New-York Wagner Union Concert

"First concert."

Includes program.

“If the first concert for the Wagner Union, given last night at Steinway Hall, affords a fair gauge of the strength of Wagner’s adherents in New-York, the disciples of the new school may take comfort. The hall was not filled; but the audience was very respectable in numbers, and it was gathered apparently from many classes of society, both native and German. The music had an attentive and intelligent hearing, and most of it was received with considerable enthusiasm. Indeed, thanks partly to the German influence in our community, and partly to the perseverance of a few prominent musicians, such as Theodore Thomas and, in a lesser degree, Carl Bergmann, the theories of the great performer of the lyric stage have made more headway in this city than anywhere else out of Germany. Works to which England is just now with difficulty persuaded to listen for the first time have been familiar to us for several years, and the most prejudiced sticklers for classical forms are forced to acknowledge that there is much in this new art which demands and deserves a hearing. For ourselves, we confess that we contemplate the rapid progress of these innovations with a feeling both of sadness and dismay. We cannot reconcile ourselves either to the loss of the olden treasures which we are commanded to give up, or to the wild and wonderful creations which are offered in their place. The music which soothes the fancy, and softens the feelings, and brings a gentle repose to the weary mind seems to be passing away; and in its place comes a terrible tempestuous art, racking the intellect and inflaming the imagination. Yet it would be absurd to deny that Wagner is an extraordinary poet, and that much of his work seems destined to immortality.

He is not a composer for the concert-room, and to take a single number from one of his operas and present it without scenery or action is a violation of that fundamental principle of his, that the musical idea and the dramatic action are inseparably united. Still, Mr. Theodore Thomas, by whom the performance last night was given, presented a very good programme, and presented as favorable a specimen of the Wagner school as could be obtained outside of a theater. The first piece was the overture to ‘The Flying Dutchman.’ The opera was written about the same time as ‘Rienzi,’ namely, when the composer was 27 years of age, and is occasionally performed in London, where no one has yet ventured to produce his later works. Many eccentricities are observable in it, and peculiar methods of developing a thought, and characteristic richness in the scoring; but on the whole it does not depart very widely from the conventional operatic form, and Wagner is rather inclined to repudiate it now, as a folly of his youth. The second piece was the familiar Vorspiel to ‘Lohengrin,’ another opera which he has outgrown. ‘Lohengrin’ however (1847) is seven years later than ‘Der Fliegender Holländer,’ and shows a decided change of style. It is one of the most beautiful examples of the romantic opera which our generation has produced, and if Wagner had continued in the path which he opened here, we can hardly doubt that he would have accomplished before this time the reform of which he dreams. In the ‘Faust Overture,’ however, the extravagances which have repelled most musicians from his works are boldly developed. This was written in 1840, but revised in 1855, and may be supposed, therefore, to represent a later phase of his intellectual progress than ‘Lohengrin’ and ‘Tannhäuser.’ It has often been heard in New-York, and has never been a favorite piece with miscellaneous audiences.

By way of relief, perhaps, Mr. Thomas gave after ‘Faust’ a superb performance of Beethoven’s ‘Heroic’ symphony; and then we came to the most interesting features of the evening,--the selections from ‘Die Walkure,’ one of the three operas in the Nibelungen trilogy to be represented at Bayreuth in 1874. The first was the Ritt der Walküren, a part of which has been played here before. We have spoken of that portion as a wonderful weird representation of the ride of Odin’s maidens among the embattled hosts; but the second part, given last night for the first time, seems to us even finer than the other. It lacks the grotesque force and rhythm which commended the introductory passages so strongly and so immediately to popular favor; but it has a grander and more musical and at the same time an equally suggestive character. This was followed by the scene of Wotan’s Farewell (Wotans Abschied), of which we have also had a partial rendering before. At the first of his present series of symphony concerts, last November, Mr. Thomas gave the instrumental music of this scene, and last night Mr. Remmertz added to it the vocal part. Here we have had an excellent illustration of Wagner’s latest theory of dramatic music—music in which there is no formal melody, not even properly any musical declamation, but in which voice and instruments blend together in the expression of certain thoughts, scarcely intelligible if you take them apart from the context, and apart from the accessories of scene and action, but wonderfully eloquent if you take them as he meant they should be taken. Thanks to an excellent explanatory programme we were able to follow the sentiment of this scene, and to appreciate many rare beauties which would otherwise have been lost. The first part is more remarkable for a severe dignity than for anything else; but this is succeeded, when Wotan presses the last kiss upon his daughter’s brow, by passages of exquisite tenderness equal to the finest things in ‘Lohengrin.’ Indeed we doubt if in all contemporary music there are more genuinely poetical thoughts and a more beautiful and refined expression than in the closing portions of this remarkable scene. Yet it was heard with much less enthusiasm than the first numbers on the programme, and with very much less than the Beethoven symphony. The concert closed with the ‘Kaiser Marsch.’

We need hardly say that the execution of all this music was admirable. Mr. Thomas and his men took it con amore, and Mr. Remmertz did his difficult share almost without a fault.”

“The Wagner Union of the City of New-York, an organization formed to propagate the principles and works of the eminent composer under whose name the members intend to do battle, asserted its existence by a concert given at Steinway Hall last evening. From the increasing acquaintance of the public with Wagner’s music, and its coextensive popularity arose anticipations of a very numerous audience. These anticipations were disappointed, for the attendance was by no means large. Its appreciativeness, we are glad to say, was in inverse proportion to its numbers. The labors of Mr. Theodore Thomas’ orchestra, called forth by an admirable interpretation of some of the most exacting compositions ever placed before a band, did not, then, go unrewarded. On the other hand, those partisans of Mr. Wagner who responded to the call of his apostles would have derived little more satisfaction from the performance had it progressed in presence of an overflowing auditorium. Mr. Thomas’ instrumentalists accomplished their task with unimpeachable intelligence, precision, and taste, and with a result not to be outdone in point of impressiveness. The reader familiar with Wagner’s theory need hardly be told that, as the composer himself insists that words, voices, and scenic splendors are necessary to the full effectiveness of his efforts, these must lose much of their eloquence when supplemented only by such suggestions to the sight and mind as are embodied in a printed programme. As prefaces to his operas when represented on the lyric stage, as the expression of emotions, the comprehension of which is aided by all known methods of appeal to the eye and ear, and as accompaniments to a well-defined and intelligible action, Wagner’s overtures, arias, and orchestral illustrations are at all points remarkable. Executed by instrumentalists only, novelty and beauty of form must constitute their strongest claim to attention; and it will be admitted, under these circumstances, that the full measure of the composer’s power is not to be gotten. We have implied already that a faultless recital of the programme was vouchsafed the audience at Steinway Hall. The bill included [see above]…the second of the three parts into which the concert was divided was occupied with an excellent rendering of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ symphony. Most of these pieces have been played already by Mr. Thomas orchestra. ‘Der Fliegende Hollaender’ was written in 1840, and although the vorspiel to that opera has neither the development, the rich coloring, nor the variety in respect of instrumentation, of later productions, it is certainly a most vigorous introduction to the story of the phantom ship ever and anon encountered overriding the rushing waves. The ‘Lohengrin’ score, which bears date 1840, is quite well known, and so is the unsurpassable art with which, under Mr. Thomas’ baton, that leader’s musicians do justice to the delicacy of the violin passages, to the complications of the tempo, and, among a dozen requirements of the work, to the long crescendos and diminuendos, which literally dissolve into silence, of the pages picturing the descent of the Holy Grail. The ‘Faust Overture’ is at least obscure, although its revision is referred to as having been made in 1855, fifteen years after its first edition. The excerpts from ‘Die Walküre’ embraced ‘Der Ritt,’ a picture for orchestra not infelicitously explained by the text of the programme, which ran: ‘The Walküren were Odin’s maidens, awful and beautiful beings, who presided over battles and rushed through marking with their spear-points those who were to be slain’—and Wotan’s leave-taking, a scene from the same opera, sung by Herr Remmertz. The barbaric magnificence of ‘Der Ritt’ was apparent at the earliest hearing of the number, in the course of a Thomas symphony concert, which occurred some weeks ago; on account of the defective intonation of Herr Remmertz, the single vocal composition of the evening did not yesterday have the exposition which would have made a judgment possible. The ‘Kaiser Marsch’ a rather commonplace achievement, was last among the selections.”

“The first in the series of grand concerts by the New York Wagner Union was given yesterday evening, at Steinway Hall, under the management of the president of the Union, Mr. Theodore Thomas.

The first part of the programme gave us an introduction to Wagner’s genius by a graduated scale of pieces—‘Der Fliegende Hollander’ (1840), ‘Vorspiel’ (1847) and ‘Eine Faust Overture’ (version of 1855)—leading us on from his early life, before the madness of originality overtook him, on to the full maturity of his individuality as the composer of ‘the music of the future.’ The scale is adroitly managed and felt to be necessary—at least to the American portion of the audience. Space to-day will not allow our speaking at length of this Wagner movement, or even of the performance last evening. Besides the Wagner scale we had, by way of relief, Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ symphony. Then scenes from ‘Die Walkure’ hurled us again into the whirl of wild utterances, grand suggestions, coherent incoherencies and the strangely stirring passionateness of Wagner. The ‘Kaiser Marsch’ fitly closed the evening.”

“A great many people in Europe and America want to go to Bayreuth, in Bavaria, next year, to hear Richard Wagner’s opera, that ultima Thule of the school of the future, the ‘Ring of the Nibelungen.’ But the tickets, season and otherwise, are placed at a very high figure, and the Trilogy, as this big work is styled, will prove quite a chateau en Espagne for many of those who effect to hear it. To avoid this undesirable end associations have been formed on both sides of the Atlantic for the purpose of giving concerts of the Wagnerian type, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to paying the expenses of the members of the association to the Bayreuth festival. One of these concerts took place at Steinway Hall last night. Either the New York public do not sufficiently appreciate Wagner or mismanagement has been at work, for the attendance was unusually thin. The new school was represented by five of the composer’s most notable works—the overture to the ‘Flying Dutchman,’ the introduction to ‘Lohengrin,’ overture to ‘Faust,’ scenes from ‘Die Walkure,’ and the ‘Kaiser March.’ Mr. Remmertz sung the barytone solo in ‘Wotan’s Farewell’ in ‘Die Walkure.’ The musical world has never been agitated by such a [illegible] brawler as this self same Richard Wagner. An accomplished mechanic, as even his worse enemies will grant him; an irrepressible pamphlet writer; a man who combines the most intimate knowledge of the arcana of orchestral effects with the talent of Mr. Puff, a courtier; who has caused more political squabbles over his peculiar theories than ever did Dr. Jacobi, and finally a complete master in the modern school of sensationalism, such is Wagner.

‘The Flying Dutchman’ in its overture is a pretty fair example of orthodoxy, which the composer has of late years opposed so strenuously. The overture is decidedly Meyerbeerish, distorted and exaggerated, it is true, but nevertheless bearing the signs of the earliest benefactor of Wagner. We regard the Vorspiel to ‘Lohengrin’ as one of the grandest works of the composer. ‘Lohengrin’ marks the climax of the aspiring thoughts of Wagner. There is a fixed idea in it, not that eternal change of themes, perpetual agitation and boisterous display that we find generally in the school of the future. There is so much grandeur and sublime thought in ‘Lohengrin’ that it dispenses with the necessity of an audience of mystic musicians. In the interpretation of Wagner’s music there is required in addition to the ordinary orchestra quite an assortment of wood, brass and percussion—the acme of sonorous instrumentation. But listening to the ‘Faust’ overture and ‘Die Walkure,’ we were irresistibly led to a belief in the old adage, ‘Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit.’ There is no spontaneity in this music; mannerism and mechanism form its principal ingredients. Few audiences want metaphysics or philosophy in music. They prefer the good old schools where melody and harmony are in just accord.

It would be unfair to judge Wagner too harshly in his defects, were it not for the fierce advocacy of his doctrines by his disciples. They will not consent to any spots on their sun, and other star gazers can only be stubborn in their reasonable ideas. The Wagnerism in music is becoming dangerous in its tendencies to subvert all existing theories. We do not entertain for a moment such revolutionary ideas in music for fear of losing our faith in Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn. The Wagnerian movement is, to say the least, unhealthy, and, although we grant this leveler, this musical communist, the credit of an extraordinary knowledge of instrumentation, we cannot, at the same time, subscribe to his new-fangled notions of melody and harmony.

The subservience of the voice to the orchestra in Wagner’s school was sufficiently shown in the selections sung by Mr. Remmertz. The introduction to ‘Wotan’s Farewell’ was not only instrumentally boisterous, but it brought very queer modulations for the voice, so much so that at times it was hard to tell whether the singer was in tune or not. But the beautiful larghetto theme, ‘langsam,’ was interpreted by Mr. Remmertz with intelligence and expression. Here he had an opportunity of musical phrasing and deep feeling which he did not lose.

Mr. Thomas did a cruel thing in regard to Wagner last night. He sandwiched the ‘Heroic Symphony’ of Beethoven, that grandest of all orchestral works, between the compositions of the modern potentate. It served as a contrast very [illegible] indeed to Wagner; for on one side we had genius, on the other clever mechanism, but nothing but mechanism. Regarding the orchestral performance it is only necessary to say that Thomas’ unrivalled orchestra played at their best. Take, for instance, the symphony. The brilliant opening movement, the magnificent ‘March Funebre,’ the sprightly scherzo and the indescribable finale, in which everything that is dear to the heart of a musician, is introduced, were given to perfection. The unanimity of the strings, even in the most delicate shadings of expression, the ready responses of the reeds and the complete control of the brass instruments place Thomas’ orchestra first in this country. Last night they faithfully maintained their high reputation.” 

“The N. Y. Wagner Union was formed last fall, at the instance of Mr. Theodore Thomas, for the purpose of raising a fund to defray, in part, the travelling expenses of those of its members who will visit Baireuth on the occasion of the great Wagner Festival in 1874 , and to purchase, for them, tickets of admission to the performance of the ‘Niebelung Ring.’ This fund is to be raised partly by subscription, and partly by the proceeds of two Concerts which Mr. Thomas and his orchestra are pledged to give in New York. The first of these concerts took place at Steinway Hall, on Friday evening, March 28^th, before an audience, which, although not large, was composed of musical people. The programme consisted mainly of selections from Wagner’s compositions, with which, thanks to the perseverance of Mr. Thomas, we are now tolerably familiar. It was divided into three parts, separated by brief intermissions, and opened with the overture to Der Fliegende Holländer, an opera which belongs to an early period of the composer’s life; (it was produced in 1840) and which presents fewer eccentricities than his later works. The overture is massive and somber; in which the weird idea of the Phantom Ship is plainly presented to the mind. This piece was followed by the exquisite Vorspiel to Lohengrin and part first ended with ‘Eine Faust Ouverture,’ which seems to have been written in one of the composer’s most extravagant moods.

The second part was taken up by a masterly performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.

Part Third was composed of two scenes from ‘Die Walküre:’ a. Ritt der Walküren; b. Wotans Abschied, with the vocal part by F. Remmertz, and the Kaiser March, which concluded a most enjoyable concert.”