Wagner at Bayreuth

By J. L. G.

The Wagner Library

Edition 1.0

J. L. G.

2 The Wagner Library

Contents

About this Title .......................................................................................................... 4Wagner at Bayreuth .................................................................................................. 5Notes ...................................................................................................................... 13

Wagner at Bayreuth

Articles related to Richard Wagner 3

About this Title

Source

Wagner at BayreuthBy J. L. G.

Scribners MonthlyVolume 12 Issue 3Pages 361-367Published in 1876

Original Page Images at Cornell University Library(http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABP7664-0012-60)

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This title contains 3990 words.Estimated reading time between 11 and 20 minutes.

Notes are indicated using parenthesis, like (1).Page numbers of the original source are indicatedusing square-bracketed parentheses, like [62].

J. L. G.

4 The Wagner Library

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[Gap: The first page of this article is unavailable from the mass-archive (1 page) ]

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Alberich gained possession of the bright and beautiful gold of the Rhine, the Rheingold,from which he made a ring that gave him power over all the Nibelungen. Thus he becametheir master, and forced them to collect for him the rich treasure of the Nibelungen, the chiefjewel of which was the Tarnhelm (helmet), by means of which one could assume any figurethat he pleased. The great cunning of the gods succeeded in the capture of Alberich, and hewas compelled to give the treasure as ransom for his life. The gods, knowing the power of thering, took that from him. Then he laid a curse upon it, that it should prove the ruin of all whoshould possess it. The giants forced it from the god Wotan, and left it on the Guita plain underthe guardianship of an enormous dragon. The soul and freedom of the Nibelungen lay buriedbeneath the body of the dragon. But Wotan could not expiate the wrong without committing anew injustice. Only a free will independent of the gods themselves, which could take uponitself all the fault and do penance for it, had it in its power to loose the enchantment, and thegods saw the capability of such a free will in man. They sought therefore to infuse theirdivinity into man, that they might raise his strength so high that he, conscious of this power,might withdraw himself even from the divine protection in order to do, according to his ownwill, what his mind suggested to him. So the gods educated men for this high purpose, to bethe expiators of their crime; and their object was to be attained when they had lost themselvesin this human creation—that is, when they must give up their direct influence to the freedomof human consciousness. Mighty races sprang from this seed, who steeled their strength instrife and conflict. At last Siegfried, the son of Siegmund and Sieglinda (twin brother andsister) was born. Siegmund was slain by Hunding, the enraged husband of Sieglinda. Forinterfering in this combat Brunhilda was expelled from the company of the Valkyres(Walküre), and banished to a barren rock, where she, the divine virgin, should be given inmarriage to the man who should find her there, and wake her from the sleep into which Wotanhad cast her. But she begged as a boon that Wotan should surround the rock with the terrorsof flame, that she might be certain that only the bravest of heroes could win her.

Reigin brought up Siegfried; he taught him the art of the smithy; told him of the death ofhis father; and produced for him the two pieces of the latter's broken sword, from whichSiegfried, under Mime's direction, forged the sword Balmung. Mime urged the youth to thedestruction of the dragon, but Siegfried determined first to avenge the death of his father. Sohe sallied forth and after killing Hunding slew the dragon and took possession of the ring andhelmet. As he put his finger heated with the dragon's blood into his mouth, the taste of theblood gave him knowledge of the language of the birds, who warned him against Mime, andhe slew him. The birds also counseled him to win the heart of Brunhilda, the most beautiful ofwomen. Siegfried immediately penetrated to her rocky fortress, and she recognized in him thenoble hero of the Volsung race, yielded herself to him, and he wedded her with the ring ofAlberich. They swore truth to each other, and he left her.

Another race of heroes living on the Rhine was that of the Gibichungen. Among them wereGunther, his sister Gudrun, and Hagen, a natural son of their mother. The Gibichungen lookedto Hagen to get the Nibelungen ring, and he laid a contemptible plot to trap Siegfried.Gudrun, inspired with love for Siegfried by the praise which Hagen had lavished upon him,

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gave Siegfried, by Hagen's advice, a goblet of welcome prepared through Hagen's art in sucha way that it caused Siegfried to forget his life with Brunhilda and his espousal with her.Siegfried sought Gudrun for his wife, and Gunther consented on condition that he should aidhim to gain Brunhilda, for she possessed the magic ring. Siegfried by the power of the helmetchanged himself into Gunther, penetrated into Brunhilda's fortress and took the ring andcarried her to Gunther, and they all returned to their home upon the Rhine. When Brunhildasaw that Siegfried had deserted her for Gudrun, she was very angry and swore to be revenged.She declared that she was Siegfried's wife, and he declared that she was not. Gunther, in thedeepest shame and wretchedness, seated himself apart and covered his face; and Hagenapproached Brunhilda and offered himself as the avenger of her honor; but she laughed at himas powerless to conquer Siegfried. Then Hagen said that she must tell him how Siegfried wasto be overcome. She, who had hallowed Siegfried, and had secured him, by secret charms,against wounds, advised Hagen that he must strike him in the back; for, as she knew the herowould [363] never turn his back to his foes, she had not made that also enchanted. A plan forhis murder was arranged between Hagen, Brunhilda and Gunther,—the latter urged on againsthis better nature by Hagen's entreaties and Brunhilda's jeers. Hagen's desire was to possess theNibelungen ring, which Siegfried would let go at his death. Hagen planned a hunt for the nextday, at which Siegfried should be killed. As Siegfried was riding to the meet he was accostedby three water-sprites, who warned him of approaching danger, but he only laughed at them.Soon the hunters approached. Gunther was gloomy and depressed, while Hagen was noisyand jolly; Siegfried tried to cheer Gunther by telling him stories of his youth. Two ravens flewswiftly over their heads. "What do those ravens tell thee?" shouted Hagen. Siegfried sprangquickly up; and Hagen continued: "I understood them that they hasten to announce thycoming to Wotan." With that he thrust his spear into Siegfried's back.

Gunther, guessing by Siegfried's story the truth of his incomprehensible relations withBrunhilda, and suddenly recognizing from it Siegfried's innocence, had seized Hagen's arm tosave the hero, but without being able to avert the stroke. Siegfried raised his shield to dashdown Hagen with it, but his strength failed him and he sank groaning to the earth. Hagen hadturned away; Gunther and his men gathered, sympathizing and agitated, about Siegfried,whenhe opened his eyes once more and cried: "Brunhilda! Brunhilda! Thou glorious child ofWotan! How fair and bright thou comest to me! * * * Brunhilda! Brunhilda! I greet thee!"

Thus he died. And the men raised his corpse upon his shield, and, led by Gunther, bore itaway in solemn procession over the rocky heights.

They set down the dead hero in the hall of the Gibichungen, the court of which opened atthe rear upon the banks of the Rhine. Hagen had called forth Gudrun with a loud cry, tellingher a wild boar had slain her husband. Filled with horror, Gudrun threw herself uponSiegfried's body; she accused the brothers of his murder; but Gunther pointed to Hagen; hewas the wild boar, the murderer of the hero. And Hagen said: "If I have slain him, than whomnone other dared touch, what was his is my rightful booty. The ring is mine!" Gunther steppedbefore him:—"Shameless bastard! the ring is mine—Brunhilda meant it for me! Hear me, allof you!"

Then Hagen and Gunther fought, and Gunther fell. Hagen sought to draw the ring from thebody, but it raised its hand threateningly. Hagen shrank back in horror—Gudrun shriekedaloud. Then Brunhilda strode solemnly between them:

"Silence your clamor; your idle rage! Here stands his wife, whom you have all betrayed Idemand my right, for what was to happen has come to pass."

Wretch!" cried Gudrun, "it was thou who wrought us ruin."But Brunhilda said, "Silence, miserable one! Thou wast but his mistress; I am his wife, to

whom he swore faith before he had ever seen thee! Woe is me!"Then cried Gudrun: "Accursed Hagen, why didst thou advise me of the draught by which I

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stole her husband from her? For now I know it was the draught that made him forgetBrunhilda."

Then Brunhilda said: "Oh, he is pure! Never were vows more truly kept than he kept them.And Hagen has not slain him, he has but marked him out for Wotan, to whom I now lead him.For now I, too, have done my penance; I am pure and free; for he only, the noble one, has hadme to wife."

Then she had a funeral pyre built upon the bank to burn Siegfried's body; no horse, noslave was to be sacrificed with him: she alone would offer her body to the gods in his honor.But first she took possession of his inheritance; the helmet should be burned with him, but thering she herself put on.

Amid solemn songs Brunhilda mounted Siegfried's funeral pyre; Gudrun bent in bittergrief over the murdered Gunther. The flames rose above Siegfried and Brunhilda; suddenlythey streamed up in the brightest luster, and above a dark cloud of smoke arose a glory, inwhich Brunhilda, armed and mounted upon her steed as a Valkyr, led Siegfried by the hand.At the same moment the waves of the Rhine rose to the entrance of the hall; the threewater-sprites bore away upon them the helmet and the ring. Hagen rushed madly forward totear the treasure from them; but they seized him and bore him to the depths below. (1)

The story is as dramatic as it is fantastic, and the spectacular effects in the last scene can bemade as beautiful as a bit out of fairy-land.

Before going any further it might be well [364] to give a few dates from the life of thecomposer: Richard Wagner was born in Leipsic on the 22d of May, 1813. His father diedwhen he was six months old, and his step-father designed him for a painter; but he showedlittle or no talent for that art. As he grew older he wanted to be a poet, and projectedambitious tragedies, that were strangled at their birth. Shakspere was his model, and helearned English for the sole purpose of studying that master. On hearing Beethoven's music hedecided that he must write like him, and so, against the wishes of his family, who thought hehad no talent, he began the study of music. In 1839 he left Germany completely discouraged,and traveled with his wife to Paris. There he had the friendship of Meyerbeer, but the enmityof almost every other musician. Reduced to the verge of starvation, he wrote articles for the"Gazette Musicale" which attracted considerable attention. He gained experience in Paris, ifnothing else, and left that city in 1842 to direct the production of his "Rienzi" at Dresden. Thisopera met with success, and he was made Kapellmeister at the Dresden Opera-house.Being aman of liberal political opinions, he was an active leader in the agitation which led to therevolution of 1848, and was compelled to flee to Zurich for his life. During his residence inSwitzerland, where he was well received, he completed "Lohengrin," and the libretto and partof the music of the "Nibelungen." He left Zurich in 1858 and resided in Italy, Paris, Vienna,and Carlsruhe. "Lohengrin" was produced unsuccessfully during his residence in Paris.Returning to Germany, he had the good fortune to win the favor of King Ludwig of Bavaria,an enthusiastic musical amateur. From this time success crowned his efforts, and on the 22dof May, 1872, the corner-stone of his theater at Bayreuth was laid with imposing ceremonies.

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WAGNER'S LIBRARY.Wagner had passed the best part of his life before meeting recognition. Even when the

performance of his "Tannhäuser" was ordered in Paris by the Emperor, it had to be withdrawnfrom the boards of the Grand Opera through the outrageous treatment of the Jockey Club andthe press.

Liszt was the first musician of rank to introduce Wagner's music to the public. Thefriendship between these two is strong [365] and of long standing, and every year Liszt is aguest at Bayreuth in Wagner's house.

Wagner is now in his sixty-fourth year. He has not a few of the eccentricities of genius, indress and manner. He is about the medium height. His face is strongly marked, and in it onecan well read the character of the man. His brow is high and bold, and he wears his iron-grayhair pushed straight back from it. His eyes are deep-set and of a piercing gray-blue, thoughthey vary in color with the passing emotion. A large, slightly Roman nose stands guard over abroad mouth, so firmly compressed that only a thin line of red defines the lips. The chin isprominent and wide. The face is clean-shaven with only a fringe of beard running close to thethroat and passing up to the ears. The countenance is intellectual, and the features, thoughstern when in repose, soften occasionally into a smile. Wagner is not a morose man, nor is hea despot; yet he likes to have things "his way," because he believes that his ideas are right. Inconversation he is affable and agreeable, though his manner is somewhat that of apreoccupied man. There is nothing trifling in his nature; his life is real and earnest, and he islooking a long way ahead. At home he usually dresses in a loose coat or gown of black velvetwith a high-cut waistcoat of the same material. His shirt collar is of no particular style, and histie is a scarf of ribbon carelessly hung about his neck and the ends tucked under his waistcoat.He generally wears short breeches and leggings. On his head is a velvet cap, somewhat like aScotch cap, only fuller and more baggy. This, as has been stated, is his dress in his own

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house, and not in public; away from home he dresses like other people. A friend of mine, whoattended some of the rehearsals at Bayreuth, says that his appearance would remind you of thefamiliar German professor: "Short, wearing spectacles, nervous in his movements: but hismanner in directing is the most determined of any person I ever saw,—stamping his foot if theleast fault is detected, singing the part as it should be, and every five minutes taking off andputting on his black velvet cap."

At ten o'clock Wagner retires and the guests generally leave at that hour. He sleeps with hisgas burning brightly all night. By seven o'clock in the morning he is up and has a cup ofcoffee; but the business of the toilet does not begin much before ten.

Wagner has much inventive genius, and now and then tries his hand at some newinstrument. He recently invented a brass horn, the largest ever made,—the lowest tones ofwhich were to be as rich and powerful as an organ. When he had it completed and raised it tohis lips it would not make a sound. But he was not discouraged. The theory, he declared, wasright, and he would accomplish his object yet.

Mme. Wagner, or Frau Cosima, as she is generally called, is a fine-looking woman aboutthirty-seven years of age. She is the daughter of Liszt, whom she very much resembles, andwas formerly the wife of Von Bülow. She is an intelligent and accomplished woman. FrauCosima is devoted to her husband, takes charge of many of his affairs, and attends all hisrehearsals. She has several children, some of them by her former husband.

Wagner's house at Bayreuth is just finished, and, as will be seen by the foregoing picture,is as plain as it is odd-looking. It is built of pure white marble. A bust of King Ludwig, fatherof the present King, more famous even than his son as a patron of music, stands on a pedestalbefore the front door, surrounded by an iron railing. At the rear of the house the grounds arelaid out beautifully, and adjoin the Royal Gardens. The most singular thing about the place isthe tomb erected for the composer and his wife, which stands but a stone's throw from thehouse. It is all ready and waiting for its occupants. The inscription is engraved on it, and onlyneeds the dates of death to make it complete. Guests are constantly taken out to visit it by thehost and hostess. Directly over the door of the house a group in bass-relief is cut out of themarble and the name "Wahnfried" engraved beneath it. Over one window are engraved thewords "Hier wo mein Wahn Frieden fand," which when freely translated mean "Here thetroubled mind has found rest," or "Here my ideal has been realized"; and over the otherwindow "Sei dies Haus von mir genannt;" "Let this house be named by me."

The interior of "Wahnfried" is as luxurious as the exterior is plain. You enter at oncethrough a large door into a square hall or vestibule, with a mosaic marble floor. Around thewalls are pedestals on which stand statuettes in marble of scenes from Wagner's operas; abovethese are frescoes made of similar subjects. On each side of the door leading into the mainroom are busts of Wagner and Mme. Cosima Wagner on pedestals. A door on the right leadsto a little reception-room and Mme. Wagner's private [366] apartments, which are mostluxuriously furnished. On the opposite side is the dining-room. The grand room of the houseis called Wagner's room, and is situated in the rear of the building, and runs nearly its entirelength. It is lighted by an immense bay window which looks out into the park, and which ishung with rich curtains in lace and damask. The ceiling is heavily ornamented with carvingsand paintings. Heavy curtains hang across the door-way leading into the hall. Book-cases linethree sides of the wall and are filled with rare musical scores as well as books of generalinterest. His musical library is complete and very valuable. All his books are bound in richbindings. Portraits of King Ludwig and other of Wagner's friends hang upon the walls. Thecarpet is of the softest velvet, and although there are not two pieces of furniture in the room ofthe same color or design, the general tone is a warm red. Rich rugs lie before the luxurioussofas, and elaborately upholstered chairs invite the visitor to try their comfortable depths. Alarge and oddly shaped table strewn with bric-à-brac occupies one side of the room. At the

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edge of the bay window stands the grand piano whose cold, white keys have warmed underthe touch of Wagner and of Liszt. A porcelain stove, upon which stands a bust of Schnorr, thefirst "Tristan," hides itself in a corner of the room; and near it stands the table at whichWagner composes. Before him on the table are seven portraits of his wife; growing plants inthe window, his own park, and the royal park outside, make a pretty picture. In the upper partof the house is the composer's bedroom, which is hung in pink silk. Contrast the scene heresketched with the one drawn by himself of the musician's wretched surroundings in "An Endin Paris."

WAGNER'S THEATER AT BAYREUTH.The famous opera-house stands on an eminence within easy walking distance of the heart

of the town of Bayreuth. It is strikingly queer in appearance. No particular style ofarchitecture has been followed, and the exterior is made subservient to the interiorarrangements. The front, which contains the auditorium, is rather ornamental, but very odd.The high part in the rear is directly over the stage, and is intended for scenery; the wings atthe rear and sides are also intended for that purpose. The foundation of the building is ofsandstone, and the upper part of different-colored brick. The stage is much larger than theauditorium. It is 100 feet wide by 103 feet in height, and 83 feet in depth. Back of this isanother stage of 50 feet in depth that may be used on grand occasions.

The auditorium is exceedingly plain. There are no galleries or boxes to break its monotony.The seats rise one above the other as in an ancient amphitheater, but they are only in thecenter of the house. The sides are perfectly bare, being broken only by a few columns. At therear there is a row of royal boxes, or fürsten logé.

[367]

One of the first things the visitor will notice is the absence of seats for the orchestra. If hewill wait a moment he will hear the music coming up from the "mystic gulf." It is one ofWagner's peculiar ideas that the orchestra should be kept out of sight, as it destroys theillusion when it intervenes between the audience and the stage. In his speech made at thelaying of the corner-stone of the theater, Wagner said: "You will perhaps miss with surprisethe simple decorations with which festive halls used to be beautified. But then, in theproportions and arrangements of the hall itself and the auditorium, you will find a thought

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expressed which will establish between yourselves and the play you came to see, a newrelation very different from that which previously existed. Should this effect be simply andcompletely produced, then the mysterious entrance of the music will prepare you for theunveiling and plain exposition of scenic paintings, which, appearing to come out of an idealworld of dreams, will acquaint you with the full reality of the ingenious deceptions whereofthe art of painting is capable. Here nothing will even provisionally speak to you with merehints; so far as is permitted by the artistic possibilities of the times, the most perfectrepresentation will be set before you in scenic as in mimic play."

The first Richard Wagner Society was established in Mannheim, and the name created agreat deal of amusement among the enemies of the composer. It was not long after this thatsimilar societies were established in Vienna, Pesth, Brussels, London, New York, and manyother cities. The avowed purpose of these societies is to advance Wagner's music, and theinterest of his Bayreuth enterprise, and, if possible, to attend the performances. The month ofAugust will find Bayreuth filled with musical enthusiasts, and the quiet little town so longasleep among the hills will awake to the music of Richard Wagner, and to fame.

TABLET IN FRONT OF

WAGNER'S HOUSE.

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Notes

Note 1 on page 7

See "Art Life and Theories of Richard Wagner. Selected from his Writings and Translatedby Edward L. Burlingame." Henry Holt & Co.

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