OF MUSIC PAST AND PRESENT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20092, 22 November 1930, Page 13

OF MUSIC PAST AND PRESENT.

♦ IBPSCZJLX.I.T "WaiTTlir FOS THE PP. ■

[By Strad.]

In ray last articlo it was mentioned that the last member of the Wagner family liad now disappeared. With Siegfried Wagner's death arises the pertinent question as to the future of the Bayreuth Festivals and the manner of their continuance. For the festival to take place next year (not, as was stated, during the present) the only definite act indicating the policy of the management lias so far been the appointment of Bignor Toscanini, the renowned conductor, who has already produced in Bayreuth Wagner's "Tannhauser" with remarkable success 011 lines of liis own that renovated, as it .were, one of his earliest operas. It is not yet disclosed what other men arc to share his duties as conductor, for, singlehanded, such a load of responsibility would surely land any man in the madhouse. Toscanini, besides, fills already other engagements. Can, under present conditions, the prestige of the festivals be maintained, deprived of the intense devotion, the genius and idealism the living Wagners brought to bear upon their management? Nowadays, almost all these operas, including even the once prohibited '"Ring," may be heard in sundry capitals, very finely in some. Some (30 years ago, owing to a railway accident, I found myself stranded one line afternoon in a small and very pretty inland town of Germany, far away yet from my destination. Well laid out amidst picturesque scenery, with fountains playing in charming gardons and crowning all a royal palace or two in immediate neighbourhood, it impressed one as ail idvllie place to live and dream in ; with hardly a sound to disturb the peace. .ts was lla.vreiith, and there once upon a time the Maroraves of Ansbach Bayreuth held splendid court in imitation of Trianon and Versailles. To kill time I drifted to the theatre in the evening, and to my amazement found it to be a building fit for a £reat capital, with four galleries and a huge stage. The- decorative features had suffered from age, otherwise it seemed ready lor grand opera. I have always !>eeu convinced in my own mind that somebody suggested to Wagner that Bayreuth witli this fine Opera House at dis; o' ul would be the ideal location for the contemplated festivals. It was probably found on closer investigation that to make it suitable lor modern stage-craft requirements would involve a greater outlay than was needed for a simpler nsw build- | ins. such as Was ultimately erected. Looking back upon these early days, it seems still a marvel how the money | for the vast enterprise was found by the impecunious Wagner. Opinions were still divided for and against him, and he was a man always more likelv .to gain enemies than friends. Of course, his devoted partisan, King Ludwig 11., of Bavaria, was a powerful ally, and, 110 doubt, his influence if not his money made the big sums inquired available in the end. And so the pre.it project was realised, thanks to Wagner's indomitable courage and Socn the youth of Germany was inflamed hy his creations and made him their idol. How long it lasted I am unable to say, but during the first few festivals at least, all the great German operatic singers and instrumentalists gave their services for nothing but the honour of aiding a grand idea and a great genius.

Should it be difficult to guess who it was that thus answered the question what he considered had been tho essential means to his education, that he was educated by the treasures. in galleries of Art, by the master works of music his mother sang, by an open eye and ear, and a greed for every book he could lay his hands on, sadly interrupted by imprisonment in dens called schools, where he learnt nothing.

"The British Musician and Musical News" acknowledging that Richard Specht'a "Johannes Brahms" is a great book, makes the following biting comment:

''Books of this kind aro a rather distressing exposure of those we ourselves write on music and musicians. A book by an Englishman comes along and we think it good; but when we compare it with one like Specht's, we Bee at once that ours is just good, nothing more, just as are the compositions of our creative musicians. There is as much difference between the literature on Brahms written by Englishmen and that written by German authors as there is between the music of Brahms and the music of Stanford and Parry. We in England are out of the circle of inspiration, for our composers afford us no adequate material. And we are also out of the line of tradition, for the great gap in English music from Purcell up to the close of the nineteenth century destroyed whatever capacity we may have had for individual sustained thought concerning music and musicians. Even our writings in musical periodicals and in the newspapers prove that." Do we ever appreciate foreigners' works like our own?

It is reported that the English operatic composer Isidore do Sara has acquired the rights of Du Mauricr*3 ''Trilby" to serve aa libretto for a new opera now to bo composed. Origin* ally it was offered to Puccini, who, after lengthy consideration, declined, presumably because he shuddered at the very thought of "Trilby's' * discordant notes, when the hypnotic spell was lifted. In our days worse things are tolerated in music without a wink. We have grown less squeamish, to be sure.

For years America has been the El Dorado of musical celebrities in particular. New York papers of quito recent date contain Concert announcements by such stars as Kreisler, Paderewski, Schumann-Heinck, and several other vocal favourites, all on their own. With the alarming news of a financial debacle now sent over, one cannot help wondering whether that means the closing of the door against the sorely afflicted profession of music all the world over.