,,transcriber',s ,,notes3 ,italic text is denoted by underscores4 ,the book cover has been modified and was put on the public domain4 ,a number of words in this book have both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants4 ,for the words with both variants present the one used more times has been kept4 ,it was also detected that some names have two different spellings4 ,that was respected as both are correct4 ,the musical examples that are discussed in the book can be heard by clicking on the ,listen tab4 ,this is only possible in the ,,html version of the book4 ,the scores that appear in the original book have been included as images4 ,in some cases the scores that were used by the music transcriber to generate the music files differ from the original scores4 ,those differences are in part due to modifications that were made during the process of creating the musical archives as the music transcriber added instruments that were not indicated in the original scores4 ,other modifications were made to correct obvious mistakes in the original scores4 ,these scores are included as png images1 and can be seen by clicking on the ,,png tag in the ,,html version of the book4 ,obvious punctuation and other printing errors have been corrected4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,studies ,,in ,,the ,,wagnerian ,,drama ,,by ,,henry ,,edward ,,krehbiel ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,,and ,,london ,,harper ,,brothers ,,publishers #aijd ,copyright1 #ahia1 by ,,harper ,,brothers4 ,all rights reserved4 ,,to ,,joseph ,s4 ,,tunison ,,contents4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,wagnerian ,,drama3 ,,its ,,prototypes ,,and ,,elements4 ,wagner a ,regenerator of the ,lyric ,drama4--,greek ,tragedy4--,solemn ,speech and ,music4--,the ,poet-composers of ,hellas4--,the ,florentine ,reformers and their ,invention of the ,lyric ,drama4--,peri and ,caccini4--,their ,declamation4--,monteverde's ,orchestra4--,how ,wagner ,touches ,hands with his ,predecessors4--,poet and ,composer4--,music a ,means1 not an ,aim in the ,drama4--,a ,typical ,teuton1 but also a ,cosmopolite4--,teutonic and ,roman ,ideals4--,absolute ,beauty and ,characteristic ,beauty4--,the ,ethical ,idea in ,wagner's ,dramas4--,fundamental ,principle of his ,constructive ,scheme4 ,the ,typical ,phrases4--,symbols1 not ,labels4--,music as a ,language4--,characteristics of ,some ,typical ,phrases4--,wotan in ,two ,aspects4--,form the ,first ,manifestation of ,law in ,music and ,essential to ,repose4--,tonality and the ,effect of its ,loss4--,phrases ,delineative and ,imitative of ,external ,characteristics4--,the ,giants1 the ,dwarfs1 the ,rhine2 ,loge1 the ,god of ,fire4--,prophetic ,use of the ,phrases4--,their ,dramatic ,development4--,wagner's ,orchestra and the ,greek ,chorus4--,alliteration and ,rhyme4--,the ,ethical ,idea ,again4 ,pages #a-cf ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,tristan ,,und ,,isolde4 ,the ,legend in ,outline4--,a ,subject that has ,fascinated ,poets for over ,six ,centuries in ,spite of ,changes in ,moral ,feeling4--,wagner's ,variations from the ,versions of ,gottfried von ,strassburg1 ,matthew ,arnold1 ,tennyson1 and ,swinburne4--,the ,prelude4--,absence of ,scenic ,music4--,fundamental ,musical ,thought of the ,drama4--,its ,duality in ,unity4--,longing and ,suffering4--,wagner's ,exposition4--,use of the ,sailor's ,song and the ,sea ,music4--,suffering and ,chromatic ,descent4--,the ,love ,glance and its ,symbol4--,fatality and the ,interval of the ,seventh4--,the ,heroic ,phrase of ,tristan4--,the ,death ,phrase4--,music as an ,expounder of ,hidden ,meanings4--,the ,horn ,music4--,the ,signal4--,the ,love ,duet4--,dramatic ,feeling ,supplied by ,music4--,king ,marke4--,philosophy of the ,drama4--,musical ,mood ,pictures4--,a ,dying ,man3 an ,empty ,sea4--,tristan's ,longing and ,death4--,swan ,song of ,isolde4--,passions ,purified by ,music4--,medival ,love4--,effect of ,wagner's ,variations on the ,morals of the ,poem4--,excision of the ,second ,iseult4--,the ,philter not a ,love-potion4--,wagner's ,pure ,humanity ,freed from the ,bonds of ,conventionality ,pages #cg-ga ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,die ,,meistersinger ,,von ,n,,rnberg4 ,story of the ,drama4--,a ,comedy ,faithful to ,classical ,conceptions4--,ridendo ,castigat ,mores4--,its ,specific ,purpose is to ,celebrate the ,triumph of ,natural ,poetic ,impulse1 ,stimulated by ,communion with ,nature1 over ,pedantic ,formalism4--,romanticism versus ,classicism4--,a ,contest which ,stimulates ,growth4--,walther as the ,representative of ,romantic ,utterance4--,pedantry ,pictured in the ,master-singers and ,caricatured in ,beckmesser4--,sachs1 the ,real ,hero of the ,play4--,an ,intermediary and ,champion of ,both ,parties4--,form must ,adapt ,itself to ,spirit4--,the ,proposition ,proved by the ,music of ,sachs' ,first ,monologue4--,the ,symbolism of a ,phrase ,investigated4--,corrective ,purpose of the ,play as it is ,disclosed by the ,prelude4--,sachs as a ,philosopher4--,the ,introduction to ,act ,,iii4 ,expounded4--,photographic ,pictures of ,nuremberg ,life4--,relics of the ,master-singers4--,a ,master-song by the ,veritable ,sachs ,pages #gb-aaa ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,der ,,ring ,,des ,,nibelungen4 ,beautiful and ,enduring ,legends are ,universal ,property4--,parallels ,between the ,elements and ,apparatus of ,mythological ,tales4--,the ,grotto of ,venus1 the ,garden of ,delight1 ,avalon1 ,ogygia1 the ,delightful ,island4--,pope ,urban's ,staff1 the ,lances of ,charlemagne1 ,joseph's ,staff1 and ,aaron's ,rod4--,the ,tarnhelm1 the ,mask of ,arthur1 ,helmet of ,pluto4--,the ,holy ,grail1 the ,horn of ,bran2 ,huon's ,goblet1 the ,horn of ,amalthea4--,invulnerability of ,achilles1 ,jason1 and ,siegfried4--,the ,sword of ,wotan1 ,arthur's ,sword1 ,ulysses's ,bow4--,siegfried's ,prototypes in ,egypt1 ,greece1 and ,scandinavia4--,von ,hahn's ,arische ,aussetzung und ,rckkehr ,formel4--,the ,celestial ,plot in the ,tragedy4--,wotan its ,hero4--,a ,contest ,between ,greed of ,gain and ,temporal ,power and ,love4--,effect of the ,curse4--,wotan's ,vain ,plot4--,the ,force of ,law4--,brnnhilde becomes the ,agent of ,redemption by ,becoming ,simple1 ,loving ,woman4--,the ,progress of the ,plot is from a ,state of ,sinlessness through ,sin and its ,awful ,consequences to ,expiation4--,symbols for ,these ,steps in ,das ,rheingold4--,the ,golden ,age and the ,instrumental ,introduction4--,elemental ,music4--,erda and the ,gtterdmmerung4--,greek and ,teuton4--,the ,tragic ,nature of the ,northern ,mythological ,system4--,wotan's ,effort to ,escape the ,penalty of ,violated ,law4--,a ,plan ,doomed to ,failure from the ,start4--,wagner's ,mood ,pictures4--,how ,nature ,reflects the ,discord ,created by the ,god's ,wrong ,doing4--,contrasted ,pictures in ,two ,preludes and ,first ,scenes3 the ,peacefulness of the ,golden ,age1 the ,storm which ,buffets ,siegmund4--,entrance of the ,sinister ,element with ,alberich and ,hunding4--,agents ,created to ,carry on the ,contest3 the ,beloved ,progeny of the ,god1 the ,loveless ,offspring of the ,niblung4--,wotan's ,tragic ,grandeur in the ,moment of ,despair4--,brnnhilde the ,embodiment of ,wotan's ,will4--,the ,god ,destroys his ,agents1 but ,unconscious ,love ,carries on the ,plot4--,siegfried4--,the ,forest ,lad ,achieves ,heroic ,stature4--,he ,discloses that he is a ,free ,agent by ,shattering the ,visible ,symbol of the ,god's ,power4--,wotan ,disappears for the ,action and ,awaits the ,end of his ,race4--,the ,miraculous in ,wagner's ,musical ,system4--,the ,drink of ,forgetfulness4--,brnnhilde ,prizes ,love ,more than the ,welfare of the ,gods4--,outraged ,love ,avenged4--,the ,catastrophe4--,the ,death ,march a ,hymn of ,praise4--,the ,musical ,symbol of the ,ethical ,principle of the ,tragedy ,pages #aab-afa ,,chapter ,v4 ,,parsifal4 ,wagner's ,last ,drama4--,paradoxical in its ,appeals to the ,spectator and ,student4--,a ,religious ,play4--,blending of ,buddhistic and ,christian ,plots4--,socialistic ,philosophy and ,asceticism4--,identification of ,parsifal and ,christ4--,monkish ,relic ,worship4--,ethical ,idea of the ,drama4--,the ,apparatus1 the ,hero1 the ,trial4--,mission of the ,music4--,it must ,reconcile ,modern ,thought and ,feeling and ,medival ,religion4--,imagination and ,fancy4--,suffering and ,aspiration4--,original ,elements of the ,grail ,story4--,parsifal an ,aryan ,hero4--,his ,name as an ,index of ,moral ,character4--,the ,great ,fool ,tales4--,the ,holy ,grail not ,originally a ,christian ,symbol4--,percival and ,peredur4--,parsifal in ,wagner's ,drama4--,his ,musical ,symbols4--,properties of the ,talisman3 ,physical1 it ,provides ,sustenance2 ,spiritual1 it is a ,touchstone and ,oracle4--,its ,prototypes in ,many ,lands4--,the ,golden ,cup of ,jamshid and the ,joseph of ,arimathea ,legend4--,the ,grail and ,coral4--,dr4 ,oppert's ,theory4--,blood the ,essential ,element4--,the ,prelude4--,amfortas4--,question and ,lance4--,herzeleide4--,musical ,symbols of ,suffering and ,aspiration4--,wagner's ,interpretation4--,tried by ,temptation4--,klingsor4--,kundry4--,the ,loathly ,damsel and ,herodias4--,wolfram's ,married ,parzival ,pages #afb-aih ,,the ,,wagnerian ,,drama4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,wagnerian ,,drama3 ,,its ,,prototypes ,,and ,,elements4 ,to understand the real position which ,richard ,wagner occupies in the world of art1 and to appreciate the significance of the achievements which have kept that world in a turmoil for two generations1 it is necessary to guard against a very prevalent misconception touching him and his activities4 ,the world knows him as an agitator and reformer1 but it does not know as clearly as it ought that the object for which he labored as controversialist and composer was a reform of the opera1 not a reform of music in general4 ,outside the theatre1 it is true1 he exerted a tremendous influence on the development of the musical art1 but that influence he exerted only because he was a gifted musician who stood in the line of succession with the great ones who had widened the boundaries of music and struck out new paths for it--let me say ,bach1 ,haydn1 ,gluck1 ,mozart1 ,beethoven1 and ,schumann4 ,as a legitimate successor of these ,kings by the grace of ,genius1 he advanced the musical art indeed1 but as a reformer his activities went1 not to music in its absolute forms1 but to an entirely distinct and complex art-form3 the modern opera4 ,the term which ,wagner invented to describe what he wished to see as the outcome of his strivings--the term which his enemies parodied so successfully that the parody has clung to the popular tongue and lingered in the popular ear1 in spite of all explanation--is ,the ,art-work of the ,future4 ,by this ,art-work he meant a form of theatrical entertainment in which poetry1 music1 pantomime1 painting1 and the plastic arts were to co-operate on a basis of mutual dependence--or better1 perhaps1 interdependence--and common aim1 the inspiring purpose of all being dramatic expression4 ,in the history of music and the drama certain strongly-marked phases are found1 in which the interdependence of the elements which ,wagner consorts in his ,art-work can be traced2 and if we look at these phases a little thoughtfully1 they may help us to understand the present phase1 and we may learn not only how to appreciate what ,wagner has done1 but also how to avoid the misconceptions which so frequently stand in the way of appreciation4 ,i4 ,wagner1 then1 was a ,reformer of the ,opera2 or1 as ,i think it would better be put1 a ,regenerator of the ,lyric ,drama4 ,the latter definition is to be preferred1 because it presupposes the earlier existence of an art-form similar in purpose and elements 7however dissimilar in scope and effectiveness it may have been7 to that with which ,wagner's name is identified in music's history4 ,the spirit which created that art-form is as old as humanity2 but the record of civilization shows two manifestations of it so striking that even the most cursory study ought to disclose ,wagner's relationship to them4 ,the ,greek stage-plays were much more closely allied to the modern opera than to the modern drama4 ,music was an integral and essential element of them4 ,so says ,aristotle1 adding1 and their greatest embellishment4 ,the dramatic and lyrical elements were inseparable in ,greek tragedy1 which had its origin in the ,dithyramb1 a dance-song4 ,the one modified the other4 ,the cheer1 the gravity1 or the horror of the action were reflected at the same time in the music4 ,while there was music also in comedy1 yet1 as ,aristotle indicates1 it was there of less importance1 probably because comedy--which was really broad enough to meet the modern notions of farce--was beneath the true level of music as apprehended by the ,greeks4 ,as between the lyre and flute1 the ,greeks gave a vastly greater admiration to the former1 as is indicated by a proverb quoted by ,cicero3 ,as they say among the ,greeks1 they are flautists who cannot be citharists2 and it is significant that stringed accompaniments were given to the dithyrambic chorus when its purposes were serious1 and accompaniments on the aulos when those purposes were of lighter character4 ,obviously the writers of ,greek tragedy were of necessity versed in the musical art of their time4 schylus was not merely a poet2 he was also a musical composer4 ,a fragment of a theoretical book on rhythm by ,aristoxenus1 a fellow-pupil with ,alexander the ,great of ,aristotle1 has been preserved to us4 ,it is filled with lamentations over the decadence of dramatic music since the good old days of schylus1 and accuses contemporary composers of pandering to the depraved tastes of the public1 and disregarding the noble art of the schylean period4 ,we know that ,sophocles was a practical musician4 ,he was taught both music and dancing by ,lampros 7or ,lamprocles7 the dithyrambist1 in his time the foremost professor of these arts in ,athens4 ,it is on record that he played in two of his own dramas1 taking the character of ,nausikaa in the ,pluntri1 and1 in ,thamyris1 that of a singer stricken blind by the ,muses4 ,in this latter role he so pleased the popular fancy that1 by public vote1 a portrait of him1 with a cithara in his hands1 was placed in the ,painted ,porch--a fact which finds mention in ,athenus4 ,another indication of his proficiency as a musician is that he wrote pans and elegies1 and a work in prose for the instruction of choral artists4 ,it is written that ,euripides1 obviously less musician than poet1 had to call in the aid of a composer to supply the essential music for one of his plays4 ,possibly this explains the fact that in his tragedies the odes are less intimately connected with the play than they are in the tragedies of schylus4 ,they no longer form part of the action1 and their beauty consists in their skilfulness of form rather than in the natural union of rhythm and music4 ,in the ,greek tragedies the actors did not declaim their lines as ours do2 they chanted them4 ,the word which they used to describe what we call dramatic declamation was emmeleia1 from en and melos1 whence we get our word melody2 so that they literally spoke of their plays as being spoken in tune4 ,even the ,attic orators1 as well as the later ,roman1 delivered their orations musically1 and1 like the actors1 sometimes had the help of an accompaniment on the lyre or flute to keep them in pitch4 ,cicero and ,plutarch both relate an anecdote to the effect that ,caius ,gracchus once lost his pitch in the heat of an oration1 and was brought back to it by a slave with an instrument1 who was concealed behind him for that very purpose4 ,in the plays the chorus sang the odes which filled the pauses between the various stages of the action2 and as they sang they kept time with solemn dance-steps1 moving from side to side and around an altar which stood in the centre of the space between the audience and the stage1 called then1 as now1 the orchestra4,a ,the choric odes were sung in unison1 but1 more richly than the declamation of the actors1 they were accompanied by instruments which ,i believe we are justified in assuming 7though it is a debated point7 supplied a foundation of harmony for the vocal melody4 ,unfortunately1 none of the music composed for these tragedies has been preserved2 but we are surely justified in believing that1 in spite of its simplicity 7for simple it had to be to meet the demands of ,greek philosophy71 it was beautiful1 impressive1 and1 in the highest degree1 expressive music4 ,no people have ever come nearer than those old ,greeks to a correct estimate of the real nature of music and the role that it can and ought to be made to play in the economy of civilized life4 ,so convinced were they of the directness and forcefulness of its appeal to the emotional part of man that they refused to divorce it from poetry1 and hedged its practice about with legal restrictions1 fearful that a too one-sided cultivation of it in its absolute state would tend to the development of the emotions at a cost of the rational and sterner elements on which the welfare of the individual and the community depended4 ,theirs was surely a lofty ideal3 an art which charmed the senses while it persuaded the reason was a noble art4 ,but it died with much else that was noble and lovely when the ,romans succeeded the ,greeks as arbiters of the civilized world4 ,under the ,romans the lyric drama degenerated into mere spectacular mummery4 ,,ii4 ,thus much for the first manifestation of the spirit which is exemplified in the ,art-work of ,richard ,wagner4 ,i have laid stress upon the ,greek tragedy simply because it was the direct inspiration of the second manifestation1 out of which the ,art-work which ,wagner reformed was evolved1 through steps that are easily followed by students of modern musical history4 ,wherever we turn we find the genesis of the drama to be the same4 ,i might have chosen the ,hindu drama as a starting-point1 and found in it the same intimate association of poetry1 music1 and action that characterized ,greek tragedy4 ,or ,i might have pointed to the ,chinese drama1 and invited you to a study of that association as it has existed for thousands of years1 and still exists in the theatres of the ,great ,pure ,kingdom4 ,now for the second manifestation4 ,towards the close of the sixteenth century dissatisfaction with the inelastic artificiality of polite music took possession of a body of scholars and musical amateurs who were in the habit of meeting for learned discussion in the house of ,giovanni ,bardi1 ,count ,vernio1 in ,florence4 ,their discussions led them to formulate two aims3 ,first1 ,to give emotional expressiveness to music by putting aside polyphony1 and inventing what is called the monodic style4 ,they wrote solos for the voice with harmonic support for the instruments in the shape of chords4 ,second1 ,they tried to revive the ,greek tragedies1 or1 rather1 to imitate them in new compositions1 to which they applied their monodic music4 ,they conceived the purpose of music to be to heighten the expressiveness of poetry1 and held the play to be the thing4 ,to ,euridice1 the first drama of the new style which was published1 the composer of the music1 ,jacopo ,peri1 wrote a preface1 in which he said that he had been convinced by a study of the ancients that though their dramatic declamation may not have risen to song1 it was yet musically colored4 ,this exaltation of speech he evidently thought had its basis in those variations of pitch1 dynamic intensity1 and vocal quality which ,herbert ,spencer1 in his essay on the ,origin and ,function of ,music1 shows to be the physiological results of variations of feeling1 all feelings being muscular stimuli4 ,peri made careful observations of the inflections which mark ordinary speech1 and attempted to reproduce his discoveries as faithfully as possible in the musical investiture which he gave to the poet's lines4 ,soft and gentle speech he interpreted by half-spoken1 half-sung tones1 on a sustained instrumental bass2 feelings of a deeper1 emotional kind by a melody with greater intervals and a lively tempo1 the accompanying instrumental harmonies changing more frequently4,b ,he bestowed the greatest care on the rhythm of the music1 making it flow along with the rhythm of the words4 ,these men were as revolutionary in their day as ,wagner in ours1 many times as intolerant1 and1 some will say1 perhaps equally visionary4 ,they revamped the ,hellenic myths concerning the power of music1 not as containing a germ of verity wrapped in an ample cloak of poetical symbolism1 but as very truth4 ,what the ancient art had been they did not know1 but they did not hesitate to say that compared with it the music of their own time 7the time of ,palestrina and the ,netherland ,school7 was a barbarism1 the creation of a people whose natural rudeness was evidenced even in their uncouth names--,okeghem1 ,hobrecht1 etc4 ,they could not reconcile counterpoint with the theories touching the province of music laid down by ,plato2 and that fact sufficed to condemn it4 ,count ,vernio himself published a tract stating the purposes of the reformers4 ,the first step in the process of curing the evil which had come over music1 he said1 should be to protect the poetical text from the musicians who1 to exploit their inventions1 tore the poetry to tatters1 giving different voices different words to sing simultaneously4 ,the philosophers of old--,plato in particular--had said that the melody should follow the verses of the poet and sweeten them4 ,when you compose1 therefore1 said the noble amateur1 have a care that the text remain uninjured1 the words be kept intelligible1 and do not permit yourselves to be carried off your feet by counterpoint1 that wicked swimmer1 who is swept along unresistingly by the stream1 and arrives at an entirely different landing-place than he intended to make4 ,for1 as much as the soul is nobler than the body1 so much nobler are words than counterpoint2 and as the soul must govern the body1 so counterpoint must take its laws from poetry4 ,caccini1 who was a famous singing-master1 and the first professional musician to join the ,florentine coterie1 made many statements in the preface to his ,nuove ,musiche which ,gluck and ,wagner only echoed when they came to urge their reforms4 ,thus he recommends the choice of a pitch which will enable the singer always to use his natural voice1 so that expression may be unconstrained4 ,he advises that the singer emancipate himself from a too strict adherence to measure1 fixing1 instead1 the relative value of notes by consideration for the words to which they are set4 ,more striking than either of these utterances1 however1 is his condemnation of the roulades which had come into use even before the solo style had been invented4 ,he calls these roulades ,long flights 7flourishes or whirlings7 of the voice 7lunghi giri di voce72 and says of them1 literally3 ,they were not invented as being necessary to good singing1 but1 as ,i believe1 to provide a certain titillation of the ears for the benefit of such as have little knowledge of what expressive singing means2 for if they understood this1 they would unquestionably detest these passages1 since nothing is so offensive as they to expressive singing4 ,and it is for this reason that ,i have said the lunghi giri di voce are so ill applied4 ,i introduce them in songs which are less passionate1 and1 indeed1 on long1 not on short syllables1 and in closing cadences4 ,caccini further advises the avoidance of artificial tones1 and the use of the natural voice in order that the feelings may have expression4 ,wagner urges his singers to leave off the affected pathos which they are so prone to assume with the song-voice1 and to enunciate1 breathe1 and phrase as naturally and unconstrainedly as they would if they were speaking the dialogue instead of singing it4 ,caccini wished the singer to emancipate himself from the fetters of musical metre1 and to consult the rhythm of the words4 ,in ,wagner's vocal parts the aim is to achieve through music an increased expressiveness for the poetry1 and to this end he raises it to a kind of intensified speech1 which retains as much as possible of the distinctness of ordinary dialogue with its emotional capacity raised to a higher power4 ,he desires that the melody shall spring naturally from the poetry1 but also that the poetry shall yearn for musical expression4 ,caccini recognized the beauty of embellished song1 but restricted the introduction of vocal flourishes to songs which were wanting in expressiveness--in other words1 to songs intended merely to charm the ear4 ,wagner 7and here ,i should like to correct an almost universal misconception7--,wagner never condemned beautiful singing1 even in the ,italian sense1 except where it stands in the way of truthful1 dramatic utterance4 ,but he raises the question of nationality and tongue as one which must first of all be considered in determining how poetry is to be set to music4 ,deference must be paid to the genius of the language employed1 and also to the vocal peculiarities of the people who are to perform and enjoy the drama4 ,this is really ,wagner's starting-point4 ,he aims to be a national dramatist4 ,in the ,italian opera the vocal adornments1 favored by the inherent softness and beauty of the ,italian language1 gradually usurped the first place1 while dramatic motive1 which had inspired the invention of the opera1 dropped out of sight4 ,for such an art there is little natural aptitude in the ,german1 and consequently only a modicum of sympathy4 ,sung to florid tunes1 ,german words become worse than unintelligible2 the poetry loses its merit as speech1 and the music is robbed of all its purpose and most of its charm4 ,believing this1 and having already striven to restore naturalness of expression in the spoken drama1 ,wagner wrote the vocal parts of his lyric dramas so as to bring out first the force of the poetry as such4 ,there is one more point of resemblance between ,wagner and the creators of the ,italian lyric drama which ,i must refer to briefly4 ,it may help us out from the sway of that prejudice which we are so prone to feel towards an innovator1 to learn that in so many essentials ,wagner has simply given new expression to old ideas4 ,already1 in his ,euridice1 ,peri concealed his orchestra behind the scenes2 but as this device was borrowed from the old ,roman pantomimes1 and was a general custom1 ,i lay no stress upon it4 ,monteverde1 who did not belong to the band of ,florentine reformers1 but adopted their theories and put them into practice with far greater skill than any of the originators of the new style1 added to the instrumental apparatus until he had a reputation for noise with which that of ,wagner1 in this respect1 is no circumstance4 ,in his ,orfeo he employed thirty-six different instruments1 and it has even been suspected that he was the precursor of ,wagner in the device of characterizing his personages by relegating to each a certain instrument or set of instruments4 ,but this1 ,i am convinced1 is based on a misunderstanding4 ,it is certain1 however1 that he used his instruments in such a way as to emphasize climaxes1 holding some of them back until the arrival of moments in the action when their sudden entrance would have a particularly telling effect4 ,,iii4 ,where does ,wagner touch hands with the first creators of the art-form of which ,i have called him the regenerator8 ,what are the fundamental features of his system8 ,what were the impulses which led him out of the beaten path of opera composers8 ,i will try to answer these questions on broad lines1 keeping essential principles in view rather than trifling details4 ,wagner must be associated with the ,greek tragedy-writers3 ,first 7and foremost71 because he is poet as well as musical composer4 ,he unites in himself the same qualifications 7but with the tremendous difference in degree brought about by the changed conditions7 as did schylus4 ,second4 ,wagner sees in the drama the highest form of art--one that unites in itself the expressive potentiality of each of the elements employed in it1 raised to a still higher potency through the merit of their co-operation4 ,third4 ,wagner believes1 like the ,greek tragedians1 that the fittest subjects for dramatic treatment are to be found in legends and mythologies4 ,fourth4 ,wagner believes that the elements of the lyric drama ought to be adapted to the peculiarities1 and to encourage the national feeling of the people for whom it is created4 ,this last point is of such vast significance to the question of the degree of appreciation which ,wagner's art ought to receive1 and also to an understanding of his attitude towards ,italian music1 that ,i wish to emphasize it before proceeding further4 ,wagner is as distinctively a ,german dramatist as schylus was a ,greek or ,shakespeare an ,english4 ,in his poetry1 in his music1 in the moral and physical character of his dramatic personages--in brief1 in the matter and the essence of his dramas--the world must recognize the ,teuton4 ,as their spirit roots in the ,german heart1 so their form roots in the ,german language4 ,one of ,wagner's most persistent aims was to reanimate a national art-spirit in ,germany4 ,the rest of the world he omitted from his consideration4 ,those of his dramas in which he carried out his principles in their fulness are scarcely conceivable in any other language than the ,german1 and complete or ideal appreciation of them is possible only to persons who sympathize deeply with ,german feelings4 ,his whole system1 of dramatic declamation rests on the genius of the ,german tongue4 ,he protests against the attempt to use the bel canto of the ,italians in ,german opera1 because the ,german language is too harsh for florid music1 and ,german throats are not flexible enough to execute agile and mellifluous melodies4 ,in the structure of his system there is everywhere discernible a recognition of the characteristics1 physiological as well as psychological1 which have always marked ,teutonic races4 ,look at ,wagner in the conduct of his polemical battle2 in the vehemence of his sincerity1 and the rude1 sledge-hammer vigor of his manner1 he is as distinctively a national type as ,luther4 ,aside from all other considerations1 such a man cannot conceive music to be mere lascivious pleasings4 ,to the ,northern mind there has always seemed to be something vicious in the influence of ,southern art and manners4 ,it seems to feel instinctively that its vigor is preserved by periodical rebellion against ,roman things1 and it points as a reason and a warning example to the physical and moral degeneracy of those ,goths and ,franks who lost their rugged virtues by too long dalliance with the ,roman colonists4 ,strength before ,beauty1 ,truth before ,convention--these are ,german ideals in art as well as in morals4,c ,it is only to recognize a truth1 which ,wagner himself freely confessed1 to say that arts and manners based on such ideals do not always appear pleasing--that1 in fact1 they sometimes1 at first blush1 at least1 appear uncouth and unamiable4 ,but that fact need not long give us pause4 ,we have simply to recognize that beauty1 like everything else so far as we are concerned1 is subject to change1 and that a new order of beauty1 which may be called characteristic beauty1 has come to the fore with a claim for recognition as a fit element in dramatic representation4 ,are we bound to accept as infallible the popular maxim that no matter what the state of affairs on the stage1 the accompanying music must delight the ear8 ,suppose that a composer1 utilizing the ear simply as one of the gate-ways to the higher faculties1 and aiming to quicken the imagination and stir the emotions1 should find a means for doing this without pleasing the ear--would his art be bad for that reason8 ,was the agony on the faces of the ,laocon put there by the sculptor for the purpose of pleasing the eye8 ,does it please the eye1 or does it fascinate with a horrible fascination1 and achieve the artist's real purpose by appealing through the eye to the imagination and emotions8 ,these questions are in the nature of argument and foreign to my immediate purpose2 in the way of contrast1 however1 the thoughts to which they give rise will help us to appreciate one phase of the ,teutonism which ,wagner has impressed upon his dramas which is altogether lovely4 ,we will look at it in both of its expositions1 musical and literary1 for thus we shall learn something of his constructive methods as well as his poetical impulses4 ,i refer to the ethical idea pervading those of his dramas which1 like the ,greek tragedies1 are based on legendary or mythical tales4 ,the idea is that salvation comes to humanity through the self-sacrificing love of woman4 ,this idea is at the bottom of the great poems and dramas of ,germany2 it is the main-spring of ,the ,flying ,dutchman1 ,tannhuser1 and ,the ,niblung's ,ring2 the chorus mysticus which ends ,goethe's ,faust proclaims it oracularly3 ,all things transitory ,but as symbols are sent4 ,earth's insufficiency ,here grows to event4 ,the ,indescribable1 ,here it is done4 ,the ,woman-,soul leadeth us ,upward and on6 ,in the creations of ,wagner1 by a singular coincidence1 this beautiful idea is born simultaneously with the fundamental principle of his constructive scheme--the use of melodic phrases as symbols of the persons1 passions1 and principles concerned in the play4 ,his first drama based on a legendary story is ,the ,flying ,dutchman4 ,the infinite longing for rest of the ,wandering ,jew of the sea1 and the infinite pity and wondrous love of the woman who1 through sacrifice of her own life1 achieved for the wanderer surcease of suffering--these are the two fundamental passions of the play4 ,the legend of the ,dutchman and his doom is told in a ballad which the heroine sings in the second act of the opera2 and this ballad1 ,wagner tells us himself1 he set to music first1 even before he had completed the book4 ,it is an epitome of the drama1 ethically and musically1 having two significant musical themes corresponding to the longing of the ,dutchman and the redeeming love of ,senta4 ,the first of these musical themes is this3 ,illustration3 score ,the second is this3 ,illustration3 score ,having invented these two phrases for use simply in the ballad1 ,wagner tells us how he proceeded with his work3 ,i had merely to develop according to their respective tendencies the various thematic germs comprised in the ballad to have1 as a matter of course1 the principal mental moods in definite thematic shapes before me4 ,when a mental mood returned1 its thematic expression also1 as a matter of course1 was repeated1 since it would have been arbitrary and capricious to have sought another motivo so long as the object was an intelligible representation of the subject1 and not a conglomeration of operatic pieces4 ,this is ,wagner's account of the genesis of the leading motives1 or1 as ,i think they would better be called1 typical phrases1 and it directs attention to a misconception of their nature and purpose which is pretty general even among the admirers of his works4 ,they were not invented to announce the entrance of persons of the play on their stage2 their duties are not those of footmen or ushers4 ,nor are they labels4 ,neither can they rightly be likened1 as a ,german critic has declared1 to the lettered ribbons issuing from the mouths of figures in medival pictures4 ,they stand for deeper things--for the attributes of the play's personages2 for the instruments1 spiritual as well as material1 used in developing the plot2 for the fundamental passions of the story4 ,if they were labels1 they could only accompany the characters with which they had been associated at the outset1 and this we know is not the case2 in fact1 in some very significant instances1 they enter the score long before the characters with whom they are associated have been heard of or their existence is surmised4 ,they are symbols1 and hence arbitrary signs1 but not more arbitrary than words4 ,all language is arbitrary convention4 ,only the emotional elements at the bottom of it are real1 absolute1 universal4 ,it would be just as easy to build up a language of musical tones capable of expressing ideas as it was to build up a language of words4 ,in fact1 though we seldom think of it1 the rudiments of such a language exist4 ,we are all familiar with some of them1 or we should not involuntarily associate certain rhythms with the dance1 and others with the march4 ,a drone-bass under an oboe melody in #f-h time would not suggest a pastoral2 trumpets and drums1 war2 ,french-horn harmonies1 a hunting scene2 and so on4 ,more than this1 the ,chinese have retained in their language a relic of the time when music was an integral element of all speech1 not only of solemn and artistic speech1 as we see it in the beginnings of the drama in ,india1 ,greece1 and ,china4 ,the meaning of many words in the monosyllabic ,chinese language depends upon the musical inflection given to them in utterance4 ,in a sense1 a phrase of melody1 or a chord1 or a succession of chords1 of harmony1 is a bow-wow word1 the only kind of word universally intelligible4 ,a great deal of music is direct in its influence upon the emotions1 but it is chiefly by association of ideas that we recognize its expressiveness or significance4 ,sometimes hearing a melody or harmony arouses an emotion like that aroused by the contemplation of a thing4 ,minor harmonies1 slow movements1 dark tonal colorings1 combine directly to put a musically susceptible person in a mood congenial to thoughts of sorrow and death2 and1 inversely1 the experience of sorrow1 or the contemplation of death1 creates affinity for minor harmonies1 slow movements1 and dark tonal colorings4 ,or we recognize attributes in music possessed also by things1 and we consort the music and the things1 external attributes bringing descriptive music into play which excites the fancy1 internal attributes calling for an exercise of the loftier faculty1 imagination1 to discern their meaning4 ,a few examples in both classes will help to make my meaning plain1 and ,i begin with the second class as the nobler of the two4 ,in ,wagner's ,niblung tragedy two of the musical phrases associated with ,wotan may be taken as symbols of contrasted attributes of the god4 ,throughout the tragedy of which he is the hero1 ,wotan figures1 by virtue of his supremacy among the gods1 as ,lord of ,valhalla1 and consequently as the manifest embodiment of law4 ,in music the first manifestation of law is in form4 ,it is impossible to conceive of a combination of the integral elements of music--rhythm1 melody1 and harmony--in a beautiful manner without some kind of form4 ,form means measure1 order1 symmetry4 ,in music more than in any art it is essential to the existence of the loftiest attribute of beauty1 which is repose--an attribute whose divine character ,ruskin proclaimed when he defined it as the ',i am' contradistinguished from the ',i become2' the sign alike of the supreme knowledge which is incapable of surprise1 the supreme power which is incapable of labor1 the supreme volition which is incapable of change4 ,now what are the musical qualities of which ,wagner makes use in order to symbolize the wielder of supreme power8 ,here is the phrase whose innate nobility and beauty appear to best advantage at the opening of the second scene in ,das ,rheingold3 ,illustration3 score ,the melody is built out of the intervals of the common chord--the triad--the starting-point of harmony1 its first and most pervasive law4 ,this chord1 too1 supplies the harmonic structure4 ,its instrumentation 7for four tubas with peculiarly orotund voices1 specially constructed for ,wagner7 is unvarying1 calm1 stately1 majestic1 dignified1 reposeful4 ,thus does ,wagner symbolize musically the chief deity and chief personage of his tragedy in his character as ,lord of ,valhalla4 ,but through the operation of the curse to which he became subject when he took the baneful ring1 another character than that of a supreme god is forced upon ,wotan4 ,he has plotted to regain the ring1 and restore it to the original owners of the magic gold4 ,he has begotten a new race1 the ,volsungs1 to execute a purpose which1 as the representative of law1 he is restrained himself from executing4 ,he becomes a wanderer over the face of the earth1 a mere spectator of the development of his foolish plot4 ,how is this new character symbolized8 ,note the music which accompanies ,wotan when1 disguised as the ,wanderer1 he enters ,mime's cavern smithy in the second scene of ,siegfried3 ,illustration3 score ,the fundamental harmonies are retained4 ,the solemn instrumental color is held fast4 ,the dignity of the chord progressions is still there4 ,what1 then1 is gone8 ,the element of repose4 ,the harmonies are still triads1 but tonality1 with its benison of restfulness1 has been sacrificed4 ,the phrase is in no key1 or rather it is in as many keys as there are chords4 ,there is another beautiful instance in which1 by the same means1 a deprivation which one of the personages of the play undergoes is made plain to the listener4 ,note the descending series of chords which follows ,wotan's kiss depriving ,brnnhilde of her divinity1 just after he has spoken his pathetic farewell1 and just before the orchestra begins its lullaby1 in the final scene of ,die ,walkre4 ,here the loss of divine attributes in the disobedient goddess is published by absence of fixed tonality in the chords which accompany the visible signs of her punishment4 ,in the last two examples we have been called on to observe how changes in character and loss of attributes are delineated by departure of tonality4 ,i will now cite a case in which not the attributes of a personage1 but the property of a thing1 is the composer's objective point4 ,the case is a striking one1 for it is a supernatural property which is to be brought to the notice of the listener1 the power of the ,tarnhelm 7the familiar cap of darkness of folk-lore7 to render its wearer invisible4 ,the musical symbol of this magical apparatus in the ,niblung tragedy is this3 ,illustration3 score ,this phrase is not often used1 but whenever it occurs in the music its mysteriousness arrests attention4 ,what is the source of that mysteriousness8 ,nothing else than indefiniteness1 vagueness of mode4 ,the closing harmony is an empty fifth2 we do not know whether it is major or minor1 because the determining interval is lacking4 ,supply a major third and it is major1 a minor third and it is minor2 in either case1 however1 the mystical property of the phrase1 the element which establishes its propriety1 vanishes4 ,there are many of these typical phrases primarily associated with personages1 whose delineation goes to moods and moral traits4 ,there are others that are frankly delineative of externals4 ,the giants in ,das ,rheingold are the representatives of brute force4 ,they are heavy-witted as well as heavy-footed1 and their stupidity and clumsiness are aptly characterized in their melody3 ,illustration3 score 7,fasolt and ,fafner1 of gigantic stature1 armed with strong staves1 enter47 ,the ,niblungs are the antipodes in character of the giants--cunning1 resourceful1 industrious4 ,intellectually they are schemers and tricksters2 by occupation they are smiths4 ,wagner delineates these activities1 the mental as well as the manual1 in the orchestral introduction to ,siegfried4 ,a descending figure 7a71 7two thirds at the interval of a seventh7 characterizes the brooding thoughtfulness1 the cogitation of ,mime2 the fact that the dwarf is a ,niblung ,wagner publishes by means of a rhythmical phrase like the pounding of hammers 7b73 ,illustration3 score 7a7 ,illustration3 score 7b7 ,sometimes ,wagner becomes frankly delineative or descriptive1 utilizing imitation of nature where it will be effective1 as in the phrases associated with the ,rhine and its denizens--the nixies whom he calls ,daughters of the ,rhine4 ,the slow undulation of water in its depths1 the flux and reflux of the element1 the ripples on its surface1 the motions of the swimmers1 are all pictured to the ear 7if ,i may be permitted to say so7 in the melodies of the ,rhine and the nixies whose home the river is1 and the changes of time and treatment to which those melodies are subjected4 ,the fitful1 flickering1 crackling crepitation of fire furnishes a suggestion for the phrase which is typical of ,loge1 the fire-god1 whether he appears in his elemental form1 as in the finale of ,die ,walkre1 or bodily as the incarnation of the spirit of mischief in ,das ,rheingold3 ,illustration3 score ,in describing how he proceeded in the composition of ,the ,flying ,dutchman1 ,wagner says that when a mental mood recurred for which he had once found thematic expression1 that expression was repeated4 ,he speaks here only of moods1 but he extended the principle involved to the whole apparatus of the drama--its secret impulses as well as its external agencies4 ,these agencies1 in their physical manifestation1 moreover1 are sometimes anticipated by the appearance in the music of the melodic phrases which typify them2 but this never happens unless they are spiritually present in the drama4 ,this is what ,i have called the use of the themes for prophecy1 and to me it seems one of the most beautiful features of ,wagner's constructive scheme4 ,let me illustrate3 the sword1 which is the instrument designed by ,wotan for the working-out of his plot for the return of the baneful ring to its original owners1 for itself and as a symbol of the race of demi-gods who were to be endowed with it2 ,siegfried1 the hero who is to be the vessel chosen1 not by ,wotan but by fate in the prevision of ,brnnhilde1 to execute the purposes of the god2 ,brnnhilde herself1 not as a goddess but in the character of loving woman willing and able to make the redeeming sacrifice2 all these are prefigured in the drama by the entrance of their typical phrases long before the action permits their physical appearance4 ,they are seen by the prophetic vision of certain personages of the play and manifested to us through the music4 ,thus3 the sword phrase appears in the orchestral postlude of ,das ,rheingold at the moment when ,wotan1 crossing the ,rainbow-bridge with the members of his divine household1 stops in thought and conceives the plot which is worked out in the tragedy proper2 the phrase typical of the heroic character of ,siegfried accompanies ,brnnhilde's prediction to ,sieglinde that she shall give birth to the loftiest hero in the world1 in the drama ,die ,walkre2 in giving voice to her gratitude1 ,sieglinde1 in turn1 hails ,brnnhilde as the representative of the redeeming principle of the tragedy1 ,goethe's ,ewig-,weibliche1 by using a melody which examination shows to be an augmentation of the melodic symbol of ,brnnhilde when she appears as mere woman in the last drama of the trilogy4 ,let this suffice as an exhibition of ,wagner's method of inventing and introducing the melodic material out of which he weaves his fabric1 while we look at some of the principles applied in its use4 ,his system rests upon the development of these themes1 not according to the laws of the symphony1 but in harmony with the dramatic spirit of the text4 ,the orchestra is the vehicle of this development4 ,it is pre-eminently the expositor of the drama4 ,it has acquired some of the functions of the ,greek chorus1 in that it takes part in the action to publish that which is beyond the capacity of the personages alone to utter4 ,the music of the instruments is the voice of the fate1 the conscience1 and the will concerned in the drama4 ,to those who wish to listen1 it unfolds1 unerringly1 the thoughts1 motives1 and purpose of the personages1 and lays bare the mysteries of the plot and counter-plot4 ,as the passions and purposes of the drama grow complex1 the musical texture1 into which the themes which typify those passions and purposes enter1 grows complex and heterogeneous4 ,the most obvious factors in this development are changes of mode1 harmony1 rhythm1 time1 and orchestration4 ,a single illustration must here suffice4 ,by applying the principle of augmentation to a phrase1 in the three phases of melodic1 harmonic1 and instrumental structure1 ,wagner illustrates the tragic growth of ,siegfried in the ,niblung tragedy4 ,when the hero is merely a high-spirited lad1 roaming through the forest and associating with its denizens1 the phrase appears as the call which he blows upon his hunting-horn3 ,illustration3 score ,when he has entered upon man's estate1 has awakened ,brnnhilde from her long sleep1 learned wisdom from her teaching1 donned her armor1 and is about to set out in quest of adventure1 the typical phrase which greets him has taken on this form3 ,illustration3 score ,finally1 the phrase is metamorphosed into that thrilling pan at the climax of the ,death ,march1 to indicate which is impossible by means of pianoforte transcription3 ,illustration3 score ,,iv4 ,from the beginning of his career ,wagner wrote his own librettos2 but it is only in ,tristan und ,isolde1 ,die ,meistersinger1 ,der ,ring des ,nibelungen1 and ,parsifal that he realized his conception of what the poet-composer should be4 ,the starting-point of his reformatory ideas was that music had usurped a place which does not belong to it in the lyric drama4 ,it should be a means1 and had become the aim4 ,as an sthetic principle1 he contended that it lies in the nature of music to be not the end1 but a medium1 of dramatic expression4 ,he therefore reversed the old relations of librettist and composer1 and made music1 which can only address itself to the emotions and imagination1 dependent for form1 spirit1 and character on the poetry1 which appeals to reason4 ,each art when isolated has a restricted range of expression2 but in the ,wagnerian drama each contributes a complement and helps it to convey all its meanings and intentions without the help of a frequently untrustworthy imagination4 ,in elaborating his theory1 ,wagner held that as a poetical form of expression rhyme is useless in music1 because it not only implies identity of vowel-sounds1 but also of the succeeding consonants1 which are lost by the singer's need of dwelling on the vowels4 ,the initial consonant1 however1 cannot be lost in song1 because it is that which stamps its physiognomy on the word1 and repetition creating a sort of musical cadence which is agreeable to the ear1 ,wagner desired alliteration to be substituted for rhyme in the chief parts of his verse4 ,from the verse-melody thus obtained he wished the musical melody to spring1 words and music becoming lovingly merged in each other1 each sacrificing enough of selfishness to make the union possible4 ,to what ,i have already said about the nature of the typical phrases ,i wish to add this as a rsum of their purpose3 ,in every drama there are employed certain dramatic and ethical principles as well as agencies4 ,the development of these principles in the conduct and words of the personages1 the employment of the agencies1 give us the action and significance of the play4 ,for these principles and agents ,wagner provides musical symbols4 ,the nature of the principles1 the character of the agents1 explain the form and spirit of the symbols2 the symbols1 in turn1 sometimes help us to understand the real nature of the things symbolized4 ,if we have grasped the fundamental ideas of a drama1 therefore1 and appreciated the fitness of their symbols1 we shall have penetrated near to the heart of the ,art-work4 ,but it cannot be too forcibly urged that if we confine our study of ,wagner to the forms and names of the phrases out of which he constructs his musical fabric1 we shall at the last have enriched our minds with a thematic catalogue and--nothing else4 ,we shall remain guiltless of knowledge unless we learn something of the nature of those phrases by noting the attributes which lend them propriety and fitness1 and can recognize1 measurably at least1 the reasons for their introduction and development4 ,those attributes give character and mood to the music constructed out of the phrases4 ,if we are able to feel the mood we need not care how the phrases which produce it have been labelled4 ,if we do not feel the mood we may memorize the whole thematic catalogue of ,wolzogen and have our labor for our pains4 ,it would be better to know nothing about the phrases and content one's self with simple sensuous enjoyment than to spend one's time answering the baldest of all the riddles of ,wagner's orchestra3 ,what am ,i playing now8 ,the ultimate question concerning the correctness or effectiveness of ,wagner's system of composition must1 of course1 be answered along with the question1 ,does the composition1 as a whole1 touch the emotions1 quicken the fancy1 fire the imagination8 ,if it does these things1 we may1 to a great extent1 if we wish1 get along without the intellectual processes of reflection and comparison1 which are conditioned upon a recognition of the themes and their uses4 ,but if we put aside this intellectual activity1 we shall deprive ourselves1 among other things1 of the pleasure which it is the province of memory to give2 and the exercise of memory is called for by music much more urgently than by any other art1 because of its volatile nature and the role which repetition plays in it4 ,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 the legends and myths of a people are the fittest subjects for dramatic treatment1 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 made4 ,in ,the ,flying ,dutchman1 ,the ,niblung's ,ring1 and ,tannhuser1 the idea is practically his creation4 ,in the last of these three dramas it is evolved out of the simple episode in the parent-legend of the death of ,lisaura1 whose heart broke when her knight went to kiss the ,queen of ,love and ,beauty4 ,the dissolute knight of the old story ,wagner in turn metamorphoses into a type of manhood in its passionate desires and ideal aspirations--like the ,faust of ,goethe4 ,all the magnificent energy of an ideal man is brought forward in the poet's conception1 but it is an energy which is shattered in its fluctuation between sensual delights and ideal aspirations1 respectively typified in the ,venus and the ,elizabeth of the play4 ,here is the contradiction against which he was shattered as the heroes of ,greek tragedy were shattered on the rock of implacable ,fate4 ,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 ,tannhuser sinks lifeless beside the bier of the atoning saint1 and ,venus's cries of woe are swallowed up by the pious canticle of the returning pilgrims4 ,,footnotes3 ,a ,for popular purposes there is no harm in letting this statement stand as made4 ,of course the reference goes only to the ,greek theatre in its latest form1 the evolution of which is indicated1 perhaps1 in the comparative weakness of the bond which unites the chorus to the action in ,euripides4 ,the orchestra was1 in fact1 the centre around which all the rest1 the theatron and the skn1 were gradually grouped4 ,in the antique festal plays the principal feature was the dance in a circle around the thymele1 or altar of ,dionysus4 ,it was only by a slow process that the actor came to be thought of as anywise distinguished from his companions4 ,as generally in ancient art priority was indicated by height1 there is here a reason for the tragic cothurnus1 which might be said to be an inexplicable deformity on any other theory2 for it was only by putting them on stilts1 so to speak1 that it was possible to indicate the participants in the dialogue as apart from the general rout of dancing worshippers4 ,even in the time of the three great dramatic writers1 it seems probable1 disturbing as such an idea may be to popular impressions1 that some1 if not all1 plays were performed without any stage4 ,the word skn 7tent7 points to a temporary structure1 used in the first place1 perhaps1 as a shrine for the symbols and properties of the god 7like the ,tabernacle of the ,israelites71 then as the dressing-room of the actors2 it was succeeded by the temple when the place had become consecrated to the worship of ,dionysus1 then by the structures suited to a given play1 and finally by a permanent stage1 which gradually encroached on the space that had once belonged to the orchestra4 ,these conclusions1 at least1 seem to be borne out by the discoveries and arguments of ,drpfeld4 ,b ,naumann's ,history of ,music1 vol4 i41 p4 #ebd4 ,c ,mephist4 ,du weisst wohl nicht1 mein ,freund1 wie grob du bist8 ,bac4 ,im ,deutschen lgt man wenn man hflich ist4 ,,goethe4 ,faust1 ,part ,,ii41 ,act #b1 ,sc4 #a4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,tristan ,,und ,,isolde4 ,a vassal is sent to woo a beauteous princess for his lord4 ,while he is bringing her home the two1 by accident1 drink a love-potion1 and ever thereafter their hearts are fettered together4 ,in the mid-day of delirious joy1 in the midnight of deepest woe1 and through all the emotional hours between1 their thoughts are only of each other1 for each other4 ,meanwhile the princess has become the vassal's queen4 ,then the wicked love of the pair is discovered1 and the knight is obliged to seek safety in a foreign land4 ,there 7strange note this to our ears7 he marries another princess whose name is like that of his love1 save for the addition ,with the ,white ,hand2 but when wounded unto death he sends across the water for her who is still his true love1 that she come and be his healer4 ,the ship which is sent to bring her is to bear white sails on its return if successful in the mission2 black1 if not4 ,day after day the knight waits for the coming of his love--while the lamp of his life burns lower and lower4 ,at length the sails of the ship appear on the distant horizon4 ,the knight is now too weak himself to look4 ,white or black8 he asks of his wife4 ,black1 replies she1 jealousy prompting the falsehood2 and the knight's heart-strings snap in twain just as his love steps over the threshold of his chamber4 ,oh1 the pity of it6 for with the lady is her lord1 who1 having learned the story of the fateful potion1 has come to unite the lovers4 ,then the queen1 too1 dies1 and the remorseful king buries the lovers in a common grave1 from whose caressing sod spring a rose-bush and a vine1 and intertwine so curiously that none may separate them4 ,here1 in its simple forms1 is the tale which half a millennium of poets have celebrated as the ,high ,song of ,love1 the canticle of all canticles which hymn the universal passion4 ,british bards1 ,french trouvres1 and ,german ,minnesinger1 while they sang of the joys and sorrows of humanity1 united in holding up ,sir ,tristram and ,la beale ,isoud as the supreme type of lovers4 ,to-day our poets1 writing under the influence of social and moral systems1 radically different from those which surrounded the original singers1 send back the perennial note with fervor4 ,but the moralist shakes his head1 sinks into perplexed brooding1 or launches the thunders of his righteous wrath against the storied lovers and their sin4 ,we wish to study the manner in which a great dramatic poet of our day has presented this profoundly tragical yet universally fascinating tale4 ,must we confront the problem and seek to reconcile the paradox created by the attitudes of poet and moralist8 ,or may we put aside the phenomenon as one whose interpretation is to be left to each individual's notions of the ,true1 the ,beautiful1 and the ,good1 and address ourselves directly to a study of the drama as a work of art regardless of its ethical phases8 ,eventually1 ,i am inclined to believe1 we shall be obliged to do the latter2 but as appreciation of what the poet-composer has done depends upon an understanding of his purposes1 and this again upon a discovery of the elements of the legend which seemed to him potential1 we are compelled to make at least a cursory survey of some of the phases through which the story has gone in the progress of time2 for each poet1 passing the original metal through the fires of his imagination1 brought it forth changed in color and enriched with new designs4 ,in the new color and adornments we study something of the social institutions and moral and intellectual habits of the poet's time1 these being superimposed on the original idea embodied in the fundamental story4 ,in one of the beautiful tales of ,northern mythology 7a tale in which ,i am tempted to think a relic of the primitive ,tristram myth may one day be found7 we are told how ,skirnir cunningly stole the reflection of ,frey's sunny face from the surface of a brook1 and imprisoned it in his drinking-horn that he might pour it out into ,gerd's cup1 and by its beauty win the heart of the giantess for the lord for whom1 like ,tristan1 he had gone a-wooing4 ,a legend which lives to be retold often1 is like the reflection of ,frey's face in this beautiful allegory2 each poet who uses it spreads it upon a mirror which not only reflects the original picture1 but also the environment of the relator4 ,it will be necessary to remember this when we attempt an inquiry into the morals of ,wagner's drama4 ,i4 ,to readers of ,english literature opportunities to acquaint themselves with the legend which is the basis of ,wagner's drama have been given by ,sir ,thomas ,malory1 ,matthew ,arnold1 ,tennyson1 and ,swinburne1 to say nothing of critics and commentators4 ,the story is of ,keltic origin1 and is supposed to have got into the mouths of the ,german ,minnesinger by way of ,france4 ,the most admirable as well as complete version extant is the epic poem of ,gottfried von ,strassburg1 written in the thirteenth century4 ,sir ,walter ,scott1 who was deeply interested in the literary history of the tale1 in #ahjd edited a metrical version of it from a manuscript said to be the production of ,thomas the ,rhymer1 who lived about a century after ,gottfried1 if1 indeed1 he lived at all4 ,from this manuscript ,scott argued in favor of a ,welsh source for the romance instead of a ,norman1 as was then generally accepted4 ,the author of the ,german epic followed a ,french version1 as was customary with the ,minnesinger of his period4 ,tennyson's share in the exposition is exceedingly scant and wholly valueless4 ,it is found in the poem1 ,the ,last ,tournament1 one of the ,idyls of the ,king4 ,arnold's is much more interesting4 ,he treats directly of the outcome of the tragedy in his poem ,tristram and ,iseult1 and indirectly relates nearly all that is essential to an understanding of the story4 ,his poem presents the death scene of ,tristram in ,brittany1 with the fanciful imaginings of the dying man while waiting for the coming of ,iseult1 who has been summoned from ,tintagel4 ,the whole tale is related by ,swinburne in his ,tristram of ,lyonesse4 ,the names of the chief personages in the romance vary slightly in the different ,german and ,english versions1 but the variations need lead no one astray4 ,wagner's ,tristan is otherwise known as ,sir ,tristrem and ,tristram4 ,all derive the name from the ,french word triste1 and find in it a premonition of his fate4 ,thus ,arnold3 ,son1 she said1 thy name shall be of sorrow2 ,tristram art thou called for my death's sake4 ,the poet speaks of the hero's dying mother4 ,so also ,swinburne3 ,the name his mother1 dying as he was born1 ,made out of sorrow in very sorrow's scorn1 ,and set it on him smiling in her sight1 ,tristram4 ,isolde is variously ,iseult1 ,ysolt1 ,isoud1 and ,ysonde2 ,brangne is ,brangwain and ,brenqwain2 ,kurwenal1 ,gouvernayle4 ,the changes in orthographical physiognomy are trifling and easily recognized4 ,it cannot be amiss to call attention to several deviations in ,wagner's drama from the legend as it has been handed down by the poets4 ,the majority of these deviations will be found to be full of significance4 ,at the outset we are confronted with the chief of these4 ,in all the other versions the love-potion is drunk by ,tristan and ,isolde by mistake4 ,in ,mr4 ,swinburne's poem ,tristram toils at the oars1 ,more mightily than any wearier three1 and when he rests1 calls for a drink1 ,saying3 ',iseult1 for all dear love's labor's sake1 ,give me to drink1 and give me for a pledge ,the touch of four lips on the beaker's edge'4 ,iseult's maid1 ,brangwain1 is asleep1 and the ,princess1 not wishing to awake her1 herself looks for wine and finds a curious cup hid in the maid's bosom4 ,she thinks its contents wine and drinks1 and hands it to ,tristram to drink4 ,it is the love-draught prepared by ,queen ,iseult and intrusted to ,brangwain1 to be by her sacredly guarded and given to ,mark and ,iseult on their wedding night4 ,mr4 ,arnold also has these lovers drink unwittingly ----that spiced magic draught ,which since then forever rolls ,through their blood and binds their souls1 ,working love1 but working teen4 ,in this respect both ,english poets follow the ,german epic of ,gottfried von ,strassburg4 ,the dramatic significance of ,wagner's variation can be reserved for discussion hereafter4 ,its value as intensifying the character of ,isolde is obvious at a glance4 ,tennyson omits all mention of the love-potion1 and permits us to imagine ,tristram and ,iseult as a couple of ordinary sinners1 the former's doctrines on the subject being published in lines like these3 ,free love--free field--we love but while we may2 ,the woods are hush'd1 their music is no more3 ,the leaf is dead1 the yearning passed away3 ,new leaf1 new life--the days of frost are o'er3 ,new life1 new love to suit the newer day3 ,new loves are sweet as those that went before2 ,free love--free field--we love but while we may4 ,the next important variation 7,i do not speak of omissions which are inevitable in throwing an epic into dramatic form7 is in the scene which follows the discovery of the lovers by ,king ,marke4 ,to discuss this in all its bearings would require more space than ,i shall care to employ for the purpose1 but it is well to know it4 ,the wronged ,marke of ,wagner1 some will say as many have said1 is not wronged at all since he chooses to remain inactive1 whereas the popular impulse is illustrated in ,tennyson's version1 where ,mark cleaves ,tristram to the brain on discovering his treachery4 ,but the ,marke of ,gottfried and the ,mark of ,swinburne are scarcely more comprehensible in their conduct than ,wagner's ,marke4 ,in ,gottfried's epic1 after the king has repeatedly sent the lovers away and taken them back again1 he is finally convinced of their guilt4 ,but before he takes action against ,tristan1 the latter escapes4 ,in ,swinburne1 ,tristram is taken and led towards the chapel for trial4 ,on the road he wrenches a sword from ,moraunt's hands1 kills him and ten knights more1 leaps into the sea from a cliff1 and escapes1 aided by ,gouvernayle4 ,in his last act1 ,wagner has proceeded with the utmost freedom1 as in all respects he had a right to do1 since no authentic version of the close of the legend has been preserved4 ,karl ,simrock1 following the old ,english ,sir ,tristrem1 appended to his translation into modern ,german of ,gottfried's epic the episode of ,tristan's life in ,brittany with a second ,isolt1 called ,isolt of the ,white ,hand4 ,being low with a wound received in combat1 ,tristan sends for the first ,isolt1 cautioning his brother-in-law 7as geus cautioned ,theseus in ,greek story71 who goes on the mission1 to hoist white sails on returning if successful1 black if not4 ,isolt of the ,white ,hand1 who is watching for the return of the ship1 moved by jealousy1 announces that the sails are black1 and ,tristan dies just as ,isolt enters the chamber4 ,this version ,swinburne follows1 but ,arnold adds a beautiful touch to the old legend by making the second ,iseult tend her husband with unflinching love and unfailing fidelity1 even while she awaits the coming of her rival4 ,arnold gives ,tristram and the second ,iseult a family of children2 ,swinburne keeps the latter a maiden wife4 ,bayard ,taylor1 in writing about ,gottfried's epic1 almost angrily refuses to believe that ,iseult of the ,white ,hand killed her knight by the falsehood about the sails4 ,wagner saves himself this embarrassment1 and ennobles his hero by omitting the second ,isolde from the play altogether1 a proceeding which not only brings the tale into greater sympathy with modern ideas of love1 but also serves marvellously to exalt the passion of the lovers4 ,,ii4 ,wagner tells the story of the tragedy in three acts4 ,few dramas have so little to offer in the way of action1 if by action we are to understand incident and diversity of situation4 ,at ,bayreuth1 in the summer of #ahhf1 ,mr4 ,seidl characterized it very aptly as consisting in each of its three acts as merely preparation1 expectation and meeting of the ill-starred lovers4 ,yet ,i doubt not that many will agree with me1 that the effect of the tragedy upon a listener is that of a play surcharged with significant occurrence4 ,the explanation of this is to be found in the fact that music which has a high degree of emotional expressiveness makes us forget the paucity of external incident1 by diverting interest from externals to the play of passion going on in the hearts of the personages4 ,this play is presented to us freed from every vestige of spectacular integument in the instrumental prelude to the drama4 ,i want to lay stress on this statement4 ,it is the passion of the lovers to which the composer wishes to direct our attention at the outset1 and to do this most effectively he constructs his musical argument of the play out of melodic phrases which have purely a psychological significance4 ,there is considerable music of the kind that ,i will call scenic in the score of ,tristan und ,isolde1 but none of it is introduced in the prelude1 which for that reason appeals much more directly to the emotions and the lofty faculty of imagination than it does to the fancy4 ,it is true that this makes the task of analytical study more difficult1 but for this there is compensation in the fact that enjoyment of its beauties and apprehension of its purposes do not require the intellectual activity conditioned by a following of its typical phrases through the web and woof of the composition4 ,this is characteristic of the entire score of the drama4 ,more than any other of the dramas of ,wagner1 with the possible exception of ,die ,meistersinger1 it shows the spontaneity in artistic creation1 without which a real art-work cannot come into existence4 ,wagner himself expressed a preference for ,tristan over others of his works1 and based it on the solid ground that in the composition of its score he had proceeded without thought of his own theories2 in other words1 he worked spontaneously and not reflectively4 ,the result is strikingly noticeable in the fact that1 though there are comparatively few typical melodies in the score1 one is much less inclined to dissect it for the pleasure which such a process brings than any other of his scores4 ,the direct1 sensuous1 and emotional appeal is sufficient4 ,yet we know that it is a perfect and complete exemplification of his theories4 ,to come back to the prelude3 ,an ardent longing for the unattainable2 a consuming hunger ----which doth make ,the meat it feeds on2 a desire that cannot be quenched1 yet will not despair2 finally1 at the lowest ebb of the sweet agony1 the promise of an end of suffering1 in self-forgetfulness1 oblivion1 annihilation of individual identity1 and hence in a blending or union of identity--these1 according to ,wagner's exposition and the play itself1 are the elements which are prefigured in the instrumental introduction4 ,what are their musical symbols8 ,the fundamental theme of the drama1 the kernel of its musical development1 is the phrase which we hear at the beginning of the prelude3 ,illustration3 score ,brief as this is1 it illustrates one step in the melodic development1 in respect of which ,tristan und ,isolde is ,wagner's most marvellous achievement4 ,it is a unit1 in so far as it stands for the passion of the pair1 in both its aspects of blissful longing and infinite suffering1 but it is nevertheless already complex4 ,it is two-voiced4 ,one voice descends chromatically1 the other 7beginning with the third measure7 ascends by similar degrees4 ,a figure like that used in music to indicate a crescendo1 ,illustration presents a symbol of duality in unity for the eye like that of this phrase for the ear4 ,how simple yet profound is the idea that all the conflicting passions of the drama are one in origin and in nature4 ,am ,i becoming fantastical in thinking that ,wagner purposed that this philosophical concept should be stated in the basic material of his music8 ,i think not2 but if there is a haunting fear that way it may be dissipated by looking a little further into the prelude4 ,after a brief development of this first musical thought by means of repetition on various degrees of the scale and changes of instrumental color1 two new phrases are reached4 ,the first3 ,illustration3 score followed immediately by3 ,illustration3 score ,now1 let us stop to note some resemblances1 and from significant portions of the play derive a meaning for our symbols4 ,in this we cannot be helped1 as we sometimes are1 by natural likenesses4 ,these melodies are not imitative or delineative of external things2 they are the result of efforts to give expression to soul-states4 ,at the beginning of ,scene #e1 ,act ,i41 the entrance of ,tristan is proclaimed in a manner that leaves no doubt as to the meaning of the first of the two phrases now under investigation4 ,the melody there appears extended1 in augmentation1 as the musicians say4 ,it stands for the hero of the tragedy4 ,the genesis of the love of ,tristan and ,isolde must next be studied4 ,that love antedated the beginning of our tragedy4 ,isolde relates the story of its beginning to her maid4 ,disguised as a harper1 ,tristan had come to ,ireland to be healed of a wound received in battle with ,isolde's betrothed1 whom he had killed4 ,isolde nursed him1 but before he was completely restored to health she discovered that the edge of his sword was broken1 and that a splinter of steel taken from the head of her dead lover fitted into the nick4 ,the slayer of her betrothed lay before her4 ,she raised the sword to avenge his death1 but as she was about to strike1 ,tristan turned his glance upon her4 ,he looked not at the threatening sword1 but into her eyes1 and in a moment her heart was empty of anger4 ,hatred had given place to love4 ,note here that while ,wagner uses that silly apparatus of medival romance1 the philter1 it is not as the creator or provoker of love2 that is born without the aid of magic other than ,nature's4 ,he looked into my eyes1 says ,isolde1 and immediately the tender second phrase is uttered by the orchestra4 ,it is thus that this phrase is identified with the glance which aroused ,isolde's love4 ,the material which has now been marshalled is practically all that is contained in the prelude2 but there are two modifications of the fundamental phrase which ought to be noticed4 ,one of these1 frequently treated responsively by the instruments to build up a climax1 ,illustration3 score seems to depict the gradual recognition by the lovers of the state into which the potion has plunged them4 ,the other is a harmonized inversion of the same figure1 ,illustration3 score to which an added character is given by the jubilant ascent of thirty-second notes1 and which1 from several climactic portions of the drama1 we discover to be significant of the lovers' joyful defiance of death--a sentiment which will be better understood after the philosophy of the tragedy has been studied4 ,wagner has himself given us an exposition of this prelude4 ,in one of his writings1 after rehearsing the legend down to the drinking of the fateful potion1 he says3 ,now there is no end to the yearning1 the longing1 the delight1 and the misery of love4 ,world1 might1 fame1 splendor1 honor1 knighthood1 truth1 and friendship all vanish like a baseless dream4 ,only one thing survives3 desire1 desire unquenchable1 and ever freshly manifested longing--thirst and yearning4 ,one only redemption3 death1 the sinking into oblivion1 the sleep from which there is no awaking6 ,the musician who chose this theme for the prelude to his love-drama1 as he felt that he was here in the boundless realm of the very element of music1 could only have one care3 how he should set bounds to his fancy2 for the exhaustion of the theme was impossible4 ,thus he took once for all this insatiable desire2 in long-drawn accents it surges up1 from its first timid confession1 its softest attraction1 through throbbing sighs1 hope and pain1 laments and wishes1 delight and torment1 up to the mightiest onslaught1 the most powerful endeavor to find the breach which shall open to the heart the path to the ocean of the endless joy of love4 ,in vain6 ,its power spent1 the heart sinks back to thirst with desire1 with desire unfulfilled1 as each fruition only brings forth seeds of fresh desire1 till1 at last1 in the depth of its exhaustion1 the starting eye sees the glimmering of the highest bliss of attainment4 ,it is the ecstasy of dying1 of the surrender of being1 of the final redemption into that wondrous realm from which we wander farthest when we strive to take it by force4 ,shall we call this ,death8 ,is it not rather the wonder-world of ,night1 out of which1 so says the story1 the ivy and the vine sprang forth in tight embrace o'er the tomb of ,tristan and ,isolde8 ,,iii4 ,we are on board a medival ship within a few hours' voyage of ,cornwall1 whither ,tristan1 knight and vassal1 is bearing ,isolde as bride of ,king ,marke4 ,isolde is an ,irish princess1 daughter of a queen of like name with herself4 ,the first scene discloses her to be a woman of most tumultuous passion4 ,hearing the cheery song of a sailor1 she bursts forth like a tempest and declares to her maid1 ,brangne1 that she will never set foot on ,cornwall's shore4 ,she deplores the degeneracy of her mother's sorcery1 which can only brew balsamic potions instead of commanding the elements2 and she wildly invokes wind and waves to dash the ship to pieces4 ,brangne pleads to know the cause of her mistress's disquiet--what ,i have already related of the previous meeting between the princess and ,king ,marke's ambassador4 ,after telling this tale to ,brangne1 ,isolde sends the maid to summon ,tristan to her presence1 but the knight refuses to leave the helm until he has brought the ship into harbor1 and his squire1 ,kurwenal1 incensed at the tone addressed by the princess to one who in his eyes is the greatest of heroes1 as answer to the summons sings a stave of a popular ballad which recounts the killing of ,morold and the liberation of ,cornwall by his master4 ,the refusal completes the desperation of ,isolde4 ,outraged love1 injured personal and national pride 7for she imagines that he who had relieved ,cornwall from tribute to ,ireland was now gratifying his ambition by bringing her as ,ireland's tribute to ,cornwall71 detestation of a loveless marriage to ,cornwall's weary king1 a thousand fierce but indefinable emotions are seething in her heart4 ,she resolves to die1 and to drag ,tristan down to death with her4 ,brangne unwittingly shows the way4 ,she tries to quiet her mistress's fears of the dangers of a loveless marriage by telling her of a magic potion brewed by the queen-mother with which she will firmly attach ,marke to his bride4 ,thus innocently she takes the first step towards precipitating the catastrophe4 ,isolde demands to see the casket of magical philters1 and finds that it also contains a deadly poison4 ,kurwenal enters to announce that the ship is in harbor1 and ,tristan desires her to prepare for the landing4 ,isolde sends back greetings and a message that before she will permit the knight to escort her before the king he must obtain from her forgiveness for unforgiven guilt4 ,tristan obeys this second summons1 and in justification of his conduct in keeping himself aloof during the voyage he1 with great dignity1 pleads his duty towards good morals1 custom1 and his king4 ,isolde reminds him of the wrong done her in the slaying of her lover and her right to the vengeance which once she had renounced4 ,tristan yields the right1 and offers her his sword and breast1 but ,isolde replies that she cannot appear before ,king ,marke as the slayer of his foremost knight1 and proposes that he drink a cup of reconciliation4 ,tristan sees one-half her purpose1 and chivalrously consents to pledge her in what he knows to be poison4 ,isolde calls for the cup which she had commanded ,brangne to prepare1 and when ,tristan has drunk part of its contents she wrenches it from his hand and drains it to the bottom4 ,thus they meet their doom1 which is not death and surcease of sorrow1 but life and misery1 for ,brangne had disobeyed her mistress out of her love and mixed a love-potion instead of a death draught4 ,a moment of bewilderment1 and the two fated ones are in each other's arms1 pouring out an ecstasy of passion2 then the maids of honor robe ,isolde to receive ,king ,marke1 who is coming on board to greet his bride4 ,these are the dramatic contents of the first act1 whose musical investiture is now to be looked at a little analytically4 ,at the outset there is an example of the skill with which ,wagner employs the charm of contrast4 ,i have said that the music of the prelude is not scenic--it aims at moods and passions1 not at pictures4 ,the drama opens with music of the other kind4 ,as the curtain is withdrawn we see within the tent erected for ,isolde on the deck of the ship4 ,hangings conceal all else from view2 but the first music which we hear is the voice of an unseen sailor at the mast-head1 who sings to the winds that are blowing him away from his wild ,irish sweetheart4 ,the melody has a most insinuating charm1 especially its principal phrase3 ,illustration3 score ,there is something of the buoyant roll of the ship and the freshness of sea-breezes about it4 ,it plunges us at once into the scenic situation1 puts us on shipboard1 and helps us to share in the pleasurable sensations of the voyage to ,cornwall1 especially when1 a moment later1 it accompanies and amplifies ,brangne's account of the happy progress of the voyage4 ,scarcely have we surrendered ourselves to this pleasure1 however1 before ,isolde's outburst of rage turns our attention from the scenes to the personages of the play4 ,what was innocent delight to the singer and to us 7who are now playing sympathetically along in the drama7 has somehow loosened an emotional tempest in the heart of the passenger most concerned in that voyage4 ,suddenly1 as we listen to her imprecations1 the whole past of the heroine is revealed--she stands before us1 not the inexperienced1 unconcerned princess of the other poems1 but a fully developed woman1 a furious woman1 a tragic heroine ripe for destruction4 ,it is a favorite device of poets and musicians--of all creative artists1 indeed--to invite ,nature to take part in the play of their creations4 ,we think a thunder-storm the proper accompaniment of a murder1 and balmy sunshine of a wedding4 ,here the breezy sea-music has provoked a storm of passion1 and the composer permits the enraged princess to lash it into a fury4 ,to suit her mood he invokes dark clouds to obscure the sunshine of its tonality1 sends harsh harmonies hurtling among the simple chords that sounded its original innocency1 and stirs up a whirlwind out of its first quiet movement4 ,but when1 a few moments later1 ,isolde has checked her wild passion1 the music settles back into its original quietude1 and in time with its measured pulsations we see the sailors pulling upon the ship's tackle4 ,now it sings its ,yo-heave-ho6 as decorously as any shanty-song4 ,i have referred to the duality in unity of the fundamental idea in the music of the drama4 ,a study of the scene in which ,isolde resolves upon the double crime of murder and suicide will disclose how relation in thought1 emotion1 and dramatic motive is expressed by relation in musical symbol4 ,the symbol of longing contained in the fundamental phrase shows ascent in chromatic degrees4 ,observe1 now1 that in ,act ,i41 ,scene #c1 the sufferings of the wounded ,tristan are depicted in a theme composed wholly of descending half-steps1 ,illustration3 score and note1 too1 that the closing cadence of the short phrase which stands for the love-glance is a downward leap of seven degrees4 ,in this phrase1 as we first hear it1 there is much tenderness and gentle happiness2 but in the glance there was the phantom of that ,life-in-,death who won ,coleridge's ,ancient ,mariner from the grisly skeleton in their awful game of dice4 ,though we do not suspect it1 at first1 that downward leap of a seventh is an ominous symbol--the symbol of ,fate1 which might have been heard under the yearning voices of the prelude1 and is now proclaimed by the gloomy basses in the scene wherein ,isolde selects the poison from the casket of philters which her mother had given in charge of ,brangne3 ,illustration3 score ,there is another phrase of tragic puissance with which we must now get acquainted4 ,at the first glance which ,isolde throws upon ,tristan1 motionless at the helm of the ship1 when the curtains are parted to permit the maid to summon the knight into the presence of the princess1 this phrase publishes her dreadful determination to seek revenge for outraged love in murder and suicide4 ,it is the symbol of death1 whose relationship to the symbol of fate will easily be recognized3 ,illustration3 score ,death444 de - vot - ed head6 ,its ominous expressiveness1 apart from instrumental color1 which cannot be reproduced on the pianoforte1 comes from the sudden and unprepared change of key from ,a-flat to ,a4 ,the culminating scene in the drama is that which brings the first act to a close--the meeting of ,tristan and ,isolde1 and the drinking of the potion4 ,in this scene the device of introducing cheerful and exciting sailors' music to heighten the intensity of a dramatic climax is used with peculiarly startling effect4 ,it produces a marvellous illusion by the suddenness of its entrance1 its sharp interruption of the tragic music expressive of the soul-torments of the principal personages1 and the unprepared transition from the spectacle of doomed humanity to the joy-inspiring aspect of nature4 ,an almost equally noteworthy effect is the orchestral proclamation of ,tristan in his character as a fully-developed tragic hero4 ,observe how1 by augmenting the simple phrase1 the orchestra increases the stature of the knight2 but note also how1 though he looms up in ,isolde's door-way like a demi-god clad in steel and brass1 a knight capable of overthrowing the choicest spirits of ,arthur's ,round ,table1 and scattering thirty of ,king ,marke's knights1 the fateful harmonies in their chromatic descent 7which have their model in the melody of the wounded ,tristan7 publish his doom with a prophetic forcefulness that cannot be misunderstood4 ,there is in this scene1 also1 a peculiarly eloquent example of the manner in which ,wagner permits the music to publish hidden meanings in the text4 ,while ,brangne1 obeying her mistress's behest1 is preparing the fatal draught1 the gladsome noise of the sailors is heard from without4 ,the ship is entering the harbor4 ,tristan1 who is brooding over ,isolde's demand that he drink a drink of expiation for the slaying of ,morold1 suddenly arouses himself4 ,where are we8 he asks4 ,near the goal1 answers ,isolde4 ,what goal does she mean8 ,cornwall1 the goal of the voyage8 ,ah1 no6 ,the music tells us2 the words are sung to the death-phrase4 ,,iv4 ,wagner's skill in plunging his listeners into the mood essential to the proper reception of his drama has no brighter illustration than ,tristan und ,isolde4 ,the passionate stress and profound melancholy which mark all that really belongs to the story are prefigured for us in the prelude4 ,that story is more than nine-tenths told in the first act4 ,the music that is introduced to give relief to the mind1 and also to heighten the tragic effect by means of contrast1 is the music that is related to the scene which is the theatre of the outward action1 or to the personages of the play who bear no part in the real tragedy which1 as ,i have already intimated1 plays on the stage of the lovers' hearts4 ,these comparatively inactive persons who serve as foils are the young seaman who sings at the mast-head1 the sailors1 the shepherd who enters in the last act1 and ,kurwenal1 the squire4 ,kurwenal1 rugged yet tender1 amiable and picturesque1 gentle as a woman at core1 shares in the bright1 flowing1 rhythmically vigorous music which tells of unfettered breezes1 heaving billows1 and popular pride2 while to ,tristan and ,isolde is given the music made out of the few phrases which1 as they unfold themselves over and over again in an infinite variety of combinations and with continually changing instrumental color1 bring to our consciousness in a wonderfully vivid manner the torments which are consuming them4 ,in the introduction to the second act we have another mood picture--a picture of the longing and impatience of the lovers2 but this idea is presented with such peculiar eloquence and beauty in the first scene that ,i prefer to pass over the instrumental introduction with this bare reference4 ,i am not attempting a dissection of every scene2 my purpose will be attained if ,i can suggest the things which best indicate the mood in which it is well to listen1 and give starting-points to the imagination4 ,the second act differs from the first in that it is all but actionless4 ,in it1 however1 is presented the catastrophe of the tragedy--the discovery of the guilt of the ill-starred lovers by ,king ,marke4 ,the scene is a garden before ,queen ,isolde's chamber2 the time1 a lovely night in summer4 ,a torch burns in a ring beside the door leading from the chamber into the garden4 ,the ,king has gone a-hunting1 and as the curtain rises the tones of the hunting horns dying away in the distance blend entrancingly with an instrumental song from the orchestra1 which seems a musical sublimation of night and nature in their tenderest moods4 ,isolde appears with ,brangne1 and pleads with her to extinguish the torch and thus give a signal to ,tristan1 who is waiting in concealment4 ,but ,brangne suspects treachery on the part of ,melot1 a knight who is jealous of ,tristan and himself enamoured of ,isolde1 and who had planned the nocturnal hunt4 ,she warns her mistress and begs her to wait4 ,in their dialogue there is lovely fencing with the incident of the vanishing sounds of the hunt like ,shakespeare's dalliance with nightingale and lark1 in ,romeo and ,juliet4 ,beauty rests upon this scene like a benediction4 ,to ,isolde the horns are but the rustling of the forest leaves as they are caressed by the wind1 or the purling and laughing of the brook4 ,longing has eaten up all patience1 all discretion1 all fear4 ,she extinguishes the torch in spite of ,brangne's pleadings1 and with wildly waving scarf beckons on her hurrying lover4 ,beneath the foliage they sing their love through all the gamut of hope and despair4 ,the text of their duet consists largely of detached ejaculations and verbal plays1 each paraphrasing and varying or giving a new turn to the outpouring of the other1 the whole permeated with the symbolism of pessimistic philosophy1 in which night and death and oblivion 7which have their symbols in the music7 are glorified1 and day and life 7which also have their symbols7 and memory are contemned4 ,there is transporting music in the duet1 and many evidences that in it ,wagner wrote and composed with tremendous enthusiasm1 veritably with a pen of fire4 ,in the dialogue of this scene lies the key of the entire philosophy of the tragedy4 ,we ought to know this1 but we do not need to justify it4 ,if ,i were to indulge in the unnecessary luxury of criticism1 ,i should suggest that pessimistic philosophy transmitted through verbal plays which are carried far beyond the limits of reason1 if not to the verge of childishness1 is not good dramatic matter1 and half an hour of it is too much4 ,swinburne1 who repeatedly makes use of metaphors and thoughts which tempt one to believe that he made a study of ,wagner's drama1 also attempts a dalliance with the images of night and day which fill so many of ,wagner's pages1 but with a difference1 and his ,iseult1 unlike the ,german ,isolde1 checks ,tristram's song wherein he asks3 ,love1 is it day that makes thee thy delight1 ,or thou that seest day made out of thy light8 by calmly observing1 ,i have heard men sing of love a simpler way ,than these wrought riddles made of night and day4 ,i have said that we ought to know something of the philosophy of the tragedy4 ,in ,wagner's exposition of the prelude he wishes us to observe the one glimmering of the highest bliss of attainment in the surrender of being1 the final redemption into that wondrous realm from which we wander farthest when we try to take it by force4 ,for this wondrous realm he chooses death and night as symbols1 but what he means to imply is the ,nirvana of ,buddhistic philosophy1 the final deliverance of the soul from transmigration4 ,nirvana is the antithesis of ,sansra4 ,sansra1 the world1 means turmoil and variety1 and each new transmigration means another relapse into the miseries of existence4 ,the love of ,tristan and ,isolde presents itself to ,wagner as ceaseless struggle and endless contradiction1 and for such a problem there is but one solution--total oblivion4 ,nirvana is the only conception which offers a happy outcome to such love2 it means quietude and identity4 ,the duet is rudely interrupted in its moment of supremest ecstasy by a warning cry from ,brangne4 ,kurwenal dashes in with a sword and a shout3 ,save thyself1 ,tristan6 ,king ,marke1 ,melot1 and courtiers at his heels4 ,day1 the symbol of all that is fatal to their love1 has dawned4 ,tristan is silent1 though ,king ,marke1 in a long speech1 bewails the treachery of his nephew and friend4 ,much ridicule has been poured out on this scene1 which the ordinary theatre-goer finds dramatically disappointing4 ,there can be no question that the popular sentiment is better expressed by ,tennyson1 in the corresponding scene in his poem1 ,the ,last ,tournament3 ,but while he bow'd to kiss the jewell'd throat1 ,out of the dark1 just as the lips had touch'd1 ,behind him rose a shadow and a shriek-- ',mark's way1' said ,mark1 and clove him thro' the brain4 ,one need not be an advocate to say that though ,marke's sermonizing may be theatrically disappointing1 it offers in itself a complete defence of its propriety4 ,from the words of the heart-torn king we learn that he had been forced into the marriage by the disturbed state of his kingdom1 and that he had not consented to it until ,tristan 7whose purpose it was to quiet the jealous anger of the barons7 had threatened to depart from ,cornwall unless the ,king revoked his decision to make him his successor4 ,tristan's answer to the sorrowful upbraidings of ,marke is to obtain a promise from ,isolde to follow him into the wondrous realm of ,night2 then 7note this as bearing on the ethics of the drama71 seeing that ,marke did not wield the sword of retribution1 he makes a feint of attacking ,melot1 but permits the treacherous friend to reach him with his sword4 ,he falls wounded unto death4 ,v4 ,the dignified1 reserved knight of the first act1 the impassioned lover of the second1 is now a dream-haunted1 longing1 despairing1 dying man1 lying under a lime-tree in the yard of his ancestral castle in ,brittany1 wasting his last bit of strength in feverish fancies and ardent longings touching ,isolde4 ,kurwenal has sent for her4 ,will she come8 ,a shepherd tells of vain watches for the sight of a sail by playing a mournful melody on his pipe4 ,what a vast expanse of empty sea is opened to our view by the ascending passages in long-drawn thirds6 ,how vividly we are made to realize the ebbing away of ,tristan's vital powers6 ,in the music of this act1 if anywhere in the creations of ,wagner1 we are lifted above the necessity of seeking significances4 ,even the pianoforte can speak the language of this act4 ,there is not one measure in it which does not tell its story in a manner which puts mere words to shame4 ,oh1 the heart-hunger of the hero6 ,the longing6 ,will she never come8 ,the fever is consuming him1 and his heated brain breeds fancies which one moment lift him above all memories of pain1 and the next bring him to the verge of madness4 ,cooling breezes waft him again towards ,ireland1 whose princess healed the wound struck by ,morold1 then ripped it up again with the avenging sword with its telltale nick4 ,from her hands he took the drink whose poison sears his heart4 ,accursed the cup and accursed the hand that brewed it6 ,will the shepherd never change his doleful strain8 ,ah1 ,isolde1 how beautiful you are6 ,the ship1 the ship6 ,it must be in sight6 ,kurwenal1 have you no eyes8 ,isolde's ship6 ,a merry tune bursts from the shepherd's pipe4 ,it is caught up by the orchestra and whirled away on an ocean of excited sound4 ,it is the ship6 ,what flag flies at the peak8 ,the flag of ,all's well6 ,now the ship disappears behind a cliff4 ,there the breakers are treacherous4 ,who is at the helm8 ,friend or foe8 ,melot's accomplice8 ,are you1 too1 a traitor1 ,kurwenal8 ,tristan's strength is unequal to the excitement of the moment4 ,his mind becomes dazed4 ,he hears ,isolde's voice1 and his wandering fancy transforms it into the torch whose extinction once summoned him to her side3 ,do ,i hear the light8 ,he staggers to his feet and tears the bandages from his wound4 ,ha1 my blood1 flow merrily now6 ,she who opened the wound is here to heal it6 ,life endures but for one embrace1 one glance1 one word--,isolde6--which is borne to her ears by the sadly sweet phrase1 typical of the first glance of love--the word and tones which first he had uttered after the potion had made him forget all but his love4 ,while ,isolde lies mortally stricken upon ,tristan's corpse1 ,marke and his train arrive upon a second ship4 ,brangne has told the secret of the love-draught1 and the king has come to unite the lovers4 ,but his purpose is not known1 and faithful ,kurwenal receives his death-blow while trying to hold the castle against ,marke's men4 ,he dies at ,tristan's side4 ,isolde1 unconscious of all these happenings1 sings out her broken heart and expires4 ,and ere her ear might hear1 her heart had heard1 ,nor sought she sign for witness of the word2 ,but came and stood above him1 newly dead1 ,and felt his death upon her3 and her head1 ,bowed1 as to reach the spring that slakes all drouth2 ,and their four lips became one silent mouth4 ,,vi4 ,the story of ,tristan and ,isolde1 as it was sung by the minstrel knights of the ,middle ,ages1 is a picture of chivalry in its palmy days4 ,we need to bear this in mind when we approach the ethical side of ,wagner's version4 ,in the music of the love duet and ,isolde's death lies1 perhaps1 the most powerful plea ever made for the guilty lovers4 ,no one will stray far from the judgment which the future will pronounce on ,wagner's creations1 ,i imagine1 who sets down ,isolde's swan's song as the choicest flower of ,wagner's creative faculty1 the culmination of his powers as a composer4 ,i do not believe that the purifying and ennobling capacity of music was ever before or since demonstrated as it is here4 ,while listening to this tonal beatification1 it is difficult to hear the voice of reason pronouncing the judgment of outraged law4 ,yet it is right that that voice should be heard4 ,it is due to the poet-composer that it should be heard4 ,wagner's attitude towards the old legend differs vastly from that of the poets who preceded him in treating it4 ,in the days of chivalry depicted by ,gottfried von ,strassburg and the other medival poets who have sung the passion of these lovers1 the odor which assails our moral sense as the odor of death and decay was esteemed the sweetest incense that arose from a poet's censer4 ,read the ,wachtlieder of the ,german ,minnesinger4 ,the ,german ,wachtlied1 the ,provenal alba1 is the song sung by the squire or friend watching without1 warning the lovers to separate4 ,brangne's song in the second act is such a ,wachtlied4 ,read the decisions of the ,courts of ,love1 which governed the actions of chivalrous knighthood when chivalry was at its zenith4 ,again and again was it proclaimed by these tribunals that conjugal duty shut out the possibility of love between husband and wife4 ,in the economy of feudal castle life there was no provision for women4 ,the place was the domicile of warriors4 ,daughters of the lord of the castle were married off in childhood4 ,who1 then1 could be the object of knightly love8 ,the answer is not far to seek4 ,the service of woman to which medival knighthood was devoted1 the service which is celebrated in words which we can scarcely accept1 except as wildest hyperbole1 was the service paid to another man's wife4 ,and the fact that the knight himself had a wife was not a hinderance but an incentive to the service which was the occupation of his life4 ,now think for a moment on ,wagner's modification of the ,tristram legend4 ,from it he eliminates the second ,iseult4 ,his hero cannot contract a loveless marriage1 and at one stroke one element in the attitude of the sexes which appears strange1 unnatural1 and shocking to us1 is wiped from the story4 ,the versions of ,gottfried von ,strassburg1 ,matthew ,arnold1 ,swinburne1 ,tennyson1 and ,wagner present three points of view from which the love of the tragic pair must be studied4 ,with the first three the drinking is purely accidental1 and the passion which leads to the destruction of the lovers is something for which they are in no wise responsible4 ,with ,tennyson there is no philter1 and the passion is all guilty4 ,with ,wagner the love exists before the dreadful drinking1 and the potion is less a maker of uncontrollable passion than a drink which causes the lovers to forget duty1 honor1 and the respect due to the laws of society4 ,it is a favorite idea of ,wagner's that the hero of tragedy should be a type of humanity freed from all the bonds of conventionality4 ,it is unquestionable in my mind that in his scheme we are to accept the love-potion as merely the agency with which ,wagner struck from his hero the shackles of convention4 ,unquestionably1 as ,bayard ,taylor argued1 the love-draught is the ,fate of the ,tristan drama1 and this brings into notice the significance of ,wagner's chief variation4 ,it is an old theory1 too often overlooked now1 that there must be at least a taint of guilt in the conduct of a tragic hero in order that the feeling of pity excited by his sufferings may not overcome the idea of justice in the catastrophe4 ,this theory was plainly an outgrowth of the deep religious purpose of the ,greek tragedy4 ,wagner puts antecedent and conscious guilt at the door of both his heroic characters4 ,they love before the philter1 and do not pay the reverence to the passion which1 in the highest conception1 it commands4 ,tristan is carried away by love of power and glory before men1 and himself suggests and compels by his threats ,marke's marriage1 which is a crime against the love which he bears ,isolde and she bears him4 ,there is guilt enough in ,isolde's determination and effort to commit murder and suicide4 ,thus ,wagner presents us the idea of ,fate in the latest and highest aspect that it assumed in the minds of the ,greek poets1 and he arouses our pity and our horror1 not only by the sufferings of the principals1 but also by making an innocent and amiable prompting to underlie the action which brings down the catastrophe4 ,it is ,brangne's love for her mistress that persuades her to shield her from the crime of murder and protect her life4 ,from whatever point of view the question is treated1 it seems to me that ,wagner's variation is an improvement on the old legend1 and that the objection1 which ,german critics have urged1 that the love of the pair is merely a chemical product1 and so1 outside of human sympathy1 falls to the ground4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,die ,,meistersinger ,,von ,n,,rnberg4 ,once upon a time--if ,i were disposed to be circumstantial ,i would say in the early summer of the year of our ,lord #aefj1 for it was the year of ,hans ,sachs' widowerhood--,veit ,pogner1 desiring to honor the craft of the master-singers in ,nuremberg1 to whose guild he belonged1 offered a rare prize as the reward of the victor in a singing contest to be held on ,st4 ,john's ,day4 ,pogner was a rich silversmith who had travelled much1 who had loved the arts of song and song-making1 and whose pride had been hurt by the discovery that the gentry and nobility of the ,german nation affected to despise the humble burgher for his too great devotion to money-getting1 unmindful of the fact1 which ,pogner knew full well1 that what there was of art-love and devotion and talent was possessed and encouraged by the common people4 ,it was for this reason that he resolved to stimulate a supreme effort in the form of art which most interested him1 and the prize which he offered was nothing less than his only child ,eva in marriage1 with all his great wealth as a dowry4 ,but ,eva1 dutiful in the main if rather forward and self-willed1 was little inclined to be bestowed as a prize unless she had the picking of the winner4 ,the fact is1 she had lost her heart to a handsome young knight from ,franconia--in the course of a flirtation carried on during divine service1 ,i regret to say--and had told him so in a somewhat impetuous manner1 scarcely consistent with modern notions on the subject of young women's behavior4 ,she had not thought it necessary to take her father into her confidence1 and so the young ,franconian knight1 who had come to ,nuremberg to repair his fortunes1 was reduced to the extremity of entering the ,guild of master-singers1 so that he might be qualified to go into the competition on the morrow4 ,a trial of candidates for admission to the guild had been announced for that very day after divine service1 and ,walther von ,stolzing 7that was the young knight's name7 entered the lists4 ,but1 alas6 he knew nothing of the code of laws which governed the structure of master-songs and prescribed the thirty-two offences which must not be committed4 ,nor did he count on the fact that the adjudicator who would keep tally of his violations of those laws would be ,sixtus ,beckmesser1 the town-clerk1 whose longing glances were also turned in ,eva's direction--or1 at least1 towards her father's gold4 ,he went into the contest trusting to the inspiration of his love and his memory of the spirit which breathes through the songs of that ardent old nature-lover1 ,walther von der ,vogelweide1 whom the master-singers counted among the founders of their guild1 to carry him through4 ,when the time came for him to improvise a song which was to determine whether or not he was fit to be a master-singer1 he sang3 now pouring out an ecstasy of feeling1 and anon scorching with scornful allusions the jealous pedant behind the judge's curtain4 ,in a burst of enthusiasm he rose from the chair in which the code required the singer to sit1 and this completed his discomfiture4 ,hans ,sachs1 who1 as he used to say1 was shoemaker and poet1 too1 indeed had recognized evidences of genius in the song1 and its newness of style and indifference to ancient formula seemed to him to weigh little as against its freshness and eloquence and ardor4 ,but ,sachs could not prevent judgment going against the singer4 ,that night the young couple resolved to elope and seek their happiness outside the code of laws of the ,master-singers1 but were interrupted by the circumstance that ,sachs1 haunted by the song of the knight whose cause he had espoused1 was unable to sleep1 and had resolved to finish a pair of shoes ordered by ,beckmesser4 ,sachs was kindly disposed towards the lovers1 but he had a strong sense of the duty due to parents4 ,he saw the pair in the shadow of a tree while he was musing on the occurrences of the day1 and suspected their purpose1 as1 indeed1 he well might1 for ,eva had changed her head-dress for that of her maid1 ,magdalena4 ,as if without special purpose1 he drew his bench to the door1 and threw a ray of light across the street1 through which they would be obliged to pass4 ,in another moment the malicious town-clerk appeared on the scene with a lute4 ,he had come to serenade ,eva1 in the hope of making an impression which would be useful to him on the morrow1 for it had been stipulated that though the winner of the prize must be a master-singer1 yet ,eva was to have a voice in the decision4 ,while ,magdalena took her place at the window to delude ,beckmesser with the belief that his serenade was being listened to by its object1 ,sachs interrupted the malicious clown by lustily shouting a song as he cobbled at the bench1 pleading in extenuation1 when ,beckmesser remonstrated with him1 that he must finish the shoes1 for want of which ,beckmesser had twitted him at the meeting in ,st4 ,catherine's ,church a few hours before4 ,finally1 having reduced the boor to the verge of distraction1 ,sachs agreed to listen to his serenade1 provided he were allowed the privilege of playing adjudicator and marking the errors of composition by striking his lapstone4 ,the errors were not few1 and1 as you may imagine1 each critical tap threw ,beckmesser into more of a rage1 until he lost his head altogether1 and ,sachs beat such a tattoo on his lapstone that he had finished his work when ,beckmesser came to the end of his song1 which1 we may believe1 was comical enough4 ,and now1 to complete ,beckmesser's misery1 ,david1 an apprentice of ,sachs' and ,magdalena's sweetheart1 thinking that the serenade had been intended for her1 began to belabor the singer with a club2 the hubbub called the neighbors into the street1 and1 as many of them bore little grudges against each other1 they took occasion to feed them all fat4 ,a right merry brawl was in progress when the watchman's horn was heard4 ,quick as a flash the brawlers disappeared1 and when the sleepy old watchman entered the street none of the peace disturbers was to be seen2 the old ,dogberry stared about him in amazement1 rubbed his eyes1 sang the monotonous chant which told the hour and cautioned the burghers against spooks1 and walked off in the peaceful moonlight4 ,next morning ,walther1 who had been taken in by ,sachs1 sang the recital of a dream which had enriched his sleep4 ,it was as beautiful in the telling as in the experience1 and ,sachs transcribed it1 punctuating the pauses with bits of advice which enabled ,walther easily to throw it into the form of a master-song which would pass the muster even of the pedantic code1 though a few liberties were taken in the matter of melody4 ,while ,sachs was absent from his shop to don clothes meet for the coming festivities1 ,beckmesser came in and found the song1 which he conveyed to his own pocket4 ,sachs1 returning1 discovered the theft1 and gave the song to the thief1 who1 knowing ,sachs' great talent in composition1 secured a promise from him not to claim it as his own1 and to permit him to sing it at the contest4 ,this suited ,sachs' purposes admirably4 ,a few hours later all the good people of ,nuremberg were gathered on the meadow just outside the walls1 which was their customary place of merrymaking4 ,the guilds were there--the cobblers and tailors and bakers and toy-makers--,god bless 'em6--with trumpeters and drummers and pipers1 and hundreds of spruce apprentices2 and the master-singers with their banner and insignia1 headed by ,sachs4 ,beckmesser was there1 too1 with the words of ,walther's song whirling in a hopeless maze in his addled pate4 ,he tried to sing it1 but made a monstrously stupid parody1 and when the populace hooted and railed and jeered at him for presuming to aspire to the hand of the beauteous ,eva he flew into a rage1 charged the authorship of the song which had caused his downfall on ,sachs1 and left the field to his rival ,walther1 who1 to vindicate ,sachs' statement that the song was a good one when well sung1 presently burdened the air with its loveliness1 adding1 in his enthusiasm1 an improvised apostrophe to ,eva and the ,parnassus of poetry4 ,master-singers1 people--and ,eva--were agreed that the gallant knight had won the prize1 and ,sachs gently compelled him1 in spite of his protest1 to take the master-singer's medallion along with the bride1 and charged him never more to affect to despise the ,german masters of song1 whose works shall live though the ,holy ,roman ,empire go up in smoke4 ,i4 ,the story of ,die ,meistersinger von ,nrnberg furnishes more food for reflection than one might think at first blush1 and opens a channel of thought not commonly used when ,wagner is in mind4 ,it is a comedy1 and it is easiest to think of ,wagner as a tragedian4 ,yet it is not the smallest of his achievements that1 more thoroughly and consistently than any dramatist of our time1 he has in his works restored the boundary line which in the classic world separated comedy from tragedy4 ,in ,tannhuser1 ,tristan und ,isolde1 and ,the ,niblung's ,ring are found examples of the old tragedy type4 ,they deal with grand passions1 and their heroes are gods or god-like men who are shattered against ,fate4 ,his only essay in the field of comedy was made in ,die ,meistersinger1 and this is as faithful to the old conception of comedy as the other dramas are to the classic ideals of tragedy4 ,it deals with the manners and follies and vices of the common people1 and exemplifies the purpose of comedy as it was set down in one of the truest and best definitions ever written4 ,it aims to chastise manners with a smile4 ,there are two ways of looking at ,die ,meistersinger4 ,it can be weighted with a symbolical character1 or it can be taken as an example of pure comedy1 with no deeper significance than lies on the easily-reached surface of its lines1 action1 and music4 ,there is no doubt that ,wagner conceived it as a satire1 and it is even possible 7although ,i can recall no direct statement of his to that effect7 that he intended to chastise with it the spirit of conservatism and pedantry which was for so long a time a stumbling-block in the way of his system4 ,telling of his first draft of the comedy in #ahde1 immediately after the completion of ,tannhuser1 he said that he had planned it as a satyr-play after the tragedy1 and1 conceiving ,hans ,sachs as the last example of the artistically productive ,folk-spirit1 had placed him in opposition to the master-singer burgherdom1 to whose droll and rule-of-thumb pedantry he gave individual expression in the character of the adjudicator1 or ,merker4 ,this statement1 although it was made nearly a generation before the comedy was written1 justifies the assumption that it was his purpose in it to celebrate the triumph of the natural poetic impulse1 stimulated by communion with nature1 over pedantic formulas4 ,but a word of caution should be uttered against the autobiographic stamp which some extremists have wanted to impress upon it4 ,the comedy is not rendered more interesting or its satire more admirable by thinking of ,walther as the prototype of ,wagner himself1 of ,beckmesser as ,wagner's opponents1 and of ,hans ,sachs as ,king ,ludwig1 embodying in himself1 furthermore1 the symbol of enlightened public opinion1 which neither despises rules nor is willing to be ridden by them4 ,such an exposition of its symbolism lies near enough in its broad lines1 but there is danger in carrying it through all the details of the plot4 ,when it is too far pushed1 critics will ask in the future1 as they have asked in the past1 how this can be accepted as the satirical motive of the comedy when the hero who triumphs over the supposed evil principle in the drama does so1 not to advance the virtue which stands in opposition to that evil principle1 but simply to win a bride--a purpose that is purely selfish1 however amiable and commendable it may be4 ,walther does1 indeed1 discover himself as the champion of spontaneous1 vital art1 and the antagonist of the pedantry represented by the master-singers2 but this is not until after he has learned that he can only win the young lady by himself becoming a member of the guild1 and defeating all comers at the tournament of song4 ,knowing none of the rules1 he boldly relies on the potency of the inspiration begotten by his love1 and does his best under the circumstances2 that he ultimately succeeds he owes to the help of ,sachs1 and the fact that his rival defeats himself by resorting to foul means4 ,besides1 to justify fully this dramatic scheme1 ,beckmesser ought not to have been made the blundering idiot and foolish knave that he appears to be in the stage versions1 but at the worst a short-sighted1 narrow-minded1 and perhaps malicious pedant4 ,as he stands in the stage representations ,beckmesser is an ill-natured and wicked buffoon1 a caricature of a peculiarly gross kind1 and only an infinitesimally tiny corrective idea lies in the fact that a manly young knight who loves a pretty young woman should have saved her from falling into such a rival's hands by marrying her himself4 ,he would have had the vote of the public on his side if he had sung like a crow and ,beckmesser like ,anacreon4 ,,ii4 ,if we will look upon the contest symbolized in the comedy1 not as that between ,wagner and his contemporaries1 but as between the two elements in art whose opposition stimulates life1 and whose union1 perfect1 peaceful1 mutually supplemental1 is found in every really great art-work1 ,i think we shall come pretty near the truth4 ,at least1 we will have an interesting point of view from which to study its musical and literary structure4 ,simply for convenience sake let us call these two principles ,romanticism and ,classicism4 ,the terms are a little vague1 entirely arbitrary1 and if we were seeking scientific exactness we should be obliged to condemn their use4 ,popularly1 they are conceived as antithetical in the critical history of literature as well as music4 ,it is in this sense 7with a difference7 that ,i wish to use them4 ,if the history of music be looked at with a view to discovering the spirit which animates its products rather than observing their integument1 it will be found that from the beginning two forces have been in operation1 and by their antagonism have done the work of progressive creation4 ,in the religious chant1 with its restrictive clog 7the fruit of superstitious veneration and fear7 we find that manifestation of the spirit of antique music which was chiefly instrumental in its establishment and regulation4 ,to that spirit tribute above its meed is paid in the hand-books which begin the history of modern music with the chants of the ,christian ,church4 ,the other spirit1 having been cultivated outside the church1 has had fewer historians to do it reverence4 ,it is the free1 untrammelled impulse which rests on the law of nature and refuses the domination of formal rule and restrictive principle4 ,on the love-song1 war-song1 and hunting-song of early man1 on the cradle-song crooned by early woman1 there rested not the weight of superstitious fear and hope which fettered the religious chant4 ,they were individual manifestations of feeling1 and in them the fancy was free to discover and use all the tonal and rhythmical combinations which might be helpful in giving voice to emotion4 ,the mission of this spirit 7which ,i will call ,romanticism to distinguish it from the conservative1 and regulative spirit which ,i will call ,classicism7 was fulfilled1 during the artificiality and all-pervading scholasticism of the ,middle ,ages1 by the ,minnesinger and trouvre2 and though the death of chivalry ended that peculiar ministry1 the spirit continued to live as it had lived from the beginning1 as it still lives and will live in scula sculorum1 in the people's songs and dances4 ,when the composers of two hundred and fifty years ago began to develop instrumental music they found the germ of the sonata form--the form that made ,beethoven's symphonies possible--in the homely dance tunes of the people which till then had been looked upon as vulgar things1 wholly outside the domain of polite art4 ,the genius of the masters of the last century moulded this form of plebeian ancestry into a vessel of wonderful beauty2 but by the time this had been done the capacity of music as an emotional language had been greatly increased1 and the same ,romantic spirit which had originally created the dance forms that they might embody the artistic impulses of that early time1 suggested the filling of the vessel with the new contents4 ,when the vessel would not hold these new contents it had to be widened4 ,new bottles for new wine4 ,that is the whole mystery of what conservative critics decry as the destruction of form in music4 ,it is not destruction1 but change4 ,when you destroy form you destroy music1 for the musical essence can manifest itself only through form4 ,as a perfectly natural result of the development of this beautiful and efficient vessel called the ,sonata form1 a love of symmetry and order1 of correct logic and beautiful sequence1 came to dominate composers1 and it is a relic of this love1 a love which we must not despise in such masters as ,haydn and ,mozart1 which led them to fill so many of their compositions with repetitions of parts and conventional passages that appear meaningless and wearisome to us4 ,they were written in compliance with the demands of form4 ,,iii4 ,for the purposes of our exposition of the symbolism of ,wagner's comedy1 of the meaning of its satire1 we shall have to look upon classical composers as those who developed music chiefly on its formal side and conserved the laws which enabled them to reach one ideal of beauty4 ,the ,romantic composers will then be those who sought their ideals in other regions than the formal1 and strove to give them expression irrespective--or1 if necessary1 in defiance--of the conventions of law4 ,romanticism will appear to us as the creative principle1 and hence we shall find it in ,wagner's comedy associated with ,youth1 its passions and enthusiasms2 with ,love1 and heedless1 reckless daring2 with ,spring and blooming time2 with the singing of birds and the perfume of flowers2 with assertion of the right of unfettered utterance and denial of the wisdom or justice of reflection and moderation4 ,do not visions corresponding with these attributes rise up out of the incidents of the play8 ,the lovers1 with their impetuous love-making and reckless resolve which sapient ,sachs frustrates2 ,walther's songs in the first act1 telling of ,spring releasing ,nature from her icy shackles and winning her smiles1 while sunlight and birds and meadow flowers1 and the old poet who sang the praises of them and was named after the mead he loved1 united in teaching him the art of song2 the bold defiance of the master-singers and their code2 the rejection of the medal when it had been won4 ,classicism1 in turn1 will appear as the regulative and conservative principle1 and its association in the play will be with maturity of age and moderation in thought and action2 with personages in whom the creative impulse is not an elemental force1 but a pleasure or a duty which waits upon the judgment2 also1 for satirical purposes1 with a guild of handicraftsmen and tradespeople who enforce an apprenticeship in art as they do in trade2 who think that by adherence to rule artworks may be created as shoes are made over a last2 who are pompous in their pedantry and amiable only in the holy simplicity of their earnestness1 their vanity1 and their complacency4 ,such are the associations which arise when the pictures of the comedy are passed in hasty review2 and they have been grievously incomplete4 ,they have omitted the real hero of the play1 the poet who belongs to the guild and upholds its laws while battling for the spirit represented by him who falls under the condemnation of those very laws4 ,where is ,hans ,sachs8 ,search him out4 ,you will find him in the midst of the combatants fighting valiantly on both sides2 representing a principle at once creative and conservative1 standing1 in the history of artistic development1 for those true geniuses who breathe the breath of life into the body1 not for the purpose of destruction1 but that the spirit may become manifest in the flesh4 ,it is contest which brings life4 ,all the great classical composers from ,brahms back to ,bach have had their moments of ,romantic feeling2 it is never absent from the truly creative artist2 but its most eloquent expression was reserved for our century4 ,you recognize it in the whole body of instrumental music1 beginning with ,beethoven2 you yield to its influence when you hear the operas of ,gluck1 ,mozart1 and ,weber4 ,the musicians whose influence was strongest when ,wagner began his reforms were frank in their protestations of allegiance to this conception of ,romanticism3 ,the ,spirit builds the forms1 or finds them ready-built1 and refashions them according to its needs and desires1 said ,marx4 ,if you wish to adopt art as a profession you cannot accustom yourself early enough to consider the contents of an art-work as more important and serious a matter than its structure1 said ,mendelssohn1 the greatest master of form that the century has known4 ,that would be a trivial art which would have only sounds but no language or signs for the conditions of the soul1 said ,schumann4 ,wagner was too thorough an artist1 too profound a musician1 not to recognize the value of constructive law4 ,he would have been false to his principles and false to his practice had he written a comedy for the purpose of glorifying mere lawlessness4 ,had this been his purpose he would not have told us as he has that it was ,sachs whom he intended to oppose to the spirit of pedantry and formalism personified in ,beckmesser4 ,sachs has no condemnation to pronounce on the laws of the guild of which he was the brightest ornament4 ,on the contrary1 he upholds them even against ,walther1 and persuades him to adopt them in the composition of his prize song1 just as after the victory is won he admonishes him to give the reverence due to the masters4 ,what he learns from ,walther1 and impresses on his colleagues1 is the need of adapting form to spirit1 and the mental conflict which brings him to this conviction is a reflection of that creative activity which looks to the short-sighted like destructive war1 but is exemplified in the works of the great masters as the highest peace4 ,we can gain an insight into the musical structure of the comedy1 and find proofs for our contention at the same time1 if we observe ,sachs under the influence of this seeming contradiction4 ,it is evening1 and the poet has returned to his cobbler's bench4 ,the scent of the elder-tree1 the charm of the summer night1 will not permit him to work2 they turn his thoughts to poetry2 but memories of ,walther's song come over him1 and under their influence he can neither work nor compose4 ,there was an inexplicable charm in the song4 ,no rule would fit it1 yet it was faultless4 ,it was new and strange1 yet sounded old and familiar1 like the carolling of birds in ,may-time4 ,to try to imitate it would result in shame and contumely4 ,that he knew4 ,where lay the mystery8 ,at last he discovers it4 ,the song was the voice of ,spring1 of the heyday of the singer's life and passion4 ,the need of utterance brought with it the capacity and the privilege4 ,all this we may learn from the words of ,sachs1 while the music tells us of what is passing through his mind in the intervals of his soliloquizing4 ,this music is built up out of a very short phrase1 but it is the phrase which may be set down as the chief musical symbol of the spirit which ,i have called ,romanticism3 ,illustration3 score ,to learn why this phrase should haunt the mind of ,sachs its genesis must be traced4 ,it is found first to enter the score of the drama 7after the prelude7 to accompany a tender but urgent glance of inquiry which ,walther bestows on ,eva in the first scene between the lines of the chorale sung by the congregation3 ,illustration3 score ,next1 when ,eva shyly rebukes his ardor with a glance1 but quickly returns it with emotion3 ,illustration3 score ,when the congregation breaks up1 ,walther1 gazing intently on ,eva1 from whom he had received a look which confessed her love 7accompanied by a phrase which afterwards plays an important role in his prize song71 hurries to address her2 his eagerness is published by the orchestra in this variation of the phrase3 ,illustration3 score ,a threefold augmentation of the phrase is shown in these examples1 which suffice to identify it with one of the fundamental feelings concerned in the play4 ,it depicts or typifies the youthful impetuosity of the lovers1 the ardor of their passion before it had been confessed in words4 ,is not its fitness for such a mission obvious8 ,observe the eagerness which the triplet injects into its rhythm1 the ebulliency expressed by the tendency of its melody to ascend ever higher and higher in the regions of tonality4 ,poetical association consorts analogous attributes with ,love and ,youth and ,spring-time2 and it is in the song which ,walther sings in praise of ,spring and ,love--his trial song in the first act--that the phrase receives its most eloquent treatment4 ,note the irrepressible enthusiasm of its proclamation in this song 7,fanget an672 how1 after a peaceful announcement1 it surges upward and ever upward in the accompaniment1 until the voice can no longer hold out against but is borne up on it1 until left by a scintillant explosion which seems to be the only means at hand to bring the jubilant phrase back into control4 ,this is the ,romantic expression which haunted the mind of ,sachs when1 after the stormy meeting in ,st4 ,catherine's ,church1 he thought to work in the perfumed quiet of the evening4 ,,iv4 ,in broad lines the prelude to ,die ,meistersinger not only serves to delineate the characteristic traits of the personages concerned in the comedy1 but also exhibits ,wagner's method of musical exposition1 and teaches the lesson which is at the bottom of the satire--the lesson1 namely1 that it is through the union of the two principles1 which until the close of the play appear in conflict1 that a genuine work of art is quickened4 ,the prelude contains the whole symbolism of the comedy in a nutshell4 ,in form it is unique1 but in so far as it employs only melodies drawn from the play it may not incorrectly be classed with the medley overtures which composers used to throw together for ante-curtain music4 ,it is the manner in which ,wagner has treated his melodies1 and the delineative capacity with which he has endowed them1 that render the prelude a capital exemplification of the theory advanced by ,gluck1 when1 in his preface to ,alceste1 he said1 ,i imagined that the overture ought to prepare the audience for the action of the piece1 and serve as a kind of argument to it4 ,wagner follows this precept and the example set by ,beethoven in the ,leonore overtures1 and indicates the elements of the plot1 their progress in its development1 and finally the outcome1 in his symphonic introduction4 ,the melodies which are its constructive material are of two classes1 broadly distinguished in external physiognomy and emotional essence4 ,they are presented first consecutively1 then as in conflict 7first one1 then another1 pushing forward for expression71 finally in harmonious and contented union4 ,it should always be borne in mind that no matter how numerous the hand-books--which a witty ,german critic called musical ,baedeckers--if one wishes to know ,wagner's purpose in the use of a typical phrase or melody1 he need take no one's word for it except ,wagner's4 ,he can turn to the score and trace it out himself1 learning its meaning from the words and situations with which it is associated4 ,if this plan be followed1 it will be seen that the master-singers are throughout the comedy characterized by two melodies1 ,illustration3 score and ,illustration3 score ,note that as the master-singers belonged to the solid burghers of old ,nuremberg--a little vain1 as was to be expected in the upholders of an institution of great antiquity and glorious traditions2 staid1 dignified1 and complacent1 as became the free citizens of a free imperial city1 whose stout walls sheltered the best in art and science that ,germany could boast--so these two melodies are strong1 simple tunes2 sequences of the intervals of the simple diatonic scale2 strongly and simply harmonized2 square-cut in rhythm2 firm and dignified1 if a trifle pompous1 in their stride4 ,the three melodies belonging to the class presented in opposition to the spirit represented by the master-singers are disclosed by a study of the comedy to be associated with the passion of the young lovers1 ,walther and ,eva1 and those influences in nature which are the inspiration of romantic utterance--spring-time1 the birds1 and flowers4 ,they differ in every respect--melodic1 rhythmic1 harmonic1 as well as in treatment--from the melodies which stand for the old master-singers and their notions4 ,they are chromatic2 their rhythms are less regular and more eager 7through the agency of syncopation72 they are harmonized with greater warmth1 and set for the instruments with greater passion4 ,the first1 ,illustration3 score most surely tells us of the incipiency of the lovers' passion1 for it is the subject of the interludes between the lines of the chorale which accompany the flirtation in the church scene4 ,the second1 ,illustration3 score is again concerned with the passion1 showing it in the phase of ardent longing4 ,another is the melody to which ,walther sings the last stanza of his prize song4 ,i have already quoted and described it as the phrase to which ,eva confesses her love by a gesture of the eyes in the church scene4 ,lest the significance of that telltale glance should not be recognized1 observe that both lovers use the melody in their protestations of devotion to each other at parting3 ,illustration3 score ,the fourth is the impatiently aspiring phrase described in the analysis of ,sachs' monologue4 ,there is another theme which is of less importance1 seemingly1 in the score1 but which plays a happy part in the comedy as it is prefigured in the prelude4 ,it is the rhythmically strongly-marked phrase with which the populace jeers at ,beckmesser1 and effects his discomfiture in the final scene of the play4 ,illustration3 score ,this little phrase it is which performs the duty of musical satirist in the middle part of the prelude1 where the grotesque elements in the character of ,beckmesser are pictured4 ,it is a scherzando movement1 the master-singers' march melody being presented in diminution by the choir of wood-wind instruments1 which persist stubbornly in their fussy cackling1 in spite of the fact that the strings take every opportunity to send some of the passionate1 pushing1 pulsating love music surging through the desiccated mass of tones4 ,here it is that ,wagner chastises the foolish manners of the master-singers1 as he does later in the actual representation4 ,the jeering phrase1 started by the middle strings1 eventually cuts through the mass of tones1 and when the caricature of the broad melody1 typical of the master-singers1 has been laughed out of court1 the music which exemplifies the freshness and vigor of ,youth and ,spring and ,love1 and their right to free and spontaneous proclamation1 masters the orchestra and conquers recognition1 and even celebration1 from the representatives of conservatism and pedantry4 ,in the musical contest it is only the perverted idea of ,classicism which is treated with contumely and routed2 the glorification of the triumph of ,romanticism is found in the stupendously pompous and brilliant setting given to the master-singers' music at the end4 ,you see already in this prelude that ,wagner is a true comedian4 ,he administers chastisement with a smile 7ridendo castigat mores71 and chooses for its subject only things which are temporary aberrations from the good4 ,what is strong and true and pure and wholesome in the art of the master-singers he permits to pass through his satirical fires unscathed4 ,classicism in its original sense1 as the conservator of that which is highest and best in art1 he leaves unharmed1 presenting her after her trial1 as ,tennyson presents his ,princess1 at the close of his corrective poem1 when ,all ,her falser self slipt from her like a robe1 ,and left her woman1 lovelier in her mood ,than in her mould that other1 when she came ,from barren deeps to conquer all with love4 ,v4 ,the third act of the comedy is preceded by a prelude which1 rightly understood1 reflects the cobbler-poet whom ,i have chosen to think the real hero of the play1 in the light in which he appears in the history of ,german civilization and culture4 ,twice before1 in the comedy1 a glimpse of him in that character had been given--in the summer evening1 after the meeting1 when he could not work because he was haunted by the memory of ,walther's song1 and again when1 having found the solution of the problem raised by that song1 he drove away all the phantoms of melancholy by his lusty cobbling song4 ,apparently that song is all carelessness and contentment1 but in reality it tells of the lofty thinker and his melancholy1 bred of his contemplation of the vanities of the things with which he finds himself surrounded4 ,this is the last stanza3 ,o ,eve1 my sore complaints attend1 ,my needs and dire distresses1 ,for underfoot mankind the cobbler's work of art oppresses4 ,if ,i'd no angel knew ,what 'tis to make a shoe1 ,i'd leave this cobbling in a trice4 ,but when ,i go to his retreat1 ,i leave the world beneath my feet1 ,myself ,i view1 ,hans ,sachs a shoemaker and song-master too6 ,in the accompaniment to this stanza a phrase appears in the orchestra 7it is not in the simplified pianoforte scores7 in which1 as ,wagner himself puts it1 there is the bitter cry of resignation of the man who shows to the world a cheerful and energetic mien4 ,it is the solemn phrase which gives character and color to ,sachs' monologue in the third act1 when he contemplates the follies and petty passions of humanity 7,wahn6 ,wahn6 berall ,wahn674 ,it symbolizes for us ,sachs1 the philosopher4 ,to appreciate the full significance of the ,nuremberg cobbler as poet and thinker1 a glance must be thrown upon a highly important phase in the history of ,german culture4 ,a new melody had been put into that voice by the ,reformation4 ,luther lived to be hailed by it as the ,nightingale of ,wittenberg in a poem whose opening lines ,wagner ingeniously uses as a tribute to ,sachs in the third act of the comedy4 ,it is the chorale1 ,wach auf6 ,es nahet gen dem ,tag4 ,the ,reformation had revived interest in the old art of master-song which had sunk into decadence under the edict of the ,romish ,church prohibiting the reading of the ,bible by the common people4 ,the greatest of the ,nuremberg school of master-singers was inspired by the new dawn1 and ,luther and ,melanchthon looked up from the pages of ,homer1 ,virgil1 and ,horace to listen to the strange new melody which felt and sang with and for the people4 ,this character of ,sachs1 in all the details that ,i have pointed out1 is delineated in the prelude to the third act1 whose melodic contents are thus summarized3 ,first1 the contemplative phrase1 ,wahn6 ,wahn6 next the ,lutheran chorale1 ,wach auf6 a portion of the cobbling song 7as if the man had turned his gaze from his handiwork heavenwards1 and was lost in tender musing1 says ,wagner72 then the chorale again1 with increased sonority1 and eventually the opening phrase attuned to cheerfulness and resignation4 ,,vi4 ,wagner's ,meistersinger von ,nrnberg is a comedy1 and by that token is more difficult of understanding and appreciation by persons unfamiliar with the ,german tongue1 history1 and social customs than any of his tragedies4 ,in considering the latter1 it is only the elements of expression that need give us pause4 ,in their essence1 being true tragedies1 they are as much the property of one race as another4 ,this is not the case with comedies4 ,they do not deal with the great fundamental passions of humanity1 but with the petty foibles and follies and vices of a people4 ,being such1 they vary with peoples and with times1 and their representation compels the use of historical backgrounds1 the application of local color4 ,die ,meistersinger is a capital illustration of this principle of dramatic poetry4 ,as a picture of the social life of a ,german city three hundred years ago its vividness and truthfulness are beyond praise2 it has no equal in operatic literature1 and few peers in the literature of the spoken drama4 ,it is absolutely photographic in its accuracy4 ,to appreciate this fact fully one must have visited ,nuremberg1 gone through its museum1 and turned over the records4 ,with such assistance it is easy to call up in fancy such a vision of its social life in the middle of the sixteenth century as will form a most harmonious setting for the series of pictures which ,wagner created4 ,it is still the quaintest city in ,germany1 and full of relics of its old glory4 ,of these relics1 however1 fewer belong to the time of the master-singers than an investigator would be likely to imagine4 ,in the ,germanic ,museum may be found remains of many of the old guilds of the town1 but none of the ,master-singers' ,guild1 except a tablet which once hung on the walls of ,st4 ,catherine's ,church and has been removed to the museum for safe-keeping4 ,the church1 indeed1 is still in existence1 but its use by the master-singers never brought it fame until after ,wagner's comic opera had been written1 and now ,i doubt whether a hundred residents of ,nuremberg1 aside from those who live in the immediate vicinity1 could even tell a visitor where to find it4 ,for more than a century it has been put to secular uses1 and nothing of the interior remains to indicate what it looked like in the time of ,hans ,sachs except the walls4 ,all the furniture and decorations were long ago removed1 for it has been a painters' academy1 drawing-school1 military hospital1 warehouse1 public hall1 and perhaps a dozen other things since it ceased to be a place of public worship4 ,just now it is the paint-shop of the ,municipal ,theatre4 ,it is a small1 unpretentious building1 absolutely innocent of architectural beauty1 hidden away in the middle of a block of lowly buildings used as dwellings1 carpenter-shops1 and the like4 ,i got the keys from a sort of police supervisor of the district and inspected the interior in #ahhf4 ,the janitor knew nothing about its history beyond his own memory1 and that compassed only a portion of its career as a sort of municipal lumber-room4 ,it was built in the last half-decade of the thirteenth century1 and on its water-stained walls can be seen faint bits of the frescos which once adorned it and were painted in the fourteenth1 fifteenth1 and sixteenth centuries2 but they are ruined beyond recognition or hope of restoration4 ,i went to the director of the ,germanic ,museum to learn what had become of the old church furniture4 ,he did not know4 ,have you seen the tablet of the master-singers which we have up-stairs8 he asked4 ,yes4 ,well1 that is all that we have in the way of master-singer relics4 ,if you have seen that and the church1 you have seen all1 and will have to compose the rest of the picture--draw on your imagination1 or hire an artist to do it for you4 ,the tablet is really a more interesting relic than the church4 ,it is a small affair of wood1 with two doors1 and was painted by a ,franz ,hein in #aeha4 ,on the doors are portraits of four distinguished members of the guild4 ,two pictures occupy the middle panel1 the upper1 with a charmingly nave disregard of chronology1 showing ,king ,david praying before a crucifix2 the lower1 a meeting of master-singers with a singer perched in a box-like pulpit4 ,over the heads of the assemblage is a representation of the chain and medallion with which the victor in a singing contest used to be decorated4 ,sachs gave one of these ornaments to the guild1 and it was used for a hundred years4 ,by that time1 however1 it had become so worn that ,johann ,christoph ,wagenseil1 a professor of ,oriental languages at the ,university of ,altdorf 7to whose book1 entitled ,de ,sacri ,rom4 ,imperii ,libera ,civitate ,noribergensi ,commentatio1 printed in #afig1 we owe the greater part of our knowledge of the art and customs of the ,meistersinger71 replaced it with another4 ,the tablet might offer suggestions to the theatrical costumer touching the dress of the master-singers1 and also the picture of ,david and his harp which ornamented their banner2 but old ,nuremberg costumes are familiar enough1 and can be studied to better purpose elsewhere4 ,only one feature suggests itself as worthy of special notice4 ,on the tablet the master-singers all appear wearing the immense neck-ruff of the ,elizabethan period4 ,as for the architectural settings of the stage in the first act 7which plays in the ,church of ,st4 ,catherine71 so far as ,i know no attempt at correctness has been made by scene-painters2 nor would it be possible to reproduce a picture of the church and still follow ,wagner's stage directions4 ,evidently the poet-composer never took the trouble to visit the ,church of ,st4 ,catherine4 ,illustration3 ,,wooden ,,tablet ,,of ,,the ,,mastersingers ,,of ,,nuremberg4 ,i have said that1 barring the church and tablet1 there are no relics of the old guild to be found in the ,nuremberg of to-day4 ,until lately it was supposed that the ,municipal ,library contained a number of autographic manuscripts by ,hans ,sachs1 but when ,i asked for them1 they were produced with the statement that they were no longer looked upon as genuine4 ,it did not require much investigation to convince me that the claim long maintained that they were autographs of the cobbler-poet rested wholly on presumption4 ,sachs autographs are extremely scarce4 ,the ,royal ,library at ,berlin possesses a volume of master-songs known to be in the handwriting of ,sachs 7among them is one by ,beckmesser71 but when ,i was in the ,prussian capital this treasure was in ,dresden1 whither it had been sent to enable a literary student to utilize it in the preparation of a book on ,sachs4 ,a ,berlin scholar1 whom ,i found at work in the ,nuremberg ,library gathering material for a new biography of ,sachs1 informed me that the greatest number of ,sachs autographs1 and they not many1 had been found in ,zwickau1 whither they had been brought by some member of the ,sachs family many years ago4 ,there are1 then1 no manuscript relics of him who was the chief glory of the ,nuremberg guild in the old town4 ,you may drink a glass of wine at the street-corner where tradition says the old poet cobbled and composed1 but the house is a modern one4 ,of his companions in the guild ,i found no manuscripts in the library1 and not one of them left his mark in any way on the town4 ,but ,i did find a number of old manuscript volumes dating back two hundred years or more1 which served to vitalize in a peculiarly interesting manner the record which the learned old ,wagenseil left behind him1 and some of the personages of ,wagner's comedy4 ,those who have taken the trouble to investigate the source to which ,wagner went for the people and customs introduced in his ,meistersinger von ,nrnberg 7,wagenseil's book7 know that the names of the master-singers who figure in the comedy once belonged to veritable members of the ,nuremberg guild4 ,wagenseil mentions them as singers whose memories were cherished in his day1 and some of them were also mentioned by an older author1 whose book1 devoted chiefly to the ,strassburg guild1 which at one time was even more famous than that of ,nuremberg1 is referred to by ,wagenseil4 ,the book of the ,strassburg writer1 singularly enough1 was known to ,wagenseil only as a manuscript1 and such it remained until two or three decades ago1 when it was printed by a literary society at ,stuttgart4 ,in ,wagenseil's day it was valued so highly that it was kept wrapped in silk1 like the sacred scrolls of the ,jews1 a circumstance that enabled the pedantic ,orientalist to air his learning on the subject for many pages in his wofully discursive but extremely interesting book4 ,but if ,wagenseil had not given his testimony1 ,i could now bear witness to the fact that ,conrad ,nachtigal1 ,hans ,schwartz1 ,conrad ,vogelgesang1 ,sixtus ,beckmesser1 ,hans ,folz1 ,fritz ,kothner1 ,balthasar ,zorn1 and ,veit ,pogner once lived as well as ,hans ,sachs4 ,i have read some of their poems and copied some of the melodies invented by them and utilized by their successors in the guild4 ,the volumes containing these curiosities of literature have been in the ,municipal ,library over one hundred years4 ,in the catalogue of the ,bibliotheca ,norica ,williana1 printed one hundred and sixteen years ago1 they are mentioned as having been purchased from an old master-singer4 ,five of them are small oblong books of music paper1 upon which some old masters or apprentices in the art of master-song have copied melodies which were much used at the meetings in ,st4 ,catherine's ,church4 ,it was the custom of the members of the guild to compose poems to fit these melodies4 ,in the second scene of his opera ,wagner mentions a great many of the singular titles by which these melodies or modes were designated4 ,he got them from ,wagenseil4 ,besides these books1 there are two immense manuscript volumes1 in which some industrious old lover of the poetical art transcribed songs which he evidently thought admirable4 ,they are each almost as large as ,webster's ,unabridged ,dictionary1 and must represent months1 if not years1 of labor4 ,one is devoted wholly to ,german paraphrases of ,ovid's ,metamorphoses1 set to a great variety of melodies4 ,the author is ,m4 ,ambrosius ,metzger1 who was one of the few members of the guild who were scholars4 ,he wrote the poems in #afbe4 ,the other volume contains songs by a great number of master-singers1 though ,hans ,sachs is the principal contributor4 ,the plan of the volume indicates that it was a collection of admired poems4 ,it begins with paraphrases from the ,pentateuch4 ,some early pages are missing1 the first poem preserved dealing with the sixth chapter of ,genesis4 ,chronological order is maintained up to chapter twenty-eight of the same book4 ,then follow songs dealing with the ,gospels and ,epistles4 ,the ,book of ,job is not forgotten4 ,finally1 there are a number of secular poems1 many recounting sop's fables and anecdotes drawn from old writers4 ,songs of this character were composed by the master-singers for diversion at their informal gatherings4 ,at the meetings in the ,church of ,st4 ,catherine only sacred subjects were allowed4 ,it is for this reason that ,wagner's ,kothner asks ,walther in the opera whether he had chosen sacred matter 7ein heil'gen ,stoff7 for his trial song1 which provokes the reply from the ardent young knight that he would sing of love1 a subject sacred to him4 ,whether sacred or secular1 however1 the form and style of the songs are alike4 ,nothing could more completely illustrate the absurdity of the fundamental theory of the foolish old pedants that poetry might be written by rule of thumb than the publication of a few of the songs in this old book4 ,the nature of the poetical frenzy which fills them can1 perhaps1 be guessed if ,i record the fact that the majority of them1 ,i think1 begin with a citation of chapter and verse1 or some statement equally matter of fact1 as thus3 ,the twenty-ninth chapter of ,genesis records1 or ,diogenes1 the wise master1 or ,strabo writes of the customs1 or ,moses1 the eleventh1 reports1 or ,the ,lesser ,book of ,truth doth tell1 etc4 ,the last of these lines is the beginning of a master-song which has a twofold interest4 ,in the first place1 it is a secular poem by ,hans ,sachs which1 to the best of my knowledge1 has never been printed or written about4 ,in the second place1 it is set to a melody by the veritable ,pogner who1 in ,wagner's comedy1 offers his daughter and his fortune to the winner in the singing contest which makes up ,wagner's last act4 ,the poem is so amusing that ,i would like to give it entire in ,english1 but its irregularity of accent and peculiarities of rhyme do not lend themselves willingly to translation4 ,of musical accent the master-singers1 who followed the rhyming rules of those marvellously ingenious rhymesters the ,minnesinger1 had not the slightest idea4 ,wagner knew that4 ,sachs' first critical tap on his lapstone in ,beckmesser's serenade is evoked by a blunder in accent which the veritable ,sachs would have passed unnoticed1 though1 being a real poet1 his sins in this respect were not as numerous as those of his colleagues and predecessors4 ,i content myself1 therefore1 with the first ,stollen1 or stanza1 and its ,abgesang1 or burden1 which the curious student will find to be composed in strict accordance with the rules which1 in the opera1 ,kothner reads from the blackboard4 ,these ,leges ,tabulatur1 by-the-way1 are almost a literal transcription from the original laws preserved in ,wagenseil's book4 ,the matter of the song is this3 ,a boor falls ill4 ,finding that his appetite is wholly gone1 he calls in a physician1 who informs him 7in a drastic fashion7 that the trouble is caused by an accumulation of slime in the stomach4 ,he administers a purgative1 but without result4 ,the sickness increases1 and the boor upbraids the doctor1 who retorts that his patient will be a dead man within an hour unless he consent to having his stomach taken out and scoured with chalk4 ,the boor consents1 the physician performs the operation1 cutting the man open with a pair of shears1 brushes out the offending organ with a wisp1 and hangs it on the fence to dry4 ,what the farmer does meanwhile is not recorded2 but before the physician could replace his stomach a raven carried it off to the woods and ate it4 ,in this dilemma the physician disclosed himself as a worthy progenitor of the modern race of surgeons4 ,he was terribly frightened1 but didn't let any one see it4 ,by stealth he procured a sow's stomach1 introduced it into the farmer's body1 and quickly sewed up the aperture4 ,the farmer got well1 and paid eight florins for the job4 ,but heavens1 what an appetite was that which he developed6 ,to satisfy him now was utterly impossible1 for which reason1 concludes the moralist1 an insatiable eater is nowadays said to be a hog 7literally to have a sow's stomach71 who devours more than he produces1 as many women lament3 ,darum spricht man noch von ein ,man1 ,den man gar nicht erfuellen kan1 ,wie er hab einen ,sawmagen2 ,verthut mehr denn er gewinnen kan1 ,hoert man vil ,frawen klagen4 ,,first ,,stollen4 ,illustration3 score ,the ,less - er ,book of ,truth doth tell1 ,how ill - ness on a boor once fell1 ,taste for all food de - stroy - ing2 ,a - gainst all drugs it did re - bel1 ,his pleas - ures all al - loy - ing4444444 ,one day there came a doc - tor wise1 ,who glanced him o'er with search - ing eyes1 ,found out what caused his ail - ing4 ,his learn - ing proof a - gainst sur - prise1 ,made work like that plain sail - ing4444444 ,,the ,,abgesang4 ,illustration3 score ,far - mer1 of all your pains444 the cause1 ,is slime with - in your stom - ach wide dis - tend - ing4 ,the far - mer heard with gap - - ing jaws1 ,for gnaw - ing pains in - side his paunch were rend - ing4 ,the tale is an old one1 popular in one form or another in the ,middle ,ages4 ,a variant of it is to be found in the ,gesta ,romanorum1 to which extraordinary collection of moral tales it is possible that ,sachs had reference when he spoke of the ,buch der ,kleinen ,wahrheit1 or ,lesser ,book of ,truth1 as ,i have rendered it4 ,in the ,gesta1 however1 the physician substitutes a goat's eye1 and subjects his patient to an extraordinary strabismus4 ,hans ,sachs's variation is eminently characteristic of the man and the people for whom he wrote4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,der ,,ring ,,des ,,nibelungen4 ,the common error of looking upon the outward covering of things for the things themselves has led to the real plot of ,wagner's tetralogical drama ,the ,niblung's ,ring being overlooked by the majority of persons who have written about it4 ,especially has the significance of the prologue to the tragedy failed of appreciation4 ,i shall try to tell what ,i conceive to be the true story of the tragedy1 and at least hint at the meaning which that story had when it came into the mind of the sagaman and myth-maker ages ago1 which meaning1 moreover1 ,richard ,wagner1 unlike his modern predecessors among the poets who have treated the subject1 apprehended and conserved4 ,it is a pretty solemn fact that unless this tragedy in four parts be approached with other aims than mere diversion1 much will be found in it that appears ridiculous to the judgment1 no matter how it affects the senses4 ,to some it may seem a fatal confession to say that sincere and sufficient enjoyment of ,the ,niblung's ,ring is only to be had by persons willing to let critical judgment wait upon the imagination2 yet ,i am willing to make that confession1 and even to augment it by the statement that there are scenes in the tragedy when even this unfettered faculty must needs be as ingenuous as the raised imagination of ,charles ,lamb at his first play1 which transformed the glistering substance on the pillars of ,old ,drury into glorified sugar-candy4 ,yet ,i do not believe that thereby the potential beauty1 impressiveness1 and significance of the tragedy are brought into question4 ,is it not easy to conceive of a mental condition which would accept such a childlike receptivity as the only mood in which an art-work designed to appeal to emotions which the humdrum routine of modern life leaves untouched ought to be approached8 ,wagner's ,ring des ,nibelungen is not an idle fairy-tale1 the offspring of a mind working with fanciful material amid the environment of the nineteenth century4 ,it is a tragedy ,hellenic in its scope and proportions1 dealing with one of the great problems of human existence1 reflecting the operations of the quickened mind and conscience of humanity in its impressionable childhood4 ,das ,rheingold is the prologue to a tragedy which has not only the dimensions1 but also the aim1 of a ,greek trilogy4 ,this conception of its dignity greatly widens the significance of its few incidents4 ,of necessity8 ,yes4 ,observe the manner in which ,wagner approaches his subject4 ,the hero of the medival epic popularly called ,the ,lay of the ,niblung is ,siegfried2 and this story of ,siegfried is mixed with considerable historical alloy4 ,the character of ,gunther1 which figures in the story1 is ,gundikar1 founder of the ,burgundian monarchy1 who was slain by ,attila1 ,a4,d4 #dej4 ,attila himself is one of the personages of the poem1 the scene of which plays largely at ,worms4 ,it was ,wagner's aim to illustrate a profound truth of universal bearing1 and in harmony with his belief that such truths are best taught by presenting pictures of humanity stripped of all conventionality1 he went back to the earliest forms of the tale which the medival poet wove into the ,lay of the ,niblung4 ,by this means he purified it of its historical dross2 but also came in contact with the creations of the myth-maker4 ,the period into which he moved his drama was the period reflected by our ,northern ancestors when they were striving by an exercise of a vivid imagination and unyielding logic to answer the questions raised by a primitive religious instinct4 ,whether we want to or not1 we must look upon ,the ,niblung's ,ring as a religious play which1 by means of the symbols created by the ,northern myth-maker1 teaches a lesson universal and eternal in its application4 ,i4 ,no legend dealing with the deep passions of human nature1 and reflecting the tragic struggle between the human and the divine1 which has been playing on the stage of the human heart since the race began1 is restricted by the circumstances of time1 place1 or people4 ,if it is really beautiful and moving it is a bit of universal property1 and in one form or another phases of it will be found in the mythology or folk-lore of all civilized peoples4 ,not only the foundation principles of such a legend1 but even its theatre and apparatus may be discovered4 ,parallels in religious mythologies will readily occur1 but perhaps not so readily parallels in those heroic tales which reflect the national characteristics of peoples4 ,yet they are not the less numerous4 ,the grotto of ,venus1 in which ,tannhuser steeps himself with sensuality1 is but a ,german form of the ,garden of ,delight1 in which the heroes of classic antiquity met their fair enslavers4 ,it is ,ogygia1 the ,delightful ,island1 where ,ulysses met ,calypso4 ,it is that ,avalon in which ,king ,arthur was healed of his wounds by his fairy sister ,morgain4 ,the staff which bursts into green in the hands of ,pope ,urban in token of ,tannhuser's forgiveness has prototypes in the lances which1 when planted in the ground by ,charlemagne's warriors1 were transformed over night into a leafy forest2 in the staff which put on leaves in the hands of ,joseph wherefore the ,virgin ,mary gave herself to him in marriage2 in the rod of ,aaron1 which1 when laid up among others in the tabernacle1 brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds4 ,the ,tarnhelm which the cunning ,mime fashions at the command of ,alberich1 what else is it but the ,mask of ,arthur1 which had the power of rendering its wearer invisible1 or the ,helmet of ,pluto worn by ,perseus in his battle with the ,gorgon8 ,the ,holy ,grail1 which ,wagner has surrounded with such a refulgent halo1 is not merely a relic of ,christ's suffering and death4 ,its power of supplying food and sustaining life identifies it with an article common to the mystical apparatus of many peoples4 ,as ,achilles was dipped into ,styx and rendered invulnerable1 so ,jason was smeared with ,medea's ointment1 and ,siegfried became covered with a horny armor when he bathed in the dragon's blood2 and as the magic wash was kept from ,achilles's heel by the hand of ,thetis1 so the falling of a leaf from a lime-tree on the back of ,siegfried caused the one unprotected spot through which a weapon might reach his life4 ,the sword of ,wotan1 thrust into the tree so firmly and miraculously that none but a hero worthy to wield it and inspired by the desperation of supremest need might draw it from its mighty sheath1 what else is it than the fair sword which stuck in the marble stone in the church-yard against the high altar1 which all the barons assayed in vain to draw forth1 but which young ,arthur lightly and fiercely pulled out of the stone1 by which token he was recognized as rightwise king of ,england8 ,or1 going back further into story-land1 who does not see in it that bow of ,ulysses which the wicked suitors of ,penelope vainly strove to bend1 but which yielded to the hero disguised as a beggar with such ease as a harper in tuning of his harp draws out a string8 ,horus1 ,apollo1 and ,baldur in ,egypt1 ,greece1 and the savage ,northland have represented the highest union of physical and moral excellencies to millions of human beings2 and when the ,norse myth-maker1 exercising his imagination under the influence of that need and longing and hope on which ,plato based his argument in proof of the immortality of the soul1 drew his picture of ,ragnark1 the ,twilight of the ,gods1 the end of the old regime of brute force1 of gods and giants1 and the return of ,baldur and his reign of peace1 gentleness1 and loveliness1 he felt the emotions with which the ,christian of to-day looks forward to the second coming of ,christ the ,redeemer4 ,so striking are the parallels between the heroic tales of the class to which the story of ,siegfried belongs1 that it has been possible for ,dr4 ,j4 ,g4 von ,hahn1 in his ,sagwissenschaftliche ,studien1 to draw up a formula according to which the families belonging to the ,aryan race have constructed their most admired tales4 ,this formula1 he says1 exists more or less perfect in the heroic literature of every known ,aryan people4 ,hellenic mythology produced no less than seven of these stories1 of which the most striking are those of ,perseus1 ,theseus1 dipus1 and ,herakles2 ,roman mythological history1 one--,romulus and ,remus2 ,teutonic sagas1 two--,wittich-,siegfried and ,wolfdietrich2 ,iranian mythic history1 two1 and ,hindu mythology1 two1 the most striking parallelisms occurring in the story of ,krishna4 ,of this story ,mr4 ,alfred ,nutt has found eight variants in old ,keltic literature1 among them the story of ,perceval4 ,according to this formula ,i4 ,the hero is born 7a7 ,out of wedlock4 7b7 ,posthumously4 7c7 ,supernaturally 7d7 ,one of twins4 ,,ii4 ,the mother is a princess residing in her own country4 ,,iii4 ,the father is 7a7 ,a god1 or from afar4 7b7 ,a hero ,,iv4 ,there are tokens and warnings of the hero's future greatness2 ,v4 ,in consequence of which he is driven from home4 ,,vi4 ,is suckled by wild beasts4 ,,vii4 ,is brought up by a childless couple1 or shepherd1 or widow4 ,,viii4 ,is of passionate and violent disposition4 ,,ix4 ,seeks service in foreign lands4 7a7 ,attacks and slays monsters4 7b7 ,acquires supernatural knowledge through eating a fish or other magic animal 7the dragon's heart in the case of ,sigurd1 his blood in the case of ,siegfried74 ,x4 ,returns to his own country1 retreats1 and again returns4 ,,xi4 ,overcomes his enemies1 frees his mother1 seats himself on a throne4 ,,ii4 ,we should accustom ourselves to look upon the plot of ,the ,niblung's ,ring as more celestial than terrestrial2 the essential things of the tragedy are those which concern ,wotan1 who is its real hero4 ,the happenings among the personages whose conduct under varying trying circumstances is brought to notice in the three dramas constituting the trilogy are1 in reality1 but accidents4 ,in this respect ,the ,niblung's ,ring is in a different case with ,homer's ,iliad which also has a double plot1 celestial and terrestrial4 ,the cause of the contest celebrated in the ,iliad originated on earth2 the gods took part in it simply to avenge slights which had been put upon them by one or another of the contestants1 or because they were the special protectors of certain of those personages4 ,in ,wagner's tragedy the contest waged by the demi-gods1 giants1 dwarfs1 and men1 is but the continuation of one invited by the gods4 ,it is the consequence of a sin committed by the chief god and his efforts to repair it4 ,that consequence1 in its last and chiefest estate1 is the destruction of ,wotan and all his fellows2 this is what it signifies to all those concerned in it1 but to us it means a destruction followed by a new creation4 ,wotan dies like a tragic hero1 and his heroic offspring--the bond connecting gods and men--die one after another1 all in consequence of his sin2 but the death of the last1 being the expiatory self-sacrifice of loving woman1 removes the curse from the earth4 ,old things are passed away2 behold1 all things are become new4 ,this is the kernel of the plot of the tragedy1 the beginning of which is exhibited in ,the ,rhinegold1 and the outcome prefigured4 ,the progress is from the state of sinlessness1 through sin and its awful consequences1 to expiation4 ,for each of these steps there are symbols in the pictures1 poetry1 and music of the prologue4 ,the gods of our ancestors in the ,northland were created in the image of man4 ,originally the feeling of religion had been satisfied by the conception of a dynasty of gods who1 if they were made in the image of man1 were at least idealized2 they had none of the passions of men1 none of their infirmities1 none of their trials4 ,when1 in later times1 the impossibility of such a conception maintaining itself became manifest1 humanity among the rugged mountains and in the deep forests of the ,north dreamed of a time that was past1 before the reign of primeval sinlessness and peacefulness had come to an end4 ,that was the ,golden ,age of the world4 ,wrong was unknown2 the passions which wreck men's lives and beget wrong were unknown2 it was the state of ,eden before the advent of the tempter4 ,the silence of peace rested upon the waters4 ,gold was the symbol of radiant innocency2 it was but the plaything of the gods4 ,as in ,milton's ,eden1 flowers were of all hue1 ,and without thorn the rose4 ----,airs1 vernal airs1 ,breathing the smell of field and grove1 attune ,the trembling leaves1 while universal ,pan1 ,knit with the ,graces and the ,hours in dance1 ,led on the eternal ,spring4 ,put aside the prosaic frame of mind into which the ,wolzogen labels are calculated to throw one1 and look at the instrumental introduction to the prologue as a symbol of this state of physical and moral loveliness4 ,could the peacefulness and passionlessness of primeval purity be better typified in music8 ,there are three aspects in which the introduction should be viewed4 ,it is most significant in this study of the tragedy as a type of the ,golden ,age in ,northern mythology4 ,not until the principle of evil enters the play 7in the person of ,alberich7 is the serenity of the music disturbed4 ,next1 it is interesting as scenic music4 ,by ingenious use of gauze screens1 painted canvas1 and light-effects1 the stage is made to seem filled with water from floor to flies4 ,strange plants creep up the side1 and gnarled roots project into the water4 ,below is the rocky bed of the ,rhine4 ,above1 a faint light plays on the rippling surface4 ,the music has begun with a single deep tone1 but gradually it grows more animated2 there is no change in melody1 but the introduction of instruments with lighter and lighter tone-color1 the introduction and carefully graduated augmentation of a wavy accompaniment1 suggest to the ear at once growth in the movement of the water and in the light which shines from above4 ,the music is now doubly delineative4 ,while its spirit reflects the sinless quietude of the ,golden ,age of the world1 its matter depicts1 first1 the slow movement of the water in its depths1 then the gentle undulations of its half-depths1 finally the ripples and dartings and flashings and eddyings of its surface4 ,the third aspect in which we may look at it is as a peculiarly striking exemplification of ,wagner's theories of composition carried out to their most logical conclusion4 ,that theory in its extremity would demand that nothing be said when there is nothing to say--a self-evident proposition much oftener honored in the breach than in the observance4 ,remember that ,wagner1 in giving an account of the genesis of his typical phrases cites his conduct in ,der ,fliegende ,hollnder1 when1 having found themes to stand for the mental states described in the ballad1 he resolved to repeat its thematic expression every time a mental mood recurred4 ,a necessary corollary of such a logical proceeding would seem to be that until the play had introduced something--a picture1 a personage1 an idea--there could be no room for music4 ,it is not necessary to go to this extremity2 but if we want to we will find that ,wagner is true to himself even here4 ,only the mood of the scene is delineated for us in the music of the introduction1 and his willingness to begin as near nothing as possible is shown by the use at the outset of the single deep bass tone4 ,the whole introduction is built on this note and its simplest harmony1 the development being accomplished by the gradual changes of orchestration1 the employment of higher octaves1 and the augmentation of the wavy accompaniment4 ,,iii4 ,it was an inevitable consequence of the structure of the ,northern mythological system that the gods should lose their primeval sinlessness4 ,before the mind of the ,northern myth-maker1 as before the minds of the ,athenians1 who erected the altar on ,mars-hill to the ,unknown ,god1 there hovered a dim apprehension of a ,first ,cause of all being1 older and more puissant than the gods whom he conceived as reigning4 ,as ,zeus and his fellows reigned by reason of having overthrown ,cronos and the dynasty of the ,titans1 so ,wotan and his fellows reigned by reason of conquest and treaty4 ,in consequence1 there was a perpetual struggle between the sky-dwellers1 the mountain-dwellers1 and the earth-dwellers--the gods1 giants1 and dwarfs--for dominion4 ,this lust for power it was that caused the downfall of the gods4 ,dormant within the radiant gold1 buried in the ,rhine and guarded by the daughters of the ,rhine1 lay the secret of universal dominion4 ,in the ,golden ,age no one courted it because there was no need4 ,but when the greed of power and gain asserted itself1 the gold was a prize to be sought after and bought at any price4 ,the first change in the stage picture still leaves us the spirit of purity and innocency undisturbed4 ,the ,rhine daughters1 whose duty it is to guard the magical gold1 are careless creatures1 as well they may be1 for1 though warned1 they have never seen danger approach their treasure4 ,floating up and down1 they sing and gambol with each other as they swim around the jagged rock1 their song being as undulating as the element in which they live4 ,they partake in their nature of that element1 and the melodies with which they are associated are imitative of watery movements4 ,the beginning of the end of the ,golden ,age was dated by the old poets from the time when three giantesses were admitted among the gods4 ,they were the ,nornir1 the ,fates1 whose deep thoughts were given respectively to the past1 present1 and future4 ,the entrance of a stranger into the domains of the ,rhine daughters is also the signal for the introduction of evil into the drama4 ,the representative of this evil principle is ,alberich1 the ,niblung--one of the race of dwarfs2 musically his mischievous character1 his restless energy1 and his strangeness to the element in which he finds himself is told by the orchestra in the abrupt1 jerky music to which he enters1 and which accompanies his slipping and sliding on the slimy rocks of the river's bottom4 ,alberich's aims were simply lust4 ,to the nixies he is merely amusing4 ,they engage him in tormenting dalliance till he utters an imprecation against them and shakes his fist4 ,he forgets his anger at his pretty tantalizers1 however1 when a new spectacle falls upon his sight4 ,the sunlight1 piercing the water1 has fallen upon the gold1 which lies in the cleft of a rock and now begins to glow4 ,the increasing refulgence is seen and heard simultaneously1 for as the new light floods the scene1 singers and orchestra break out into a ravishing apostrophe to the gold4 ,now we reach the point where the ethical contest1 at the bottom of the entire tragedy1 is first foreshadowed4 ,the nixies1 rendered careless by the long uselessness of their watch1 prattle away the secret that universal power would be the reward of him who would seize the gold and fashion it into a ring3 ,the realm of the world ,by him shall be won1 ,who from the ,rhine gold ,hath wrought the ring1 ,imparting measureless might4 ,but the power to fashion the ring can only be obtained by one willing to renounce the delight and happiness of love3 ,who the delight of ,love forswears1 ,he who derides its ravishing joys1 ,he alone has the magic might ,to shape the gold to a ring4 ,the issue is joined4 ,here ,love and contentment in the ,niblung's lot2 there the prospect of power universal and lovelessness4 ,the dwarf does not hesitate long4 ,in the next scene the giants hesitate longer1 and ,wotan ponders longer than either whether the gold is worth the price demanded for it4 ,but the ,age of ,innocency is past--all yield in turn to the lust for power1 the greed of gain1 which the gold promises to satisfy4 ,the first step in the tragedy is taken4 ,alberich puts love aside forever and curses it4 ,then1 in spite of the shrieks of the nixies1 he seizes the gold and dives into the depths4 ,the light dies out of the scene4 ,the bright song of the nixies runs out into minor plaints1 and the orchestra discourses mournfully of the renunciation of love and the rape of the ring1 until the scene changes from depths of the ,rhine to the heights where ,valhalla1 newly built1 stands in massive strength1 gleaming in the morning sun4 ,we have witnessed the beginning of the struggle for dominion begun cunningly by a dwarf4 ,not the race of the ,niblungs1 but the race of giants had caused ,wotan concern4 ,against them he thought to raise an impregnable fortress1 and the cunning ,loge1 the representative of the evil principle in the celestial plot1 had contrived to have the work done by two giants1 to whom ,wotan1 at ,loge's instigation1 promised the goddess ,freia as a reward1 though ,loge had privately assured him that he would never be called on to meet the obligation4 ,the whole tale is borrowed by ,wagner from ,norse mythology4 ,once upon a time1 so runs the old story1 an artisan came to the gods and offered to build for them a fortress which would forever shield them from the frost giants1 if they would give him1 in payment1 ,freya1 the goddess of youth1 beauty1 and love1 besides the sun and the moon4 ,the gods agreed1 provided he would do the work alone1 and in the space of a single winter4 ,when summer was but three days distant the castle was so nearly finished that the gods saw that the compact would be kept by the strange artisan4 ,the imminent loss of ,freya frightened the gods1 and they threatened ,loge with death if he did not prevent the completion of the work within the period fixed4 ,the artisan had the help of a horse named ,svadilfari1 who drew the most enormous stones to the castle at night4 ,loge the next night decoyed the horse ,svadilfari into the forest1 so that the usual quota of work was not done4 ,then the mysterious workman appeared before the gods in his real form as a giant1 and ,thor killed him with a blow of his hammer4 ,the ,norse ,freya is the ,teutonic ,freia4 ,in ,wagner's poem ,freia is the reward which the giants ,fafner and ,fasolt expect for having built ,valhalla in a single night4 ,loge had instigated the compact1 and promised to relieve ,wotan of the obligation of payment4 ,but the giants carry ,freia off and restore her only after ,wotan and ,loge have given the ,niblung's hoard in exchange4 ,to ,freia1 ,wagner has given an attribute which1 in ,scandinavian mythology1 belongs to ,iduna4 ,she is the guardian of the golden apples1 the eating of which keeps the gods young4 ,iduna's apples the student of comparative mythology will at once identify with the golden apples which ,hera received as a wedding-gift1 and which were guarded by the ,hesperides and stolen by ,hercules4 ,in the ,norse story they are carried away by a winged giant named ,thiassi1 and brought back by ,loge1 who had tempted ,iduna out of her beautiful grove ,always ,young1 in order that the giant might swoop down upon her and carry the apples away4 ,wagner gives these apples to ,freia for the sake of a dramatic effect4 ,the gods turn wrinkled and gray so soon as the giants carry off the goddess of youth and beauty4 ,wotan has his ,valhalla1 but the giants demand their reward4 ,loge is summoned to extricate the god from the predicament in which his lust after power has plunged him4 ,the god of fire and the restless representative of the destructive principle appears1 and thereafter he is never absent long from the action4 ,he pervades every scene1 his red cloak fluttering1 eyes1 hands1 feet1 body moving synchronously with that fitful chromatic phrase which crackles and flashes and flickers through the orchestra whenever he takes part in the action4 ,he has searched through the world for a ransom for ,freia1 and found but one creature who estimated anything higher than the beauty and worth of woman4 ,it is ,alberich who1 having wrought a ring out of the magic gold1 has bent the race of ,niblungs to his will1 and is now preparing to conquer universal dominion for himself4 ,thus a new danger threatens the race of gods4 ,in this extremity ,wotan listens to the advice of ,loge and decides to possess himself of the ,niblung hoard1 that with it he may purchase the release of ,freia1 and make assurance double sure4 ,the two descend to the abode of the dwarfs4 ,in ,nibelheim the rocky caverns glow with the reflection of forge fires1 and the ear is saluted with the clang of hammers falling upon anvils4 ,loge cunningly tempts the dwarf to exhibit the magical properties of the ,tarnhelm 7the cap of darkness71 and when he assumes the shape of a toad the gods seize and bind him4 ,under the walls of ,valhalla they compel him to ransom himself with gold for the giants and rob him of the ring4 ,then ,alberich burdens it with a curse1 introducing into the tragedy the poison which accomplishes the destruction of all its heroes1 and remains a bane upon the earth till restitution is made and expiation achieved by the self-immolation of ,brnnhilde4 ,the first fruits of the curse follow hard upon the heels of its utterance4 ,the giants1 ravished by the tale of the wealth of the ,niblung treasure1 exact it all as ransom for ,freia4 ,wotan had aimed to keep the ring as another hostage for the future--with ring and fortress he would feel secure--but the giants demand1 the runes upon his spear contain the pledge1 and ,erda warns4 ,the ring is grudgingly surrendered1 and at once its baneful effect is seen4 ,the giants quarrel for its possession1 and ,fafner kills ,fasolt with blows of his staff4 ,not till then does ,wotan realize the deep significance of the warning words of ,erda4 ,a solemn duty1 an awful task devolves upon him4 ,murder as well as theft lies at his door2 with the ring a fearful curse has entered the world as a consequence of his wrong-doing2 henceforth he must devote himself to the work of reparation4 ,mayhap the wrong may be righted by a restoration of the ring to the original owners of the gold4 ,his own hands are bound1 but he conceives a plan1 of which the visible symbol is the magic sword4 ,a new race shall arise1 the sword shall aid it in obtaining the ring1 and of its own will it shall return the circlet to the element from which lust for power wrested it4 ,it is this creative thought which makes him pause with his foot upon the rainbow bridge1 across which the celestial household have passed into ,valhalla4 ,the sword phrase flashes through the pompous music which is the postlude of the prologue4 ,,iv4 ,hre1 hre1 hre6 ,alles was ist1 endet4 ,ein dst'rer ,tag ,dmmert den ,gttern4 ,dir rath ich1 meide den ,ring6 ,thus does ,erda warn ,wotan4 ,of all the words of the prologue they are biggest with significance for the tragedy as a whole4 ,they foretell the consequences of ,wotan's sin4 ,erda is the ,vala1 the goddess of primeval wisdom1 the pantheistic symbol of the universe1 the timeless and spaceless mother of gods and men1 as ,dr4 ,hueffer calls her4 ,she is the mother of the ,nornir4 ,their phrase is an elemental one1 like that of the ,rhine4 ,its ascending intervals suggest growth4 ,the antithesis of this concept is decay1 destruction4 ,the melody of the ,twilight of the ,gods 7b71 in the prediction of ,erda1 appears as an inversion of the elemental melody 7a74 ,illustration3 score 7a7 ,illustration3 score 7b7 ,it is an awful consummation that is predicted by ,erda and symbolized in this descending phrase--the destruction of a world as the outcome of that contest which since time began has been the basis of religions and mythologies4 ,no civilized people has escaped being confronted by that problem1 but all peoples have not solved it alike4 ,in our own religion the spectacle of its tragical consequences has held the world in awe for nearly nineteen hundred years4 ,generally in the legends which the human imagination1 fired by religious instinct1 has created to symbolize the eternal conflict1 the hero who goes to destruction is an ideal man4 ,sometimes he is a god2 but only the daring imagination of the ,northern myth-maker was equal to the task of making that hero the chiefest of the gods1 and connecting his downfall with the end of the race to which he belongs4 ,in this awful flight of the ,northern imagination1 this sublime achievement of the ,northern conscience1 lies the essential difference between the religious systems of the classic ,greeks and our savage ancestors4 ,the ,greeks1 profoundly philosophical as they were1 would yet have shrunk back appalled from such a solution of the great problem as the ,teuton provided in his ,gtterdmmerung4 ,logic might force them to recognize the necessity of it or something like it1 but they would not permit logic to compel them to contemplate it4 ,once the stern mind of schylus seemed on the point of disclosing a divine tragedy approximate in its proportions4 ,prometheus1 chained to the rock on ,mount ,caucasus1 comforts himself in his bitter agony with thoughts of the time when grim necessity shall force ,zeus to right his wrongs4 ,but observe that the end of his sufferings is not to follow as an act of retributive justice1 but is to be purchased by a compromise4 ,the time will come when ,zeus will need his help1 for of all the gods ,prometheus alone knows how the plot will be laid and how ,zeus can escape it3 ,i know that ,zeus is hard1 ,and keeps the right supremely to himself2 ,but then1 ,i know1 he'll be ,full pliant in his will ,when he is thus crushed down4 ,then calming down his mood ,of hard and bitter wrath1 ,he'll hasten unto me1 ,as ,i to him shall haste1 ,for friendship and for peace4 ,this is the nearest approach that the ,greeks came to a parallel with the most tremendous conception of ,northern mythology4 ,does it strike you as strange8 ,it need not4 ,remember1 the loveliness of their country and climate kept before the ,greeks perpetually the benignant aspect of their gods4 ,it is true they found themselves as little able as our ancestors later to maintain these embodiments of a primeval conception of idealized humanity in a state of sinlessness2 but when brought face to face with the contradictions which followed1 they extricated themselves as best they might by the makeshift of a compromising reconciliation1 or flew to the extreme of unbelief4 ,the moral obliquity of the gods was recognized1 but was not permitted to throw a shadow over the radiant ones in the ,olympian court4 ,you may observe an illustration of this mental trait in the unwillingness of the ,greeks to call unpleasant things by their right names4 ,the ,euxine1 or ,hospitable ,sea1 was once righteously called by them the ,axine1 or ,inhospitable ,sea4 ,the dreadful ,furies1 with their heads covered with writhing snakes1 after they had scourged ,orestes through the world1 were given a temple and worship at ,athens as the ,eumenides--the kind or good-tempered ones4 ,these ,furies belonged to the class of gloomy deities1 which was the offspring of conscience and the sense of moral responsibility4 ,they were bound to present themselves to a thinking people1 but a people who basked always in ,nature's smile were equally bound to subordinate them to the gods of nature that were the embodiment of cheerfulness and light4 ,to contemplate the latter was a delightful occupation2 the former were viewed through a veil which concealed their hideousness4 ,there was nothing in the surroundings of our ancestors to encourage such a species of indirection4 ,the natural powers which confronted them oftenest were inimical4 ,they did not live in the sunlight of ,nature's smile1 but in the shadow of her frown4 ,the simple right to exist had daily to be conquered4 ,the vague apprehensions of a sinless1 an absolute and omnipotent ,deity1 which flitted furtively across their minds1 took deeper and deeper root when the logic of necessity began to taint their dynasty of gods with weakness and crimes4 ,but1 like the ,greeks1 they could give such a conception neither form1 habitation1 nor name4 ,it remained hovering in the background4 ,as their physical life was a ceaseless struggle with ,nature in her sternest aspects1 and as the more cruel of those aspects were connected with the phenomena of winter1 it was natural that when the conception of overshadowing ,fate had to be personified in the process of mythological construction1 the ,nornir should have been imagined as daughters of the giants of the ,north--harsh1 cruel1 vengeful1 implacable4 ,the terrible ,fimbul winter was to precede ,ragnark4 ,all their training taught them to look the actual in the face4 ,they lived in war1 and death possessed terror only to those who could not die in battle4 ,destruction was a conception with which they were familiar2 destruction was the logical outcome of all activities4 ,so soon as they began to contemplate a race of gods who were offenders against that moral law which was the outgrowth of the primitive religious instinct1 just so soon such a people had to provide for a catastrophe which would resolve the discord4 ,the ,greek tragedian made ,prometheus the symbol of humanity and achieved his aim by a reconciliation with offended ,deity4 ,the ,norse myth-maker chose the chief of the gods as his representative1 raised the issue between him and unpersonified moral law1 and compelled the god to go down to destruction with all his race to satisfy a vast and righteous necessity4 ,if1 says ,felix ,dahn1 a religion has become thoroughly corrupt1 then1 unless the nation professing it is to be destroyed along with its civilization1 a new religion1 satisfying to the needs of the period1 must either be introduced from without--as ,christianity was introduced in the ,roman world in the first centuries of the ,empire--or the existing religion must be purified and reconstructed2 as was the case with ,christianity in the sixteenth century through the ,protestant ,reformation1 and also1 indeed1 through the very material ,catholic improvements achieved by the ,tridentine ,council4 ,but beside these two there is a third means of resolving the difficulty2 this third was seized upon by the ,germanic consciousness4 ,it is the tragical remedy4 ,the ,germanic gods1 too1 placed themselves in irreconcilable and unendurable opposition to morality2 and the ,germanic conscience condemned them every one to destruction--to death6 ,that is the meaning of the ,gtterdmmerung2 it is a peerlessly great moral deed of the ,germanic race1 and it stamps ,germanic mythology with its tragic character4 ,destruction because of an irreparable rupture with established and peaceful order in ,religion1 ,morality1 or ,law1 is essentially tragical4 ,the ,gtterdmmerung a sacrifice8 ,a stupendous deed of morality8 ,aye1 indeed1 that it is6,d ,v4 ,we are henceforth to observe ,wotan in his conduct when brought face to face with the consequences of his violations of moral law4 ,that conduct it is which reflects the real tragedy in ,the ,niblung's ,ring4 ,bound by the contract whose runes were cut in the haft of his spear1 the god could not again possess himself of the ring1 which was now become doubly a menace4 ,if it were again to fall into the hands of ,alberich1 whom he had so cruelly wronged1 the desire for vengeance would spur that mischievous ,niblung to seize the dominion which had been forfeited4 ,to prevent such a catastrophe1 ,wotan would beget a new race of beings and endow them with a magic sword4 ,this was to be the extent of his activity in the development of his plot4 ,as a ,volsung he wandered through the forests with ,siegmund1 his son born of woman4 ,at an early age this son had lost his mother and been separated from his twin-sister4 ,then his father left him mysteriously to be seasoned to his task by hardships4 ,at the climax of his distress1 the culmination of his need1 he was to arm himself with the divine sword which the god had thrust up to the hilt in a tree1 around which was built the hut of that very enemy of the ,volsung race1 who had carried off the sister and married her against her will4 ,the achievement of the sword was to be the sign of ,siegmund's fitness for the enterprise4 ,of his own free-will the divinely-begotten hero was to acquire the ring1 and rid the world of the curse by restoring it to its rightful owners4 ,how vain a plot6 ,the first step in its development shatters the whole elaborate fabric6 ,both of the children forfeit their lives to outraged law2 the god is compelled to destroy the very agencies on which he had built his hopes4 ,the curse under whose fatal influence he had fallen because of wrong-doing was not to be averted by so shallow a subterfuge2 but even if such an outcome had been possible1 the plan would have split on the rock of newly offended morality4 ,in this outline of the contents of ,die ,walkre ,i have but hinted at its incidents1 yet we have before us a whole vast act of the ,wotan tragedy1 and one1 too1 that is pregnant with consequences to the tragical scheme of the myth-maker4 ,i do not ask that the occasional interpretations of ,wagner's music which ,i attempt be accepted as literal expositions of the composer's purposes2 but we can benefit in our understanding of the scope and progress of his tragedy by discovering symbols for its great philosophical moments in the musical investiture4 ,in this view of the case observe how appropriate is the instrumental introduction to the first act4 ,we have gone beyond the hand-books in seeing a reflection of the purity and quietude of the ,golden ,age in the introduction to the prologue4 ,its antithesis is presented in the introduction to the first drama of the trilogy4 ,again ,wagner makes nature reflect the mental and moral states of his personages4 ,again he presents a musical mood-picture4 ,and again the musician is invited to discover that1 in spite of the contrast between the objects of his musical delineation1 the technical means resorted to are the same4 ,there the peacefully undulating major harmonies over a sustained bass note--a pedal-point1 if you will--pictured the age of sinlessness2 the harmlessness of the untainted1 uncoveted virgin gold2 the gentle flux and reflux of the element in which it was buried2 the careless innocency of its unsuspicious and playful guardians4 ,here wildly flying minor harmonies under a sustained note--again a pedal-point--picture the storm which buffets the exhausted1 unprotected ,siegmund1 and impels him to seek refuge in ,hunding's hut4 ,if this parallel is merely fanciful1 it at least invites such an exercise of the fancy in the listeners as will better help them to appreciate the interdependence of the arts which ,wagner consorts in his dramas than any amount of structural dissection and analysis4 ,if you wish you may note that in addition to the music which aims merely at imitative delineation of a thunder-storm 7the rushing figure in the basses1 the incessant staccato patter of the sustained note1 the attempts to suggest flashes of lightning in short and rapid figures in the high register of the instruments1 the crashing and rumbling of thunder1 and the howling of the wind in the chromatic passages71 the music also presents a pompous phrase with which1 in the scene of the prologue where ,thor created the rainbow bridge1 the ,thunderer summoned the elements to his aid1 and at the close a heavy-footed phrase which may be identified with the weary ,siegmund4 ,if these two preludes be accepted as broadly and comprehensively delineative of moods in the theatre and personages of the play1 another significant parallel will now present itself4 ,it was to a phrase which has the rhythm afterwards associated with the ,niblungs in their capacity as smiths 7see ,chapter ,i47--the hammering rhythm--that ,alberich disclosed his wicked nature and resolve when he shook his fist at the nixies4 ,observe how the element of danger to the ,volsung pair is introduced in the first scene of the tragedy4 ,it enters with the sinister ,hunding1 who1 as the unconscious instrument of ,fate and ,fricka's vengeance1 brings death to ,siegmund4 ,in the music which precedes ,hunding's entrance there are only strains of pathetic tenderness which invite sympathy for the unhappy children of ,wotan1 and which we are asked by the analyst and commentator to associate with the compassion which they feel for each other1 and the growth of that feeling into the more ardent emotion of love4 ,the phrase which ushers in ,hunding is in sharp contrast2 if is gloomy in harmony and orchestration1 and publishes the evil in his heart1 not only by its dark colors1 but also by employing the threatening rhythm which ,alberich used against the ,rhine daughters4 ,the incidents which serve to complete the first great step in the drama so far as ,wotan1 the hero1 is concerned1 can now be hastily reviewed4 ,hunding discovers his guest to be the enemy of his race2 the laws of hospitality protect him for the night1 but he must fight on the morrow4 ,siegmund's need has reached its climax4 ,but ,sieglinde1 after putting ,hunding to sleep with a draught1 returns to him and discloses the mystery of the sword4 ,mutually they confess their love1 and discover their relationship in the moment when the magic sword is won4 ,a new thought prevents that terrible discovery from checking the progress of their passion4 ,the race of the ,volsungs must be perpetuated4 ,if you want to learn how powerful an element this thought is in the old legend from which ,wagner borrowed the episode1 you must study it in the ,volsunga ,saga1 where it is consorted with elements which largely atone for the features so offensive and so much criticised in ,wagner's drama4 ,there ,signy 7,wagner's ,sieglinde7 desiring to avenge herself on her husband ,siggeir 7,hunding71 who had murdered all the race but her and ,sigmund1 and kept her in loveless wedlock1 tried in vain to rear a son of sufficient hardihood to perform the deed of vengeance4 ,at last1 fearful that the ,volsungs might become extinct1 she changed semblance with a witch-wife1 and in this guise visited ,sigmund at his hiding-place in the woods4 ,when their son grew to manhood he and his father avenged ,signy's wrongs4 ,but when they offered her great honors ,signy told ,sigmund3 ,i went into the woods to thee in witch-wife's shape1 and ,sinfjtli 7,siegfried7 is the son of thee and me both2 and therefore has he this great hardihood and fierceness1 because he is the son of ,vlse's son and ,vlse's daughter4 ,for naught else have ,i so wrought that ,king ,siggeir might get his bane at last2 and merrily now will ,i die with the ,king though ,i was naught merry to wed him2,e and she entered the burning palace and died with the ,king and his men4 ,the motive here is the same as in the objectionable episode in ,wagner1 but it is presented more forcibly and1 at the same time1 less offensively--or1 at least1 with less show of moral depravity4 ,but the sin is speedily expiated4 ,fricka1 the patron goddess of marriage1 demands that ,siegmund shall become her victim2 and ,fricka's right cannot be gainsaid by the representative of ,law4 ,wotan pronounces the oath that ,fricka demands4 ,the ,volsung is doomed2 the plan of the god frustrated4 ,the first act of the tragedy is complete2 the second stage of the development of ,wotan's tragical character is entered upon4 ,these are the essential features of that stage3 ,in despair the god surrenders his plan1 invokes the consequences of his guilty deed1 and pronounces a blessing on the inimical agency which has been established for his punishment4 ,he turns his longing gaze towards that outcome of the terrible conflict in which he became involved because of his greed of power1 which his own wisdom1 clarified by the mystic words of ,erda1 recognizes as inevitable4 ,unhappily for the popular understanding of the tragedy1 the scene in which this stupendously significant phase in the celestial action of the drama is disclosed is one that is generally sacrificed to theatrical exigencies4 ,it is presented in the long address in which ,wotan countermands the order previously given for the death of ,hunding1 and commands that the death-mark be placed on ,siegmund4 ,from this recital we learn that the ,valkyrior had been born to ,wotan by ,erda as part of his scheme to perpetuate his dominion4 ,they were to fill ,valhalla with heroes against the great battle which he knew would come4 ,we also learn that as ,wotan had begotten a new race1 in the hope of preventing the baneful ring from falling again into the hands of ,alberich1 so ,alberich1 in turn1 had begotten a son to labor for its return4 ,but as ,alberich had foresworn love1 he wooed a woman with gold4 ,again1 here in the counter-plot1 the greed of gold usurps the place sanctified to love4 ,thus there are pitted against each other the ,volsungs1 beloved progeny of the god1 and ,hagen 7whom we shall meet actively engaged in the contest later71 the loveless offspring of the ,niblung4 ,and the demi-god it is who is doomed4 ,wotan is called upon to perform his act of renunciation4 ,as things go in the theatre1 his recital is thought overlong and undramatic1 and the thoughtless laugh at the spectacle of a sad god4 ,can we forget that it is at this supreme moment that the god embodies that which is at once the loftiest and the most profoundly melancholy conception of the ,germanic conscience8 ,he recognizes the necessity and the justice of the destruction of his race4 ,listen to his words3 ,begone1 then1 and perish1 ,thou gorgeous pomp1 ,thou glittering disgrace ,of godhood's grandeur6 ,asunder shall burst ,the walls ,i built6 ,my work ,i abandon1 ,for one thing alone ,i wish-- ,the end-- ,the end-- 7,he pauses in thought47 ,and to the end ,alb'rich attends6 ,now ,i perceive ,the secret sense ,of the ,vala's 'wildering words3 ',when ,love's ferocious foe ,in rage begetteth a son1 ,the night of the gods ,draws near anon4',f ,and now observe how the logic of ,wagner's constructive scheme marshals the symbols of the chief things which are in ,wotan's thoughts while he contemplates past1 present1 and future--the wicked cause and the terrible effect4 ,the curse1 with death in its train1 confronts him3 ,illustration3 score the ,nomir and their all-wise mother revisit his fancy3 ,illustration3 score the ceaseless1 tireless energy of the ,niblung1 which will not cease till the work of destruction be complete1 pursues him with its rhythmical scourge as the ,furies pursued ,orestes3 ,illustration3 score and the image of ,valhalla rises in his far-seeing mind1 not as a castle in its present grandeur 7see ,chapter ,i471 but in ruins2 the rhythm of the musical symbol is shattered2 its solid1 restful1 simple major harmony is destroyed3 ,illustration3 score ,all this because of the accursed gold 7closing cadence a74 ,the daughter to whom the god confides the whole depth of his misery is of all his daughters the dearest4 ,she has no higher ambition than to be the embodiment of ,wotan's will4 ,unconsciously to both1 the god1 in his divine resignation1 is merely prefiguring the sacrifice to which1 in the providence of a higher power than the ,lord of ,valhalla1 that daughter has been chosen4 ,but the god has not yet learned the full bitterness of his cup4 ,he loves the ,volsung1 and is obliged to destroy at a blow the object of his love and the agent of his plan4 ,in doing this the irresistible might of law bears down his will4 ,that will is known to ,brnnhilde4 ,in defiance of ,wotan's commands she attempts to shield the ,volsung2 and to bring the combat between ,hunding and ,siegmund to the conclusion inexorably demanded by that law of purity which the hero unwittingly violated1 the god is himself compelled to interfere1 and to cause the sword1 designed as the symbol of the ,volsung power1 to be shattered on the spear with which ,wotan exercises dominion4 ,love1 for a second time1 feels the weight of ,alberich's curse4 ,now the beloved daughter falls under the condemnation of the law4 ,but the god is becoming unconsciously an agent in a plan of redemption1 which belongs to a loftier ethical scheme than was possible before4 ,wotan is about to disappear as an active agent from the scene4 ,his plot is wrecked4 ,the representative of his will1 the object of his tenderest paternal affection1 unknown to him1 but inspired wholly by a love void of all selfishness1 is about to take up the task surrendered by the god1 and carry it out to a conclusion different from and yet like that imagined by the god4 ,before the punishment is visited upon her1 the intensity of that love1 turned through sympathy towards ,sieglinde1 has for a moment endowed her with prophetic powers4 ,she hails the hero yet unborn1 and persuades ,sieglinde to save her own life for his sake4 ,then she accepts her punishment4 ,she is bereft of her divinity1 put into a magic sleep1 and left by the way-side to be the prey of the first passer-by4 ,but the love of the father1 awakened to tenfold power by the bitterness of his own fate and the knowledge that his child's disobedience was but the execution of his own will1 shields her from dishonor by surrounding her with a wall of fire1 which none but a freer hero than the god himself1 and one for whom the divine spear has no terrors1 shall pass4 ,the god's egotism is completely broken1 the reconciliation between his offended majesty and the offender established4 ,the punishment of ,brnnhilde is but the chastisement of love4 ,can there be any doubt of this after the musical proclamation contained in the finale of ,die ,walkre8 ,,vi4 ,i am presuming1 to a great extent1 upon the reader's familiarity with the incidents of the dramas constituting the tragedy4 ,it is the action which takes place where we have not been in the habit of looking for it that ,i am seeking to discover4 ,siegfried1 the second drama of the trilogy1 is almost wholly devoted to preparation for the fateful outcome4 ,to this fact is due much of its cheerfulness of tone4 ,it is a period of comparative rest4 ,the celestial plot has entered upon a new phase1 and in this drama the new combination of characters is formed for the development of that new phase4 ,the ethical drama which the play symbolizes might be described as follows3 ,the hero has been born and bred under circumstances which have developed his freedom in every direction4 ,the representative of the evil principle seeks to direct his heroic powers towards an advancement of the sinister side of the counter-plot2 but in vain4 ,by his own efforts he endows himself with the magic sword1 and in the full consciousness of his free manhood he achieves for himself the adventures and the happiness which were denied to the god4 ,he gains the ring and tastes the delight of love4 ,at first ,siegfried appears simply as a wild forest lad1 who has grown up with no sympathetic acquaintance beyond the beasts and birds with which he is wont to associate in their haunts4 ,in this character the composer pictures him musically by means of the merry hunting-call which he is supposed to blow on his horn 7see ,chapter ,i474 ,most of the music which is associated with him in the first act of the drama1 in which this horn-call enters so largely1 is markedly characteristic of the impetuous nature of the forest lad1 with his contempt for dissimulation and his rough1 straight-forward energy4 ,but a different side of his nature is disclosed when1 having learned the story of his birth and acquired possession of his father's sword1 remade by himself1 he becomes a part of the sylvan picture of the second act1 which lends so much charm to the ,siegfried drama4 ,here1 again1 is scenic music of the kind which each of the dramas possesses1 and which has so often set us to wondering at ,wagner's marvellous faculty for juggling with the senses--making our ears to see and our eyes to hear4 ,siegfried has been brought before the cave--where ,fafner1 in the form of a dragon1 is guarding the ring and the hoard--by ,mime1 who has planned that the lad shall kill the dragon and then himself fall a victim to treachery4 ,siegfried throws himself on a hillock at the foot of a tree and listens to nature's music in the forest4 ,and such music6 ,music redolent of that sweet mystery which peopled the old poets' minds with the whole amiable tribe of fays and dryads and wood-nymphs4 ,the spirit which lurks under gnarled roots and in tangled boughs1 in hollow trees and haunted forest caves1 breathes through it4 ,the youth is brooding over the mystery of his childhood1 and he utters his thoughts in tender phrases1 while the mellow wood-wind instruments in the orchestra identify his thoughts with the dead parents whom he never knew4 ,he wonders what his mother looked like1 and pathetically asks whether all human mothers die when their children are born4 ,suddenly the sunlight begins to flicker along the leafy canopy2 a thousand indistinct voices join in that indefinable hum1 of which1 when heard in reality and not in the musician's creation1 one is at a loss to tell how much is actual and how much the product of imagination1 both sense and fancy having been miraculously quickened by the spirit which moves through the trees4 ,at last all is vocal1 and ,siegfried's ear is caught by the song of the bird to which we too have been listening4 ,in his longing for companionship he wishes that he might understand and converse with his feathered playmate4 ,might he not if he were able to whistle like the bird8 ,now note the nave touch of musical humor with which ,wagner1 the tragedian1 enlivens the scene4 ,siegfried cuts a reed growing beside a rivulet and fashions a rude pipe out of it4 ,he listens1 and when the bird quits singing he attempts to imitate its wood-note wild4 ,but his pipe is too low in pitch and out of tune4 ,he cuts it shorter and raises its pitch half a tone4 ,again he cuts it1 with the same result2 then squeezes it impatiently1 and renders it still more out of tune and harsh4 ,he throws it away1 confesses his humiliation by the bird1 then reaches for his horn4 ,with its merry call he wakes the echoes1 disturbs the sleep of the dragon1 and precipitates the combat which ends in his equipment with ,tarnhelm and ring1 and his receipt of the injunction from the bird 7which now he understands through the magic of the dragon's blood touching his lips7 to slay ,mime and waken ,brnnhilde on the burning mountain4 ,we now catch our last glimpse of ,wotan as a personage in the play4 ,he has not been active in the plot since he was obliged to destroy his own handiwork4 ,twice he appeared in the character of a seemingly unconcerned spectator wandering over the face of the earth1 and once he even offered to help ,alberich recover the ring from ,fafner4 ,he aroused the dragon and suggested that ,alberich warn him of threatened danger1 and ask the ring as a reward4 ,his present concern is to learn whether the danger threatening the gods is yet to be averted4 ,by chanting of powerful runes he summons ,erda1 of ancient wisdom4 ,but she refuses to speak4 ,now he tells her that he no longer grieves over the approaching doom of the gods2 his will1 newly enlightened1 has decreed that the catastrophe shall overwhelm the gods1 but also that the world1 which in his despair he had surrendered to the hate of the ,niblung1 shall become instead the heritage of the ,volsung who has won the ring4 ,a single act remains to be done3 the free-agency of ,siegfried must be tested4 ,the youth follows his feathered guide up the mountain to find the promised bride4 ,wotan bars his way with his spear4 ,siegfried hews the shaft through the middle4 ,on the runes cut into that shaft rested ,wotan's dominion4 ,they were the bond by which he governed4 ,its destruction symbolizes the approaching end of the old order of things4 ,the musical phrase1 typical of that compact1 accompanies him1 in broken rhythm1 as he gathers up the pieces of the spear and departs4 ,prophecy and fulfilment are indicated by the recurrence of the phrase of ,erda and her daughters1 the ,nornir1 and its inversion1 which symbolizes the twilight of the gods4 ,,vii4 ,all the adventures of ,siegfried in this part of the drama1 from the forging of the sword to the awaking of ,brnnhilde1 ,wagner derived in almost the exact shape in which he presents them from the ,scandinavian legends which tell of ,sigurd4 ,in the death-like sleep of ,brnnhilde1 the stream of fire around her couch1 the passage of that stream by ,siegfried1 as later in the immolation of the heroine1 there are so many foreshadowings of the mystery of the ,atonement that ,i scarcely dare attempt a study of it4 ,let me but call attention to the fact that the fiery wall in the old legends always denotes the funeral pyre2 that it was once customary to light the pyre with a thorn1 and that when the ,eddas tell us that ,odin put his child ,brynhild to sleep by pricking her in the temple with a sleep-thorn1 the meaning is that she died4 ,i have said a foreshadowing of the ,atonement because these things are old ,aryan possessions--much older than ,christianity4 ,the infernal river of the ,greeks1 which ,alkestis had to cross when she went to the under-world on her mission of salvation1 had a ,greek name 7,pyriphlegethon71 which meant fire-blazing4 ,it was not1 however1 to lose myself in such speculations that ,i called up the old story1 but simply to show with what fine insight into dramatic possibilities ,wagner studied his sources4 ,in the old ,icelandic tale1 some gossiping eagles1 whose language ,sigurd had come to understand by drinking of the blood of ,regin and ,fafnir1 told him of a maiden who slumbered in a hall on high ,hindarfiall surrounded with fire4 ,thither ,sigurd went1 penetrated the barrier of fire1 found ,brynhild1 whom he thought to be a knight until he had ripped up her coat of mail with his sword1 and awakened her4 ,learning the name of her deliverer1 ,brynhild cried out3 ,hail to thee1 ,day1 come back6 ,hail1 sons of the ,daylight6 ,hail to thee1 daughter of night6 ,look with kindly eyes down ,on us sitting here lonely1 ,and give us the gain that we long for4,g ,,viii4 ,we reach the last drama of the trilogy4 ,in the joy of his new-found love ,siegfried forgets his mission4 ,brnnhilde teaches him wisdom 7recall how the ancient ,teutons reverenced the utterance of their women71 and he gives her the baneful circlet as the badge of his love4 ,he goes out in search of adventure1 and1 separated from the protecting influence of woman's love1 he falls a victim to the wiles of ,hagen1 the ,niblung's son4 ,alberich had warned ,hagen that so great was ,siegfried's love for ,brnnhilde that were she to ask it he would restore the ring to the ,rhine nixies4 ,this must be prevented1 and ,hagen has a plan ready4 ,with a magic drink he robs ,siegfried of all memory of ,brnnhilde1 and the hero1 to gain a new love1 puts on his ,tarnhelm and rudely drags ,brnnhilde from her flame-encircled retreat4 ,to ,wagner's skill in expressing the miraculous in music is due the effectiveness of two scenes highly essential to the ethical scheme of the tragedy and very difficult to present in a dramatic form4 ,the music accompanying the drink alone makes it possible to realize that the fateful change has taken place in ,siegfried4 ,he looks into the horn and pledges ,brnnhilde3 ,were ,i to forget ,all thou gav'st1 ,one lesson ,i'll never ,unlearn in my life4 ,this morning-drink1 ,in measureless love1 ,brnnhild1 ,i pledge to thee6,h ,niemann puts the horn from his lips1 and we know that a change has taken place in the man4 ,it is the mystical property of that weird music that brings us this consciousness4 ,we could not believe it if acts or words alone were relied on to make the publication4 ,again has love been wronged4 ,the guilt of a tragic hero may be unconsciously committed2 still he must yield to fate4 ,chance puts the opportunity in the way of ,siegfried to prevent the ring from falling into the hands of the powers inimical to the gods2 but he proudly puts it aside because the demand of the ,rhine daughters was coupled with a threat4 ,brnnhilde had also spurned the opportunity1 but in her case the motive was her great love for ,siegfried1 which made her prize the ring1 as its visible sign1 above the welfare of the gods4 ,that love1 misguided1 causes the death of the hero4 ,brnnhilde1 learning of ,siegfried's unconscious treachery1 gives her aid to the ,niblung's son4 ,only his death clears away the mystery4 ,then she expiates her crime and his with her life1 and from her ashes the ,rhine daughters recover the ring4 ,the ultimate question concerning the correctness or effectiveness of ,wagner's system must be answered along with the question1 ,does the music touch the emotions1 quicken the fancy1 fire the imagination8 ,if it does this we may1 to a great extent1 if we wish1 get along without the intellectual process of reflection and comparison conditioned upon a recognition of his themes and their uses4 ,but if we do this1 we will also lose the pleasure which it is the province of memory sometimes to give2,i for a beautiful constructive use of the themes is for reminiscence4 ,the culminating scene of the tragedy furnishes us an illustration of the twofold delight which ,wagner's music can give3 the simply sensuous and the sensuous intensified by intellectual activity4 ,i refer to the death of ,siegfried4 ,as ,siegfried1 seated among ,gunther's men1 who are resting from the chase1 tells the story of his life1 we hear a recapitulation of the musical score of the second and third acts of ,siegfried the drama4 ,he starts up in an outburst of enthusiasm as he reaches the account of ,brnnhilde's awaking1 which is interrupted by the flight of ,wotan's ravens1 who go to inform the god that the end is nearing4 ,he turns to look after the departing birds1 when ,hagen plunges a spear into his back4 ,the music to which the hero1 regaining his memory1 breathes out his life1 is that ecstasy in tones to which ,siegfried's kiss had inspired the orchestra in the last scene of the preceding drama4 ,why is this8 ,because1 as ,siegfried's last thoughts before taking the dreadful draught which robbed him of his memory were of ,brnnhilde1 so his first thoughts were of her when his memory was restored4 ,before his dying eyes there is only the picture of her awaking1 till the last ray of light bears to him ,brnnhilde's greeting3 ,brnnhild6 ,hallowed bride6 ,awaken6 ,open thine eyes6 ,who again has doomed thee ,to dismal slumber8 ,who binds thee in bonds of sleep8 ,the awakener came1 ,his kiss awoke thee2 ,once more he broke ,the bonds of his bride2 ,then shared he ,brnnhild's delight6 ,ah6 those eyes ,are open forever6 ,ah6 how sweet ,is her swelling breath6 ,delicious destruction-- ,ecstatic awe-- ,brnnhild gives greeting--to me6 ,this reminiscent love-music gives way to the ,death ,march1 which1 from a purely structural point of view1 is an epitome of much that is salient in the musical investiture of the entire tetralogy1 yet in spirit is a veritable apotheosis1 a marvellously eloquent proclamation of antique grief and heroic sorrow4 ,this music loses nothing in being listened to as absolute music4 ,never mind that in obedience to his system of development ,wagner has passed the life of ,siegfried in review in the score4 ,the orchestra has a nobler mission here4 ,it is to make a proclamation which neither singers nor pantomimists nor stage mechanism and pictures can make4 ,the hero is dead6 ,what does it mean to him8 ,union with ,brnnhilde--restoration to that love of which he had been foully robbed4 ,what to his fellows in the play8 ,the end of a ,teutonic hero of the olden kind4 ,he is dead2 they are awed at the catastrophe and they grieve2 but their grief is mixed with thoughts of the prowess of the dead man and the exalted state into which he has entered4 ,a ,valkyria has kissed his wounds1 and ,wotan has made place for him at his board in ,valhalla4 ,there1 surrounded by the elect of ,wotan's wishmaidens1 he is drinking mead and singing songs of mighty sonority--,viking songs like ,ragnar ,lodbrok's3 ,we smote with swords4 ,is there room here for modern mourning2 for shrouding crape and darkened rooms and sighs and tears and hopeless grief8 ,no4 ,the proper expression is a hymn1 a pan1 a musical apotheosis2 and this is what ,wagner gives us until the funeral train enters ,gutrune's house and the expression of sorrow goes over to the deceived wife4 ,but what does this march mean to us who have been trying to study the real meaning of the tragedy8 ,the catastrophe which is to usher in the new era of love4 ,search for a musical symbol for the redeeming principle4 ,it cannot appear in its fulness till the old order1 changing1 gives place to the new2 but still we may find it in the prevision of a woman to whom the shadow of death gave mystical lore4 ,a new song was put into the mouth of ,sieglinde when ,brnnhilde acclaimed her child1 yet unborn1 as destined to be the loftiest hero of earth4 ,she poured out her gratitude in a prophetic strain in which we may1 if we wish1 hear the ,valkyria celebrated as the loving1 redeeming woman of the last portion of the tragedy4 ,out of that melody1 and out of a phrase in the love duet in which ,brnnhilde blesses the mother who gave birth to the glorious hero1 grew the phrase in which1 in ,die ,gtterdmmerung1 ,brnnhilde1 ,valkyria no longer1 is symbolized in her new character as loving woman4 ,but when the flames from ,siegfried's funeral pile reach ,valhalla1 when by a stupendous achievement the poet-composer recapitulates the incidents of the tragedy in his orchestral postlude1 while pompous brass and strident basses depict the destruction of ,valhalla1 the end of the old world of greed of gold and lust of power1 this melody1 the symbol of redeeming love1 soars high into ethereal regions on the wings of the violins1 and its last transfigured harmonies proclaim the advent of a new heaven and a new earth under the dominion of love4 ',tis the ,woman's ,soul leading us upward and on3 ,illustration3 score ,,footnotes3 ,d ,walhall4 ,germanische ,gtter und ,heldensagen4 ,felix ,dahn and ,therese ,dahn4 ,kreutznach1 #ahhh4 ,e ,vide ,magnusson and ,morris4 ,f ,professor ,dippold's translation4 ,g ,dippold4 ,wagner's poem1 ,the ,ring of the ,nibelung1 p4 #fa4 ,h ,professor ,dippold's translation4 ,i ,see page #ce4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,parsifal4 ,the last of ,wagner's dramas is not only mystical in its subject1 but also in the manner in which it confronts the critical student4 ,in ,bayreuth it exerts a most puissant influence upon the spectator and listener2 but when one has escaped the sweet thraldom of the representation1 and reflection takes the place of experience1 there arise a multitude of doubts touching the essential merit of the drama4 ,these doubts do not go to the effectiveness of ,parsifal as an artistic entertainment4 ,if they did they would arise in the course of the representation and hinder enjoyment4 ,against what1 then1 do they direct themselves8 ,an answer to this question must precede our study of the drama4 ,i4 ,parsifal is not a drama in the ordinary acceptation of the term2 yet it is a drama in the antique sense4 ,it is a religious play2 but1 again1 not a religious play in the general sense in which ,wagner's mythological tetralogy may be said to be a religious play2 it is specifically a ,christian play4 ,it is contemplation of it in this light which gives the student pause4 ,there are indications in the records of ,wagner's intellectual activity that he wrote it to take the place of two dramas which had occupied his mind many years before ,parsifal was written4 ,the first of these dramas1 which he sketched in #ahdh1 was a tragedy entitled ,jesus of ,nazareth2 the second1 which he planned in #ahef1 was entitled ,the ,victors1 and was based on a ,hindu legend4 ,its hero was to be ,chaka-,munyi--the ,buddha4 ,in a manner1 it may be said1 these two dramas were blended in ,parsifal1 but1 strangely enough1 that blending was accomplished so as to bring into prominence a conception of religion more in harmony with the feeling of ,buddhistic1 or medival asceticism than with the sentiments of modern ,christianity4 ,wagner's ,jesus of ,nazareth was a purely human philosopher who preached the saving grace of love1 and sought to redeem his time from the domination of conventional law--the offspring of selfishness4 ,his philosophy was socialism imbued with love4 ,wagner's ,buddha1 on the other hand1 was the familiar apostle of abnegation and asceticism4 ,the heroism of the lovers ,ananda and ,prakriti was to have been displayed in their voluntary renunciation of the union1 towards which love impelled them4 ,they were to accept the teachings of the ,buddha1 take the vow of chastity1 and live thereafter in the holy community4 ,when ,wagner came to write his ,christian drama he put aside his human ,christ1 accepted the doctrine of the ,atonement with all its mystical elements1 but endowed his hero with scarcely another merit than that which had become the ideal of monkish theologians under the influence of fearful moral depravity and fanatical superstition1 as far removed from the teachings and example of his original hero as the heavens are from the earth4 ,after having eloquently proclaimed the ethical idea which is at the basis of all the really beautiful mythologies and religions of the world1 and embodied it in ,the ,flying ,dutchman1 ,tannhuser1 and ,the ,niblung's ,ring--the idea that salvation comes to humanity through the redeeming love of woman--he produced a drama in which the central idea1 so far as the dramatic spectacle is concerned1 is a glorification of a conception of sanctity which grew out of a monstrous perversion of womanhood1 and a wicked degradation of womankind4 ,this1 ,i say1 is the case so far as the dramatic spectacle is concerned4 ,of course there is much more in ,parsifal than a celebration of the principal feature in medival asceticism1 but ,i am speaking now of the things which fill the vision during representation1 which inspire a feeling of awe at the time1 but afterwards irritate and confound the reflective faculty4 ,so far as the spectacle is concerned1 the heroism of ,parsifal is not that of the ,divine ,being1 of whom ,wagner does not hesitate to make him a symbol1 but that of a desert recluse4 ,this contradiction of the modern sense of propriety is accentuated by the means resorted to by ,wagner for the sake of identifying the hero with his lofty prototype4 ,in the third act1 scenes are borrowed from the life of ,christ1 and ,parsifal is made to play in them as the central figure2 ,kundry anoints the feet of the knight and dries them with her hair2 ,parsifal baptizes ,kundry and absolves her from sin4 ,these acts1 and the resistance of ,kundry's seductions in the ,magic ,garden1 make up1 for the greater part1 the sum of the acts of a hero in whom the spectator wishes to see1 on the one hand1 some of the attributes of the heroes of the profoundly poetical romances from which the subject-matter of the drama was drawn1 or1 on the other1 some evidences of that nobility and that gentleness of conduct1 and that fine sanity of thought which marked the life of ,him of whom it has been said that he was ,the best of men ,that e'er wore earth about him-- ,a soft1 meek1 patient1 humble1 tranquil spirit1 ,the first true gentleman that ever breathed4 ,these things1 taken in connection with the adoration of the ,holy ,grail1 which makes up so much of the action of the drama1 and the worship of the ,sacred ,lance1 seem to us of the nineteenth century like little else than relics of the monkish superstitions of the early ,middle ,ages4 ,under them1 it is true1 there is much deep philosophy1 and the symbolism of the drama is surcharged with meaning2 but a recognition of the paradox is necessary1 the better to appreciate the fact that the essence of ,parsifal lies less in what is seen on the stage than in what the things seen stand for4 ,to appreciate the work at its full worth it must be accepted for the lesson which it inculcates1 and that lesson must be accepted in the spirit of the time which produced the materials of the drama4 ,the ethical idea of the drama is that it is the enlightenment which comes through conscious pity that brings salvation4 ,the allusion is to the redemption of man by the sufferings and compassionate death of ,christ2 and that stupendous tragedy is the pre-figuration of the mimic tragedy which ,wagner has constructed4 ,the spectacle to which he invites us1 and with which he hopes to impress us and move us to an acceptance of the lesson underlying his drama1 is the adoration of the ,holy ,grail1 cast in the form of a mimicry of the ,last ,supper1 bedizened with some of the glittering pageantry of medival knighthood and romance4 ,the trial to which the hero is subjected is that with which the folk-lore of all times and peoples1 as well as their monkish legends1 have made us familiar3 the hero proves his fitness for his divine calling1 and accomplishes it by withstanding the temptations which ,ulysses withstood on the ,delightful ,island where he met ,calypso1 to which ,tannhuser succumbed in the grotto of ,venus4 ,though ,parsifal endures a separation of its poetic1 scenic1 and musical elements less graciously than any other drama of its creator1 it is the music which must be relied on to bring about a reconciliation between modern thought and feeling1 and the monkish theology and relic worship which ,i have discussed4 ,the music reflects the spirit of that ,divine ,passion which is the kernel of theological ,christianity4 ,there is extremely little music in the score1 which is descriptive of external things--less than in any other of ,wagner's works except ,die ,meistersinger4 ,it is like that of ,tristan und ,isolde1 which deals much more with mental and psychic states than with the outward things of nature4 ,it is music for the imagination rather than the fancy4 ,in listening to it one can be helped by bearing in mind the distinction so beautifully made by ,ruskin3 ,the fancy sees the outside1 and is able to give a portrait of the outside1 clear1 brilliant1 and full of detail4 ,the imagination sees the heart and inner nature1 and makes them felt1 but is often obscure1 mysterious1 and interrupted in its giving out of outer detail4 ,fancy1 as she stays at the externals1 can never feel4 ,she is one of the hardest-hearted of the intellectual faculties1 or1 rather1 one of the most purely and simply intellectual4 ,she cannot be made serious1 no edge-tool but she will play with2 whereas the imagination is in all things the reverse4 ,she cannot be but serious2 she sees too far1 too darkly1 too solemnly1 too earnestly ever to smile4 ,there is something in the heart of everything1 if we can reach it1 that we shall not be inclined to laugh at4 ,now observe1 while as it penetrates into the nature of things1 the imagination is pre-eminently a beholder of things as they are1 it is1 in its creative function1 an eminent beholder of things when and where they are not2 a seer1 that is1 in the prophetic sense1 calling the things that are not as though they were2 and forever delighting to dwell on that which is not tangibly present4444 ,fancy plays like a squirrel in its circular prison and is happy2 but imagination is a pilgrim on the earth1 and her home is in heaven4 ,the fundamental elements of the music of ,parsifal are suffering and aspiration4 ,when they are apprehended the ethical purpose of the drama becomes plain4 ,but not till then4 ,,ii4 ,the investigations of scholars determined long ago that the legend which is at the bottom of ,wagner's drama is formed of two portions which were once distinct4 ,one of these portions is concerned with the origin and wanderings of the ,holy ,grail prior to the time when it became the object of the ,quest which occupied so much of the attention of the knights of ,king ,arthur's ,round ,table2 the second portion is concerned with that ,quest4 ,the relative age of the two portions of the legend and the genesis of each have caused much controversy1 which has thrown a great deal of light on medival civilization4 ,we are little concerned in that controversy1 however1 except so far as it enlightens us as to the real nature of the legend1 and helps us to understand how the ,grail became the loftiest symbol of ,christian faith1 and the ,grail ,quest the highest duty of ,christian knighthood4 ,formerly it was believed that the ,grail was the product of ,christian legends which had become grafted on the ,arthurian romances4 ,now it is asserted1 and with much show of probability1 that the ,grail1 like those romances1 is ,celtic in origin1 and became what it is represented in the legend by being endowed with a symbolism which originally it lacked4 ,for our view of the case1 since we are not concerned with literary criticism1 this1 too1 is a matter of indifference1 except so far as it helps us to understand a proposition much broader and more significant4 ,the ,holy ,grail and the ,seeker after it are both relics of what1 long before ,christianity was in existence1 was a universal possession among ,aryan peoples4 ,each has a multitude of prototypes among the mythological apparatus and personages of the peoples of the ,indo-,european family4 ,to the class of popular heroes which figure in the tales whose essential elements ,von ,hahn has formulated in his ,arische ,aussetzung und ,rckkehr ,formel 7see ,chapter ,,iv471 ,parsifal belongs as well as ,siegfried4 ,a parallel between the two might be carried through many details of their early life and riper adventures4 ,both are born to a mother1 far from her home1 of a father who is dead2 both are brought up in a wilderness2 both are in youth passionate and violent of disposition2 both are thrown for companionship on the animals of the forests in which they are reared4 ,there are other elements held in common by the tales of which ,wagner makes no mention in his version of the ,percival legend4 ,a significant one is the mending of a broken sword1 a talisman1 which act in the old ,percival legends1 as well as in the tale of ,siegfried1 is the sign of the hero's election to a high mission2 but this need not now detain us4 ,wagner has been much criticized for changing the name of his hero from ,percival or ,percivale1 as we know it in ,english literature1 and ,parzival1 as he found it in the greatest of all the ,grail epics1 that of ,wolfram von ,eschenbach1 to ,parsifal4 ,criticism of this kind is often wasted4 ,in making the change ,wagner exercised a poet's privilege for an obvious purpose--he made the name an index of his hero's moral character4 ,the suggestion came from ,grres4 ,according to this scholar1 whose derivation has long been set aside as fanciful1 ,fal in the ,arabian tongue signifies foolish1 and ,parsi pure one4 ,by changing the order of the words we obtain ,parsi-fal--pure1 or guileless1 fool4 ,it is thus that ,kundry expounds his name to the hero in ,wagner's drama1 when she tells him the story of his birth4 ,in ,wolfram's poem he is also called foolish because his mother dressed him in motley when he left her1 broken-hearted1 to go out into the world in search of knighthood4 ,the ,french ,perceval signifies simply one who goes through the ,valley4 ,a ,welsh tale of at least equal antiquity with the preserved ,french romances calls the hero ,peredur1 which has been interpreted into the seeker after the basin or the dish1 this signification being again in harmony with the principal incident of the ,french form of the legend1 greal in old ,french meaning a dish4 ,wolfram1 under the influence of his model1 claims nothing for the name of his hero except that it means right through the middle1 but ,meyer-,markau1 who seems to have accepted the theory that the tale is originally ,keltic1 strove to give dramatic propriety to the name by pointing out that in ,welsh1 ,breton1 and ,cornish1 par signifies lad2 syw1 in ,welsh1 clad or decorated1 and fall1 scantily1 poorly1 ill1 foolishly1 wretchedly4 ,out of these words1 then1 he compounded ,par-syw-fall1 a lad who is ill-clad4 ,plausibility1 if nothing else1 is lent to this derivation by the circumstances under which the hero's mother sent him out into the world4 ,in the hope that the rude treatment which would be heaped upon him would return him to her arms1 she dressed him in fool's clothing3 ',thorenkleider soll mein ,kind ,an seinem lichten ,leibe tragen3 ,schlgt und rauft man ihn darum1 ,so kommt er mir wohl wieder4' ,weh1 was litt die ,arme da6 ,nun nahm sie grobes ,sacktuch her ,und schnitt ihm ,hemd und ,hose draus ,in einem ,stck1 das bis zum ,knie ,des nackten ,beins nur reichte4 ,das war als ,narrenkleid bekannt4 ,oben sah man eine ,kappe4,j ,,iii4 ,interesting as this speculation is1 however1 we are now concerned only with one element of it4 ,whatever his name may signify1 it is obvious that ,parsifal was an innocent1 a simplex1 a fool4 ,it is this trait which enables us to identify him with his prototype in ,aryan folk-lore4 ,he is the hero of what the ,english folk-lorists call ,the ,great ,fool ,tales1 and the ,germans ,dmmlingsmrchen4 ,in the following outline of a very old poetic narrative of the ,kelts1 called by students ,the ,lay of the ,great ,fool1 may be found all that part of ,parsifal's youthful history which1 in ,wagner's drama1 is learned either from his own lips or those of ,kundry3 ,once there were two knightly brothers1 of whom one was childless while the other had two sons4 ,a strife breaks out between them1 and the father is slain with his sons4 ,the wicked knight then sends word to the widow that if she should give birth to another son1 he1 too1 must be put to death4 ,she does give birth to a son1 and to save his life sends him into the wilderness to be reared by a kitchen wench who has a love-son4 ,the lads grow up strong and hardy4 ,one day the knightly lad runs down a deer1 kills it1 and of its skin makes himself a motley suit of clothes4 ,he slays his foster-brother for laughing at him in his strange dress1 catches a wild horse1 rides to his uncle's palace1 and though when asked his name he can only answer ,great ,fool1 he is recognized4 ,thus his adventures begin4 ,he avenges the wrongs of his mother4 ,this ,great ,fool is the original ,seeker after the ,grail4 ,,iv4 ,among the oldest manuscripts which contain the ,quest story there are two which make no mention of the ,holy ,grail as a ,christian relic or symbol4 ,the most interesting of these is ,welsh1 and is known as the ,mabinogi 7i4 e41 the ,juvenile ,tale7 of ,peredur1 the ,son of ,evrawc4 ,it is an ,arthurian story1 and the majority of its adventures are identical with those of ,percival4 ,its beginning is a parallel of ,the ,lay of the ,great ,fool4 ,the ,holy ,grail of the ,percival romances is replaced by a bleeding lance1 a bloody head on a salver1 and a silver dish4 ,these talismans are brought into the hall of a castle belonging to a lame king1 and are greeted with loud lamentations by the assembled knights4 ,in the ,french romances the talismans are the ,holy ,grail and the bleeding lance1 the latter being identified1 as in ,sir ,thomas ,malory's ,morte d',arthur1 with the spear with which ,longinus opened the side of the crucified ,christ4 ,as ,percival is condemned in these romances for a long time to wander in fruitless search of this castle1 because having seen the wonders he did not ask their meaning1 so ,peredur1 in the ,welsh romance1 is cursed in the ,court of ,king ,arthur for a similar neglect4 ,had he asked1 the lame king would have got well of his wound1 and ,peredur would have proved his fitness to avenge the death of his cousin1 who was the lame king's son1 and had been killed by the sorceresses of ,gloucester4 ,after many trials1 tallying with those of ,percival in the ,french romances and ,parzival in ,wolfram's poem1 ,peredur finds the castle again 7where he had on his first visit united the pieces of a broken sword and cut through an iron staple1 as ,siegfried split the anvil71 is recognized as the nephew of the king1 and avenges his cousin's death by leading ,arthur and his knights against the sorceresses of ,gloucester4 ,there are some allusions to the ,christian religion in the old tale1 but essentially it is pagan4 ,the bloody head and bleeding lance are part of ancient ,british legendary apparatus4 ,a bleeding lance1 says ,mr4 ,alfred ,nutt1,k is the bardic symbol of undying hatred of the ,saxon4 ,here it bled till the death of ,peredur's cousin was avenged4 ,the bloody head was the head of that cousin4 ,v4 ,we find in ,parsifal on his entrance only a thoughtless1 impetuous forest lad1 unlearned in the affairs of life1 utterly unconscious of its conventions--in short1 another young ,siegfried4 ,he is the hero of the ,great ,fool stories1 but in the process of ,christianizing the character a new meaning has been given to the epithet4 ,he is a chosen vessel for a divine deed1 because he is a pure or guileless fool4 ,in this1 though the suggestion was derived from the old ,aryan folk-tales1 we are obliged to see a new1 a ,christian symbolism1 the spirit of which may be found in ,christ's words1 ,whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of ,god as a little child shall not enter it4 ,in ,wagner's conception of the legend it was necessary that the hero be one as guiltless of all knowledge of sin as he was of the necessity and nature of salvation4 ,enlightenment was to come to him through compassion or fellow-suffering1 and this enlightenment was to enable him in turn to resist temptation and bring surcease of suffering to ,amfortas1 ,kundry1 and the community of ,grail knights4 ,in his musical phrase as it enters the drama with him one may hear chiefly his youthful energy1 but also a certain innate dignity1 a germ of nobility which contains the possibility of the stupendous proclamation which greets him on his entrance into the ,castle of the ,grail in the last act4 ,but there is another element in the typical music of ,parsifal which chiefly we recognize in its bright1 assertive1 militant rhythm4 ,it is the chivalric element which may also be noticed in the brilliant phrase with which ,lohengrin1 the son of ,parsifal1 is greeted by the populace in the earlier drama of ,wagner's4 ,this kinship need not be set down as fanciful4 ,there are few features of ,wagnerian study more interesting than the tracing of spiritual and material parallels between the composer's own melodies4 ,as a writer uses forms of expression which resemble each other to express related ideas1 so ,wagner has frequently recurred in his later works to melodic phrases and modulations which he had used with like intent many years before4 ,in two cases he made a direct quotation4 ,hans ,sachs's allusion to the story of ,tristram and ,iseult in ,act ,,iii4 of ,die ,meistersinger is accompanied by the fundamental melody of ,tristan und ,isolde1 and the swan which ,parsifal kills comes fluttering across the scene and dies to a reminiscence of the swan harmonies in ,lohengrin4 ,in his character as the mystically chosen ,agent of the ,grail and the instrument of salvation1 ,parsifal is also typified in the music by the phrase to which the oracular promise which appeared on the ,holy ,vessel is repeated in the first scene1 and again with great solemnity in the ceremony of the ,adoration of the ,grail4 ,,vi4 ,prototypes of the ,quest of the ,grail and of the ,quester have been found in popular tales which have nothing to do with ,christianity4 ,until the talisman became a symbol of religion1 the object of the search for it was simply the performance of a sacred duty by the hero to his family1 by avenging a death1 healing the lingering illness of a relative1 or in some instances 7which connect the ,grail legends with stories of the ,barbarossa kind7 to bring freedom to individuals whose lives have been miraculously and burdensomely prolonged4 ,the talisman itself is to be found in a multitude of forms1 from the dawn of literature down to today4 ,to recognize it we must study its properties rather than its shape or material4 ,in the legend of the ,holy ,grail it is the chalice used by ,christ ,at the last sad supper with his own1 in which afterwards his blood was caught4 ,in one form of the legend--that which is most familiar1 because of ,tennyson's ,idyls of the ,king--this cup is carried to ,great ,britain by ,joseph of ,arimathea and deposited at ,glastonbury4 ,in another form1 which was that adopted by ,wagner1 it is given into the keeping of ,titurel1 who builds a sanctuary for it on ,monsalvat 7the ,mountain of ,salvation71 where it is guarded by a body of knights obviously organized on the model of the ,knights ,templars of the ,crusades4 ,it is not always a cup4 ,wolfram von ,eschenbach describes it as a jewel4 ,but whether stone or cup 7and we shall find prototypes of both forms7 its miraculous properties are of two kinds4 ,the first of these properties is purely physical3 the talisman feeds its possessor2 the second is spiritual3 the talisman is a touchstone1 an oracle4 ,in the perfect form of the legend both these properties are united1 as we see in ,wagner's drama3 the ,grail chooses those who are to serve it1 and nourishes them miraculously4 ,it also predicts the coming of ,parsifal4 ,this is the case1 too1 in ,wolfram's poem1 where the names of the elect appear in glowing letters upon the jewel1 and its guardian knights1 whom ,wolfram calls ,templeisen1 are fed by it1 this miraculous power being refreshed every ,friday by the coming of a dove bringing the sacred host and placing it upon the jewel1 which ,wolfram calls the ,graal1 in defiance of the etymology which makes the word mean dish4 ,wolfram calls it lapsit exillis2 but ,wolfram1 though he composed the grandest of all medival poems1 could neither read nor write1 so his ,latin has caused not a little brain-cudgelling among the learned4 ,a most ingenious guess is that of ,professor ,martin1 who thinks lapsit exillis is a corruption of lapsi de ,clis--that is1 the stone of him who fell from heaven4 ,in support of this there is the poem about the contest of the minstrels in the ,wartburg1 which describes the ,grail as a jewel which fell from the crown of ,lucifer when the ,archangel ,michael tore it from his head4 ,this origin of the ,grail connects it with the black stone in the ,kaaba at ,mecca1 which was originally white1 but has been blackened by the sins of mankind4 ,the legend says that it was once the angel set as a guard over ,adam4 ,he was cast down from heaven in the form of a stone for being derelict in duty4 ,the ,grail's property of furnishing sustenance is the possession of so many talismans of ancient story that it would be a waste of space to enumerate them all4 ,the most striking examples must suffice4 ,a horn was the earliest drinking-vessel4 ,the horn which the nymph ,amalthea gave to ,hercules1 whose memory we still preserve in those pretty toys called cornucopias--horns of plenty--is easily recalled in this connection4 ,the ,grail is nothing else than the ,philosopher's ,stone which was to transmute all baser metals into gold2 it is the stone which ,noah was commanded to hang up in the ,ark that it might give out light2 it is the goblet which ,oberon gave to ,huon of ,bordeaux1 which in the hands of a good man became filled with wine2 it is the golden cup which was given to ,hercules by the sun-god ,helios2 it is the cup of ,hermes1 which played a part in the ,eleusinian mysteries2 it is the magic napkin or table-cloth of ,aryan fairy-lore which produced all manner of food simply for the wishing2 it has its fellows in three of the thirteen ,rarities of ,kingly ,regalia which were preserved in ,arthur's ,court at ,caerleon1 viz41 the horn of ,bran the ,hardy of the ,north--the drink that might be desired of it would appear as soon as wished for2 the ,budget or ,basket of ,gwyddno with the ,high ,crown--provision for a single person if put into it multiplied a hundredfold2 the table-cloth 7in one manuscript it is called the dish7 of ,rhydderch the ,scholar--whatever victuals or drink were wished thereon were instantly obtained4 ,it is the stone in the serpent's tail told about in the old ,welsh story of ,peredur1 the virtue of which was that it would give as much gold to the possessor as he might desire4 ,it is the magic ring ,draupnir of ,scandinavian mythology which every ninth night dropped eight other rings of equal weight and fineness4 ,but of prototypes of this class the most striking in its relation to the ,holy ,grail is found in the legendary lore of the primitive home of the ,aryan race4 ,long ago the ,holy ,grail was the ,golden ,cup of ,jamshid1 ,king of the ,genii in ,persia1 the power of which extended his career over seven hundred years1 and then left him to die because he failed to look upon it for ten days4 ,here we have a parallel of the legend of ,joseph of ,arimathea1 of whom it is said that the ,jews having thrown him into a subterranean prison after he and ,nicodemus had prepared the body of ,christ for burial1 ,christ appeared to him and brought the chalice which he had used at the ,last ,supper1 and in which ,joseph had caught the blood which flowed from his wounds4 ,the sight of this dish kept ,joseph alive forty-two years1 until he was released by the ,emperor ,vespasian1 who had been miraculously cured of leprosy in his youth by a touch of the kerchief of ,veronica with which ,christ wiped his face while on his way to ,calvary4 ,like ,joseph of ,arimathea1 ,wagner's ,titurel lives in his grave1 being sustained by the ,grail until ,amfortas refuses longer to unveil it4 ,the second property of the ,grail1 its spiritual property1 is also found in the talismans of ancient folk-lore4 ,it was possessed by the silver cup which ,joseph in ,egypt had put into ,benjamin's sack that he might be brought back to him4 ,up1 follow after the men2 and when thou dost overtake them1 say unto them1 ,wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good8 ,is not this it in which my lord drinketh and whereby1 indeed1 he divineth8,l ,there is a ,hebrew legend 7told in the ,clavicula ,salomonis7 to the effect that the supernatural knowledge of ,solomon was recorded in a volume which ,rehoboam inclosed in an ivory ewer and deposited in his father's tomb4 ,on repairing the sepulchre1 some wise men of ,babylon discovered the cup1 and having extracted the volume1 an angel revealed the key to its mysterious writing to one ,troes1 a ,greek1 and hence the stream of occult science which has so beneficially unfolded the destinies of the ,west4,m ,there is a parallel story in ,greek literature telling how1 warned by the ,delphic oracle1 ,aristomenes secreted an article while the ,lacedemonians were storming the fortress of ,mount ,ira4 ,the article was to be a talisman for the future security of the ,messinians4 ,when1 later1 the talisman was exhumed it was found to be a brazen ewer containing a roll of finely-beaten tin on which were inscribed the mysteries of the great divinities4,n ,the ,holy ,grail is a divining-cup3 it speaks oracularly1 like its prototypes4 ,it was not only the chalice from which ,christ drank at the ,last ,supper1 but also the dish which discovered ,judas as the future betrayer of his master3 ,he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish1 the same shall betray me4,o ,,vii4 ,the ,grail romances1 as we possess them1 were written within the fifty years compassing the last quarter of the twelfth and the first quarter of the thirteenth centuries--that is to say1 while the third and fourth crusades were in progress1 and the memory of the supposed discoveries of the sacred cup and lance were still fresh in the minds of ,europeans4 ,this fact furnishes ample suggestion as to how such talismans as ,i have mentioned became transformed into the relics of ,christ's passion4 ,it was by a literary process that has always been familiar to the world4 ,the species of belief or superstition which inspired the transformation is not yet dead4 ,if we are to believe ,father ,ignatius the miracle of the ,grail vision was repeated but recently at ,llanthony ,abbey in ,wales1 where an ,episcopal monk saw the chalice shining through the oaken doors of the cabinet which enclosed it4 ,that is a ,christian form of the belief2 evidences of a pagan may be observed in nearly all civilized communities almost any date4 ,when you see a baby cutting its teeth upon a red bit of bone1 or ivory shaped like a branch of coral and tricked out with bells1 you see a relic of an unspeakably ancient superstition closely allied to the belief in these miraculous talismans4 ,when you see a baby with a string of red coral beads around its neck you see another4 ,in ,wagner1 as in ,tennyson1 the ,grail shines red3 ,fainter by day1 but always in the night ,blood-red1 and sliding down the blacken'd marsh ,blood-red1 and on the naked mountain-top ,blood-red1 and in the sleeping mere below ,blood-red4 ,now note this truth of vast significance3 the essential element in the ,grail1 whether seen as a chalice or as a salver containing a head1 is the blood4 ,the meaning of this need not be sought far4 ,the human imagination cannot be projected into the past sufficiently far to picture the time when the awful idea of a bloody atonement did not confront humanity4 ,hence it is that in pagan mythology blood is the symbol of creative power1 as the cups1 horns1 dishes1 ewers1 were symbols of fecundity1 abundance1 and vivification4 ,the essence of the ,grail myth is the reproductive power of the blood of a slain god4 ,the application which lies so near in a study of the ,christian symbolism of the ,grail cannot fail4 ,i omit it in order to trace the evolution of the idea in a pagan talisman whose history the ingenuity of ,dr4 ,gustave ,oppert1 a ,german savant1 has disclosed to us4 ,when ,perseus cut off the head of the ,medusa he placed the bleeding member on the sward near the sea-coast4 ,the blood transformed the grass that it dyed into a red stone which was found to have marvellous healing power4 ,this belief is expressed in the poems descriptive of the virtues of stones which are attributed to ,orpheus4 ,dr4 ,oppert traces the record touching the curative powers of coral into the book of a ,christian bishop of the twelfth century1 and thence into a ,latin work printed in ,strassburg in #adgc1 in which allusions to the ,orphic songs and the ,christian religion are blended4 ,wolfram's alleged model1 ,kyot1 professes to have derived his account of the ,grail from the book of a pagan called ,flegetanis1 written in ,arabic and deposited at ,toledo4 ,now1 ,dr4 ,oppert finds an ,arabic physician and philosopher of the tenth century who describes coral as having a strengthening and nourishing influence upon the heart1 which belief seems recognized again in a bit of medival etymology which compounds the word of cor and alere4 ,medival ,latin poems express the belief that peculiar properties of sustenance are possessed by coral1 and1 finally1 in a book entitled ,musum ,metallicum it is defined as a memorial of the blood of ,christ4 ,in its physical attributes coral and the ,grail are now identical4 ,had ,dr4 ,oppert wished1 he might have gone further and quoted ,pliny's remark that the ,indian soothsayers and diviners look upon coral as an amulet endowed with sacred properties and a sure preservative against all dangers2 hence it is that they equally value it as an ornament and as an object of devotion4,p ,here spiritual properties are attributed to it2 but also physical4 ,pliny says that calcined coral is used as an ingredient for compositions for the eyes2 that it makes flesh 7very significant this7 in cavities left by ulcers4 ,in his day it was hung about the necks of infants to preserve them against danger4 ,the ,romans thought that it preserved and fastened the teeth of children when hung about their necks4 ,paracelsus prescribed coral necklaces as preservatives against fits1 sorcery1 charms1 and poison1 and an old ,english writer makes it disclose the presence of sickness in a wearer by turning pale and wan4 ,here it is a touchstone1 and this superstition has penetrated to the ,united ,states4 ,in our day ,i have been told by devoted mothers that coral beads strengthen the eyes4 ,when the present ,crown-prince of ,italy was born in ,naples the municipality presented the royal babe with a coral cradle4 ,thus much for the genesis of the ,grail1 its ,quest1 and its ,quester4 ,we have seen that they are all relics of a time antedating ,christianity2 but that fact only adds interest to them1 for even in their pagan guises they show those potential attributes which adapted them to receive the lofty symbolism which they acquired under the influence of ,christianity4 ,,viii4 ,it is in the prelude to the drama that the fundamental elements of suffering and aspiration are most eloquently proclaimed4 ,the visible symbol of suffering among the personages of the play is ,amfortas4 ,he1 too1 has come into the ,christianized legend from the secular romances and folk-tales4 ,in the earlier forms he is simply the representative of unsatisfied vengeance1 symbolized in the bardic emblem of the bleeding lance4 ,in the ,french romances and ,wolfram's poem he is a royal fisherman--a singular fact1 which critics with a taste for hidden meanings have sought to explain by references to the circumstance that in the early ,church a fish was a symbol for ,christ1 the letters composing its name in ,greek1 ,,ichthys1 being the initial letters of the brief but comprehensive creed1 ,iesous ,christos1 ,theou ,yios1 ,soter 7,jesus ,christ1 ,god's ,son1 ,saviour74 ,but always1 even in the ,welsh tale1 he is a sufferer whose healing depends on the asking of a question by a predestined hero4 ,in the ,mabinogi of ,peredur and the ,french romances the question goes simply to the meaning of the talismans which are solemnly displayed4 ,wolfram deepens the ethical significance of the question immeasurably by changing it to ,what ails thee1 uncle8 ,it is the sympathy thus manifested that brings the fisher-king's sufferings to an end2 and the failure to ask the question on the first visit1 through a too literal interpretation of the advice given while ,parzival was receiving his education in chivalry1 is the cause of the long wanderings and many trials which test and temper the religious nature of ,parzival4 ,wagner1 by ignoring the question which plays so important a role in all the other versions1 and making the healing of ,amfortas depend upon a touch of the sacred lance1 has gained a theatrical effect at the expense of a profoundly beautiful ethical principle4 ,he has also laid himself open to a charge of inconsistency which1 strangely enough1 seems to have escaped the attention of his many inimical critics in ,germany4 ,the prohibited question is the dramatic motif upon which the story of ,percival's son1 ,lohengrin1 is reared3 ,nie sollst du mich befragen1 ,noch ,wissens ,sorge tragen1 ,woher ich kam der ,fahrt1 ,noch wie mein ,nam' und ,art6 ,the reason of the prohibition may be learned from ,wolfram von ,eschenbach4 ,the sufferings of ,amfortas having been needlessly prolonged by ,parzival's failure to ask the healing question1 the ,knights of the ,grail thereafter refused to permit themselves to be questioned3 ,als die ,taufe nun geschen1 ,fand am ,grale man geschrieben3 ',welchen ,templer ,gottes ,hand ,fremdem ,volk zum ,herren gbe1 ,fragen sollt' er widerraten ,nach seinem ,namen und ,geschlecht1 ,und dann zum ,recht ihm helfen4 ,wird die ,frage doch gethan1 ,so bleibt er ihnen lnger nicht4' ,weil der gute ,amfortas ,so lang im bittern ,schemerzen lag1 ,und ihn die ,frage lange mied1 ,ist ihnen alles ,fragen leid3 ,all des ,grales ,dienstgesellen ,wolln sich nicht mehr fragen lassen4,q ,wagner utilized the motif in ,lohengrin1 but ignored it in ,parsifal4 ,the suffering of ,amfortas1 which came upon him because he1 the ,king of the ,grail1 fell from the estate of bodily purity enjoined by the rules of the order1 receives more eloquent expression than any of the other feelings which enter the drama4 ,in ,wagner's philosophical scheme it1 as well as the tortures of conscience felt by ,parsifal when ,kundry's impure kiss awakens him to consciousness of transgression1 recalls the vicarious suffering of ,christ on the ,cross4 ,in the personal history of ,parsifal1 furthermore1 it is associated with the death-agonies of his mother1 who died because he left her to go in search of knighthood4 ,the name of this mother ,wagner changes so that it becomes a symbol of pain4 ,it is ,herzeleide--that is1 ,heart's-sorrow1 or ,heart's-suffering1 the antithesis of our sweet ,english word ,heart's-ease4 ,the phrases which give the predominant mood of agony and pain to the music of the drama1 which1 as ,i have already said1 reflect the spirit of theological ,christianity1 salvation through sacrifice1 are these3 ,first4 ,the melody to which in the ceremony of the ,adoration of the ,grail the sacramental formula is pronounced3 ,take ye ,my ,body1 take ,my ,blood1 in token of our ,love4 ,second4 ,the personal melody of ,amfortas4 ,third4 ,the symbol of ,herzeleide4 ,parsifal's mother1 does not enter the drama1 but is only spoken of2 yet a typical phrase is allotted to her1 and is introduced for the first time under circumstances that are profoundly poetical and pathetic4 ,parsifal is being questioned by ,gurnemanz4 ,to all interrogations save one he has the single answer1 ,i do not know4 ,asked his name1 he answers3 ,once ,i had many1 but now ,i remember none4 ,this answer is accompanied by the ,herzeleide phrase4 ,to find the clue to this somewhat enigmatic proceeding resort must be had to ,wagner's model ,wolfram1 where it is said of the lad's mother that ,a thousand times she said tenderly3 ',bon fils1 cher fils1 beau fils4' ,these were the names which ,parsifal once knew but had forgotten4 ,they are associated in his mind with his mother1 and therefore the allusion is accompanied by the ,herzeleide phrase4 ,fourth4 ,the phrase to which in the memorial ceremony of ,christ's suffering the words are sung3 ,for a world that slumbered ,with sorrows unnumbered ,he once ,his own blood offered4 ,it is this phrase that lends such great poignancy to the music which accompanies ,parsifal and ,gurnemanz as they walk towards the ,castle of the ,grail4 ,in the prelude suffering has its expression in the first of these phrases1 whose concluding figure in the second part reaches an expression of agony like the cry that rent the air of ,calvary even as the curtain of the temple was rent in twain3 ,eli1 ,eli1 lama sabachthani8 ,aspiration is proclaimed by the symbol of the ,grail itself1 the familiar ,amen formula of the ,dresden ,court ,church1 an ethereal phrase which soars ever upward towards the zenith of tonality4 ,the melody of ,faith is marked by lofty firmness1 and derives a peculiar emphasis from successive repetition in remote keys4 ,for the prelude1 whose melodic material has been thus marshalled1 we have ,wagner's own poetic exposition3 ,strong and firm does ,faith reveal itself1 elevated and resolute even in suffering4 ,in answer to the renewed promise the voice of ,faith sounds softly from dimmest heights--as though borne on the wings of the snow-white dove--slowly descending1 embracing with ever-increasing breadth and fulness the heart of man1 filling the world and the whole of nature with mightiest force2 then1 as though stilled to rest1 glancing upward again towards the light of heaven4 ,then once more from the awe of solitude arises the lament of loving compassion1 the agony1 the holy sweat of the ,mount of ,olives1 the divine sufferings of ,golgotha2 the body blanches1 the blood streams forth and glows now with the heavenly glow of blessing in the chalice1 pouring forth on all that lives and languishes the gracious gift of ,redemption through ,love4 ,for him we are prepared1 for ,amfortas1 the sinful guardian of the shrine who1 with fearful rue for sin gnawing at his heart1 must prostrate himself before the chastisement of the vision of the ,grail4 ,shall there be redemption from the devouring torments of his soul8 ,yet once again we hear the promise and--hope6 ,,ix4 ,the first act of the drama treats of the election of the hero1 the guileless simpleton of the talismanic oracle4 ,in the second stage of the action the hero is proved by temptation4 ,all the elements here are derived from legendary stories1 but in their combination ,wagner has proceeded with remarkable dramatic power1 freedom1 and ingenuity4 ,the apparatus is magical4 ,klingsor1 a pervasive personage in medival sorcery2 ,kundry1 the repulsive messenger of the ,grail no longer1 but a supernaturally beautiful siren2 a magic garden and castle1 and a bevy of maidens1 whose office it is to stimulate the senses by suggesting an appeal to all of them at once 7they are half human1 half floral7--these are the agencies of ,parsifal's temptation4 ,the prototype of the scene in old mythologies and folk-lore is a visit to a bespelled castle where generally the hero succumbs to sensual weakness of some kind2 he eats of proffered food and loses his speech2 or he asks a question which is tabu2 or he fails to ask a question which is commanded2 or falls asleep2 or fails to bring away a talisman which has opened the castle to him2 or he falls as ,tannhuser fell4 ,as a rule the castle vanishes at the end of the adventure1 as it does in ,parsifal1 when the hero resists ,kundry's love-spell1 seizes the lance which the magician launches against him1 and with it makes the sign of the cross and pronounces a formula of exorcism4 ,often the purpose of the visit is to release a damsel who is bespelled or imprisoned4 ,students of comparative folk-lore have found the mythological essence of the stories of this class to lie in a visit to the underworld4 ,siegfried achieved an analogous adventure when he penetrated the wall of fire1 and awakened ,brnnhilde from the spell of sleep in which she was held4 ,klingsor is remotely connected with the history of two other dramas of ,wagner4 ,in the poem describing the ,contest of ,minstrelsy held in the ,wartburg which ,wagner blended with the legend of ,tannhuser1 ,klingsor is a magician and minstrel of ,hungary1 and to him ,heinrich von ,effterdingen1 otherwise ,tannhuser1 appeals when defeated by ,wolfram von ,eschenbach1 who is not only the author of the poem ,parzival1 but also the tuneful minstrel who sings a woful ballad to the evening star in ,wagner's opera4 ,in his epic ,wolfram makes ,klingsor a nephew of the renowned magician ,virgilius of ,naples4,r ,cyriacus ,spangenberg1 who wrote a book on the ,art of the ,master-singers in #aeih1 devotes several pages to ,klingsor1 describing him as the greatest master-singer of his age1 who met all comers in poetical combat and overthrew them to the number of fifty-two4 ,he was finally confounded by ,wolfram von ,eschenbach1 who discovered his dependence on the ,powers of ,evil1 and put both him and his familiar1 a devil called ,nazian1 to shame by singing the glories of the ,son of ,god become ,man4 ,kundry1 says ,mr4 ,alfred ,nutt1 is ,wagner's greatest contribution to the legend4 ,she is the ,herodias whom ,christ1 for her laughter1 doomed to wander till ,he come again4 ,the manner in which ,wagner compounded this1 his most striking and original dramatic character1 is the most marvellous of his poetical achievements in the drama4 ,kundry draws her elements from the ,grail romances1 from ,christian legends1 from fairy tales1 and from the profoundest depths of the poet's imagination4 ,in the ,welsh tale her prototype is the hero's cousin1 who is under a spell1 and in accordance with the popular tale formula appears as a loathly damsel until her kinsman achieves the vengeance demanded by family ties4 ,then she appears in her true form as a handsome youth4 ,in ,wolfram1 ,kundrie la ,sorcire is only the ,grail ,messenger1 and as such is hideous of appearance2 the temptress of the ,magic ,garden is a beauteous damsel named ,orgeluse4 ,wagner united both attributes in his creation4 ,as a penitent1 seeking atonement for sin committed1 she is a loathly damsel in the service of the ,grail4 ,as a siren she is a tool of ,klingsor1 to whose power she is subject while asleep4 ,she has innumerable prototypes in fairy-lore1 who are released from wicked spells by the kisses of handsome princes1 the fidelity of husbands1 or the granting of their wills1 as in ,the ,marriage of ,sir ,gawaine4 ,in ,wagner1 the dissolution of the spell releases her from a double curse4 ,the suggestion to make use of the ,herodias legend lies near enough in both the ,mabinogi of ,peredur and ,wolfram's epic4 ,the ,templeisen1 as ,wolfram calls his ,knights of the ,grail1 were an order obviously patterned after the ,knights ,templars1 who were accused among other things of having secretly worshipped a head which they credited with the virtues of the talismans that ,i have discussed4 ,their patron saint was ,john the ,baptist1 and when the vessel of green glass1 so long and piously revered as the santo catino1 was brought back by crusaders seven hundred years ago1 it was deposited in the ,chapel of ,st4 ,john at ,genoa4 ,a relic of the ,john the ,baptist cult has survived among the ,knights ,templar1 a branch of the ,order of ,free ,masons1 to this day4 ,that the talisman of a bloody head upon a salver in the ,welsh tale should have suggested the ,herodias legend is obvious enough4 ,wagner's transformation of the legend1 accomplished for the purpose of identifying his ,kundry with ,herodias1 is extremely suggestive and felicitous4 ,according to the old tale1 ,herodias was in love with the prophet of the ,new ,dispensation4 ,after the dance before ,herod and its awful consequences1 she secretly crept to the head upon the salver for the purpose of covering it with tears and kisses4 ,at that moment a blast issued from the dead lips which sent ,herodias flying off into space4 ,thus she is still driven forward1 permitted to rest only from midnight to dawn1 when she sits cowering under willow and hazel copses1 and bemoans her fate4 ,in ,wagner she becomes a ,wandering ,jewess4 ,she saw ,christ staggering under the burden of the ,cross and laughed4 ,his glance fell upon her1 and doomed her to wander ceaselessly without the sweet refuge of tears1 subject to the powers of evil1 yet longing to make atonement by deeds of virtue4 ,these characteristics ,wagner developed with marvellous dramatic power in the music which he associates with her1 and which is equally wild and hysterical1 whether it picture her flying along on a horse doing errands in the service of the ,grail1 or in one of those fits of mad laughter to which the curse makes her subject4 ,yet ,kundry1 to proceed with ,mr4 ,nutt1 would find release and salvation could a man resist her love spell4 ,she knows this4 ,the scene between the unwilling temptress1 whose success would but doom her afresh1 and the virgin ,parsifal thus becomes tragic in the extreme4 ,how does this affect ,amfortas and the ,grail8 ,in this way3 ,parsifal is the pure fool1 knowing naught of sin or suffering4 ,it had been foretold of him that he should become 'wise by fellow-suffering1' and so it proves4 ,the overmastering rush of desire unseals his eyes1 clears his mind4 ,heart-wounded by the shaft of passion1 he feels ,amfortas' torture thrill through him4 ,the pain of the physical wound is his1 but far more1 the agony of the sinner who has been unworthy of his high trust1 and who1 soiled by carnal sin1 must yet daily come in contact with the ,grail1 symbol of the highest purity and holiness4 ,the strength of the new-born knowledge enables him to resist sensual longing1 and thereby to release both ,kundry and ,amfortas4 ,x4 ,in spite of this1 however1 and more than this1 in spite of all the religious mysticism with which the work can be infused by the analyst and interpreter1 ,i cannot but question the right of ,parsifal to be considered as in any sense a reflex of the religious feeling of to-day4 ,it is beautiful in much of its symbolism1 and it is profound2 but it is too persistently medival in its dramatic manifestations to satisfy the intelligence of the nineteenth century4 ,the adoration of the relics of ,christ's passion1 and the idea that all human virtues are summed up in celibate chastity1 were products of an age whose theories and practices as regards sex relationship can have no echo in modern civilization4 ,wolfram von ,eschenbach's married ,parzival1 who clings with fond devotion to the memory of the wife from whose arms he had to tear himself in order to undertake the quest1 and who loses himself in tender brooding for a long time when the sight of blood-spots on the snow suggests to his fancy the red and white of his wife's cheeks1 seems to me to be a much more amiable and human hero than the young ascetic of ,wagner's drama4 ,,footnotes3 ,j ,parzival1 von ,wolfram von ,eschenbach4 ,dr4 ,gotthold ,btticher4 ,berlin1 #ahhe4 ,k ,studies on the ,legend of the ,holy ,grail4 ,david ,nutt4 ,london1 #ahhh4 ,l ,genesis xliv41 #d and #e4 ,m ,mr4 ,price's ,preface in ,warton's ,history of ,english ,poetry1 vol4 i4 ,n ,mr4 ,price's note in ,warton1 vol4 i4 ,o ,matthew xxvi41 #bc4 ,p ,natural ,history1 ,book ,,xxxii41 chap4 ii4 ,q ,btticher's ,translation ,book ,,xvi4 ,r ,the stories concerning ,virgil and his connection with the ,black ,art are admirably discussed in ,mr4 ,j4 ,s4 ,tunison's study1 ,master ,virgil1 the ,author of the neid as he seemed in the ,middle ,ages4 ,second ,edition4 ,robert ,clarke ,co4 ,cincinnati1 #ahij4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,by ,,anna ,,alice ,,chapin ,,wonder ,,tales ,,from ,,wagner4 ,told for ,young ,people4 ,illustrated4 ,post #hvo1 ,cloth1 ,ornamental1 #a4be4 ,miss ,chapin's idea of reducing to a compact and readable form the more or less involved stories of ,wagner's operas is one that met with pronounced success in her first book1 ,the ,story of the ,rhinegold4 ,although announced as for young people1 it was received with marked favor by older lovers of ,wagner1 who found in it an intelligent1 consecutive1 and concise guide to the narrative covered by the ,nibelungen cycle4 ,wonder ,tales from ,wagner is planned upon much the same lines1 and forms an invaluable companion volume to its predecessor4 ,told with singular simplicity and grace1 these stories of the old gods have all the charm of modern fairy-tales and are1 moreover1 of great assistance in the study of ,wagner and ,wagner's operas4 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,rhinegold4 7,der ,ring des ,nibelungen47 ,told for ,young ,people4 ,illustrated4 ,post #hvo1 ,cloth1 ,ornamental1 #a4be4 ,the legend of the ,rhinegold is both interesting and dramatic1 and it has lost nothing of either quality in the hands of ,miss ,chapin4 ,it may have been written with the hope of explaining the music of ,wagner to young folks1 but we imagine that old people will find in it a great deal of much-needed information4--,n4 ,y4 ,herald4 ,the stories on which ,wagner founded his great operas are told in a clear1 beautiful1 story-telling manner that claims and holds the attention4 ,the musical motif of each development of the stories is given1 and greatly adds to the value of the book4--,outlook1 ,n4 ,y4 ,,harper ,,brothers1 ,,publishers ,,new ,,york ,,and ,,london ,illustration ,either of the above works will be sent by mail1 postage prepaid1 to any part of the ,united ,states1 ,canada1 or ,mexico1 on receipt of the price4 ,,the ,,browning ,,letters ,,the ,,letters ,,of ,,robert ,,browning ,,and ,,elizabeth ,,barrett ,,browning1 #ahde-ahdf4 ,illustrated with ,two ,contemporary ,portraits of the ,writers1 and ,two ,facsimile ,letters4 ,with a ,prefatory ,note by ,r4 ,,barrett ,,browning1 and ,notes1 by ,f4 ,g4 ,,kenyon1 ,explanatory of the ,greek ,words1 ,two ,volumes4 ,crown #hvo1 ,cloth1 ,ornamental1 ,deckel ,edges and ,gilt ,tops1 #e4jj2 ,half ,morocco1 #i4ej4 ,many good gifts have come to ,english literature from the two ,brownings1 husband and wife1 besides those poems1 which are their greatest4 ,the gift of one's poems is the gift of one's self4 ,but in a fuller sense have this unique pair now given themselves by what we can but call the gracious gift of these letters4 ,as their union was unique1 so is this correspondence unique4444 ,the letters are the most opulent in various interest which have been published for many a day4--,academy1 ,london4 ,we have read these letters with great care1 with growing astonishment1 with immense respect2 and the final result produced on our minds is that these volumes contain one of the most precious contributions to literary history which our time has seen4--,saturday ,review1 ,london4 ,we venture to think that no such remarkable and unbroken series of intimate letters between two remarkable people has ever been given to the world4444 ,there is something extraordinarily touching in the gradual unfolding of the romance in which two poets play the parts of hero and heroine4--,spectator1 ,london4 ,,harper ,,brothers1 ,,publishers ,,new ,,york ,,and ,,london ,illustration ,the above work will be sent by mail1 postage prepaid1 to any part of the ,united ,states1 ,canada1 or ,mexico1 on receipt of the price4