MUSIC.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 27

MUSIC.

NOTES BY “G” STRING. To hear Miss Maclachlan chug “Coinin' thro' ua x ' AnistiO anti i'll oome to ye, my lad,” it would appear to her hearers as though that was the acme of singing Ic is only when she changes her musical mood and becomes a Scottish Brunnhilde singing “Bonnie Blue Bonnets,” “Scots Wha Hae,” and “A Hundred Pipers,” that the audience recognises what a supremely artistic singer she is. The great charm about Miss Maclachlan's singing is her ability to identify herself most thoroughly with the pecular character of the song she may be singing. Whether it is a crooning Highland cradle song or a call to tho clans to take up arms, she is equally successful. In addition to Miss Maclachlan the company has been strengthened by the inclusion of Mr Douglas Young, the Scottish tenor of whom report speaks very highly. He is said to possess a perfectly trained tenor voice, capable of giving with equal force any style of music from ballad to the warlike “McGregor's Gathering.” Mr John McLinden will play a number of his most popular 'cello solos, including that wonderful piece from his own pen, “Fantasia on Scottish Melodies.” which includes “Within a Mile,” “Flora McDonald's Lament,” and the “Barren Rocks.” Mr Robert Buchanan acts as accompanist and musical director. The company appear at the Wellington Town Hall on the 28th August for a 6hort season.

What are a musical critic's tions? The other day Joseph Bennett had something to say in a London contemporary on the subject of tlm critic as he should be —and is. In the current isaue of the “Monthly Review” the parable is taken up by ‘A. E. Keeton —a lady, we believe—who appears, among other things, to think that a writer on music, to be worth his salt, should be a kind of Admirable Crichton only better. “'Hie actual technical equipment,” according to this article, “of a good music critic of modern times seems far more varied and exacting than the knowledge requisite in the making of a first-rate critic of literature or painting. . . One might well specialise for a lifetime in a study of opera, or of song, or of chamber music, analysing the manifold readings of their greatest exponents, and then be only on the fringe of one's subject; and in order to become a good judge of the aesthetic and technical possibilities of the component parts of a modern orchestra., or of modern solo playing, some serious practical apprenticeship is advisable, if not positively incumbent.” Hearken, then, to this: “In connection with the most interesting developments of modern music. he (the critic) will necessarily master several. language?, and if he is to apprehend with any quickening instinct and nicety of taste the remarkable musical movements on foot in Russia, Scandinavia, and France, to mention no other countries, he must be upon something more than a bowing acquaintance with the literatures of these three nationalities. Moreover, music in its dual aspect of the creative and interpretive, is a wonderfully close and intimate revelation of character. The critic, therefore, must be something of a physiognomist and a psychologist, and unless ho be a master of all these assets we may sum up that he has no true raison d’etre.” Add to the essentials set forth the patience of a Job —surely a necessary attribute in all critics doomed to perpetual concert-going—and you have a catalogue of accomplishments and virtues such as should make even a less modest individual than the average musical critic blush.

Hans Richter presided over a dinner given in London the other day in honour of the veteran violinst Mr Carl Deichmann, who recalled the time when he played in the orchestra under Mendelssohn at the Rhenish Festival when Jenny Lind sang in “The Creation.” In Paris he met Chopin, and a few years later walked behind his bier. In London, he once assisted Mme. Schumann in a performance of the great Schumann quintet. In 1877, when Wagner came to London, he was given tho choice to lead the first violins with Wilhelmj, whom Wagner brought with him, or the second violins. He accepted the latter post, and till his retirement in 1902 held this position in many undertakings regularly under Richter, Nikisch, and Henschel, and at the festivals. Mr Deichmann acted as Wagner’s interpreter at a rehearsal, where the horns, never having played such difficult music, were rather unsatisfactory. “Will you tell them, said Wagner very angrily, that m any goodsized town in Germany they would bo dismissed instantly for making such a mese of it.” Mr Deichmann translated this diplomatically: “Gentlemen, Mr Wagner is well awsre of the difficulty of his music, and wishes you to do your utmost, and whatever you do doii t be in a funk.” The effect was excellent in every way.

One of the best criticisms on “Salome” is that of Friedrich Hofmann ia the “Baltisclie Blatter fur Musik": “Strauss is not a dramatist, and ‘Salome’ proves this anew. Wagner's method of musical expression, which is developed out of strong, natural, elementary feelings, intelligible to all, has been applied by Strauss to a drama which calls for an entirely different musical style. The trouble with Strauss is that he lacks originality. Wagner's art of deriving from simple triads motives and themes which stand for aH eternity, as if created by nature—that art Strauss lacks more completely than Wagner’s other followers. The least imitable thing in the work of a creative genius is his simnlicity.”-

The young violinist, Franz von Vecsey, has returned to the stage a temporary withdrawal from public life. Concerning his London concert the "Times" remarked that his friends "must have felt some doubts as to his ultimate fulfilment of the great promise he showed when he first appeared. He played a number of hackneyed pieces as if they meant nothing to him, and in almost every one he adopted a pace that was far too rapid. In the finale of Mendelssohn's concerto he seemed bent on getting through it, anyhow, in record time; no fingers could get the passages to sound clear at the pace adopted, and the brilliance of the movement was entirely lost Paganini's variations on T)i tanti palpitr were given, at a cheerful rate of speed, as an encore after Wieniaw ski's inevitable 'Airs Pusses/ and the graceful arrangement of Dvorak's 'Humoreske’ was raced through as an encore after Paganini's concerto in D/ 1 m' 9 * Paderewski has nearly completed a new opera, says the Berlin "Taggeblatt." It is to be called "Sakuntala,” and is based on a story by Catulle Mendes. « 9 • "The Diseases of the Heart" and "The Earthquakes of 19G6” are suggested by a sarcastic German writer as subjects for tone poems a la Richard Strauss. He also sketches the details for another tone poem in seven movements, as follows : (1.) Paranoia, or primary monomania. Over a continued organ-pcint, not in the right key, a series of chords, leading into confusion. (2.) Temporary insanity. Motives tumbled over one another with no logical development. (3.) Melancholia. Muted horns, violas, and syncopations; chromatics, ending in stupor. (4.) Delusions. The music attempts to gay something, but doesn't. (5.) Epilepsy. Hie attacks portrayed by orchestral” tumult, while a milder motive portrays doses of bromide. (6.) Kleptomania. Law-breaking tendencies shown by conservative fifths, and other broken rules; also by taking of other people's themes. (7.) Dementia paralytica. Complete ruin of safejeett- * * * A 1 perf®3Tna33»? sf ■"Elijah” jgirvmi ad ifi® l/systal BaUsc© os Sat-?*T-rb?x. tribe liSth Jmnt- The?*? sure two ianfceasHStiing ifixctr ihi 'with this peyimmiuniKi, She feet- being that this year iis She oi the p2«(otuesiinui «rf the i&HiOTs joratorio ia lism&nu. It w spxrraa at iixeter HaJl ©a May ffGfik. 28a-C 2&K and M, IM7, by ihs Saratecl Ham xmte Society, under the direct-ion. of the emnymer. Queen Victoria and ‘Prince Consort were present on 'the second oce&xien. The other fact is that Mr Charles Sant lev, who has just celebrated his musical jubilee, sang the part of Elijah fifty years ago at Exeter Hall, sang it c gam at the Crystal Palace. Miss Agnes Nicholls was the soprano engaged, whilst the contralto music was sung by Miss Ada Crossley, and the tenor music by Mr Ben Davies. The second quartette of soloists comprised Miss Edith Evans, Miss May Peters, Mr Gwilym Richards, and Mr Charles Knowles. The London contingent of the Handel Festival Choir and Orchestra, numbering 3500 performers, were also engaged. The London Symphony Orchestra formed the band. Mr Walter W. Hedgeock was at the organ and Dr Frederic Cowen conducted.

Nobody was more regretful than Sims Reeves himself when he was unable to keep his engagements. Indeed he once told me that through the sudden attacks of hoarseness to which he w,as subject he had lost during his career more than jB100,(X)0. The public had all sorts of theories to account for his non-appear-ance, of which “caprice” was, perhaps, the least uncharitable, but the real reason lay in his delicate and unreliable throat.—lsabel Brooke-Alder in "Cassell’s Magazine.” ,

The Mongolia's complement of passengers, when she left London on Friday, July lffth, for Australia, had more than the usual share of representatives of the art of. music on board, in Madame Clara Butt, her husband, Mr Kenner ley Rumford, their three children, and the members of the concert party which is to tour Australasia with them under the direction of Messrs J. and N. Tait. In addition, there are Madame's eecretary, himself a musician, her sister, her maid, and a nurse for the email Rum forde, so that there is quite a respectable share of the accommodation taken up by the whole of the party.

Mine. Patti is the most gifted lady 1 have ever known. She speaks Italian, Spanish, Russian, German, French, and Portuguese perfectly, and, v.f course, her English is faultless. Her memory is prodigious, her repertoire consisting of more than eightly operas, of which she knows every detail by heart, cadenzas and works included. Her accomplishments, too, are extraordinarily varied. She plays the guitar and the mandoline, is an excellent pianist, paints well, and does the most beautiful embroidery and knitting. “A woman of infinite variety,” as Shakespeare says.—Mr Ganz in "Cassell's Magazine.”

In the Church of Muchelney, the .Somerset village famous for its historical association with Alfred thv. Great, a new organ'has been placed tr succeed the remarkable instrument which;has done service there for the past 100-years. The old instrument was of the barrel organ type, and limited the congregation to twelve'times only. The st.ry was told at the dedication gathering how on one occasion the century-old 'yrgan, haying been duly wound up an,.' started with a tune, refused to stop whet the time came for the sermon, and hj.il to be removed bodily to the churchy-*. J .

Organists will welcome the first complete English edition (published by Novello and Co.) of Bach's works for their instrument. The text has been made to conform in the main with that of the edition of the German Bach Society. Suggestions as to the rate of performance and general treatment are also given. The editors are Dr J. F. Bridge and Dr James Higgs. * * 9 To commemorate Dr Hans Bidder's thirty years' association with music in England, the London Symphony Orchestra gave a special concert in his honour at Queen's Hall on June 3rd. At the outset it was proposed to present the distinguished conductor with a souvenir of the occasion, but with characteristic modesty Dr Richter informed the directors that he preferred to have the privilege of directing the concert rather than receiving any token of regard from the instrumentalists. By way of acknowledging this graceful action the orchestra, it is stated, played m a manner which they have never excelled. The programme was confined to Beethoven's works, in the interpretation of which Dr Richter has no equal, the selections being the third and fourth symphonies; the overture, "Die Weihe des Hauses,” composed for the opening of the Jcsephstadt Theatre in Vienna in 1822, and the third, "Leonora” overture. To further make the concert noteworthy, Dr Richter conducted these composition without once opening a score—a prodigious feat of memory, when the intricacies of the instrumentation are recalled. As a matter of fact, no conductor within the last quarter of a century has ventured to direct .an entire concert without looking at the music placed before him. Needless is it to add that the veteran musician, now in his sixty-fourth year, was more cordially received by the large audience, and at the close of the programme there was a remarkable demonstration, enthusiastic cheers re-echoing through the building, and hundreds of handkerchiefs being waved by the ladies present. But Dr Richter merely bowed his thanks, and could not be persuaded to make a speech.

The Song Book authorised by the German Emperor bag been issued. It contains over six hundred songs arranged for male voice quartet by 6ome of the most eminent living composers, together with concise but valuable historical notes. The definition of "traditional” song? is perhaps a little wider than would be approved of by some English authorities, but will commend itself to most people. The Preface, for which the commission appointed by the Emperor is responsible, lays stress on the fact that a Volksliederbuch—or Folk Song Book—must be both a Volks Liederbuch—i.e., a Song Book for the People — an/1 a Volkslieder Buch—i.e., a Book of Folk Songs, and on this principle they have included many eongis by Bach, Haydn, Handel, Weber, Cornelius, to which the description of Folk Song in the strict sense would be inapplicable, though they have been careful to inclv.de only such as have literally become household words. The division of the songs is interesting. It is not chronological or according to locality, but according to subjects. There are seven groups, of which the first—Sacred—hire faur subdivisions (choruses, motets, other ecclesiastical songs and folk songs of a sacred character)—Serious -and Devotional— Fatherland and Home —Nature—Wandering and Farewell—Soldiers' Songs—Songs of Huntsmen, Seamen, Peasants, Miners, etc. (ivhich English experts call "Songs of Occupation”). It is regrettable—indeed, a negation of the very object of the book—that some of the contents should be copyright.

Herr Mengelbevg, of Amsterdam, has definitely accepted the eonductorship of the Museum Concerts of Frankfort, which used to be among the beet in Germany. The authorities have allowed him to retain his post at Amsterdam in addition. England is not the only country where foreign artists have opportunities given them. There-are not many—if any, German conductors—who can rival Herr MengeJberg. Dr Muck and Herr Mottl rare both spoken of as likely to succeed Herr Mahler at Vienna—railother proof of the same thing.

The marriage of Madame Clara Butt and Mr Kennerley Rumford seems from every point of view to be one of those ideal unions which are so often talked about, but so seldom met with. And it began with a most romantic proposal. The two had been friends for a few years before it was borne in upon them that their feelings for one another were a good deal deeper than friendship. The actual moment when that realisation burst updn them both was at a concert on one of their numerous tour© in the same company. They were down for a duet "The Keys of Heaven,” in which Mr Rumford's part contained the lines, "I will give you the keys of my heart, and we will be married till death do us part.” The significance of the lines, often snng by them before, must on this occasion have revealed to them both in one of those flashes of mental telepathy, for without any further understanding except a silent one, they left the platform, hand in hand, engaged.

In the course of an interview at Munich, Mascagni is reported to have said: “The papers have stated that my new opera, 'La Festa del Grano’/ is already finished. I wish I were so fortunate. Up to now T have not wrfften a note of the opera. The libretto, It is true, ifalready in my possession. It is a prize work which won the 20,000 lire offered by Sonzogno, my publisher. It has been handed to me for tiie purposes of composition, but so far 1 have done nothing with it. How do I work ? I read the libretto' repeatedly through, study it, and learn almost by heart. That is all the work I do. The melodies gradually come to me of themselves. When out walking, in my room, while I am travelling, suddenly a melody comes to me. I seize it, and afterwards at the piano play it through, and then the music shapes itself more fully. Thus bit by bit the opera ie completed. But work at it 1. cannot. I always wait for the mood.”

Mr Philip H. Goepp has an interesting article in the "Etude” on summer music in Europe and America. In Germany, during the Wagner and Mozart festival at Bayreuth, Munich, Salzburg, and elsewhere, serious music is offered, but at the numerous summer concerts, usually to an &cco mpa nimen t of clattering plates and mugs, a different atmosphere prevails: "At first it is indeed bewildering to the American tourist to find this consistent and universal lightness, to use a mild word, of tire programme of the summer concert in Germany. He has come to the chosen land of music to find —his own Sousa more prevalent than at home. The German seems to take a complete holiday from serious orchestral music in summer time, far more so tlran tire Englishman or the American.” In London, Mr Goepp found, at the promenade concerts given in Queen’s Hall by Air Yv cod, same very popular music, but it was always preceded by a symphony and other serious music. "The Englishman, if he doe* not produce in striking degree, Iras certainly an insatiable appetite for the best in music.” In Philadelphia, Mr Goepp continues, ''we nave better daily orchestral concerts in summer than anywhere in the classic land of music; no eating. or drinking is purveyed to the thronging audience that sits in rapt attention. To be sure, Philadelphia is here ahead of her American sister cities; and this is but another sign of real progress in tlie best tilings.” A plausible explanation of the German summer attitude is offered, as —"And yet the element of satiety with the masterworks, of revulsion to mere amusement, is not the whole story. _ A better explanation lies in the military policy of the Government. Virtually all summer music i© provided by the regular army bands, whether in the garden or in the "Keller.” There the "Kapellen” of the various regiments are in full control. The plan is of double benefit from the military side. Not only are the men enabled to earn a comfortable living (as long as they are actuary enrolled), But the army itself maintains a certain hold upon the people. Hut the band has almost driven away the orchestra. There are really no symphony concerts in summer in Germany. In Hanover they may announce a Sinfonisches Konzert on special days in the Tivoli Garden; but tnere is no complete symphony; at best there are two movements. To be sure, we must not forget the fact that horns are naturally outdoor instruments, and strings are not. Sometimes there may be two stands, at opposite ends of the garden, where a band will alternate with an orchestra. And yet, Jacking as these summer concerts are in seriousness, they are very agreeable from a lesser standpoint. The playing ?s always good; moreover, one hears a certain kind c 4 music that with all its excellence has no other opportunity. Many old fare ites are here saved from a cruel and premature oblivion. Here Von Suppe still holds a sway, anu Flotow and Adam. Many an inspiring novice, who may not set the Rhine on fire, is given a hearing.”

Truly American an- incident related in the "Etude” by Robert D. Brain: "A young girl came to me for lessons recently, and I found that the course she was studying was as follows: For exercises r.he had the entire list of Beethoven sonatas in iwb volumes, having already Been through' the first volume; lor a solo she had Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodie, No. 2. She could not play any of the scales., and had to be put back to easy studies and a simple waltz by Durand.”

The Besses o' th’ Barn Band commence their Melbourne season at the Town Hall last Saturday. Messrs J. and N. Tait are compelled to make it a brief one owing to the fact that the Besses are due in Adelaide on ; August 13tli. but in order that as many opportunities as possible may be given to the public to hear the band, they have arranged that a matinee as well as an evening performance shall be given every day during the visit. *= » # WAGNER AND LOHENGRIN. THE POET'S ANALYSIS OF lIIS WORK. In view of the fact that during the forthcoming season of grand opera in Wellington by Mr George Musgroves German Grand Opera Company, several of Wagner’s works will be presented, the following extracts from Wagner's Prose Work will be interesting reading to aIJ lovers of the famous German and his “Lohengrin.” Wagner says of his composition of “Lohengrin” :—I was a poet who wfitfs conscious in ci<rvuucß ot tlio faculty of musical expression for the working out of my poem. This faculty I had exercised so far that I was fully aware of my ability to employ it on the realisation of a poetic aim, and not only to reckon on its help in drafting a poetic sketch, but in that knowledge to drhw the sketch itself more freely, more in accordance with poetic necessity, than if I had designed merely Avith an eye to musical effect. 1 had before this acquired facility of musical expression, m the same manner as one learns a language. He who has not made himself thoroughly at home with an unaccustomed tongue must pay heed to its idioms in everything he says. Now, I had completely learnt the speech of music I was at home with it as with a genuine mother tongue. In what I wished to utter I had no care for the poem mode; it stood ready at my call, exactly as I needed it to impart a definite impression or emotion in exact keepjjjjr with my inner impulse. . . . Just as Ulysses in his wrench from the arms of Calypso, in his flight from the charms of Circe, and in his yearning for the ideal wife of cherished home, embodied the Hellenic prototype of a longing such as we find in Tannhauser immeasurably enhanced and widened in its meaning, so do we meet in J the Grecian hlythos (nor is this its oldest poem) the outlines of the myth of Lohengrin. Who does not know the story of Zeus and Semele? The god loves a mortal woman, and for sake of this love approaches her in ha-

man shape; but the mortal learns that she does not know her lover in Eue/fru© estate; and, urged by love's own ar3our, demands that her spouse shall show himself to physical sense in the full substance of his being. Zeus knows that she can never grasp him—that the unveiling of his godhead must destroy her; himself, he suffers by this knowledge beneath the stern compulsion to fulfil his loved one's dreaded wish. He signs his own death warrant when the fatal splendour of his god-like presence strikes Semele dead. Was it some priestly fraud that shaped this myth P How insensate to attempt to argue back from the selfish, state religious, caste-like exploitation of the noblest human longing, to the origin, the genuine meaning, of ideas which blossom from human fancy, and which stamp roan first as man the thinker. 'Twas no God that sang the meel ing of Zeus and Semele, but man the thinker in hie humanest of yearnings. Who taught man that a god could burn with love toward earthly woman? For certain, only the thinker himself, who, however high the object of. his yearning may soar above the limits of liis eartnly wont, can only stamp it with the imprint of his human nature. In "Tannhauser” 1 had yearned to flee this world of frivolous and repellent sensuousness—the only form our present has to offer. My impulse, too, lay towards the unknown land the ptire, the chaste, such as our frivolous present present can never satisfy. By tne strength of my longing i nad mounted the realms where L felt myself above u:e modern world, and, mid a sacred limpid aether which, in the transport oi my solitude, filled me with that delicious awe we drink in neon the summits of the Alps, when circled with a sea of azure air we moic down upon the lower hills and valleys, buch mountain peaks the thinker climbs, and on this neight imagines he is cleansed iiom aJI that's earthly—the topmost branch upon the tree of man’s omnipotence. Here, at last, he may feed full upon himself — I am that I am —and, midst this selfrepast, freeze finally beneath the Alpine chill into a monument of ice, tie. which, philosopher or critic, he stonily frowns down upon the world below. . . From these heights my longing glance beheld at last the woman, who, starlike, showed to Tannhauser the way that led from

the hot passion of the Vennsburg to heaven—the woman who now drew Lohengrin from sunny heights to the depths of earth's warm breast. Lohengrin sought the woman who should trust in him; who should not ask how he was bight or whence he came, but love him as he was, and because he was whate'er she deemed him. He ©ought the woman who would not call for explanations or defence, but who should lore him wicn an unconditioned love. Therefore must he cloak his higher nature; for only in the non-revealing of this higher or, more correctly, heightened essence , could there lie the surety that he was not adored because of it alone, or humbly worshipped as a being past all understanding; whereas his longing was not for worship or for adoration, but for the only thing possible and sufficient to redeem him from his loneliness, to still his deep desire for love, for being loved, for being understood through love. Thus did ho step down from out his loneliness of sterile bliss when he heard this heart cry from below. But there clings to him the telltale halo of his heightened nature; be cannot appear as aught but superhuman; the poisoned trail of envy throws its shadow even aeroes the loving maiden’s heart; doubt and jealousy convince him that he lias not been understood, but only worshipped, _ and force from him the avowal of his divinity, avherewith, undone, he returns into his loneliness. It seemed to me then, and still it seems, most hard to comprehend how the deep tragedy of this subject and this character of ideal manhood should have stayed unfelt; and how the story should have been so misunderstood that lokongrin was looked on as a cold figure .more prone to rouse dislike than to call cut sympathy.” WOMAN AND LOVE. The delineation of his heroine, Elsa, led him, he cays, to appreciate, as he had never before appreciated, the character of woman, and this gave him a sudden and extraordinary insight and understanding. “Utmost clearness was tue chief endeavour in my working out—not the superficial clearness wherewith a shaßow object greets us, but the rich and manycoloured light wherein alone a comprehensive, broadly related subject can Intelligibly display itself, yet which seems superficial, often downright obscure, to those accustomed to mere form (of music) without contents. It was midst this struggle for clearness of exposition that the essence of the heart of woman, such as I had to picture ia the lovimElsa, first dawned upon me with more and more distinctness. The can only attain the power of convincing portraiture w'lien he has been able to sThir himself with fullest sympathy into the essence of the character to be portrayed. In Elsa I saw from the commencement my desired antithesis to my Lohengrin—yet, naturally, not ©o absolute an antithesis as shouTd lie tar removed from hiis own nature, but rather the other half of his own beet being—the antithesis which is included in his general nature, and forms the necessarily longedfor complement of his special manhood. Elsa is the unconscious, the unknowing, into which Lohengrin's conscious, deliberate being yearns to lie redeemed; but again, this yearning is itself the unconscious, undeliberate necessity m Lohengrin, whereby he feels and knows himself akin to Elsa's being: Through the capability of tTTis ‘unconscious unconsciousness' such as I myself now leit alike with Lohengrin, the nature or woman also (and that precisely as 1 telt impelled to the faithfullest portrayal of the essence of womanhood, came that ever-clearer understanding in my inner mind. Through this power I succeeded, in so completely transferring myself to) this female principle (unconscious consciousness) that I came to an entire agreement with its utterance by my loving Elsa. I grew to find her so justified m the final outburst of her solicitude for the welfare and honour of my Lo-

hengrin that from this very outburst I learnt first to understand the purely human element of love; and I suffered deep and actual grief as I saw the tragical necessity of the parting, the ultimate unavoidable undoing, of this pair of lovers. This woman, who with clear fore-knowledge rushes on her doom for Bake of love's imperative behest—who, amid the ecstasy of adoration, wills yet to lose her all, if so she cannot allembrace her loved one; this woman, who in her contact with this Lohengrin of all men must founder, and in doing bo must shipwreck her Beloved too; this woman, who can love but once, thus and not otherwise, who by the very outburst of her solicitude for his welfare and honour wakes for the first time from out the thrill of worship into the full reality of love, and by her wreck reveals its essence to him who had not fathomed it as yet; this glorious woman, before whom Lohengrin must vanish, foT reason that his own specific nature could not understand her-—I had found her now; and the random shaft that I had shot toward the treasure dreamt of, hut hitherto unknown, was my own Lohengrin, whom new I must give lip as lost, to tract more certainly the footsteps of that true womanhood which should one day bring to me and all my world redemption after manhood's egoism, even in its nctne-st form, bad shivered into , self-crushed dust before her—Elsa, the woman—woman hitherto un-unclexetcod by me and understood at last—that most positive expression of the purest instinct of the senses. She is the spirit of the Folk for whose redeeming hand I, too, as ar-tist-man, was longing. But thia trea-sure-trove of knowledge lay hid at first within the silence of my lonely heart; only slowly did it ripen into loud avowal."