THE GERMAN OPERA.

Shannon News, 14 June 1927, Page 1

THE GERMAN OPERA.

MOZART TO WAGNER. Having at the. preceding lecture referred to the operatic genius in Italy, Germany, England and France, Mr. Ernest Dennis, A.R.C.M., mentioned in opening his discourse on Monday evening, under W.E.A. auspices, that quite a number of operas had been composed by Russians, including Tschaikovsky and Rimsky-Koraskov. Poland was represented by an opera written by Paderewski. Among the Americans were such operatic composers as Charles Wakefield Cadman, Frederick Converse, and Walter Damrosch. The only Spanish opera composer of whom anything was known was Granados.

Further consideration was given to the German school by Mr. Dennis, in the course of his lecture. He referred to the wonderful precocity of Mozart, who, at the age of five and a-half years, took part in a comedy, and at eight years was famed as a * prodigy throughout Germany and Austria. Mozart could compose music before he was able to write it down. The Emperor asked him to play a piece with one finger, which he did; then the Emperor put a piece of card-board over the keys and asked the boy to go through the movements of playing without seeing the notes, and young Mozart did this also. When asked to play a selection, lie gave a concerto by the Court composer. A tour was made in which the boy gave performances at Aix-la-Cliapelle, Strasbourg and Paris, playing on the organ and the violin. He was well received in England at nine years of age, when he composed his first concerto. About- this time much illness occurred in the family, and for two or three years they did not do much. At the age of 12, however Mozart composed a remarkable quintette, and not long afterwards, he composed a grand opera,' which was performed in 1769, under his own direction, at the palace of Salzburg, Mozart then being 13 years old. Subsequently he went to Florence, Home and Venice for further study and com,posing. After hearing Allegri’s Miserere in the Sistine Chapel, he wrote out practically every part of it on his return home in the afternoon. When his transcript was compared with the original, in the evening, he had only to make three small corrections. At 21 he was a skilled performer on three instruments, and had composed 289 pieces. Ljiter he produced the operas, “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni,” and “The Magic Flute.” Mozart died in 1791, at the age of 35. The funeral was one of almost abject poverty; a raging storm drove the followers back, and he was practically buried as a pauper. This great musician composed 623 different pieces, including vocal, instrumental, chamber and pianoforte music. Comparatively speaking, there had not been a more prolific composer. Speaking of Bach, the lecturer said that this composer was the son of a violinist, and received some training at the age of nine. He joined the Salzburg Cathedral choir, under Michael Haydn, brother of Joseph Haydn, and received gratuitous lessons in composition .

Weber had a literary talent, and idealised Mozart. His principal opera was * ‘ Die Freiscliutz.' ’ Another of his operas, was composed iii a great hurry, and Weber, who was suffering from over-worlc, died eight weeks after its initial production. Wagner was probably one of the most wonderful men in the operatic world. He was the first of his kind, and had never been replaced. Weber was more or less responsible for Wagner’s great art; Wagner used to be very near Weber when he was playing. Most of the work of Weber had been replaced by Wagner, who got his ideas from Weber, but surpassed him in every way. Wagner was born in 1813, at Leipsig, and his father died at an early age. The musical studies of the young man were casual; lie spent six months under a teacher, and was really a self-taught musician, like Hugo Wolf and Sir Ed-’ ward Elgar. He had a lot of disappointments in his early work; then he wrote“ The Flying Dutchman,,,“Tannhauser,” and “Lohengrin”. In 1848 he had to fiee from his country, and remained in exile till 1860, being considered a very bad political man at the time. By 1864 lie ' was practically ruined financially, and then the young King Ludw ; g took him under his protection. It was not long before he was driven out of Munich, on account of scandal, and lie went into Switzerland for a while. His son was at present in America, and was one of the brilliant men of that country. “Tie Ring of the Nibelungen” was one of the wonderful works that Wagner wrote, the 'whole of this work making four operas —“Das Rheingold,“ “Die Walkure,” (The Valkyries), “Siegfried, ” and “ Gotterdammei ung ’ 5 (The Twilight of the Gods). After “The RiTlg, ,, he wrote the religious work, “Parsifal. ” “Tannhauser ,, was a pro duction that would be heard from any repertory opera company. Wagner wrote all his own libretti —a task which no composer before him had attempted. He took the mythical stories of the past and wrote the music to suit the libretto. For the performance of “Lohengrin” he wrote 200 sheets of directions for every singer. He even directed the scenery, and no opera-com-poser before or since had been able to do that.

Mr. Dennis gave resumes of several of the most famous operas, and his lecture was listened to with intense interest .