Chapter XXXIII: Appendix: B

WAGNER AND THE BALLET

The difficulties which have always stood in the path of a realisation of Wagner's ideals in regard to the ballet in opera are worthy of some consideration, because they are the results of a high conception of the functions of the dance in the drama. Wagner's troubles in this department began with his "Rienzi." In his "Communication" he says: "I by no means hunted about in my material for a pretext for a ballet, but with the eyes of the opera composer I perceived in it a self-evident festival that Rienzi must give to the people, and at which he would have to exhibit to them in dumb show a drastic scene from their ancient history, this scene being the story of Lucretia and the consequent expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome." He confesses in a note that this ballet had to be omitted from all the stage performances of "Rienzi."

Why? Simply because the pantomimic ballet called for imagination on the part of the ballet-master and mimetic skill in the dancers. If these elements in the ballet were wanting in Wagner's day, they are almost wholly absent now. Yet, except in cases where the ballet is seen by the spectator to be a mere entertainment for the personages on the stage, as in the garden scene of "Les Huguenots," it ought to have some connection with the drama. That later composers than Wagner have had some desires of this sort is proved by the presence of the Brocken scene in Boïto's "Mefistofele," the inferno scene in Franchetti's "Asrael," and other such episodes. But nowhere is there such an opportunity for a highly significant ballet as in the first scene of "Tannhäuser."

Whoever cares to read it, may find in the essay of Wagner on the "Art-work of the Future" a long disquisition on the nature of the dance. In brief, he says that in the dance the material is man himself, and the method of expression is motion. This motion is governed by rhythm, but its purpose is the communication of the essence of the material to the spectator. In other words--not Wagner's--dance approaches speech from one side just as absolute music does from the other. It is a painter of mood pictures, just as an orchestra is. It therefore reaches its highest form in pantomime, or mimetic action. Again, in "Opera and Drama," Wagner tells us at some length how ballet music as written by the conventional opera composer has cramped the development of this beautiful art of mimetic dancing, the very art, in a sense, from which the drama itself originated at the altar of Bacchus. By writing in the prescribed dance-forms and rhythms the composer compelled the dancer to confine himself to certain conventional steps and figures. Wagner's ideal was a symphonic poem of motion, mimetic in its essence, following the incidents of a story, and moving to the strains of an orchestral background which should free the dancer from formulas and at the same time paint in tone-colours the moods of the pantomime.

The difficulty in the way of realising this ideal at present is the total separation of the arts of dancing and pantomime. Only a few of the dancers of to-day possess the old-fashioned schooling which would make possible a performance of Auber's "La Muette de Portici." To this unique work Wagner owed much of the food for thought which resulted in his opinions upon the office of the ballet in opera. I have witnessed some representations of this work in recent years--not many--but always with sorrow at the utter inability of the impersonator of the dumb girl to realise the author's conception. She has always been a mere ballet-dancer, striving to perform her work on the strict lines of the conventional stage dance. Now what such a part requires is some one who can dance, but who does act. And that is what the Wagner ballet, especially in "Tannhäuser," needs. The conventional ballet steps and arm movements are at once seen to be absurd, or else they make the scene appear so to the thoughtless spectator, who notes only what he sees. To interpret properly the Venusberg scene of Wagner's third opera there should really be a corps of Pilar-Morins. But just here again would come a difficulty. The Pilar-Morins would not be dancers, and, while they might perform an intelligible pantomime, they would obliterate from their work every trace of rhythm, and thus once more be untrue to Wagner's almost intangible, yet not impracticable, ideal.

And of course in the end we have to reckon with a public which has no skill in the comprehension of pantomime, and hardly any in the appreciation of the dance. For in this frivolous age of pictorial dramatic art the dance means coloured lights and high kicking. Hélas! Yet I still believe that if Wagner's designs in such scenes as that of the Venusberg and the Roman festival in "Rienzi" could be properly carried out, the public would awake to the existence of a poetic and beautifully graphic art which is now quite unknown to it.

THE END

INDEX

EXPLANATORY NOTE.--Subjects directly connected with the personal experiences of Wagner will be found alphabetically indexed under WAGNER, RICHARD. Names of persons and topics associated with Wagner's life and works, but having importance in themselves, will be found in the general index. All topics directly connected with the great music dramas (except leading motives) are indexed under the titles of the works. All the musical illustrations, with their explanations, are indexed under LEADING MOTIVES.

A

"Allons à la Courtille," 41

Ander, 118

Anderson, 98

"A Pilgrimage to Beethoven," 42

"Art and Climate," 86

"Art and Revolution," 76, 86, 179, 180

Art, as found by Wagner, 176

Arthurian legends, _see_ "Parsifal" and "Tristan und Isolde"

Artistic career of Wagner, periods of, 213, 214

ART-THEORIES OF WAGNER, 167 _et seq._;
alliteration, 200 _et seq._;
ballet, 487;
commercialism opposed to, 174, 176;
discovery of, 176;
drama, not opera, 204;
early, 18 _et seq._, 228;
emotions, musical treatment of, 183, 185, 197, 205, 208, 209, 216;
ethical ideas, 215;
feeling and understanding, 182;
form, adopted, 186 _et seq._, 198, 199;
forms, abolished, 178, 185 _et seq._, 197;
fully developed, nature of, 167 _et seq._;
good and evil principles, war of, 216;
Greek drama, relations to, 179, 184, 207, 218;
historical drama as opposed to mythical, 183 _et seq._;
ideal of his work, 206;
incompatibility with "opera" discovered, 177;
later, conceived, 53;
later, expanded, 61, 74;
leitmotiv system, 186, 187, 190 _et seq._;
leitmotive classified, 193;
leitmotive, development of, 193 _et seq._;
libretto a drama, 178;
lyric drama, relation to, 168 _et seq._;
materials of poetic drama, 182, 183;
melody, endless, 186, 187;
metaphysics, 216, 217;
misunderstood by admirers, 161;
misunderstood by public, 167;
moods, embodiment of, 198, 205, 206;
music for music's sake, 178;
music, office of, in drama, 190;
musical system, 186, 189 _et seq._, 196, 197, 198, 208, 209;
myth, advantage of in drama, 183 _et seq._;
nationalism, 167, 208;
opera, old style, differences of, 168 _et seq._;
opposed to public taste, 61, 66, 67, 69, 70, 160, 161;
orchestra, 189, 190, 206;
organic union of arts, 178, 180, 186;
philosophical basis of dramas, 216;
propagation of, 67, 85 _et seq._;
prose works embodying, 86 _et seq._, 179 _et seq._;
realism as opposed to high art, 206, 207;
reforms included in, 178;
Schopenhauer's ideas, 184, 216, 217;
staff-rhyme, 200 _et seq._;
symbolism in drama, 204 _et seq._;
text and music, union of, 186, 202, 203, 219;
understood by Liszt, 81;
verse-form, 200 _et seq._;
woman, saving grace, 215;
"Word-tone-speech," 204

"Art-work of the Future," 86, 179, 180

Attila, 369 _et seq._

Auber, "La Muette de Portici," influence on Wagner, 18, 43

Auditorium darkened, 140

Autobiographic sketch, 52

B

Ballet in "Tannhäuser," 114, 115

Ballet, Wagner and the, 114, 487

Barbarossa, Friedrich, 72

Bayreuth, becomes famous, 140;
festivals, deficit of first, 144, 146;
festivals, directed by Mme. Wagner, 153;
festivals, still popular, 153;
plan nearly fails, 139;
theatre, _see_ Festspielhaus; Wagner goes to, 136;
why selected, 137

_Bayreuther Blätter_, 147, 150

"Beethoven," essay by Wagner, 134

Beethoven influences Wagner, 6

Belart, Hans, "Richard Wagner in Zurich," 111

Bellini, Wagner's admiration for, 18, 33

Belloni, 82

Berlioz, Hector, 42, 43, 57, 112

Beroul, 297

Bertram-Mayer, Mme., 131

Borron, Robert de, 297, 454

Boston, Wagner nights, 104

Brandt, Karl, 143

Bruckwald, Otto, 143

Brückner Brothers, 143

C

Caedmon, "Beowulf," 201

"Centennial March," 139

Chivalry, German age of, 331

Chrétien de Troyes, 454

Christian trilogy, 218

"Christopher Columbus" overture, 20, 43

"Communication to My Friends," 16, 30, 61, 66, 67, 92

Concert Ouvertüre mit Fuge, 10

"Conducting," essay on, 58, 134

Conrad III., 331

Cornelius, Peter, 125

Costa, Michael, 100

D

Dannreuther, Edward, on Wagner's character, 154, 156

"Das Liebesverbot," 19 _et seq._

"DAS RHEINGOLD," 388 _et seq._;
_see also_ "Der Ring des Nibelungen";
Alberich, warning and curse, 392;
book finished, 365;
curse, the, 392, 394;
Erda, significance of, 393;
ethical ideas in, 389-392, 394;
first performances, 356;
gold, the, origin of, 389;
gold, the root of evil, 389;
music, 424;
_see also_ LEADING MOTIVES;
music, when written, 365;
mythologic basis, 384;
original casts, 356, 357;
produced at Munich, 131, 132;
renunciation of love, 389;
score written, 94;
sin, entry of among the gods, 391;
sin of gods, connected with "Götterdämmerung" by Wagner, 394;
sin, Wotan's, burden of, 392;
story of, 388 _et seq._;
sword, stage business with, 395;
Wotan's plan, 395;
Wotan's sin, 392

Davidson, _Musical World_, 100

Deputy, 41

"DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER", 234 _et seq._;
art theories in, 213, 236;
book, Wagner's view of, 243;
book written, 45;
characterisation in, 248;
composition of, 244;
conception of, 237;
Daland as a character, 248;
duet of Dutchman and Daland, Italian style of, 247;
elements of Wagner's system in, 242;
embryonic, 213, 236, 242, 246;
emotional states in, 243;
failure of, 54 _et seq._;
first performances, 234, 235;
Fitzball's play, 237;
foreshadows future Wagner, 248, 249;
Heine's story, 237, 240;
instrumentation, 248;
Italian music in, 247;
legend of, 34, 238;
leitmotiv foreshadowed, 243;
"Lohengrin," resemblance to, 283;
lyricism of, 244;
Marryatt's version, 239;
music, character of, 246, 248;
music, plan of, 243;
music, principal ideas, 244 _et seq._;
mythical development, 239;
original casts, 234, 235;
original story, 238;
overture, 248;
produced at Cassel and Riga, 55;
Dresden, 54;
Munich, 126;
Zurich, 97;
Senta's ballad, 244, 245;
Senta's character, 248;
sources of book, 236 _et seq._, 283;
Spohr on, 55;
thematic germs, 245;
Van der Decken, character of, 248;
Wagner's additions to story, 241;
Wagner's view of story, 241, 242;
when written, 236;
woman's sacrifice in, 240

"Der Liebesmahl der Apostel," 59

"DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN," 355 _et seq._;
_see also_ "Das Rheingold," "Die Walküre," "Siegfried," and
"Götterdämmerung";
abandoned for "Tristan und Isolde," 106, 107, 109, 366;
Æschylean methods in, 390;
art-theories in, 74;
begun, 93;
book completed, 93;
book, conception of, 72 _et seq._, 366;
book published, 120;
Brünnhilde, 401, 402, 416;
critics confused by, 142;
curse, the, 392, 398;
dates of events in the dramas, 370;
Eddas and, 372, 373;
ethical basis of story, 384, 385, 394, 416;
expanded into tetralogy, 93, 364;
expenses of production, how provided, 137, 138;
fate and punishment for sin, 390;
"Final Report" on, 129;
first mentioned by Wagner, 364;
first performances, 355;
free hero, 405;
Hagen, significance of, 399;
"Heldenbuch" and, 369;
King Ludwig and, 126;
legends in, age of, 367;
legends in, origin of, 368;
leitmotiv, method of developing, 424 _et seq._;
leitmotiv system in, 422, 423, 424 _et seq._;
Liszt on, 94, 106;
motives, classification of, 424;
music, 422 _et seq._;
music, advances in, 74;
music, how to enjoy, 423;
music, philosophic nature of, 423;
music, relation of certain themes, 424-426, 428;
myth and history, 366;
"Nibelungen Lied," story of, 371;
Norse legends of, 372 _et seq._;
Norse mythology in, 384 _et seq._;
opposition to, at Munich, 129;
orchestra in, 445;
period of events in, 369, 370;
production at Bayreuth, 140;
resurrection in, 405, 406;
revenge of the Nibelungs, 413;
rights sold to Munich, 144;
Ring, the, Nibelungen Lied account of, 371, 372;
Ring, the Volsunga Saga account of, 380, 382, 383;
Ring, the, Wagner's use of, 389, 391-393, 398, 416, 417, 419;
scenery of, 143;
Sigurd and Brünnhilde, story of, 374, 375;
sin of gods, how treated by Wagner, 391, 394;
sources of, 367 _et seq._;
sources of, historical connections of, 370, 374;
story as told by Wagner, 388 _et seq._;
Volsunga Saga, 373 _et seq._;
Volsunga Saga, story of, 378 _et seq._;
work on in London, 99;
Wotan's eye, how lost, 410;
Wotan's plan, 395-398, 405, 437;
Wotan's sin, 392

"Die Feen," 16 _et seq._, 148

"Die Glückliche Bärenfamilie," 32

"Die Hochzeit," 14, 15

"Die Hohe Braut," 30, 31

"DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG", study of, 328 _et seq._;
artistic doctrine of, 343, 344;
Beckmesser, character of, 335;
begun, 64, 330;
book finished, 120, 330;
characters historical, 333, 335;
Cosima Wagner on, 341;
critical view of, 342;
first performances, 328, 329;
meisterlied and minnelied, construction and relations of, 334;
meistersingers, customs of, 333;
meistersingers, origin of, 332;
minnesingers, forerunners of meistersingers, 330-332;
Müglin, Heinrich, his "Long Tone" used by Wagner, 345;
music, 344 _et seq._;
music, Act II., finale of, 352;
music, begun, 120, 330;
music, characteristics of, 353;
music, chorale, Act I., and theme, 347;
music, completed, 330;
music, monologue of Sachs, 350;
music, significant beauty of Meistersinger themes, 345;
original casts, 328, 329;
pendant to "Tannhäuser," 330;
period of the comedy, 333;
prelude, 344;
prize song, 340;
produced at Munich, 131, 328;
quintet in, 340;
Sachs, history of, 333, 336;
story of, 336 _et seq._;
symbolism in, 343;
Walther not Wagner, 343

"Die Sarazener," 50, 61;
_see also_ "Manfred"

Dietsch, Pierre Louis, 46, 115

"DIE WALKÜRE," 396 _et seq._;
_see also_ "Der Ring des Nibelungen"; begun, 94;
book finished, 365;
Brünnhilde, character of, 402;
Brünnhilde's punishment, meaning of, 401;
curse, 398;
ethical ideas in, 397-399, 401, 402;
finished, 105;
first performances, 358;
Fricka's importance, 397 _et seq._;
music, 434;
_see also_ LEADING MOTIVES;
when written, 365;
original casts, 358, 359;
produced at Bayreuth, 141;
produced at Munich, 132;
rehearsal at Zurich, 105;
second act, meaning of, 397;
second act, Wagner on, 400;
sin and its punishment in, 397;
sources of, 396;
story of, 396 _et seq._;
sword in, 397;
"Todesverkündigung," 400;
work on at Zurich, 121;
Wotan's plan, 401;
Wotan's plan overthrown by Fricka, 397

"Die Wibelungen," 72

Dom Pedro of Brazil, 109

Dorn, Heinrich, 8, 9, 31

"Dors, mon enfant," 42

Drama, spoken, Wagner's study, 181

Dramas, Wagner's, 213 _et seq._

Dumersan, 38, 41

"Du Métier de Virtuose," 44

E

Edda, the Elder, discovered, 373, 374;
mythology in, 385;
Poetic, 375;
Sigurd and Brünnhilde in, 375

Edda, the Prose, or Younger, mythology in, 385 _et seq._;
when written, 373

Eilhart von Oberge, 297

"Eine Faust" overture, 38-40, 97

Ellis, W.A., "1849, A Vindication," 78;
translation of Wagner's Prose Works, 16

"End of a Musician in Paris," 47

F

Festspielhaus at Bayreuth, 136, 138;
builders and artists of, 143;
described, 142

Feuerbach, 216

Feustel, Frederick, 138, 152

Fischer, Wilhelm, 45, 47

"Flying Dutchman," _see_ "Der Fliegende Holländer"

France, mixture of peoples in, 296

G

Gasparini, A., 41

Geoffrey of Monmouth, 296, 453

German Music, Wagner's essay on, 41

Geyer, Ludwig, 2, 3;
"Slaughter of the Innocents," 3

Gluck, 169 _et seq._

"GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG," 410, _et seq._,
_see also_ "Der Ring des Nibelungen";
Brünnhilde, character of, 416;
Brünnhilde, divinity gone, 411, 416;
Brünnhilde imparts wisdom and strength to Siegfried, 411;
Brünnhilde's deception, 418;
Brünnhilde's self-sacrifice, 421;
curse, in operation on Siegfried, 417;
drink of forgetfulness, 414;
drink of forgetfulness, antidote, 419;
"Dusk of the Gods," described, 415;
ethical ideas in, 416, 417, 421, 422;
expiation of sin of gods, 421, 422;
first performances, 362, 363;
Gibichung, origin of name, 412;
Grani, 412;
Gunther identified, 412;
Gutrune, identified, 412;
Hagen, character of, 413;
Hagen, mother of, 413;
Hagen, the ring and, 420;
music, 442;
_see also_ LEADING MOTIVES;
music, when written, 366;
"Nibelungen Lied," ideas taken from, 372;
Norns scene, 410;
original casts, 362, 363;
penetration of the fire, 409, 410;
produced at Bayreuth, 141;
return of ring to Rhine daughters, 417, 419, 421;
Rhine daughters, meeting with Siegfried, 419;
ring, connected with sin of gods, 416;
runes, Brünnhilde's, 411;
Siegfried matured, 411;
story of, 410 _et seq._;
sword, between Siegfried and Brünnhilde, 417, 418;
Waltraute's narrative, 415;
Wotan's eye, how lost, 410;
Wotan's plan in, 420;
Wotan's spear, 410

Gottfried von Strassburg, 108, 297

Grail, Holy, _see_ "Parsifal"

Greek drama, 168, _see also_ ART-THEORIES of Wagner

Grimm Brothers, "Deutsche Sagen," 272

Gross, Adolph, 152, 153

H

Heine, Ferdinand, 45, 47

"Heldenbuch," 369

Hoffmann, E.T., influence on Wagner, 7, 8

Hoffmann, Joseph, 143

Hohenstauffen dynasty, 331

Holtei, Karl von, 32

"Huldigungs Marsch," 124

J

"Jesus von Nazareth," 71, 72

Jockey Club, of Paris, and "Tannhäuser," 114, 115

Joukowsky, 150

"Judaism in Music," 86, 87

Jullien, Adolphe, 38, 39

K

"Kaisermarsch," 134

Krehbiel, H.E., "Studies in the Wagnerian Drama," 310

L

"La Déscente de la Courtille," 41

"L'Attente," 42

Laube, Heinrich, 41

Leading Motives, _see_ Art-Theories of Wagner, leitmotiv;
leading motives, not essential to know, 219

LEADING MOTIVES.
"Das Rheingold":
Alberich, master of the Nibelungs, 432;
Compact, 429;
Curse, 433;
Departing divinity, 431;
Dragon, 433;
Erda, 424, 425;
Giants, 429;
Gold, the appearing, 427;
Gold, the gleaming, 428;
Götterdämmerung, 425, 428;
Hoard, 433;
Loge, 431;
Nibelung, smiths, 432;
Nibelung's hate, 433;
Primeval Elements, 424;
Renunciation, 429;
Rhine daughters, 427;
"Rhinegold," theme explained, 428;
Ring, 428;
Sword, 195, 395, 434;
Tarnhelm, 195, 429;
Walhalla, 429.
"Der Fliegende Holländer":
Dutchman theme, 245;
Senta, the redeeming element, 245;
Yearning, 246;
"Wie, hor' ich recht?" 247.
"Der Ring das Nibelungen":
_see_ "Das Rheingold," "Die Walküre," "Siegfried," "Götterdämmerung."
"Die Meistersinger":
"Am stillen Herd," 349;
Art of Song, 348;
Beating, the, 350;
Chastisement, 348;
Council, 348;
Derision, 347;
Eva, 351;
Kothner's song, 349;
Meistersinger march, 345;
Meistersingers, 344;
Nuremberg, 350;
Prize Song, 346, 353;
Sachs's monologue, 350;
St. John's Day, 349;
Spring, 346, 347, 349;
"Wahn, Wahn," 352;
Walther's emotion, 346;
Walther, the Knight, 349;
Yearning of Love, 346.
"Die Walküre":
Brünnhilde's divinity, 438;
Departing divinity, 431;
Fate, 437;
Götterdämmerung, 437;
Love, 434;
Siegfried, 438;
Sieglinde's sympathy, 434;
Slumber, 439;
Sword, 435;
"Todesverkündigung," 438;
Valkyr's call, 436;
Valkyrs, 436;
Volsung race, 435;
Volsungs, sorrow of, 435;
Wotan's wrath, 436.
"Götterdämmerung":
Brünnhilde and the Ring, 428, 429;
Brünnhilde, entrance of, 426;
Brünnhilde's despair, 444;
Brünnhilde's divinity, 438;
Brünnhilde the woman, 443;
Forgetfulness, 430;
Gibichung, 430;
Götterdämmerung, 425, 426;
Gutrune, 444;
Rhinegold, 428;
Siegfried, the Man, 443, 444;
Tarnhelm, 430.
"Lohengrin":
Elsa's faith, 287;
Elsa's faith broken, 288;
Grail, 285;
Lohengrin, 286;
Ordeal, 290;
Ortrud, 289;
Prohibition, 288;
Swan, 287.
"Parsifal":
Amfortas's suffering, 475;
Atonement, 479;
Belief, 475;
bells, 478;
Good Friday, 479;
Grail, 474;
Herzeleide, 477;
Klingsor, 477;
Kundry, the helpful, 477;
Lament, the, 478;
Last Supper, 474;
Parsifal, 477;
Promise, the, 476;
Sorcery, 476;
Swan, 478;
Wild Kundry, 476.
"Siegfried":
Brünnhilde's awakening, 441;
Dragon, 433;
Love's greeting, 442;
Siegfried, the sword wielder, 440;
Siegfried, the youth, 440;
World's Heritage, 440;
Wotan, the Wanderer, 440;
Yearning for love, 440.
"Tannhäuser":
Bacchanale, 266;
Pilgrims' Chorus, 266;
Praise of Venus, 267;
Venus's pleading, 267.
"Tristan und Isolde":
Anguish, 326;
Day, 323;
Death, 322;
Fate, 322;
Glance, 321;
Grief, 325;
"Liebestod," themes of, 324, 327;
Love, 321;
Love Call, 324;
Love, Triumph of, 324;
Mark, 325;
Mark's Grief, 325;
Sea, 322.

Lehmann, Lilli, 138

Leitmotiv, _see_ Leading Motives;
not necessary to recognise, 190, 191

"Le Vaisseau-Fantôme," Dietsch, 46

"Liebesmahl der Apostel, der," _see_ "Der Liebesmahl"

"Liebesverbot, das," _see_ "Das Liebesverbot"

Liszt, Franz, 44, 73, 78-84, 93, 94, 98, 104, 105, 150-152

"LOHENGRIN," study of, 270, _et seq._;
Act I. compared with sources, 277;
Act II. compared with sources, 278;