, who commands him to +bring a notary to the house that very night so that he may sign the +marriage contract with Rosina. In the midst of a tempest Figaro and +the Count let themselves into the house at midnight to carry off +Rosina, but find her in a whimsy, her mind having been poisoned +against her lover by Bartolo with the aid of the unfortunate letter. +Out of this dilemma Almaviva extricates himself by confessing his +identity, and the pair are about to steal away when the discovery is +made that the ladder to the balcony has been carried away. As they +are tiptoeing toward the window, the three sing a trio in which +there is such obvious use of a melodic phrase which belongs to Haydn +that every writer on "Il Barbiere" seems to have thought it his duty +to point out an instance of "plagiarism" on the part of Rossini. It +is a trifling matter. The trio begins thus:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Ziti, ziti, piano, piano, non facciamo +confusionne"] + +which is a slightly varied form of four measures from Simon's song +in the first part of "The Seasons":-- + +[Musical excerpt--"With eagerness the husbandman his tilling work +begins."] + +With these four measures the likeness begins and ends. A venial +offence, if it be an offence at all. Composers were not held +to so strict and scrupulous an accountability touching melodic +meum and tuum a century ago as they are now; yet there was then +a thousand-fold more melodic inventiveness. Another case of +"conveyance" by Rossini has also been pointed out; the air of the +duenna in the third act beginning "Il vecchiotto cerca moglie" is +said to be that of a song which Rossini heard a Russian lady sing +in Rome. I have searched much in Russian song literature and failed +to find the alleged original. To finish the story: the notary +summoned by Bartolo arrives on the scene, but is persuaded by Figaro +to draw up an attestation of a marriage agreement between Count +Almaviva and Rosina, and Bartolo, finding at the last that all his +precautions have been in vain, comforted not a little by the gift of +his ward's dower, which the Count relinquishes, gives his blessing +to the lovers. + +I have told the story of "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" as it appears +in the book. It has grown to be the custom to omit in performance +several of the incidents which are essential to the development +and understanding of the plot. Some day--soon, it is to be +hoped--managers, singers, and public will awake to a realization +that, even in the old operas in which beautiful singing is supposed +to be the be-all and end-all, the action ought to be kept coherent. +In that happy day Rossini's effervescent lyrical arrangement of +Beaumarchais's vivacious comedy will be restored to its rights. + + + +CHAPTER II + +"LE NOZZE DI FIGARO" + + +Beaumarchais wrote a trilogy of Figaro comedies, and if the tastes +and methods of a century or so ago had been like those of the +present, we might have had also a trilogy of Figaro operas--"Le +Barbier de Seville," "Le Mariage de Figaro," and "La Mère coupable." +As it is, we have operatic versions of the first two of the +comedies, Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro" being a sequel to Rossini's +"Il Barbiere," its action beginning at a period not long after the +precautions of Dr. Bartolo had been rendered inutile by Figaro's +cunning schemes and Almaviva had installed Rosina as his countess. +"Le Nozze" was composed a whole generation before Rossini's opera. +Mozart and his public could keep the sequence of incidents in view, +however, from the fact that Paisiello had acquainted them with the +beginning of the story. Paisiello's opera is dead, but Rossini's is +very much alive, and it might prove interesting, some day, to have +the two living operas brought together in performance in order to +note the effect produced upon each other by comparison of their +scores. One effect, I fancy, would be to make the elder of the +operas sound younger than its companion, because of the greater +variety and freshness, as well as dramatic vigor, of its music. But +though the names of many of the characters would be the same, we +should scarcely recognize their musical physiognomies. We should +find the sprightly Rosina of "Il Barbiere" changed into a mature +lady with a countenance sicklied o'er with the pale cast of a gentle +melancholy; the Count's tenor would, in the short interval, have +changed into barytone; Figaro's barytone into a bass, while the +buffo-bass of Don Basilio would have reversed the process with age +and gone upward into the tenor region. We should meet with some +new characters, of which two at least would supply the element of +dramatic freshness and vivacity which we should miss from the +company of the first opera--Susanna and Cherubino. + +We should also, in all likelihood, be struck by the difference in +the moral atmosphere of the two works. It took Beaumarchais three +years to secure a public performance of his "Mariage de Figaro" +because of the opposition of the French court, with Louis XVI at +its head, to its too frank libertinism. This opposition spread also +to other royal and imperial personages, who did not relish the +manner in which the poet had castigated the nobility, exalted the +intellectuality of menials, and satirized the social and political +conditions which were generally prevalent a short time before the +French Revolution. Neither of the operas, however, met the obstacles +which blocked the progress of the comedies on which they are +founded, because Da Ponte, who wrote the book for Mozart, and +Sterbini, who was Rossini's librettist, judiciously and deftly +elided the objectionable political element. "Le Nozze" is by far the +more ingeniously constructed play of the two (though a trifle too +involved for popular comprehension in the original language), but +"Il Barbiere" has the advantage of freedom from the moral grossness +which pollutes its companion. For the unspoiled taste of the better +class of opera patrons, there is a livelier as well as a lovelier +charm in the story of Almaviva's adventures while outwitting Dr. +Bartolo and carrying off the winsome Rosina to be his countess +than in the depiction of his amatory intrigues after marriage. +In fact, there is something especially repellent in the Count's +lustful pursuit of the bride of the man to whose intellectual +resourcefulness he owed the successful outcome of his own wooing. + +It is, indeed, a fortunate thing for Mozart's music that so few +opera-goers understand Italian nowadays. The play is a moral +blister, and the less intelligible it is made by excisions in its +dialogue, the better, in one respect, for the virtuous sensibilities +of its auditors. One point which can be sacrificed without detriment +to the music and at only a trifling cost to the comedy (even when it +is looked upon from the viewpoint which prevailed in Europe at the +period of its creation) is that which Beaumarchais relied on chiefly +to add piquancy to the conduct of the Count. Almaviva, we are given +to understand, on his marriage with Rosina had voluntarily abandoned +an ancient seignorial right, described by Susanna as "certe mezz' +ore che il diritto feudale," but is desirous of reviving the +practice in the case of the Countess's bewitching maid on the eve of +her marriage to his valet. It is this discovery which induces Figaro +to invent his scheme for expediting the wedding, and lends a touch +of humor to the scene in which Figaro asks that he and his bride +enjoy the first-fruits of the reform while the villagers lustily +hymn the merits of their "virtuous" lord; but the too frank +discussion of the subject with which the dialogue teems might easily +be avoided. The opera, like all the old works of the lyrical stage, +is in sad need of intelligent revision and thorough study, so that +its dramatic as well as its musical beauties may be preserved. There +is no lovelier merit in Mozart's music than the depth and tenderness +with which the honest love of Susanna for Figaro and the Countess +for her lord are published; and it is no demerit that the volatile +passion of the adolescent Cherubino and the frolicsome, scintillant, +vivacious spirit of the plotters are also given voice. Mozart's +music could not be all that it is if it did not enter fully and +unreservedly into the spirit of the comedy; it is what it is because +whenever the opportunity presented itself, he raised it into the +realm of the ideal. Yet Mozart was no Puritan. He swam along gayly +and contentedly on the careless current of life as it was lived +in Vienna and elsewhere in the closing decades of the eighteenth +century, and was not averse, merely for the fun of the thing, to go +even a step beyond his librettist when the chance offered. Here is +an instance in point: The plotters have been working a little at +cross-purposes, each seeking his own advantages, and their plans are +about to be put to the test when Figaro temporarily loses confidence +in the honesty of Susanna. With his trust in her falls to the ground +his faith in all woman-kind. He rails against the whole sex in the +air, beginning: "Aprite un po' quegl' occhi?" in the last act. +Enumerating the moral blemishes of women, he at length seems to be +fairly choked by his own spleen, and bursts out at the end with +"Il resto nol dico, gia ognuno lo sa" ("The rest I'll not tell +you--everybody knows it"). The orchestra stops, all but the horns, +which with the phrase + +[Musical excerpt] + +aided by a traditional gesture (the singer's forefingers pointing +upward from his forehead), complete his meaning. It is a pity that +the air is often omitted, for it is eloquent in the exposition of +the spirit of the comedy. + +The merriest of opera overtures introduces "Le Nozze di Figaro," and +puts the listener at once into a frolicsome mood. It seems to be the +most careless of little pieces, drawing none of its material from +the music of the play, making light of some of the formulas which +demanded respect at the time (there is no free fantasia), laughing +and singing its innocent life out in less than five minutes as if it +were breathing an atmosphere of pure oxygen. It romps; it does not +reflect or feel. Motion is its business, not emotion. It has no +concern with the deep and gentle feelings of the play, but only with +its frolic. The spirit of playful torment, the disposition of a +pretty tease, speaks out of its second subject:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +and one may, if one wishes, hear the voice of only half-serious +admonition in the phrase of the basses, which the violins echo as +if in mockery:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +But, on the whole, the overture does not ask for analysis or +interpretation; it is satisfied to express untrammelled joy in +existence. + +The curtain is withdrawn, and we discover the lovers preparing for +their wedding. Figaro is taking the dimensions of a room, and the +first motive of a duet illustrates his measured paces; Susanna is +trimming a hat, and her happiness and her complacent satisfaction +with her handiwork are published in the second motive, whose +innocent joy explodes in scintillant semi-quavers in the fiddles +at the third measure. His labors ended, Figaro joins Susanna in +her utterances of joy. But there is a fly in the ointment, Why has +Figaro been so busily measuring the room? To test its fitness as +their chamber, for the Count has assigned it to them, though it is +one of the best rooms in the palace. He points out its convenient +location (duet: "Se a caso madama"); so near the room of the +Countess that her maid can easily answer the "din din" of her bell, +and near enough to the room of the Count that his "don don" would +never sound in vain should he wish to send his valet on an errand. +Altogether too convenient, explains Susanna; some fine day the +Count's "don don" might mean a three-mile journey for the valet, +and then the devil would fetch the dear Count to her side in three +paces. Has he not been making love violently to her for a space, +sending Don Basilio to give her singing lessons and to urge her to +accept his suit? Did Figaro imagine it was because of his own pretty +face that the Count had promised her so handsome a dowry? Figaro had +pressed such a flattering unction to his soul, but now recalls, with +not a little jealous perturbation, that the Count had planned to +take him with him to London, where he was to go on a mission of +state: "He as ambassador, Figaro as a courier, and Susanna as +ambassadress in secret. Is that your game, my lord? Then I'll set +the pace for your dancing with my guitar" (Cavatina: "Se vuol +ballare"). + +Almaviva's obedient valet disappears, and presto! in his place +we see our old friend, the cunning, resourceful barber and town +factotum of the earlier days, who shall hatch out a plot to confound +his master and shield his love from persecution. First of all he +must hasten the wedding. He sets about this at once, but all +unconscious of the fact that Dr. Bartolo has never forgiven nor +forgotten the part he played in robbing him of his ward Rosina. +He comes now to let us know that he is seeking revenge against +Figaro and at the same time, as he hopes, rid himself of his old +housekeeper, Marcellina, to whom he is bound by an obligation that +is becoming irksome. The old duenna has been casting amatory glances +in Figaro's direction, and has a hold on him in the shape of a +written obligation to marry her in default of repayment of a sum of +money borrowed in a time of need. She enlists Bartolo as adviser, +and he agrees to lay the matter before the Count. Somewhat early, +but naturally enough in the case of the conceited dotard, he gloats +over his vengeance, which seems as good as accomplished, and +celebrates his triumph in an air ("La vendetta!"). As she is about +to leave the room, Marcellina meets Susanna, and the two make a +forced effort to conceal their mutual hatred and jealousy in an +amusing duettino ("Via resti servita, madama brillante!"), full of +satirical compliments and curtsies. Marcellina is bowed out of the +room with extravagant politeness, and Susanna turns her attention to +her mistress's wardrobe, only to be interrupted by the entrance of +Cherubino, the Count's page. Though a mere stripling, Cherubino is +already a budding voluptuary, animated with a wish, something like +that of Byron's hero, that all woman-kind had but a single mouth and +he the privilege of kissing it. He adores the Countess; but not her +alone. Susanna has a ribbon in her hand with which, she tells him, +she binds up her mistress's tresses at night. Happy Susanna! Happy +ribbon! Cherubino seizes it, refuses to give it up, and offers in +exchange his latest ballad. "What shall I do with the song?" asks +Susanna. "Sing it to the Countess! Sing it yourself! Sing it to +Barbarina, to Marcellina, to all the ladies in the palace!" He +tells Susanna (Air: "Non so più cosa son") of the torments which he +endures. The lad's mind is, indeed, in a parlous state; he feels his +body alternately burning and freezing; the mere sight of a maiden +sends the blood to his cheeks, and he needs must sigh whenever he +hears her voice; sleeping and waking, by lakeside, in the shadow of +the woods, on the mountain, by stream and fountain, his thoughts are +only of love and its sweet pains. It is quite impossible to describe +the eloquence with which Mozart's music expresses the feverish +unrest, the turmoil, and the longing which fill the lad's soul. +Otto Jahn has attempted it, and I shall quote his effort:-- + +The vibration of sentiment, never amounting to actual passion, +the mingled anguish and delight of the longing which can never be +satisfied, are expressed with a power of beauty raising them out of +the domain of mere sensuality. Very remarkable is the simplicity of +the means by which this extraordinary effect is attained. A violin +accompaniment passage, not unusual in itself, keeps up the restless +movement; the harmonies make no striking progressions; strong +emphasis and accents are sparingly used, and yet the soft flow of +the music is made suggestive of the consuming glow of passion. The +instrumentation is here of a very peculiar effect and quite a novel +coloring; the stringed instruments are muted, and clarinets occur +for the first time, and very prominently, both alone and in +combination with the horns and bassoons. + +Cherubino's philandering with Susanna is interrupted by the Count, +who comes with protestations of love, which the page hears from +a hiding-place behind a large arm-chair, where Susanna, in her +embarrassment, had hastily concealed him on the Count's entrance. +The Count's philandering, in turn, is interrupted by Basilio, whose +voice is heard long enough before his entrance to permit the Count +also to seek a hiding-place. He, too, gets behind the chair, while +Cherubino, screened by Susanna's skirts, ensconces himself in the +seat, and finds cover under one of the Countess's gowns which +Susanna hurriedly throws over him. Don Basilio comes in search of +the Count, but promptly begins his pleas in behalf of his master. +Receiving nothing but indignant rejoinders, he twits Susanna with +loving the lad, and more than intimates that Cherubino is in love +with the Countess. Why else does he devour her with his eyes when +serving her at table? And had he not composed a canzonetta for her? +Far be it from him, however, to add a word to what "everybody says." +"Everybody says what?" demands the Count, discovering himself. A +trio follows ("Cosa sento!") The Count, though in a rage, preserves +a dignified behavior and orders the instant dismissal of the page +from the palace. Susanna is overwhelmed with confusion, and plainly +betrays her agitation. She swoons, and her companions are about to +place her in the arm-chair when she realizes a danger and recovers +consciousness. Don Basilio cringes before the Count, but is +maliciously delighted at the turn which affairs have taken. + +The Count is stern. Cherubino had once before incurred his +displeasure by poaching in his preserves. He had visited Barbarina, +the pretty daughter of his gardener, and found the door bolted. The +maid appeared confused, and he, seeking an explanation, drew the +cover from the table and found the page hiding under. He illustrates +his action by lifting the gown thrown over the chair, and there +is the page again! This, then, is the reason of Susanna's seeming +prudery--the page, her lover! He accuses Susanna, who asserts her +innocence, and truthfully says that Cherubino had come to ask her +to procure the Countess's intercession in his behalf, when his +entrance had thrown them both into such confusion that Cherubino +had concealed himself. Where? Behind the arm-chair. But the Count +himself had hidden there. True, but a moment before the page had +slipped around and into the chair. Then he had heard all that the +Count had said to Susanna? Cherubino says he had tried his best +not to overhear anything. Figaro is sent for and enters with the +villagers, who hymn the virtues of their lord. To the Count's +question as to the meaning of the demonstration, Figaro explains +that it is an expression of their gratitude for the Count's +surrender of seignorial rights, and that his subjects wish him to +celebrate the occasion by bestowing the hand of Susanna on Figaro at +once and himself placing the bridal veil upon her brow. The Count +sees through Figaro's trick, but believing it will be frustrated by +Marcellina's appeal, he promises to honor the bride, as requested, +in due season. Cherubino has begged for the Count's forgiveness, and +Susanna has urged his youth in extenuation of his fault. Reminded +that the lad knows of his pursuit of Susanna, the Count modifies his +sentence of dismissal from his service to banishment to Seville as +an officer in his regiment. Figaro playfully inducts him into the +new existence. + +The air "Non più andrai," in which this is done, is in vigorous +march rhythm. Benucci, the original Figaro in Vienna, had a superbly +sonorous voice, and Michael Kelly, the English tenor (who sang the +two rôles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio), tells us how thrillingly +he sang the song at the first rehearsal with the full band. Mozart +was on the stage in a crimson pelisse and cocked hat trimmed with +gold lace, giving the time to the orchestra. Figaro gave the song +with the greatest animation and power of voice. "I was standing +close to Mozart," says Kelly, "who, sotto voce, was repeating: +'Bravo, bravo, Benucci!' and when Benucci came to the fine passage, +'Cherubino, alla vittoria, alla gloria militar,' which he gave out +with stentorian lungs, the effect was electricity itself, for the +whole of the performers on the stage, and those in the orchestra, as +if actuated by one feeling of delight, vociferated: 'Bravo, bravo, +maestro! Viva, viva, grande Mozart!' Those in the orchestra I +thought would never have ceased applauding by beating the bows of +their violins against the music desks. The little man acknowledged +by repeated obeisances his thanks for the distinguished mark of +enthusiastic applause bestowed upon him." + +This ends the first act. At the opening of the second the Countess +asks our sympathy because of the unhappiness caused by her errant +husband. (Cavatina: "Porgi amor.") She prays the god of love to +restore her to his affections. Susanna entering, the Countess asks +her to continue her tale of the Count's pursuit of her. There is +nothing to add, says the maid; the Count wooed as noblemen woo women +of her class--with money. Figaro appears to tell that the Count +is aiding Marcellina in her scheme and of the trick which he has +devised to circumvent him. He had sent Basilio to his lordship with +a letter warning him that the Countess had made an appointment to +meet a lover at the ball to be given in the evening. This would fan +the fires of his jealousy and so enrage him that he would forget his +designs against Susanna until she was safely married, when he would +discover that he had been outwitted. In the meantime, while he is +reflecting on the fact that two could play at the game, Susanna is +to apprise the Count that she will meet him in the garden in the +evening. Cherubino, whose departure to Seville had been delayed for +the purpose, is to meet the Count disguised as Susanna, and the +Countess, appearing on the scene, is to unmask him. The Count is +supposed to have gone a-hunting, and the plotters have two hours for +preparation. Figaro leaves them to find Cherubino, that he may be +put into petticoats. When the page comes, the Countess first insists +on hearing the song which he had given to Susanna, and Cherubino, +stammering and blushing at first, sings it to Susanna's guitar. +(Canzone: "Voi che sapete.") Again I call upon Otto Jahn for a +description of the music. "Cherubino is not here directly expressing +his feelings; he is depicting them in a romance, and he is in the +presence of the Countess, toward whom he glances with all the +bashfulness of boyish passion. The song is in ballad form, to suit +the situation, the voice executing the clear, lovely melody, while +the stringed instruments carry on a simple accompaniment pizzicato, +to imitate the guitar: this delicate outline is, however, shaded and +animated in a wonderful degree by solo wind instruments. Without +being absolutely necessary for the progress of the melodies and the +completeness of the harmonies, they supply the delicate touches of +detail, reading between the lines of the romance, as it were, what +is passing in the heart of the singer. We know not whether to +admire most the gracefulness of the melodies, the delicacy of the +disposition of the parts, the charm of the tone coloring, or the +tenderness of the expression--the whole is of entrancing beauty." + +Susanna finds that she and Cherubino are of the same height, and +begins to array him in garments belonging to her, first locking the +door against possible intruders. The Countess views the adventure +with some misgivings at first, but, after all, Cherubino is a mere +boy, and she rejoices him with approval of his songs, and smiles +upon him till he is deliriously happy. Basilio has given him his +commission in the Count's regiment, and the Countess discovers that +it lacks a seal to secure which would cause a longer and desired +delay. While Susanna is playing the rôle of dressing-maid to +Cherubino, and instructing him in a ladylike bearing, the Count +raps for admission to the room. Figaro's decoy letter caused him +uneasiness, and he had abandoned the hunt. Cherubino hurries +into the chamber, and the Countess turns the key upon him before +admitting his lordship, who enters in an ill-humor which is soon +turned into jealous rage. Cherubino has awkwardly overturned a chair +in the chamber, and though the Countess explains that Susanna is +within, she refuses to open the door, on the plea that her maid is +making her toilet. The Count goes for tools to break open the door, +taking the Countess with him. Susanna, who has heard all from an +alcove, hastens to Cherubino's rescue, who escapes by leaping +from the window of the Countess's apartment into the garden below. +Susanna takes his place in the chamber. Then begins the most +marvellously ingenious and beautiful finale in the whole literature +of opera. Fast upon each other follow no fewer than eight +independent pieces of music, each a perfect delineation of the +quickly changing moods and situations of the comedy, yet each built +up on the lines of musical symmetry, and developing a musical theme +which, though it passes from mouth to mouth, appears each time to +belong peculiarly to the person uttering it. The Countess throws +herself upon the mercy of the Count, confesses that Cherubino, +suspiciously garbed, is in the chamber, but pleads for his life and +protests her innocence of wrong. She gives the key to her enraged +husband, who draws his sword, unlocks the door, and commands +the page to stand forth. Susanna confronts the pair with grave +unconsciousness upon her features. The Countess is no less amazed +than her lord. + +The Count goes into the chamber to search for the page, giving +Susanna a chance to explain, and the nimble-witted women are ready +for him when he comes back confused, confounded, and ready to ask +forgiveness of his wife, who becomes tearful and accusing, telling +him at length that the story of the page's presence was all +an invention to test him. But the letter giving word of the +assignation? Written by Figaro. He then shall be punished. +Forgiveness is deserved only by those willing to forgive. All is +well, and the Countess gives her hand to be kissed by her lord. +Enters Figaro with joyous music to announce that all's ready for +the wedding; trumpets sounding, pipes tootling, peasants singing +and dancing. The Count throws a damper upon his exuberant spirits. +How about that letter? In spite of the efforts of the Countess and +Susanna to make him confess its authorship, Figaro stoutly insists +that he knows nothing of it. The Count summons Marcellina, but +before she arrives, the drunken gardener Antonio appears to tell the +Count that some one had leaped out of the salon window and damaged +his plants and pots. Confusion overwhelms the women. But Figaro's +wits are at work. He laughs loudly and accuses Antonio of being too +tipsy to know what had happened. The gardener sticks to his story +and is about to describe the man who came like a bolt from the +window, when Figaro says it was he made the leap. He was waiting in +the salon to see Susanna, he explains, when he heard the Count's +footsteps, and, fearing to meet him because of the decoy letter, he +had jumped from the window and got a sprained ankle, which he offers +in evidence. The orchestra changes key and tempo, and begins a new +inquisition with pitiless reiteration:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Antonio produces Cherubino's commission, "These, then, are your +papers?" The Count takes the commission, opens it, and the Countess +recognizes it. With whispers and signs the women let Figaro know +what it is, and he is ready with the explanation that the page had +left the paper with him. Why? It lacked--the women come again to his +rescue--it lacked the seal. The Count tears up the paper in his rage +at being foiled again. But his allies are at hand, in the persons +of Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio, who appear with the accusing +contract, signed by Figaro. The Count takes the case under +advisement, and the act ends with Figaro's enemies sure of triumph +and his friends dismayed. + +The third act plays in a large hall of the palace decorated for the +wedding. In a duet ("Crudel! perche finora") the Count renews his +addresses to Susanna. She, to help along the plot to unmask him, +consents to meet him in the garden. A wonderful grace rests upon the +music of the duet, which Mozart's genius makes more illuminative +than the words. Is it Susanna's native candor, or goodness, or +mischievousness, or her embarrassment which prompts her to answer +"yes" when "no" was expected and "no" when the Count had already +received an affirmative? We can think as we please; the musical +effect is delicious. Figaro's coming interrupts further conversation, +and as Susanna leaves the room with her, she drops a remark to +Figaro, which the Count overhears: "Hush! We have won our case +without a lawyer." What does it mean? Treachery, of course. Possibly +Marcellina's silence has been purchased. But whence the money? The +Count's amour propre is deeply wounded at the thought that his +menials should outwit him and he fail of his conquest. He swears +that he will be avenged upon both. Apparently he has not long to +wait, for Marcellina, Don Curzio, and Bartolo enter, followed by +Figaro. Don Curzio announces the decision of the court in the +duenna's suit against Figaro. He must pay or marry, according to the +bond. But Figaro refuses to abide by the decision. He is a gentleman +by birth, as proved by the jewels and costly clothing found upon him +when he was recovered from some robbers who stole him when a babe, +and he must have the consent of his parents. He has diligently +sought them and will prove his identity by a mark upon his arm. +"A spatula on the right elbow?" anxiously inquires Marcellina. +"Yes." And now Bartolo and the duenna, who a moment ago would fain +have made him an OEdipus, recognize in Figaro their own son, born +out of wedlock. He rushes to their arms and is found embracing his +mother most tenderly by Susanna, who comes with a purse to repay the +loan. She flies into a passion and boxes Figaro's ears before the +situation is explained, and she is made as happy by the unexpected +dénouement as the Count and Don Curzio are miserable. Bartolo +resolves that there shall be a double wedding; he will do tardy +justice to Marcellina. Now we see the Countess again in her +lamentable mood, mourning the loss of her husband's love. (Aria: +"Dove sono.") Susanna comes to tell of her appointment with the +Count. The place, "in the garden," seems to be lacking in clearness, +and the Countess proposes that it be made more definite and certain +(as the lawyers say), by means of a letter which shall take the form +of a "Song to the Zephyr." This is the occasion of the exquisite +duet which was surely in the mind of the composer's father when, +writing to his daughter from Vienna after the third performance of +the opera, he said: "One little duet had to be sung three times." +Was there ever such exquisite dictation and transcription? Can any +one say, after hearing this "Canzonetta sull' aria," that it is +unnatural to melodize conversation? With what gracious tact the +orchestra gives time to Susanna to set down the words of her +mistress! How perfect is the musical reproduction of inquiry and +repetition when a phrase escapes the memory of the writer! + +[Musical excerpt--Susanna: "sotto i pini?" Conte: "Sotto i pini del +boschetto."] + +The letter is written, read over phrase by phrase, and sealed with +a pin which the Count is to return as proof that he has received +the note. + +The wedding festivities begin with a presentation of flowers to the +Countess by the village maidens, among whom in disguise is the rogue +Cherubino--so fair in hat and gown that the Countess singles him out +of the throng to present his nosegay in person. Antonio, who had +suspected that he was still about the palace, exposes him to the +Count, who threatens the most rigorous punishment, but is obliged to +grant Barberina's petition that he give his consent to her marriage +to the page. Had he not often told her to ask him what she pleased, +when kissing her in secret? Under the circumstances he can only +grant the little maid's wish. During the dance which follows (it +is a Spanish fandango which seems to have been popular in Vienna +at the time, for Gluck had already made use of the same melody in +his ballet "Don Juan"), Susanna kneels before the Count to have +him place the wreath (or veil) upon her head, and slyly slips the +"Canzonetta sull' aria" into his hands. He pricks his finger with +the pin, drops it, but, on reading the postscript, picks it up, so +that he may return it to the writer as a sign of understanding. +In the evening Barberina, who has been commissioned to carry the +pin to her cousin Susanna, loses it again, and her lamentation +"L'ho perdita," with its childish sobs while hunting it, is one +of the little gems of the opera. From her Figaro learns that the +letter which he had seen the Count read during the dance was from +Susanna, and becomes furiously jealous. In an air (which has already +been described), he rails against man's credulity and woman's +faithlessness. The time is come to unmask the Count. The Countess +and Susanna have exchanged dresses, and now come into the garden. +Left alone, Susanna gives voice to her longing and love (for Figaro, +though the situation makes it seem to be for the Count) in the air +which has won great favor in the concert-room: "Deh vieni non +tardar." Here some of Otto Jahn's words are again appropriate:-- + +Mozart was right to let the feelings of the loving maiden shine +forth in all their depth and purity, for Susanna has none but her +Figaro in her mind, and the sentiments she expresses are her true +ones. Figaro, in his hiding-place, listening and suspecting her of +awaiting the Count's arrival, throws a cross-light on the situation, +which, however, only receives its full dramatic signification by +reason of the truth of Susanna's expression of feeling. Susanna, +without her sensual charm, is inconceivable, and a tinge of +sensuality is an essential element of her nature; but Mozart has +transfigured it into a noble purity which may fitly be compared +with the grandest achievements of Greek sculpture. + +Cherubino, watched from different places of concealment by the +Count, Figaro, and Susanna, appears, and, seeing the Countess, whom +he takes for Susanna, confounds not her alone, but also the Count +and Figaro, by his ardent addresses to her. He attempts to kiss her, +but the Count steps forward and interposes his cheek. The Count +attempts to box Cherubino's ears, but Figaro, slipping forward at +the moment, receives the blow instead. Confusion is at its height. +The Count makes love to his wife, thinking she is Susanna, promises +her a dowry, and places a ring on her finger. Seeing torches +approaching, they withdraw into deeper darkness. Susanna shows +herself, and Figaro, who takes her for the Countess, acquaints her +of the Count's doings which he has just witnessed. Susanna betrays +herself, and Figaro resolves to punish her for her masquerading. +He makes love to her with extravagant pathos until interrupted by +a slap in the face. Susanna's patience had become exhausted, and +her temper got the better of her judgment. Figaro laughs at her +ill-humor and confesses his trick, but renews his sham love-making +when he sees the Count returning. The latter calls for lights, and +seizes Figaro and his retainers. In the presence of all he is put +to shame by the disclosures of the personality of the Countess and +Susanna. He falls on his knees, asks forgiveness, receives it, and +all ends happily. + + + +CHAPTER III + +"DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE" + + +Mozart's "Zauberflöte"--"The Magic Flute"--is the oldest German +opera holding a place on the American stage, though not quite 118 +years old; but so far as my memory and records go, it has had but +four performances in the original tongue in New York in a whole +generation. There have been a few representations in English within +this time and a considerable number in Italian, our operatic +institutions being quick, as a rule, to put it upon the stage +whenever they have at command a soprano leggiero with a voice +of sufficient range and flexibility to meet the demands of the +extraordinary music which Mozart wrote for the Queen of Night to +oblige his voluble-throated sister-in-law, Mme. Hofer, who was +the original representative of that character. The same operatic +conditions having prevailed in New York and London for many years, +it is not strange that English-speaking people have come to +associate "The Magic Flute" with the Italian rather than the German +repertory. Yet we have the dictum of Beethoven that it is Mozart's +greatest opera, because in it his genius showed itself in so large +a variety of musical forms, ranging from ditties in the folk-song +style to figurated chorale and fugue, and more particularly because +in it Mozart first disclosed himself as a German composer. By this +Beethoven did not mean that Mozart had not written music before for +a German libretto, but that he had never written German music before +in an opera. The distinction is one more easily observed by Germans +and critical historians than by the ordinary frequenters of our +opera-houses. "Die Zauberflöte" has a special charm for people of +German blood, which is both admirable and amiable. Its magnificent +choruses are sung by men, and Germany is the home of the Männergesang; +among the opera's songs are echoes of the Volkslied--ditties which +seem to have been caught up in the German nurseries or plucked off +the lips of the itinerant German balladist; its emotional music is +heartfelt, warm, ingenuous, and in form and spirit free from the +artificiality of Italian opera as it was in Mozart's day and as it +continued to be for a long time thereafter. It was this last virtue +which gave the opera its largest importance in the eyes of Otto +Jahn, Mozart's biographer. In it, he said, for the first time all +the resources of cultivated art were brought to bear with the +freedom of genius upon a genuine German opera. In his Italian +operas, Mozart had adopted the traditions of a long period of +development, and by virtue of his original genius had brought them +to a climax and a conclusion; but in "Die Zauberflöte" he "stepped +across the threshold of the future and unlocked the sanctuary of +national art for his countrymen." + +In this view every critical historian can concur, no matter what his +tastes or where his home. But it is less easy for an English, +French, or Italian critic than a German to pardon the incongruities, +incoherences, and silly buffooneries which mar the opera. Some of +the disturbing elements are dear to the Teutonic heart. Papageno, +for instance, is but a slightly metamorphosed Kasperl, a Jack +Pudding (Hanswurst) twice removed; and Kasperl is as intimately +bound up in the German nature as his cousin Punch in the English. +Kasperl is, indeed, directly responsible for "Die Zauberflöte." At +the end of the eighteenth century there was in Vienna a singular +individual named Emmanuel Schikaneder, a Jack-of-all-trades so far +as public amusements were concerned--musician, singer, actor, +playwright, and manager. There can be no doubt but that he was a sad +scalawag and ribald rogue, with as few moral scruples as ever +burdened a purveyor of popular amusements. But he had some personal +traits which endeared him to Mozart, and a degree of intellectuality +which won him a fairly respectable place among the writers for the +stage at the turn of the century. Moreover, when he had become +prosperous enough to build a new theatre with the proceeds of "Die +Zauberflöte," he was wise enough to give a generous commission, +unhampered by his customary meddlesome restrictions, to Beethoven; +and discreet enough to approve of the highly virtuous book of +"Fidelio." At the beginning of the last decade of the eighteenth +century, however, his theatre had fallen on evil days, and in dire +straits he went to Mozart, whose friendship he had enjoyed from the +latter's Salzburg days, and begged him to undertake the composition +of an opera for which he had written the book, in conjunction with +one of his actors and choristers, named Gieseke (though this fact +never received public acknowledgment at his hands). Wieland's +"Oberon" had filled the popular mind with a great fondness for +fantastic and Oriental subjects, and a rival manager had been +successful with musical pieces in which the principal character was +the popular Kasperl. Casting about for an operatic subject which +should appeal to the general liking for romanticism and buffoonery +at once, Schikaneder hit upon a tale called "Lulu; oder, Die +Zauberflöte," written by Liebeskind, but published by Wieland in a +volume of Orientalia entitled "Dschinnistan." He had got pretty +deep in his work when a rival manager brought out an adaptation of +the same story, with music by Wenzel Müller. The farcical character +of the piece is indicated by its title, which was "Kasper, der +Fagottist; oder, Die Zauberzither"; but it made so striking a +success that Schikaneder feared to enter the lists against it with +an opera drawn from the same source. He was either too lazy, too +much in a hurry, or too indifferent to the principles of art to +remodel the completed portion, but finished his book on lines far +different from those originally contemplated. The transformation +thus accomplished brought about all the blemishes of "Die +Zauberflöte," but also gave occasion for the sublime music with +which Mozart transfigured some of the scenes. This will be +understood better if an outline of Liebeskind's tale is made to +precede the story of the opera as it came from Mozart's hand. + +A wicked magician, Dilsenghuin, has robbed the "radiant fairy" +Perifirime of her daughter, Sidi, and carried off a magic talisman. +The magician keeps the damsel in confinement and persecutes her with +amatory advances which she is able to resist through a power which +is to support her so long as her heart is untouched by love. +Perifirime promises the hand of her daughter, whose father is the +King of Cashmere, to Prince Lulu, son of the King of Chorassan, if +he regain the stolen talisman for her. To do this, however, is given +only to one who has never felt the divine passion. Lulu undertakes +the adventure, and as aids the fairy gives him a magic flute and a +ring. The tone of the flute will win the hearts of all who hear it; +by turning the ring, the wearer is enabled to assume any form +desired at will; by throwing it away he may summon the fairy herself +to his aid. The Prince assumes the form of an old man, and, like +Orpheus, softens the nature of the wild beasts that he meets in the +forest. He even melts the heart of the magician himself, who admits +him to his castle. Once he is within its walls, the inmates all +yield to the charm of his magical music, not excepting the lovely +prisoner. At a banquet he throws the magician and his companions +into a deep sleep, and possesses himself of the talisman. It is a +gold fire-steel, every spark struck from which becomes a powerful +spirit whose service is at the command of the possessor. With the +help of genii, struck from the magical implement, and the fairy whom +he summons at the last, Prince Lulu overcomes all the obstacles +placed in his way. Discomfited, the magician flies away as an owl. +Perifirime destroys the castle and carries the lovers in a cloud +chariot to her own palace. Their royal fathers give their blessings, +and Prince Lulu and Princess Sidi are joined in wedlock. + +Following in a general way the lines of this story, but supplying +the comic element by the creation of Papageno (who is Kasperl in a +habiliment of feathers), Schikaneder had already got his hero into +the castle of the wicked magician in quest of the daughter of the +Queen of Night (in whose character there was not yet a trace of +maleficence), when the success of his rival's earlier presentation +of the story gave him pause. Now there came to him (or to his +literary colleague) a conceit which fired the imagination of Mozart +and added an element to the play which was bound at once to dignify +it and create a popular stir that might lead to a triumph. Whence +the suggestion came is not known, but its execution, so far as the +libretto was concerned, was left to Gieseke. Under the Emperor +Leopold II the Austrian government had adopted a reactionary policy +toward the order of Freemasons, which was suspected of making +propaganda for liberal ideas in politics and religion. Both +Schikaneder and Mozart belonged to the order, Mozart, indeed, being +so enthusiastic a devotee that he once confessed to his father his +gratitude to God that through Freemasonry he had learned to look +upon death as the gateway to true happiness. In continuing the book +of the opera, Schikaneder (or Gieseke for him) abruptly transformed +the wicked magician into a virtuous sage who had carried off the +daughter of a wicked sorceress, the Queen of Night, to save the +maiden from the baleful influence of her mother. Instead of seeking +to frustrate the efforts of the prince who comes to rescue her, +the sage initiates him into the mysteries of Isis, leads him into +the paths of virtue and wisdom, tests him by trials, and rewards +him at the last by blessing his union with the maiden. The trials +of silence, secrecy, and hardihood in passing through the dread +elements of fire and water were ancient literary materials; they may +be found in the account of the initiation of a neophyte into the +mysteries of Isis in Apuleius's "Metamorphoses; or, The Golden Ass," +a romance written in the second century. By placing the scene of the +opera in Egypt, the belief of Freemasons that their order originated +in that unspeakably ancient land was humored, while the use of some +of its symbolism (such as the conflict between light and darkness) +and the proclamation of what were believed to be some of its ethical +principles could safely be relied upon to delight the knowing and +irritate the curiosity of the uninitiated. The change also led to +the shabby treatment which woman receives in the opera, while +Schikaneder's failure to rewrite the first part accounts for such +inconsistencies as the genii who are sent to guide the prince +appearing first in the service of the evil principle and afterward +as agents of the good. + +The overture to "Die Zauberflöte," because of its firm establishment +in our concert-rooms, is more widely known than the opera. Two of its +salient features have also made it the subject of large discussion +among musical analysts; namely, the reiterated chords, three times +three, which introduce the second part of the overture. {1} + +[Musical excerpt] + +and the fugued allegro, constructed with a skill that will never +cease to be a wonder to the knowing, built up on the following +subject:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +In the chords (which are heard again in the temple scene, at +which the hero is admitted as a novice and permitted to begin his +probation), the analysts who seek to find as much symbolism as +possible in the opera, see an allusion to the signals given by +knocking at the door of the lodge-room. Some such purpose may been +have in the mind of Mozart when he chose the device, but it was +not unique when he applied it. I have found it used in an almost +identical manner in the overture to "Günther von Schwarzburg," by +Ignaz Holzbauer, a German opera produced in Mannheim fifteen years +before "Die Zauberflöte" saw the light of the stage lamps. Mozart +knew Holzbauer, who was a really great musician, and admired his +music. Connected with the fugue theme there is a more familiar +story. In 1781 Clementi, the great pianist and composer, visited +Vienna. He made the acquaintance of Haydn, was introduced at court, +and Emperor Joseph II brought him and Mozart together in a trial of +skill at playing and improvising. Among other things Clementi played +his own sonata in B-flat, the first movement of which begins thus:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +The resemblance between this theme and Mozart's fugal subject is +too plain to need pointing out. Such likenesses were more common in +Mozart's day than they were a century ago; they were more common +in Handel's day than in Mozart's; they are almost as common in our +day as they were in Handel's, but now we explain them as being the +products of "unconscious cerebration," whereas in the eighteenth +century they were frank borrowings in which there was no moral +obliquity; for originality then lay as much in treatment as in +thematic invention, if not more. + +Come we now to a description of the action of the opera. Tamino,-- +strange to say, a "Japanese" prince,--hunting far, very far, from +home, is pursued, after his last arrow has been sped, by a great +serpent. He flees, cries for help, and seeing himself already in the +clutch of death, falls in a swoon. At the moment of his greatest +danger three veiled ladies appear on the scene and melodiously and +harmoniously unite in slaying the monster. They are smitten, in +unison, with the beauty of the unconscious youth whom they have +saved, and quarrel prettily among themselves for the privilege of +remaining beside him while information of the incident is bearing +to the Queen of Night, who lives hard by in a castle. No two being +willing that the third shall stay, all three go to the Queen, who is +their mistress. Tamino's consciousness returning, he discovers that +the serpent has been slain, and hails Papageno, who comes upon the +scene, as his deliverer. Papageno is a bird-catcher by trade and +in the service of the Queen of Night--a happy-go-lucky, talkative +fellow, whose thoughts do not go beyond creature comforts. He +publishes his nature (and incidentally illustrates what has been +said above about the naïve character of some of the music of the +opera) by trolling a ditty with an opening strain as follows:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Papageno has no scruples about accepting credit and gratitude for +the deed performed by the ladies, and, though he is the veriest +poltroon, he boasts inordinately about the gigantic strength which +had enabled him to strangle the serpent. He is punished for his +mendacity when the ladies return and place a padlock upon his mouth, +closing his lips to the things of which he is most fond--speech and +food. To Tamino they give a miniature portrait, which excites him to +rapturous song ("Dies Bildniss ist bezaubernd schön," or "Oh! cara +immagine," as the case may be). Then he learns that the original of +the portrait is Pamina, daughter of the Queen of Night, stolen from +her mother by a "wicked demon," Sarastro. In the true spirit of +knight-errantry he vows that he will restore the maid to her +mother's arms. There is a burst of thunder, and the Queen appears +in such apparel and manner as the exchequer at the theatre and the +ingenuity of the stage mechanic are able to provide. (When last I +saw her her robe was black, bespangled with stars and glittering +gems, and she rode upon the crescent moon.) She knows the merits and +virtues of the youth, and promises that he shall have Pamina to wife +if he succeeds in his adventure. Papageno is commanded to accompany +him, and as aids the ladies give to Tamino a magic flute, whose +tones shall protect him from every danger, and to Papageno a +bell-chime of equal potency. (These talismans have hundreds of +prototypes in the folk-lore of all peoples.) Papageno is loath to +accompany the prince, because the magician had once threatened to +spit and roast him like the bird he resembled if ever he was caught +in his domain, but the magical bells give him comfort and assurance. +Meanwhile the padlock has been removed from his lips, with +admonitions not to lie more. In the quintet which accompanies these +sayings and doings, there is exquisite music, which, it is said, +Mozart conceived while playing at billiards. Finally the ladies +announce that three boys, "young, beautiful, pure, and wise," shall +guide the pair to the castle of Sarastro. + +We are next in a room of the castle before the would-be rescuers +arrive. Pamina has tried to escape, and is put in chains by her +keeper, the Moor Monostatos. She weeps because of her misery, and +repulses the protestations of love with which her jailer plagues +her. Papageno enters the room, and he and the jailer run in opposite +directions at sight of each other--Papageno frightened by the +complexion of the blackamoor, Monostatos terror-stricken at the +sight of a man in feathers. Returning, Papageno convinces himself +of the identity of Pamina with the daughter of the Queen of Night, +tells her of Tamino, who is coming for her with a heart full of +love, and promptly they sing of the divine dignity of the marital +state. It is the duet, "Bei Männern weiche Liebe fühlen," or "Là +dove prende, amor ricetto," familiar to concert-rooms, and the +melody to some hymnals. A story goes that Mozart had to write +this duet three or five times before it would pass muster in the +censorious eyes of Schikaneder. After the opera had made good its +success, the duet as we have it to-day alternated at the performance +with a more ornate version--in all likelihood one of the earlier +forms in which Mozart cast it. + +The three boys--genii they are, and if I were stage-manager they +should fly like Peter Pan--lead Tamino into a grove wherein stand +three temples dedicated respectively to Wisdom, Nature, and Reason. +The precinct is sacred; the music tells us that--the halo streaming +from sustained notes of flutes and clarinets, the muted trumpets, +the solemn trombones in softest monotone, the placid undulations of +the song sung by the violins, the muffled, admonitory beats of the +kettledrums. The genii leave Tamino after admonishing him to be +"steadfast, patient, and silent." Conscious of a noble purpose, the +hero boldly approaches the Temple of Reason, but before he can enter +its portals, is stopped by an imperative injunction from within: +"Back!" He essays the Temple of Nature, and is turned away again by +the ominous word. Out of the Temple of Wisdom steps an aged priest, +from whom he learns that Sarastro is master within, and that no +one is privileged to enter whose heart, like his, harbors hatred +and vengeful thoughts. Tamino thinks Sarastro fully deserving of +hatred and revenge, and is informed that he had been deceived by a +woman--one of the sex "that does little, chatters much." Tamino asks +if Pamina lives, but the priest is bound by an oath to say nothing +on that subject until "the hand of friendship shall lead him to an +eternal union within the sanctuary." When shall night vanish and the +light appear? Oracular voices answer, "Soon, youth, or never!" Does +Pamina live? The voices: "Pamina still lives!" Thus comforted, he +sings his happiness, filling the pauses in his song with interludes +on the flute, bringing to his feet the wild beasts and forest +creatures of all sorts. He hears Papageno's syrinx, and at length +finds the fowler with Monostatos; but before their joy can have +expression Pamina and the slaves appear and capture them. Papageno +recollects him of his magic bells; he plays upon them, and the +slaves, willy-nilly, dance themselves out of sight. Scarcely are the +lovers free when a solemn strain announces the approach of Sarastro. +He comes in a chariot drawn by lions and surrounded by a brave +retinue. Pamina kneels to him, confesses her attempt to escape, but +explains that it was to free herself from the odious attentions of +Monostatos. The latter, asking his reward for having thwarted the +plan of Papageno, receives it from Sarastro in the shape of a +bastinado. Pamina pleads for restoration to her mother, but the sage +refuses to free her, saying that her mother is a haughty woman, +adding the ungallant reflection that woman's heart should be +directed by man lest she step outside her sphere. He commands that +Tamino and Papageno be veiled and led into the Temple of Probation. +The first act is ended. + +The initiation of Tamino and Papageno into the mysteries, their +trials, failures, triumph, and reward, form the contents of the +second act. At a conclave of the elect, Sarastro announces that +Tamino stands at the door of the Temple of Wisdom, desirous to gaze +upon the "great light" of the sanctuary. He prays Isis and Osiris +to give strength to the neophytes:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"O Isis und Osiris schenket Der Weisheit Geist +dem neuen Paar."] + +To the impressiveness of this prayer the orchestra contributes as +potent a factor as the stately melody or the solemn harmonies. All +the bright-voiced instruments are excluded, and the music assigned +to three groups of sombre color, composed, respectively, (1) of +divided violas and violoncellos; (2) of three trombones, and (3) of +two basset horns and two bassoons. The assent of the sacerdotal +assembly is indicated by the three trumpet blasts which have been +described in connection with the overture, and Tamino and Papageno +are admitted to the Temple, instructed, and begin their probationary +trials. True to the notion of the order, two priests warn the +neophytes against the wiles of woman. Papageno has little inclination +to seek wisdom, but enters upon the trials in the hope of winning a +wife who shall be like himself in appearance. In the first trial, +which is that of silence, the value of the priestly warning just +received is at once made apparent. Tamino and Papageno have scarcely +been left alone, when the three female attendants of the Queen of +Night appear and attempt to terrify them with tales of the false +nature of the priests, whose recruits, say they, are carried to +hell, body and breeches (literally "mit Haut und Haar," i.e. "with +skin and hair"). Papageno becomes terror-stricken and falls to the +floor, when voices within proclaim that the sanctity of the temple +has been profaned by woman's presence. The ladies flee. + +The scene changes. Pamina is seen asleep in a bower of roses, +silvered over by the light of the moon. Monostatos, deploring the +fact that love should be denied him because of his color, though +enjoyed by everything else in nature, attempts to steal a kiss. A +peal of thunder, and the Queen of Night rises from the ground. She +importunes Pamina to free herself and avenge her mother's wrongs +by killing Sarastro. To this end she hands her a dagger and pours +out the "hellish rage" which "boils" in her heart in a flood of +scintillant staceati in the tonal regions where few soprano voices +move:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Monostatos has overheard all. He wrenches the dagger from Pamina, +urges her again to accept his love, threatens her with death, and +is about to put his threat into execution when Sarastro enters, +dismisses the slave, and announces that his revenge upon the Queen +of Night shall lie in promoting the happiness of the daughter by +securing her union with Tamino. + +The probationary trials of Tamino and Papageno are continued. The +two are led into a hall and admonished to remain silent till they +hear a trumpet-call. Papageno falls to chattering with an old woman, +is terrified beyond measure by a thunder-clap, and recovers his +composure only when the genii bring back the flute and bells and a +table of food. Tamino, however, remains steadfast, though Pamina +herself comes to him and pleads for a word of love. Papageno boasts +of his own hardihood, but stops to eat, though the trumpet has +called. A lion appears; Tamino plays his flute, and the beast +returns to his cage. The youth is prepared for the final trial; he +is to wander for a space through flood and flame, and Pamina is +brought to say her tearful farewells. The courage and will of the +neophyte remain unshaken, though the maiden gives way to despair and +seeks to take her own life. The genii stay her hand, and assure her +that Tamino shall be restored to her. Two men in armor guard the +gates of a subterranean cavern. They sing of the rewards to be won +by him who shall walk the path of danger; water, fire, air, and +earth shall purify him; and if he withstand death's terrors, heaven +shall receive him and he be enlightened and fitted to consecrate +himself wholly to the mysteries of Isis:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Der, welcher wandert diese Strasse voll Beschwerde"] + +A marvellous piece of music is consorted with this oracular +utterance. The words are set to an old German church melody--"Ach +Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein"--around which the orchestral +instruments weave a contrapuntal web of wondrous beauty. At the +gates Pamina joins her lover and accompanies him on his journey, +which is happily achieved with the help of the flute. Meanwhile +Papageno is pardoned his loquacity, but told that he shall never +feel the joy of the elect. He thinks he can make shift with a +pretty wife instead. The old woman of the trial chamber appears and +discloses herself as the charming, youthful Papageno, but only for +an instant. He calls after her in vain, and is about to hang himself +when the genii remind him of his magic bells. He rings and sings; +his feathered mate comes to him. Monostatos aids the Queen of Night +and her companions in an assault upon the sanctuary; but a storm +confounds them, and Sarastro blesses the union of Tamino and Pamina, +amidst joyful hymning by the elect. + +An extraordinary hodgepodge, truly, yet, taken all in all, an +effective stage piece. Goethe was so impressed with the ingenuity +shown by Schikaneder in treating the device of contrast that he +seriously contemplated writing a second part, the music of which was +to be composed by Wranitzky, who set Gieseke's operatic version of +"Oberon." German critics and managers have deplored its absurdities +and contradictions, but have found no way to obviate them which +can be said to be generally acceptable. The buffooneries cannot be +separated from the sublimities without disrupting the piece, nor can +its doggerel be turned into dignified verse. It were best, I fancy, +that managers should treat the opera, and audiences receive it, as a +sort of Christmas pantomime which Mozart has glorified by his music. +The tendency of German critics has been to view it with too much +seriousness. It is difficult to avoid this while one is under the +magic spell of its music, but the only way to become reconciled to +it on reflection is to take it as the story of its creation shows +that its creators intended it to be taken; namely, as a piece +designed to suit the tastes of the uncultivated and careless masses. +This will explain the singular sacrifice of principle which Mozart +made in permitting a mountebank like Schikaneder to pass judgment on +his music while he was composing it, to exact that one duet should +be composed over five times before he would accept it, and even to +suggest melodies for some of the numbers. Jahn would have us believe +that Mozart was so concerned at the failure of the first act to win +applause at the first performance that he came behind the scenes +pale as death to receive comfort and encouragement from Schikaneder; +I prefer to believe another story, which is to the effect that +Mozart almost died with laughing when he found that the public went +into ecstasies over his opera. Certain it is that his pleasure in +it was divided. Schikaneder had told him that he might occasionally +consult the taste of connoisseurs, and he did so, finding profound +satisfaction in the music written for Sarastro and the priests, and +doubtless also in the fine ensembles; but the enthusiasm inspired +by what he knew to be concessions to the vulgar only excited his +hilarity. The beautiful in the score is amply explained by Mozart's +genius and his marvellous command of the technique of composition. +The dignity of the simple idea of a celebration of the mysteries +of Isis would have been enough, without the composer's reverence +for Freemasonry and its principles, to inspire him for a great +achievement when it came to providing a setting for the scenes in +which the priests figure. The rest of the music he seems to have +written with little regard to coherency or unity of character. His +sister-in-law had a voice of extraordinary range and elasticity; +hence the two display airs; Papageno had to have music in keeping in +his character, and Mozart doubtless wrote it with as little serious +thought as he did the "Piece for an Organ in a Clock, in F minor, +4-4," and "Andante to a Waltz for a Little Organ," which can be +found entered in his autograph catalogue for the last year of +his life. In the overture, one of the finest of his instrumental +compositions, he returned to a form that had not been in use since +the time of Hasse and Graum; in the scene with the two men in armor +he made use of a German chorale sung in octaves as a canto firmo, +with counterpoint in the orchestra--a recondite idea which it is +difficult to imagine him inventing for this opera. I fancy (not +without evidence) that he made the number out of material found in +his sketch-book. These things indicate that the depth which the +critics with deep-diving and bottom-scraping proclivities affect +to see in the work is rather the product of imagination than real. + + +Footnotes: + +{1} These chords, played by all the wind instruments of the band, +are the chords of the introduction raised to a higher power. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"DON GIOVANNI" + + +In the preceding chapter it was remarked that Mozart's "Zauberflöte" +was the oldest German opera in the current American repertory. +Accepting the lists of the last two decades as a criterion, "Don +Giovanni" is the oldest Italian opera, save one. That one is "Le +Nozze di Figaro," and it may, therefore, be said that Mozart's +operas mark the beginning of the repertory as it exists at the +present time in America. Twenty-five years ago it was possible to +hear a few performances of Gluck's "Orfeo" in English and Italian, +and its name has continued to figure occasionally ever since in the +lists of works put forth by managers when inviting subscriptions for +operatic seasons; but that fact can scarcely be said to have kept +the opera in the repertory. + +Our oldest Italian opera is less than 125 years old, and "Don +Giovanni" only 122--an inconsiderable age for a first-class work of +art compared with its companion pieces in literature, painting, and +sculpture, yet a highly respectable one for an opera. Music has +undergone a greater revolution within the last century than any +other art in thrice the period, yet "Don Giovanni" is as much +admired now as it was in the last decade of the eighteenth century, +and, indeed, has less prejudice to contend with in the minds of +musicians and critics than it had when it was in its infancy, and +I confidently believe that to its score and that of "Le Nozze di +Figaro" opera writers will soon be turning to learn the methods of +dramatic characterization. Pure beauty lives in angelic wedlock with +psychological expression in Mozart's dramatic music, and these +factors will act as powerful loadstones in bringing composers who +are now laboriously and vainly seeking devices for characterization +in tricks and devices based on arbitrary formulas back to the gospel +of truth and beauty. Wagner has had no successful imitator. His +scheme of thematic identification and development, in its union of +calculation, reflection, and musical inspiration, is beyond the +capacities of those who have come after him. The bow of Ulysses is +still unbent; but he will be a great musician indeed who shall use +the resources of the new art with such large ease, freedom, power, +and effectiveness as Mozart used those of the comparatively +ingenuous art of his day. And yet the great opera composer who is to +come in great likelihood will be a disciple of Gluck, Mozart, and +the Wagner who wrote "Tristan und Isolde" and "Die Meistersinger" +rather than one of the tribe of Debussy. + +The great opera composers of the nineteenth century were of one mind +touching the greatness of "Don Giovanni." Beethoven was horrified by +its licentious libretto, but tradition says that he kept before him +on his writing-table a transcript of the music for the trombones in +the second finale of the opera. Shortly after Mme. Viardot-Garcia +came into possession of the autograph score of the masterpiece, +Rossini called upon her and asked for the privilege of looking at +it, adding, "I want to bow the knee before this sacred relic." +After poring over a few pages, he placed his hands on the book and +said, solemnly: "He is the greatest, the master of them all; the +only composer who had as much science as he had genius, and as +much genius as he had science." On another occasion he said to a +questioner: "Vous voulez connaître celui de mes ouvrages que j'aime +le mieux; eh bien, c'est 'Don Giovanni.'" Gounod celebrated the +centenary of the opera by writing a commentary on it which he +dedicated to young composers and artists called upon to take part +in performances of the opera. In the preface of his book he +characterizes it as "an unequalled and immortal masterpiece," the +"apogee of the lyrical drama," a "wondrous example of truth, beauty +of form, appropriateness of characterization, deep insight into the +drama, purity of style, richness and restraint in instrumentation, +charm and tenderness in the love passages, and power in pathos"--in +one word, a "finished model of dramatic music." And then he added: +"The score of 'Don Giovanni' has exercised the influence of a +revelation upon the whole of my life; it has been and remains for +me a kind of incarnation of dramatic and musical impeccability. I +regard it as a work without blemish, of uninterrupted perfection, +and this commentary is but the humble testimony of my Veneration and +gratitude for the genius to whom I owe the purest and most permanent +joys of my life as a musician." In his "Autobiographical Sketch" +Wagner confesses that as a lad he cared only for "Die Zauberflöte," +and that "Don Giovanni" was distasteful to him on account of the +Italian text, which seemed to him rubbish. But in "Oper und Drama" +he says: "Is it possible to find anything more perfect than every +piece in 'Don Juan'? . . . Oh, how doubly dear and above all honor +is Mozart to me that it was not possible for him to invent music +for 'Tito' like that of 'Don Giovanni,' for 'Cosi fan tutte' like +that of 'Figaro'! How shamefully would it have desecrated music!" +And again: "Where else has music won so infinitely rich an +individuality, been able to characterize so surely, so definitely, +and in such exuberant plenitude, as here?" {1} + +Mozart composed "Don Giovanni" for the Italian Opera at Prague, +which had been saved from ruin in the season 1786-1787 by the +phenomenal success of "Le Nozze di Figaro." He chose the subject and +commissioned Lorenzo da Ponte, then official poet to the imperial +theatres of Austria, to write the book of words. In doing so, the +latter made free use of a version of the same story made by an +Italian theatrical poet named Bertati, and Dr. Chrysander (who in +1886 gave me a copy of this libretto, which Mozart's biographer, +Otto Jahn, had not succeeded in finding, despite diligent search) +has pointed out that Mozart also took as a model some of the music +to which the composer Gazzaniga had set it. The title of the opera +by Bertati and Gazzaniga was "Il Convitato di Pietra." It had been +brought forward with great success in Venice and won wide vogue +in Italy before Mozart hit upon it. It lived many years after +Mozart brought out his opera, and, indeed, was performed in London +twenty-three years before Mozart's opera got a hearing. It is +doubtful, however, if the London representation did justice to the +work. Da Ponte was poet to the opera there when "Il Convitato" was +chosen for performance, and it fell to him to prepare the book to +suit the taste of the English people. He tried to persuade the +management to give Mozart's opera instead, and, failing in that, +had the malicious satisfaction of helping to turn the work of +Bertati and Gazzaniga into a sort of literary and musical pasticcio, +inserting portions of his own paraphrase of Bertati's book in place +of the original scenes and preparing occasion for the insertion of +musical pieces by Sarti, Frederici, and Guglielmi. + +Mozart wrote the music to "Don Giovanni" in the summer of 1787. +Judging by the circumstance that there is no entry in his autograph +catalogue between June 24 and August 10 in that year, it would seem +that he had devoted the intervening seven weeks chiefly, if not +wholly, to the work. When he went to Prague in September he carried +the unfinished score with him, and worked on it there largely in the +summer house of his friends, the Duscheks, who lived in the suburbs +of the city. Under date of October 28 he entered the overture in his +catalogue. As a matter of fact, it was not finished till the early +morn of the next day, which was the day of the first production of +the opera. Thereby hangs the familiar tale of how it was composed. +On the evening of the day before the performance, pen had not been +touched to the overture. Nevertheless, Mozart sat with a group of +merry friends until a late hour of the night. Then he went to his +hotel and prepared to work. On the table was a glass of punch, and +his wife sat beside him--to keep him awake by telling him stories. +In spite of all, sleep overcame him, and he was obliged to interrupt +his work for several hours; yet at 7 o'clock in the morning the +copyist was sent for and the overture was ready for him. The tardy +work delayed the representation in the evening, and the orchestra +had to play the overture at sight; but it was a capital band, and +Mozart, who conducted, complimented it before starting into the +introduction to the first air. The performance was completely +successful, and floated buoyantly on a tide of enthusiasm which set +in when Mozart entered the orchestra, and rose higher and higher as +the music went on. On May 7, 1788, the opera was given in Vienna, +where at first it made a fiasco, though Mozart had inserted new +pieces and made other alterations to humor the singers and add to +its attractiveness. London heard it first on April 12, 1817, at the +King's Theatre, whose finances, which were almost in an exhausted +state, it restored to a flourishing condition. In the company which +Manuel Garcia brought to New York in 1825 were Carlo Angrisani, who +was the Masetto of the first London representation, and Domenico +Crivelli, son of the tenor Gaetano Crivelli, who had been the +Don Ottavio. Garcia was a tenor with a voice sufficiently deep to +enable him to sing the barytone part of Don Giovanni in Paris and +at subsequent performances in London. It does not appear that he +had contemplated a performance of the opera in New York, but here +he met Da Ponte, who had been a resident of the city for twenty +years and recently been appointed professor of Italian literature +at Columbia College. Da Ponte, as may be imagined, lost no time in +calling on Garcia and setting on foot a scheme for bringing forward +"my 'Don Giovanni,'" as he always called it. Crivelli was a +second-rate tenor, and could not be trusted with the part of Don +Ottavio, and a Frenchman named Milon, whom I conclude to have been +a violoncello player, afterward identified with the organization of +the Philharmonic Society, was engaged for that part. A Mme. Barbieri +was cast for the part of Donna Anna, Mme. Garcia for that of Donna +Elvira, Manuel Garcia, Jr. (who died in 1906 at the age of 101 +years) for that of Leporello, Angrisani for his old rôle of Masetto, +and Maria Garcia, afterward the famous Malibran, for that of +Zerlina. The first performance took place on May 23, 1826, in the +Park Theatre, and the opera was given eleven times in the season. +This success, coupled with the speedily acquired popularity of +Garcia's gifted daughter, was probably the reason why an English +version of the opera which dominated the New York stage for nearly +a quarter of a century soon appeared at the Chatham Theatre. In +this version the part of the dissolute Don was played by H. Wallack, +uncle of the Lester Wallack so long a theatrical favorite in the +American metropolis. As Malibran the Signorina Garcia took part in +many of the English performances of the work, which kept the Italian +off the local stage till 1850, when it was revived by Max Maretzek +at the Astor Place Opera-house. + +I have intimated that Bertati's opera-book was the prototype of Da +Ponte's, but the story is centuries older than either. The Spanish +tale of Don Juan Tenorio, who killed an enemy in a duel, insulted +his memory by inviting his statue to dinner, and was sent to hell +because of his refusal to repent him of his sins, was but a literary +form of a legend of considerable antiquity. It seems likely that +it was moulded into dramatic shape by monks in the Middle Ages; it +certainly occupied industriously the minds of playwrights in the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Spain, Italy, Germany, and +England. The most eminent men who treated it at various times were +the Spaniard known as Tirza di Molina, the Frenchman Molière, +the Italian Goldoni, and the Englishman Thomas Shadwell, whose +"Libertine Destroyed" was brought forward in 1676. Before Mozart, +Le Tellier had used it for a French comic opera, Righini and +Gazzaniga for Italian operas, and Gluck for a ballet. + +But we are concerned now only with the play as Da Ponte and Mozart +gave it to us. In the dramatic terminology of the eighteenth century +"Don Giovanni" was a dramma giocoso; in the better sense of the +phrase, a playful drama--a lyric comedy. Da Ponte conceived it as +such, but Mozart gave it so tragical a turn by the awful solemnity +with which he infused the scene of the libertine's punishment that +already in his day it was felt that the last scene as written and +composed to suit the conventional type of a comic opera was an +intolerable anticlimax. Mozart sounds a deeply tragical note at the +outset of his overture. The introduction is an Andante, which he +drew from the scene of the opera in which the ghostly statue of the +murdered Commandant appears to Don Giovanni while he is enjoying +the pleasures of the table. Two groups of solemn chords command +attention and "establish at once the majestic and formidable +authority of divine justice, the avenger of crime." {2} They are +followed by a series of solemn progressions in stern, sinister, +unyielding, merciless, implacable harmonies. They are like the +colossal strides of approaching Fate, and this awfulness is twice +raised to a higher power, first by a searching, syncopated phrase +in the violins which hovers loweringly over them, and next by a +succession of afrighted minor scales ascending crescendo and +descending piano, the change in dynamics beginning abruptly as the +crest of each terrifying wave is reached. These wonderful scales +begin thus:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +in the last scene of the opera. They were an afterthought of the +composer's. They did not appear in the original score of the scene, +as the autograph shows, but were written in after the music had once +been completed. They are crowded into the staves in tiny notes which +sometimes extend from one measure into the next. This circumstance +and the other, that they are all fairly written out in the autograph +of the overture, indicate that they were conceived either at one of +the rehearsals or while Mozart was writing the overture. They could +not have been suggested at the first performance, as Jahn seems to +imply. {3} The introduction is only thirty measures long, and the +Allegro which follows is made up of new material. I quote again +from Gounod: "But suddenly, and with feverish audacity, the Allegro +breaks out in the major key, an Allegro full of passion and +delirium, deaf to the warnings of Heaven, regardless of remorse, +enraptured of pleasure, madly inconstant and daring, rapid and +impetuous as a torrent, flashing and swift as a sword, overleaping +all obstacles, scaling balconies, and bewildering the alguazils." {4} +From the tragic introduction through the impetuous main section we +are led to a peaceful night scene in the garden before the house +of Donna Anna. There Leporello, the servant of Don Giovanni, is +awaiting in discontented mood for the return of his master, who has +entered the house in quest of amatory adventure. Leporello is weary +of the service in which he is engaged, and contrasts his state with +that of the Don. (Air: "Notte e giorno faticar.") He will throw off +the yoke and be a gentleman himself. He has just inflated himself +with pride at the thought, when he hears footsteps, and the poltroon +in his nature asserts itself. He hides behind the shrubbery. Don +Giovanni hurries from the house, concealing his features with his +cloak and impeded by Donna Anna, who clings to him, trying to get a +look into his face and calling for help. Don Giovanni commands +silence and threatens. The Commandant, Donna Anna's father, appears +with drawn sword and challenges the intruder. Don Giovanni hesitates +to draw against so old a man, but the Commandant will not parley. +They fight. At first the attacks and defences are deliberate (the +music depicts it all with wonderful vividness), but at the last it +is thrust and parry, thrust and parry, swiftly, mercilessly. The +Commandant is no match for his powerful young opponent, and falls, +dying. A few broken ejaculations, and all is ended. The orchestra +sings a slow descending chromatic phrase "as if exhausted by the +blood which oozes from the wound," says Gounod. How simple the means +of expression! But let the modern composer, with all his apparatus +of new harmonies and his multitude of instruments, point out a scene +to match it in the entire domain of the lyric drama! Don Giovanni +and his lumpish servant, who, with all his coward instincts, cannot +help trying his wit at the outcome of the adventure, though his +master is in little mood for sportiveness, steal away as they see +lights and hear a commotion in the palace. Donna Anna comes back to +the garden, bringing her affianced lover, Don Ottavio, whom she had +called to the help of her father. She finds the Commandant dead, +and breaks into agonizing cries and tears. Only an accompanied +recitative, but every ejaculation a cry of nature! Gounod is wrought +up to an ecstasy by Mozart's declamation and harmonies. He suspends +his analysis to make this comment:-- + +But that which one cannot too often remark nor too often endeavor +to make understood, that which renders Mozart an absolutely unique +genius, is the constant and indissoluble union of beauty of form +with truth of expression. By this truth he is human, by this beauty +he is divine. By truth he teaches us, he moves us; we recognize each +other in him, and we proclaim thereby that he indeed knows human +nature thoroughly, not only in its different passions, but also in +the varieties of form and character that those passions may assume. +By beauty the real is transfigured, although at the same time it +is left entirely recognizable; he elevates it by the magic of a +superior language and transports it to that region of serenity and +light which constitutes Art, wherein Intelligence repeats with a +tranquillity of vision what the heart has experienced in the trouble +of passion. Now the union of truth with beauty is Art itself. + +Don Ottavio attempts to console his love, but she is insane with +grief and at first repulses him, then pours out her grief and calls +upon him to avenge the death of her father. Together they register +a vow and call on heaven for retribution. + +It is morning. Don Giovanni and Leporello are in the highway near +Seville. As usual, Leporello is dissatisfied with his service and +accuses the Don with being a rascal. Threats of punishment bring +back his servile manner, and Don Giovanni is about to acquaint him +of a new conquest, when a lady, Donna Elvira, comes upon the scene. +She utters woful complaints of unhappiness and resentment against +one who had won her love, then deceived and deserted her. (Air: +"Ah! chi mi dice mai.") Don Giovanni ("aflame already," as Leporello +remarks) steps forward to console her. He salutes her with soft +blandishment in his voice, but to his dismay discovers that she is +a noble lady of Burgos and one of the "thousand and three" Spanish +victims recorded in the list which Leporello mockingly reads to her +after Don Giovanni, having turned her over to his servant, for +an explanation of his conduct in leaving Burgos, has departed +unperceived. Leporello is worthy of his master in some things. +In danger he is the veriest coward, and his teeth chatter like +castanets; but confronted by a mere woman in distress he becomes +voluble and spares her nothing in a description of the number of +his master's amours, their place, the quality and station of his +victims, and his methods of beguilement. The curious and also +the emulous may be pleased to learn that the number is 2065, +geographically distributed as follows: Italy, 240; Germany, 231; +France, 100; Turkey, 91; and Spain, 1003. Among them are ladies from +the city and rustic damsels, countesses, baronesses, marchionesses, +and princesses. If blond, he praises her dainty beauty; brunette, +her constancy; pale, her sweetness. In cold weather his preferences +go toward the buxom, in summer, svelte. Even old ladies serve to +swell his list. Rich or poor, homely or beautiful, all's one to him +so long as the being is inside a petticoat. "But why go on? Lady, +you know his ways." The air, "Madamina," is a marvel of malicious +humor and musical delineation. "E la grande maestoso"--the music +rises and inflates itself most pompously; "la piccina"--it sinks in +quick iteration lower and lower just as the Italians in describing +small things lower their hands toward the ground. The final words, +"Voi sapete, quel che fa," scarcely to be interpreted for polite +readers, as given by bass singers who have preserved the Italian +traditions (with a final "hm" through the nose), go to the extreme +of allowable suggestiveness, if not a trifle beyond. The insult +throws Elvira into a rage, and she resolves to forego her love +and seek vengeance instead. + +Don Giovanni comes upon a party of rustics who are celebrating in +advance the wedding of Zerlina and Masetto. The damsel is a somewhat +vain, forward, capricious, flirtatious miss, and cannot long +withstand such blandishments as the handsome nobleman bestows +upon her. Don Giovanni sends the merrymakers to his palace for +entertainment, cajoles and threatens Masetto into leaving him alone +with Zerlina, and begins his courtship of her. (Duet: "Là ci darem +la mano.") He has about succeeded in his conquest, when Elvira +intervenes, warns the maiden, leads her away, and, returning, finds +Donna Anna and Don Ottavio in conversation with Don Giovanni, +whose help in the discovery of the Commandant's murderer they are +soliciting. Elvira breaks out with denunciations, and Don Giovanni, +in a whisper to his companions, proclaims her mad, and leads her +off. Departing, he says a word of farewell, and from the tone of +his voice Donna Anna recognizes her father's murderer. She tells +her lover how the assassin stole into her room at night, attempted +her dishonor, and slew her father. She demands his punishment at +Don Ottavio's hands, and he, though doubting that a nobleman and +a friend could be guilty of such crimes, yet resolves to find out +the truth and deliver the guilty man to justice. + +The Don commands a grand entertainment for Zerlina's wedding party, +for, though temporarily foiled, he has not given up the chase. +Masetto comes with pretty Zerlina holding on to the sleeve of his +coat. The boor is jealous, and Zerlina knows well that he has cause. +She protests, she cajoles; he is no match for her. She confesses to +having been pleased at my lord's flattery, but he had not touched +"even the tips of her fingers." If her fault deserves it, he may +beat her if he wants to, but then let there be peace between them. +The artful minx! Her wheedling is irresistible. Listen to it:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Batti, batti, o bel Masetto"] + +The most insinuating of melodies floating over an obbligato of the +solo violoncello "like a love charm," as Gounod says. Then the +celebration of her victory when she captures one of his hands and +knows that he is yielding:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Pace, pace o vita mia"] + +A new melody, blither, happier, but always the violoncello murmuring +in blissful harmony with the seductive voice and rejoicing in the +cunning witcheries which lull Masetto's suspicions to sleep. Now all +go into Don Giovanni's palace, from which the sounds of dance music +and revelry are floating out. Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, and Don +Ottavio, who come to confront him who has wronged them all, are +specially bidden, as was the custom, because they appeared in masks. +Within gayety is supreme. A royal host, this Don Giovanni! Not only +are there refreshments for all, but he has humored both classes of +guests in the arrangement of the programme of dances. Let there be a +minuet, a country-dance, and an allemande, he had said to Leporello +in that dizzying song of instruction which whirls past our senses +like a mad wind: "Finch' han dal vino." No one so happy as Mozart +when it came to providing the music for these dances. Would you +connoisseurs in music like counterpoint? We shall give it you;--three +dances shall proceed at once and together, despite their warring +duple and triple rhythms:-- + +[Musical excerpts] + +Louis Viardot, who wrote a little book describing the autograph of +"Don Giovanni," says that Mozart wrote in the score where the three +bands play thus simultaneously the word accordano as a direction +to the stage musicians to imitate the action of tuning their +instruments before falling in with their music. Of this fact the +reprint of the libretto as used at Prague and Vienna contains no +mention, but a foot-note gives other stage directions which indicate +how desirous Mozart was that his ingenious and humorous conceit +should not be overlooked. At the point where the minuet, which was +the dance of people of quality, is played, he remarked, "Don Ottavio +dances the minuet with Donna Anna"; at the contra-dance in 2-4 time, +"Don Giovanni begins to dance a contra-dance with Zerlina"; at the +entrance of the waltz, "Leporello dances a 'Teitsch' with Masetto." +The proper execution of Mozart's elaborate scheme puts the resources +of an opera-house to a pretty severe test, but there is ample reward +in the result. Pity that, as a rule, so little intelligence is shown +by the ballet master in arranging the dances! There is a special +significance in Mozart's direction that the cavalier humor the +peasant girl by stepping a country-dance with her, which is all lost +when he attempts to lead her into the aristocratic minuet, as is +usually done. + +At the height of the festivities, Don Giovanni succeeds in leading +Zerlina into an inner room, from which comes a piercing shriek a +moment later. Anticipating trouble, Leporello hastens to his master +to warn him. Don Ottavio and his friends storm the door of the +anteroom, out of which now comes Don Giovanni dragging Leporello +and uttering threats of punishment against him. The trick does not +succeed. Don Ottavio removes his mask and draws his sword; Donna +Anna and Donna Elvira confront the villain. The musicians, servants, +and rustics run away in affright. For a moment Don Giovanni loses +presence of mind, but, his wits and courage returning, he beats down +the sword of Don Ottavio, and, with Leporello, makes good his escape. + +The incidents of the second act move with less rapidity, and, until +the fateful dénouement is reached, on a lower plane of interest than +those of the first, which have been narrated. Don Giovanni turns his +attentions to the handsome waiting-maid of Donna Elvira. To get the +mistress out of the way he persuades Leporello to exchange cloaks +and hats with him and station himself before her balcony window, +while he utters words of tenderness and feigned repentance. The lady +listens and descends to the garden, where Leporello receives her +with effusive protestations; but Don Giovanni rudely disturbs them, +and they run away. Then the libertine, in the habit of his valet, +serenades his new charmer. The song, "Deh vieni alla finestra," +is of melting tenderness and gallantry; words and music float +graciously on the evening air in company with a delightfully piquant +tune picked out on a mandolin. The maid is drawn to the window, and +Don Giovanni is in full expectation of another triumph, when Masetto +confronts him with a rabble of peasants, all armed. They are in +search of the miscreant who had attempted to outrage Zerlina. Don +Giovanni is protected by his disguise. He feigns willingness to help +in the hunt, and rids himself of Masetto's companions by sending +them on a fool's errand to distant parts of the garden. Then he +cunningly possesses himself of Masetto's weapons and belabors him +stoutly with his own cudgel. He makes off, and Zerlina, hearing +Masetto's cries, hurries in to heal his hurts with pretty endearments. +(Air: "Vedrai carino.") Most unaccountably, as it will seem to those +who seek for consistency and reason in all parts of the play, all +of its actors except Don Giovanni find themselves together in a +courtyard (or room, according to the notions of the stage manager). +Leporello is trying to escape from Elvira, who still thinks him Don +Giovanni, and is first confronted by Masetto and Zerlina and then by +Ottavio and Anna. He is still in his master's hat and cloak, and is +taken vigorously to task, but discloses his identity when it becomes +necessary in order to escape a beating. Convinced at last that Don +Giovanni is the murderer of the Commandant, Don Ottavio commends his +love to the care of her friends and goes to denounce the libertine +to the officers of the law. + +The last scene is reached. Don Giovanni, seated at his table, eats, +drinks, indulges in badinage with his servant, and listens to the +music of his private band. The musicians play melodies from popular +operas of the period in which Mozart wrote--not Spanish melodies of +the unfixed time in which the veritable Don Juan may have lived:-- + +[Musical excerpts--From Martin's "Una cosa rara." From "Fra i due +litiganti" by Sarti. From "Nozze di Figaro."] + +Mozart feared anachronisms as little as Shakespeare. His Don +Giovanni was contemporary with himself and familiar with the +repertory of the Vienna Opera. The autograph discloses that the +ingenious conceit was wholly Mozart's. It was he who wrote the words +with which Leporello greets the melodies from "Una cosa rara," "I +due Litiganti," and "Le Nozze di Figaro," and when Leporello hailed +the tune "Non piu andrai" from the last opera with words "Questo poi +la conosco pur troppo" ("This we know but too well"), he doubtless +scored a point with his first audience in Prague which the German +translator of the opera never dreamed of. Even the German critics +of to-day seem dense in their unwillingness to credit Mozart with a +purely amiable purpose in quoting the operas of his rivals, Martin +and Sarti. The latter showed himself ungrateful for kindnesses +received at Mozart's hands by publicly denouncing an harmonic +progression in one of the famous six quartets dedicated to Haydn as +a barbarism, but there was no ill-will in the use of the air from +"I due Litiganti" as supper music for the delectation of the Don. +Mozart liked the melody, and had written variations on it for the +pianoforte. + +The supper is interrupted by Donna Elvira, who comes to plead on her +knees with Don Giovanni to change his mode of life. He mocks at her +solicitude and invites her to sit with him at table. She leaves the +room in despair, but sends back a piercing shriek from the corridor. +Leporello is sent out to report on the cause of the cry, and returns +trembling as with an ague and mumbling that he has seen a ghost--a +ghost of stone, whose footsteps, "Ta, ta, ta," sounded like a mighty +hammer on the floor. Don Giovanni himself goes to learn the cause of +the disturbance, and Leporello hides under the table. The intrepid +Don opens the door. There is a clap of thunder, and there enters the +ghost of the Commandant in the form of his statue as seen in the +churchyard. The music which has been described in connection with +the overture accompanies the conversation of the spectre and his +amazed host. Don Giovanni's repeated offer of hospitality is +rejected, but in turn he is asked if he will return the visit. He +will. "Your hand as a pledge," says the spectre. All unabashed, the +doomed man places his hand in that of the statue, which closes upon +it like a vise. Then an awful fear shakes the body of Don Giovanni, +and a cry of horror is forced out of his lips. "Repent, while there +is yet time," admonishes the visitor again and again, and still +again. Don Giovanni remains unshaken in his wicked fortitude. At +length he wrests his hand out of the stony grasp and at the moment +hears his doom from the stony lips, "Ah! the time for you is past!" +Darkness enwraps him; the earth trembles; supernatural voices +proclaim his punishment in chorus; a pit opens before him, from +which demons emerge and drag him down to hell. + +Here the opera ends for us; but originally, after the catastrophe +the persons of the play, all but the reprobate whom divine justice +has visited, returned to the scene to hear a description of the +awful happenings he had witnessed from the buffoon who had hidden +under the table, to dispose their plans for the future (for Ottavio +and Anna, marriage in a year; for Masetto and Zerlina, a wedding +instanter; for Elvira, a nunnery), and platitudinously to moralize +that, the perfidious wretch having been carried to the realm of +Pluto and Proserpine, naught remained to do save to sing the old +song, "Thus do the wicked find their end, dying as they had lived." + + +Footnotes: + +{1} See my preface to "Don Giovanni" in the Schirmer Collection of Operas. + +{2} Gounod. + +{3} "The Life of Mozart," by Otto Jahn, Vol. III, p. 169. + +{4} "Mozart's Don Giovanni," by Charles Gounod, p. 3. + + + +CHAPTER V + +"FIDELIO" + + +It was the scalawag Schikaneder who had put together the singular +dramatic phantasmagoria known as Mozart's "Magic Flute," and acted +the part of the buffoon in it, who, having donned the garb of +respectability, commissioned Beethoven to compose the only opera +which that supreme master gave to the world. The opera is "Fidelio," +and it occupies a unique place in operatic history not only because +it is the only work of its kind by the greatest tone-poet that ever +lived, but also because of its subject. The lyric drama has dealt +with the universal passion ever since the art-form was invented, but +"Fidelio" is the only living opera which occurs to me now, except +Gluck's "Orfeo" and "Alceste," which hymns the pure love of married +lovers. The bond between the story of Alcestis, who goes down to +death to save the life of Admetus, and that of Leonore, who ventures +her life to save Florestan, is closer than that of the Orphic +myth, for though the alloy only serves to heighten the sheen of +Eurydice's virtue, there is yet a grossness in the story of +Aristaeus's unlicensed passion which led to her death, that strongly +differentiates it from the modern tale of wifely love and devotion. +Beethoven was no ascetic, but he was as sincere and severe a +moralist in life as he was in art. In that most melancholy of human +documents, written at Heiligenstadt in October, 1802, commonly known +as his will, he says to his brothers: "Recommend to your children +virtue; it alone can bring happiness, not money. I speak from +experience. It was virtue which bore me up in time of trouble; to +her, next to my art, I owe thanks for my not having laid violent +hands on myself." + +That Mozart had been able to compose music to such libretti as those +of "Don Giovanni" and "Così fan tutte" filed him with pained wonder. +Moreover, he had serious views of the dignity of music and of the +uses to which it might be put in the drama, and more advanced +notions than he has generally been credited with as to how music and +the drama ought to be consorted. Like all composers, he longed to +write an opera, and it is not at all unlikely that, like Mendelssohn +after him, he was deterred by the general tendency of the opera +books of his day. Certain it is that though he received a commission +for an opera early in the year 1803, it was not until an opera on +the story which is also that of "Fidelio" had been brought out +at Dresden that he made a definitive choice of a subject. The +production which may have infuenced him was that of Ferdinando +Paër's" Leonora, ossia l'Amore conjugale," which was brought forward +at Dresden, where its composer was conductor of the opera, on +October 3, 1804. This opera was the immediate predecessor of +Beethoven's, but it also had a predecessor in a French opera, +"Léonore, ou l'Amour conjugal," of which the music was composed by +Pierre Gaveaux, a musician of small but graceful gifts, who had been +a tenor singer before he became a composer. This opera had its first +performance on February 19, 1798, and may also have been known to +Beethoven, or have been brought to his notice while he was casting +about for a subject. At any rate, though it was known as early as +June, 1803, that Beethoven intended to compose an opera for the +Theater an der Wien, and had taken lodgings with his brother Caspar +in the theatre building more than two months before, it was not +until the winter of 1804 that the libretto of "Fidelio" was placed +in his hands. It was a German version of the French book by Bouilly, +which had been made by Joseph Sonnleithner, an intimate friend of +Schubert, founder of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, who had +recently been appointed secretary of the Austrian court theatres as +successor of Kotzebue. Beethoven had gone to live in the theatre +building for the purpose of working on the opera for Schikaneder, +but early in 1804 the Theater an der Wien passed out of his hands +into those of Baron von Braun. The intervening summer had been +passed by the composer at Baden and Unter Döbling in work upon the +"Eroica" symphony. The check upon the operatic project was but +temporary. Baron von Braun took Schikaneder into his service and +renewed the contract with Beethoven. This accomplished, the composer +resumed his lodgings in the theatre and began energetically to +work upon the opera. Let two facts be instanced here to show how +energetically and how painstakingly he labored. When he went into +the country in the early summer, as was his custom, he carried with +him 346 pages of sketches for the opera, sixteen staves on a page; +and among these sketches were sixteen openings of Florestan's great +air, which may be said to mark the beginning of the dramatic action +in the opera. + +For the rest of the history of the opera I shall draw upon the +preface to "Fidelio," which I wrote some years ago for the vocal +score in the Schirmer collection. The score was finished, including +the orchestration, in the summer of 1805, and on Beethoven's return +to Vienna, rehearsals were begun. It was the beginning of a series +of trials which made the opera a child of sorrow to the composer. +The style of the music was new to the singers, and they pronounced +it unsingable. They begged him to make changes, but Beethoven was +adamant. The rehearsals became a grievous labor to all concerned. +The production was set down for November 20, but when the momentous +day came, it found Vienna occupied by the French troops, Bonaparte +at Schönbrunn and the capital deserted by the Emperor, the nobility, +and most of the wealthy patrons of art. The performance was a +failure. Besides the French occupation, two things were recognized +as militating against the opera's success:--the music was not to +the taste of the people, and the work was too long. Repetitions +followed on November 21 and 22, but the first verdict was upheld. + +Beethoven's distress over the failure was scarcely greater than that +of his friends, though he was, perhaps, less willing than they to +recognize the causes that lay in the work itself. A meeting was +promptly held in the house of Prince Lichnowsky and the opera +taken in hand for revision. Number by number it was played on the +pianoforte, sung, discussed. Beethoven opposed vehemently nearly +every suggestion made by his well-meaning friends to remedy the +defects of the book and score, but yielded at last and consented to +the sacrifice of some of the music and a remodelling of the book for +the sake of condensation, this part of the task being intrusted to +Stephan von Breuning, who undertook to reduce the original three +acts to two. {1} When once Beethoven had been brought to give his +consent to the proposed changes, he accepted the result with the +greatest good humor; it should be noted, however, that when the +opera was put upon the stage again, on March 29, 1806, he was so +dilatory with his musical corrections that there was time for only +one rehearsal with orchestra. In the curtailed form "Fidelio" (as +the opera was called, though Beethoven had fought strenuously from +the beginning for the retention of the original title, "Leonore") +made a distinctly better impression than it had four months before, +and this grew deeper with the subsequent repetitions; but Beethoven +quarrelled with Baron von Braun, and the opera was withdrawn. An +attempt was made to secure a production in Berlin, but it failed, +and the fate of "Fidelio" seemed to be sealed. It was left to +slumber for more than seven years; then, in the spring of 1814, it +was taken up again. Naturally, another revision was the first thing +thought of, but this time the work was intrusted to a more practised +writer than Beethoven's childhood friend. Georg Friedrich Treitschke +was manager and librettist for Baron von Braun, and he became +Beethoven's collaborator. The revision of the book was completed by +March, 1814, and Beethoven wrote to Treitschke: "I have read your +revision of the opera with great satisfaction. It has decided me +to rebuild the desolate ruins of an ancient fortress." Treitschke +rewrote much of the libretto, and Beethoven made considerable +changes in the music, restoring some of the pages that had been +elided at the first overhauling. In its new form "Fidelio" was +produced at the Theater am Kärnthnerthor on May 23, 1814. It was a +successful reawakening. On July 18 the opera had a performance for +Beethoven's benefit; Moscheles made a pianoforte score under the +direction of the composer, who dedicated it to his august pupil, the +Archduke Rudolph, and it was published in August by Artaria. + +The history of "Fidelio," interesting as it is, need not be pursued +here further than to chronicle its first performances in the English +and American metropoles. London heard it first from Chelard's German +company at the King's Theatre on May 18, 1832. It was first given in +English at Covent Garden on June 12, 1835, with Malibran as Leonore, +and in Italian at Her Majesty's on May 20, 1851, when the dialogue +was sung in recitative written by Balfe. There has scarcely ever +been a German opera company in New York whose repertory did not +include "Fidelio," but the only performances for many years after it +came were in English. A company of singers brought from England by +Miss Inverarity to the Park Theatre produced it first on September +19, 1839. The parts were distributed as follows: Leonore, Mrs. +Martyn (Miss Inverarity); Marcellina, Miss Poole; Florestan, Mr. +Manvers; Pizarro, Mr. Giubilei; and Rocco, Mr. Martyn. The opera +was performed every night for a fortnight. Such a thing would be +impossible now, but lest some one be tempted to rail against the +decadent taste of to-day, let it quickly be recorded that somewhere +in the opera--I hope not in the dungeon scene--Mme. Giubilei danced +a pas de deux with Paul Taglioni. + +Beethoven composed four overtures for "Fidelio," but a description +of them will best follow comment on the drama and its music. Some +two years before the incident which marks the beginning of the +action, Don Pizarro, governor of a state prison in Spain, not far +from Seville, has secretly seized Florestan, a political opponent, +whose fearless honesty threatened to frustrate his wicked designs, +and immured him in a subterranean cell in the prison. His presence +there is known only to Pizarro and the jailer Rocco, who, however, +knows neither the name nor the rank of the man whom, under strict +command, he keeps in fetters and chained to a stone in the dimly +lighted dungeon, which he alone is permitted to visit. Florestan's +wife, Leonore, suspecting the truth, has disguised herself in man's +attire and, under the name of Fidelio, secured employment in the +prison. To win the confidence of Rocco, she has displayed so much +zeal and industry in his interests that the old man, whose one +weakness is a too great love of money, gives the supposed youth +a full measure of admiration and affection. Fidelio's beauty and +gentleness have worked havoc with the heart of Marcellina, the +jailer's pretty daughter, who is disposed to cast off Jaquino, the +turnkey, upon whose suit she had smiled till her love for Fidelio +came between. Rocco looks with auspicious eye upon the prospect of +having so industrious and thrifty a son-in-law as Fidelio promises +to be to comfort his old age. The action now begins in the courtyard +of the prison, where, before the jailer's lodge, Marcellina is +performing her household duties--ironing the linen, to be specific. +Jaquino, who has been watching for an opportunity to speak to her +alone (no doubt alarmed at the new posture which his love affair is +assuming), resolves to ask her to marry him. The duet, quite in the +Mozartian vein, breathes simplicity throughout; plain people, with +plain manners, these, who express simple thoughts in simple +language. Jaquino begins eagerly:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Jetzt, Schätzchen, jetzt sind wir allein, wir +könnon vertraulich nun plaudern."] + +But Marcellina affects to be annoyed and urges him to come to the +point at once. Quite delicious is the manner in which Beethoven +delineates Jaquino's timid hesitation:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Ich--ich habe"] + +Jaquino's wooing is interrupted by a knocking at the door +(realistically reproduced in the music) + +[Musical excerpt] + +and when he goes to open the wicket, Marcellina expresses no +sympathy for his sufferings, but ecstatically proclaims her love for +Fidelio as the reason why she must needs say nay. And this she does, +not amiably or sympathetically, but pettishly and with an impatient +reiteration of "No, no, no, no!" in which the bassoon drolly +supports her. A second knocking at the door, then a third, and +finally she is relieved of her tormentor by Rocco, who calls him +out into the garden. Left alone, Marcellina sings her longing for +Fidelio and pictures the domestic bliss which shall follow her union +with him. Rocco and Jaquino enter, and close after them Leonore, +wearied by the weight of some chains which she had carried to the +smith for repairs. She renders an account for purchases of supplies, +and her thrift rejoices the heart of Rocco, who praises her zeal in +his behalf and promises her a reward. Her reply, that she does not +do her duty merely for the sake of wage, he interprets as an allusion +to love for his daughter. The four now give expression to their +thoughts and emotions. Marcellina indulges her day-dream of love; +Leonore reflects upon the dangerous position in which her disguise +has placed her; Jaquino observes with trepidation the disposition of +Rocco to bring about a marriage between his daughter and Fidelio. +Varied and contrasting emotions, these, yet Beethoven has cast their +expression in the mould of a canon built on the following melody, +which is sung in turn by each of the four personages:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +From a strictly musical point of view the fundamental mood of the +four personages has thus the same expression, and this Beethoven +justifies by making the original utterance profoundly contemplative, +not only by the beautiful subject of the canon, but by the exalted +instrumental introduction--one of those uplifting, spiritualized +slow movements which are typical of the composer. This feeling he +enhances by his orchestration--violas and violoncellos divided, and +basses--in a way copying the solemn color with more simple means +which Mozart uses in his invocation of the Egyptian deities in "The +Magic Flute." Having thus established this fundamental mood, he +gives liberty of individual utterance in the counterpoint melodies +with which each personage embroiders the original theme when sung +by the others. Neither Rocco nor Marcellina seems to think it +necessary to consult Leonore in the matter, taking her acquiescence +for granted. Between themselves they arrange that the wedding shall +take place when next Pizarro makes his monthly visit to Seville to +give an account of his stewardship, and the jailer admonishes the +youthful pair to put money in their purses in a song of little +distinction, but containing some delineative music in the orchestra +suggesting the rolling and jingling of coins. Having been made +seemingly to agree to the way of the maid and her father, Leonore +seeks now to turn it to the advantage of her mission. She asks and +obtains the jailer's permission to visit with him the cells in which +political prisoners are kept--all but one, in which is confined one +who is either a great criminal or a man with powerful enemies ("much +the same thing," comments Rocco). Of him even the jailer knows +nothing, having resolutely declined to hear his story. However, his +sufferings cannot last much longer, for by Pizarro's orders his +rations are being reduced daily; he has been all but deprived of +light, and even the straw which had served as a couch has been taken +from him. And how long has he been imprisoned? Over two years. "Two +years! "Leonore almost loses control of her feelings. Now she urges +that she must help the jailer wait upon him. "I have strength and +courage." The old man is won over. He will ask the governor for +permission to take Fidelio with him to the secret cells, for he +is growing old, and death will soon claim him. The dramatic nerve +has been touched with the first allusion to the mysterious the +matter, taking her acquiescence for granted. Between themselves they +arrange that the wedding shall take place when next Pizarro makes +his monthly visit to Seville to give an account of his stewardship, +and the jailer admonishes the youthful pair to put money in their +purses in a song of little distinction, but containing some +delineative music in the orchestra suggesting the rolling and +jingling of coins. Having been made seemingly to agree to the way +of the maid and her father, Leonore seeks now to turn it to the +advantage of her mission. She asks and obtains the jailer's +permission to visit with him the cells in which political prisoners +are kept--all but one, in which is confined one who is either +a great criminal or a man with powerful enemies ("much the same +thing," comments Rocco). Of him even the jailer knows nothing, +having resolutely declined to hear his story. However, his +sufferings cannot last much longer, for by Pizarro's orders his +rations are being reduced daily; he has been all but deprived of +light, and even the straw which had served as a couch has been taken +from him. And how long has he been imprisoned? Over two years. "Two +years!" Leonore almost loses control of her feelings. Now she urges +that she must help the jailer wait upon him. "I have strength and +courage." The old man is won over. He will ask the governor for +permission to take Fidelio with him to the secret cells, for he is +growing old, and death will soon claim him. The dramatic nerve has +been touched with the first allusion to the mysterious prisoner who +is being slowly tortured to death, and it is thrilling to note how +Beethoven's genius (so often said to be purely epical) responds. In +the trio which follows, the dialogue which has been outlined first +intones a motif which speaks merely of complacency:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Gut, Söhnchen, gut hab' immer"] + +No sooner does it reach the lips of Leonore, however, than it +becomes the utterance of proud resolve:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Ich habe Muth!"] + +and out of it grows a hymn of heroic daring. Marcellina's utterances +are all concerned with herself, with an admixture of solicitude for +her father, whose lugubrious reflections on his own impending +dissolution are gloomily echoed in the music:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Ich bin ja bald des Grabes Beute"] + +A march accompanies the entrance of Pizarro. {2} Pizarro receives +his despatches from Rocco, and from one of the letters learns that +the Minister of Justice, having been informed that several victims +of arbitrary power are confined in the prisons of which he is +governor, is about to set out upon a tour of inspection. Such a +visit might disclose the wrong done to Florestan, who is the +Minister's friend and believed by him to be dead, and Pizarro +resolves to shield himself against the consequences of such a +discovery by compassing his death. He publishes his resolution in +a furious air, "Ha! welch' ein Augenblick!" in which he gloats over +the culmination of his revenge upon his ancient enemy. It is a +terrible outpouring of bloodthirsty rage, and I have yet to hear +the singer who can cope with its awful accents. Here, surely, +Beethoven asks more of the human voice than it is capable of giving. +Quick action is necessary. The officer of the guard is ordered to +post a trumpeter in the watch-tower, with instructions to give a +signal the moment a carriage with outriders is seen approaching +from Seville. Rocco is summoned, and Pizarro, praising his courage +and fidelity to duty, gives him a purse as earnest of riches which +are to follow obedience. The old man is ready enough until he +learns that what is expected of him is + +[Musical excerpt--"Morden!"] + +whereupon he revolts, nor is he moved by Pizarro's argument that the +deed is demanded by the welfare of the state. Foiled in his plan of +hiring an assassin, Pizarro announces that he will deal the blow +himself, and commands that a disused cistern be opened to receive +the corpse of his victim. The duet which is concerned with these +transactions is full of striking effects. The orchestra accompanies +Rocco's description of the victim as "one who scarcely lives, but +seems to float like a shadow" with chords which spread a cold, +cadaverous sheen over the words, while the declamation of "A +blow!--and he is dumb," makes illustrative pantomime unnecessary. +Leonore has overheard all, and rushes forward on the departure of +the men to express her horror at the wicked plot, and proclaim her +trust in the guidance and help of love as well as her courageous +resolve to follow its impulses and achieve the rescue of the doomed +man. The scene and air in which she does this ("Abscheulicher! wo +eilst du hin?") is now a favorite concert-piece of all dramatic +singers; but when it was written its difficulties seemed appalling +to Fräulein Milder (afterward the famous Frau Milder-Hauptmann), who +was the original Leonore. A few years before Haydn had said to her, +"My dear child, you have a voice as big as a house," and a few years +later she made some of her finest successes with the part; but in +the rehearsals she quarrelled violently with Beethoven because of +the unsingableness of passages in the Adagio, of which, no doubt, +this was one:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"sie wird's erreichen"] + +and when called upon, in 1814, to re-create the part which had been +written expressly for her, she refused until Beethoven had consented +to modify it. Everything is marvellous in the scena--the mild +glow of orchestral color delineating the bow of promise in the +recitative, the heart-searching, transfigurating, prayerful +loveliness of the slow melody, the obbligato horn parts, the sweep +of the final Allegro, all stand apart in operatic literature. + +At Leonore's request, and presuming upon the request which Pizarro +had made of him, Rocco permits the prisoners whose cells are above +ground to enjoy the light and air of the garden, defending his +action later, when taken to task by Pizarro, on the plea that he +was obeying established custom in allowing the prisoners a bit of +liberty on the name-day of the king. In an undertone he begs his +master to save his anger for the man who is doomed to die. Meanwhile +Leonore convinces herself that her husband is not among the +prisoners who are enjoying the brief respite, and is overjoyed to +learn that she is to accompany Rocco that very day to the mysterious +subterranean dungeon. With the return of the prisoners to their +cells, the first act ends. + +An instrumental introduction ushers in the second act. It is a +musical delineation of Florestan's surroundings, sufferings, and +mental anguish. The darkness is rent by shrieks of pain; harsh, +hollow, and threatening sound the throbs of the kettle-drums. The +parting of the curtain discloses the prisoner chained to his rocky +couch. He declaims against the gloom, the silence, the deathly void +surrounding him, but comforts himself with the thought that his +sufferings are but the undeserved punishment inflicted by an enemy +for righteous duty done. The melody of the slow part of his air, +which begins thus, + +[Musical excerpt--"In des Lebens Frühlingstaten ist das Glück von +mir gefloh'n."] + +will find mention again when the overtures come under discussion. +His sufferings have overheated his fancy, and, borne upon cool and +roseate breezes, he sees a vision of his wife, Leonore, come to +comfort and rescue him. His exaltation reaches a frenzy which +leaves him sunk in exhaustion on his couch. Rocco and Leonore come +to dig his grave. Melodramatic music accompanies their preparation, +and their conversation while at work forms a duet. Sustained +trombone tones spread a portentous atmosphere, and a contra-bassoon +adds weight and solemnity to the motif which describes the labor +of digging:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +They have stopped to rest and refresh themselves, when Florestan +becomes conscious and addresses Rocco. Leonore recognizes his +voice as that of her husband, and when he pleads for a drink of +water, she gives him, with Rocco's permission, the wine left in +her pitcher, then a bit of bread. A world of pathos informs his song +of gratitude. Pizarro comes to commit the murder, but first he +commands that the boy be sent away, and confesses his purpose to +make way with both Fidelio and Rocco when once the deed is done. He +cannot resist the temptation to disclose his identity to Florestan, +who, though released from the stone, is still fettered. The latter +confronts death calmly, but as Pizarro is about to plunge the dagger +into his breast, Leonore (who had concealed herself in the darkness) +throws herself as a protecting shield before him. Pizarro, taken +aback for a moment, now attempts to thrust Leonore aside, but is +again made to pause by her cry, "First kill his wife!" Consternation +and amazement seize all and speak out of their ejaculations. +Determined to kill both husband and wife, Pizarro rushes forward +again, only to see a pistol thrust into his face, hear a shriek, +"Another word, and you are dead!" and immediately after the trumpet +signal which, by his own command, announces the coming of the +Minister of Justice:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Pizarro is escorted out of the dungeon by Rocco and attendants with +torches, and the reunited lovers are left to themselves and their +frenetic rejoicings. Surrounded by his guard, the populace attracted +by his coming, and the prisoners into whose condition he had come to +inquire, Don Fernando metes out punishment to the wicked Pizarro, +welcomes his old friend back to liberty and honor, and bids Leonore +remove his fetters as the only person worthy of such a task. The +populace hymn wifely love and fidelity. + +Mention has been made of the fact that Beethoven wrote four +overtures for his opera. Three of these are known as Overtures +"Leonore No. 1," "Leonore No. 2," and "Leonore No. 3"--"Leonore" +being the title by which the opera was known at the unfortunate +first performance. The composer was never contented with the change +to "Fidelio" which was made, because of the identity of the story +with the "Leonore" operas, of Gaveaux and Paër. Much confusion has +existed in the books (and still exists, for that matter) touching +the order in which the four overtures were composed. The early +biographers were mistaken on that point, and the blunder was +perpetuated by the numbering when the scores were published. The +true "Leonore No. 1," is the overture known in the concert-room, +where it is occasionally heard, as "Leonore No. 2." This was the +original overture to the opera, and was performed at the three +representations in 1805. The overture called "Leonore No. 3" was the +result of the revision undertaken by Beethoven and his friends after +the failure. In May, 1807, the German opera at Prague was +established and "Fidelio" selected as one of the works to be given. +Evidently Beethoven was dissatisfied both with the original overture +and its revision, for he wrote a new one, in which he retained the +theme from Florestan's air, but none of the other themes used in +Nos. 2 and 3. The performances at Prague did not take place, and +nobody knows what became of the autograph score of the overture. +When Beethoven's effects were sold at auction after his death, +Tobias Haslinger bought a parcel of dances and other things in +manuscript. Among them were a score and parts of an overture in C, +not in Beethoven's handwriting, but containing corrections made by +him. It bore no date, and on a violin part Beethoven had written +first "Overtura, Violino Imo." Later he had added words in red +crayon to make it read, "Overtura in C, charakteristische Overture, +Violino Imo." On February 7, 1828, the composition was played at a +concert in Vienna, but notwithstanding the reminiscence of +Florestan's air, it does not seem to have been associated with the +opera, either by Haslinger or the critics. Before 1832, when +Haslinger published the overture as Op. 138, however, it had been +identified, and, not unnaturally, the conclusion was jumped at that +it was the original overture. That known as "Leonore No. 2" having +been withdrawn for revision by Beethoven himself, was not heard of +till 1840, when it was performed at a Gewandhaus concert in Leipsic. +For the revival of the opera in 1814 Beethoven composed the overture +in E major, now called the "Fidelio" overture, and generally played +as an introduction to the opera, the much greater "Leonore No. 3" +being played either between the acts, or, as by Mahler in New York +and Vienna, between the two scenes of the second act, where it may +be said it distinctly has the effect of an anticlimax. The thematic +material of the "Leonore" overtures Nos. 2 and 3 being practically +the same, careless listeners may easily confound one with the other. +Nevertheless, the differences between the two works are many and +great, and a deep insight into the workings of Beethoven's mind +would be vouchsafed students if they were brought into juxtaposition +in the concert-room. The reason commonly given for the revision of +No. 2 (the real No. 1) is that at the performance it was found that +some of the passages for wind instruments troubled the players; but +among the changes made by Beethoven, all of which tend to heighten +the intensity of the overture which presents the drama in nuce +may be mentioned the elision of a recurrence to material drawn +from his principal theme between the two trumpet-calls, and the +abridgment of the development or free fantasia portion. Finally, it +may be stated that though the "Fidelio" overture was written for the +revival of 1814, it was not heard at the first performance in that +year. It was not ready, and the overture to "The Ruins of Athens" +was played in its stead. + + +Footnotes: + +{1} As the opera is performed nowadays it is in three acts, but this +division is the work of stage managers or directors who treat each +of the three scenes as an act. At the Metropolitan Opera House, in +New York, Mr. Mahler introduced a division of the first scene into +two for what can be said to be merely picturesque effect, since the +division is not demanded by the dramatic situation. + +{2} In Mr. Mahler's arrangement this march becomes entr'acte music +to permit of a change of scene from the interior of the jailer's +lodge to the courtyard of the prison prescribed in the book. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"FAUST" + + +MM. Michel Carré and Jules Barbier, who made the book for Gounod's +opera "Faust," went for their subject to Goethe's dramatic poem. Out +of that great work, which had occupied the mind of the German poet +for an ordinary lifetime, the French librettists extracted the +romance which sufficed them--the story of Gretchen's love for the +rejuvenated philosopher, her seduction and death. This romance is +wholly the creation of Goethe; it has no place in any of the old +legends which are at the bottom of the history of Dr. Faust, or +Faustus. Those legends deal with the doings of a magician who has +sold his soul to the devil for the accomplishment of some end +on which his ambition is set. There are many such legends in +mediaeval literature, and their fundamental thought is older than +Christianity. In a sense, the idea is a product of ignorance +and superstition combined. In all ages men whose learning and +achievements were beyond the comprehension of simple folk were +thought to have derived their powers from the practice of +necromancy. The list is a long one, and includes some of the great +names of antiquity. The imagination of the Middle Ages made bondsmen +of the infernal powers out of such men as Zoroaster, Democritus, +Empedocles, Apollonius, Virgil, Albertus Magnus, Merlin, and +Paracelsus. In the sixth century Theophilus of Syracuse was said to +have sold himself to the devil and to have been saved from damnation +only by the miraculous intervention of the Virgin Mary, who visited +hell and bore away the damnable compact. So far as his bond was +concerned, Theophilus was said to have had eight successors among +the Popes of Rome. + +Architects of cathedrals and engineers of bridges were wont, if we +believe popular tales, to barter their souls in order to realize +their great conceptions. How do such notions get into the minds +of the people? I attempted not an answer but an explanation in a +preface to Gounod's opera published by Schirmer some years ago, +which is serving me a good turn now. For the incomprehensible the +Supernatural is the only accounting. These things are products of +man's myth-making capacity and desire. With the advancement of +knowledge this capacity and desire become atrophied, but spring into +life again in the presence of a popular stimulant. The superstitious +peasantry of Bavaria beheld a man in league with the devil in the +engineer who ran the first locomotive engine through that country, +More recently, I am told, the same people conceived the notion that +the Prussian needle-gun, which had wrought destruction among their +soldiery a the war of 1866, was an infernal machine for which +Bismarck had given the immortal part of himself. + +When printing was invented, it was looked upon in a double sense as +a black art, and it was long and widely believed that Johann Fust, +or Faust, of Mayence, the partner of Gutenberg, was the original +Dr. Johann Faustus (the prototype of Goethe's Faust), who practised +magic toward the end of the fifteenth and at the beginning of the +sixteenth century, made a compact with Mephistopheles, performed +many miraculous feats, and died horribly at the last. But Fust, or +Faust, was a rich and reputable merchant of Mayence who provided +capital to promote the art of Gutenberg and Schöffer, and Mr. H. +Sutherland Edwards, who gossips pleasantly and at great length about +the Faust legends in Volume I of his book, "The Lyrical Drama," +indulges a rather wild fancy when he considers it probable that he +was the father of the real mediaeval in carnation of the ancient +superstition. The real Faust had been a poor lad, but money +inherited from a rich uncle enabled him to attend lectures at the +University of Cracow, where he seems to have devoted himself with +particular assiduity to the study of magic, which had at that period +a respectable place in the curriculum. Having obtained his doctorial +hat, he travelled through Europe practising necromancy and acquiring +a thoroughly bad reputation. To the fact that this man actually +lived, and lived such a life as has been described, we have the +testimony of a physician, Philip Begardi; a theologian, Johann Gast, +and no less a witness than Philip Melanchthon, the reformer. Martin +Luther refers to Faust in his "Table Talk" as a man lost beyond all +hope of redemption; Melanchthon, who says that he talked with him, +adds: "This sorcerer Faust, an abominable beast, a common sewer of +many devils (turpissima bestia et cloaca multorum diabolorum), +boasted that he had enabled the imperial armies to win their +victories in Italy." + +The literary history of Faust is much too long to be even outlined +here; a few points must suffice us. In a book published in Frankfort +in 1587 by a German writer named Spiess, the legend received its +first printed form. An English ballad on the subject appeared within +a year. In 1590 there came a translation of the entire story, which +was the source from which Marlowe drew his "Tragical History of +the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus," brought forward on the stage +in 1593 and printed in 1604. New versions of the legend followed +each other rapidly, and Faust became a favorite character with +playwrights, romancers, and poets. Toward the end of the eighteenth +century, when Goethe conceived the idea of utilizing the subject for +publishing his comprehensive philosophy of human life, it seems to +have held possession of a large portion of literary Germany. All +together, it was in the mind of the great poet from his adolescence +till his death; but while he was working on his original plan, +literary versions of the legend were published by twenty-eight +German authors, including Lessing, whose manuscript, unhappily, was +lost. Goethe had known the legend from childhood, when he had seen +puppet-plays based on it--these plays being the vulgar progeny of +Marlowe's powerful tragedy, which is still an ornament of English +literature. Music was a part of these puppet-plays. In the first one +that fell into my hands I find the influence of opera manifest in +recitatives and airs put into the mouth of Mephistopheles, and comic +songs sung by Kasperle, the Punch of the German marionette +fraternity. + +The love tale which furnished forth the entire opera book of MM. +Carré and Barbier is, as I have said, wholly the invention of +Goethe. There is the shadowy form of a maiden in some of the +versions of the legend, but not a hint of the romantic sentiment +so powerfully and pathetically set forth by the poet. Nor did the +passion either for good or evil play a part in the agreement between +Faust and the devil. That agreement covered five points only: Faust +pledged himself to deny God, hate the human race, despise the +clergy, never set foot in a church, and never get married. So +far from being a love episode in the story, when Faustus, in the +old book by Spiess, once expressed a wish to abrogate the last +condition, Mephistopheles refused him permission on the ground +that marriage is something pleasing to God, and for that reason in +contravention of the contract. "Hast thou," quoth Mephistopheles, +"sworn thyself an enemy to God and to all creatures? To this I +answer thee, thou canst not marry; thou canst not serve two masters, +God and thy prince. For wedlock is a chief institution ordained of +God, and that thou hast promised to defy as we do all, and that thou +hast not only done, but, moreover, thou hast confirmed it with thy +blood. Persuade thyself that what thou hast done in contempt of +wedlock, it is all to thine own delight. Therefore, Faustus, look +well about thee and bethink thyself better, and I wish thee to +change thy mind, for if thou keep not what thou hast promised in thy +writing, we will tear thee in pieces, like the dust under thy feet. +Therefore, sweet Faustus, think with what unquiet life, anger, +strife, and debate thou shalt live in when thou takest a wife. +Therefore, change thy mind." Faustus abandons his purpose for +the time being, but within two hours summons his spirit again +and demands his consent to marriage; whereupon up there comes a +whirlwind, which fills the house with fire and smoke and hurls +Faustus about until he is unable to stir hand or foot. Also there +appears an ugly devil, so dreadful and monstrous to behold that +Faustus dares not look upon him. This devil is in a mood for +jesting. "How likest thou thy wedding?" he asks of Faustus, who +promises not to mention marriage more, and is well content when +Mephistopheles engages to bring him any woman, dead or alive, whom +he may desire to possess. It is in obedience to this promise that +Helen of Troy is brought back from the world of shades to be +Faustus's paramour. By her he has a son, whom he calls Justus +Faustus, but in the end, when Faustus loses his life, mother and +child vanish. Goethe uses the scene of the amour between Faust and +the ancient beauty in the second part of his poem as does Boito in +his "Mefistofele," charging it with the beautiful symbolism which +was in the German poet's mind. In the Polish tale of Pan Twardowsky, +built on the lines of the old legend, there is a more amusing fling +at marriage. In return for the help which he is to receive, the +Polish wizard has the privilege of demanding three duties of the +devil. After enjoying to the full the benefits conferred by two, he +commands the devil to marry Mme. Twardowska. This is more than the +devil had bargained for, or is willing to perform. He refuses; the +contract is broken, and Twardowsky is saved. The story may have +inspired Thackeray's amusing tale in "The Paris Sketch-book," +entitled "The Painter's Bargain." + +For the facts in the story of the composition and production of +Gounod's opera, we have the authority of the composer in his +autobiography. In 1856 he made the acquaintance of Jules Barbier and +Michel Carré, and asked them to collaborate with him in an opera. +They assenting, he proposed Goethe's "Faust" as a subject, and it +met with their approval. Together they went to see M. Carvalho, who +was then director of the Théâtre Lyrique. He, too, liked the idea +of the opera, and the librettists went to work. The composer had +written nearly half of the score, when M. Carvaiho brought the +disconcerting intelligence that a grand melodrama treating the +subject was in preparation at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin. +Carvalho said that it would be impossible to get the opera ready +before the appearance of the melodrama, and unwise to enter into +competition with a theatre the luxury of whose stage mounting +would have attracted all Paris before the opera could be produced. +Carvalho therefore advised a change of subject, which was such a +blow to Gounod that he was incapable of applying himself to work +for a week. Finally, Carvalho came to the rescue with a request for +a lyric comedy based on one of Molière's plays. Gounod chose "Le +Médecin malgré lui," and the opera had its production at the Théâtre +Lyrique on the anniversary of Molière's birth, January 15, 1858. The +melodrama at the Porte Saint-Martin turned out to be a failure in +spite of its beautiful pictures, and Carvalho recurred to the opera, +which had been laid aside, and Gounod had it ready by July. He read +it to the director in the greenroom of the theatre in that month, +and Mme. Carvalho, wife of the director, who was present, was so +deeply impressed with the rôle of Marguerite that M. Carvalho asked +the composer's permission to assign it to her. "This was agreed +upon," says Gounod, "and the future proved the choice to be a +veritable inspiration." + +Rehearsals began in September, 1858, and soon developed +difficulties. Gounod had set his heart upon a handsome young tenor +named Guardi for the titular rôle, but he was found to be unequal +to its demands. This caused such embarrassment that, it is said, +Gounod, who had a pretty voice and was rather fond of showing it, +seriously pondered the feasibility of singing it himself. He does +not tell us this in his autobiography, but neither does he tell us +that he had chosen Mme. Ugalde for the part of Marguerite, and +that he yielded to M. Carvalho in giving it to the director's wife +because Mme. Ugalde had quarrelled with him (as prima donnas will), +about Massé's opera, "La Fée Carabosse," which preceded "Faust" at +the Lyrique. The difficulty about the tenor rôle was overcome by +the enlistment of M. Barbot, an artist who had been a companion of +Carvalho's when he sang small parts at the Opéra Comique. He was now +far past his prime, and a pensioned teacher at the Conservatoire, +but Gounod bears witness that he "showed himself a great musician +in the part of Faust." Of Belanqué, who created the part of +Méphistophélès, Gounod says that "he was an intelligent comedian +whose play, physique, and voice lent themselves wonderfully to this +fantastic and Satanic personage." As for Mme. Carvalho, it was the +opinion of the composer that, though her masterly qualities of +execution and style had already placed her in the front rank of +contemporary singers, no rôle, till Marguerite fell to her lot, had +afforded her opportunity to show in such measure "the superior +phases of her talent, so sure, so refined, so steady, so +tranquil--its lyric and pathetic qualities." + +It was a distinguished audience that listened to the first +performance of "Faust" on March 19, 1859. Auber, Berlioz, Reyer, +Jules Janin, Perrin, Émile Ollivier, and many other men who had made +their mark in literature, art, or politics sat in the boxes, and +full as many more of equal distinction in the stalls. Among these +latter were Delacroix, Vernet, Eugène Giraud, Pasdeloup, Scudo, +Heugel, and Jules Lévy. The criticism of the journals which followed +was, as usual, a blending of censure and praise. Berlioz was +favorably inclined toward the work, and, with real discrimination, +put his finger on the monologue at the close of the third act ("Il +m'aime! Quel trouble en mon coeur") as the best thing in the score. +Scudo gave expression to what was long the burden of the critical +song in Germany; namely, the failure of the authors to grasp +the large conception of Goethe's poem; but, with true Gallic +inconsistency, he set down the soldiers' chorus as a masterpiece. +The garden scene, with its sublimated mood, its ecstasy of feeling, +does not seem to have moved him; he thought the third act monotonous +and too long. There was no demand for the score on the part of the +French publishers, but at length Choudens was persuaded to adventure +10,000 francs, one-half of an inheritance, in it. He was at that +time an éditeur on a small scale, as well as a postal official, +and the venture put him on the road to fortune. For the English +rights Gounod is said to have received only forty pounds sterling, +and this only after the energetic championship of Chorley, who made +the English translation. The opera was given thirty-seven times at +the Théâtre Lyrique. Ten years after its first performance it was +revised to fit the schemes of the Grand Opéra, and brought forward +under the new auspices on March 3, 1869. Mlle. Christine Nilsson was +the new Marguerite. No opera has since equalled the popularity of +"Faust" in Paris. Twenty-eight years after its first performance, +Gounod was privileged to join his friends in a celebration of its +500th representation. That was in 1887. Eight years after, the 1000 +mark was reached, and the 1250th Parisian representation took place +in 1902. + +Two years before "Faust" reached London, it was given in Germany, +where it still enjoys great popularity, though it is called +"Margarethe," in deference to the manes of Goethe. Within a few +weeks in 1863 the opera had possession of two rival establishments +in London. At Her Majesty's Theatre it was given for the first time +on June 11, and at the Royal Italian Opera on July 2. On January 23, +1864, it was brought forward in Mr. Chorley's English version at +Her Majesty's. The first American representation took place at the +Academy of Music, New York, on November 25, 1863, the parts being +distributed as follows: Margherita, Miss Clara Louise Kellogg; +Siebel, Miss Henrietta Sulzer; Martha, Miss Fanny Stockton; Faust, +Francesco Mazzoleni; Mephistopheles, Hanibal Biachi; Valentine, G. +Yppolito; Wagner, D. Coletti. It was sung in Italian, won immediate +popularity, and made money for Max Maretzek, who was at once the +manager and the conductor of the company. Forty years before an +English version of Goethe's tragedy (the first part, of course) had +been produced at the Bowery Theatre, with the younger Wallack as +Faust and Charles Hill as Mephistopheles. + +The opera begins, like Goethe's dramatic poem, after the prologue, +with the scene in Faust's study. The aged philosopher has grown +weary of fruitless inquiry into the mystery of nature and its +Creator, and longs for death. He has just passed a night in study, +and as the morning breaks he salutes it as his last on earth and +pledges it in a cup of poison. As he is about to put the cup to his +lips, the song of a company of maidens floats in at the window. It +tells of the joy of living and loving and the beauty of nature and +its inspirations. Faust's hand trembles, strangely, unaccountably; +again he lifts the cup, but only to pause again to listen to a song +sung by a company of reapers repairing to the fields, chanting their +gratitude to God for the loveliness surrounding them, and invoking +His blessing. The sounds madden the despairing philosopher. What +would prayer avail him? Would it bring back youth and love and +faith? No. Accursed, therefore, be all things good--earth's +pleasures, riches, allurements of every sort; the dreams of love; +the wild joy of combat; happiness itself; science, religion, +prayers, belief; above all, a curse upon the patience with which he +had so long endured! He summons Satan to his aid. Méphistophélès +answers the call, in the garb of a cavalier. His tone and bearing +irritate Faust, who bids him begone. The fiend would know his will, +his desires. Gold, glory, power?--all shall be his for the asking. +But these things are not the heart's desire of Faust. He craves +youthfulness, with its desires and delights, its passions and +puissance. Méphistophélès promises all, and, when he hesitates, +inflames his ardor with a vision of the lovely Marguerite seated at +her spinning-wheel. Eagerly Faust signs the compact--the devil will +serve Faust here, but below the relations shall be reversed. Faust +drinks a pledge to the vision, which fades away. In a twinkling the +life-weary sage is transformed into a young man, full of eager and +impatient strength. + +Méphistophélès loses no time in launching Faust upon his career of +adventures. First, he leads him to a fair in a mediaeval town. +Students are there who sing the pleasures of drinking; soldiers, +too, bent on conquest--of maidens or fortresses, all's one to them; +old burghers, who find delight in creature comforts; maids and +matrons, flirtatious and envious. All join in the merriest of +musical hubbubs. Valentin, a soldier who is about to go to the +wars, commends his sister Marguerite to the care of Siebel, +a gentle youth who loves her. Wagner, a student, begins a song, +but is interrupted by Méphistophélès, who has entered the circle of +merry-makers with Faust, and who now volunteers to sing a better +song than the one just begun. He sings of the Calf of Gold ("Le veau +d'or est toujours debout"), and the crowd delightedly shouts the +refrain. The singer accepts a cup of wine, but, finding it not at +all to his taste, he causes vintages to the taste of every one to +flow from the cask which serves as a tavern sign. He offers the +company a toast, "To Marguerite!" and when Valentin attempts to +resent the insult to his sister with his sword, it breaks in his +hand as he tries to penetrate a magic circle which Méphistophélès +draws around himself. The men now suspect the true character of +their singular visitor, and turn the cruciform hilts of their swords +against him, to his intense discomfort. With the return of the +women the merrymaking is resumed. All join in a dance, tripping it +gayly to one waltz sung by the spectators and another which rises +simultaneously from the instruments. Marguerite crosses the +market-place on her way home from church. Faust offers her his arm, +but she declines his escort--not quite so rudely as Goethe's +Gretchen does in the corresponding situation. Faust becomes more +than ever enamoured of the maiden, whom he had seen in the vision +conjured up in the philosopher's study. + +Méphistophélès is a bit amused at Faust's first attempt at wooing, +and undertakes to point the way for him. He leads him into the +garden surrounding the cottage in which Marguerite dwells. Siebel +had just been there and had plucked a nosegay for the maiden of his +heart, first dipping his fingers in holy water, to protect them +from the curse which Méphistophélès had pronounced against them +while parading as a fortune-teller at the fair. Faust is lost in +admiration at sight of the humble abode of loveliness and innocence, +and lauds it in a romance ("Salut! demeure chaste et pure"), but is +taken aside by Méphistophélès, who gives warning of the approach +of Marguerite, and places a casket of jewels beside the modest +bouquet left by Siebel. Marguerite, seated at her spinning-wheel, +alternately sings a stanza of a ballad ("Il était un Roi de Thule") +and speaks her amazed curiosity concerning the handsome stranger +who had addressed her in the marketplace. She finds the jewels, +ornaments herself with them, carolling her delight the while, and +admiring the regal appearance which the gems lend her. + +Here I should like to be pardoned a brief digression. Years ago, +while the German critics were resenting the spoliation of the +masterpiece of their greatest poet by the French librettists, they +fell upon this so-called Jewel Song ("Air des bijoux," the French +call it), and condemned its brilliant and ingratiating waltz +measures as being out of keeping with the character of Gretchen. In +this they forgot that Marguerite and Gretchen are very different +characters indeed. There is much of the tender grace of the +unfortunate German maiden in the creation of the French authors, but +none of her simple, almost rude, rusticity. As created by, let me +say, Mme. Carvalho and perpetuated by Christine Nilsson and the +painter Ary Scheffer, Marguerite is a good deal of a grande dame, +and against the German critics it might appositely be pleaded that +there are more traces of childish ingenuousness in her rejoicing +over the casket of jewels than in any of her other utterances. The +episode is poetically justified, of course, by the eighth scene of +Goethe's drama, and there was not wanting one German writer who +boldly came to the defence of Marguerite on the ground that she +moved on a higher moral plane than Gretchen. The French librettists, +while they emptied the character of much of its poetical contents, +nevertheless made it in a sense more gentle, and Gounod refined it +still more by breathing an ecstasy into all of its music. Goethe's +Gretchen, though she rejects Faust's first advances curtly enough to +be called impolite, nevertheless ardently returns Faust's kiss on +her first meeting with him in the garden, and already at the second +(presumably) offers to leave her window open, and accepts the +sleeping potion for her mother. It is a sudden, uncontrollable rush +of passion to which Marguerite succumbs. Gretchen remains in simple +amaze that such a fine gentleman as Faust should find anything to +admire in her, even after she has received and returned his first +kiss; but Marguerite is exalted, transfigured by the new feelings +surging within her. + + Il m'aime! quel trouble en mon coeur! + L'oiseau chante! Le vent murmure! + Toutes les voix de la nature + Semblent me répéter en choeur: + Il t'aime! + +I resume the story. Martha, the neighborhood gossip, comes to +encourage Marguerite in a belief which she scarcely dares cherish, +that the jewels had been left for her by some noble admirer, and +her innocent pleasure is interrupted by the entrance of Faust and +Méphistophélès. The latter draws Martha away, and Faust wooes the +maiden with successful ardor. They have indulged in their first +embrace, and said their farewells till to-morrow: Faust is about +to depart, when Méphistophélès detains him and points to Marguerite, +who is burdening the perfumed air with her new ecstasy. He rushes to +her, and, with a cry of delight, she falls into his arms. + +Goethe's scene at the fountain becomes, in the hands of the French +librettists, a scene in the chamber of Marguerite. The deceived +maiden is cast down by the jeers and mockings of her erstwhile +companions, and comforted by Siebel. It is now generally omitted. +Marguerite has become the talk of the town, and evil reports reach +the ear of her brother Valentin on his return from the wars with the +victorious soldiery. Valentin confronts Faust and Méphistophélès +while the latter is singing a ribald serenade at Marguerite's door. +The men fight, and, through the machinations of Méphistophélès, +Valentin is mortally wounded. He dies denouncing the conduct of +Marguerite, and cursing her for having brought death upon him. +Marguerite seeks consolation in religious worship; but the fiend is +at her elbow even in the holy fane, and his taunts and the accusing +chant of a choir of demons interrupt her prayers. The devil reveals +himself in his proper (or improper) person at the end, and +Marguerite falls in a swoon. + +The Walpurgis night scene of Goethe furnished the suggestion for +the ballet which fills the first three scenes of the fifth act, and +which was added to the opera when it was remodelled for the Grand +Opéra in 1869. The scene holds its place in Paris, but is seldom +performed elsewhere. A wild scene in the Harz Mountains gives way +to an enchanted hail in which are seen the most famous courtesans +of ancient history--Phryne, Laïs, Aspasia, Cleopatra, and Helen of +Troy. The apparition of Marguerite appears to Faust, a red line +encircling her neck, like the mark of a headsman's axe. We reach +the end. The distraught maiden has slain her child, and now lies in +prison upon her pallet of straw, awaiting death. Faust enters and +tries to persuade her to fly with him. Her poor mind is all awry and +occupies itself only with the scenes of her first meeting and the +love-making in the garden. She turns with horror from her lover when +she sees his companion, and in an agony of supplication, which rises +higher and higher with each reiteration, she implores Heaven for +pardon. She sinks lifeless to the floor. Méphistophélès pronounces +her damned, but a voice from on high proclaims her saved. Celestial +voices chant the Easter hymn, "Christ is risen!" while a band of +angels bear her soul heavenward. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"MEFISTOFELE" + + +There is no reason to question Gounod's statement that it was he +who conceived the idea of writing a Faust opera in collaboration +with MM. Barbier and Carré. There was nothing novel in the notion. +Music was an integral part of the old puppet-plays which dealt with +the legend of Dr. Faustus, and Goethe's tragedy calls for musical +aid imperatively. A musical pantomime, "Harlequin Faustus," was +performed in London as early as 1715, and there were Faust operas +long before even the first part of Goethe's poem was printed, which +was a hundred and one years ago. A composer named Phanty brought out +an opera entitled "Dr. Faust's Zaubergürtel" in 1790; C. Hanke used +the same material and title at Flushing in 1794, and Ignaz Walter +produced a "Faust" in Hanover in 1797. Goethe's First Part had been +five years in print when Spohr composed his "Faust," but it is based +not on the great German poet's version of the legend, but on the old +sources. This opera has still life, though it is fitful and feeble, +in Germany, and was produced in London by a German company in 1840 +and by an Italian in 1852, when the composer conducted it; but I +have never heard of a representation in America. Between Spohr's +"Faust," written in 1813 and performed in 1818, and Boito's +"Mefistofele," produced in 1868, many French, German, English, +Italian, Russian, and Polish Faust operas have come into existence, +lived their little lives, and died. Rietz produced a German "Faust," +founded on Goethe, at Düsseldorf, in 1836; Lindpainter in Berlin, in +1854; Henry Rowley Bishop's English "Faustus" was heard in London, +in 1827; French versions were Mlle. Angélique Bertin's "Faust" +(Paris, 1831), and M. de Pellaert's (Brussels, 1834); Italian +versions were "Fausta," by Donizetti (Mme. Pasta and Signor Donzelli +sang in it in Naples in 1832), "Fausto," by Gordigiano (Florence, +1837), and "Il Fausto arrivo," by Raimondi (Naples, 1837); the +Polish Faust, Twardowsky, is the hero of a Russian opera by +Verstowsky (Moscow, 1831), and of a Polish opera by J. von Zaitz +(Agram, 1880). How often the subject has served for operettas, +cantatas, overtures, symphonies, etc., need not be discussed here. +Berlioz's "Dramatic Legend," entitled "La Damnation de Faust," +tricked out with stage pictures by Raoul Gunsbourg, was performed as +an opera at Monte Carlo in 1903, and in New York at the Metropolitan +and Manhattan opera-houses in the seasons 1906-1907 and 1907-1908, +respectively; but the experiment was unsuccessful, both artistically +and financially. + +I have said that there is no reason to question Gounod's statement +that it was he who conceived the idea of writing the opera whose +popularity is without parallel in the musical history of the Faust +legend; but, if I could do so without reflecting upon his character, +I should like to believe a story which says that it was Barbier who +proposed the subject to Gounod after Meyerbeer, to whom he first +suggested it, had declined the collaboration. I should like to +believe this, because it is highly honorable to Meyerbeer's artistic +character, which has been much maligned by critics and historians +of music since Wagner set an example in that direction. "'Faust,'" +Meyerbeer is reported to have replied to Barbier's invitation, "is +the ark of the covenant, a sanctuary not to be approached with +profane music." For the composer who did not hesitate to make an +opera out of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, this answer is more +than creditable. The Germans, who have either felt or affected great +indignation at the want of reverence for their great poet shown by +the authors of "Faust" and "Mignon," ought to admire Meyerbeer in +a special degree for the moral loftiness of his determination and +the dignified beauty of its expression. Composers like Kreutzer, +Reissiger, Pierson, Lassen, and Prince Radziwill have written +incidental music for Goethe's tragedy without reflecting that +possibly they were profaning the sanctuary; but Meyerbeer, compared +with whom they were pygmies, withheld his hand, and thereby brought +himself into sympathetic association with the only musician that +ever lived who was completely equipped for so magnificent a task. +That musician was Beethoven, to whom Rochlitz bore a commission for +music to "Faust" from Breitkopf and Härtel in 1822. The Titan read +the proposition and cried out: "Ha! that would be a piece of work! +Something might come of that!" but declined the task because he had +the choral symphony and other large plans on his mind. + +Boito is not a Beethoven nor yet a Meyerbeer; but, though he did +what neither of them would venture upon when he wrote a Faust opera, +he did it with complete and lovely reverence for the creation of the +German poet. It is likely that had he had less reverence for his +model and more of the stagecraft of his French predecessors his +opera would have had a quicker and greater success than fell to +its lot. Of necessity it has suffered by comparison with the opera +of Barbier, Carré, and Gounod, though it was far from Boito's +intentions that it should ever be subjected to such a comparison. +Boito is rather more poet and dramatist than he is musician. He +made the book not only of "Mefistofele," but also of "Otello" +and "Falstaff," which Verdi composed, "La Gioconda," for which +Ponchielli wrote the music, and "Ero e Leandro," which he turned +over to Bottesini, who set it with no success, and to Mancinelli, +who set it with little. One of the musical pieces which the poet +composed for this last opera found its way into "Mefistofele," for +which work "Ero e Leandro" seems to have been abandoned. He also +translated Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" into Italian. Being a +poet in the first instance, and having the blood of the Northern +barbarians as well as the Southern Romans in his veins, he was +unwilling to treat Goethe's tragedy as the Frenchman had treated it. +The tearful tale of the love of the rejuvenated philosopher, and the +village maiden, with its woful outcome, did not suffice him. Though +he called his opera "Mefistofele," not "Faust," he drew its scenes, +of which only two have to do with Marguerite (or Gretchen), from +both parts of Goethe's allegorical and philosophical phantasmagoria. +Because he did this, he failed from one point of view. Attempting +too much, he accomplished too little. His opera is not a well-knit +and consistently developed drama, but a series of episodes, which do +not hold together and have significance only for those who know +Goethe's dramatic poem in its entirety. It is very likely that, as +originally produced, "Mefistofele" was not such a thing of shreds +and patches as it now is. No doubt, it held together better in 1868, +when it was ridiculed, whistled, howled, and hissed off the stage +of the Teatro la Scala, than it did when it won the admiration of +the Italians in Bologna twelve years later. In the interval it had +been subjected to a revision, and, the first version never having +been printed, the critical fraternity became exceedingly voluble +after the success in Bologna, one of the debated questions being +whether Boito had bettered his work by his voluminous excisions, +interpolations, and changes (Faust, now a tenor, was originally a +barytone), or had weakly surrendered his better judgment to the +taste of the hoi polloi, for the sake of a popular success. It was +pretty fighting ground; it is yet, and will remain such so long as +the means of comparison remain hidden and sentimental hero-worship +is fed by the notion that Boito has refused to permit the opera +or operas which he has written since to be either published or +performed because the world once refused to recognize his genius. +This notion, equally convenient to an indolent man or a colossal +egoist--I do not believe that Boito is either--has been nurtured by +many pretty stories; but, unhappily, we have had nothing to help us +to form an opinion of Boito as a creative artist since "Mefistofele" +appeared, except the opera books written for Verdi and Ponchielli +and the libretto of "Ero e Leandro." + +Boito's father was an Italian, his mother a Pole. From either one +or both he might have inherited the intensity of expression which +marks his works, both poetical and musical; but the tendency to +philosophical contemplation which characterizes "Mefistofele," even +in the stunted form in which it is now presented, is surely the +fruit of his maternal heritage and his studies in Germany. After +completing the routine of the conservatory in Milan, he spent a +great deal of time in Paris and the larger German cities, engrossed +quite as much in the study of literature as of music. Had he +followed his inclinations and the advice of Victor Hugo, who gave +him a letter of introduction to Émile de Girardin, he would have +become a journalist in Paris instead of the composer of "Mefistofele" +and the poet of "Otello," "Falstaff," "La Gioconda," and "Ero e +Leandro." But Girardin was too much occupied with his own affairs +to attend to him when Boito presented himself, and after waiting +wearily, vainly, and long, he went to Poland, where, for want of +something else to do, he sketched the opera "Mefistofele," which +made its memorable fiasco at Milan in March, 1868. + +To show that it is impossible to think of "Mefistofele" except as a +series of disconnected episodes, it suffices to point out that its +prologue, epilogue, and four acts embrace a fantastic parody or +perversion of Goethe's Prologue in Heaven, a fragment of his Easter +scene, a smaller fragment of the scene in Faust's study, a bit +of the garden scene, the scene of the witches' gathering on the +Brocken, the prison scene, the classical Sabbath in which Faust +is discovered in an amour with Helen of Troy, and the death and +salvation of Faust as an old man. Can any one who knows that music, +even of the modern dramatic type, in which strictly musical forms +have given way to as persistent an onward flow as the text itself, +must of necessity act as a clog on dramatic action, imagine that +such a number and variety of scenes could be combined into a +logical, consistent whole, compassed by four hours in performance? +Certainly not. But Boito is not content to emulate Goethe in his +effort to carry his listeners "from heaven through the earth to +hell"; he must needs ask them to follow him in his exposition of +Goethe's philosophy and symbolism. Of course, that is impossible +during a stage representation, and therefore he exposes the workings +of his mind in an essay and notes to his score. From these we may +learn, among other things, that the poet-composer conceives Faust +as the type of man athirst for knowledge, of whom Solomon was +the Biblical prototype, Prometheus the mythological, Manfred and +Don Quixote the predecessors in modern literature. Also that +Mephistopheles is as inexhaustible as a type of evil as Faust is as +a type of virtue, and therefore that this picturesque stage devil, +with all his conventionality, is akin to the serpent which tempted +Eve, the Thersites of Homer, and--mirabile dictu!--the Falstaff of +Shakespeare! + +The device with which Boito tried to link the scenes of his opera +together is musical as well as philosophical. In the book which +Barbier and Carré wrote for Gounod, Faust sells his soul to the +devil for a period of sensual pleasure of indefinite duration, and, +so far as the hero is concerned, the story is left unfinished. All +that has been accomplished is the physical ruin of Marguerite. +Méphistophélès exults for a moment in contemplation of the +destruction, also, of the immortal part of her, but the angelic +choir proclaims her salvation. Faust departs hurriedly with +Méphistophélès, but whether to his death or in search of new +adventures, we do not know. The Germans are, therefore, not so +wrong, after all, in calling the opera after the name of the heroine +instead of that of the hero. In Boito's book the love story is but +an incident. Faust's compact with Mefistofele, as in Goethe's +dramatic poem, is the outcome of a wager between Mefistofele and +God, under the terms of which the Spirit of Evil is to be permitted +to seduce Faust from righteousness, if he can. Faust's demand of +Mefistofele is rest from his unquiet, inquisitive mind; a solution +of the dark problem of his own existence and that of the world; +finally, one moment of which he can say, "Stay, for thou art lovely! +"The amour with Margherita does not accomplish this, and so Boito +follows Goethe into the conclusion of the second part of his drama, +and shows Faust, at the end, an old man about to die. He recalls the +loves of Margherita and Helen, but they were insufficient to give +him the desired moment of happiness. He sees a vision of a people +governed by him and made happy by wise laws of his creation. He +goes into an ecstasy. Mefistofele summons sirens to tempt him; and +spreads his cloak for another flight. But the chant of celestial +beings falls into Faust's ear, and he speaks the words which +terminate the compact. He dies. Mefistofele attempts to seize upon +him, but is driven back by a shower of roses dropped by cherubim. +The celestial choir chants redeeming love. + +Thus much for the dramatic exposition. Boito's musical exposition +rests on the employment of typical phrases, not in the manner +of Wagner, indeed, but with the fundamental purpose of Wagner. +A theme:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +which begins the prologue, ends the epilogue. The reader may label +it as he pleases. Its significance is obvious from the circumstances +of its employment. It rings out fortissimo when the mystic chorus, +which stands for the Divine Voice, puts the question, "Knowest thou +Faust?" An angelic ascription of praise to the Creator of the +Universe and to Divine Love is the first vocal utterance and the +last. In his notes Boito observes: "Goethe was a great admirer of +form, and his poem ends as it begins,--the first and last words of +'Faust' are uttered in Heaven." Then he quotes a remark from Blaze +de Bury's essay on Goethe, which is apropos, though not strictly +accurate: "The glorious motive which the immortal phalanxes sing in +the introduction to the first part of 'Faust' recurs at the close, +garbed with harmonies and mystical clouds. In this Goethe has acted +like the musicians,--like Mozart, who recurs in the finale of 'Don +Giovanni' to the imposing phrase of the overture." + +M. de Bury refers, of course, to the supernatural music, which +serves as an introduction to the overture to "Don Giovanni," and +accompanies the visitation of the ghostly statue and the death of +the libertine. But this is not the end of Mozart's opera as he +wrote it, as readers of this book have been told. + +This prologue of "Mefistofele" plays in heaven. "In the heavens," +says Theodore Marzials, the English translator of Boito's opera, out +of deference to the religious sensibilities of the English people, +to spare which he also changes "God" into "sprites," "spirits," +"powers of good," and "angels." The effect is vastly diverting, +especially when Boito's paraphrase of Goethe's + + Von Zeit zu Zeit seh' ich den Alten gern + Und hüte mich mit ihm zu brechen. + Es ist gar hübsch von einem grossen Herrn, + So menschlich mit dem Teufel selbst zu sprechen. {1} + +is turned into: "Now and again 'tis really pleasant thus to chat +with the angels, and I'll take good care not to quarrel with them. +'Tis beautiful to hear Good and Evil speak together with such +humanity." The picture disclosed by the opening of the curtain is a +mass of clouds, with Mefistofele, like a dark blot, standing on a +corner of his cloak in the shadow. The denizens of the celestial +regions are heard but never seen. A trumpet sounds the fundamental +theme, which is repeated in full harmony after instruments of +gentler voice have sung a hymn-like phrase, as follows:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +It is the first period of the "Salve Regina" sung by Earthly +Penitents in the finale of the prologue. The canticle is chanted +through, its periods separated by reiterations of the fundamental +theme. A double chorus acclaims the Lord of Angels and Saints. A +plan, evidently derived from the symphonic form, underlies the +prologue as a whole. Prelude and chorus are rounded out by the +significant trumpet phrase. One movement is completed. There follows +a second movement, an Instrumental Scherzo, with a first section +beginning thus:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +and a trio. Over this music Mefistofele carries on converse with +God. He begs to disagree with the sentiments of the angelic hymn. +Wandering about the earth, he had observed man and found him in all +things contemptible, especially in his vanity begotten by what he +called "reason"; he, the miserable little cricket, vaingloriously +jumping out of the grass in an effort to poke his nose among the +stars, then falling back to chirp, had almost taken away from the +devil all desire to tempt him to evil doings. "Knowest thou Faust?" +asks the Divine Voice; and Mefistofele tells of the philosopher's +insatiable thirst for wisdom. Then he offers the wager. The scene, +though brief, follows Goethe as closely as Goethe follows the author +of the Book of Job:-- + +Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present +themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. + +And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan +answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth +and from walking up and down in it. + +And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant +Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and +an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? + +Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for +nought? . . . + +And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in +thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So +Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. + +Boito treats the interview in what he calls a Dramatic Interlude, +which gives way to the third movement, a Vocal Scherzo, starting off +with a chorus of Cherubim, who sing in fugacious thirds and droning +dactyls:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"siam nimbi volanti dai limbi, nei santi"] + +It is well to note particularly Boito's metrical device. He +seemingly counted much on the effect of incessantly reiterated +dactyls. Not only do his Cherubim adhere to the form without +deviation, but Helen and Pantalis use it also in the scene imitated +from Goethe's Classical Walpurgis Night,--use it for an especial +purpose, as we shall see presently. Rapid syllabication is also +a characteristic of the song of the witches in the scene on the +Brocken; but the witches sing in octaves and fifths except when +they kneel to do homage to Mefistofele; then their chant sounds like +the responses to John of Leyden's prayer by the mutinous soldiers +brought to their knees in "Le Prophète." Not at all ineptly, +Mefistofele, who does not admire the Cherubs, likens their monotonous +cantillation to the hum of bees. A fourth movement consists of a +concluding psalmody, in which the Cherubs twitter, Earthly Penitents +supplicate the Virgin, and the combined choirs, celestial and +terrestrial, hymn the Creator. + +The tragedy now begins. Boito changes the order of the scenes which +he borrows from Goethe, presenting first the merrymaking of the +populace outside the walls of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and then the +interview between Faust and Mefistofele, in which, as in the opening +scene of Gounod's opera, the infernal compact is agreed upon. There +is some mediaeval pageantry in the first scene,--a cavalcade headed +by the Elector, and including dignitaries, pages, falconers, the +court fool, and ladies of the court. Students, townspeople, +huntsmen, lads, and lasses pursue their pleasures, and up and down, +through the motley groups, there wanders a gray friar, whose strange +conduct repels some of the people, and whose pious garb attracts +others. Faust and Wagner, his pupil, come upon the scene, conversing +seriously, and stop to comment on the actions of the friar, who is +approaching them, supposedly in narrowing circles. Wagner sees +nothing in him except a mendicant friar, but Faust calls attention +to the fact that to his eye, flames blaze up from his footprints. +This friar is the "poodle" of Goethe's poem, and Mefistofele in +disguise. It is thus that the devil presented himself to Faustus +in the old versions of the legend, and as a friar he is a more +practicable dramatic figure than he would have been as a dog; but +it cannot but provoke a smile from those familiar with Goethe's poem +to hear (as we do in the opera a few moments later) the familiar +lines:-- + + Das also war des Pudels Kern! + Ein fahrender Scolast? + +turned into: "This, then, was the kernel of the friar! A cavalier?" +The music of the score is characterized by frequent changes from +triple to double time, as illustrated in the opening measures: + +[Musical excerpt] + +The rhythmical energy and propulsiveness thus imparted to the music +of the merrymaking is heightened by the dance. Peasants rush upon +the scene with shouts of "Juhé!" and make preparations to trip it +while singing what, at first, promises to be a waltz-song:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +The dance, however, is not a waltz, but an obertass--the most +popular of the rustic dances of Poland. Why should Boito have made +his Rhinelanders dance a step which is characteristically that of +the Poles? Sticklers for historical verity could easily convict him +of a most unpardonable anachronism, if they were so disposed, by +pointing out that even if German peasants were in the habit of +dancing the obertass now (which they are not), they could not have +done it in the sixteenth century, which is the period of the drama, +for the sufficient reason that the Polish dance was not introduced +in North Germany till near the middle of the eighteenth century. +But we need not inquire too curiously into details like this when +it comes to so arbitrary an art-form as the opera. Yet Boito was +his own poet, master of the situation so far as all parts of his +work were concerned, and might have consulted historical accuracy +in a department in which Gluck once found that he was the slave +of his ballet master. Gluck refused to introduce a chaconne into +"Iphigénie en Aulide." "A chaconne?" cried the composer. "When did +the Greeks ever dance a chaconne?" "Didn't they?" replied Vestris; +"then so much the worse for the Greeks!" A quarrel ensued, and +Gluck, becoming incensed, withdrew his opera and would have left +Paris had not Marie Antoinette come to the rescue. But Vestris +got his chaconne. In all likelihood Boito put the obertass into +"Mefistofele" because he knew that musically and as a spectacle +the Polish dance would be particularly effective in the joyous +hurly-burly of the scene. A secondary meaning of the Polish word is +said to be "confusion," and Boito doubtless had this in mind when +he made his peasants sing with an orderly disorder which is +delightful:-- + + Tutti vanno alla rinfusa + Sulla musica confusa, + +or, as one English translation has it:-- + + All is going to dire confusion + With the music in collusion. + +[Musical excerpt--"Juhé, Juhé! Tutti vanno alla rinfusa"] + +Perhaps, too, Boito had inherited a love for the vigorous dance from +his Polish mother. + +Night falls, and Faust is returned to his laboratory. The gray friar +has followed him (like Goethe's poodle) and slips into an alcove +unobserved. The philosopher turns to the Bible, which lies upon a +lectern, and falls into a meditation, which is interrupted by a +shriek. He turns and sees the friar standing motionless and wordless +before him. He conjures the apparition with the seal of Solomon, and +the friar, doffing cowl and gown, steps forward as a cavalier (an +itinerant scholar in Goethe). He introduces himself as a part of +the power that, always thinking evil, as persistently accomplishes +good--the spirit of negation. The speech ("Son lo Spirito che nega +sempre") is one of the striking numbers of Boito's score, and the +grim humor of its "No! "seems to have inspired the similar effect +in Falstaff's discourse on honor in Verdi's opera. The pair quickly +come to an understanding on the terms already set forth. + +Act II carries us first into the garden of Dame Martha, where we +find Margherita strolling arm in arm with Faust, and Martha with +Mefistofele. The gossip is trying to seduce the devil into an avowal +of love; Margherita and Faust are discussing their first meeting +and the passion which they already feel for each other. Boito's +Margherita has more of Goethe's Gretchen than Gounod's Marguerite. +Like the former, she wonders what a cavalier can find to admire +in her simple self, and protests in embarrassment when Faust (or +Enrico, as he calls himself) kisses her rough hand. Like Goethe's +maiden, too, she is concerned about the religious beliefs of +her lover, and Boito's Faust answers, like Goethe's Faust, that +a sincere man dares protest neither belief nor unbelief in +God. Nature, Love, Mystery, Life, God--all are one, all to be +experienced, not labelled with a name. Then he turns the talk on +herself and her domestic surroundings, and presses the sleeping +potion for her mother upon her. The scene ends with the four people +scurrying about in a double chase among the flowers, for which +Boito found exquisitely dainty music. + +There is a change from the pretty garden of the first scene, with +its idyllic music, to the gathering place of witches and warlocks, +high up in the Brocken, in the second. We witness the vile orgies of +the bestial crew into whose circles Faust is introduced, and see how +Mefistofele is acclaimed king and receives the homage. Here Boito +borrows a poetical conceit from Goethe's scene in the witches' +kitchen, and makes it a vehicle for a further exposition of the +character and philosophy of the devil. Mefistofele has seated +himself upon a rocky throne and been vested with the robe and +symbols of state by the witches. Now they bring to him a crystal +globe, which he takes and discourses upon to the following effect +(the translation is Theodore T. Barker's):-- + + Lo, here is the world! + A bright sphere rising, + Setting, whirling, glancing, + Round the sun in circles dancing; + Trembling, toiling, + Yielding, spoiling, + Want and plenty by turn enfold it-- + This world, behold it! + On its surface, by time abraded, + Dwelleth a vile race, defiled, degraded; + Abject, haughty, + Cunning, naughty, + Carrying war and desolation + From the top to the foundation + Of creation. + For them Satan has no being; + They scorn with laughter + A hell hereafter, + And heavenly glory + As idle story. + Powers eternal! I'll join their laugh infernal + Thinking o'er their deeds diurnal. Ha! Ha! + Behold the world! + +He dashes the globe to pieces on the ground and thereby sets the +witches to dancing. To the antics of the vile crew Faust gives no +heed; his eyes are fixed upon a vision of Margherita, her feet in +fetters, her body emaciated, and a crimson line encircling her +throat. His love has come under the headsman's axe! In the Ride to +Hell, which concludes Berlioz's "Damnation de Faust," the infernal +horsemen are greeted with shouts in a language which the mystical +Swedenborg says is the speech of the lower regions. Boito also uses +an infernal vocabulary. His witches screech "Saboé har Sabbah!" on +the authority of Le Loyer's "Les Spectres." + +From the bestiality of the Brocken we are plunged at the beginning +of the third act into the pathos of Margherita's death. The episode +follows the lines laid down by Barbier and Carré in their paraphrase +of Goethe, except that for the sake of the beautiful music of the +duet (which Boito borrowed from his unfinished "Ero e Leandro"), we +learn that Margherita had drowned her child. Faust urges her to fly, +but her poor mind is all awry. She recalls the scene of their first +meeting and of the love-making in Dame Martha's garden, and the +earlier music returns, as it does in Gounod's score, and as it was +bound to do. At the end she draws back in horror from Faust, after +uttering a prayer above the music of the celestial choir, just as +the executioner appears. Mefistofele pronounces her damned, but +voices from on high proclaim her salvation. + +The story of Faust and Margherita is ended, but, in pursuance of his +larger plan, already outlined here, Boito makes use of two scenes +from the second part of Goethe's drama to fill a fourth act and +epilogue. They tell of the adventure of Faust with Helen of Troy, +and of his death and the demon's defeat. The "Night of the Classical +Sabbath" serves a dramatic purpose even less than the scene on the +Brocken, but as an intermezzo it has many elements of beauty, and +its scheme is profoundly poetical. Unfortunately we can only attain +to a knowledge of the mission of the scene in the study with +Goethe's poem in hand and commentaries and Boito's prefatory notes +within reach. The picture is full of serene loveliness. We are on +the shore of Peneus, in the Vale of Tempe. The moon at its zenith +sheds its light over the thicket of laurel and oleanders, and floods +a Doric temple on the left. Helen of Troy and Pantalis, surrounded +by a group of sirens, praise the beauty of nature in an exquisite +duet, which flows on as placidly as the burnished stream. Faust +lies sleeping upon a flowery bank, and in his dreams calls upon +Helen in the intervals of her song. Helen and Pantalis depart, and +Faust is ushered in by Mefistofele. He is clad in his proper +mediaeval garb, in strong contrast to the classic robes of the +denizens of the valley in Thessaly. Mefistofele suggests to Faust +that they now separate; the land of antique fable has no charm for +him. Faust is breathing in the idiom of Helen's song like a delicate +perfume which inspires him with love; Mefistofele longs for the +strong, resinous odors of the Harz Mountains, where dominion over +the Northern hags belongs to him. Faust is already gone, and he is +about to depart when there approaches a band of Choretids. With +gentle grace they move through a Grecian dance, and Mefistofele +retires in disgust. Helen returns profoundly disquieted by a +vision of the destruction of Troy, of which she was the cause. The +Choretids seek to calm her in vain, but the tortures of conscience +cease when she sees Faust before her. He kneels and praises her +beauty, and she confesses herself enamoured of his speech, in which +sound answers sound like a soft echo. "What," she asks, "must I do +to learn so sweet and gentle an idiom?" "Love me, as I love you," +replies Faust, in effect, as they disappear through the bowers. Now +let us turn to Goethe, his commentators, and Boito's explanatory +notes to learn the deeper significance of the episode, which, with +all its gracious charm, must still appear dramatically impertinent +and disturbing. Rhyme was unknown to the Greeks, the music of whose +verse came from syllabic quantity. Helen and her companions sing in +classic strain, as witness the opening duet:-- + + La luna immobile innonda l'etere d'un raggio pallido. + Callido balsamo stillan le ramora dai cespi roridi; + Doridi e silfidi, cigni e nereidi vagan sul l'alighi. + +Faust addresses Helen in rhyme, the discovery of the Romantic +poets:-- + + Forma ideal purissima + Della bellezza eterna! + Un uom ti si prosterna + Innamorato al suolo + Volgi ver me la cruna + Di tua pupilla bruna, + Vaga come la luna, + Ardente come il sole. + +"Here," says Boito, "is a myth both beautiful and deep. Helen and +Faust represent Classic and Romantic art gloriously wedded, Greek +beauty and Germanic beauty gleaming under the same aureole, +glorified in one embrace, and generating an ideal poesy, eclectic, +new, and powerful." + +The contents of the last act, which shows us Faust's death and +salvation, have been set forth in the explanation of Boito's +philosophical purpose. An expository note may, however, profitably +be added in the poet-composer's own words: "Goethe places around +Faust at the beginning of the scene four ghostly figures, who utter +strange and obscure words. What Goethe has placed on the stage we +place in the orchestra, submitting sounds instead of words, in order +to render more incorporeal and impalpable the hallucinations that +trouble Faust on the brink of death." The ghostly figures referred +to by Boito are the four "Gray Women" of Goethe--Want, Guilt, Care, +and Necessity. Boito thinks like a symphonist, and his purpose is +profoundly poetical, but its appreciation asks more than the +ordinary opera-goer is willing or able to give. {2} + + +Footnotes: + +{1} I like, at times, to hear the Ancient's word, + And have a care to be most civil: + It's really kind of such a noble Lord + So humnanly to gossip with the Devil. + --Bayard Taylor's Translation. + +{2} "Mefistofele" had its first performance in New York at the +Academy of Music on November 24, 1880. Mlle. Valleria was the +Margherita and Elena, Miss Annie Louise Cary the Marta and Pantalis, +Signor Campanini Faust, and Signor Novara Mefistofele. Signor Arditi +conducted. The first representation of the opera at the Metropolitan +Opera-house took place on December 5, 1883, when, with one exception, +the cast was the same as at the first performance in London, at Her +Majesty's Theatre, on July 6, 1880--namely, Nilsson as Margherita +and Elena, Trebelli as Marta and Pantalis, Campanini as Faust and +Mirabella as Mefistofele. (In London Nannetti enacted the demon.) +Cleofonte Campanini, then maestro di cembalo at the Metropolitan +Opera-house, conducted the performance. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"LA DAMNATION DE FAUST" + + +In an operatic form Berlioz's "Damnation de Faust" had its first +representation in New York at the Metropolitan Opera-house on +December 7, 1906. Despite its high imagination, its melodic charm, +its vivid and varied colors, its frequent flights toward ideal +realms, its accents of passion, its splendid picturesqueness, it +presented itself as a "thing of shreds and patches." It was, indeed, +conceived as such, and though Berlioz tried by various devices to +give it entity, he failed. When he gave it to the world, he called +it a "Dramatic Legend," a term which may mean much or little as +one chooses to consider it; but I can recall no word of his which +indicates that he ever thought that it was fit for the stage. It was +Raoul Gunsbourg, director of the opera at Monte Carlo, who, in 1903, +conceived the notion of a theatrical representation of the legend +and tricked it out with pictures and a few attempts at action. Most +of these attempts are futile and work injury to the music, as will +presently appear, but in a few instances they were successful, +indeed very successful. Of course, if Berlioz had wanted to make an +opera out of Goethe's drama, he could have done so. He would then +have anticipated Gounod and Boito and, possibly, have achieved one +of those popular successes for which he hungered. But he was in his +soul a poet, in his heart a symphonist, and intellectually (as many +futile efforts proved) incapable of producing a piece for the +boards. When the Faust subject first seized upon his imagination, he +knew it only in a prose translation of Goethe's poem made by Gerald +de Nerval. In his "Memoirs" he tells us how it fascinated him. He +carried it about with him, reading it incessantly and eagerly at +dinner, in the streets, in the theatre. In the prose translation +there were a few fragments of songs. These he set to music and +published under the title "Huit Scènes de Faust," at his own expense. +Marx, the Berlin critic, saw the music and wrote the composer a +letter full of encouragement. But Berlioz soon saw grave defects in +his work and withdrew it from circulation, destroying all the copies +which he could lay hands on. What was good in it, however, he laid +away for future use. The opportunity came twenty years later, when +he was fired anew with a desire to write music for Goethe's poem. + +Though he had planned the work before starting out on his memorable +artistic travels, he seems to have found inspiration in the +circumstance that he was amongst a people who were more +appreciative of his genius than his own countrymen, and whose +language was that employed by the poet. Not more than one-sixth of +his "Eight Scenes" had consisted of settings of the translations of +M. de Nerval. A few scenes had been prepared by M. Gaudonnière from +notes provided by the composer. The rest of the book Berlioz wrote +himself, now paraphrasing the original poet, now going to him only +for a suggestion. As was the case with Wagner, words and music +frequently presented themselves to him simultaneously. Travelling +from town to town, conducting rehearsals and concerts, he wrote +whenever and wherever he could--one number in an inn at Passau, the +Elbe scene and the Dance of the Sylphs at Vienna, the peasants' song +by gaslight in a shop one night when he had lost his way in Pesth, +the angels' chorus in Marguerite's apotheosis at Prague (getting +up in the middle of the night to write it down), the song of the +students, "Jam nox stellata velamina pandit" (of which the words +are also Berlioz's), at Breslau. He finished the work in Rouen and +Paris, at home, at his café, in the gardens of the Tuilleries, even +on a stone in the Boulevard du Temple. While in Vienna he made an +orchestral transcription of the famous Rakoczy march (in one night, +he says, though this is scarcely credible, since the time would +hardly suffice to write down the notes alone). The march made an +extraordinary stir at the concert in Pesth when he produced it, +and this led him to incorporate it, with an introduction, into his +Legend--a proceeding which he justified as a piece of poetical +license; he thought that he was entitled to put his hero in any part +of the world and in any situation that he pleased. + +This incident serves to indicate how lightly all dramatic fetters +sat upon Berlioz while "La Damnation" was in his mind, and how +little it occurred to him that any one would ever make the attempt +to place his scenes upon the stage. In the case of the Hungarian +march, this has been done only at the sacrifice of Berlioz's +poetical conceit to which the introductory text and music were +fitted; but of this more presently. As Berlioz constructed the +"Dramatic Legend," it belonged to no musical category. It was +neither a symphony with vocal parts like his "Roméo et Juliette" +(which has symphonic elements in some of its sections), nor a +cantata, nor an oratorio. It is possible that this fact was long +an obstacle to its production. Even in New York where, on its +introduction, it created the profoundest sensation ever witnessed +in a local concert-room, it was performed fourteen times with the +choral parts sung by the Oratorio Society before that organization +admitted it into its lists. + +And now to tell how the work was fitted to the uses of the lyric +theatre. Nothing can be plainer to persons familiar with the work in +its original form than that no amount of ingenuity can ever give the +scenes of the "Dramatic Legend" continuity or coherency. Boito, in +his opera, was unwilling to content himself with the episode of the +amour between Faust and Marguerite; he wanted to bring out the +fundamental ethical idea of the poet, and he went so far as to +attempt the Prologue in Heaven, the Classical Sabbath, and the death +of Faust with the contest for his soul. Berlioz had no scruples of +any kind. He chose his scenes from Goethe's poem, changed them at +will, and interpolated an incident simply to account for the +Hungarian march. Connection with each other the scenes have not, and +some of the best music belongs wholly in the realm of the ideal. At +the outset Berlioz conceived Faust alone on a vast field in Hungary +in spring. He comments on the beauties of nature and praises the +benison of solitude. His ruminations are interrupted by a dance of +peasants and the passage of an army to the music of the Rakoczy +march. This scene M. Gunsbourg changes to a picture of a mediaeval +interior in which Faust soliloquizes, and a view through the window +of a castle with a sally-port. Under the windows the peasants dance, +and out of the huge gateway come the soldiery and march off to +battle. At the climax of the music which drove the people of Pesth +wild at its first performance, so that Berlioz confessed that he +himself shuddered and felt the hair bristling on his head--when in a +long crescendo fugued fragments of the march theme keep reappearing, +interrupted by drum-beats like distant cannonading, Gunsbourg's +battalions halt, and there is a solemn benediction of the standards. +Then, to the peroration, the soldiers run, not as if eager to get +into battle, but as if in inglorious retreat. + +The second scene reproduces the corresponding incident in Gounod's +opera--Faust in his study, life-weary and despondent. He is about +to drink a cup of poison when the rear wall of the study rolls up +and discloses the interior of a church with a kneeling congregation +which chants the Easter canticle, "Christ is risen!" Here is one of +the fine choral numbers of the work for which concert, not operatic, +conditions are essential. The next scene, however, is of the opera +operatic, and from that point of view the most perfect in the work. +It discloses the revel of students, citizens, and soldiers in +Auerbach's cellar. Brander sings the song of the rat which by good +living had developed a paunch "like Dr. Luther's," but died of +poison laid by the cook. The drinkers shout a boisterous refrain +after each stanza, and supplement the last with a mock-solemn +"Requiescat in pace, Amen." The phrase suggests new merriment to +Brander, who calls for a fugue on the "Amen," and the roisterers +improvise one on the theme of the rat song, which calls out hearty +commendation from Méphistophélès, and a reward in the shape of +the song of the flea--a delightful piece of grotesquerie with its +accompaniment suggestive of the skipping of the pestiferous little +insect which is the subject of the song. + +The next scene is the triumph of M. Gunsbourg, though for it he is +indebted to Miss Loie Fuller and the inventor of the aerial ballet. +In the conceit of Berlioz, Faust lies asleep on the bushy banks of +the Elbe. Méphistophélès summons gnomes and sylphs to fill his mind +with lovely fancies. They do their work so well as to entrance, +not only Faust, but all who hear their strains, The instrumental +ballet is a fairy waltz, a filmy musical fabric, seemingly woven +of moonbeams and dewy cobwebs, over a pedal-point on the muted +violoncellos, ending with drum taps and harmonics from the harp--one +of the daintiest and most original orchestral effects imaginable. +So dainty is the device, indeed, that one would think that nothing +could come between it and the ears of the transported listeners +without ruining the ethereal creation. But M. Gunsbourg's fancy has +accomplished the miraculous. Out of the river bank he constructs a +floral bower rich as the magical garden of Klingsor. Sylphs circle +around the sleeper and throw themselves into graceful attitudes +while the song is sounding. Then to the music of the elfin waltz, +others enter who have, seemingly, cast off the gross weight which +holds mortals in contact with the earth. With robes a-flutter like +wings, they dart upwards and remain suspended in mid-air at will or +float in and out of the transporting picture. To Faust is also +presented a vision of Marguerite. + +The next five scenes in Berlioz's score are connected by M. +Gunsbourg and forced to act in sequence for the sake of the stage +set, in which a picture of Marguerite's chamber is presented in the +conventional fashion made necessary by the exigency of showing an +exterior and interior at the same time, as in the last act of +"Rigoletto." For a reason at which I cannot even guess, M. Gunsbourg +goes farther and transforms the chamber of Marguerite into a sort of +semi-enclosed arbor, and places a lantern in her hand instead of +the lamp, so that she may enter in safety from the street. In this +street there walk soldiers, followed by students, singing their +songs. Through them Faust finds his way and into the trellised +enclosure. The strains of the songs are heard at the last blended +in a single harmony. Marguerite enters through the street with her +lantern and sings the romance of the King of Thule, which Berlioz +calls a Chanson Gothique, one of the most original of his creations +and, like the song in the next scene, "L'amour l'ardente flamme," +which takes the place of Goethe's "Meine Ruh' ist hin," is +steeped in a mood of mystical tenderness quite beyond description. +Méphistophétès summons will-o'-the-wisps to aid in the bewilderment +of the troubled mind of Marguerite. Here realism sadly disturbs the +scene as Berlioz asks that the fancy shall create it. The customary +dancing lights of the stage are supplemented with electrical effects +which are beautiful, if not new. They do not mar if they do not help +the grotesque minuet. But when M. Gunsbourg materializes the ghostly +flames and presents them as a mob of hopping figures, he throws +douches of cold water on the imagination of the listeners. Later he +spoils enjoyment of the music utterly by making it the accompaniment +of some utterly irrelevant pantomime by Marguerite, who goes into +the street and is seen writhing between the conflicting emotions of +love and duty, symbolized by a vision of Faust and the glowing of a +cross on the façade of a church. To learn the meaning of this, one +must go to the libretto, where he may read that it is all a dream +dreamed by Marguerite after she had fallen asleep in her arm-chair. +But we see her awake, not asleep, and it is all foolish and +disturbing stuff put in to fill time and connect two of Berlioz's +scenes. Marguerite returns to the room which she had left only in +her dream, Faust discovers himself, and there follows the inevitable +love-duet which Méphistophétès changes into a trio when he enters to +urge Faust to depart. Meanwhile, Marguerite's neighbors gather in +the street and warn Dame Martha of the misdeeds of Marguerite. The +next scene seems to have been devised only to give an environment to +Berlioz's paraphrase of Goethe's immortal song at the spinning-wheel. +From the distance is heard the fading song of the students and the +last echo of drums and trumpets sounding the retreat. Marguerite +rushes to the window, and, overcome, rather unaccountably, with +remorse and grief, falls in a swoon. + +The last scene. A mountain gorge, a rock in the foreground +surmounted by a cross. Faust's soliloquy, "Nature, immense, +impénétrable et fière," was inspired by Goethe's exalted invocation +to nature. Faust signs the compact, Méphistophétès summons the +infernal steeds, Vortex and Giaour, and the ride to hell begins. +Women and children at the foot of the cross supplicate the prayers +of Mary, Magdalen, and Margaret. The cross disappears in a fearful +crash of sound, the supplicants flee, and a moving panorama shows +the visions which are supposed to meet the gaze of the riders--birds +of night, dangling skeletons, a hideous and bestial phantasmagoria +at the end of which Faust is delivered to the flames. The picture +changes, and above the roofs of the sleeping town appears a vision +of angels welcoming Marguerite. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"LA TRAVIATA" + + +In music the saying that "familiarity breeds contempt," is true only +of compositions of a low order. In the case of compositions of the +highest order, familiarity generally breeds ever growing admiration. +In this category new compositions are slowly received; they make +their way to popular appreciation only by repeated performances. +It is true that the people like best the songs as well as the +symphonies which they know best; but even this rule has its +exceptions. It is possible to grow indifferent to even high +excellence because of constant association with it. Especially +is this true when the form--that is, the manner of expression--has +grown antiquated; then, not expecting to find the kind of quality to +which our tastes are inclined, we do not look for it, and though it +may be present, it frequently passes unnoticed. The meritorious old +is, therefore, just as much subject to non-appreciation as the +meritorious new. Let me cite an instance. + +Once upon a time duty called me to the two opera-houses of New +York on the same evening. At the first I listened to some of the +hot-blooded music of an Italian composer of the so-called school +of verismo. Thence I went to the second. Verdi's "Traviata" was +performing. I entered the room just as the orchestra began the +prelude to the last act. As one can see without observing, so one +can hear without listening--a wise provision which nature has made +for the critic, and a kind one; I had heard that music so often +during a generation of time devoted to musical journalism that I had +long since quit listening to it. But now my jaded faculties were +arrested by a new quality in the prelude. I had always admired the +composer of "Rigoletto," "Il Trovatore," and "Traviata," and I loved +and revered the author of "Aïda," "Otello," and "Falstaff." I had +toddled along breathlessly in the trail made by his seven-league +boots during the last thirty-five years of his career; but as I +listened I found myself wondering that I had not noticed before that +his modernity had begun before I had commenced to realize even what +maternity meant--more than half a century ago, for "La Traviata" was +composed in 1853. The quivering atmosphere of Violetta's sick-room +seemed almost visible as the pathetic bit of hymnlike music rose +upward from the divided viols of the orchestra like a cloud of +incense which gathered itself together and floated along with the +pathetic song of the solo violin. The work of palliating the +character of the courtesan had begun, and on it went with +each recurrence of the sad, sweet phrase as it punctuated the +conversation between Violetta and her maid, until memory of her +moral grossness was swallowed up in pity for her suffering. +Conventional song-forms returned when poet and composer gave voice +to the dying woman's lament for the happiness that was past and her +agony of fear when she felt the touch of Death's icy hand; but where +is melody more truthfully eloquent than in "Addio, del passato," and +"Gran Dio! morir so giovane"? Is it within the power of instruments, +no matter how great their number, or harmony with all the poignancy +which it has acquired through the ingenious use of dissonance, or +of broken phrase floating on an instrumental flood, to be more +dramatically expressive than are these songs? Yet they are, in +a way, uncompromisingly formal, architectural, strophic, and +conventionally Verdian in their repetition of rhythmical motives +and their melodic formularies. This introduction to the third act +recalls the introduction to the first, which also begins with the +hymnlike phrase, and sets the key-note of pathos which is sounded +at every dramatic climax, though pages of hurdy-gurdy tune and +unmeaning music intervene. Recall "Ah, fors' è lui che l'anima," +with its passionate second section, "A quell' amor," and that most +moving song of resignation, "Dite all' giovine." These things +outweigh a thousand times the glittering tinsel of the opera and +give "Traviata" a merited place, not only beside the later creations +of the composer, but among those latter-day works which we call +lyric dramas to distinguish them from those which we still call +operas, with commiserating emphasis on the word. + +That evening I realized the appositeness of Dr. von Bülow's remark +to Mascagni when the world seemed inclined to hail that young man +as the continuator of Verdi's operatic evangel: "I have found your +successor in your predecessor, Verdi," but it did not seem necessary +to think of "Otello" and "Falstaff" in connection with the +utterance; "La Traviata" alone justifies it. Also it was made plain +what Verdi meant, when after the first performance of his opera, +and its monumental fiasco, he reproached his singers with want of +understanding of his music. The story of that fiasco and the origin +of the opera deserve a place here. "La Traviata," as all the world +knows, is based upon the book and drama, "La Dame aux Camélias," by +the younger Dumas, known to Americans and Englishmen as "Camille." +The original book appeared in 1848, the play in 1852. Verdi +witnessed a performance of the play when it was new. He was writing +"Il Trovatore" at the time, but the drama took so strong a hold upon +him that he made up his mind at once to turn it into an opera. As +was his custom, he drafted a plan of the work, and this he sent +to Piave, who for a long time had been his librettist in ordinary. +Francesco Maria Piave was little more than a hack-writer of verse, +but he knew how to put Verdi's ideas into practicable shape, and +he deserves to be remembered with kindly interest as the great +composer's collaborator in the creation of "I due Foscari," +"Ernani," "Macbetto," "Il Corsaro," "Stiffclio," "Simon Boccanegra," +"Aroldo" (a version of "Stiffelio"), and "La Forza del Destino." +His artistic relations with Verdi lasted from 1844 to 1862, but the +friendship of the men endured till the distressful end of Piave's +life, which came in 1876. He was born three years earlier than Verdi +(in 1810), in Durano, of which town his father had been the last +podesta under the Venetian republic. He went mad some years +before he died, and thenceforward lived off Verdi's bounty, the +warm-hearted composer not only giving him a pension, but also caring +for his daughter after his death. In 1853 Verdi's creative genius +was at flood-tide. Four months was the time which he usually devoted +to the composition of an opera, but he wrote "La Traviata" within +four weeks, and much of the music was composed concurrently with +that of "Il Trovatore." This is proved by the autograph, owned +by his publishers, the Ricordis, and there is evidence of the +association in fraternity of phrase in some of the uninteresting +pages of the score. (See "Morrò! la mia memoria" for instance, and +the dance measures with their trills.) "Il Trovatore" was produced +at Rome on January 19, 1853, and "La Traviata" on March 6 of the +same year at the Fenice Theatre in Venice. "Il Trovatore" was +stupendously successful; "La Traviata" made a woful failure. Verdi +seems to have been fully cognizant of the causes which worked +together to produce the fiasco, though he was disinclined at the +time to discuss them. Immediately after the first representation +he wrote to Muzio: "'La Traviata' last night a failure. Was the +fault mine or the singers'? Time will tell." To Vincenzo Luccardi, +sculptor, professor at the Academy of San Luca in Rome, one of his +most intimate friends, he wrote after, the second performance: "The +success was a fiasco--a complete fiasco! I do not know whose fault +it was; it is best not to talk about it. I shall tell you nothing +about the music, and permit me to say nothing about the performers." +Plainly, he did not hold the singers guiltless. Varesi, the +barytone, who was intrusted with the part of the elder Germont, +had been disaffected, because he thought it beneath his dignity. +Nevertheless, he went to the composer and offered his condolences +at the fiasco. Verdi wanted none of his sympathy. "Condole with +yourself and your companions who have not understood my music," was +his somewhat ungracious rejoinder. No doubt the singers felt some +embarrassment in the presence of music which to them seemed new and +strange in a degree which we cannot appreciate now. Abramo Basevi, +an Italian critic, who wrote a book of studies on Verdi's operas, +following the fashion set by Lenz in his book on Beethoven, divides +the operas which he had written up to the critic's time into +examples of three styles, the early operas marking his first manner +and "Luisa Miller" the beginning of his second. In "La Traviata" he +says Verdi discovered a third manner, resembling in some things +the style of French oéera comique. "This style of music," he says, +"although it has not been tried on the stage in Italy, is, however, +not unknown in private circles. In these latter years we have +seen Luigi Gordigiani and Fabio Campana making themselves known +principally in this style of music, called da camera. Verdi, with +his 'Traviata,' has transported this chamber-music on to the stage, +to which the subject he has chosen still lends itself, and with +happy success. We meet with more simplicity in this work than in the +others of the same composer, especially as regards the orchestra, +where the quartet of stringed instruments is almost always +predominant; the parlanti occupy a great part of the score; we meet +with several of those airs which repeat under the form of verses; +and, finally, the principal vocal subjects are for the most part +developed in short binary and ternary movements, and have not, in +general, the extension which the Italian style demands." Campana +and Gordigiani were prolific composers of romanzas and canzonettas +of a popular type. Their works are drawing-room music, very +innocuous, very sentimental, very insignificant, and very far from +the conception of chamber-music generally prevalent now. How they +could have been thought to have influenced so virile a composer as +Verdi, it is difficult to see. But musical critics enjoy a wide +latitude of observation. In all likelihood there was nothing more in +Dr. Basevi's mind than the strophic structure of "Di Provenza," the +song style of some of the other arias to which attention has been +called and the circumstance that these, the most striking numbers +in the score, mark the points of deepest feeling. In this respect, +indeed, there is some relationship between "La Traviata" and "Der +Freischütz"--though this is an observation which will probably +appear as far-fetched to some of my critics as Dr. Basevi's does +to me. + +There were other reasons of a more obvious and external nature for +the failure of "La Traviata" on its first production. Lodovico +Graziani, the tenor, who filled the rôle of Alfredo, was hoarse, and +could not do justice to the music; Signora Salvini-Donatelli, the +Violetta of the occasion, was afflicted with an amplitude of person +which destroyed the illusion of the death scene and turned its +pathos into absurdity. The spectacle of a lady of mature years and +more than generous integumental upholstery dying of consumption was +more than the Venetian sense of humor could endure with equanimity. +The opera ended with shrieks of laughter instead of the lachrymal +flood which the music and the dramatic situation called for. This +spirit of irreverence had been promoted, moreover, by the fact that +the people of the play wore conventional modern clothes. The lure +of realism was not strong in the lyric theatres half a century ago, +when laces and frills, top-boots and plumed hats, helped to confine +the fancy to the realm of idealism in which it was believed opera +ought to move. The first result of the fiasco was a revision of the +costumes and stage furniture, by which simple expedient Mr. Dumas's +Marguerite Gauthier was changed from a courtesan of the time of +Louis Philippe to one of the period of Louis XIV. It is an amusing +illustration of how the whirligig of time brings its revenges that +the spirit of verismo, masquerading as a desire for historical +accuracy, has restored the period of the Dumas book,--that is, +restored it in name, but not in fact,--with the result, in New York +and London at least, of making the dress of the opera more absurd +than ever. Violetta, exercising the right which was conquered by +the prima donna generations ago, appears always garbed in the very +latest style, whether she be wearing one of her two ball dresses or +her simple afternoon gown. For aught that I know, the latest fad in +woman's dress may also be hidden in the dainty folds of the robe +de chambre in which she dies. The elder Germont has for two years +appeared before the New York public as a well-to-do country +gentleman of Provence might have appeared sixty years ago, but his +son has thrown all sartorial scruples to the wind, and wears the +white waistcoat and swallowtail of to-day. + +The Venetians were allowed a year to get over the effects of the +first representations of "La Traviata," and then the opera was +brought forward again with the new costumes. Now it succeeded and +set out upon the conquest of the world. It reached London on May 24, +St. Petersburg on November 1, New York on December 3, and Paris on +December 6--all in the same year, 1856. The first Violetta in New +York was Mme. Anna La Grange, the first Alfredo Signor Brignoli, and +the first Germont père Signor Amodio. There had been a destructive +competition between Max Maretzek's Italian company at the Academy of +Music and a German company at Niblo's Garden. The regular Italian +season had come to an end with a quarrel between Maretzek and the +directors of the Academy. The troupe prepared to embark for Havana, +but before doing so gave a brief season under the style of the La +Grange Opera Company, and brought forward the new opera on December +3, three days before the Parisians were privileged to hear it. The +musical critic of the Tribune at the time was Mr. W. H. Fry, who was +not only a writer on political and musical subjects, but a composer, +who wrote an opera, "Leonora," in which Mme. La Grange sang at the +Academy about a year and a half later. His review of the first +performance of "La Traviata," which appeared in the Tribune of +December 5, 1856, is worth reading for more reasons than one:-- + +The plot of "La Traviata" we have already given to our readers. It +is simply "Camille." The first scene affords us some waltzing music, +appropriate in its place, on which a (musical) dialogue takes place. +The waltz is not specially good, nor is there any masterly +outworking of detail. A fair drinking song is afforded, which +pleased, but was not encored. A pretty duet by Mme. de la Grange and +Signor Brignoli may be noticed also in this act; and the final air, +by Madame de la Grange, "Ah! fors' e lui che l'anima," contained a +brilliant, florid close which brought down the house, and the +curtain had to be reraised to admit of a repetition. Act II admits +of more intensified music than Act I. A brief air by Alfred +(Brignoli) is followed by an air by Germont (Amodio), and by a duet, +Violetta (La Grange) and Germont. The duet is well worked up and is +rousing, passionate music. Verdi's mastery of dramatic accent--of +the modern school of declamation--is here evident. Some dramatic +work, the orchestra leading, follows--bringing an air by Germont, +"Di Provenza il mar." This is a 2-4 travesty of a waltz known as +Weber's Last Waltz (which, however, Weber never wrote); and is too +uniform in the length of its notes to have dramatic breadth or +eloquence. A good hit is the sudden exit of Alfred thereupon, not +stopping to make an andiamo duet as is so often done. The next scene +introduces us to a masquerade where are choruses of quasi-gypsies, +matadors, and picadors,--sufficiently characteristic. The scene +after the card-playing, which is so fine in the play, is inefficient +in music. Act III in the book (though it was made Act IV on this +occasion by subdividing the second) reveals the sick-room of +Traviata. A sweet air, minor and major by turns, with some hautboy +wailing, paints the sufferer's sorrows. A duet by the lovers, +"Parigi, O cara," is especially original in its peroration. The +closing trio has due culmination and anguish, though we would have +preferred a quiet ending to a hectic shriek and a doubly loud force +in the orchestra. + +Goldsmith's rule in "The Vicar" for criticising a painting was +always to say that "the picture would have been better if the +painter had taken more pains." Perhaps the same might be said about +"La Traviata"; but whether it would have pleased the public more is +another question. Some of the airs certainly would bear substitution +by others in the author's happier vein. The opera was well received. +Three times the singers were called before the curtain. The piece +was well put on the stage. Madame La Grange never looked so well. +Her toilet was charming. + +The principal incidents of Dumas's play are reproduced with general +fidelity in the opera. In the first act there are scenes of gayety +in the house of Violetta--dancing, feasting, and love-making. Among +the devotees of the courtesan is Alfredo Germont, a young man of +respectable Provençal family. He joins in the merriment, singing a +drinking song with Violetta, but his devotion to her is unlike that +of his companions. He loves her sincerely, passionately, and his +protestations awaken in her sensations never felt before. For +a moment, she indulges in a day-dream of honest affection, but +banishes it with the reflection that the only life for which she is +fitted is one devoted to the pleasures of the moment, the mad revels +rounding out each day, and asking no care of the moment. But at the +last the voice of Alfredo floats in at the window, burdening the air +and her heart with an echo of the longing to which she had given +expression in her brief moment of thoughtfulness. She yields to +Alfredo's solicitations and a strangely new emotion, and abandons +her dissolute life to live with him alone. + +In the second act the pair are found housed in a country villa +not far from Paris. From the maid Alfredo learns that Violetta +has sold her property in the city--house, horses, carriages, and +all--in order to meet the expenses of the rural establishment. +Conscience-smitten, he hurries to Paris to prevent the sacrifice, +but in his absence Violetta is called upon to make a much greater. +Giorgio Germont, the father of her lover, visits her, and, by +appealing to her love for his son and picturing the ruin which is +threatening him and the barrier which his illicit association with +her is placing in the way of the happy marriage of his sister, +persuades her to give him up. She abandons home and lover, and +returns to her old life in the gay city, making a favored companion +of the Baron Duphol. In Paris, at a masked ball in the house of +Flora, one of her associates, Alfredo finds her again, overwhelms +her with reproaches, and ends a scene of excitement by denouncing +her publicly and throwing his gambling gains at her feet. + +Baron Duphol challenges Alfredo to fight a duel. The baron is +wounded. The elder Germont sends intelligence of Alfredo's safety +to Violetta, and informs her that he has told his son of the great +sacrifice which she had made for love of him. Violetta dies in the +arms of her lover, who had hurried to her on learning the truth, +only to find her suffering the last agonies of disease. + +In the preface to his novel, Dumas says that the principal incidents +of the story are true. It has also been said that Dickens was +familiar with them, and at one time purposed to make a novel on the +subject; but this statement scarcely seems credible. Such a novel +would have been un-English in spirit and not at all in harmony with +the ideals of the author of "David Copperfield" and "Dombey and +Son." Play and opera at the time of their first production raised +questions of taste and morals which have remained open ever since. +Whether the anathema periodically pronounced against them by private +and official censorship helps or hinders the growth of such works +in popularity, there is no need of discussing here. There can +scarcely be a doubt, however, but that many theatrical managers +of to-day would hail with pleasure and expectation of profit such +a controversy over one of their new productions as greeted "La +Traviata" in London. The Lord Chamberlain had refused to sanction +the English adaptations of "La Dame aux Camélias," and when the +opera was brought forward (performance being allowed because it +was sung in a foreign language), pulpit and press thundered in +denunciation of it. Mr. Lumley, the manager of Her Majesty's +Theatre, came to the defence of the work in a letter to the Times, +but it was more his purpose to encourage popular excitement and +irritate curiosity than to shield the opera from condemnation. He +had every reason to be satisfied with the outcome. "La Traviata" had +made a complete fiasco, on its production in Italy, where no one +dreamed of objecting to the subject-matter of its story; in London +there was a loud outcry against the "foul and hideous horrors of the +book," and the critics found little to praise in the music; yet the +opera scored a tremendous popular success, and helped to rescue Her +Majesty's from impending ruin. + + + +CHAPTER X + +"AIDA" + + +Two erroneous impressions concerning Verdi's "Aïda" may as well as +not be corrected at the beginning of a study of that opera: it was +not written to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal, nor to +open the Italian Opera-house at Cairo, though the completion of +the canal and the inauguration of the theatre were practically +contemporaneous with the conception of the plan which gave the world +one of Verdi's finest and also most popular operas. It is more +difficult to recall a season in any of the great lyric theatres of +the world within the last thirty-five years in which "Aïda" was not +given than to enumerate a score of productions with particularly +fine singers and imposing mise en scène. With it Verdi ought to +have won a large measure of gratitude from singers and impresarios +as well as the fortune which it brought him; for though, like all +really fine works, it rewards effort and money bestowed upon it with +corresponding and proportionate generosity, it does not depend for +its effectiveness on extraordinary vocal outfit or scenic apparel. +Fairly well sung and acted and respectably dressed, it always wins +the sympathies and warms the enthusiasm of an audience the world +over. It is seldom thought of as a conventional opera, and yet it +is full of conventionalities which do not obtrude themselves simply +because there is so much that is individual about its music and its +pictures--particularly its pictures. Save for the features of its +score which differentiate it from the music of Verdi's other operas +and the works of his predecessors and contemporaries, "Aïda" is a +companion of all the operas for which Meyerbeer set a model when +he wrote his works for the Académie Nationale in Paris--the great +pageant operas like "Le Prophète," "Lohengrin," and Goldmark's +"Queen of Sheba." With the last it shares one element which brings +it into relationship also with a number of much younger and less +significant works--operas like Mascagni's "Iris," Puccini's "Madama +Butterfly," and Giordano's "Siberia." In the score of "Aïda" there +is a slight infusion of that local color which is lavishly employed +in decorating its externals. The pomp and pageantry of the drama are +Egyptian and ancient; the play's natural and artificial environment +is Egyptian and ancient; two bits of its music are Oriental, +possibly Egyptian, and not impossibly ancient. But in everything +else "Aïda" is an Italian opera. The story plays in ancient Egypt, +and its inventor was an archaeologist deeply versed in Egyptian +antiquities, but I have yet to hear that Mariette Bey, who wrote the +scenario of the drama, ever claimed an historical foundation for +it or pretended that anything in its story was characteristically +Egyptian. Circumstances wholly fortuitous give a strong tinge of +antiquity and nationalism to the last scene; but, if the ancient +Egyptians were more addicted than any other people to burying +malefactors alive, the fact is not of record; and the picture as we +have it in the opera was not conceived by Mariette Bey, but by Verdi +while working hand in hand with the original author of the libretto, +which, though designed for an Italian performance, was first written +in French prose. + +The Italian Theatre in Cairo was built by the khedive, Ismaïl Pacha, +and opened in November, 1869. It is extremely likely that the +thought of the advantage which would accrue to the house, could it +be opened with a new piece by the greatest of living Italian opera +composers, had entered the mind of the khedive or his advisers; but +it does not seem to have occurred to them in time to insure such a +work for the opening. Nevertheless, long before the inauguration of +the theatre a letter was sent to Verdi asking him if he would write +an opera on an Egyptian subject, and if so, on what terms. The +opportunity was a rare one, and appealed to the composer, who had +written "Les Vêpres Siciliennes" and "Don Carlos" for Paris, "La +Forza del Destino" for St. Petersburg, and had not honored an +Italian stage with a new work for ten years. But the suggestion that +he state his terms embarrassed him. So he wrote to his friend Muzio +and asked him what to do. Muzio had acquired much more worldly +wisdom than ever came to the share of the great genius, and he +replied sententiously: "Demand 4000 pounds sterling for your score. +If they ask you to go and mount the piece and direct the rehearsals, +fix the sum at 6000 pounds." + +Verdi followed his friend's advice, and the khedive accepted the +terms. At first the opera people in Cairo thought they wanted only +the score which carried with it the right of performance, but soon +they concluded that they wanted also the presence of the composer, +and made him, in vain, munificent offers of money, distinctions, +and titles. His real reason for not going to prepare the opera and +direct the first performance was a dread of the voyage. To a friend +he wrote that he feared that if he went to Cairo they would make a +mummy of him. Under the terms of the agreement the khedive sent him +50,000 francs at once, and deposited the balance of 50,000 francs in +a bank, to be paid over to the composer on delivery of the score. + +The story of "Aïda" came from Mariette Bey, who was then director +of the Egyptian Museum at Boulak. Auguste Édouard Mariette was a +Frenchman who, while an attaché of the Louvre, in 1850, had gone on +a scientific expedition to Egypt for the French government and had +discovered the temple of Serapis at Memphis. It was an "enormous +structure of granite and alabaster, containing within its enclosure +the sarcophagi of the bulls of Apis, from the nineteenth dynasty to +the time of the Roman supremacy." After his return to Paris, he was +appointed in 1855 assistant conservator of the Egyptian Museum in +the Louvre, and after some further years of service, he went to +Egypt again, where he received the title of Bey and an appointment +as director of the museum at Boulak. Bayard Taylor visited him in +1851 and 1874, and wrote an account of his explorations and the +marvellous collection of antiquities which he had in his care. + +Mariette wrote the plot of "Aïda," which was sent to Verdi, and at +once excited his liveliest interest. Camille du Locle, who had had +a hand in making the books of "Les Vêpres Siciliennes" and "Don +Carlos" (and who is also the librettist of Reyer's "Salammbô"), went +to Verdi's home in Italy, and under the eye of the composer wrote +out the drama in French prose. It was he who gave the world the +information that the idea of the double scene in the last act was +conceived by Verdi, who, he says, "took a large share in the work." +The drama, thus completed, was translated into Italian verse by +Antonio Ghislanzoni, who, at the time, was editor of the Gazetta +Musicale, a journal published in Milan. In his early life +Ghislanzoni was a barytone singer. He was a devoted friend and +admirer of Verdi's, to whom he paid a glowing tribute in his book +entitled "Reminiscenze Artistiche." He died some fifteen or sixteen +years ago, and some of his last verses were translations of +Tennyson's poems. + +The khedive expected to hear his opera by the end of 1870, but there +came an extraordinary disturbance of the plan, the cause being +nothing less than the war between France and Germany. The scenery +and costumes, which had been made after designs by French artists, +were shut up in Paris. At length, on December 24, 1871, the opera +had its first performance at Cairo. Considering the sensation which +the work created, it seems strange that it remained the exclusive +possession of Cairo and a few Italian cities so long as it did, but +a personal equation stood in the way of a performance at the Grand +Opéra, where it properly belonged. The conduct of the conductor and +musicians at the production of "Les Vêpres Siciliennes" had angered +Verdi; and when M. Halanzier, the director of the Académie +Nationale, asked for the opera in 1873, his request was refused. +Thus it happened that the Théâtre Italien secured the right of first +performance in Paris. It was brought out there on April 22, 1876, +and had sixty-eight representations within three years. The original +King in the French performance was Édouard de Reszke. It was not +until March 22, 1880, that "Aïda" reached the Grand Opéra. M. +Vaucorbeil, the successor of Halanzier, visited Verdi at his home +and succeeded in persuading him not only to give the performing +rights to the national institution, but also to assist in its +production. Maurel was the Amonasro of the occasion. The composer +was greatly fêted, and at a dinner given in his honor by President +Grévy was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion +of Honor. + +The opening scene of the opera is laid at Memphis, a fact which +justifies the utmost grandeur in the stage furniture, and is +explained by Mariette's interest in that place. It was he who helped +moderns to realize the ancient magnificence of the city described by +Diodorus. It was the first capital of the united kingdom of upper +and lower Egypt, the chief seat of religion and learning, the site +of the temples of Ptah, Isis, Serapis, Phra, and the sacred bull +Apis. Mariette here, on his first visit to Egypt, unearthed an +entire avenue of sphinxes leading to the Serapeum, over four +thousand statues, reliefs, and inscriptions, eight gigantic +sculptures, and many other evidences of a supremely great city. +He chose his scenes with a view to an exhibition of the ancient +grandeur. In a hall of the Royal Palace, flanked by a colonnade with +statues and flowering shrubs, and commanding a view of the city's +palaces and temples and the pyramids, Radames, an Egyptian soldier, +and Ramfis, a high priest, discuss a report that the Ethiopians are +in revolt in the valley of the Nile, and that Thebes is threatened. +The high priest has consulted Isis, and the goddess has designated +who shall be the leader of Egypt's army against the rebels. An +inspiring thought comes into the mind of Radames. What if he should +be the leader singled out to crush the rebellion, and be received in +triumph on his return? A consummation devoutly to be wished, not for +his own glory alone, but for the sake of his love, Aïda, whose +beauty he sings in a romance ("Celeste Aïda") of exquisite +loveliness and exaltation. Amneris, the daughter of the King of +Egypt (Mariette gives him no name, and so avoids possible historical +complications), enters. She is in love with Radames, and eager to +know what it is that has so illumined his visage with joy. He tells +her of his ambition, but hesitates when she asks him if no gentler +dream had tenanted his heart. Aïda approaches, and the perturbation +of her lover is observed by Amneris, who affects love for her slave +(for such Aïda is), welcomes her as a sister, and bids her tell the +cause of her grief. Aïda is the daughter of Ethiopia's king; but she +would have the princess believe that her tears are caused by anxiety +for Egypt's safety. The King appears with Ramfis and a royal +retinue, and learns from a messenger that the Ethiopians have +invaded Egypt and, under their king, Amonasro, are marching on +Thebes. The King announces that Isis has chosen Radames to be +the leader of Egypt's hosts. Amneris places the royal banner in +his eager hand, and to the sounds of a patriotic march he is led +away to the temple of Ptah (the Egyptian Vulcan), there to receive +his consecrated armor and arms. "Return a victor!" shout the hosts, +and Aïda, carried away by her love, joins in the cry; but, left +alone, she reproaches herself for impiousness in uttering words +which imply a wish for the destruction of her country, her father, +and her kinsmen. (Scena: "Ritorna vincitor.") Yet could she wish for +the defeat and the death of the man she loves? She prays the gods to +pity her sufferings ("Numi, pieta"). Before a colossal figure of the +god in the temple of Ptah, while the sacred fires rise upward from +the tripods, and priestesses move through the figures of the sacred +dance or chant a hymn to the Creator, Preserver, Giver, of Life and +Light, the consecrated sword is placed in the hands of Radames. + +It is in this scene that the local color is not confined to +externals alone, but infuses the music as well. Very skilfully Verdi +makes use of two melodies which are saturated with the languorous +spirit of the East. The first is the invocation of Ptah, chanted by +an invisible priestess to the accompaniment of a harp:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Possente, possente Ftha, del mondo spirito animator +ah! noi t'in vo chiamo."] + +The second is the melody of the sacred dance:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +The tunes are said to be veritable Oriental strains which some +antiquary (perhaps Mariette himself) put into the hands of Verdi. +The fact that their characteristic elements were nowhere else +employed by the composer, though he had numerous opportunities +for doing so, would seem to indicate that Verdi was chary about +venturing far into the territory of musical nationalism. Perhaps +he felt that his powers were limited in this direction, or that he +might better trust to native expression of the mood into which the +book had wrought him. The limitation of local color in his music is +not mentioned as a defect in the opera, for it is replaced at the +supreme moments, especially that at the opening of the third act, +with qualities far more entrancing than were likely to have come +from the use of popular idioms. Yet, the two Oriental melodies +having been mentioned, it is well to look at their structure to +discover the source of their singular charm. There is no mystery as +to the cause in the minds of students of folk-song. The tunes are +evolved from a scale so prevalent among peoples of Eastern origin +that it has come to be called the Oriental scale. Its distinguishing +characteristic is an interval, which contains three semitones:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +The interval occurring twice in this scale is enclosed in brackets. +Its characteristic effect is most obvious when the scale is +played downward. A beautiful instance of its artistic use is in +Rubinstein's song "Der Asra." The ancient synagogal songs of the +Jews are full of it, and it is one of the distinguishing marks of +the folk-songs of Hungary (the other being rhythmical), as witness +the "Rakoczy March." In some of the Eastern songs it occurs once, +in some twice (as in the case of the melodies printed above), and +there are instances of a triple use in the folk-songs of the modern +Greeks. + +Act II. News of the success of the Egyptian expedition against the +Ethiopians has reached Amneris, whose slaves attire her for the +scene of Radames's triumph. The slaves sing of Egypt's victory and +of love, the princess of her longing, and Moorish slaves dance +before her to dispel her melancholy. Aïda comes, weighed down by +grief. Amneris lavishes words of sympathy upon her, and succeeds in +making her betray her love for Radames by saying that he had been +killed in battle. Then she confesses the falsehood and proclaims her +own passion and purpose to crush her rival, who shall appear at the +triumph of Radames as her slave. Aïda's pride rebels for the moment, +and she almost betrays her own exalted station as the daughter of a +king. As a slave she accompanies the princess to the entrance gate +of Thebes, where the King, the priests, and a vast concourse of +people are to welcome Radames and witness his triumphal entry. +Radames, with his troops and a horde of Ethiopian prisoners, comes +into the city in a gorgeous pageant. The procession is headed by two +groups of trumpeters, who play a march melody, the stirring effect +of which is greatly enhanced by the characteristic tone quality of +the long, straight instruments which they use:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +A word about these trumpets. In shape, they recall antique +instruments, and the brilliancy of their tone is due partly to the +calibre of their straight tubes and partly to the fact that nearly +all the tones used are open--that is, natural harmonics of the +fundamental tones of the tubes. There is an anachronism in the +circumstance that they are provided with valves (which were not +invented until some thousands of years after the period of the +drama), but only one of the valves is used. The first trumpets are +in the key of A-flat and the second B-natural, a peculiarly stirring +effect being produced by the sudden shifting of the key of the march +when the second group of trumpeters enters on the scene. + +The King greets Radames with an embrace, bids him receive the wreath +of victory from the hands of his daughter and ask whatever boon +he will as a reward for his services. He asks, first, that the +prisoners be brought before the King. Among them Aïda recognizes +her father, who is disguised as an officer of the Ethiopian army. +The two are in each other's arms in a moment, but only long enough +for Amonasro to caution his daughter not to betray him. He bravely +confesses that he had fought for king and country, and pleads for +clemency for the prisoners. They join in the petition, as does +Aïda, and though the priests warn and protest, Radames asks the +boon of their lives and freedom, and the King grants it. Also, +without the asking, he bestows the hand of his daughter upon the +victorious general, who receives the undesired honor with +consternation. + +Transporting beauty rests upon the scene which opens the third act. +The moon shines brightly on the rippling surface of the Nile and +illumines a temple of Isis, perched amongst the tropical foliage +which crowns a rocky height. The silvery sheen is spread also over +the music, which arises from the orchestra like a light mist +burdened with sweet odors. Amneris enters the temple to ask the +blessing of the goddess upon her marriage, and the pious canticle +of the servitors within floats out on the windless air. A tone of +tender pathos breathes through the music which comes with Aïda, +who is to hold secret converse with her lover. Will he come? And if +so, will he speak a cruel farewell and doom her to death within the +waters of the river? A vision of her native land, its azure skies, +verdant vales, perfumed breezes, rises before her. Shall she never +see them more? Her father comes upon her. He knows of her passion +for Radames, but also of her love for home and kindred. He puts +added hues into the picture with which her heavy fancy had dallied, +and then beclouds it all with an account of homes and temples +profaned, maidens ravished, grandsires, mothers, children, slain by +the oppressor. Will she aid in the deliverance? She can by learning +from her lover by which path the Egyptians will against the +Ethiopians, who are still in the field, though their king is taken. +That she will not do. But Amonasro breaks down her resolution. +Hers will be the responsibility for torrents of blood, the +destruction of cities, the devastation of her country. No longer his +daughter she, but a slave of the Pharaohs! Her lover comes. She +affects to repulse him because of his betrothal to Amneris, but he +protests his fidelity and discloses his plan. The Ethiopians are in +revolt again. Again he will defeat them, and, returning again in +triumph, he will tell the King of his love for her and thereafter +live in the walks of peace. But Aïda tells him that the vengeance of +Amneris will pursue her, and urges him to fly with her. Reluctantly +he consents, and she, with apparent innocence, asks by which path +they shall escape the soldiery. Through the gorge of Napata; 'twill +be unpeopled till to-morrow, for it has been chosen as the route by +which the Egyptian advance shall be made. Exulting, Amonasro rushes +from his place of concealment. At the gorge of Napata will he place +his troops--he the King of Ethiopia! Radames has betrayed his +country. Amneris comes out of the temple, and Amonasro is about +to poignard her when Radames throws himself between. To the high +priest, Ramfis, he yields himself and his sword. Amonasro drags +Aïda away with him. + +We reach the last act of the drama. Radames is to be tried for +treason in having betrayed a secret of war to his country's enemy. +Amneris fain would save him were he to renounce Aïda and accept her +love. She offers on such terms to intercede for him with her father, +the king. From her Radames learns that Aïda escaped the guards who +slew her father. He is resolute to die rather than prove faithless +to her, and is led away to the subterranean trial chamber. Amneris, +crouched without, hears the accusing voices of the priests and the +awful silence which follows each accusation; for Radames refuses to +answer the charges. The priests pronounce sentence:--Burial alive! +Amneris hurls curses after them, but they depart, muttering, "Death +to the traitor!" + +Radames is immured in a vault beneath the temple of Vulcan, whose +sacred priestesses move in solemn steps above, while he gropes in +the darkness below. Never again shall light greet his eyes, nor +sight of Aïda. A groan. A phantom rises before him, and Aïda is at +his side. She had foreseen the doom of her lover, and entered the +tomb before him to die in his arms. Together they say their farewell +to the vale of tears, and their streaming eyes have a prevision of +heaven. Above in the temple a figure, shrouded in black, kneels +upon the stone which seals the vault and implores Isis to cease her +resentment and give her adored one peace. It is Amneris. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"DER FREISCHUTZ" + + +A description of Carl Maria von Weber's opera, "Der Freischütz," +ought to begin with a study of the overture, since that marvellous +composition has lived on and on in the concert-rooms of the world +without loss of popularity for nearly a century, while the opera +which it introduces has periodically come and gone according to +popular whim or the artistic convictions or caprices of managers in +all the countries which cultivate opera, except Germany. Why Germany +forms an exception to the rule will find an explanation when the +character of the opera and its history come under investigation. +The overture, notwithstanding its extraordinary charm, is only an +exalted example of the pot-pourri class of introductions (though +in the classic sonata form), which composers were in the habit of +writing when this opera came into existence, and which is still +imitated in an ignoble way by composers of ephemeral operettas. It +is constructed on a conventional model, and its thematic material is +drawn from the music of the opera; but, like the prelude to Wagner's +lyric comedy, "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg," it presents the +contents of the play in the form of what many years after its +composition came to be called a symphonic poem, and illustrates the +ideal which was in Gluck's mind when, in the preface to "Alceste," +he said, "I imagined that the overture ought to prepare the audience +for the action of the piece, and serve as a kind of argument to it." +The atmosphere of the opera is that which pervades the sylvan life +of Germany--its actualities and its mysteries, the two elements +having equal potency. Into the peacefulness of the woods the French +horns ("Forest horns," the Germans call them) usher us at once with +the hymn which they sing after a few introductory measures. + +[Musical excerpt] + +But no sooner do we yield to the caress of this mood than there +enters the supernatural element which invests the tragical portion +of the story. Ominous drum beats under a dissonant tremolo of the +strings and deep tones of the clarinets, a plangent declamatory +phrase of the violoncellos:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +tell us of the emotions of the hero when he feels himself deserted +by Heaven; the agitated principal subject of the main body of the +overture (Molto vivace):-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +proclaims his terror at the thought that he has fallen into the +power of the Evil One, while the jubilant second theme:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +gives voice to the happiness of the heroine and the triumph of love +and virtue which is the outcome of the drama. + +The first glimpse of the opera reveals an open space in a forest and +in it an inn and a target-shooting range. Max, a young assistant to +the Chief Forester of a Bohemian principality, is seated at a table +with a mug of beer before him, his face and attitude the picture of +despondency. Hard by, huntsmen and others are grouped around Kilian, +a young peasant who fires the last shot in a contest of marksmanship +as the scene is disclosed. He hits off the last remaining star on +the target, and is noisily acclaimed as Schützenkönig (King of the +Marksmen), and celebrated in a lusty song by the spectators, who +decorate the victor, and forming a procession bearing the trophies +of the match, march around the glade. As they pass Max they point +their fingers and jeer at him. Kilian joins in the sport until Max's +fuming ill-humor can brook the humiliation no longer; he leaps up, +seizes the lapel of Kilian's coat, and draws his hunting-knife. A +deadly quarrel seems imminent, but is averted by the coming of Cuno, +Chief Forester, and Caspar, who, like Max, is one of his assistants. +To the reproaches of Cuno, who sees the mob surging around Max, +Kilian explains that there was no ill-will in the mockery of him, +the crowd only following an old custom which permitted the people to +make sport of a contestant who failed to hit the target, and thus +forfeited the right to make trial for the kingship. Cuno is amazed +that a mere peasant should have defeated one of his foresters, and +that one the affianced lover of his daughter, Agathe, and who, as +his son-in-law, would inherit his office, provided he could prove +his fitness for it by a trial shot on the wedding day. That day had +been set for the morrow. How the custom of thus providing for the +successorship originated, Cuno now relates in answer to the +questions of one of the party. His great-grandfather, also bearer of +the name Cuno, had been one of the rangers of the prince who ruled +the dominion in his day. Once upon a time, in the course of a hunt, +the dogs started a stag who bounded toward the party with a man tied +to his back. It was thus that poachers were sometimes punished. The +Prince's pity was stirred, and he promised that whoever should shoot +the stag without harming the man should receive the office of Chief +Forester, to be hereditary in the family, and the tenancy of a +hunting lodge near by. Cuno, moved more by pity than hope of reward, +attempted the feat and succeeded. The Prince kept his promise, but +on a suggestion that the old hunter may have used a charmed bullet, +he made the hereditary succession contingent upon the success of a +trial shot. Before telling the tale, Cuno had warned Max to have a +care, for should he fail in the trial shot on the morrow, his +consent to the marriage between him and Agathe would be withdrawn. +Max had suspected that his ill luck for a month past, during which +time he had brought home not a single trophy of bird or beast, was +due to some malign influence, the cause of which he was unable to +fathom. He sings of the prowess and joys that once were his (Aria: +"Durch die Wälder, durch die Auen"), but falls into a moody dread at +the thought that Heaven has forsaken him and given him over to the +powers of darkness. It is here that the sinister music, mentioned in +the outline of the overture, enters the drama. It accompanies the +appearance of Samiel (the Wild Huntsman, or Black Hunter,--in short, +the Devil), and we have thus in Von Weber's opera a pre-Wagnerian +example of the Leitmotif of the Wagnerian commentators. Caspar +returns to the scene, which all the other personages have left to +join in a dance, and finds his associate in the depths of despair. +He plies Max with wine, and, affecting sympathy with him in his +misfortunes, gradually insinuates that there is a means of insuring +success on the morrow. Max remains sceptical until Caspar hands +him his rifle and bids him shoot at an eagle flying overhead. The +bird is plainly out of rifle range, a mere black dot against the +twilight sky; but Max, scarcely aiming, touches the trigger and an +eagle of gigantic size comes hurtling through the air and falls at +his feet. Max is convinced that there is a sure way to win his +bride on the morrow. He asks Caspar if he has more bullets like the +one just spent. No; that was the hunter's last; but more might be +obtained, provided the effort be made that very night. The moment +was propitious. It was the second of three days in which the sun was +in the constellation of the Archer; at midnight there would occur an +eclipse of the moon. What a fortunate coincidence that all the omens +should be fair at so momentous a juncture of Max's affairs! The fear +of losing his bride overcomes Max's scruples; he agrees to meet the +tempter in the Wolf's Glen, a spot of evil repute, at midnight, and +at least witness the casting of more of the charmed bullets. + +At the moment when Max's shot brought down the eagle, a portrait of +the original Cuno fell from the wall of the cottage occupied by his +descendant; and when the second act begins, we see Aennchen, a +cousin of Agathe's, putting it back in its place. Aennchen is +inclined to be playful and roguish, and serves as a pretty foil to +the sentimental Agathe. She playfully scolds the nail which she is +hammering into the wall again for so rudely dropping the old ranger +to the floor, and seeks to dispel the melancholy which has obsessed +her cousin by singing songs about the bad companionship of the blues +and the humors of courtship. She succeeds, in a measure, and Agathe +confesses that she had felt a premonition of danger ever since a +pious Hermit, to whom she had gone for counsel in the course of the +day, had warned her of the imminency of a calamity which he could +not describe. The prediction seemed to have been fulfilled in the +falling of the picture, which had slightly hurt her, but might +easily have killed her. Aennchen urges her to go to bed, but she +refuses, saying she shall not retire for sleep until Max has come. +Agathe sings the scena which has clung to our concert-rooms as +persistently as the overture. The slow portion of the aria ("Leise, +leise, fromme Weise"), like the horn music at the beginning of the +overture, has found its way into the Protestant hymn-books of +England and America, and its Allegro furnishes forth the jubilant +music of the instrumental introduction to the opera. Berlioz in his +book "A Travers Chants" writes in a fine burst of enthusiasm of this +scena: "It is impossible for any listener to fail to hear the sighs +of the orchestra during the prayer of the virtuous maiden who awaits +the coming of her affianced lover; or the strange hum in which the +alert ear imagines it hears the rustling of the tree-tops. It even +seems as if the darkness grew deeper and colder at that magical +modulation to C major. What a sympathetic shudder comes over one at +the cry: ''Tis he! 'tis he!' No, no. It must be confessed, there +is no other aria as beautiful as this. No master, whether German, +Italian, or French, was ever able to delineate, as is done here in +a single scene, holy prayer, melancholy, disquiet, pensiveness, the +slumber of nature, the mysterious harmony of the starry skies, the +torture of expectation, hope, uncertainty, joy, frenzy, delight, +love delirious! And what an orchestra to accompany these noble song +melodies! What inventiveness! What ingenious discoveries! What +treasures of sudden inspiration! These flutes in the depths; this +quartet of violins; these passages in sixths between violas and +'cellos; this crescendo bursting into refulgence at the close; these +pauses during which the passions seem to be gathering themselves +together in order to launch their forces anew with greater +vehemence! No, this piece has not its fellow! Here is an art that +is divine! This is poetry; this is love itself!" + +Max comes at last, but he is preoccupied, and his words and acts do +little to reassure Agathe. She wants to know what luck he had at +the shooting-match, and he replies that he did not participate in +the target-shooting, but had nevertheless been marvellously lucky, +pointing to the eagle's feather in his hat as proof. At the same +moment he notices the blood upon his sweetheart's hair, and her +explanation of the falling of the portrait of her ancestor just as +the clock struck seven greatly disturbs him. Agathe, too, lapses +into gloomy brooding; she has fears for the morrow, and the thought +of the monstrous eagle terrifies her. And now Max, scarcely come, +announces that he must go; he had shot, he says, a stag deep in the +woods near the Wolf's Glen, indeed, and must bring it in lest the +peasants steal it. In a trio Aennchen recalls the uncanny nature of +the spot, Agathe warns against the sin of tempting Providence and +begs him to stay; but Max protests his fearlessness and the call of +duty, and hurries away to meet Caspar, at the appointed time in the +appointed place. We see him again in the Wolf's Glen, but Caspar is +there before him. The glen lies deep in the mountains. A cascade +tumbles down the side of a mighty crag on the one hand; on the other +sits a monstrous owl on the branch of a blasted tree, blinking +evilly. A path leads steeply down to a great cave. The moon throws +a lurid light on the scene and shows us Caspar in his shirt-sleeves +preparing for his infernal work. He arranges black stones in +a circle around a skull. His tools lie beside him: a ladle, +bullet-mould, and eagle's-wing fan. The high voices of an invisible +chorus utter the cry of the owl, which the orchestra mixes with +gruesome sounds, while bass voices monotonously chant:-- + + Poisoned dew the moon hath shed, + Spider's web is dyed with red; + Ere to-morrow's sun hath died + Death will wed another bride. + Ere the moon her course has run + Deeds of darkness will be done. {1} + +On the last stroke of a distant bell which rings midnight, Caspar +thrusts his hunting-knife into the skull, raises it on high, turns +around three times, and summons his familiar:-- + + By th' enchanter's skull, oh, hear, + Samiel, Samiel, appear! + +The demon answers in person, and the reason of Caspar's temptation +of Max is made plain. He has sold himself to the devil for the +charmed bullets, the last of which had brought down the eagle, and +the time for the delivery of his soul is to come on the morrow. He +asks a respite on the promise to deliver another victim into the +demon's hands,--his companion Max. What, asks the Black Huntsman, +is the proffered victim's desire? The magical bullets. + + Sechse treffen, + Sieben äffen! + +warns Samiel, and Caspar suggests that the seventh bullet be +directed to the heart of the bride; her death would drive both lover +and father to despair. But Samiel says that as yet he has no power +over the maiden; he will claim his victim on the morrow, Max or him +who is already his bondsman. Caspar prepares for the moulding. The +skull disappears, and in its place rises a small furnace in which +fagots are aglow. Ghostly birds, perched on the trees round about in +the unhallowed spot, fan the fire with their wings. Max appears on a +crag on one side of the glen and gazes down. The sights and sounds +below affright him; but he summons up his courage and descends part +way. Suddenly his steps are arrested by a vision of his dead mother, +who appears on the opposite side of the gulch and raises her hand +warningly. Caspar mutters a prayer for help to the fiend and bids +Max look again. Now the figure is that of Agathe, who seems about to +throw herself into the mountain torrent. The sight nerves him and he +hurries down. The moon enters into an eclipse, and Caspar begins his +infernal work after cautioning Max not to enter the circle nor utter +a word, no matter what he sees or who comes to join them. Into the +melting-pot Caspar now puts the ingredients of the charm: some lead, +bits of broken glass from a church window, a bit of mercury, three +bullets that have already hit their mark, the right eye of a +lapwing, the left of a lynx; then speaks the conjuration formula:-- + + Thou who roamst at midnight hour, + Samiel, Samiel, thy pow'r! + Spirit dread, be near this night + And complete the mystic rite. + By the shade of murderer's dead, + Do thou bless the charmed lead. + Seven the number we revere; + Samiel, Samiel, appear! + +The contents of the ladle commence to hiss and burn with a greenish +flame; a cloud obscures the moon wholly, and the scene is lighted +only by the fire under the melting-pot, the owl's eyes, and the +phosphorescent glow of the decaying oaks. As he casts the bullets, +Caspar calls out their number, which the echoes repeat. Strange +phenomena accompany each moulding; night-birds come flying from the +dark woods and gather around the fire; a black boar crashes through +the bushes and rushes through the glen; a hurricane hurtles through +the trees, breaking their tops and scattering the sparks from the +furnace; four fiery wheels roll by; the Wild Hunt dashes through the +air; thunder, lightning, and hail fill the air, flames dart from the +earth, and meteors fall from the sky; at the last the Black Hunter +himself appears and grasps at Max's hand; the forester crosses +himself and falls to the earth, where Caspar already lies stretched +out unconscious. Samiel disappears, and the tempest abates. Max +raises himself convulsively and finds his companion still lying on +the ground face downward. + +At the beginning of the third act the wedding day has dawned. It +finds Agathe kneeling in prayer robed for the wedding. She sings +a cavatina ("Und ob die Wolken sie verhülle") which proclaims +her trust in Providence. Aennchen twits her for having wept; but +"bride's tears and morning rain--neither does for long remain." +Agathe has been tortured by a dream, and Aennehen volunteers to +interpret it. The bride had dreamt that she had been transformed +into a white dove and was flying from tree to tree when Max +discharged his gun at her. She fell stricken, but immediately +afterward was her own proper self again and saw a monstrous black +bird of prey wallowing in its blood. Aennchen explains all as +reflexes of the incidents of the previous night--the work on the +white bridal dress, the terrible black feather on Max's hat; and +merrily tells a ghostly tale of a nocturnal visitor to her sainted +aunt which turned out to be the watch-dog. Enter the bridesmaids +with their song:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Wir winden dir den Jungfernkranz mit +veilchenblauer Seide"] + +Nearly three generations of Germans have sung this song; it has +accompanied them literally from the cradle to the grave. When Ludwig +Geyer, Richard Wagner's stepfather, lay dying, the lad, then seven +years old, was told to play the little piece in a room adjoining the +sick chamber. The dying man had been concerned about the future of +his stepson. He listened. "What if he should have talent for music?" +Long years after the mother told this story, and the son, when +he became famous as a composer, repeated it in one of his +autobiographical writings, and told with what awe his childish eyes +had looked on the composer as he passed by the door on the way to +and from the theatre. + +Evil omens pursue Agathe even on her bridal morn. The bridesmaids +are still singing to her when Aennchen brings a box which she thinks +contains the bridal wreath. All fall back in dismay when out comes a +funeral wreath of black. Even Aennchen's high spirits are checked +for a moment; but she finds an explanation. Old Cuno has tumbled +from the wall a second time; but she herself assumes the blame: the +nail was rusty and she not an adept with the hammer. The action now +hastens to its close. Prince Ottokar, with his retainers, is present +at the festival at which Max is to justify Cuno's choice of him as a +son-in-law. The choice meets with the Prince's approval. The moment +approaches for the trial shot, and Max stands looking at the last of +his charmed bullets, which seems to weigh with ominous heaviness in +his hand. He had taken four of the seven and Caspar three. Of the +four he had spent three in unnecessary shots; but he hopes that +Caspar has kept his. Of course Caspar has done nothing of the kind. +It is suggested that Max shoot at once, not awaiting the arrival of +his betrothed, lest the sight of her make him nervous. The Prince +points to a white dove as the mark, and Max lifts his gun. At the +moment Agathe rushes forward, crying, "Do not shoot; I am the dove!" +The bird flies toward a tree which Caspar, impatient for the coming +of his purposed victim, had climbed. Max follows it with his gun and +pulls the trigger. Agathe and Caspar both fall to the ground. The +holy man of the woods raises Agathe, who is unhurt; but Caspar dies +with curses for everything upon his lips. The devil has cared for +his own and claimed his forfeit. Ottokar orders his corpse thrown +amongst the carrion in the Wolf's Glen and turns to Max for an +explanation. He confesses his wrong and is ordered out of the +Prince's dominion; but on the intercession of Cuno, Agathe, and the +Hermit the sentence is commuted to a year of probation, at the end +of which time he shall marry his love. But the traditional trial +shot is abolished. + + * * * + +Though there are a dozen different points of view from which Weber's +opera "Der Freischütz" is of fascinating interest, it is almost +impossible for any one except a German to understand fully what the +opera means now to the people from whose loins the composer sprung, +and quite impossible to realize what it meant to them at the time of +its production. "Der Freischütz" is spoken of in all the handbooks +as a "national" opera. There are others to which the term might +correctly and appropriately be applied--German, French, Italian, +Bohemian, Hungarian, Russian; but there never was an opera, and +there is no likelihood that there ever will be one, so intimately +bound up with the loves, feelings, sentiments, emotions, +superstitions, social customs, and racial characteristics of a +people as this is with the loves, feelings, sentiments, emotions, +superstitions, social customs, and racial characteristics of the +Germans. In all its elements as well as in its history it is +inextricably intertwined with the fibres of German nationality. It +could not have been written at another time than it was; it could +not have been written by any other composer living at that time; +it could not have been conceived by any artist not saturated with +Germanism. It is possible to argue one's self into a belief of +these things, but only the German can feel them. Yet there is no +investigator of comparative mythology and religion who ought not to +go to the story of the opera to find an illustration of one of the +pervasive laws of his science; there is no folklorist who ought not +to be drawn to its subject; no student of politics and sociology who +cannot find valuable teachings in its history; no critic who can +afford to ignore its significance in connection with the evolution +of musical styles and schools; no biographer who can fail to observe +the kinship which the opera establishes between the first operatic +romanticist and him who brought the romantic movement to its +culmination; that is, between Carl Maria von Weber and Richard +Wagner. It is even a fair subject for the study of the scientific +psychologist, for, though the story of the opera is generally +supposed to be a fanciful structure reared on a legendary +foundation, it was a veritable happening which gave it currency a +century ago and brought it to the notice of the composer; and this +happening may have an explanation in some of the psychical phenomena +to which modern science is again directing attention, such as +hypnotism, animal magnetism, and the like. + +I am here not at all fanciful. Some thirty years ago I came across +a pamphlet published by Dr. J. G. Th. Grässe, a Saxon Court +Councillor, in which he traced the origin of the story at the base +of "Der Freischütz" to a confession made in open court in a Bohemian +town in 1710. Grässe found the story in a book entitled "Monathliche +Unterredungen aus dem Reich der Geister," published in Leipsic in +1730, the author of which stated that he had drawn the following +statement of facts from judicial records: In 1710 in a town in +Bohemia, George Schmid, a clerk, eighteen years old, who was a +passionate lover of target-shooting, was persuaded by a hunter to +join in an enterprise for moulding charmed bullets on July 30, the +same being St. Abdon's Day. The hunter promised to aid the young +man in casting sixty-three bullets, of which sixty were to hit +infallibly and three to miss just as certainly. The two men provided +themselves with coals, moulds, etc., and betook themselves at +nightfall to a cross-roads. There the hunter drew a circle with his +knife and placed mysterious characters, the meaning of which his +companion did not know, around the edge. This done, he told the +clerk to step within the ring, take off his clothing, and make +denial of God and the Holy Trinity. The bullets, said the hunter, +must all be cast between eleven o'clock and midnight, or the clerk +would fall into the clutches of the devil. At eleven o'clock the +dead coals began to glow of their own accord, and the two men began +the moulding, although all manner of ghostly apparitions tried to +hinder them. At last there came a horseman in black, who demanded +the bullets which had been cast. The hunter refused to yield them +up, and in revenge the horseman threw something into the fire which +sent out so noisome an odor that the two venturesome men fell half +dead within the circle. The hunter escaped, and, as it turned out +subsequently, betook himself to the Salzkammergut, near Salzburg; +but the clerk was found lying at the crossroads and carried into +town. There he made a complete confession in court, and because he +had had intercourse with the Evil One, doubtless, was condemned to +be burned to death. In consideration of his youth, however, the +sentence was commuted to imprisonment at hard labor for six years. + +In the legend of the Wild Huntsman, who under the name of Samiel +purchases the souls of men with his magic bullets, the folklorist +and student of the evolution of religions sees one of many evidences +of ancient mythology perverted to bring it into the service of +Christianity. Originally the Wild Huntsman was Odin (or Wotan). The +missionaries to the Germans, finding it difficult to root out belief +in the ancient deities, gave their attributes to saints in a few +cases, but for the greater part transformed them into creatures of +evil. It was thus that Frau Holle (or Holda) became a wicked Venus, +as we shall see in the next chapter. The little spotted beetle which +English and American children call ladybug or lady-bird (that is, +the bug or bird of our Lady), the Germans Marienkäferchen, and the +French La bête du bon Dieu, was sacred to Holda; and though the name +of the Virgin Mary was bestowed upon it in the long ago, it still +remains a love oracle, as the little ones know who bid it-- + + Fly to the East, + And fly to the West, + And fly to the one that I love best! + +It was the noise of Wotan's hunting train which the ancient Germans +heard when the storms of winter howled and whistled through the deep +woods of the Northland; but in time it came to be the noise of the +Wild Hunt. In Thuringia the rout headed by Frau Holda and the Wild +Huntsman issues in the Yuletide from the cave in the Horselberg, +which is the scene of Tannhäuser's adventure with Venus in Wagner's +opera, and Holda is the mother of many of the uncanny creatures +which strike terror to the souls of the unlucky huntsmen who chance +to espy them. + +From the story drawn from the records of the Bohemian law court, it +is plain that to make a compact with the Wild Huntsman was a much +more gruesome and ceremonious proceeding than that which took place +between Faust and the Evil One in the operas of Gounod and Boito. +In both these instances a scratch of the pen sufficed, and the +deliberations which preceded the agreement were conducted in a +decorous and businesslike manner. But to invoke Samiel and obtain +his gifts was a body, mind, and nerve-racking business. In some +particulars the details differed a little from those testified to by +the Bohemian clerk. In the first place, the Devil's customer had to +repair to a crossroads of a Friday between midnight and one o'clock +when the moon was in an eclipse and the sun in Sagittarius. If in +such a place and at such a time he drew a circle around himself with +his hunting-spear and called "Samiel!" three times, that worthy +would appear, and a bargain might be driven with him for his wares, +which consisted of seven magical bullets ("free bullets," they were +called), which were then cast under the eye of the Evil One and +received his "blessing." The course of six of them rested with the +"free shooter," but the seventh belonged to Samiel, who might direct +it wheresoever he wished. The price of these bullets was the soul of +the man who moulded them, at the end of three years; but it was the +privilege of the bondsman to purchase a respite before the +expiration of the period by delivering another soul into the +clutches of the demon. + +Weber used all these details in his opera, and added to them the +fantastic terrors of the Wild Hunt and the Wolf's Glen. Of this +favored abode of the Evil One, Wagner gave a vivid description in an +essay on "Der Freischütz" which he wrote for the Gazette musicale in +May, 1841, when the opera was preparing, under the hand of Berlioz, +for representation at the Grand Opéra in Paris. Wagner's purpose in +writing the essay was to acquaint the Parisians with the contents +and spirit of the piece, make them understand its naïve Teutonism, +and also to save it from the maltreatment and mutilation which he +knew it would have to suffer if it were to be made to conform to +the conventions of the Académie. He wanted to preserve the spoken +dialogue and keep out the regulation ballet, for the sake of which +he had to make changes in his "Tannhäuser" twenty years later. He +failed in both efforts, and afterward wrote an account of the +performance for a German newspaper, which is one of the best +specimens of the feuilleton style which his sojourn in Paris +provoked. There was no need of telling his countrymen what the +Wolf's Glen was, for it had been the most familiar of all scenes in +the lyric theatres of Germany for a score of years, but for the +Parisians he pictured the place in which Weber's hero meets Samiel +very graphically indeed:-- + +"In the heart of the Bohemian Forest, old as the world, lies the +Wolf's Glen. Its legend lingered till the Thirty Years' War, which +destroyed the last traces of German grandeur; but now, like many +another boding memory, it has died out from the folk. Even at that +time most men only knew the gulch by hearsay. They would relate how +some gamekeeper, straying on indeterminable paths through wild, +untrodden thickets, scarce knowing how, had come to the brink of the +Wolf's Gulch. Returning, he had told of gruesome sights he had there +seen, at which the hearer crossed himself and prayed the saints to +shield him from ever wandering to that region. Even on his approach +the keeper had heard an eerie sound; though the wind was still, a +muffled moaning filled the branches of the ancient pines, which +bowed their dark heads to and fro unbidden. Arrived at the verge, +he had looked down into an abyss whose depths his eye could never +plumb. Jagged reefs of rock stood high in shape of human limbs and +terribly distorted faces. Beside them heaps of pitch-black stones in +form of giant toads and lizards; they moved and crept and rolled +in heavy ragged masses; but under them the ground could no more be +distinguished. From thence foul vapors rose incessantly and spread +a pestilential stench around. Here and there they would divide and +range themselves in ranks that took the form of human beings with +faces all convulsed. Upon a rotting tree-trunk in the midst of all +these horrors sat an enormous owl, torpid in its daytime roost; +behind it a frowning cavern, guarded by two monsters direly blent of +snake and toad and lizard. These, with all the other seeming life +the chasm harbored, lay in deathlike slumber, and any movement +visible was that of one plunged in deep dreams; so that the forester +had dismal fears of what this odious crew might wake into at +midnight. + +"But still more horrible than what he saw, was what he heard. A +storm that stirred nothing, and whose gusts he himself could not +feel, howled over the glen, paused suddenly, as if listening to +itself, and then broke out again with added fury. Atrocious cries +thronged from the pit; then a flock of countless birds of prey +ascended from its bowels, spread like a pitch-black pall across the +gulf, and fell back again into night. The screeches sounded to the +huntsman like the groans of souls condemned, and tore his heart with +anguish never felt before. Never had he heard such cries, compared +to which the croak of ravens was as the song of nightingales. And +now again deep silence; all motion ceased; only in the depths there +seemed a sluggish writhing, and the owl flapped its wings as though +in a dream. The most undaunted huntsman, the best acquainted with +the wood's nocturnal terrors, fled like a timid roe in speechless +agony, and, heedless where his footsteps bore him, ran breathless to +the nearest hut, the nearest cabin, to meet some human soul to whom +to tell his horrible adventure, yet ne'er could find words in which +to frame it." {2} + +So much for the folklore and mythology of "Der Freischütz," the +element which makes it not only a national but also the chiefest of +romantic operas. We are grown careless in our use of musical terms, +or else it would not be necessary to devote words to an explanation +of what is meant by romantic in this case. We hear a great deal +about romanticism as contradistinguished from classicism, but it +is seldom that we have the line of demarcation between the two +tendencies or schools drawn for us. Classical composers, I am +inclined to think, are composers of the first rank who have +developed music to its highest perfection on its formal side in +obedience to long and widely accepted laws, preferring aesthetic +beauty over emotional content, or, at any rate, refusing to +sacrifice form to characteristic expression. Romantic composers +would then be those who have sought their ideals in other directions +and striven to give them expression irrespective of the restrictions +and limitations of form--composers who, in short, prefer content +to manner. In the sense of these definitions, Weber's opera is a +classic work, for in it the old forms which Wagner's influence +destroyed are preserved. Nevertheless, "Der Freischütz" is romantic +in a very particular sense, and it is in this romanticism that its +political significance to which I have referred lies. It is romantic +in subject and the source of its inspiration. This source is the +same to which the creators of the romantic school of literature +went for its subjects--the fantastical stories of chivalry and +knighthood, of which the principal elements were the marvellous +and supernatural. The literary romanticists did a great deal to +encourage patriotism among the Germans in the beginning of the +nineteenth century by disclosing to the German people the wealth +of their legendary lore and the beauty of their folk-songs. The +circumstances which established the artistic kinship between Von +Weber and Wagner, to which I have alluded, was a direct fruit of +this patriotism. In 1813 Von Weber went to Prague to organize a +German opera. A part of the following summer he spent in Berlin. +Prussia was leading Europe in the effort to throw off the yoke of +Bonaparte, and the youths of the Prussian capital, especially the +students, were drunken with the wine of Körner's "Lyre and Sword." +While returning to Prague Von Weber stopped for a while at the +castle Gräfen-Tonna, where he composed some of Körner's poems, among +them "Lützow's wilde Jagd" and the "Schwertlied." These songs were +soon in everybody's mouth and acted like sparks flung into the +powder-magazine of national feeling. Naturally they reacted upon the +composer himself, and under their influence and the spirit which +they did so much to foster Weber's Germanism developed from an +emotion into a religion. He worked with redoubled zeal in behalf of +German opera at Prague, and when he was called to be Court Music +Director in Dresden in 1817, he entered upon his duties as if +consecrated to a holy task. He had found the conditions more +favorable to German opera in the Bohemian capital than in the Saxon. +In Prague he had sloth and indifference to overcome; in Dresden the +obstacles were hatred of Prussia, the tastes of a court and people +long accustomed to Italian traditions, and the intrigues of his +colleagues in the Italian opera and the church. What I wrote some +eighteen years ago {3} of Weber's labors in Dresden may serve again +to make plain how the militant Germanism of the composer achieved +its great triumph. + +The Italian régime was maintained in Dresden through the efforts of +the conductor of the Italian opera, Morlacchi; the concert master, +Poledro; the church composer, Schubert, and Count von Einsiedel, +Cabinet Minister. The efforts of these men placed innumerable +obstacles in Weber's path, and their influence heaped humiliations +upon him. Confidence alone in the ultimate success of his efforts to +regenerate the lyric drama sustained him in his trials. Against the +merely sensuous charm of suave melody and lovely singing he opposed +truthfulness of feeling and conscientious endeavor for the +attainment of a perfect ensemble. Here his powers of organization, +trained by his experiences in Prague, his perfect knowledge of the +stage, imbibed with his mother's milk, and his unquenchable zeal, +gave him amazing puissance. Thoroughness was his watchword. He put +aside the old custom of conducting while seated at the pianoforte, +and appeared before his players with a bâton. He was an inspiration, +not a figurehead. His mind and his emotions dominated theirs, and +were published in the performance. He raised the standard of the +chorus, stimulated the actors, inspected the stage furnishings and +costumes, and stamped harmony of feeling, harmony of understanding, +and harmony of effort upon the first work undertaken--a performance +of Méhul's "Joseph in Egypt." Nor did he confine his educational +efforts to the people of the theatre. He continued in Dresden the +plan first put into practice by him in Prague of printing articles +about new operas in the newspapers to stimulate public appreciation +of their characteristics and beauties. For a while the work of +organization checked his creative energies, but when his duties +touching new music for court or church functions gave him the +opportunity, he wrote with undiminished energy. + +In 1810 Apel's "Gespensterbuch" had fallen into his hands and he had +marked the story of "Der Freischütz" for treatment. His mind +reverted to it again in the spring of 1817. Friedrich Kind agreed to +write the book, and placed it complete in his hands on March 1, nine +days after he had undertaken the commission. Weber's enthusiasm was +great, but circumstances prevented him from devoting much time to +the composition of the opera. He wrote the first of its music in +July, 1817, but did not complete it till May 13, 1820. It was in his +mind during all this period, however, and would doubtless have been +finished much earlier had he received an order to write an opera +from the Saxon court. In this expectation he was disappointed, and +the honor of having encouraged the production of the most national +opera ever written went to Berlin, where the patriotism which had +been warmed by Weber's setting of Körner's songs was still ablaze, +and where Count Brühl's plans were discussing to bring him to the +Prussian capital as Capellmeister. The opera was given on June 18, +1821, under circumstances that produced intense excitement in the +minds of Weber's friends. The sympathies of the musical areopagus of +Berlin were not with Weber or his work--neither before nor after the +first performance; but Weber spoke to the popular heart, and its +quick, responsive throb lifted him at once to the crest of the wave +which soon deluged all Germany. The overture had to be repeated to +still the applause that followed its first performance, and when the +curtain fell on the last scene, a new chapter in German art had been +opened. {4} + + +Footnotes: + +{1} Natalia Macfarren's translation. + +{2} "Richard Wagner's Prose Works," translated by William Ashton +Ellis, Vol. VII, p. 169. + +{3} "Famous Composers and their Works," Vol. I, p. 396. + +{4} As I write it is nearly eighty-five years since "Der Freischütz" +was first heard in New York. The place was the Park Theatre and +the date March 2, 1825. The opera was only four years old at the +time, and, in conformity with the custom of the period, the +representation, which was in English, no doubt was a very different +affair from that to which the public has become accustomed since. +But it is interesting to know that there is at least one opera in +the Metropolitan list which antedates the first Italian performance +ever given in America. Even at that early day the scene in the +Wolf's Glen created a sensation. The world over "Der Freischütz" is +looked upon as peculiarly the property of the Germans, but a German +performance of it was not heard in New York till 1856, when the +opera was brought out under the direction of Carl Bergmann, at the +old Broadway Theatre. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"TANNHAUSER" + + +Nothing could have demonstrated more perfectly the righteousness of +Wagner's claim to the title of poet than his acceptance of the Greek +theory that a people's legends and myths are the fittest subjects +for dramatic treatment, unless it be the manner in which he has +reshaped his material in order to infuse it with that deep ethical +principle to which reference has several times been made. In "The +Flying Dutchman," "The Nibelung's Ring," and "Tannhäuser" the idea +is practically his creation. In the last of these dramas it is +evolved out of the simple episode in the parent-legend of the death +of Lisaura, whose heart broke when her knight went to kiss the Queen +of Love and Beauty. The dissolute knight of the old story Wagner in +turn metamorphoses into a type of manhood "in its passionate desires +and ideal aspirations"--the Faust of Goethe. All the magnificent +energy of our ideal man is brought forward in the poet's conception, +but it is an energy which is shattered in its fluctuation between +sensual delights and ideal aspirations, respectively typified in the +Venus and Elizabeth of the play. Here is the contradiction against +which he was shattered as the heroes of Greek tragedy were shattered +on the rock of implacable Fate. But the transcendent beauty of the +modern drama is lent by the ethical idea of salvation through the +love of pure woman--a salvation touching which no one can be in +doubt when Tannhäuser sinks lifeless beside the bier of the atoning +saint, and Venus's cries of woe are swallowed up by the pious +canticle of the returning pilgrims. {1} + +It will be necessary in the expositions of the lyric dramas of +Wagner, which I shall attempt in these chapters, to choose only such +material as will serve directly to help to an understanding of them +as they move by the senses in the theatre, leaving the reader to +consult the commentaries, which are plentiful, for deeper study of +the composer's methods and philosophical purposes. Such study is not +to be despised; but, unless it be wisely conducted, it is likely to +be a hindrance rather than a help to enjoyment. It is a too common +error of musical amateurs to devote their attention to the forms and +names of the phrases out of which Wagner constructs his musical +fabric, especially that of his later dramas. This tendency has been +humored, even in the case of the earlier operas, by pedants, who +have given names to the themes which the composer used, though he +had not yet begun to apply the system of symbolization which marks +his works beginning with "Tristan und Isolde." It has been done with +"Tannhäuser," though it is, to all intents and purposes, an opera of +the conventional type, and not what is called a "music-drama." The +reminiscent use of themes is much older than Wagner. It is well to +familiarize one's self with the characteristic elements of a score, +but, as I have urged in the book quoted above, if we confine our +study of Wagner to the forms of the musical motives and the names +which have arbitrarily been given to them, we shall at the last have +enriched our minds with a thematic catalogue, and nothing else. It +is better to know nothing about these names, and content ourselves +with simple, sensuous enjoyment, than to spend our time at the +theatre answering the baldest of all the riddles of Wagner's +orchestra: "What am I playing now?" In the studies of Wagner's works +I shall point to some of the most significant phrases in the music +in connection with significant occurrences in the play, but I shall +seldom, if ever, analyze the motival construction in the style of +the Wolzogen handbooks. + + * * * + +There are texts in the prefatory excerpt for a discussion of +"Tannhäuser" from all the points of view which might make such a +discussion interesting and profitable. There is no doubt in my mind +that it is the poet-composer's noblest tragedy and, from a literary +point of view, his most artistic. It is laid out on such a broad, +simple, and symmetrical plan that its dramatic contents can be set +forth in a few paragraphs, and we can easily forego a detailed +description of its scenes. A knightly minstrel, who has taken part +in one of the tournaments of song which tradition says used to be +held at the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia in the early part of +the thirteenth century, has, by his song and bearing, won the heart +of Elizabeth, niece of the Landgrave. Unmindful of his great good +fortune, he has found his way to the court held by the Goddess of +Love within the hollow of the Hörselberg, which lies across the +valley and over against the Wartburg. Dame Venus herself becomes +enamoured of the knight, who calls himself Tannhäuser, and for a +year and a day he remains at her side and in her arms. At length, +mind and senses surfeited, a longing seizes him for the world which +he has abandoned, for the refreshing sights and sounds of earth, +and even for its pains. Dame Venus seeks to detain him, but he is +resolute to leave her and her realm. Like a true knight, however, he +promises to sing her praises wherever he may go; but when she offers +to welcome him again if he should weary and sicken of the world and +seek redemption from its hypocrisies, he replies that for him +redemption rests only in the Virgin Mary. The invocation breaks the +bonds of enchantment which have held him. The scenes of allurement +which have so long surrounded him melt away, and he finds himself in +an attitude of prayer in a blooming valley below the Wartburg. It +is spring, and a shepherd lad, seated on a rock, trolls a lay to +spring's goddess. A troop of pilgrims passing by on their way to +Rome suggest by their canticle the need of absolution from the +burden of sin which rests upon him, but before he can join them, the +Landgrave and a hunting party come upon him. He is recognized by his +erstwhile companions in song, and consents to return to the castle +on being told by one of the minstrels, Wolfram von Esehenbach, that +his song had vanquished not only them, but the heart of the saintly +Elizabeth as well. + +In the Wartburg Tannhäuser meets the maiden whose heart he has won +just after she has apostrophized the walls which had echoed his +voice; and from him she learns the meaning of the strange emotion +which fills her in his presence. Again minstrels gather before a +company of great nobles for a contest in the Hall of Song. Love is +to be the theme, and the hand of Elizabeth the reward of the victor. +Spiritual love is hymned by Tannhäuser's companions. Wolfram von +Eschenbach likens it to a pure fountain from which only high and +sacred feelings can flow. Tannhäuser questions the right of those +who have not experienced the passion as he has felt it to define the +nature of love. Goaded by the taunts and threats of rude Biterolf, +he bursts forth in a praise of Venus. The assembly is in commotion. +Swords are drawn. Sacrilege must be punished. Death confronts the +impiously daring minstrel. But Elizabeth, whose heart has been +mortally pierced by his words, interposes to save him. She has been +stricken, but what is that to his danger of everlasting damnation? +Would they rob his soul of its eternal welfare? The knight, +indifferent to a score of swords, is crushed by such unselfish +devotion, and humbly accepts the Landgrave's clemency, which spares +his life that he may join a younger band of pilgrims and seek +absolution at Rome. He goes to the Holy City, mortifying his flesh +at every step, and humbles himself in self-abasement and accusation +before the Pope; but only to hear from the hard lips of the Keeper +of the Keys that for such sin as his there is as little hope of +deliverance as for the rebudding of the papal staff. + +The elder pilgrims return in the fall of the year, and Elizabeth +eagerly seeks among them for the face of the knight whose soul and +body she had tried to save. He is not among them. Gently she puts +aside the proffered help of Wolfram, whose unselfish love is ever +with her, climbs the hill to the castle, and dies. Famished and +footsore, Tannhäuser staggers after the band of pilgrims who +have returned to their homes with sins forgiven. His greeting of +Wolfram is harsh, but the good minstrel's sympathy constrains him to +tell the story of his vain pilgrimage. Salvation forfeited, naught +is left for him but to seek surcease of suffering in the arms of +Venus. Again he sees her grotto streaming with roseate light and +hears her alluring voice. He rushes forward toward the scene of +enchantment, but Wolfram utters again the name of her who is now +pleading for him before the judgment seat, of God Himself; and he +reels back. A funeral cortège descends from the castle. With an +agonized cry: "Holy Elizabeth, pray for me!" Tannhäuser sinks +lifeless beside the bier just as the band of younger pilgrims comes +from Rome bearing the crozier of the Pope clothed in fresh verdure. +They hymn the miracle of redemption. + + * * * + +Wagner has himself told us what fancies he is willing shall flit +through the minds of listeners to the overture to his opera. It was +performed at a concert under his direction while he was a political +refugee at Zurich, and for the programme of the concert he wrote a +synopsis of its musical and poetical contents which I shall give +here in the translation made by William Ashton Ellis, but with the +beginnings of the themes which are referred to reproduced in musical +notes:-- + +To begin with, the orchestra leads before us the pilgrims' chant +alone:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +it draws near, then swells into a mighty outpour and passes, +finally, away. Evenfall; last echo of the chant. As night breaks, +magic sights and sounds appear, the whirlings of a fearsomely +voluptuous dance are seen:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +These are the Venusberg's seductive spells that show themselves at +dead of night to those whose breasts are fired by daring of the +senses. Attracted by the tempting show, a shapely human form draws +nigh; 'tis Tannhäuser, love's minstrel. He sounds his jubilant song +of love + +[Musical excerpt] + +in joyous challenge, as though to force the wanton witchery to do +his bidding. Wild cries of riot answer him; the rosy cloud grows +denser round him; entrancing perfumes hem him in and steal away his +senses. In the most seductive of half-lights his wonder-seeing eye +beholds a female form indicible; he hears a voice that sweetly +murmurs out the siren call, which promises contentment of the +darer's wildest wishes:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Venus herself it is, this woman who appears to him. Then the heart +and senses burn within him; a fierce, devouring passion fires the +blood in all his veins; with irresistible constraint it thrusts him +nearer; before the goddess's self he steps with that canticle of +love triumphant, and now he sings it in ecstatic praise of her. As +though at wizard spell of his, the wonders of the Venusberg unroll +their brightest fill before him; tumultuous shouts and savage cries +of joy mount up on every hand; in drunken glee bacchantes drive +their raging dance and drag Tanhäuser to the warm caresses of love's +goddess, who throws her glowing arms around the mortal, drowned with +bliss, and bears him where no step dare tread, to the realm of +Being-no-more. + +A scurry, like the sound of the wild hunt, and speedily the storm +is laid. Merely a wanton whir still pulses in the breeze, a wave +of weird voluptuousness, like the sensuous breath of unblest love, +still soughs above the spot where impious charms had shed their +raptures and over which the night now broods once more. But dawn +begins to break; already from afar is heard again the pilgrims' +chant. As this chant draws closer and closer, as the day drives +farther back the night, that whir and soughing of the air--which had +erewhile sounded like the eerie cry of souls condemned--now rises to +ever gladder waves, so that when the sun ascends at last in splendor +and the pilgrims' chant proclaims in ecstasy to all the world, to +all that live and move thereon, salvation won, this wave itself +swells out the tidings of sublimest joy. 'Tis the carol of the +Venusberg itself redeemed from curse of impiousness, this cry we +hear amid the hymn of God. So wells and leaps each pulse of life in +chorus of redemption, and both dissevered elements, both soul and +senses, God and nature, unite in the atoning kiss of hallowed love. + +This description of the poetical contents of the overture to +"Tannhäuser" applies to the ordinary form of the introduction to +the opera which was used (and still is in many cases) until Wagner +revised the opera for performance in Paris in 1861. The traditions +of French opera called for a ballet in the third act. Wagner was +willing to yield to the desire for a ballet, but he could not place +it where the habits of the opera-going public demanded it. Instead, +he remodelled the overture and, sacrificing the coda which brought +back a return of the canticle of the pilgrims, he lengthened the +middle portion to fit an extended choreographic scene, and with it +led into the opera without a break. The neglect to provide a ballet +in the usual place led to a tremendous disturbance in which the +Jockey Club took the lead. Wagner's purpose in the extended portion +of the overture now called the "Bacchanale" may be read in his +stage-directions for the scene. + +The scene represents the interior of the Venusberg (Hörselberg), in +the neighborhood of Eisenach. A large cave seems to extend to an +invisible distance at a turn to the right. From a cleft through +which the pale light of day penetrates, a green waterfall tumbles +foaming over rocks the entire length of the cave. From the basin +which receives the water, a brook flows toward the background, where +it spreads out into a lake, in which naiads are seen bathing and on +the banks of which sirens are reclining. On both sides of the grotto +are rocky projections of irregular form, overgrown with singular, +coral-like trophical plants. Before an opening extending upward on +the left, from which a rosy twilight enters, Venus lies upon a rich +couch; before her, his head upon her lap, his harp by his side, half +kneeling, reclines Tannhäuser. Surrounding the couch in fascinating +embrace are the Three Graces; beside and behind the couch +innumerable sleeping amorettes, in attitudes of wild disorder, like +children who had fallen asleep wearied with the exertions of a +struggle. The entire foreground is illumined by a magical, ruddy +light shining upward from below, through which the emerald green +of the waterfall, with its white foam, penetrates. The distant +background, with the shores of the lake, seems transfigured by a +sort of moonlight. When the curtain rises, youths, reclining on the +rocky projections, answering the beckonings of the nymphs, hurry +down to them; beside the basin of the waterfall the nymphs have +begun the dance designed to lure the youths to them. They pair off; +flight and chase enliven the dance. + +From the distant background a procession of bacchantes approach, +rushing through the rows of the loving couples and stimulating them +to wilder pleasures. With gestures of enthusiastic intoxication they +tempt the lovers to growing recklessness. Satyrs and fauns have +appeared from the cleft of the rocks and, dancing the while, force +their way between the bacchantes and lovers, increasing the disorder +by chasing the nymphs. The tumult reaches its height, whereupon the +Graces rise in horror and seek to put a stop to the wild conduct +of the dancing rout and drive the mad roisterers from the scene. +Fearful that they themselves might be drawn into the whirlpool, they +turn to the sleeping amorettes and drive them aloft. They flutter +about, then gather into ranks on high, filling the upper spaces +of the cave, whence they send down a hail of arrows upon the wild +revellers. These, wounded by the arrows, filled with a mighty +love-longing, cease their dance and sink down exhausted. The Graces +capture the wounded and seek, while separating the intoxicated ones +into pairs, to scatter them in the background. Then, still pursued +by the flying amorettes, the bacchantes, fauns, satyrs, nymphs, and +youths depart in various directions. A rosy mist, growing more and +more dense, sinks down, hiding first the amorettes and then the +entire background, so that finally only Venus, Tannhäuser, and +the Graces remain visible. The Graces now turn their faces to the +foreground; gracefully intertwined, they approach Venus, seemingly +informing her of the victory they have won over the mad passions of +her subjects. + +The dense mist in the background is dissipated, and a tableau, a +cloud picture, shows the rape of Europa, who, sitting on the back of +a bull decorated with flowers and led by tritons and nereids, sails +across the blue lake. + +Song of the Sirens:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +The rosy mist shuts down, the picture disappears, and the Graces +suggest by an ingratiating dance the secret significance that it +was an achievement of love. Again the mists move about. In the pale +moonlight Leda is discovered reclining by the side of the forest +lake; the swan swims toward her and caressingly lays his head upon +her breast. Gradually this picture also disappears and, the mist +blown away, discloses the grotto deserted and silent. The Graces +courtesy mischievously to Venus and slowly leave the grotto of love. +Deepest silence. (The duet between Venus and Tannhäuser begins.) + +The work which Wagner accomplished in behalf of the legend of +Tannhäuser is fairly comparable with the tales which have been woven +around the figure of King Arthur. The stories of the Knights of the +Round Table are in the mouths of all English-speaking peoples +because of the "Idylls of the King"; the legend of Tannhäuser was +saved from becoming the exclusive property of German literary +students by Wagner's opera. Like many folk-tales, the story touches +historical circumstance in part, and for the rest reaches far into +the shadowy realm of legendary lore. The historical element is +compassed by the fact that the principal human characters involved +in it once had existence. There was a Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia +whose court was held in the Wartburg--that noble castle which in a +later century gave shelter to Martin Luther while he endowed the +German people with a reformed religion, their version of the Bible +and a literary language. The minstrel knights, which in the opera +meet in a contest of song, also belong to history. Wolfram von +Eschenbach wrote the version of the Quest of the Holy Grail which +inspired Wagner's "Parsifal" and which is morally the most exalted +epical form which that legend ever received. His companions also +existed. Tannhäuser is not an invention, though it is to Wagner +alone that we owe his association with the famous contest of +minstrelsy which is the middle picture in Wagner's drama. Of the +veritable Tannhäuser, we know extremely little. He was a knight and +minstrel at the court of Duke Frederick II of Austria in the first +decades of the thirteenth century, who, it is said, led a dissolute +life, squandered his fortune, and wrecked his health, but did timely +penance at the end and failed not of the consolations of Holy +Church. After he had lost his estate near Vienna he found protection +with Otto II of Bavaria, who was Stadtholder of Austria from A.D. +1246 till his death in 1253. He sang the praises of Otto's +son-in-law, Conrad IV, who was father of Conradin, the last heir of +the Hohenstaufens. Tannhäuser was therefore a Ghibelline, as was +plainly the folk-poet who made him the hero of the ballad which +tells of his adventure with Venus. Tannhäuser's extant poems, when +not in praise of princes, are gay in character, with the exception +of a penitential hymn--a circumstance which may have had some weight +with the ballad-makers. There is a picture labelled with his name in +a famous collection of minnesongs called the Manessian Manuscript, +which shows him with the Crusaders' cross upon his cloak. This may +be looked upon as evidence that he took part in one of the crusades, +probably that of A.D. 1228. There is no evidence that the contest of +minstrelsy at the Wartburg ever took place. It seems to have been +an invention of mediaeval poets. The Manessian Manuscript is +embellished with a picture of the principal personages connected +with the story. They are Landgrave Hermann, the Landgravine Sophia, +Wolfram von Eschenbach, Reinmar der Alte, Heinrich von Rispach, +Biterolf, Heinrich von Ofterdingen, and Klingesor. The subject +discussed by the minstrels was scholastic, and Ofterdingen, to save +his life, sought help of Klingesor, who was a magician and the +reputed nephew of Virgilius of Naples; and the Landgravine threw her +cloak around him when he was hardest pressed. This incident, its +ethical significance marvellously enhanced, is the culmination of +Wagner's second act. Instead of the historical Sophia, however, we +have in the opera Hermann's niece, Elizabeth, a creation of the +poet's, though modelled apparently after the sainted Elizabeth of +Hungary, who, however, had scarcely opened her eyes upon the world +in the Wartburg at the date ascribed to the contest, i.e. A.D. 1206. +Wagner has given the rôle played by Heinrich von Ofterdingen (also +Effterdingen) to Tannhäuser apparently on the strength of an essay +which appeared about the time that he took up the study of the +mediaeval legends of Germany, which identified the two men. +Ofterdingen himself is now thought to be a creation of some poet's +fancy; but the large part devoted to his adventure in the old poem +which tells of the contest of minstrelsy led the mediaeval poets to +attribute many great literary deeds to him, one of them nothing less +than the authorship of the "Nibelungenlied." + +Wagner seems to have been under the impression that there was an old +book of folk-tales (a so-called Volksbuch) devoted to the story of +Tannhäuser and his adventure with Dame Venus. This is a mistake. The +legend came down to modern times by way of popular ballads. One of +these, which was printed by Uhland, consists largely of the dialogue +between Tannhäuser and his enslaver, as does also the carnival play +which Hans Sachs wrote on the subject. The writer of the ballad was +so energetic an enemy of the Papal power that he condemns Urban IV +to eternal torment because of his severe judgment of the penitent +sinner:-- + + Do was er widrumb in den berg + und het sein lieb erkoren, + des muoss der vierde babst Urban + auch ewig sein verloren. + +A ballad which was sung in one Swiss district as late as the third +decade of the nineteenth century gives the story of the knight and +his temptress in fuller detail, though it knows as little of the +episode of Elizabeth's love as it does of the tournament of song. In +this ballad Tannhäuser (or "Tanhuser") is a goodly knight who goes +out into the forest to seek adventures, or "see wonders." He finds +a party of maidens engaged in a bewildering dance, and tarries to +enjoy the spectacle. Frau Frene, or, as we would write it now, Freya +(the Norse Venus whose memory we perpetuate in our Friday), seeks to +persuade him to remain with her, promising to give him her youngest +daughter to wife. The knight remains, but will not mate with the +maiden, for he has seen the devil lurking in her brown eyes and +learned that once in her toils he will be lost forever. Lying under +Frau Frene's fig tree, at length, he dreams that he must quit his +sinful life. He tears himself loose from the enchantment and +journeys to Rome, where he falls at the feet of the Pope and asks +absolution. The Pope holds in his hand a staff so dry that it has +split. "Your sins are as little likely to be forgiven as this staff +is to green," is his harsh judgment. Tannhäuser kneels before the +altar, extends his arms, and asks mercy of Christ; then leaves the +church in despair and is lost to view. On the third day after this +the Pope's staff is found to be covered with fresh leaves. He sends +out messengers to find Tannhäuser, but he has returned to Frau +Frene. Then comes the moral of the tale expressed with a naïve +forcefulness to which a translation cannot do justice:-- + + Drum soil kein Pfaff, kein Kardinal, + Kein Sünder nie verdammen; + Der Sünder mag sein so gross er will, + Kann Gottes Gnad erlangen. + +Two other sources supplied Wagner with material for as many +effective scenes in his drama. From E. T. A. Hofmann's "Der Kampf +der Sänger" he got the second scene of the first act, the hunt and +the gathering in the valley below Wartburg; from Ludwig Tieck's "Der +getreue Eckhart und der Tannhäuser" the narrative of the minstrel's +pilgrimage to Rome. + +Students of comparative mythology and folklore will have no +difficulty in seeing in the legend of Tannhäuser one of the many +tales of the association during a period of enchantment of men and +elves. Parallels between the theatre and apparatus of these tales +extend back into remote antiquity. The grotto of Venus, in which +Tannhäuser steeps himself with sensuality, is but a German variant +of the Garden of Delight, in which the heroes of antiquity met their +fair enslavers. It is Ogygia, the Delightful Island, where Ulysses +met Calypso. It is that Avalon in which King Arthur was healed of +his wounds by his fairy sister Morgain. The crozier which bursts +into green in token of Tannhäuser's forgiveness has prototypes +in the lances which, when planted in the ground by Charlemagne's +warriors, were transformed overnight into a leafy forest; in the +javelins of Polydore, of which Virgil tells us in the "AEneid"; in +the staff of St. Christopher, which grew into a tree after he had +carried the Christ Child across the river; in the staff which put on +leaves in the hands of Joseph, wherefore the Virgin Mary gave him +her hand in marriage; in the rod of Aaron, which, when laid up among +others in the tabernacle, "brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms +and yielded almonds." + +There are many parallels in classic story and folklore of the +incident of Tannhäuser's sojourn with Venus. I mention but a few. +There are the episodes of Ulysses and Calypso, Ulysses and Circe, +Numa and Egeria, Rinaldo and Armida, Prince Ahmed and Peri Banou. +Less familiar are the folk-tales which Mr. Baring-Gould has +collected of Helgi's life with the troll Ingibjorg, a Norse story; +of James Soideman of Serraade, "who was kept by the spirits in a +mountain during the space of seven years, and at length came out, +but lived afterwards in great distress and fear lest they should +again take him away"; of the young Swede lured away by an elfin +woman from the side of his bride into a mountain, where he abode +with the siren forty years and thought it but an hour. + +There are many Caves of Venus in Europe, but none around which +there clusters such a wealth of legend as around the grotto in the +Hörselberg. Nineteen years ago the writer of this book visited the +scene and explored the cave. He found it a decidedly commonplace +hole in the ground, but was richly rewarded by the results of +the literary explorations to which the visit led him. Before +Christianity came to reconstruct the folk-tales of the Thuringian +peasants, the Hörselberg was the home of Dame Holda, or Holle, and +the horde of weird creatures which used to go tearing through the +German forests on a wild rout in the Yuletide. Dame Holle, like many +another character in Teutonic mythology, was a benignant creature, +whose blessing brought forth fruitfulness to fields and vineyards, +before the Christian priests metamorphosed her into a thing wholly +of evil. She was the mother of all the fays and fairies that +followed in the train of the Wild Huntsman, and though she appeared +at times as a seductive siren and tempted men to their destruction, +she appeared oftener as an old woman who rewarded acts of kindness +with endless generosity. It was she who had in keeping the souls of +unborn children, and babes who died before they could be christened +were carried by her to the Jordan and baptized in its waters. +Even after priestly sermons had transformed her into a beauteous +she-devil, she still kept up her residence in the cave, which now, +in turn, took on a new character. Venturesome persons who got near +its mouth, either purposely or by accident, told of strange noises +which issued from it, like the rushing of many waters or the voice +of a subterranean storm. The priests supplied explanation and +etymology to fit the new state of things. The noise was the +lamentation of souls in the fires of purgatory, to which place of +torment the cave was an opening. This was said to account for +the old German name of the mountain--"Hör-Seel-Berg"--that is, +"Hear-Souls-Mountain." To this Latin writers added another, viz. +"Mons Horrisonus"--"the Mountain of Horrible Sounds." The forbidding +appearance of the exterior--in which some fantastic writers avowed +they saw a resemblance to a coffin--was no check on the fancy of +the mediaeval storyteller, however, who pictured the interior of +the mountain as a marvellous palace, and filled it with glittering +jewels and treasures incalculable. The story of Tannhäuser's sojourn +within this magical cavern is only one of many, nor do they all end +like that of the minstrel knight. Undeterred by the awful tales told +by monks and priests, poets and romancers sang the glories and the +pleasures of the cave as well as its gruesome punishments. From them +we know many things concerning the appearance of the interior, the +cave's inhabitants, and their merrymakings. I cannot resist the +temptation to retell one of these old tales. + +Adelbert, Knight of Thuringia, was one of those who experienced +the delights of the Cave of Venus, yet, unlike Tannhäuser in the +original legend, was saved at the last. He met Faithful Eckhart at +the mouth of the cave, who warned him not to enter, but entrancing +music sounded within and he was powerless to resist. He entered. +Three maidens came forward to meet him. They were airily clad, +flowers were twisted in their brown locks, and they waved branches +before them as they smiled and beckoned and sang a song of spring's +awakening. What could Sir Adelbert do but follow when they glanced +coyly over their white shoulders and led the way through a narrow +passage into a garden surrounded with rose-bushes in bloom, and +filled with golden-haired maidens, lovelier than the flowers, who +wandered about hand in hand and sang with sirens' voices? In the +middle of the rose-hedged garden stood a red gate, which bore in +bold letters this legend:-- + +HERE DAME VENUS HOLDS COURT + +The gate-keeper was the fairest of the maidens, and her fingers +were busy weaving a garland of roses, but she stopped her work long +enough to smile a welcome to Sir Adelbert. He thanked her gallantly +and queried: Was the pretty sight a May Day celebration? Replied +the winsome gate-keeper: "Here Dame' Venus holds court in honor +of the noble knight Sir Tannhäuser"; and she opened the gate and +Adelbert entered. Within he beheld a gay tent pitched in a grove of +flowering shrubs, and out of it emerged a beauteous creature and +advanced toward him. Her robe was rose color, adorned with strings +of pearls and festooned with fragrant blossoms. A crown which +glistened with gems rested lightly on her head. In her right hand--a +dainty hand--she carried a tiny kerchief of filmy white stuff +embroidered with gold, and in her left a lute. She sate herself down +on a golden chair, bent her head over her left shoulder. A dreamy, +tender light came into her eyes, and her rosy fingers sought the +strings of her lute--strings of gold. Would she sing? Just then one +of the maidens approached her, lisped musically into her ear, and +pointed to the approaching knight. Almost imperceptibly, but oh, +so graciously, the lips of the vision moved. As if in obedience to +a command, the maiden approached, and said in rhythmical cadence: +"Greetings, Sir Knight, from Dame Venus, who sends you message that +all who love gaming and fair women are welcome at her court." She +gave him her hand to escort him, and when the knight pressed her +fingers in gratitude he felt a gentle pressure in return. The knight +approached the dazzling queen of the palace and fell upon his knee; +but she gave him her hand and she bade him arise, which he did after +he had kissed her fingers. And she called to a maiden, who fetched +a golden horn filled to the brim with wine and handed it to the +knight. "Empty the goblet, like a true knight, to the health of all +fair women who love and are beloved," said the queen. Sir Adelbert +smiled obedience: "To love, fair lady," he said and drank the wine +at a draught. And thus he became a captive and a slave. + +Long did he sojourn within the magic realm, in loving dalliance with +Venus and her maidens, until one day a hermit entered the cave in +the absence of the queen and bore him back to the outer world, where +penance and deeds of piety restored him to moral health and saved +him from the fate of Tannhäuser. + + +Footnotes: + +{1} "Studies in the Wagnerian Drama," by H. E. Krehbiel, pp. 35, 36. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"TRISTAN UND ISOLDE" + + +A vassal is sent to woo a beauteous princess for his lord. While he +is bringing her home the two, by accident, drink a love potion, and +ever thereafter their hearts are fettered together. In the midday of +delirious joy, in the midnight of deepest woe, their thoughts are +only of each other, for each other. Meanwhile the princess has +become the vassal's queen. Then the wicked love of the pair is +discovered, and the knight is obliged to seek safety in a foreign +land. There (strange note this to our ears) he marries another +princess whose name is like that of his love, save for the addition +With the White Hand; but when wounded unto death he sends across the +water for her who is still his true love, that she come and be his +healer. The ship which is sent to bring her is to bear white sails +on its return if successful in the mission; black, if not. Day after +day the knight waits for the coming of his love while the lamp of +his life burns lower and lower. At length the sails of the ship +appear on the distant horizon. The knight is now himself too weak to +look. "White or black?" he asks of his wife. "Black," replies she, +jealousy prompting the falsehood; and the knight's heart-strings +snap in twain just as his love steps over the threshold of his +chamber. Oh, the pity of it! for with the lady is her lord, who, +having learned the story of the fateful potion, has come to unite +the lovers. Then the queen, too, dies, and the remorseful king +buries the lovers in a common grave, from whose caressing sod spring +a rose-bush and a vine and intertwine so curiously that none may +separate them. {1} + +Upon the ancient legend which has thus been outlined Wagner reared +his great tragedy entitled "Tristan und Isolde." Whence the story +came nobody can tell. It is a part of the great treasure preserved +from remotest antiquity by itinerant singers and story-tellers, and +committed to writing by poets of the Middle Ages. The first of +these, so far as unquestioned evidence goes, were French trouvères. +From them the tale passed into the hands of the German minnesinger. +The greatest of these who treated it was Gottfried von Strasburg +(circa A.D. 1210), who, however, left the tale unfinished. His +continuators were Ulrich von Türnheim and Heinrich von Freiberg, +whose denouement (not, however, original with them) was followed by +Hermann Kurtz when he published a version of Gottfried's poem in +modern German in 1844. This, unquestionably, was the version which +fell into Wagner's hands when, in the Dresden period (1843-1849) +he devoted himself assiduously to the study of Teutonic legend and +mythology. In English the romance has an equally honorable literary +record. In 1804 Sir Walter Scott edited a metrical version which he +fondly believed to be the work of the somewhat mythical Thomas the +Rhymer and to afford evidence that the oldest literary form of the +legend was British. The adventures of Tristram of Lyonesse (who is +the Tristan of Wagner's tragedy) form a large portion of Sir Thomas +Malory's thrice glorious "Morte d'Arthur." Of modern poets Tennyson, +Matthew Arnold, and Swinburne have sung the passion of the +ill-starred lovers. + +Elements of the legend can be traced back to the ancient literatures +of the Aryan peoples. The courtship by proxy has a prototype in +Norse mythology in Skirnir's wooing of Gerd for Van Frey. The +incident of the sails belongs to Greek story--the legend of AEgeus +and Theseus; the magic potion may be found in ancient Persian +romance; the interlocked rose-tree and vine over the grave of the +lovers is an example of those floral auguries and testimonies which +I have mentioned in connection with the legend of Tannhäuser and +the blossoming staff: in token of their innocence flowers spring +miraculously from the graves of persons wrongly done to death. + +A legend which lives to be retold often is like a mirror which +reflects not only the original picture, but also the social and +moral surroundings of different relators. So this ancient tale has +been varied by the poets who have told it; and of these variants the +most significant are those made by Wagner. If the ethical scheme of +the poet-composer is to be observed, the chief of these must be kept +in mind. In the poems of Gottfried, Arnold, and Swinburne the love +potion is drunk accidentally and the passion which leads to the +destruction of the lovers is a thing for which they are in nowise +responsible. Wagner puts antecedent and conscious guilt at the door +of both of his heroic characters; they love each other before the +dreadful drinking and do not pay the deference to the passion which +in the highest conception it demands. Tristan is carried away by +love of power and glory before man and Isolde is at heart a murderer +and suicide. The potion is less the creator of an uncontrollable +passion than it is an agency which makes the lovers forget honor, +duty, and respect for the laws of society. Tennyson omits all +mention of the potion and permits us to imagine Tristram and Iseult +as a couple of ordinary sinners. Swinburne and Arnold follow the old +story touching the hero's life in Brittany with the second Iseult +(she of the White Hand); but while Swinburne preserves her a "maiden +wife," Arnold gives her a family of children. Wagner ennobles his +hero by omitting the second Isolde, thus bringing the story into +greater sympathy with modern ideas of love and exalting the passion +of the lovers. + +The purpose to write a Tristan drama was in Wagner's mind three +years before he began its execution. While living in Zurich, in +1854, he had advanced as far as the second act of his "Siegfried" +when, in a moment of discouragement, he wrote to Liszt: "As I have +never in my life enjoyed the true felicity of love, I shall erect +to this most beautiful of my dreams" (i.e. the drama on which he +was working) "a monument in which, from beginning to end, this +love shall find fullest gratification. I have sketched in my head +a 'Tristan und Isolde,' the simplest of musical conceptions, but +full-blooded; with the 'black flag' which waves at the end I shall +then cover myself--to die." Three years later he took up the +project, but under an inspiration vastly different from that +notified to Liszt. The tragedy was not to be a monument to a mere +dream of felicity or to his artistic despair, but a tribute to a +consuming passion for Mathilde Wesendonck, wife of a benefactor +who had given him an idyllic home at Triebschen, on the shore of +Lake Lucerne. Mme. Wesendonck was the author of the two poems +"Im Treibhaus" and "Träume," which, with three others from the same +pen, Wagner set to music. The first four were published in the winter +of 1857-1858; the last, "Im Treibhaus," on May 1, 1858. The musical +theme of "Träume" was the germ of the love-music in the second act +of "Tristan und Isolde"; out of "Im Treibhaus" grew some of the +introduction to the third act. The tragedy was outlined in prose in +August, 1857, and the versification was finished by September 18. +The music was complete by July 16, 1859. Wagner gave the pencil +sketches of the score to Mme. Wesendonck, who piously went over them +with ink so that they might be preserved for posterity. + +In 1857 Wagner had been eight years an exile from his native land. +Years had passed since he began work on "Der Ring des Nibelungen," +and there seemed to him little prospect of that work receiving +either publication or performance. In May of that year he received +an invitation from Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, to write an opera +for Rio de Janeiro and direct its production. Two and a half years +before he had seriously considered the project of coming to America +for a concert tour; so the invitation did not strike him as so +strange and extraordinary as it might have appeared to a musician of +less worldly wisdom. It is not likely that he took it seriously into +consideration, but at any rate it turned his thoughts again to the +opera which he had mentioned to Liszt. With it he saw an opportunity +for again establishing a connection with the theatre. Dom Pedro +wanted, of course, an Italian opera. Wagner's plan contemplated the +writing of "Tristan und Isolde" in German, its translation into +Italian, the dedication of its score to the Emperor of Brazil, with +the privilege of its performance there and a utilization of the +opportunity, if possible, to secure a production beforehand of +"Tannhäuser." Meanwhile, he would have the drama produced in its +original tongue at Strasburg, then a French city conveniently near +the German border, with Albert Niemann in the titular rôle and an +orchestra from Karlsruhe, or some other German city which had an +opera-house. He communicated the plan to Liszt, who approved of the +project heartily, though he was greatly amazed at the intelligence +which he had from another source that Wagner intended to write the +music with an eye to a performance in Italian. "How in the name +of all the gods are you going to make of it an opera for Italian +singers, as B. tells me you are? Well, since the incredible and +impossible have become your elements, perhaps you will achieve this, +too," Liszt wrote to him, and promised to go to Strasburg with +a Wagnerian coterie to act as a guard of honor for the composer. +Nothing came of either plan. Inspired by his love for Mathilde +Wesendonck, Wagner wrote the opera and succeeded in selling the +score to Breitkopf & Härtel for the equivalent of $800. Then began +the hunt for a theatre in which to give the first representation. +Eduard Devrient urged Karlsruhe, where he was director, but Wagner +wanted to supervise the production, and this was impossible in +a theatre of Germany so long as the decree of banishment for +participation in the Saxon rebellion hung over his head. The Grand +Duke of Baden appealed to the King of Saxony to recall the decree, +but in vain. Wagner went to Paris and Brussels, but had to content +himself with giving concerts. Weimar, Prague, and Hanover were +considered in order, and at length Wagner turned to Vienna. There +the opera was accepted for representation at the Court Opera, but +after fifty-four rehearsals between November, 1862, and March, 1863, +it was abandoned as "impossible." + +The next year saw the turning-point in Wagner's career. Ludwig +of Bavaria invited him to come to Munich, the political ban was +removed, and "Tristan und Isolde" had its first performance, to the +joy of the composer and a host of his friends, on June 10, 1865, at +the Royal Court Theatre of the Bavarian capital, under the direction +of Hans von Bölow. The rôles of Tristan and Isolde were in the hands +of Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld and his wife. Albert Niemann was +prevented by the failure of the Strasburg plan from being the first +representative of the hero, but to him fell the honor of setting the +model for all American representations. The first performance in the +United States took place in the Metropolitan Opera-house on December +1, 1886, under the direction of Anton Seidl. The cast was as +follows: Isolde, Lilli Lehmann; Brangäne, Marianne Brandt; Tristan, +Albert Niemann; Kurwenal, Adolf Robinson; König Marke, Emil Fischer; +Melot, Rudolph von Milde; ein Hirt, Otto Kemlitz; ein Steuermann, +Emil Saenger; ein Seemann, Max Alvary. + +Two circumstances bid us look a little carefully into the +instrumental prelude with which Wagner has prefaced his drama. One +is that it has taken so prominent a place in the concert-room that +even those whose love for pure music has made them indifferent to +the mixed art-form called the opera ought to desire acquaintance +with its poetical and musical contents; the other is that the +prelude, like the overture to "Fidelio" known as "Leonore No. 3," +presents the spiritual progress of the tragedy from beginning to +end to the quickened heart and mind of the listener freed from all +material integument. To do this it makes use of the themes which are +most significant in the development of the psychology of the drama, +which is far and away its most important element, for the pictures +are not many, and the visible action is slight. Listening to the +music without thought of the drama, and, therefore, with no purpose +of associating it with the specific conceptions which later have +exposition in the text, we can hear in this prelude an expression +of an ardent longing, a consuming hunger, + + which doth make + The meat it feeds on, + +a desire that cannot be quenched, yet will not despair. Then, at the +lowest ebb of the sweet agony, an ecstasy of hope, a wildly blissful +contemplation of a promise of reward. If I depart here for a brief +space from my announced purpose not to analyze the music in the +manner of the Wagnerian commentators, it will be only because the +themes of the prelude are the most pregnant of those employed in the +working out of the drama, because their specific significance in the +purpose of the composer is plainly set forth by their association +with scenes and words, and because they are most admirably fitted +by structure and emotional content to express the things attributed +to them. The most important of the themes is that with which the +prelude begins:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Note that it is two-voiced and that one voice ascends chromatically +(that is, in half steps), and the other descends in the same manner. +In the aspiring voice there is an expression of longing; in the +descending, of suffering and dejection. We therefore may look upon +it as a symbol of the lovers and their passion in a dual aspect. +After an exposition of this theme there enters another:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +followed immediately by:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +In the play the first of these two is associated with the character +of the hero; the second with the glance which Tristan cast upon +Isolde when she was about to kill him--the glance which inspired +the love of the princess. Two modifications of the principal theme +provide nearly all the rest of the material used in the building up +of the prelude. The first is a diminution of the motif compassed by +the second and third measures, which by reiteration develops the +climax of the piece:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +The second is a harmonized inversion of the same short figure, +preceded by a jubilantly ascending scale:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +This is the expression of the ecstasy of hope, the wildly blissful +contemplation of a promise of reward of which I have spoken. +Wagner tells us what the thing hoped for, the joy contemplated in +expectation, is, not only in the drama, but also in an exposition of +the contents of the prelude made for concert purposes. He deserves +that it shall be known, and I reproduce it in the translation of +William Ashton Ellis. After rehearsing the legend down to the +drinking of the fateful philtre, he says:-- + +The musician who chose this theme for the prelude to his love drama, +as he felt that he was now in the boundless realm of the very +element of music, could only have one care: how he should set +bounds to his fancy, for the exhaustion of the theme was impossible. +Thus he took, once for all, this insatiable desire. In long-drawn +accents it surges up, from its first timid confession, its softest +attraction, through sobbing sighs, hope and pain, laments and +wishes, delight and torment, up to the mightiest onslaught, the most +powerful endeavor to find the breach which shall open to the heart +the path to the ocean of the endless joy of love. In vain! Its power +spent, the heart sinks back to thirst with desire, with desire +unfulfilled, as each fruition only brings forth seeds of fresh +desire, till, at last, in the depths of its exhaustion, the starting +eye sees the glimmering of the highest bliss of attainment. It is +the ecstasy of dying, of the surrender of being, of the final +redemption into that wondrous realm from which we wander farthest +when we strive to take it by force. Shall we call this Death? Is it +not rather the wonder world of night, out of which, so says the +story, the ivy and the vine sprang forth in tight embrace o'er the +tomb of Tristan and Isolde? + +If we place ourselves in spirit among the personages of Wagner's +play, we shall find ourselves at the parting of the curtain which +hangs between the real and the mimic world, on board a mediaeval +ship, within a few hours' sail of Cornwall, whither Tristan is +bearing Isolde to be the wife of his king Marke. The cheery song of +a sailor who, unseen, at the masthead, sings to the winds which are +blowing him away from his wild Irish sweetheart, floats down to us. +It has a refreshing and buoyant lilt, this song, with something of +the sea breeze in it, and yet something, as it is sung, which +emphasizes the loneliness of the singer:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Frisch weht der Wind der Heimat zu: Mein irisch +Kind, wo weilest du?"] + +An innocent song, the strain of which, more decorous than any modern +chantey, inspires the sailors as they pull at the ropes, and gives +voice to the delights of the peaceful voyage:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Yet it stirs up a tempest in the soul of Isolde. She is the daughter +of an Irish queen, a sorceress, and she now deplores the degeneracy +of her race and its former potency. Once her ancestors could command +wind and wave, but now they can brew only balsamic potions. Wildly +she invokes the elements to dash the ship to pieces, and when her +maid, Brangäne, seeks to know the cause of her tumultuous disquiet, +she tells the story of her love for Tristan and of its disgraceful +requital. He had come to Ireland's queen to be healed of a wound +received in battle. He had killed his enemy, and that enemy +was Morold, Isolde's betrothed. The princess, ignorant of that +fact,--ignorant, too, of his name, for he had called himself +Tantris,--had herself nursed him back almost to health, when one day +she found that a splinter of steel, taken from the head of Morold, +where he had received the adolorous stroke, fitted into a nick in +the sword of the wounded knight. At her mercy lay the slayer of her +affianced husband. She raised the sword to take revenge, when his +look fell upon her. In a twinkling her heart was empty of hate +and filled instead with love. Now, instead of requiting her love, +Tristan is taking her to Cornwall to deliver her to a loveless +marriage to Cornwall's "weary king." It will be well to note in this +narrative how the description of Tristan's sufferings are set to a +descending chromatic passage, like the second voice of the principal +theme already described:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Von einem Kahn, der klein und arm"] + +The thought of her humiliation maddens the high-spirited woman, +and she sends her maid, Brangäne, to summon the knight into her +presence. The knight parleys diplomatically with the messenger. Duty +keeps him at the helm, but once in port he will suffer no one but +himself to escort the exalted lady into the presence of the king. At +the last the maid is forced to deliver the command in the imperious +words used by her mistress. This touches the pride of Tristan's +squire, Kurwenal, who asks permission to frame an answer, and, +receiving it, shouts a ballad of his master's method of paying +tribute to Ireland with the head of his enemy; for the battle +between Tristan and Morold had grown out of the effort made by the +latter to collect tribute-money from England. It is a stiff stave, +rugged, forceful, and direct, in which the spirit of the political +ballad of all times is capitally preserved. + +Isolde resolves to wipe out what she conceives to be her disgrace by +slaying Tristan and herself. Brangäne tries to persuade her that the +crown of Cornwall will bring her honor, and when Isolde answers +that it would be intolerable to live in the presence of Tristan and +not have his love, she hints that her mother had not sent her into +a strange land without providing for all contingencies. Isolde +understands the allusion to her mother's magical lore, and commands +that a casket be brought to her. Brangäne obeys with alacrity and +exhibits its contents: lotions for wounds, antidotes for poisons, +and, best of all,--she holds a phial aloft. Isolde will not have it +so; she herself had marked the phial whose contents were to remedy +her ills. "The death draught!" exclaims Brangäne, and immediately +the "Yo, heave ho!" of the sailors is heard and the shout of "Land!" +Throughout this scene a significant phrase is heard--the symbol +of death:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Also the symbol of fate--a downward leap of a seventh, as in the +last two notes of the brief figure illustrative of the glance which +had inspired Isolde's fatal love. + +At sight of land Tristan leaves the helm and presents himself before +Isolde. She upbraids him for having avoided her during the voyage; +he replies that he had obeyed the commands of honor and custom. She +reminds him that a debt of blood is due her--he owes her revenge for +the death of Morold. Tristan offers her his sword and his breast; +but she declines to kill the best of all Marke's knights, and +offers to drink with him a cup of forgiveness. He divines her +purpose and takes the cup from her hand and gives this pledge: +Fidelity to his honor, defiance to anguish. To his heart's illusion, +his scarcely apprehended dream, will he drink the draught which +shall bring oblivion. Before he has emptied the cup, Isolde snatches +it from his hands and drains it to the bottom. Thus they meet +their doom, which is not death and surcease of sorrow, as both had +believed, but life and misery; for Brangäne, who had been commanded +to pour the poison in the cup, had followed an amiable prompting and +presented the love-potion instead. A moment of bewilderment, and +the fated ones are in each other's arms, pouring out an ecstasy of +passion. Then her maids robe Isolde to receive the king, who is +coming on board the ship to greet his bride. + +In the introduction to the second act, based upon this restless +phrase,-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +we have a picture of the longing and impatience of the lovers before +a meeting. When the curtains part, we discover a garden before the +chamber of Isolde, who is now Cornwall's queen. It is a lovely night +in summer. A torch burns in a ring beside the door opening into +the chamber at the top of a stone staircase. The king has gone +a-hunting, and the tones of the hunting-horns, dying away in the +distance, blend entrancingly with an instrumental song from the +orchestra which seems a musical sublimation of night and nature in +their tenderest moods. Isolde appears with Brangäne and pleads with +her to extinguish the torch and thus give the appointed signal to +Tristan, who is waiting in concealment. But Brangäne suspects +treachery on the part of Melot, a knight who is jealous of Tristan +and himself enamoured of Isolde. It was he who had planned the +nocturnal hunt. She warns her mistress, and begs her to wait. Beauty +rests upon the scene like a benediction. To Isolde the horns are but +the rustling of the forest leaves as they are caressed by the wind, +or the purling and laughing of the brook. Longing has eaten up all +patience, all discretion, all fear. In spite of Brangäne's pleadings +she extinguishes the torch, and with wildly waving scarf beckons on +her hurrying lover. Beneath the foliage they sing their love through +all the gamut of hope and despair, of bliss and wretchedness. The +duet consists largely of detached ejaculations and verbal plays, +each paraphrasing or varying or giving a new turn to the outpouring +of the other, the whole permeated with the symbolism of pessimistic +philosophy in which night, death, and oblivion are glorified, and +day, life, and memory contemned. In this dialogue lies the key +to the philosophy which Wagner has proclaimed in the tragedy. In +Wagner's exposition of the prelude we saw that he wishes us to +observe "the one glimmering of the highest bliss of attainment" in +the "surrender of being," the "final redemption into that wondrous +realm from which we wander farthest when we try to take it by +force." For this realm he chooses death and night as symbols, but +what he means to imply is the nirvana of Buddhistic philosophy, the +final deliverance of the soul from transmigration. Such love as +that of Tristan and Isolde presented itself to Wagner as ceaseless +struggle and endless contradiction, and for this problem nirvana +alone offers a happy outcome; it means quietude and identity. + +In vain does Brangäne sing her song of warning from the tower; +the lovers have been transported beyond all realization of their +surroundings; they sing on, dream on in each other's arms, until +at the moment of supremest ecstasy there comes a rude interruption. +Kurwenal dashes in with a sword and a shout: "Save thyself, +Tristan!" the king, Melot, and courtiers at his heels. Day, symbol +of all that is fatal to their love, has dawned. Tristan is silent, +though Marke bewails the treachery of his nephew and his friend. +From the words of the heart-torn king we learn that he had been +forced into the marriage with Isolde by the disturbed state of his +kingdom, and had not consented to it until Tristan, whose purpose +it was thus to quiet the jealous anger of the barons, had threatened +to depart from Cornwall unless the king revoked his purpose to make +him his successor, and took unto himself a wife. Tristan's answer to +the sorrowful upbraidings of his royal uncle is to obtain a promise +from Isolde to follow him into the "wondrous realm of night." Then, +seeing that Marke does not wield the sword of retribution, he makes +a feint of attacking Melot, but permits the treacherous knight to +reach him with his sword. He falls wounded unto death. + +The last act has been reached. The dignified, reserved knight +of the first act, the impassioned lover of the second, is now a +dream-haunted, longing, despairing, dying man, lying under a lime +tree in the yard of his ancestral castle in Brittany, wasting his +last bit of strength in feverish fancies and ardent yearnings +touching Isolde. Kurwenal has sent for her. Will she come? A +shepherd tells of vain watches for the sight of a sail by playing +a mournful melody on his pipe:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Oh, the heart-hunger of the hero! The longing! Will she never come? +The fever is consuming him, and his heated brain breeds fancies +which one moment lift him above all memories of pain and the next +bring him to the verge of madness. Cooling breezes waft him again +toward Ireland, whose princess healed the wound struck by Morold, +then ripped it up again with the avenging sword with its telltale +nick. From her hands he took the drink whose poison sears his heart. +Accursed the cup and accursed the hand that brewed it! Will the +shepherd never change his doleful strain? Ah, Isolde, how beautiful +you are! The ship, the ship! It must be in sight. Kurwenal, have +you no eyes? Isolde's ship! A merry tune bursts from the shepherd's +pipe:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +It is the ship! What flag flies at the peak? The flag of "All's +well!" Now the ship disappears behind a cliff. There the breakers +are treacherous. Who is at the helm? Friend or foe? Melot's +accomplice? Are you, too, a traitor, Kurwenal? Tristan's strength is +unequal to the excitement of the moment. His mind becomes dazed. He +hears Isolde's voice, and his wandering fancy transforms it into the +torch whose extinction once summoned him to her side: "Do I hear +the light?" He staggers to his feet and tears the bandages from his +wound. "Ha! my blood! flow merrily now! She who opened the wound is +here to heal it!" Life endures but for one embrace, one glance, one +word: "Isolde!" While Isolde lies mortally stricken upon Tristan's +corpse, Marke and his train arrive upon a second ship. Brangäne +has told the secret of the love-draught, and the king has come +to unite the lovers. But his purpose is not known, and faithful +Kurwenal receives his death-blow while trying to hold the castle +against Marke's men. He dies at Tristan's side. Isolde, unconscious +of all these happenings, sings out her broken heart, and expires. + + And ere her ear might hear, her heart had heard, + Nor sought she sign for witness of the word; + But came and stood above him, newly dead, + And felt his death upon her: and her head + Bowed, as to reach the spring that slakes all drouth; + And their four lips became one silent mouth. {2} + + +Footnotes: + +{1} "Studies in the Wagnerian Drama," by H. E. Krehbiel. + +{2} Swinburne, "Tristram of Lyonesse." + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"PARSIFAL" + + +A lad, hotfoot in pursuit of a wild swan which one of his arrows has +pierced, finds himself in a forest glade on the side of a mountain. +There he meets a body of knights and esquires in attendance on a +king who is suffering from a wound. The knights are a body of men +whose mission it is to succor suffering innocence wherever they may +find it. They dwell in a magnificent castle on the summit of the +mountain, within whose walls they assemble every day to contemplate +and adore a miraculous vessel from which they obtain both physical +and spiritual sustenance. In order to enjoy the benefits which flow +from this talisman, they are required to preserve their bodies in +ascetic purity. Their king has fallen from this estate and been +grievously wounded in an encounter with a magician, who, having +failed in his ambition to enter the order of knighthood, had built +a castle over against that of the king, where, by practice of the +black art and with the help of sirens and a sorceress, he seeks the +ruin of the pure and celestial soldiery. In his hands is a lance +which once belonged to the knights, but which he had wrested from +their king and with which he had given the dolorous stroke from +which the king is suffering. + +The healing of the king can be wrought only by a touch of the lance +which struck the wound; and this lance can be regained only by one +able to withstand the sensual temptations with which the evil-minded +sorcerer has surrounded himself in his magical castle. An oracle, +that had spoken from a vision, which one day shone about the +talisman, had said that this deliverer fool, an innocent simpleton, +pity had made knowing:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Durch mitleid wissend, der reine Thor, harre sein' +den ich erkor." THE ORACLE] + +For this hero king and knights are waiting and longing, since +neither lotions nor baths nor ointments can bring relief, though +they be of the rarest potency and brought from all the ends of the +earth. The lad who thus finds himself in this worshipful but woful +company is himself of noble and knightly lineage. This we learn from +the recital of his history, but also from the bright, incisive, +militant, chivalresque music associated with him:-- + +[Musical excerpt--THE SYMBOL OF PARSIFAL] + +But he has been reared in a wilderness, far from courts and the +institutions of chivalry and in ignorance of the world lying beyond +his forest boundaries. His father died before he was born, and his +mother withheld from him all knowledge of knighthood, hoping thus +to keep him for herself. One day, however, he saw a cavalcade of +horsemen in brilliant trappings. The spectacle stirred the chivalric +spirit slumbering within him; he deserted his mother, followed after +the knights, and set out in quest of adventure. The mother died:-- + +[Musical excerpt--THE SYMBOL OF HERZELEIDE] + +In the domain whither his quarry had led the lad, all animals were +held sacred. A knight (Gurnemanz) rebukes him for his misdeed in +shooting the swan, and rue leads him to break his bow and arrows. +From a strange creature (Kundry),-- + +[Musical excerpt--THE PENITENT KUNDRY] + +in the service of the knights, he learns of the death of his mother, +who had perished for love of him and grief over his desertion. He is +questioned about himself, but is singularly ignorant of everything, +even of his own name. Hoping that the lad may prove to be the +guileless fool to whom knowledge was to come through pity, the +knight escorts him to the temple, which is the sanctuary of the +talisman whose adoration is the daily occupation of the brotherhood. +They walk out of the forest and find themselves in a rocky defile +of the mountain. A natural gateway opens in the face of a cliff, +through which they pass, and are lost to sight for a space. Then +they are seen ascending a sloping passage, and little by little the +rocks lose their ruggedness and begin to take on rude architectural +contours. They are walking to music which, while merely suggesting +their progress and the changing natural scene in the main, ever and +anon breaks into an expression of the most poignant and lacerating +suffering and lamentation:-- + +[Musical excerpt--SUFFERING AND LAMENTATION] + +Soon the pealing of bells is heard:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +and the tones blend synchronously and harmonously with the music of +their march:-- + +[Musical excerpt--FUNDAMENTAL PHRASE OF THE MARCH] + +At last they arrive in a mighty Byzantine hail, which loses itself +upward in a lofty, vaulted dome, from which light streams downward +and illumines the interior. Under the dome, within a colonnade, are +two tables, each a segment of a circle. Into the hall there come +in procession knights wearing red mantles on which the image of a +white dove is embroidered. They chant a pious hymn as they take +their places at the refectory tables:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Zum letzten Liebesmahle Gerüstet Tag für Tag." +THE EUCHARISTIC HYMN] + +The king, whom the lad had seen in the glade, is borne in on a +litter, before him a veiled shrine containing the mystical cup which +is the object of the ceremonious worship. It is the duty of the +king to unveil the talisman and hold it up to the adoration of the +knights. He is conveyed to a raised couch and the shrine is placed +before him. His sufferings of mind and body are so poignant that +he would liever die than perform his office; but the voice of his +father (Titurel), who had built the sanctuary, established the order +of knighthood, and now lives on in his grave sustained by the sight +of the talisman, admonishes the king of his duty. At length he +consents to perform the function imposed upon him by his office. He +raises himself painfully upon his couch. The attendants remove the +covering from the shrine and disclose an antique crystal vessel +which they reverently place before the lamentable king. Boys' voices +come wafted down from the highest height of the dome, singing a +formula of consecration: "Take ye my body, take my blood in token +of our love":-- + +[Musical excerpt--THE LOVE-FEAST FORMULA] + +A dazzling ray of light flashes down from above and falls into the +cup, which now glows with a reddish purple lustre and sheds a soft +radiance around. The knights have sunk upon their knees. The king +lifts the luminous chalice, moves it gently from side to side, and +thus blesses the bread and wine provided for the refection of the +knights. Meanwhile, celestial voices proclaim the words of the +oracle to musical strains that are pregnant with mysterious +suggestion. + +Another choir sturdily, firmly, ecstatically hymns the power +of faith:-- + +[Musical excerpt--THE SYMBOL OF FAITH] + +and, at the end, an impressive antiphon, starting with the knights, +ascends higher and higher, and, calling in gradually the voices of +invisible singers in the middle height, becomes metamorphosed into +an angelic canticle as it takes its flight to the summit. It is +the voice of aspiration, the musical symbol of the talisman which +directs the thoughts and desires of its worshippers ever upward:-- + +[Musical excerpt--THE SYMBOL OF THE HOLY GRAIL] + +The lad disappoints his guide. He understands nothing of the solemn +happenings which he has witnessed, nor does he ask their meaning, +though his own heart had been lacerated with pain at sight of the +king's sufferings. He is driven from the sanctuary with contumely. + +He wanders forth in quest of further adventures and enters the +magical garden surrounding the castle of the sorcerer. A number of +knights who are sent against him he puts to rout. Now the magician +summons lovely women, clad in the habiliments of flowers, to seduce +him with their charms:-- + +[Musical excerpt--KLINGSOR'S INCANTATION] + +They sing and play about him with winsome wheedlings and cajoleries, +with insinuating blandishments and dainty flatteries, with pretty +petulancies and delectable quarrellings:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Komm, Komm, holder Knabe," THE SEDUCTIVE SONG OF +THE FLOWER MAIDENS] + +But they fail of their purpose, as does also an unwilling siren whom +the magician invokes with powerful conjurations. It is Kundry, who +is half Magdalen, half wicked sorceress, a messenger in the service +of the pious knights, and as such hideous of aspect; a tool in the +hands of the magician, and as such supernaturally beautiful. It was +to her charms that the suffering king had yielded. To win the youth +she tells him the story of his mother's death and gives to him her +last message and--a kiss! At the touch of her impure lips a flood of +passion, hitherto unfelt, pours through the veins of the lad, and in +its surge comes understanding of the suffering and woe which he had +witnessed in the castle on the mountain. Also a sense of his own +remissness. Compassionate pity brings enlightenment; and he thrusts +back the woman who is seeking to destroy him. Finding that the wiles +of his tool have availed him naught, the wicked magician himself +appears to give battle, for he, too, knows the oracle and fears the +coming of the king's deliverer and the loss of the weapon which he +hopes will yet enable him to achieve the mystical talisman. He hurls +the lance at the youth, but it remains suspended in midair. The lad +seizes it, makes the sign of the cross, speaks some words of exorcism, +and garden, castle, damsels--all the works of enchantment disappear. + +Now the young hero is conscious of a mission. He must find again +the abode of the knights and their ailing king, and bring to them +surcease of suffering. After long and grievous wanderings he is +again directed to the castle. Grief and despair have overwhelmed the +knights, whose king, unable longer to endure the torture in which he +has lived, has definitively refused to perform his holy office. In +consequence, his father, no longer the recipient of supernatural +sustenance, has died, and the king longs to follow him. The hero +touches the wound in the side of the king with the sacred spear, +ends his dolors, and is hailed as king in his place. The temptress, +who has followed him as a penitent, freed from a curse which had +rested upon her for ages, goes to a blissful and eternal rest. + + * * * + +Such is the story of Wagner's "Parsifal." It is the purpose of this +book to help the musical layman who loves lyric drama to enjoyment. +Criticism might do this, but a purpose of simple exposition has +already been proclaimed, and shall be adhered to lest some reader +think that he is being led too far afield. In this case the +exposition shall take the form of a marshalling of the elements of +the story in two aspects--religious and legendary. Careful readers +of English literature will have had no difficulty in recognizing in +it a story of the quest of the Holy Grail. Tennyson will have taught +them that the hero is that + + Sir Percivale + Whom Arthur and his knighthood called the Pure; + +that the talismanic vessel is + + the cup itself from which our Lord + Drank at the last sad supper with His own; + +that the lance which struck and healed the grievous wound in the +side of the king is the spear with which the side of the Christ was +pierced on Calvary. It is also obvious that the king, whose name +is Amfortas, that is, "the powerless one," is a symbol of humanity +suffering from the wounds of slavery to desire; that the heroic act +of Parsifal, as Wagner calls him, which brings release to the king +and his knights, is renunciation of desire, prompted by pity, +compassion, fellow-suffering; and that this gentle emotion it was +that had inspired knowledge simultaneously of a great need and a +means of deliverance. The ethical idea of the drama, as I set forth +in a book entitled "Studies in the Wagnerian Drama" many years ago, +is that it is the enlightenment which comes through pity which +brings salvation. The allusion is to the redemption of mankind +by the sufferings and compassionate death of Christ; and that +stupendous tragedy is the prefiguration of the mimic drama which +Wagner has constructed. The spectacle to which he invites us, and +with which he hoped to impress us and move us to an acceptance of +the lesson underlying his play, is the adoration of the Holy Grail, +cast in the form of a mimicry of the Last Supper, bedizened with +some of the glittering pageantry of mediaeval knighthood and romance. + +In the minds of many persons it is a profanation to make a stage +spectacle out of religious things; and it has been urged that +"Parsifal" is not only religious but specifically Christian; not +only Christian but filled with parodies of elements which are partly +liturgical, partly Biblical. In narrating the incidents of the play +I have purposely avoided all allusions to the things which have been +matters of controversy. It is possible to look upon "Parsifal" as a +sort of glorified fairy tale, and to this end I purpose to subject +its elements to inquiry, and shall therefore go a bit more into +detail. Throughout the play Parsifal is referred to as a redeemer, +and in the third act scenes in which he plays as the central figure +are borrowed from the life of Christ. Kundry, the sorceress, who +attempts his destruction at one time and is in the service of the +knights of the Grail at another, anoints his feet and dries them +with her hair, as the Magdalen did the feet of Christ in the house +of Simon the Pharisee. Parsifal baptizes Kundry and admonishes her +to believe in the Redeemer:-- + + Die Taufe nimm + Und glaub' an den Erlöser! + +Kundry weeps. Unto the woman who was a sinner and wept at His feet +Christ said: "Thy sins are forgiven. . . . Thy faith hath saved +thee. Go in peace." At the elevation of the grail by Parsifal after +the healing of Amfortas a dove descends from the dome and hovers +over the new king's head. What saith the Scripture? "And Jesus, +when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and +lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God +descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." (St. Matthew iii. +16.) It would be idle to argue that these things are not Biblical, +though the reported allusions to Parsifal as a redeemer do not of +necessity belong in the category. We shall see presently that the +drama is permeated with Buddhism, and there were a multitude of +redeemers and saviours in India besides the Buddha. + +Let us look at the liturgical elements. The Holy Grail is a chalice. +It is brought into the temple in solemn procession in a veiled +shrine and deposited on a table. Thus, also, the chalice, within its +pall, is brought in at the sacrament of the mass and placed on the +altar before the celebrant. In the drama boys' voices sing in the +invisible heights:-- + + Nehmet hin mein Blut + Um unserer Liebe willen! + Nehmet hin meinem Leib + Auf dass ihr mein gedenkt! + +Is there a purposed resemblance here to the words of consecration in +the mass? Accipite, et manducate ex hoc omnes. Hoc est enim Corpus +meum. Accipite, et bibite ex eo omnes. Hic est enim Calix sanguinis +mei! In a moment made wonderfully impressive by Wagner's music, +while Amfortas bends over the grail and the knights are on their +knees, a ray of light illumines the cup and it glows red. Amfortas +lifts it high, gently sways it from side to side, and blesses the +bread and wine which youthful servitors have placed beside each +knight on the table. In the book of the play, as the hall gradually +grows light the cups before the knights appear filled with red wine, +and beside each lies a small loaf of bread. Now the celestial +choristers sing: "The wine and bread of the Last Supper, once the +Lord of the Grail, through pity's love-power, changed into the blood +which he shed, into the body which he offered. To-day the Redeemer +whom ye laud changes the blood and body of the sacrificial offering +into the wine poured out for you, and the bread that you eat!" And +the knights respond antiphonally: "Take of the bread; bravely change +it anew into strength and power. Faithful unto death, staunch in +effort to do the works of the Lord. Take of the blood; change +it anew to life's fiery flood. Gladly in communion, faithful as +brothers, to fight with blessed courage." Are these words, or are +they not, a paraphrase of those which in the canon of the mass +follow the first and second ablutions of the celebrant: Quod ore +sumpsimus Domine, etc., and: Corpus tuum, Domine, etc.? He would +be but little critical who would deny it. + +Nevertheless, it does not necessarily follow that Wagner wished only +to parody the eucharistic rite. He wanted to create a ceremonial +which should be beautiful, solemn, and moving; which should be an +appropriate accompaniment to the adoration of a mystical relic; +which should, in a large sense, be neither Catholic, Protestant, +nor Buddhistic; which should symbolize a conception of atonement +older than Christianity, older than Buddhism, older than all records +of the human imagination. Of this more anon. As was his custom, +Wagner drew from whatever source seemed to him good and fruitful; +and though he doubtless thought himself at liberty to receive +suggestions from the Roman Catholic ritual, as well as the German +Lutheran, it is even possible that he had also before his mind +scenes from Christian Masonry. This possibility was once suggested +by Mr. F. C. Burnand, who took the idea from the last scene of the +first act only, and does not seem to have known how many connections +the Grail legend had with mediaeval Freemasonry or Templarism. There +are more elements associated with the old Knights Templars and their +rites in Wagner's drama than I am able to discuss. To do so I should +have to be an initiate and have more space at my disposal than I +have here. I can only make a few suggestions: In the old Welsh tale +of Peredur, which is a tale of the quest of a magical talisman, the +substitute for the grail is a dish containing a bloody head. That +head in time, as the legend passed through the imaginations of poets +and romances, became the head of John the Baptist, and there was a +belief in the Middle Ages that the Knights Templars worshipped a +bloody head. The head of John the Baptist enters dimly into Wagner's +drama in the conceit that Kundry is a reincarnation of Herodias, +who is doomed to make atonement, not for having danced the head off +the prophet's shoulders, but for having reviled Christ as he was +staggering up Calvary under the load of the cross. But this is +pursuing speculations into regions that are shadowy and vague. Let +it suffice for this branch of our study that Mr. Burnand has given +expression to the theory that the scene of the adoration of the +grail and the Love Feast may also have a relationship with the +ceremony of installation in the Masonic orders of chivalry, in +which a cup of brotherly love is presented to the Grand Commander, +who drinks and asks the Sir Knights to pledge him in the cup "in +commemoration of the Last Supper of our Grand Heavenly Captain, with +his twelve disciples, whom he commanded thus to remember him." Here, +says Mr. Burnand, there is no pretence to sacrifice. Participation +in the wine is a symbol of a particular and peculiarly close +intercommunion of brotherhood. + +To get the least offence from "Parsifal" it ought to be accepted in +the spirit of the time in which Christian symbolism was grafted on +the old tales of the quest of a talisman which lie at the bottom of +it. The time was the last quarter of the twelfth century and the +first quarter of the thirteenth. It is the period of the third +and fourth crusades. Relic worship was at its height. Less than a +hundred years before (in 1101) the Genoese crusaders had brought +back from the Holy Land as a part of the spoils of Caesarea, which +they were helpful in capturing under Baldwin, a three-cornered dish, +which was said to be the veritable dish used at the Last Supper of +Christ and his Apostles. The belief that it was cut out of a solid +emerald drew Bonaparte's attention to it, and he carried it away +to Paris in 1806 and had it examined. It proved to be nothing but +glass, and he graciously gave it back to Genoa in 1814. There it +still reposes in the Church of St. John, but it is no longer an +object of worship, though it might fairly excite a feeling of +veneration. + +For 372 years Nuremberg possessed what the devout believed to be the +lance of Longinus, with which the side of Christ was opened. The +relic, like most objects of its kind (the holy coat, for instance), +had a rival which, after inspiring victory at the siege of Antioch, +found its way to Paris with the most sacred relics, for which Louis +IX built the lovely Sainte Chapelle; now it is in the basilica of +the Vatican, at Rome. The Nuremberg relic, however, enjoyed the +advantage of historical priority. It is doubly interesting, or +rather was so, because it was one of Wagner's historical characters +who added it to the imperial treasure of the Holy Roman Empire. This +was none other than Henry the Fowler, the king who is righteous in +judgment and tuneful of speech in the opera "Lohengrin." Henry, so +runs the story, wrested the lance from the Burgundian king, Rudolph +III, some time about A.D. 929. After many vicissitudes the relic was +given for safe keeping to the imperial city of Nuremberg, in 1424, +by the Emperor Sigismund. It was placed in a casket, which was +fastened with heavy chains to the walls of the Spitalkirche. There +it remained until 1796. One may read about the ceremonies attending +its annual exposition, along with other relics, in the old history +of Nuremberg, by Wagenseil, which was the source of Wagner's +knowledge of the mastersingers. The disruption of the Holy Roman +Empire caused a scattering of the jewels and relics in the imperial +treasury, and the present whereabouts of this sacred lance is +unknown. The casket and chains, however, are preserved in the +Germanic Museum at Nuremberg to this day, and there have been seen, +doubtless, by many who are reading these lines. + +There is nothing in "Parsifal," neither personage nor incident nor +thing, no principle of conduct, which did not live in legendary +tales and philosophical systems long before Christianity existed as +a universal religion. The hero in his first estate was born, bred, +went out in search of adventure, rescued the suffering, and righted +wrong, just as Krishna, Perseus, Theseus, OEdipus, Romulus, +Remus, Siegfried, and Wolf-Dietrich did before him. He is an Aryan +legendary and mythical hero-type that has existed for ages. The +talismanic cup and spear are equally ancient; they have figured +in legend from time immemorial. The incidents of their quest, +the agonies wrought by their sight, their mission as inviters of +sympathetic interest, and the failure of a hero to achieve a work of +succor because of failure to show pity, are all elements in Keltic +Quester and Quest stories, which antedate Christianity. Kundry, the +loathly damsel and siren, has her prototypes in classic fable and +romantic tale. Read the old English ballad of "The Marriage of Sir +Gawain." So has the magic castle of Klingsor, surrounded by its +beautiful garden. It is all the things which I enumerated in the +chapter devoted to "Tannhäuser." It is also the Underworld, where +prevails the law of taboo--"Thou must," or "Thou shalt not;" whither +Psyche went on her errand for Venus and came back scot-free; where +Peritheus and Theseus remained grown to a rocky seat till Hercules +came to release them with mighty wrench and a loss of their bodily +integrity. The sacred lance which shines red with blood after it +has by its touch healed the wound of Amfortas is the bleeding spear +which was a symbol of righteous vengeance unperformed in the old +Bardic day of Britain; it became the lance of Longinus which pierced +the side of Christ when Christian symbolism was applied to the +ancient Arthurian legends; and you may read in Malory's "Morte +d'Arthur" how a dolorous stroke dealt with it by Balin opened a +wound in the side of King Pellam from which he suffered many years, +till Galahad healed him in the quest of the Sangreal by touching +the wound with the blood which flowed from the spear. + +These are the folklore elements in Wagner's "Parsifal." It is plain +that they might have been wrought into a drama substantially like +that which was the poet-composer's last gift to art without loss +of either dignity or beauty. Then his drama would have been like +a glorified fairy play, imposing and of gracious loveliness, and +there would have been nothing to quarrel about. But Wagner was a +philosopher of a sort, and a sincere believer in the idea that the +theatre might be made to occupy the same place in the modern world +that it did in the classic. It was to replace the Church and teach +by direct preachments as well as allegory the philosophical notions +which he thought essential to the salvation of humanity. For the +chief of these he went to that system of philosophy which rests on +the idea that the world is to be redeemed by negation of the will to +live, the conquering of all desire--that the highest happiness is +the achievement of nirvana, nothingness. This conception finds its +highest expression in the quietism and indifferentism of the old +Brahmanic religion (if such it can be called), in which holiness +was to be obtained by speculative contemplation, which seems to me +the quintessence of selfishness. In the reformed Brahmanism called +Buddhism, there appeared along with the old principle of self-erasure +a compassionate sympathy for others. Asceticism was not put aside, +but regulated and ordered, wrought into a communal system. It was +purged of some of its selfishness by appreciation of the loveliness +of compassionate love as exemplified in the life of Çakya-Muni and +those labors which made him one of the many redeemers and saviours +of which Hindu literature is full. Something of this was evidently +in the mind of Wagner as long ago as 1857, when, working on "Tristan +und Isolde," he for a while harbored the idea of bringing Parzival +(as he would have called him then) into the presence of the +dying Tristan to comfort him with a sermon on the happiness of +renunciation. Long before Wagner had sketched a tragedy entitled +"Jesus of Nazareth," the hero of which was to be a human philosopher +who preached the saving grace of love and sought to redeem his time +and people from the domination of conventional law, the offspring +of selfishness. His philosophy was socialism imbued by love. Before +Wagner finished "Tristan und Isolde" he had outlined a Hindu play in +which hero and heroine were to accept the doctrines of the Buddha, +take the vow of chastity, renounce the union toward which love +impelled them, and enter into the holy community. Blending these two +schemes, Wagner created "Parsifal." For this drama he could draw +the principle of compassionate pity and fellow-suffering from the +stories of both Çakya-Muni and Jesus of Nazareth. But for the sake +of a spectacle, I think, he accepted the Christian doctrine of the +Atonement with all its mystical elements; for they alone put the +necessary symbolical significance into the principal apparatus of +the play--the Holy Grail and the Sacred Lance. {1} + + +Footnotes: + +{1} "Parsifal" was performed for the first time at the Wagner +Festival Theatre in Bayreuth on July 28, 1882. The prescription +that it should belong exclusively to Bayreuth was respected till +December 24, 1903, when Heinrich Conried, taking advantage of the +circumstance that there was no copyright on the stage representation +of the work in America, brought it out with sensational success at +the Metropolitan Opera-house in New York. The principal artists +concerned in this and subsequent performances were Milka Ternina +(Kundry), Alois Burgstaller (Paraifal), Anton Van Rooy (Amfortas), +Robert Blass (Gurnemanz), Otto Görlitz (Klingsor) and Louise Homer +(a voice). + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG" + + +The best definition of the true purpose of comedy which I know is +that it is to "chastise manners with a smile" (Ridendo castigat +mores); and it has no better exemplification in the literature +of opera than Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg." Wagner's +mind dwelt much on Greek things, and as he followed a classical +principle in choosing mythological and legendary subjects for his +tragedies, so also he followed classical precedent in drawing the +line between tragedy and comedy. "Tannhäuser," "Tristan und Isolde," +"Der Ring des Nibelungen," "Parsifal," and, in a lesser degree, +"Lohengrin," are examples of the old tragedy type. To them the +restrictions of time and space do not apply. They deal with large +passions, and their heroes are gods or godlike men who are shattered +against the rock of immutable law--the "Fate" of the ancient +tragedians. His only significant essay in the field of comedy was +made in "Die Meistersinger," and this is as faithful to the old +conception of comedy as the dramas mentioned are to that of tragedy. +It deals with the manners, vices, and follies of the common people; +and, therefore, it has local environment and illustrates a period +in history. It was conceived as a satyr-play following a tragedy +("Tannhäuser"), and though there can be no doubt that it was +designed to teach a lesson in art, it nevertheless aims primarily +to amuse, and only secondarily to instruct and correct. Moreover, +even the most cutting of its satirical lashes are administered with +a smile. + +As a picture of the social life of a quaint German city three and a +half centuries ago, its vividness and truthfulness are beyond all +praise; it is worthy to stand beside the best dramas of the world, +and has no equal in operatic literature. The food for its satire, +too, is most admirably chosen, for no feature of the social life of +that place and period is more amiably absurd than the efforts of the +handicraftsmen and tradespeople, with their prosaic surroundings, +to keep alive by dint of pedantic formularies the spirit of +minstrelsy, which had a natural stimulus in the chivalric life of +the troubadours and minnesingers of whom the mastersingers thought +themselves the direct and legitimate successors. In its delineation +of the pompous doings of the mastersingers, Wagner is true to +the letter. He has vitalized the dry record to be found in old +Wagenseil's book on Nuremberg, {1} and intensified the vivid +description of a mastersingers' meeting which the curious may read +in August Hagen's novel "Norica." His studies have been marvellously +exact and careful, and he has put Wagenseil's book under literal and +liberal contribution, as will appear after a while. Now it seems +best to tell the story of the comedy before discussing it further. + +Veit Pogner, a rich silversmith, desiring to honor the craft of the +mastersingers, to whose guild he belongs, offers his daughter Eva +in marriage to the successful competitor at the annual meeting of +the mastersingers on the feast of St. John. Eva is in love (she +declares it in the impetuous manner peculiar to Wagner's heroines) +with Walther von Stolzing, a young Franconian knight; and the knight +with her. After a flirtation in church during divine service, +Walther meets her before she leaves the building, and asks if she +be betrothed. She answers in the affirmative, but it is to the +unknown victor at the contest of singing on the morrow. He resolves +to enter the guild so as to be qualified for the competition. A +trial of candidates takes place in the church of St. Catherine in +the afternoon, and Walther, knowing nothing of the rules of the +mastersingers, some of which have hurriedly been outlined to him +by David, a youngster who is an apprentice at shoemaking and also +songmaking, fails, though Hans Sachs, a master in both crafts, +recognizes evidences of genius in the knight's song, and espouses +his cause as against Beckmesser, the town clerk, who aims at +acquiring Pogner's fortune by winning his daughter. The young +people, in despair at Walther's failure, are about to elope when +they are prevented by the arrival on the scene of Beckmesser. It is +night, and he wishes to serenade Eva; Sachs sits cobbling at his +bench, while Eva's nurse, Magdalena, disguised, sits at a window +to hear the serenade in her mistress's stead. Sachs interrupts +the serenader, who is an ill-natured clown, by lustily shouting +a song in which he seeks also to give warning of knowledge of +her intentions to Eva, whose departure with the knight had been +interrupted by the cobbler when he came out of his shop to work +in the cool of the evening; but he finally agrees to listen to +Beckmesser on condition that he be permitted to mark each error in +the composition by striking his lap-stone. The humorous consequences +can be imagined. Beckmesser becomes enraged at Sachs, sings more +and more falsely, until Sachs is occupied in beating a veritable +tattoo on his lap-stone. To add to Beckmesser's discomfiture, +David, Sachs's apprentice and Magdalena's sweetheart, thinking +the serenade intended for his love, begins to belabor the singer +with a chub; neighbors join in the brawl, which proceeds right +merrily until interrupted by the horn of a night watchman. The +dignity and vigor of Wagner's poetical fancy are attested by the +marvellous chose of the act. The tremendous hubbub of the street +brawl is at its height and the business of the act is at an end. +The coming of the Watchman, who has evidently been aroused by the +noise, is foretold by his horn. The crowd is seized with a panic. +All the brawlers disappear behind doors. The sleepy Watchman stares +about him in amazement, rubs his eyes, sings the monotonous chant +which publishes the hour of the night, continues on his round, and +the moon shines on a quiet street in Nuremberg as the curtain falls. + +In the third act Walther, who had been taken into his house by Sachs +and spent the night there, sings a recital of a dream; and Sachs, +struck by its beauty, transcribes it, punctuating it with bits of +comments and advice. Beckmesser, entering Sachs's shop when the +cobbler-poet is out for a moment, finds the song, concludes that it +is Sachs's own composition, and appropriates it. Sachs, discovering +the theft, gives the song to Beckmesser, who secures a promise from +Sachs not to betray him, and resolves to sing it at the competition. +The festival is celebrated in a meadow on the banks of the Pegnitz +River, between Fürth and Nuremberg. It begins with a gathering +of all the guilds of Nuremberg, each division in the procession +entering to characteristic music--a real masterpiece, whether +viewed as spectacle, poetry, or music. The competition begins, and +Beckmesser makes a monstrously stupid parody of Walther's song. +He is hooted at and ridiculed, and, becoming enraged, charges the +authorship of the song on Sachs, who coolly retorts that it is +a good song when correctly sung. To prove his words he calls on +Walther to sing it. The knight complies, the mastersingers are +delighted, and Pogner rewards the singer with Eva's hand. Sachs, +at the request of the presiding officer of the guild, also offers +him the medal as the insignia of membership in the guild of +mastersingers. Walther's experience with the pedantry which had +condemned him the day before, when he had sung as impulse, love, and +youthful ardor had prompted, leads him to decline the distinction; +but the old poet discourses on the respect due to the masters and +their, work as the guaranty of the permanence of German art, and +persuades him to enter the guild of mastersingers. + +"Die Meistersinger" is photographic in many of its scenes, +personages, and incidents; but so far as the stage pictures which +we are accustomed to see in the opera-houses of New York and the +European capitals are concerned, this statement must be taken with +a great deal of allowance, owing to the fact that opera directors, +stage managers, scene painters, and costumers are blithely +indifferent to the verities of history. I have never seen a mimic +reproduction of the church of St. Catherine on any stage; yet the +church stands to-day with its walls intact as they were at the time +in which the comedy is supposed to play. This time is fixed by the +fact that its principal character, Hans Sachs, is represented as +a widower who might himself be a suitor for Eva's hand. Now the +veritable Sachs was a widower in the summer of the year 1560. I +visited Nuremberg in 1886 in search of relics of the mastersingers +and had no little difficulty in finding the church. It had not been +put to its original purposes for more than a hundred years, and +there seemed to be but few people in Nuremberg who knew of its +existence. It has been many things since it became secularized: a +painter's academy, drawing-school, military hospital, warehouse, +concert-hall, and, no doubt, a score of other things. When I found +it with the aid of the police it was the paint-shop and scenic +storeroom of the municipal theatre. It is a small building, utterly +unpretentious of exterior and interior, innocent of architectural +beauty, hidden away in the middle of a block of lowly buildings +used as dwellings, carpenter shops, and the like. That Wagner never +visited it is plain from the fact that though he makes it the +scene of one act of his comedy (as he had to do to be historically +accurate), his stage directions could not possibly be accommodated +to its architecture. In 1891 Mr. Louis Loeb, the American artist, +whose early death in the summer of 1909 is widely mourned, visited +the spot and made drawings for me of the exterior and interior of +the church as it looked then. The church was built in the last half +decade of the thirteenth century, and on its water-stained walls, +when I visited it, there were still to be seen faint traces of the +frescoes which once adorned it and were painted in the fourteenth, +fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries; but they were ruined beyond +hope of restoration. In the Germanic Museum I found a wooden tablet +dating back to 1581, painted by one Franz Hein. It preserves +portraits of four distinguished members of the mastersingers' guild. +There is a middle panel occupied by two pictures, the upper +showing King David, the patron saint of the guild, so forgetful of +chronology as to be praying before a crucifix, the lower a meeting +of the mastersingers. Over the heads of the assemblage is a +representative of the medallion with which the victor in a contest +used to be decorated, as we see in the last scene of Wagner's +comedy. One of these decorations was given to the guild by Sachs +and was in use for a whole century. At the end of that time it had +become so worn that Wagenseil replaced it with another. + +Church and tablet are the only relics of the mastersingers left +in Nuremberg which may be called personal. I had expected to find +autobiographic manuscripts of Sachs, but in this was disappointed. +There is a volume of mastersongs in the poet-cobbler's handwriting +in the Royal Library of Berlin, and one of these is the composition +of the veritable Sixtus Beckmesser; but most of the Sachs +manuscripts are in Zwickau. In the Bibliotheca Norica Williana, +incorporated with the Municipal Library of Nuremberg, there are +several volumes of mastersingers' songs purchased from an old +mastersinger some 135 years ago, and from these the students may +learn the structure and spirit of the mastersongs of the period of +the opera as well as earlier and later periods, though he will find +all the instruction he needs in any dozen or twenty of the 4275 +mastersongs written by Hans Sachs. The manuscript books known serve +to prove one thing which needed not to have called up a doubt. In +them are poems from all of the mastersingers who make up the meeting +which condemns Walther in St. Catherine's church. Wagner has adhered +to the record. {2} The most interesting of Sixtus Beckmesser's +compositions is "A New Year's Song," preserved in the handwriting +of Sachs in the Royal Library at Berlin. This I have translated in +order to show the form of the old mastersongs as described by the +apprentice, David, in Wagner's comedy, and also to prove (so far +as a somewhat free translation can) that the veritable Beckmesser +was not the stupid dunce that Wagner, for purposes of his own, +and tempted, doubtless, by the humor which he found in the name, +represented him to be. In fact, I am strongly tempted to believe +that with the exception of Sachs himself, Beckmesser was the best +of the mastersingers of the Nuremberg school:-- + + + A NEW YEAR'S SONG + By Sixtus Beckmesser + + (First "Stoll") + Joy + Christian thoughts employ + This day + Doth say + The Book of old + That we should hold + The faith foretold; + For naught doth doubt afford. + The patriarchs with one accord + Lived hoping that the Lord + Would rout the wicked horde. + Thus saith the word + To all believers given. + + (Second "Stoll") + God + Council held, triune, + When soon + The boon + The son foresaw: + Fulfilled the law + That we might draw + Salvation's prize. God then + An angel sent cross moor and fen, + ('Twas Gabriel, heaven's denizen,) + To Mary, purest maid 'mongst men. + He greeted her + With blessings sent from heaven. + + (The "Abgesang") + Thus spake the angel graciously: + "The Lord with thee, + Thou blessed she; + The Lord's voice saith, + Which breathes thy breath, + That men have earned eternal death. + Faith + Saves alone from sin's subjection; + For while weak Eve God's anger waked, + 'Twas, Ave, thine the blest election + To give the world peace and protection, + Most blessed gift + To mortals ever given!" + + +In Nuremberg the veritable Hans Sachs wrote plays on Tännhauser, +Tristan, and Siegfried between three and four hundred years before +the poet-composer who put the old cobbler-poet into his comedy. Very +naïve and very archaic indeed are Hans Sachs's dramas compared with +Wagner's; but it is, perhaps, not an exaggeration to say that Sachs +was as influential a factor in the dramatic life of his time as +Wagner in ours. He was among the earliest of the German poets +who took up the miracle plays and mysteries after they had been +abandoned by the church and developed them on the lines which ran +out into the classic German drama. His immediate predecessors were +the writers of the so-called "Fastnacht" (Mardi-gras) plays, who +flourished in Nuremberg in the fifteenth century. Out of these +plays German comedy arose, and among those who rocked its cradle +was another of the mastersingers who plays a part in Wagner's +opera,--Hans Folz. It was doubtless largely due to the influence of +Hans Sachs that the guild of mastersingers built the first German +theatre in Nuremberg in 1550. Before then plays with religious +subjects were performed in St. Catherine's church, as we have seen, +the meeting place of the guild. Secular plays were represented in +private houses. + +Hans Sachs wrote no less than 208 dramas, which he divided into +"Carnival Plays," "Plays," "Comedies," and "Tragedies." He dropped +the first designation in his later years, but his first dramatic +effort was a Fastnachtspiel, and treated the subject of Tannhäuser +and Venus. It bears the date February 21, 1517, and was therefore +written 296 years before Wagner was born. Of what is now dramatic +form and structure, there is not a sign in this play. It is merely +a dialogue between Venus and various persons who stand for as many +classes of society. The title is: "Das Hoffgesindt Veneris," or, +as it might be rendered in English, "The Court of Venus." The +characters are a Herald, Faithful Eckhardt, Danheuser (sic), +Dame Venus, a Knight, Physician, Citizen, Peasant, Soldier, Gambler, +Drunkard, Maid, and Wife. The Knight, Citizen, and the others appear +in turn before Venus and express contempt for her powers,--the +Knight because of his bravery, the Physician because of his learning, +the Maid because of her virtue, the Wife because of her honor. +Faithful Eckhardt, a character that figures in many Thuringian +legends, especially in tales of the Wild Hunt, warns each person in +turn to beware of Venus. The latter listens to each boast and lets +loose an arrow. Each boaster succumbs with a short lamentation. When +the play opens, Danheuser is already a prisoner of the goddess. +After all the rest have fallen victims, he begs for his release, +and they join in his petition. Venus rejects the prayer, speaks in +praise of her powers, and calls on a piper for music. A general +dance follows, whereupon the company go with the enchantress into +the Venusberg. The last speech of Venus ends with the line:-- + +So says Hans Sachs of Nuremberg. + +There is but a single scene in "The Court of Venus." In other plays +written in after years, no matter how often the action demanded it, +there is neither change of scenes nor division into acts; and the +personages, whether Biblical or classical, talk in the manner of +the simple folk of the sixteenth century. Sachs's tragedy, "Von der +strengen Lieb' Herrn Tristrant mit der schönen Königin Isalden" ("Of +the strong love of Lord Tristram and the beautiful Queen Iseult"), +contains seven acts, as is specified in the continuation of the +title "und hat sieben Akte." It was written thirty-six years later +than the carnival play and three years after the establishment of +a theatre in Nuremberg by the mastersingers. Each act ends with a +triple rhyme. Though Sachs uses stage directions somewhat freely +compared with the other dramatists of the period, the personages +all speak in the same manner, and time and space are annihilated in +the action most bewilderingly. Thus, no sooner does Herr Tristrant +volunteer to meet Morhold der Held to settle the question of +"Curnewelshland's" tribute to "Irland" than the two are at it hammer +and tongs on an island in the ocean. All the other incidents of the +old legends follow as fast as they are mentioned. Tristrant saves +his head in Ireland when discovered as the slayer of Morhold by +ridding the country of a dragon, and is repeatedly convicted of +treachery and taken back into confidence by König Marx, as one may +read in Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur." Sachs follows an old +conclusion of the story and gives Tristrant a second Iseult to wife, +and she tells the lie about the sails. The first Iseult dies of a +broken heart at the sight of her lover's bier, and the Herald in a +speech draws the moral of the tale:-- + + Aus dem so lass dich treulich warnen, + O Mensch, vor solcher Liebe Garnen, + Und spar dein Lieb' bis in die Eh', + Dann hab' Ein lieb' und keine meh. + Diesselb' Lieb' ist mit Gott und Ehren, + Die Welt damit fruchtbar zu mehren. + Dazu giebt Gott selbst allewegen + Sein' Gnad' Gedeihen und milden Segen. + Dass stete Lieb' und Treu' aufwachs' + Im ehlich'n Stand', das wünscht Hans Sachs. + +One of the most thrilling scenes in "Die Meistersinger" is the +greeting of Hans Sachs by the populace when the hero enters with the +mastersingers' guild at the festival of St. John (the chorus, "Wach' +auf! es nahet gen den Tag"). Here there is another illustration of +Wagner's adherence to the verities of history, or rather, of his +employment of them. The words of the uplifting choral song are not +Wagner's, but were written by the old cobbler-poet himself. Wagner's +stage people apply them to their idol, but Sachs uttered them in +praise of Martin Luther; they form the beginning of his poem +entitled "The Wittenberg Nightingale," which was printed in 1523. + +To the old history of Nuremberg written by Wagenseil, Wagner went +for other things besides the theatre and personages of his play. +From it he got the rules which governed the meeting of the +mastersingers, like that which follows the religious service in the +church of St. Catherine in the first act, and the singular names +of the melodies to which, according to David, the candidates for +mastersingers' honors were in the habit of improvising their songs. +In one instance he made a draft on an authentic mastersinger melody. +The march which is used throughout the comedy to symbolize the guild +begins as follows:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Here we have an exact quotation from the beginning of the first +Gesetz in the "Long Tone" of Heinrich Müglin, which was a tune +that every candidate for membership in the guild had to be able to +sing. The old song is given in full in Wagenseil's book, and on the +next page I have reproduced a portion of this song in fac-simile, so +that my readers can observe the accuracy of Wagner's quotation and +form an idea of the nature of the poetic frenzy which used to fill +the mastersingers, as well as enjoy the ornamental passages (called +"Blumen" in the old regulations) and compare them with the fiorituri +of Beckmesser's serenade. + +There is no doubt in my mind but that Wagner's purpose in "Die +Meistersinger" was to celebrate the triumph of the natural, poetical +impulse, stimulated by healthy emotion and communion with nature, +over pedantry and hide-bound conservatism. In the larger study of +the opera made in another place, I have attempted to show that the +contest is in reality the one which is always waging between the +principles of romanticism and classicism, a contest which is +essentially friendly and necessary to progress. The hero of the +comedy is not Walther, but Sachs, who represents in himself both +principles, who stands between the combatants and checks the +extravagances of both parties. {3} + +Like Beethoven in his "Leonore" overtures written for the opera +"Fidelio," Wagner constructs the symphonic introduction to his +comedy so as to indicate the elements of his dramatic story, their +progress in the development of the play, and, finally, the outcome. +The melodies are of two sorts conforming to the two parties into +which the personages of the play can be divided; and, like those +parties, the melodies are broadly distinguished by external +physiognomy and emotional essence. Most easily recognized are the +two broad march tunes typical of the mastersingers and their +pageantry. One of them has already been presented. Like its +companion,-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +which opens the prelude, it is a strong, simple melody, made on the +intervals of the diatonic scale, square-cut in rhythm, firm and +dignified, and, like the mastersingers, complacent and a trifle +pompous in stride. The three melodies which are presented in +opposition to the spirit represented by the mastersingers and their +typical music, are disclosed by a study of the comedy to be +associated with the passion of the young lovers, Walther and Eva. +They differ in every respect--melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic,--from +those which stand for the old guildsmen and their rule-of-thumb +notions. They are chromatic, as see this:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +and this (which is the melody which in a broadened form becomes that +of Walther's prize song):-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +and this, which is peculiarly the symbol of youthful ardor:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Their rhythms are less regular and more eager (note the influence of +syncopation upon them); they are harmonized with greater warmth and +infused with greater passion. In the development of the prelude +these melodies are presented at first consecutively, then as in +conflict (first one, then another pushing forward for expression), +finally in harmonious and contented union. The middle part of the +prelude, in which the opening march tune is heard in short, quick +notes (in diminution, as the theoreticians say) maybe looked upon as +caricaturing the mastersingers, not in their fair estate, but as +they are satirized in the comedy in the person of Beckmesser. + + +Footnotes: + +{1} "Joh. Christophori Wagenseilii De Sacri Rom. Imperii Libera +Civitate Noribergensi Commentatio. Accedit, De Germaniae +Phonascorum Von Der Meister-Singer Origine, Praestantia, Utilitate, +et Institutis, Sermone Vernaculo Liber. Altdorf Noricorum Typis +Impensisque Jodoci Wilhelmi Kohlesii. CID ICD XCVII." + +{2} I quote from Wagenseil's book--he is writing about the history +of the mastersingers: "Nach der Stadt Mäyntz, hat in den Stätten +Nürnberg und Strassburg / die Meister-Singer-Kunst sonderlich +floriret / wie dann auchXII. Alte Nürnbergische Meister annoch im +Beruff sind; so mit Namen geheissen / 1. Veit Pogner. 2. Cuntz +Vogelgesang. 3. Hermann Ortel. 4. Conrad Nachtigal. 5. Fritz +Zorn. 6. Sixtus Beckmesser. 7. Fritz Kohtner. 8. Niclaus Vogel. +9. Augustin Moser. 10. Hannss Schwartz. 11. Ulrich Eisslinger. +12. Hannss Foltz." + +{3} "In the musical contest it is only the perverted idea of +Classicism which is treated with contumely and routed; the +glorification of the triumph of Romanticism is found in the +stupendously pompous and brilliant setting given to the +mastersingers' music at the end. You see already in this prelude +that Wagner is a true comedian. He administers chastisement with a +smile and chooses for its subject only things which are temporary +aberrations from the good. What is strong, and true, and pure, and +wholesome in the art of the mastersingers he permits to pass through +his satirical fires unscathed. Classicism, in its original sense as +the conservator of that which is highest and best in art, he leaves +unharmed, presenting her after her trial, as Tennyson presents his +Princess at the close of his corrective poem, when + + "All + Her falser self slipt from her like a robe, + And left her woman, lovelier in her mood + Than in her mould that other, when she came + From barren deeps to conquer all with love." + +--"Studies in the Wagnerian Drama," by H. E. Krehbiel, p. 95. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"LOHENGRIN" + + +In the last hundred lines of the last book of his epic poem to which +Wagner went for the fundamental incidents, not principles, of his +"Parsifal," Wolfram von Eschenbach tells the story of one of the +Grail King's sons whom he calls Loherangrin. This son was a lad when +Parzival (thus Wolfram spells the name) became King of the Holy +Grail and the knights who were in its service. When he had grown +to manhood, there lived in Brabant a queen who was equally gifted +in beauty, wealth, and gentleness. Many princes sought her hand in +marriage, but she refused them all, and waited for the coming of one +whom God had disclosed to her in a vision. One day a knight of great +beauty and nobley, as Sir Thomas Mallory would have said, came to +Antwerp in a boat drawn by a swan. To him the queen at once gave +greeting as lord of her dominions; but in the presence of the +assembled folk he said to her: "If I am to become ruler of this +land, know that it will be at great sacrifice to myself. Should you +nevertheless wish me to remain with you, you must never ask who +I am; otherwise I must leave you forever." The queen made solemn +protestation that she would never do aught against his will. Then +her marriage with the stranger knight was celebrated, and they abode +together long in happiness and honor. But at the last the queen was +led to put the fatal question. Then the swan appeared with the boat, +and Loherangrin, for it was he, was drawn back to Montsalvat, whence +he had come. But to those whom he left behind he gave his sword, +horn, and ring. + +There are other mediaeval poems which deal with the story of +Lohengrin, more, indeed, than can or need be discussed here. Some, +however, deserve consideration because they supply elements which +Wagner used in his opera but did not find in Wolfram's poem. Wagner +went, very naturally, to a poem of the thirteenth century, entitled +"Lohengrin," for the majority of the incidents of the drama. Thence +he may have drawn the motive for the curiosity of Elsa touching the +personality of her husband. Of course, it lies in human nature, as +stories which are hundreds if not thousands of years older attest; +but I am trying, as I have been in preceding chapters in this book, +to account for the presence of certain important elements in +Wagner's opera, and so this poem must also be considered. In it +Lohengrin rescues Elsa, the Duchess of Brabant, from the false +accusations of Telramund, the knight having been summoned from +Montsalvat (or "Monsalväsch," to be accurate) by the ringing of a +bell which Elsa had taken from a falcon's leg. The knight marries +her, but first exacts a promise that she will never seek of him +knowledge of his race or country. After the happy domestic life of +the pair has been described, it is told how Lohengrin overthrew the +Duke of Cleves at a tournament in Cologne and broke his arm. The +Duchess of Cleves felt humiliated at the overthrow of her husband by +a knight of whom nothing was known, and wickedly insinuated that it +was a pity that so puissant a jouster should not be of noble birth, +thereby instilling a fatal curiosity into the mind of the Lady of +Brabant, which led to questions which Lohengrin answered before the +emperor's court and then disappeared from view. From "Der jüngere +Titurel," another mediaeval poem, came the suggestion that the +mysterious knight's prowess was due to sorcery and might be set at +naught if his bodily integrity were destroyed even in the slightest +degree. In the French tale of "Le Chevalier au Cygne," as told in +the "Chansons de geste," you may read the story of Helyas, who was +one of seven children of King Oriant and Queen Beatrix, who were +born with silver chains around their necks. The chains being removed +with evil purpose, the children turned into swans and flew away--all +but one, Helyas, who was absent at the time. But Helyas got +possession of all the chains but one, which had been wrought into a +cup, and one day, when he heard the sound of wings, and six swans +let themselves down into the water, he threw the chains around their +necks, and they at once assumed the forms of his brothers. Also how, +one day, Helyas, from the window of his palace, saw a swan drawing a +boat, and how he donned his armor, took a golden horn, and was drawn +away to Nimwegen, where Emperor Otto was holding court. There he +found that the Count of Blankenbourg had accused his sister-in-law, +the Duchess of Bouillon, of having poisoned her husband, and had +laid claim to the duchy. There was to be a trial by ordeal of +battle, and while the duchess waited for the coming of a champion, +lo! there was the sound of a horn, and Helyas came down the river in +a boat drawn by a swan, undertook the cause of the innocent lady, +slew her accuser, and married her daughter. For long she was a good +and faithful wife, and bore him a child who became the mother of +Godfrey de Bouillon, Baldwin de Sebourg, and Eustace de Boulogne. +But one day she asked of her lord his name and race. Then he bade +her repair to Nimwegen, and commending her and her daughter to the +care of the emperor, he departed thence in a swan-drawn boat and was +never seen more. + +Here we have the essentials of the story which Wagner wrought into +his opera "Lohengrin" Only a few details need be added to make the +plot complete. The meeting of Lohengrin and Elsa takes place on the +banks of the river Scheldt in Brabant. The King has come to ask +the help of the Brabantians against the Huns, who are invading +Germany. He finds Brabant in a disturbed state. The throne is +vacant; Count Frederick of Telramund, who has his eyes upon it, +had offered his hand in marriage to Elsa, who, with her brother, +Gottfried, had been left in his care on the death of their father, +but had met with a refusal. He had then married Ortrud, a Frisian +princess. She is the last of a royal line, but a pagan, and +practises sorcery. To promote the ambition of herself and her +husband, she has changed Gottfried into a swan by throwing a magical +chain about his neck, and persuaded Telramund to accuse Elsa of +having murdered the boy in the hope of enjoying the throne together +with a secret lover. The King summons Elsa to answer the charge and +decrees trial by ordeal of battle. Commanded to name her champion, +she tells of a knight seen in a dream: upon him alone will she +rely. Not until the second call of the Herald has gone out and +Elsa has fallen to her knees in prayer does the champion appear. He +is a knight in shining white armor who comes in a boat drawn by a +swan. He accepts the gage of battle, after asking Elsa whether or +not she wants him to be her husband if victorious in the combat, and +exacting a promise never to ask of him whence he came or what his +name or race. He overcomes Telramund, but gives him his life; the +King, however, banishes the false accuser and sets the stranger over +the people of Brabant with the title of Protector. Telramund is +overwhelmed by his misfortunes, but Ortrud urges him to make another +trial to regain what he has lost. The knight, she says, had won by +witchcraft, and if but the smallest joint of his body could be taken +from him, he would be impotent. Together they instil disquiet and +suspicion into the mind of Elsa as she is about to enter the +minster to be married. After the wedding guests have departed, her +newly found happiness is disturbed by doubt, and a painful curiosity +manifests itself in her speech. Lohengrin admonishes, reproves, +and warns in words of tenderest love. He had given up greater +glories than his new life had to offer out of love for her. A +horrible fear seizes her: he who had so mysteriously come would as +mysteriously depart. Cost what it may, she must know who he is. She +asks the question, but before he can reply Telramund rushes into +the room with drawn weapon. Elsa has but time to hand Lohengrin his +sword, with which he stretches the would-be assassin dead on the +chamber floor. Then he commands that the body be carried before the +King, whither he also directs her maids to escort his wife. There is +another conclave of King and nobles. Lohengrin asks if he had acted +within his right in slaying Telramund, and his deed is approved by +all. Then he gives public answer to Elsa's question: + + In distant lands, where ye can never enter, + A castle stands and Montsalvat its name; + A radiant temple rises from its center + More glorious far than aught of earthly fame. + And there a vessel of most wondrous splendor, + A shrine, most holy, guarded well doth rest, + To which but mortals purest service render-- + 'Twas brought to earth by hosts of angels blest! + Once every year a dove from heaven descendeth + To strengthen then its wondrous powers anew: + 'Tis called the Grail--and purest faith it lendeth + To those good knights who are its chosen few. + To serve the Grail whoe'er is once elected + Receives from it a supernatural might; + From baneful harm and fraud is he protected, + Away from him flees death and gloom of night! + Yea, whom by it to distant lands is bidden + As champion to some virtuous cause maintain, + Well knows its powers are from him never hidden, + If, as its knight, he unrevealed remain. + Such wondrous nature is the Grail's great blessing, + Reveal'd must then the knight from mortals flee: + Let not rest in your hearts a doubt oppressing,-- + If known to you he saileth o'er the sea. + Now list what he to you in troth declareth: + The Grail obeying here to you I came. + My father Parzival, a crown he weareth, + His knight am I and Lohengrin my name! {1} + +A prohibition which rests upon all who are served by a Knight of the +Grail having been violated, he must depart from thence; but before +going he gives his sword, horn, and ring to Elsa, and tells her that +had he been permitted to live but one year at her side, her brother +would have returned in conduct of the Grail. The swan appears to +convey him back to his resplendent home. Ortrud recognizes the chain +around its neck and gloats over her triumph; but Lohengrin hears her +shout. He sinks on his knees in silent prayer. As he rises, a white +dove floats downward toward the boat. Lohengrin detaches the chain +from the neck of the swan. The bird disappears, and in its place +stands Gottfried, released from the spell put upon him by the +sorceress. The dove draws the boat with its celestial passenger +away, and Elsa sinks lifeless into the arms of her brother. + +In this story of Lohengrin there is an admixture of several elements +which once had no association. It is the story of an adventure of a +Knight of the Holy Grail; also a story involving the old principle +of taboo; and one of many stories of the transformation of a human +being into a swan, or a swan into a human being. This swan myth is +one of the most widely spread of all transformation tales; it may +even be found in the folk-stories of the American Indians. To +discuss this feature would carry one too far afield, and I have +a different purpose in view. + + * * * + +The two Figaro operas, the discussion of which opened this book, +were composed by different men, and a generation of time separated +their production. The opera which deals with the second chapter of +the adventures of Seville's factotum was composed first, and is the +greater work of the two; yet we have seen how pleasantly they can be +associated with each other, and, no doubt, many who admire them have +felt with me the wish that some musician with sufficient skill and +the needful reverence would try the experiment of remodelling the +two and knitting their bonds closer by giving identity of voice +to the personages who figure in both. The Wagnerian list presents +something like a parallel, and it would be a pleasant thing if two +of the modern poet-composer's dramas which have community of subject +could be brought into similar association, so that one might be +performed as a sequel to the other. The operas are "Lohengrin" and +"Parsifal." A generation also lies between them, and they ought +to bear a relationship to each other something like that existing +between "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Il Barbiere di Siviglia." Indeed, +the bond ought to be closer, for one man wrote books and music +as well of the Grail dramas, whereas different librettists and +different composers created the Figaro comedies. But it will +never be possible to bring Wagner's most popular opera and his +"stage-consecrating play" into logical union, notwithstanding that +both deal with the legend of the Holy Grail and that the hero of one +proclaims himself to be the son of the hero of the other. Wagner +cast a loving glance at the older child of his brain when he quoted +some of the "swan music" of "Lohengrin "in "Parsifal"; but he built +an insurmountable wall between them when he forsook the sane and +simple ideas which inspired him in writing "Lohengrin" for the +complicated fabric of mediaeval Christianity and Buddhism which +he strove to set forth in "Parsifal." In 1847 Wagner was willing +to look at the hero of the quest of the Holy Grail whom we +call Percival through the eyes of his later guide, Wolfram von +Eschenbach. To Wolfram Parzival was a married man; more than that--a +married lover, clinging with devotion to the memory of the wife from +whose arms he had torn himself to undertake the quest, and losing +himself in tender brooding for days when the sight of blood-spots +on the snow suggested to his fancy the red and white of fair +Konwiramur's cheeks. Thirty years later Wagner could only conceive +of his Grail hero as a celibate and an ascetic. Lohengrin glories in +the fact that he is the son of him who wears the crown of the Grail; +but Parsifal disowns his son. + +This is one instance of the incoherency of the two Grail dramas. +There is another, and by this second departure from the old legends +which furnished forth his subject, Wagner made "Lohengrin" and +"Parsifal" forever irreconcilable. The whole fabric of the older +opera rests on the forbidden question:-- + + Nie solist du mich befragen, noch + Wissen's Sorge tragen, + woher ich kam der Fahrt, + noch wie mein Nam' und Art. {2} + +So impressed was Wagner with the significance of this dramatic +motive sixty years ago, that he gave it a musical setting which +still stands as the finest of all his many illustrations of the +principle of fundamental or typical phrases in dramatic music:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Nie sollst du mich befragen"] + +And no wonder. No matter where he turned in his studies of the +Grail legend, he was confronted by the fact that it was by asking a +question that the seeker after the Grail was to release the ailing +king, whom he found in the castle in which the talismans were +preserved, from his sufferings. In the Welsh tale of Peredur and +the French romances the question went only to the meaning of the +talismans; but this did not suffice Wolfram von Eschenbach, who +in many ways raised the ethical standard of the Grail legend. He +changed the question so as to make it a sign of affectionate and +compassionate interest on the part of the questioner; it was no +longer, "What mean the bloody head and the bleeding lance?" but +"What ails thee, uncle?" + +Wagner was fond, a little overfond, indeed, of appealing to the +public over the heads of the critics, of going to the jury rather +than the judge, when asking for appreciation of his dramas; but +nothing is plainer to the close student than that he was never +wholly willing to credit the public with possession of that high +imaginativeness to which his dramas more than those of any other +composer make appeal. His first conception of the finale of +"Tannhäuser," for instance, was beautiful, poetical, and reasonable; +for the sake of a spectacle he reconstructed it after the original +production and plunged it into indefensible confusion and absurdity. + +A desire to abstain as much as possible from criticism (that not +being the purpose of this book) led me to avoid mention of this +circumstance in the exposition of "Tannhäuser"; but I find that I +must now set it forth, though briefly. In the original form of the +opera there was no funeral procession and no death of the hero +beside the bier of the atoning saint. The scene between Tannhäuser +and Wolfram was interrupted by the tolling of a bell in the castle +to indicate the death of Elizabeth and the appearance of a glow of +rose-colored light across the valley to suggest the presence of +Venus. By bringing the corpse of Elizabeth on the stage so that +Tannhäuser might die by its side, Wagner was guilty of worse than an +anachronism. The time which elapses in the drama between Elizabeth's +departure from the scene and her return as a corpse is just as long +as the song which Wolfram sings in which he apostrophizes her as his +"holder Abendstern"--just as long and not a moment longer. There +is no question here of poetical license, for Wolfram sings the +apostrophe after her retreating figure, and the last chord of +his postlude is interrupted by Tannhäuser's words, "Ich hörte +Harfenschlag!" Yet we are asked to assume that in the brief interim +Elizabeth has ascended the mountain to the Wartburg, died, been +prepared for burial, and brought back to the valley as the central +object of a stately funeral. + +It would have been much wiser to have left the death of Elizabeth +to the imagination of the public than to have made the scene +ridiculous. But Wagner was afraid to do that, lest his purpose be +overlooked. He was a master of theatrical craft, and though he could +write a tragedy like "Tristan und Isolde," with little regard for +external action, he was quite unwilling to miss so effective a +theatrical effect as the death of Tannhäuser beside Elizabeth's +bier. After all, he did not trust the public, whose judgment he +affected to place above that of his critics, and for this reason, +while he was willing to call up memories of his earlier opera by +quoting some of its music in "Parsifal," he ignored the question +which plays so important a rôle in "Lohengrin," and made the healing +of Amfortas depend upon a touch of the talismanic spear--a device +which came into the Grail story from pagan sources, as I have +already pointed out. + +Now, why was the questioning of Lohengrin forbidden? Wolfram von +Eschenbach tells us, and his explanation sufficed Wagner when he +made his first studies of the Grail legends as a preparation for +"Lohengrin." It was the Holy Grail itself which pronounced the +taboo. An inscription appeared on the talisman one day commanding +that whenever a Knight of the Grail went into foreign lands to +assume rule over a people, he was to admonish them not to question +him concerning his name and race; should the question be put, he +was to leave them at once. And the reason? + + Weil der gute Amfortas + So lang in bittern Schmerzen lag, + Und ihn die Frage lange mied, + Ist ihnen alles Fragen leid; + All des Grales Dienstgesellen + Wollen sich nicht mehr fragen lassen. + +The same explanation is made in the mediaeval poem "Lohengrin." We +are not called upon to admire the logic of Wolfram and the Knights +of the Grail, but nothing could be plainer than this: The sufferings +of Amfortas having been wofully prolonged by Parzival's failure to +ask the healing question, the Knights of the Grail were thereafter +required by their oracular guide to prohibit all questioning of +themselves under penalty of forfeiture of their puissant help. +When Wagner wrote his last drama, he was presented with a dilemma: +should he remain consistent and adhere to the question as a dramatic +motive, or dare the charge of inconsistency for the sake of that bit +of spectacular apparatus, the sacred lance? He chose inconsistency +and the show, and emphasized the element of relic worship to such +a degree as to make his drama foreign to the intellectual and +religious habits of the time in which he wrote. But this did not +disturb him; for he knew that beauty addresses itself to the +emotions rather than the intellect, and that his philosophical +message of the redeeming power of loving comnpassion would find +entrance to the hearts of the people over all the obstacles that +reason might interpose. Yet he destroyed all the poetical bonds +which ought or might have existed between "Parsifal" and "Lohengrin." + +It was Wagner who created the contradiction which puts his operas +in opposition by his substitution of the sacred lance as a dramatic +motive for the question. But poets had long before taken the +privilege of juggling with two elements of ancient myths and +folk-tales which are blended in the story of Lohengrin. Originally +there was no relationship between the Knight of the Holy Grail and +the Swan Knight, and there is no telling when the fusion of the +tales was made. But the element of the forbidden question is of +unspeakable antiquity and survives in the law of taboo which +exists among savages to-day. When Wagner discussed his opera in +his "Communication to My Friends" he pointed out the resemblance +between the story of Lohengrin and the myth of Zeus and Semele. Its +philosophical essence he proclaimed to be humanity's feeling of +the necessity of love. Elsa was "the woman who drew Lohengrin from +the sunny heights to the depths of earth's warm heart. . . . Thus +yearned he for woman--for the human heart. And thus did he step down +from out his loneliness of sterile bliss when he heard this woman's +cry for succor, this heart cry from humanity below." This is all +very well, and it would be churlish to say that it is not beautifully +reflected in Wagner's drama; but it does not explain the need of the +prohibition. A woman who loves must have unquestioning faith in her +husband--that is all. But there are two ancient myths which show +that the taboo was conceived as a necessary ingredient of the +association of divine men with human women. Let both be recalled, +for both have plainly gone over into the mediaeval story. + +The first is the one to which Wagner made allusion: Jupiter has +given his love to Semele. Wickedly prompted by the jealous Juno, +Semele asks her august lover to grant her a wish. He promises +that she shall have her desire, and confirms his words with the +irrevocable oath, swearing by the Stygian flood. Semele asks him +then to appear to her in all his celestial splendor. The god would +have stopped her when he realized her purpose, but it was too late. +Sorrowfully he returned to the celestial abode and fearfully he put +on his lesser panoply. Arrayed in this he entered the chamber of +Semele, but though he had left behind him the greater splendors, +the immortal radiance consumed her to ashes. + +That is one story; the other is the beautiful fable, freighted with +ethical symbolism, which Apulcius gave to literature in the second +century of the Christian era, though, no doubt, his exquisite +story is only the elaboration of a much older conceit. Psyche, the +daughter of a king, arouses the envy of Venus because of her beauty, +and the goddess's anger because of the feeling which that beauty +inspires among men. She resolves to punish her presumptuous mortal +rival, and sends Cupid as her messenger of vengeance. But the God +of Love falls himself a victim to the maiden's charms. The spell +which he puts upon her he cannot wholly dissipate. Hosts of admirers +still follow Psyche, but no worthy man offers her marriage. Her +parents consult the oracle of Apollo, who tells him that she is +doomed to become the wife of a monster who lives upon a high +mountain. The maiden sees in this a punishment meted out by Venus +and offers herself as a propitiatory sacrifice. Left alone by +parents and friends, she climbs the rocky steeps and falls asleep +in the wilderness. Thither come the Zephyrs and carry her to a +beautiful garden, where unseen hands serve her sumptuously in a +magnificent palace and the voices of invisible singers ravish her +cars with music. Every night she is visited by a mysterious being +who lavishes loving gifts upon her, but forbids her to look upon +his face, and disappears before dawn. Psyche's sisters, envious +of her good fortune and great happiness, fill her mind with wicked +doubt and distrust. A fatal curiosity seizes upon her, and one night +she uncovers her lamp to look upon the form of her doting companion. +Instead of the monster spoken of by the oracle, she sees the +loveliest of the immortals. It is Cupid who lies sleeping before +her, with snowy wings folded, and golden ringlets clustering about +his shoulders. Anxious for a closer view, Psyche leans over him, +but a drop of hot oil falls from the lamp upon his shining skin. +The god awakes, and without a word flies out of the window. Palace +and garden disappear, and Psyche is left alone to suffer the +consequences of her foolish curiosity. After wandering long in +search of the lost one, she wins the sympathy of Ceres, who advises +her to seek out Venus and offer reparation. She becomes the slave of +the goddess, who imposes cruel tasks upon her. But at length Cupid +can no longer endure to be separated from her, and goes to Jupiter, +who intercedes with Venus and wins her forgiveness for Psyche. Then +the supreme god gives her immortality, and she becomes forever the +wife of Cupid. + +There are two other points, one legendary, one historical, which +ought to be mentioned for the sake of those who like to know the +sources of stories like that of Lohengrin. The ancient Angles had +a saga which told of the arrival in their country of a boat, +evidently sailless, oarless, and rudderless, containing only a +child surrounded by arms and treasure. They brought him up and +called him Skéaf (from which word our "sheaf"), because he lay upon +a bundle of grain. He became king of the people, and, when he felt +death upon him, commanded to be carried back to the shore where he +had been found. There lay the boat in which he had come, and when +his dead body was placed in it, it moved away of its own accord. +From him descended a race of kings. Here, I am inclined to see a +survival of the story of Danaë and her child Perseus found floating +on the sea in a chest, as sung by Simonides. The historical element +in "Lohengrin" is compassed by the figure of the king, who metes out +justice melodiously in the opening and closing scenes. It is King +Henry I of Germany, called the Fowler, who reigned from A.D. 918 to +936. He was a wise, brave, and righteous king, who fought the savage +Huns, and for his sake the management of the festival performances +at Bayreuth, in 1894, introduced costumes of the tenth century. + + +Footnotes: + +{1} John P. Jackson's translation. + +{2} In Mr. John P. Jackson's translation:-- + + Ne'er with thy fears shalt task me, + Nor questions idly ask me: + The land and from whence I came, + Nor yet my race and name. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +"HÄNSEL UND GRETEL" + + +In many respects "Hänsel und Gretel" is the most interesting opera +composed since "Parsifal," and, by being an exception, proves +the rule to which I directed some remarks in the chapter on "Don +Giovanni." For a quarter of a century the minds of musical critics +and historians have been occupied at intervals with the question +whether or not progress in operatic composition is possible on the +lines laid down by Wagner. Of his influence upon all the works +composed within a period twice as long there never was a doubt; +but this influence manifested itself for the greater part in +modifications of old methods rather than the invention of new. +In Germany attempts have been made over and over again to follow +Wagner's system, but though a few operas thus produced have had a +temporary success, in the end it has been found that the experiments +have all ended in failures. It was but natural that the fact should +provoke discussion. If no one could write successfully in Wagner's +manner, was there a future for the lyric drama outside of a return +to the style which he had striven to overthrow? If there was no +such future, was the fact not proof of the failure of the Wagnerian +movement as a creative force? The question was frequently answered +in a spirit antagonistic to Wagner; but many of the answers were +overhasty and short-sighted. It needed only that one should come +who had thoroughly assimilated Wagner's methods and had the genius +to apply them in a spirit of individuality, to demonstrate that +it was possible to continue the production of lyric dramas without +returning to the hackneyed manner of the opposing school. The +composer who did this was Engelbert Humperdinck, and it is +particularly noteworthy that his demonstration acquired its most +convincing force from the circumstance that instead of seeking his +material in the myths of antiquity, as Wagner did, he found them +in the nursery. + +While emphasizing this fact, however, it is well not to forget that +in turning to the literature of folklore for an operatic subject +Humperdinck was only carrying out one of the principles for which +Wagner contended. The Mährchen of a people are quite as much a +reflex of their intellectual, moral, and emotional life as their +heroic legends and myths. In fact, they are frequently only the +fragments of stories which, when they were created, were embodiments +of the most profound and impressive religious conceptions of which +the people were capable. The degeneration of the sun god of our +Teutonic forefathers into the Hans of Grimm's tale, who could not +learn to shiver and shake, through the Sinfiotle of the "Volsunga +Saga" and the Siegfried of the "Nibelungenlied," is so obvious that +it needs no commentary. Neither should the translation of Brynhild +into Dornröschen, the Sleeping Beauty of our children's tales. +The progress illustrated in these examples is that from myth to +Mährchen, and Humperdinck in writing his fairy opera, or nursery +opera if you will, paid tribute to German nationality in the same +coin that Wagner did when he created his "Ring of the Nibelung." +Everything about "Hänsel und Gretel" is charming to those who can +feel their hearts warm toward the family life and folklore of +Germany, of which we are, or ought to be, inheritors. The opera +originated, like Thackeray's delightful fireside pantomime for great +and small children, "The Rose and the Ring." The composer has a +sister, Frau Adelheid Wette, wife of a physician in Cologne. She, +without any particular thought of literary activity, had been in +the habit of writing little plays for production within the family +circle. For these plays her brother provided the music. In this way +grew the first dramatic version of the story of Hänsel and Gretel, +which, everybody who has had a German nurse or has read Grimm's +fairy tales knows, tells the adventures of two children, a brother +and sister, who, driven into the woods, fell into the toils of the +Crust Witch (Knusperhexe), who enticed little boys and girls into +her house, built of gingerbread and sweetmeats, and there ate them +up. The original performers of the principal characters in the play +were the daughters of Frau Wette. Charmed with the effect of the +fanciful little comedy, Herr Humperdinck suggested its expansion +into a piece of theatrical dimensions; and the opera was the result. +It was brought forward for the first time in public on December 23, +1893, in Weimar, and created so profound an impression that it +speedily took possession of all the principal theatres of Germany, +crossed the channel into England, made its way into Holland, +Belgium, and Italy, and reached America within two years. Its first +performance in New York was in an English version at Daly's Theatre +on October 8, 1895. There were drawbacks in the representation which +prevented a success, but after it had been incorporated in the +German repertory of the Metropolitan Opera-house in the season of +1895-1896 it became as much of a permanency as any opera in the list. + +Humperdinck has built up the musical structure of "Hänsel und +Gretel" in the Wagnerian manner, but has done it with so much +fluency and deftness that a musical layman might listen to it +from beginning to end without suspecting the fact, save from the +occasional employment of what may be called Wagnerian idioms. The +little work is replete with melodies which, though original, bear +a strong family resemblance to two little songs which the children +sing at the beginning of the first and second acts, and which are +veritable nursery songs in Germany. These ditties and the principal +melodies consorted with them contribute characteristic motifs out +of which the orchestral part is constructed; and these motifs are +developed in accordance with an interrelated scheme every bit as +logical and consistent as the scheme at the bottom of "Tristan und +Isolde." As in that stupendous musical tragedy, the orchestra takes +the part played by the chorus in Greek tragedy, so in "Hänsel und +Gretel" it unfolds the thoughts, motives, and purposes of the +personages of the play and lays bare the simple mysteries of the +plot and counterplot. The careless happiness of the children, the +apprehension of the parents, promise and fulfilment, enchantment and +disenchantment--all these things are expounded by the orchestra in a +fine flood of music, highly ingenious in contrapuntal texture, rich +in instrumental color, full of rhythmical life, on the surface of +which the idyllic play floats buoyantly, like a water-lily which + + starts and slides + Upon the level in little puffs of wind, + Tho' anchored to the bottom. + +It is necessary, because the music is so beautiful and also because +the piece, like the "Leonore" overtures of Beethoven and the +"Meistersinger" prelude of Wagner (of which, indeed, it is a pretty +frank imitation) is a sort of epitome of the play, to spend some +time with the prelude to "Hänsel und Gretel." After I have done +this I shall say what I have to say about the typical phrases of +the score as they are reached, and shall leave to the reader the +agreeable labor of discovering the logical scheme underlying their +introduction and development. The prelude is built out of a few +themes which are associated with some of the most significant +elements of the play. Not one of them is a personal label, as is +widely, but erroneously, supposed to be the case in Wagner's dramas. +They stand for dramatic ideas and agencies, and when these are +passed in review, as it is purposed shall be done presently, it will +be found that not the sinister but the amiable features of the story +have been chosen for celebration in the overture. Here, too, in what +may be called the ethical meaning of the prelude, Humperdinck has +followed the example of Wagner in the prelude to his comedy. Simply +for the sake of identification hereafter names will be attached to +the themes out of which the prelude is constructed and which come +from the chief melodic factors of the opera. The most important of +these is the melody sung by the horns at the beginning:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +Let it be called the "Prayer Theme," for the melody is that of the +prayer which the little ones utter before laying themselves down to +sleep in the wood. The melody seems to be associated throughout the +opera with the idea of divine guardianship, and is first heard in +the first scene, when Hänsel, having complained of hunger, Gretel +gently chides him and holds out comfort in the words (here I use +the English version of the opera):-- + + When past bearing is our grief + God, the Lord, will send relief. + +Humperdinck's splendid contrapuntal skill shows itself in a most +varied use of this theme. Once in the prelude it appears in three +different forms simultaneously, and in an augmented shape it forms +the substratum of the prelude, while other themes are cunningly +woven above it. The second theme is an exceedingly bright and +energetic little phrase with which the rapid portion of the prelude +begins. It shall be called the "Counter-Charm" theme, because it is +the melodic phrase which serves as a formula with which the spell +which the witch puts upon her victims is released by her as well as +by the children who overhear it. When it occurs in the play it has +this form:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"hocus pocus elder bush!"] + +Words and music come from the mouth of Gretel when she releases +Hänsel from the spell in the third act, and from that of Hänsel when +he performs the same office for the gingerbread children. After two +phrases of minor significance there comes the "Theme of Fulfilment," +so called because of its association with the answer to the prayer +for protection in the woods. Thus it forms part of the dawn music at +the beginning of the third act when the children are awakened by the +Dewman. It makes up the original part of the song of this Dawn Fairy +and is the melody to which Hänsel and Gretel sing their explanation +to the wondering gingerbread children:-- + + The angels whispered in dreams to us in silent night + What this happy day has brought to light. + +[Musical excerpt] + +There is a fourth theme, the "Theme of Rejoicing" which is the +inspiration of the dance which the gingerbread children execute +around Hänsel and Gretel to celebrate their release from the +enchantment put upon them by the wicked Witch. + +At the parting of the curtain we see the interior of the hut of a +poor broom-maker. Specimens of his handiwork hang upon the walls. A +tiny window beside the door in the background, shows a glimpse of +the forest beyond. Hänsel and Gretel are at work, he making brooms, +she knitting. Gretel sings an old German folk-song, beginning thus:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Suse liebe suse was raschelt im stroh?"] + +All the melodies in this act have a strong family resemblance, but +this song, a cradle song of the long ago, is the only one not +composed by Humperdinck. Miss Constance Bache has failed, in her +English translation, to reproduce the quaint sentiment of the +old song, which calls attention to the fact that all geese are +shoeless. It is not for want of leather,--the shoemaker has that in +plenty,--but he has no lasts, and so the poor things must needs go +barefoot. The song invites a curious historical note. "Suse" and +"Sause" were common expressions in the cradle songs which used to be +sung to the Christ-child in the German churches at Christmas when +the decadent nativity plays (now dwarfed to a mere tableau of the +manger, the holy parents, and the adoring shepherds and magi) were +still cultivated. From the old custom termed Kindeiwiegen, which +remained in the German Protestant Church centuries after the +Reformation, Luther borrowed the refrain, "Susaninne" for one of his +Christmas chorales. The beginning of the little song which Gretel +sings used to be "Sause liebe Ninne," which, of course, is Luther's +"Susaninne." The song dominates the whole of the first act. Out +of portions of its melody grows a large part of the instrumental +accompaniment to the melodious recitative in which the dialogue is +carried on. Through expressive changes, not only in this act, but +later also, it provides a medium for much dramatic expression. A +little motif with which the orchestra introduces it develops into +a song, with which Hänsel greets his sister's announcement that +a neighbor has sent in some milk, and when Gretel, as soon as +she does, attempts to teach Hänsel how to dance, the delightful +little polka tune which the two sing is almost a twin brother to +the cradle song. + +It is the gift of milk which directly brings the sinister element +into the play. The mother comes home weary, hungry, and out of +humor. She finds that the children have neglected their work, and +while attempting to punish them she overturns the milk jug. It is +the last straw, and, with threats of a terrible beating if they do +not bring home a heaping basket of berries for supper, she drives +the little ones out into the forest. Exhausted, she falls asleep +beside the hearth. From the distance comes the voice of the +broom-maker trolling a song which is now merry, now sad. He enters +his hut in great good humor, however, for he has sold all his wares +and comes with his basket loaded with good things to eat and no +inconsiderable quantity of kümmel in his stomach. Till now, save for +the few moments which followed the entrance of the mother, the music +has echoed nothing but childish joy. All this is changed, however, +when the father, inquiring after his children, learns that they have +gone into the woods. He tells his wife the legend of the Witch of +the Ilsenstein and her dreadful practices, while the orchestra +builds up a gruesome picture out of fragments from the innocent song +which had opened the act. Fearful for the fate of her children, the +mother dashes into the forest, followed by the broom-maker. + +A musical delineation of a witch's ride separates the first and +second acts. It is a garishly colored composition beginning with a +pompous proclamation of the "Theme of the Witch":-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +This is interwoven with echoes from the song of the broom-maker, +and, as might be expected, a great deal of chromatic material, such +as seems indispensable in musical pictures of the supernatural. +Towards the close the weird elements gradually disappear and give +way to a peaceful forest mood, pervaded by a long-drawn melody from +the trumpet, accompanied by sounds suggestive of the murmuring of +trees. The parting of the curtain discovers a scene in the depths +of the woods. Gretel sits under a large tree weaving a garland of +flowers. Hänsel is picking strawberries. The sun is setting. Gretel +sings another folk-song, the meaning of which is lost to those who +are unfamiliar with the song in the original. It is a riddle of +the German nursery: "A little man stands in the forest, silent and +alone, wearing a purplish red mantle. He stands on one leg, and +wears a little black cap. Who is the little man?" Answer:--the +Hagebutte; i.e. the rose apple, fruit of the rose tree. After the +Witch's ride, nothing could be more effective in restoring the +ingenuous mood essential to the play than this song, which is as +graceful and pretty in melody as it is arch in sentiment. With the +dialogue which follows, a variation of the closing cadence of the +song is sweetly blended by the orchestra. Hänsel crowns Gretel Queen +of the Woods with the floral wreath, and is doing mock reverence to +her when a cuckoo calls from a distance. The children mimic the cry, +then playfully twit the bird with allusions to its bad practice of +eating the eggs of other birds and neglecting its own offspring. +Then they play at cuckoo, eating the strawberries in lieu of eggs, +until the basket is empty. They remember the threat of their mother, +and want to fill the basket again, but darkness is settling around +them. They lose their way, and their agitated fancy sees spectres +and goblins all around them. Hänsel tries to reassure his sister +by hallooing, and scores of voices send back echoes, while the +cuckoo continues its lonely cry. Gretel is overcome by fear for a +moment, and Hänsel, too, succumbs to fright when he sees a figure +approaching through the mist. But it is not a goblin, as the +children think--only the Sandman, a little gray, stoop-shouldered +old man, carrying a bag. He smiles reassuringly and sings a song of +his love for children, while he sprinkles sleep-sand in the eyes of +the pair. The second part of his song introduces another significant +phrase into the score; it is the "Theme of Promise," to which the +Sleep Fairy sings the assurance that the angels give protection and +send sweet dreams to good children while they are asleep:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +"Sandman has been here," says Hänsel, sleepily; "let us say our +evening blessing." They kneel and repeat the prayer to the melody +which has been called the "Prayer Theme," then go to sleep in each +other's arms. All has been dark. Now a bright light pierces the +mist, which gathers itself into a cloud that gradually takes the +shape of a staircase reaching apparently from heaven to earth. The +orchestra plays a beautiful and extended piece of music, of which +the principal melodic material is derived from the themes of +"Prayer" and "Promise," while seven pairs of angels descend the +cloud-stairs and group themselves about the little sleepers, and +a golden host extends upward to the celestial abode. By this time +the scene is filled with a glory of light, and the curtain closes. + +The greater part of the dramatic story is told in, the third act. +The opening of the curtain is preceded by a brief instrumental +number, the principal elements of which are a new theme:-- + +[Musical excerpt] + +and the "Theme of Fulfilment." The significance of the latter in +this place is obvious: the promised benison to the children has +been received. The former theme is a pretty illustration of what +has already been said of Humperdinck's consistent devotion to the +folk-song spirit in his choice of melodies. The phrase has an +interrogatory turn and is, in fact, the melody of the mysterious +question which comes from the house of the Witch a few minutes +later, when the children help themselves to some of the toothsome +material out of which the magic structure is built:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Nibble, nibble, mouskin, Who's nibbling at my +housekin?"] + +Simple as this little phrase is, it is yet a draught from a +song-game that comes nigh to being universal. No phrase is more +prevalent among nursery songs than that made up of the first six +notes. The original German song itself has come down to American and +English children, and enthusiastic folklorists see in it a relic +of the ancient tree worship and an invocation of Frau Holda, the +goddess of love and spring of our Teutonic ancestors. It is the +first phrase of the German, "Ringel, ringel, reihe," which our +children know as "Ring around a rosy." It was an amiable conceit of +the composer's to put such a tune into the mouth of the Witch at a +moment of terror in the play. By it he publishes his intention +not to be too utterly gruesome in his treatment of the hag. This +intention, moreover, he fulfils in the succeeding scene. The Witch +appears weird and wicked enough in appearance, in her discordant +laugh, and the instrumental delineation of her, but when she sings +to the children, she is almost ingratiating. Of course, she is +seeking to lure them to a horrible fate, but though she does not +deceive them for even a moment, her musical manner is much like +theirs, except when she is whirling through the air on a broomstick. + +When the curtain opens on the third act the scene is the same as at +the close of the second, except that morning is breaking and the +background is filled with mist, which is slowly dissipated during +the song of the Dewman (Dawn Fairy), who sprinkles dew on the +sleeping children as he sings. The beginning of his song is like +that of the Sandman, but its second part consists of the melody of +"Fulfilment" instead of that of "Promise." Gretel is the first to +awake, and she wakes Hänsel by imitating the song of the lark. He +springs up with the cry of chanticleer, and lark's trill and cock's +crow are mingled in a most winsome duet, which runs out into a +description of the dream. They look about them to point out the spot +where the angels had been. By this time the last veil of mist has +withdrawn from the background, and in the place of the forest of +firs the gingerbread house stands glistening with barley sugar in +the sunshine. To the left is the Witch's oven, to the right a cage, +all inside a fence of gingerbread children. A duet of admiration and +amazement follows in a new, undulatory melody. Hänsel wants to enter +the house, but Gretel holds him back. Finally they decide to venture +so far as to nibble a bit. Hänsel stealthily breaks a piece of +gingerbread off the corner, and at once the voice of the Witch is +heard in the phrase already quoted:-- + + Nibble, nibble, mousekin, + Who's nibbling at my housekin? + +After a moment of alarm Gretel picks up a bit of the gingerbread +which had fallen from Hänsel's hand at the sound of the Witch's +voice, and the duet of enjoyment is resumed in a higher key. Then +a second piece of gingerbread is stolen and munched, and the weird +voice is heard again; but this time without alarm. The Witch +stealthily approaches and throws a noose about Hänsel's neck. They +have fallen into her clutches, and in a luring song she tells of +the sweetmeats which she keeps in the house for children of whom +she is fond. Hänsel and Gretel are not won over, however, by her +blandishments, and try to run away. The Witch extends her magic +wand and chants the charm which deprives her victims of the power +of motion, beginning:-- + +[Musical excerpt--"Hocus pocus witches' charm"] + +This phrase stands in the score as the antithesis of the +"Counter-Charm" mentioned in the analysis of the prelude. It +illustrates an ingenious constructive device. Desiring to send +Gretel on an errand a moment later, the Witch disenchants her +with the formula, + + Hocus, pocus, elderbush, + +already described as the first theme of the Allegro in the prelude. +It is an inversion of the theme of enchantment, a proceeding +analogous to reversing the rod, or spelling the charm backward. +Wagner makes use of the same device in "Götterdämmerung" when he +symbolizes the end of things by inverting the symbol of the original +elements in "Das Rheingold." The Witch now discloses her true +character, and in the exuberance of her demoniac glee indulges in +a ride on a broom, first repeating some jargon in imitation of the +cabalistic formulas common to mediaeval necromancy. Frau Wette's +lines are partly a copy of the Witch's multiplication table in +Goethe's "Faust." The play hurries to its catastrophe. Gretel gives +Hänsel power of motion by repeating the "Counter-Charm," which she +has overheard from the Witch, and the children push the hag into +her own oven while she is heating it to roast Hänsel. The two then +break into a jubilant waltz, which the composer designates the +Knusperwalzer, i.e. the "Crust Waltz." A frightful explosion +destroys the Witch's oven, and with the crash the gingerbread +covering falls from the children, who formed the fence around the +house. They are unable to move, being still partly under a spell, +but when Hänsel repeats the "Counter-Charm," they crowd around their +deliverers and sing their gratitude. The parents of Hänsel and +Gretel, who have been hunting them, appear on the scene. Out of the +ruins of the oven the happy children drag the figure of the Witch +baked into a monstrous gingerbread, and dance around it hand in +hand. At the last all join in a swelling utterance of the "Prayer +Theme" to the words, "When need is greatest God is nearest." + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Book of Operas, by Henry Edward Krehbiel + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF OPERAS *** + +This file should be named 5724-8.txt or 5724-8.zip + +The HTML version of this text produced by Bob Frone can be found +at <http://www.intac.com/~rfrone/operas/Books/oper-books.htm> + +Plain text adaption by Andrew Sly. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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