GIFT OF MICHAEL REE^E THE GREAT MUSICIAKS EICHA.RD WAG NEE Cfie (great iBuiimm Edited hv Francis Hueffer ^ #1 BICHAED WAGNEB By the editor fCsTu OF TlIK 7- UNIVERSITY' LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET 1881 \All RigJd» Reserved.] EJREAB STTtEET HM-U \l iK'H TABLE OF CONTEiNTS. BIRTH EARLY YOUTI RIGA ^PARIS "rienzi" .. " TANNHAUSER" DRESDEN ... PACK •2 2 6 10 *' FLYING DUTCHMAN" ... ... ... ... 16 20 24 "lohengrin' ... ... ... ... 20 friendship wit ii liszt ... ... ... 34 theoretical writings ... ... ... 40 "tristan and isolde'* ... ... ... 67 ** tannhauser" in parts ... ... ... 71 "the mastersingers" ... ... ... 72 "the ring of the niblung" ... ... ... 85 LIST OF published WORKS ... ... ... l08 RICHARD WAGNER. Germans are fond of establisliing an antithesis between " talent " and " character/^ between a man of genius and a man of action. Seldom^ it is true, the two go together. Few of the great thinkers and poets of the world have lived an active life in the ordinary- sense. Even dramatists, although by the very essence of their genius dependent on the events of history and daily life, are not generally an exception to this rule. Like Fielding^ s poet, they regard it as their '* business to record great actions and not to do them.'^ This is different with Wagner. He is emphatically " a man of action" — of action restless, and extending over many branches of thought and feeling. He has heard the roar of cannon and musketry on and off the stage, and the shouts of excited mobs are no less known, although less familiar, to him than the sedate applause of audiences in concert-hall and theatre. A story might be told of him very different from the ordinary summary of an artist's life-time : " He was born^ took a wife, and B 2 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. died.'' One day, no doubt, it will be told by himself, if not by others. But in the mean time the materials for his biography are scanty, and of comparatively little interest. A few dates furnished by himself on various occasions form a small stock of facts of which the numerous so-called biographies in German, English, and French, are more or less florid transcriptions. But ever so many variations, with ever so many sharps and flats of praise and vituperation, cannot add a single bar to the original theme. The following dates of Wagner's life ought therefore to be regarded as no more than so many landmarks in his artistic career. The really im- portant incidents of his life, interwoven as they are with the fate of other living persons, must for the present remain untold. Richard Wagner was born at Leipsic in Saxony, on May 22, 1813. The Norn, he says himself, the goddess of fate in Scandinavian mythology, deposited on his cradle ^^the never contented spirit that ever seeks the new ; " a gift of vital importance for his future life. But this, of course, is allegor3^ In plain truth, his cradle stood in an ordinary nursery, well protected from Norns and other heathen deities. Wagner's family belonged to the middle class. His father held a small municipal appointment, and must have been a man of some culture, as may be gathered from the fact that, during the French occupa- tion of Leipsic, he alone, amongst his colleagues, was able to converse fluently with the strangers. After his death, in the year of our composer's birth, his wddow married an actor, afterwards a portrait-painter, of the WAGNER. name of (jeyer. His influence on Wagner cannot .have been of a lasting kind, seeing that he also died before the boy had completed his seventh year. But he is the first connecting link between Wagner and the stage, which was to become the scene of most of his troubles and triumphs. At one time it was Geyer's intention to bring up his step-son to the profession of painter, but Wagner proved a clumsy pupil. At a later period, the idea seems to have dawned upon him of a possibility of musical genius in |;he boy. " Shortly before his death/* Wagner sa5^s, " I had mastered the * Yungfern Kranz,^ from * Der Freischiitz,' at that time a novelty, on the piano. The day before he died I had to play it to him in the next room ; after I had finished I heard him say to my mother in his weak voice, ^ Should he have talent for music ? ' '' In the old Icelandic sagas the gift of pro- phecy conveyed in the moment of death is a common feature, and it is perhaps for that reason that Warner has preserved the touching little story. Another anecdote, and we have done with Herr Geyer. The source is again the short autobiographical sketch written by Wagner in 1842. " The day after my step- father died my mother came into the nursery and said something from him to every child. To me she said, * Of you he wanted to make something.' I remember," Wagner adds, " that for a long time I had an idea that something might become of me.'' At first, certainly, there seemed to be little cause for this idea. At the age of nine Wagner entered the Kreuz- schule at Dresden, where the family were then living, b2 4 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. but his studies do not appear to have been over-successful. He lacked application. Too many interests divided his attention. Greeks Latin, mythology, and ancient history he mentions as his favourite subjects. In addi- tion to this he took lessons on the pianoforte, and played overtures and other pieces by the ear. But he refused to practice, and soon his master gave him up as hope- less. " He was right," Wagner confesses ; ^^ I have never learned to play the piano to this day." Wagner is a virtuoso on the orchestra,, and there is a touch of contempt for the supplementary keyed instrument in this confession. In the mean time, the boy set up for a poet on the largest scale. His study of Greek, and a slight smattering of English which he acquired for the purpose of reading Shakespeare in the original, enabled him to choose his models in the right quarter. A tremendous tragedy was the result ; '^ a kind of com- pound of ' Hamlet ' and * King Lear,' " Wagner calls it. " The design,^^ he adds, " was grand in the extreme. Forty-two persons died in the course of the piece, and want of living characters compelled me to let most of them reappear as ghosts in the last act." He was eleven at the time ; th^ gift of the Norn was bearing early fruit. But this was not all. Wagner had an opportunity of witnessing a performance of Goethe's ' Egmont ' with the incidental music by Beethoven, and immediately he decided that his tragedy also must have a musical accompaniment — to be supplied by himself it need hardly be added. He was ignorant of the rudi- ments of the art, but that slight deficiency might, he, thought, be got over in no time. All this may seem WAGNER. very childish and absurd, but the child is father to the man, and it is certainly not without importance, that the proclaimer of the poetic foundation of the art of sound should have discovered his own musical gift through his poetic or — more significantly still — through his dramatic requirements. The most important result of these wild attempts was the commencement of some serious musical studies, which, although carried on in an irregular and some- what spasmodic fashion, ultimately led to perfect techni- cal mastership. One of his immature productions, "the climax of my nonsensicalities,'' as he himself calls it, an overture of gigantic proportions, was once performed, but produced nothing but merriment on the part of unappreciative contemporaries, much to the mortification of the young titan, as may be imagined. But in spite of this disappointment, and in spite of the advice of family and friends, who naturally looked upon his pro- ceedings with some suspicion, Wagner adhered to his musical vocation, and the more serious turn his studies took after, and no doubt partly in consequence of, the events recorded, is sufficiently indicated by the testimony of one of Wagner^s early friends, now, by the way, his bitterest opponent. '^ I am doubtful,' Heinrich Dorn writes in 1832, *^ whether there ever was a young musician more familiar with the works of Beethoven than Wagner at eighteen. He possessed most of the master's overtures and large instrumental pieces in copies made by himself. He went to bed with the sonatas, and rose again with the quartets. He sang the songs and whistled the concerti, for with 6 THE GREAT MUSICIAXS. pianoforte-playing he did not get on very well ; in brief, there was in him a regular furor Teutonicus, which, com- bined with considerable scientific culture and an extra- ordinary activity of mind^ promised powerful shoots.'^ His entrance into practical musical life Wagner made as conductor of a small operatic troupe at Mag- deburg ; and in 1839 we find him as leader of a similar institution at Riga, married to an actress, pressed for money, and altogether dissatisfied with his position, pecuniary, social, and artistic. The only results of the preceding epoch were an opera unsuccessfully per- formed at Magdeburg, and considerable experience as an orchestral leader, acquired whilst rehearsing with mediocre bands and bad singers the motley reper- toires of small provincial theatres. At last he resolved upon change, — change at any price, and by means in- tensely characteristic of his undauntable courage and energy. The " open sesame'^ to the world's. fame and riches was to be a grand opera, * Rienzi/ the subject taken from Lord Lytton's novel, and conceived during the dreary days at Riga, but destined for no less a theatre than the Grand Opera in Paris, at that time the first lyrical stage of the world. The question was, how tT) enter that somewhat exclusive precinct. A letter to Scribe, proposing a translation of ' Rienzi,' with the additional condition of getting it accepted at the opera, naturally was without result; but, nothing daunted, Wagner himself set out for Paris to see what personal solicitation would do. After having finished the whole poem, and the music to the first two acts, he embarked with his wife on WAGNER. board a sailing vessel, whicli was to take him to London, en route for Paris. The journey was long and unfavour- able ; they were driven out of their course, and once during a storm the captain had to seek shelter in a iS^orwegian port. After nearly a month they reached at last their destination, remained a short time in London, and continued their journey, fin the autumn of 1839 Wagner arrived at Paris, with introductions from Meyerbeer to theatrical managers, and full of hopes of seeing his work performed. One almost shudders to think of the fatal consequences which a great success might have had on Wagner's creative power. Perhaps he would have been content with the honour of sharing with Meyerbeer the lucrative laurels of a European reputation. Luckily for himself and his art. Fortune handled him with all the relentless cruelty which she seems to reserve especially for the children of genius. His visit to Paris proved an utter failure. All his attempts at testing the vitality of his work by the ordeal of a performance before the critical French audience were in vain. In order to earn a scanty livelihood he had to undergo the most humili- ating trials of musical drudgery ; and even in this way he narrowly escaped the death from starvation which he described with grim humour in his novelette, * The End of a Musician in Paris.^ We may consider it the most irrefutable test of Wagner's real genius that he did not perish under this weight of misery . and sorrow. It was the original longing of his nature for the purer aims of art that broke into the night of his despair, and taught him now, when every hope of 8 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. worldly success had vanished, to seek refuge in the joy of creation which is regardless of ephemeral ap- plause. Again the tide of despair was rising higher and higher, again something must be done, and was done, by Wagner to stem its destructive progress ; but in what he did, and in how he did it, we see the process of purification which Wagner's artistic character had undergone during this second trial of " hope deferred." 'Rienzi,' as was said before, was written entirely with a view to outward success, to which the higher demands of art were to a great extent sacrificed ; in the work which Wagner now began he scarcely hoped or even wished for this success. It was conceived and written entirely to supply a demand of his own nature — the demand that is of pouring out the anxieties and troubles of his heart in his song. In this way music gave him help and comfort in his supreme need. The work referred to is * The Flying Dutchman.' It was conceived during the eventful voyage to London ; the music was written at Meudon, where Wagner had retired from Paris in the Spring of 1841. ' Rienzi,' finished in November,, 1840, concludes the first period of Wagner's career. It was the time of his violent struggle for notoriety and self-assertion, without regard for the artistic purity of the means applied. The mode of his expression was confined to the forms of the French Grand Opera as established by Spontini, Meyerbeer, and others ; hence this period may be described as his " operatic period.'' With ' The Flying Dutchman' Wagner enters a new stage of WAGNER. 9 development. Henceforth lie disregards the require- ments of vulgar taste, or tastelessness. His works become the immediate effusion of his poetical inspir- ation, to which the forms of absolute music have gradu- ally to give way. Ultimately he throws the whole apparatus of the opera, with its empty display of vocal skill and scenic spectacle, overboard. Even the name becomes odious to him, and he carefully avoids it in his later works. For the full appreciation of his vast schemes he looks to those to come rather than to the living generation. Hence the sobriquet, invented by his adversaries and adopted by him — " The Music of the Future." A close analysis of the ideas and principles comprised in this name must be deferred for a little while. In ' The Flying Dutchman ^ these new tendencies appear as yet in an all but embryonic state : only one circumstance may be pointed out in connection with it — Wagner's adversaries boldly assert that his reformatory deeds were the result of previous deliberate speculation, although the com- parative dates of his dramatic and his theoretical works clearly show the contrary. If a further proof of the spontaneity of his efforts were required his mode of con- ceiving * The Flying Dutchman' would furnish it; for it was only the symbolic representation of his own. personal sufferings at the time. Friendless and loveless amongst strangers, he could realize but too well the type of his hero, who, doomed to roam on the wild waves of the ocean, longs for home and the redeeming love of woman. This intensely subjective character of his poetry he involuntarily transferred to his music, and 10 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. was thus ultimately led to the breaking of forms insuf- ficient to contain his impassioned utterances. In the mean time his worldly prospects had undergone an unexpected favourable change. His ' Rienzi ' had been accepted for performance at the Dresden theatre, and in 1842 Wagner left Paris for that city in order to prepare his work for the stage. The first performance took place in October of the same year, and its brilliant success led to the composer's engagement as conductor of the Eoyal Opera at Dresden. Wagner at the present moment looks back upon 'Hienzi' as a sin of his youth, and judges it with a severity which few impartial outsiders will be prepared to share. It is quite true that 'Hienzi' is not an original work in the highest sense. It was finished before the composer had reached his thirtieth year, and the drastic effects of Spontini and Meyerbeer, and the soft cadenzas of Bellini and E-ossini were too tempting to be resisted. In consequence there is much in ' Rienzi * that is more effective than new, and a little that is absolutely bad, or at least immature, for Wagner's development was not precocious like Mozart's or Schubert's. By the side of great weaknesses there are, however, as many passages of great melodious beauty — for instance, the chorus and solo of peace messengers, and Hienzi's " prayer,-" and specimens of choral structure as grand almost as anything achieved in his later works by Wagner. Of this he himself is, no doubt, well aware, and it is absurd to say that he " repudiates " his early work, much as he may deprecate the principle on which it is constructed. At the Albert Hall con- WAGNER. 11 certs in 1877, conducted by tlie composer himself, extracts from 'Kienzi' were found side by side with representative specimens of his later period. The plot of 'Rienzi,^ as was said before, has been taken from Bulwer's well-known novel, which Wagner follows with slight modifications. Here, also, good and bad appear in singular juxtaposition. The librettist not having as yet developed into the poet has thought it unnecessary to bestow much care upon diction and metre. On the other hand, the arrangements of the scenes ^nd the exposition of the story evince dramatic instinct of no common order. Great power of concep- tion also is shown in the character of the Tribune, who is drawn after a stronger original than Bulwer's senti- mental hero could supply. We have here the historical Rienzi, the hope of Italy and Rome, ''Un signer valoroso, accorto, e saggio,'^ as his friend Petrach calls him. Eound the central figure the simple incidents of the plot are arranged in massive groups. The first scene at once introduces us into the midst of the troublous times which form the sombre background of the tragedy. Young nobles of the Orsini faction are endeavouring to carry off by force Irene, Rienzi's sister, a beautiful maiden. They are interrupted by their enemies the Cqlonnas, one of whom, young Adrian o, loves Irene, and rescues her from the grasp of her pursuers. A street fight ensues, in which citizens take part, until Rienzi appears and stills the tumult. The nobili indignantly give way to the superior numbers of the people, and consent to fight out their quarrel outside the walls of Rome, whereat Rienzi orders the city gates 12 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. to be shut against them, and is hailed as liberator and tribune of the people by the multitude. The second act shows a large hall in the Capitol, where the new order of things is celebrated by the people and their leader. " Messengers of peace " arrive, and an- nounce that the whole Eoman territory has submitted to the peaceful rule of the Tribune. Ambassadors of the Empire are introduced^ and, to their dismay, Rienzi proudly declares that henceforth the choice of a king of Eome will lie with the Eomans alone. The nobili also arrive, feigning submission; but during the feast an attempt is made on the Tribune's life by one of them, when Rienzi, warned by Adriano and protected by secret armour, frustrates the murderous design, and the traitors are sentenced to death by the vote of the senators and the acclamations of the infuriated people. In this supreme emergency Adriano and Irene intercede for old Colonna. To their prayer Eienzi yields, and, with Adriano's father, the other nobili gain a pardon. In the third act the consequences of the Tribune's ill-timed clemency become apparent. The nobili have flown from the city, and Eienzi once more has to meet them in the field of battle, and once more vanquishes them. But what the sword has failed to do intrigue and statecraft accomplish. The nobili enter into secret alliance with the Church, which at first had favoured the popular rising ; and when on his return from the battle the victorious Tribune is on the point of entering the church of St. John Lateran he is met by Cardinal E-aimondo, who pronounces his excommunication before the assembled Eomans. This seals Eienzi's doom. The WAGNER. 13 pious fear of the multitude is worked upon by conspir- ators, and during a revolt the Tribune perishes in the flames of the Capitol with his sister, who, refusing Adrian o's offers of rescue, heroically resolves to share her brother's fate. With a terrific crash the front edifice of the capitol breaks down, burying Eienzi, Irene, and Adriano in the ruins ; " the nobili fall upon the people '' — is the significant final stage direction. In judging of the music of * Hienzi ' one should think of the circumstances in which it was composed. "I completed ^ Rienzi,' ^' Wagner says, "during my first stay in Paris. I had the splendid Grand Opera before me, and my ambition was not only to imitate, but with reckless extravagance to surpass all that had gone before in brilliant finales, hymns, processions, and musical clang of arms. While writing the libretto I simply thought of an opera text which would enable me to display the principal forms of grand opera, such as introductions, finales, choruses, arias, duets, trios, etc., with all possible splendour." This merely decorative purpose is but too observable in a great part of the music, which, moreover, is decidedly wanting in indi- viduality of style ; showing, as it does, the influence of Spontini, Meyerbeer, and the Italian school. The duet, to quote but one example, between Irene and Adriano in the first act might have been written by Donizetti in a not very favourable mood. On the other hand, there are signs of incipient power which proclaim the future reformer of the music-drama. The opening recitative in which Hienzi charges the nobili with the ruin of the eternal city is marvellously forcible, and the broad 14 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. melodiousness of Rienzi's "prayer'^ clings to the memory- after a single hearing. But the climax of the musical conception as well as of the drama must he discovered in the second act. It opens with the charming episode of the "peace messengers," which, after some intro- ductory choral singing, contains a soprano solo, as suavely melodious and as expressive as can well be imagined. The conspirators' trio, with chorus, is also full of highly dramatic points, but the finale of the act is by far the finest piece of construction in the opera. Its dimensions, it is true, are colossal, and the long ballet introduced may to some appear tedious, but this once over we are kept in a fever of excitement till the end. The single components of the piece afibrd every variety. We have a *' Misereat Dominum '•' announcing the impending death of the nobili, Irene^s and Adriano's pleading for mercy, Hienzi's wavering replies, and the impression all this produces on the people, worked into a picture as grand as in the highest sense it is homo- geneous. Remarkable from a melodious point of view is the beautifully broad theme in G, announcing the respite of the traitors, and which foreshadows the style of * Lohengrin ' and ' Tannhaiiser.' A brilliant theme in C Major, familiar from the allegro of the overture, brings the act to a close. To sum up, ' Rienzi ' is by no means without great beauties, and as a first work — for such it virtually is — it was well adapted to raise the expectations of lovers of music to a high pitch. Its success at Dresden was indeed most brilliant, and, what is more, it has proved permanent; although neglected by "VYagner and his WAGNER. 15 party, * E-ienzi ' has kept tlie stage in Germany to tlie present day. It is, moreover, the only work of Wagner which has met with so much as a succes d^estime in Paris, and when Mr. Carl Eosa in Jan. 1879 brought out an English vlr- • sion by Mr. J. P. Jackson at Her Majesty's theatre, the public accepted it in spite of its unfavourable position, coming, as it did, after ' Lohengrin/ * Tannhaiiser,' and 'The Flying Dutchman.' The material improvement which the success of the opera caused in its author's career has already been noticed. His position was suddenly changed from that of a friendless stranger in a foreign land to that of the leader of one of the greatest art institutions in his own country. But Wagner was not a man to rest on his laurels. Neither did his official duties so engross his time as to make him forget his vocation as a creative artist. His first step in this direction was the prepara- tion for the stage of his second and more important work, *The Flying Dutchman,' composed, the reader will remember, during the time of his worst troubles in France. The importance of this work for the develop- ment of the composer's musical style has already been touched upon, and as Wagner's music always flows as it were out of the words, it might almost be taken for granted that a commensurate improvement is observable in the dramatic poem. In addition to this the libretto of ' The Flying Dutchman ■' has a peculiar interest for English readers, being as it is connected with this country in a double way. It was during a stormy voyage from Eiga to London that the composer realized 16 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. the tragic hero of the old myth. There is further every reason to believe, that even the treatment of his subject came to him — by a somewhat indirect channel it must be owned — from an English source. The following is the result of some investigation into the matter, which the present writer has been able to make. The legend of *The Flying Dutchman/ the weary wanderer of the main, dates from the beginning of the sixteenth century, and is like that of the ' "Wandering Jew* an embodiment of the unsettled feeling of the epoch caused by the discoveries of a new faith by the Germans, and of a new world by the Spaniards. Captain Vanderdecken, as is generally known, tries to double the Cape in the teeth of a gale, and swears he will carry out his purpose, should he have to sail till Dooms- day. The oath, heard and accepted in its literal meaning by the devil, causes the Dutchman's fate to roam for ever on the ocean far from his wife and his beloved Holland. Modern poets have tried in various ways to release the unfortunate seaman from his doom. The cUnouement of the story adopted by Wagner was in- vented by Heinrich Heine. In his fragmentary story, * The Memoirs of Herr von Schnabelewopski ' — a kind of autobiographic pseudonym it would appear — Heine tells us how, on his passage from Hamburg to Amster- dam, he saw a vessel with blood red sails, very likely the phantom ship of * The Flying Dutchman,' whom shortly afterwards, he says, he saw in the fle.sh on the stage of the last-mentioned city. The new feature added to the old story is this, — that, instead of an unconditional doom, Yanderdecken is sentenced to eternal homelessness. WAGNER. 17 unless lie be released by tbe love of a woman " faithful unto death." The devil, stupid as he is, does not be- lieve in the virtue of women^ and therefore consents to the Captain's going ashore once every seven years for the purpose of taking a wife on trial. Many unsuc- cessful attempts have been made by the poor Dutchman, till at last, just after the lapse of another period of seven years, he meets a Scotch (according to AYagner a Norwegian) skipper, and by the display of wealth readily obtains his consent to a proposed marriage with his daughter. This daughter (called Senta in Wagner's drama) has formed a romantic attachment for the unfortunate sailor, whose stoiy she knows, and whose picture hangs in her room. By this likeness she recog- nizes the real Flying Dutchman, but, in spite of her discovery, accepts the offer of his hand. At this moment Schnabelewopski- Heine is, by an unforeseen and in- describable incident, called away from the theatre, and on his return is only just in time to see the Dutchman on board his own ship, setting out for another voyage of hopeless despair: He loves his bride, and would save her from sharing his doom. But she, " faithful unto death," ascends a rock, and throws herself into the waves. Thus the spell is broken, and in the final tableau the Flying Dutchman, reunited with his bride, is seen entering the long closed gates of eternal rest. The two most striking additions to the old story, in Heine's account of the imaginary performance, are the fact of the Dutchman's taking a wife, and the allusion to a picture. Both these features occur in a play by the late Mr. Fitzball, which at the time c 18 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. of Heine's visit to London (in 1827) was running at the Adelplii Theatre. Adding to this the fact that the German poet conscientiously studied the English stage, nothing seems more likely than that he should have adopted the features alluded to from the English play- wright. Here, however^ his indebtedness ends. Fitzball knows nothing of the beautiful idea of woman's redeem- ing love. According to him, the Flying Dutchman is the ally of a monster of the deep seeking for victims. Wagner, further developing Heine's idea, has made the hero himself to symbolize that feeling of unrest and ceaseless struggle which finds its solution in death and forgetfulness alone. The gap in Heine's story he has filled up by an interview of Senta with Eric, her dis- carded lover, which the Dutchman mistakes for a breach of faith on the part of his wife, till Senta's voluntary death dispels his suspicion. The musical treatment of 'The Flying Dutchman' marks the transition period in Wagner's career. He is evidently endeavouring to free himself from the forms of the traditional opera, but involuntarily falls back into what, from a merely dramatic point of view, appears to be a concession to music absolutely speaking. If the unity of his style is somewhat impaired by this circumstance there are, on the other hand, in the score numerous points of great beauty and dramatic force. Amongst these may be mentioned the ' Steersman's Song,' in the first act, Senta's ballad, the. theme of which appears as "leading-motive" throughout the opera, the lovely and deservedly popular spinning chorus, and the magnifi- cent duet between Senta and the Dutchman. The WAGNER. cliaracter of the liero is a masterpiftcfe' delineation; but the most admirable feature- of/tl work is the weird atmosphere of the northeriL&sea, \^ which breathes in every note of the music from ^j^/s^ overture to the sailor's chorus in the lastN^^act. The P* last-named fact is especially remarkable in a man born and living for the greater part of his life hundreds of miles away from the sea. The contrast between the spectacular effects (com- bined though they may appear with great dramatic power) in *E/ienzi/ and the purely artistic means of rendering emotional accents, aimed at in the Dutchman, is at once striking and relieving. It resembles the sense of freedom one feels in passing from the scented atmo- sphere of a crowded opera house into the bracing air of sea and forest. But it is in a still higher sense that the latter work signifies the ideal regeneration, the antique Catharsis of "Wagner as a man and artist. Up to this time brilliant success had been the chief aim of his thoughts ; now that disappointment and misery had weaned the strong man from his cherished hopes, he retired into himself, intent upon following the call of his only remaining friend, the Muse. * The Flying DutchrfJan' was begun- without a hope, almost without a wish, for outward ' success ; Wagner only felt that what he had to say was true to himself, and so he said it, listen who liked. In , this way, and urged only by the necessity of liis nature,, Wagner entered upon his new career without imagining . himself the bearing of his reformatory act on the progress of art in general. C2 20 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. ^The Flying Dutchman' was performed for tlie first time in England at Drury Lane Theatre in 1870, under Arditi^ when Mdlle. lima de Murska took the part of Senta, and Mr. Santleythat of L^Ollandese-dannato, as the opera in its Italian dress was called. A second Italian version (with M. Maurel as the hero and Mdlle. Albani as Senta) called " II Yascello Fantasma '^ was brought out at Covent Garden in June 1877. In the interval an English version of the opera had been produced at the Lyceum Theatre by Mr. Carl Rosa (Oct. 1876), when Mr. Santley again was * The Flying Dutchman,' and gave one of the finest renderings of that part ever witnessed. During his stay in Paris Wagner had become ac- quainted with the old popular story of Tannhaiiser, the knightly singer who tarried in the mountain of Venus. This story, in connection with an imaginary prize singing at Wartburg, the residence of the Dukes of Thuringia, struck him at once as eminently adapted for dramatic purposes. The impression was increased when, on his way to Dresden, he visited the romantic old castle surrounded by the nimbus of both history and romance, and overlooking a wide and varied expanse of field and fftrest. The poem of ' Tannhaiiser ' was written soon afterwards, even before the first performance of *Rienzi' ; the music he finished by the end of 1844. The fundamental idea strikes one as somewhat similar to that of ^The Flying Dutchman/ It is again the self-surrendering love of pure woman, which in death releases the hero ; nay, to carry the parallel still further, the Yenusberg itself with its lust, and the satiety follow- WAGNER. 21 ing thereafter, is only another aspect of the same cruel world which in the prior opera was sj^mholized by the waves of the ocean. Both Senta and Elizabeth would in that case be the representatives of that purest idea of art, which alone can save its worshipper from the world and its lures, " for music/' as Wagner has expressed it on another occasion, " is a woman whose nature is love surrendering itself unconditionally." The plot in which these ideas are embodied may be told in a few lines. The opening scene shows Tann- haiiser in the realms of Venus surrounded by her nymphs. He celebrates the beauty of the goddess in impassioned song, but at the same time expresses his longing for the fields and forests, the sound of bells and the song of birds, all of which he left behind when he came to dwell in the enchanted mountain. In spite of the tears and the allurements of Yenus he resolves to leave her, and as he utters the name of the Virgin, the grotto in which they have been rarrjang disappears, and we are transferred to one of those beautiful glades of the Thuringian fore^||\^hich may sti^be seen near castle Wartburg. Count Hermann of TBuringia soon appears surrounded by the knightly singers of his court, who all welcome Tannhaiisir on his return to their midst. Wolfram von Eschenbach reveals to Tannhauser the love inspired by the song of the bold knight in the heart of Elizabeth, the niece of Count Hermann, and the regret she has felt at his mysterious absence. ^tt In the second act we see the banquetting haffof Wartburg Castle, prepared for the prize-singing of the 22 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. minstrels. The hand of Elizabeth is to be the guerdon of the victor, but her heart had been given long ago to Tannhaiiser. This the maiden herself confesses to the minstrel as they meet in the hall before the arrival of the guests. That arrival is soon announced by the spirited strains of the march which every one knows ; and the prize-singing begins in due course, the subject being the nature of love. Wolfram celebrates the beauty of pure unselfish adoration, such as he himself feels for Elizabeth. Tannhaiiser, on the other hand, upholds the right of passionate human love, intense and reciprocal. The other singers take part with Wolfram. The audience applaud their virtuous sentiments till Tannhaiiser, goaded to madness by their opposition, bursts forth with his song in praise of Venus, at the same time confessing his unholy amours with that goddess. Count Hermann and his knights are on the point of punishing Tannhaiiser's crime with immediate death, when Elizabeth throws herself between their drawn swords and her faithless lover. By her inter- cession Tannhaiiser is permitted to join the procession of pilgrims on their way to Rome, whose songs are heard in the distance. The act closes with a magnifi- cent finale, the worthy climax of a scene which for psychological subtlety, dramatic passion, and commen- surate musical beauty it would be difficult to equal. In the third act the pilgrims are returning from Rome, and Elizabeth, accompanied by Wolfram, has gone to meet them in the hope of finding Tannhaiiser amongst them. Disappointed in that hope she retires to the castle broken-hearted. Wolfram alone remains WAGNER. 23 on the scene and is soon afterwards joined by Tann- haiiser, who in a passion of bitter grief relates the tale of his pilgrimage. To him alone Pope Urban has refused forgiveness ; holding up his staff the holy father has exclaimed, "No sooner than this dry wood shall bring forth green leaves shall thy sins be forgiven.'' Despairing of God and the world Tannhauser is on his way back to Yenus, and already the song of her syrens becomes faintly audible in the distance, when there is heard from the castle the sound of the bell which an- nounces the death of Elizabeth, and once more struck by repentance, Tannhaiiser expires in the arms of Wolfram with " Pray for me, saint Elizabeth," on his lips. At the same moment some of the j^ounger pilgrims arrive from E/Ome, carrying with them the staff of the Pope covered with fresh leaves. Compared with its predecessor ' Tannhaiiser ' marks a decided advance both from a dramatic and musical point of view. The character of the hero, representing in its large typical features one of the deepest problems of human nature, stands boldly forth from the chiaros- curo of its romantic surroundings, and the abundance of melodious strains (some of them, as for instance the March already referred to and Wolfram's Address to the Evening Star, of a popular character) in ^ Tann- haiiser ' has perhaps contributed more to the spreading of its author's name than any of his other works. But there are merits of an infinitely higher tj'-pe in the score. The overture itself is a master-piece of its kind : it foreshadows the keynote of the drama itself, the victory of good over evil, the former represented by 24 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. the solemn strains of the Pilgrims' Chorus, the latter by the sensuous melodies which accompany the joys of the Yenusherg. Again the large finale of the second act is a marvel of musical design, and Tannhaiiser's narration in the final scene has never, not even by Wagner himself, been surpassed as regards force and impressiveness of declamation. * Tannhaiiser ' was performed for the first time at Dresden in 1845, and soon made its way to the leading German stages. Its reception, although in most places favourable, was varied, and the opposition to the new movement inaugurated by Wagner made itself felt in several places. The press especially assumed that hostile position, which up till lately it held almost without exception, and partly still continues to hold. Wagner began to feel that as yet the new dramatic language spoken by him could be addressed only to a few sympathizing friends. This sense of isolation, combined with his daily experience of the utter want of artistic aims and principles in the management of the great German theatres, surrounded him with an atmosphere of morbid discontentedness, in which a change at any price seemed a relief, and it was in this mood that he, although little of a politician, joined the insurrectionary movement of 1848 and 1849 by word and deed. Two pamphlets written during this period prove how, eA^^en in the highest excitement of active partisanship, he never lost sight of his artistic mission. One of them relates to the foundation of a truly national theatre at Dresden, while the other, * Art and Revolu- tion,^ tries to demonstrate the close connection between WAGNER. 25 the regeneration of political life and similar tendencies in contemporary art. The Titan was again progressing in enormous strides towards Utopia. But alas for the clumsy realities of our earthly existence ! The revolution at Dresden was crushed by Prussian bayonets, and Wagner had once more to take up his staff and fly the country as an exile. After a short sojourn at Paris, where he seemed to be drawn by a sort of unacknowledged fascination, and where with equal certainty bitterest disappointment lay in wait for him, he retired to Switzerland, severed from his friends and country, and without the shadow of a hope of ever being able again to interpret his works to his nation. Before leaving the Dresden period it is, however, necessary to refer to one of the most important creative results of that period, viz. the opera * Lohengrin,' which was composed during the revolutionary troubles, and in its spiritual beauty and purity illustrates the wonderful power of concentration and absorption which, is peculiar to a true artist. After the completion of ' Tannhaiiser ' in 1845 Wagner turned to a subject, in form and idea the very opposite to the tragic elevation of that opera. It marked the change from the romantic surroundings of the mediaeval castle of Wartburg to the domestic narrowness of a worthy artisan's household during the sixteenth centur}^ The Mastersingers of Niirnberg, with their homely conception of life and art, were intended by Wagner originally as a kind of humorous pendant to the knightly poets in * Tannhauser,' from which, however, the 26 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. redeeming features of true honesty and justified self- assertion were not absent. The idea was carried out in a very modified form many years afterwards. For the time it was abandoned in favour of another romantic subject, ^Lohengrin, the Knight of the Swan,' finished in March 1848, but not performed till two years later at Weimar. The story of Lohengrin, Parcival's son, on which Wagner has founded his drama, is a compound of many different elements. The Celtic mabinogion, with King Arthur and his knights, and the mystic symbolism of the San Graal, the holy vessel [gradale or mng real, which- ever it may be), are mixed up with local traditions of the lower Rhine of a knight who arrives in a boat without sail or oar, drawn by a swan. In this formtlie story appears in a quaint collection of riddles, repartees, and legends of various kinds, which are brought into a loose connection by an imaginary prize-singing at Wartburg, where they are put in the mouths of the most celebrated poets of the period. The story of Lohengrin is supposed to be told by the great minne- singer, Wolfram von Eschenbach, whose representative poem, ' Parcival/ might suggest such an arrangement to the compilator of the * Wartburgkrieg.' The reader will perceive that Wagner^s careful studies for his ' Tann- haiiser ' were made to some purpose. At the same time he found in the old mediaeval books little more than the barest outline of his new dramatic conception. All the rest was left to his own imagination to supply. The ideal background, from which the joys and sorrows of the human actors in ' Lohengrin ' are reflected with WAGNER. 27 supernal lig-lit, is the conception of the Holy Graal itself, the mystic symbol of Christian faith, or, in a wider sense, of everything divine and great, as it reveals itself to the vision of the pure and self- surrendering 30ul. Such an act of revelation is the subject of the instrumental prelude which serves Lohengrin as an overture. The prelude, and in a certain sense the opera itself, are based on one melodious phrase — the Graal -motive — or, one might even say, on the change of the two chords (A major and F sharp minor) which form the harmonious foundation of that prominent melody. To explain the full meaning of this it is necessary to state, what in Wagner's operas is generally called the " Leitmotive," i.p. leading motive or melody. For every important idea or passionate impulse of his characters Wagner introduces a certain striking har- monious or melodious combination, as the musical complement of their dramatic force. Wherever in the course of the drama this impulse comes into action, we hear at once its corresponding motive, either sung by the voice or played by the orchestra, and in manifold variations, according to circumstances. The opening chorus of the pilgrims, interrupted by the wild rhythms of the Yenusberg, as the representative melodies of the good and evil principles, in the overture to ' Tannhauser,' or the romance in the ' Flying Dutchman,' may serve as examples of "leading motives. The great gain of intensity and dramatic unity which is thus effected in the musical conception of a character or idea is of course obvious. A similar repetition of melodies had been previously applied/ but only in a very occasional and 28 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. undecided manner, by Weber, Meyerbeer, and others. As a distinct principle of art it is entirely due to Wagner's creative genius. The prelude to * Lohengrin * opens with a long- drawn chord of the violins in the highest octaves, con- tinued with the tenderest pianissimo through several bars. It is like the thin white clouds floating in a serene sky, shapeless as yet and scarcely distinguishable from the ethereal blue surrounding them. But sud- denly the violins sound as from the furthest distance and in continued pianissimo, the Graal-motive, and at once the clouds take form and motion. The inner eye discovers a group of angels as they approach, slowly descending from the height of heaven and carrying in their midst the holy vessel. Sweetest harmonies float around them, gradually increasing in warmth and A^ariety, till at last^ with the fortissimo of the full orchestra, the sacred mystery in all its overpowering splendour is revealed to the enchanted eye. After this climax of religious ecstacy the harmonious waves begin to recede, and with tlieir ebbing motion the angels gradually, as they have come, return to their celestial abode. Such was, according to Wagner's own indica- tion, the poetical, or one might almost say the pictorial, idea which suggested the harmonies of his prelude, and never have the sweetnesses and shudderings of Chris- tian mysticism been more fully expressed than in this triumph of instrumental music. The fresh allegro at the opening of the first act leads us back from the sphere of transcendental inspiration to the stream of actual life^ and when the curtain rises WAGNER. 29 wG see King Henry of Germany, surrounded by his feudal vassals and retainers, in a meadow by the side of the Scheldt, near Antwerp. He has assembled the nobles of Brabant, to call on their faithful services against the savage Hungarians, the most dangerous enemies of the Empire, and at the same time to mediate in their internal dissensions. The cause of these troubles we hear from the mouth of Count Telramund, a great noble, who accuses Elsa, Princess of Brabant, of having murdered her infant brother during a solitary walk, from which she alone returned, pretending to have lost sight of him in the wood. The motive of this black deed he finds in Elsa's affection for a secret lover, with whom she hopes to share the rule of the country after her brother's death. This rule, however, Telramund claims for himself, on the ground of his having been chosen by the late duke as Elsa's husband, although the proud maiden spurned his addresses. He also alleges that his present wife, Ortrud, is a scion of the old heathenish Dukes of Fries- land who once ruled over the country. The musical part of his scene is treated in a kind of continuous { arioso, resembling most the recitative obbligato of the ) regular opera, but showing an immense progress upon \ it as regards power and accuracy of declamation. Tel- ramund's impeachment of Elsa reminds one in its simple grandeur of the grave accents of the antique drama. Of " leading motives '^ may be mentioned that repre- . sen ting the king, which consists of a kind of fanfare, and throughout occurs in the key of C Major. At the king's command Elsa appears before him, accompanied by a few plaintive notes of sweet melodious- 30 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. ness in tlie orcliestra. They soon lead to a new theme, which might be called the " Dream Motive," for it is to its strains that Elsa relates, how a knight of heavenly beauty has appeared to her in a trance, promising his assistance in defending her innocence. The same knight she now chooses for her champion in the ordeal which has been granted by the king at Telramund^s demand. Here again the different passions of the chief characters — Telramund's hatred, Elsa's confidence, the king's com- passion, and the echo of these feelings in the hearts of the multitude are rendered by the music in the finest nuances. The dramatic climax is reached when, after the second call of the herald, and during Elsa's fervent prayer, there suddenly appears, first in the far distance, but quickly approaching, a boat drawn by a white swan, and in it, leaning on his shield, a knight as Elsa has seen him in her vision. The change from doubt and wildest astonishment to joy and triumphant belief, as expressed in a choral piece of the grandest conception, creates this scene one of the greatest effects dramatic music has ever achieved ; and one is not astonished at reading of the tumult of enthusiastic applause with which the impulsive Italian audience greeted the ap- pearance of Lohengrin at the first performance of the opera at Bologna. It should also be mentioned that a great part of this overpowering impression is due to the masterly arrangement of the scenic effect indicated in its minutest details by the composer himself. As soon as Lohengrin leaves his boat a perfect calm follows the outbreak of clamourous joy, and every one listens in silence as he bids farewell to the WAGNER. 31 swan, his faithful guide through the perils of the deep. After this Lohengrin loudly declares the falseness of Telramund's accusation, and asks for Elsa's hand as the prize of his valour to be exercised in her defence But before the battle begins she must promise him never to ask a question as to his being, or the place whence he came to her rescue. With this demand of implicit belief we have reached the tragic keynote of the drama, and its importance is musically indicated by a new melody of gravest rhythmical import, the ' Motive of Warning/ When Elsa grants and promises everything in self- surrendering confidence, Lohengrin, who hitherto seemed surrounded by unapproachable sublimity, is overcome by her sweet innocence, and breaks out into the passionate words, "Elsa, I love Thee!" Here again the effect of the musical interpretation leaves any de- scription in words far behind. The rest of the act is chiefly taken up by Lohengrin's easy victory over Tel- ramund, and a grand ensemble, expressive of triumphant joy, which in its structure resembles the traditional form of the finale. When the curtain rises a second time we see Telra- mund, whose life has been saved by his adversary's magnanimity, and Ortrud lying prostrate in despairing hatred on the steps of the royal palace, the illuminated windows of which, combined with the festive noise of a banquet, increase the dreary darkness outside. The ensuing duet is musically founded on a new motive, in- tended to represent the evil principle of heathenish hatred and revenge, as opposed to the heavenly purity of the ' Graal-Motive.' For Ortrud now discloses 32 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. herself as the representative of old Friesian paganism, who by her falsehood and witchcraft has led her husband to the accusation of the innocent Christian maiden. The introduction in a by- the- way manner of the two great religious principles appears not particularly happy, and it cannot be denied that the character of Ortrud, although grand in its dramatic conception, has slightly suffered through this unnecessary complication of motives. Her plan of revenge is founded on the prohibited question regarding Lohengrin^s identity, the asking of which she knows to be fatal to his bride. When Elsa soon after- wards appears on the balcony Ortrud is pityingly ad- mitted into her presence, and repays the kindness of her protectress by beginning at once to sow the seed of doubt in the innocent heart of her victim. The next scene contains a grand display of scenic efiect i n the bridal procession of Elsa, which in slow solemnity moves from the palace to the cathedral, accompanied by the solemn strains of chorus and or- chestra. In this masterly way of illustrating the deeper meaning of a dumb ceremony by a kind of decorative music, Wagner's art and dramatic vocation are shown almost as much as in the stronger accents of passion. Amongst the ladies in attendance is Ortrud, and at the moment when Elsa is going to enter the cathedral, she steps forward, and claims precedence for herself, taunting her enemy at the same time with the dark origin of the Knight of the Swan. The scene is evi- dently suggested by the quarrel of the two Queens in the Nibelungenlied, and, although fine in itself, loses some- what by its parallelism with the next, when Telramund WAGNER. 33 suddenly appears and accuses Lohengrin of having been victorious by means of witchcraft, daring him at the same time to lift the veil of mystery hanging round him. Lohengrin proudly spurns the slander of an outlaw, appealing to Elsa as his sole judge on earth ; and after she has expressed her unshaken con- fidence, the twice -interrupted procession reaches its destination The third act introduces us to the bridal-chamber of the newly-united pair. It begins with the out- pourings of unimpaired love and happiness. But soon the evil seed of doubt sown by Ortrud^s calumnious insinuations begins to grow. In all her bliss Elsa feels there is something strange standing between herself and her lord, embittering the sweetness of her love with secret misgivings. The way in which this at first shy and subdued feeling is worked up gradually to the pitch of irrepressible curiosity is a masterpiece of psychological characterization. The calming and imploring words of her saviour and lover, accompanied by the solemn repetition of the * Motive of Warning,^ nay, even the heroic feelings of her own heart, that wishes to share any possible danger, are with womanly logic turned into arguments for asking a question which must lead to the certain misery of both. At last_, just when she has uttered the fatal words, Count Telramund rushes into the room with two other assassins, but is easily slain by Lohengrin's sword, which Elsa hands to her husband. The last scene shows the same meadow by the Scheldt as in the first act. King Henry and his D 34 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. vassals are preparing for their departure to the war. But their knightly joy is interrupted by the corpse of Telramund being carried into their presence. Soon Elsa, and after her Lohengrin, appear. By his wife's unfortunate rashness he is now compelled to disclose his origin and name, as Lohengrin, Parcival's son, the Knight of the Grraal. The piece in which this is done, showing the * Graal-Motive ' in its fullest development, and the impressive melody of his parting song, are amongst the most beautiful parts of the opera. At this moment Ortrud appears and tells the astonished audi- ence that the swan which is seen approaching in the distance is no other than Lisa's brother, who has been bewitched by herself into this form, but would have been released without his sister's indiscretion ; now he is doomed for ever. But in this last emergency the divine power intervenes again. Lohengrin kneels down in silent prayer, and when he rises the swan has disap- peared, and a beautiful youth, the Duke of Brabant, stands by his side. Elsa flies to his embrace, and dies in his arms ; while the boat of Lohengrin, drawn by a white dove, and accompanied by the plaintive notes of the "Graal-Motive" in minor chords, disappears in the distance. The first performance of * Lohengrin^ is connected with one of the most charming episodes of AVagner's life — his friendship with Franz Liszt. The intimate relations between these two great composers, subsisting at the present day and under circumstances which would have made jealousies and mutual animosities but too excusable, seem to claim our passing attention. WAGNER. The thouglit of rivalry seems never their minds, although the zeal of eathi can never have been absent to fan the of an ungracious feeling into a flame, than twenty years both Wagner and worked for the same purpose of artistic reform in" individual spheres, and not once has the source of purest friendship been tainted by a drop of bitterness. For an account of the origin and circumstances of this friend- ship I borrow the eloquent words of Wagner himself. The following sketch, written in 1851, refers to the time when, after the revolution of 1849, Wagner, as the reader will recollect, had to fly the country, and in this way was cut off from all artistic rapport with his friends at home. " Again," Wagner says, " I was thoroughly disheartened from undertaking any new artistic scheme. Oaly recently I had had proofs of the impossibility of making my art intelligible to the public, and all this deterred me from beginning new dramatic works. In- deed, I thought that everything was at an end with my artistic creativeness. From this state of mental dejection I was raised by a friend. By most evident and undeniable proofs he made me feel that I was not deserted, but, on the contrary, understood deeply by those even who were otherwise most distant from me ; in this way he gave me back my full artistic confidence. '' This wonderful friend has been to me Franz Liszt. I must enter a little more deeply into the character of this friendship, which to many has seemed paradoxical. Indeed, I have been compelled to appear repellent and hostile on so many sides, that I almost feel a want of D 2 36 THE GREAT MUSICIANS. communication with regard to this our sympathetic union, '* I met Liszt for the first time during my earliest stay in Paris^ and at a period when I had renounced the hope, nay, even the wish, of a Paris reputation, and, indeed, was in a state of internal revolt against the artistic life I found there. At our meeting Liszt appeared to me the niost perfect contrast to my own being and situation. In this world, to which it had been my desire to fly from my narrow circumstances, Liszt had grown up, from his earliest age, so as to be the object of general love and admiration at a time when I was repulsed b}^ general coldness and want of sympath}^ ... In consequence, I looked upon him with suspicion. I had no opportunity of disclosing my being and working to him, and, therefore, the reception I met with on his part was altogether of a superficial kind, as was indeed quite natural in a man to whom every day the most divergent impressions claimed access. But I was not in a mood to look with unpre- judiced eyes for the natural cause of his behaviour, which, friendly and obliging in itself, could not but hurt me in that state of my mind. I never repeated my first call on Liszt, and without knowing or even wish- ing to know him, I was prone to look upon him as strange and adverse to my nature.