The Book Buyer Volume 9 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 edition. Excerpt: ...contemporary criticism and with bits of personal comment; and yet. beneath this characteristically French exterior, having a serious purpose and being animated by a warm admiration for Wagner's genius. M. Jullien's eminent fairness appears especially in his full account of the "Tannhauser" episode in Paris, when the members of the Jockey Club, aided by the many personal enemies which Wagner had made, drove the work from the stage of the Grand Opera. The part that Berlioz played in this unfortunate affair is clearly shown. An especial interest attaches to M. Jullien's discussion of "Tristan and Isolde," in which, as Wagner himself says, he cut loose from the principles which he had followed in his previous works and gave free rein to his musical instincts. The author makes no attempt to defend the incongruity and even absurdity of the idea of making the lovers in the duet discuss the philosophy of night and death, but he might have gone even further and raised the question as to whether there is not a limit beyond which it is impossible to give an intelligible and artistic expression to the emotion of love. In the first act of "Die Walkiire" and in the last act of " Siegfried" Wagner is within this boundary line, and the effect is in the highest degree beautiful. In the climax, however, of the love duet in "Tristan and Isolde" he seems to have passed the line, and to be wandering in darkness. It would be possible to quote many interesting passages from this noteworthy book, but this pen-portrait of Wagner must suffice: The most striking thing about Richard Wagner at first sight was the extraordinary life and energy which animated this insignificant body, surmounted by a very large head, ...