The New York Herald Newspaper, June 21, 1874, Page 6

NEW YORK HERALD, UNDAY, JUNE 21, 1874—QUADRUPLE SHEET. | accepted the term music-drama for them. In | | building a theatre for the representation of the ; “Ring of the Nibelungers” he wished to give the true artistic interpretation to his composition, which could not be done mm the modern German theatres, tle gave me an intereating account of a trip he made tu Northwestern Germany last year | A Glance at English and American Fic- | | for the purpose of selecting singers for tne Nibe- tion, | lungen performance. He had been fortitled to We have repeatedly pointed out the 'arge num- meet much disappointment in the operatic per- | ber of English nove!s anuounced as “in press’ by formances; he returned disgusted with the frivo- | American pubiishers. These announcements con- lous, Day sacrilegious, wickedness carried on with tinue, while but few of the books have avpeared. the German opera by theatrical directors, singers Not long ago one house alone announced tor and kapelimeisters in general. In Wurzburg he saw | speedy publication “Sylvia's Choice,” “Won at - | &performance of “Don Juan” where the kapell- Last,” “South vy West,” “Kose and Rue,” “John n cs meisier endeavored to prove what the singers could Markenfield,’? “Civil Service,” “Fact Against Fic- What He Thinks of “Lohene | 40 with incorrect tempo all tnrough. InCarlsrune , tion,” “My Deeds and My Thoughts,” “Taies of grin” in New York. LITERATURE. RECENT NOVELS. RICHARD WAGNER. Interview with the) Great Composer. His Musical Dreams, Plans and Achievements. the régisseur had undertaken to improve the cios- Zenana,” “Hakayit Abdulla,” and “Aunt Mary's , ing scene of the second act of “Lohengrin” by | Bran Pie.” eleven in all. How many of these books | making the Archbishop of Antwerp meet Lohen- | will be really republished we cannot say; butii we grn and Elsa half way to church, and give them | are to judge from the fate of the nooks previously not more than one or two, |f his blessing! In Vienna the opera is sooverrun by | announced, Barrera, Bavaria, May 19, 1874, Tue plane and ideas communicated to me by | the ballet that pure opera is impossible. Wagner | any. But these announcements have one | M@ult Coat me; but the ciel source of my regret Wagner ip my visits are Of such @ scope and mag- found one of his operas there so much disfigured | good effect in this, that they enable us wasonly a pretence. Whatever else had hap- nitude that f fear! shall not be able to do justice ana cut down that he left the house in disgust, In | to anticipate “the books published abroad ened 1 could have borne it, WL could have still to them. Mr. Wagner speaks in Germaa with great | Hamburg the opera was “unbearabie;” in Berlin | Which may be republished here and so give oar | 18 quite broken down and’ sees nobody. fright—not much matter, for folks tbat fight must expect (0 cure sears. Littic Tim is a vice and handy voy. 1m glud pa bought a boy, tor we don’t Wane tuose furward girs, specially the vallow ones with red cueeks. dig think better of Beecham. I's too bad. He has no sister to be asuamed for his behaviour, though his mai bar am sorry ior ner, Of course he’li go off, 10r Lidies Wout bemean themseives to keep his company here. My pickels got troze, and 1 wiust have new Vinegar for ‘em. 1 have to lock up my sweets, now Tim’s come, Malvina las 4 sweet, pretty tidy most worked 1 a. Mr, Adams called and asked alter you. 1 wish beecham had him for a friend, Pa Says he’s @ man of suustance and character, Brother Grimes is to preach here next Sunday, and 1 hope be’ show what the ablishonists are and Warn the young men trom the errour of there ways, Your amectionate BETTIE, This, 0: course, brought out a letter irom Miss Shelburne to Mr. Russell, which is also worth re- Producing. It was as iollows:— Sin—Alter the occurreuces, of which I have been informed by letters irom relatives, there seems to be uo aiiernative for me but to recall the promise 1 made you aud to bid you farewell, Until l cawe to write tuese Words | bad no idea of the pain they lieved you were tne honoradlg aud pure-minded muu [once considered you. As itis, 1 have only rapidity, and with a formation of his sentences in- tricate and dificult to follow. His ideas run away with hum; he commences on music, | branches off tnto the French induence on German | national development and ends in politics—all tn one sentence. Niveiungen treasury, Wagner informed me that | 100,000 thalers had been subscribed for the so-called | “patronat” certificaces—that ts, tickets for the | performances; but still other 200,000 thalers were needed before the festal performances could take place. This lack of support on the part of the Ger- Tans Was to him an imcompretensible fact, He tola me how he had fuily expected that the | ‘princes of Germany would have come forward—and he only needed 1,000 of them—and bave Bubscribed to the undertakipg. But hardly B dozen princes had shown interest tn his plans, Wagner spoke earnestly of the tendencies pur- Bued by some of the German princes. He rejoiced toat Germany had a Prussian army; that Germany had a Prussia at all, whereby she had become vic- torious and united. He regretted that, notwith- standing this victory, French fashions and French taste still rule 10 operatic and dramatic matters in Germany to as great an extent as belore the war. dn mostof the Court theatres French pallet alone 1s cultivated to perfection. To one German Court, however, Wagher seemed to revert with pleasure and satisfaction—to the Bavarian—and he has good vause so todo, Wagner asked me first of all to ‘porrect a misstatement made some time ago by an .A{merican correspondent, who said that Wag- mer, finding himself lacking 200,000 thalers for the compietion of his plans, had ‘written to King Ludwie of Bavaria, who had at nce responded from Houenschwangan by encios- Ang @ check for the entire sum. “There is no truth In all this,” said Wagner; “the fact is that the ‘King of Bavaria did not write any such letter, mever sent such a check, but be has placed the sum of 200,000 thalers to my credit, which sum I can draw upon as the necessity arrives. This sum has to be refunded from the moneys yet to be Bubscribed.’” “LOHENGRIN” IN NEW YORK. As a matter Of course We spoke of American af- fairs and Amertcan interest in the Nibelungen The- atre and of the recent “Lohengrin’’ performances im New York. “It seems so Strange to us,” said Wagner, “that you should just be announcing in America the conflict which was fought here twenty years ago. The same objections from opponents, ‘the same misunderstandings, the same enthusiasm from friends and admirers. The ‘Lohengrin’ con- flict is tought and won here—we are engaged in the Nibelungen confiict, which is of far greater scope.” I admitted that Lohengrin” is such an accepted fact in Germany that even to non-musical people it is amusing to see how the war is raging | ‘cross the Ocean and how the old medieval weap- ons are polished up by valiant critics to combat the glorious Knight of the Grail. The old, oid legend about Wagner’s music drowning the voice of the singers is worn threadbare. Wagner rejoiced that “Lohengrin” had at last been introdnced into America. ‘‘Lobengrin” is the mes- senger sent out into the wilderness to prepare the way for the heroes and gods to follow. He re- gretted, however, that the opera could only be heard in the Italian. Wagner has no great regard for Italian transiations of his operas, the very basis of which is the drama, the vital word. You might as well leave out the scenery from a‘ Wagner Overa as the words, and no sane man will deny | “horrid ;" in Cologne “abominable.” He heard avery | readers some idea of their worth or worthiessne | how be at an eud. respectable periormance of the ‘Meistersinger’ | Prominent among these is Mrs. Oliphant’s “For to express ny Wish that our acquatutance shall ADELAIVE SHELBURNE, But, as the course of true love never did run We conversed on the state of the | at Bremen, and ielt in duty bound to give the Bre- | Love or Lie,” which is readabie, but not quite | men singers and managers tull praise. He re- | ood enough for the source from which it cowes. | smooth, it may be assumed that in this case, as tn turned home more than ever filled with the neces- | Anotier readable novel, especially tor persons of most works of fiction, there 18 happiness in the | sity there is for reform in the German opera, the | High Church theological leauings, is “Under the , ‘ast chapter. A novel more thoroughly American | necessity to establish, as he intends, a school for It | and sotuil of purely American traits has never been written, and most readers will be thank!ul to Limes,” by the author of “Christina North.” the music drama in his Nipelungen Theatre, at | Concerns the loves of Sebastian Viner, a painter, ; Baireuth, OPERATIC INCOMPETENCE. Everywhere Wagner found incompetence—ina- bility on the part of directors and managers to | comprehend the true mussion of dramuztic opera. | Everything was sacrificed to jinales, and by sing- | ers to the mania for applause. “What one manager | stistained another suppressed, and only in Dresden | and Magdeburg and Munich was his “Lohengrin” | given entire, All operas suffered from this barba- Tian treatment—Meyerbeer, Mozart, Auber, Ros- Sini—everybody. He found the orchestra leaders | ignorant, as a rule, of the dramatic necessities of the opera; and the singers, trained in French man- nerism, had lost all naturalness, As for scenery, it seemed to be considered a matter of little ac- couut by most directors. The singers cared more for personal applause than the success of an opera asawhole. ‘he directors know more about mili- | tary parades and ballet than operatic beauties; the orchestra leiders recruit their personnel trom | beer gardens and concert halls; the public 1s arbi- trary and demand amusement rather than pure, elevating music. THE PUBLIC TO BE REFORMED. “The public,” said Wagner, ‘needs reform as Much as the German opera itself.” He spoke of the annoyance given to true lovers of music by the audience straggling m during the vverture, by gossiping, when the tntention of the composer is | to prepare the minds of the audience lor what is to come. AS prayer 18 the prelude to worship so is | the overture the prelude to opera. Then towards | the close there is the other annoyance of many of the audience leaving their seats in oraer to get | their overcoats and shawis belore the great crowd | | emerges. I told the composer of experiences I had had in Frankiort during mutilated performances | of his “Lohengrin,”’ when at half-past nine, half an hour before the close of the opera, 1 had seen atrician families leave their boxes. “Why do the Frankforters leave their boxes so early, when the | opera, which is certainly a beautiful one, (it was ‘Lohengrin,’) 1s not finished” | asked an intelligent dramatist by my side. “Ob.” he answered, “you must know thattn Frankfort it is the custom to have potato salad and wurst and other delicacies on the patrician table at half-past nine, ahd a solid Frank‘ort patrician would sooner lose nalf the opera than miss bis potato salad.” “The mission of opera has been mistaken,”’ said Wagner. “People have been inthe habit of going to opera for the sake of being amused. The mission of tne true | opera is to elevate and ennoble, Lintend to make Baireuth the gathering place for the best operatic strength of Germany, lor the exercise of the highest German original art. 1 selected Baireuth in order not to come in conflict with & public whose taste is already vittated.”” ACTORS AND SINGERS. Wegner spoke of actors Jand singers at some | length, and of the combmation of the dramatic and | Inusical excellence which the production of his operas demands. He abhors the actor or singer. who never forgets himseif, his ego, on the stage. His ideal seemed to be Mme. Schroeder-Devrient, a woman of whom the composer spoke with deep warmth and reverence. She was both actress and | Singer in one person, the one supporting and com- lementing the vther, and is, | imagine, Wagner’s | ideal or the singer of the fature. And a glorious ideal he has given us! Wagner first requires poe- try, whereon to baud his music. He requires the | dramatic giftin his singers by which to express his | | musical intentions. He does not think that the \ « German has, by ure, any talent for dramatic art. The Frenchman is an actor by second nature ; the German 1s an actor only through study and | naturalness, It ts in the realm of music where the | talent and genius of the German is dis- played. Hitherto this realm has. been as | good as closed to the dramatist. It Bj |@ wondrous, illimited realm, which we | | are entering with the music drama as I have en- | deayored to expound it.” “it Was Mme. Schroeder- | Devrient,” said the composer, “who first revealed | tome the great beauty and power of the music | drama. I waa repeatedly asked how | liked her | singing. I said, ‘She has no voice, but she under- | Stands so well how and when to breathe, and to let | | | Feadable. Wagner the poetic gift, the talent to produce | her true Bulag —" fneens a be rane i ve in ner song, that in listening to her I neither boble, beautiful pociry. We do Wagner a terrible | thoygnt of her singing nor of her voice. To this Injustice when we negtect his libretti, or have the | great woman I owe all my knowledge of the nature | singers give them to us ina language we do not | of the retain ei igo rteetion sd eng) art coasts tg “ 7 : | an trutivuiness, in naturainess, in reality, the tor- ie 2 gen ng eek | getruiness of herself, and the embodiment for the | Wagner to me, “ts nearer related to the German | time being in the person the heroine to ne delin- | | in tne opening chapters, where an old-fashioned | | in Kentacky—a struggle over the re-enslavement and Miss Rose Austie, @ young Jady wih a taste | for polemics. There are & few Worldly aud wicked | characters in the book, by way of Variety. Painiers just now seem tobe in savor with the novelists, and “Claude Meadowleigh, Artst,” portrays we fervor and sentiment of artistic feeling. Strangely enough the best part of the book fs not in its art, bus in its bar- rack life, A thoroughly trashy novel is “Baroara’s | Warning.” “The Thorntons of Thornbury” is tedioas. ‘Seven Ages o1 a Village Pauver"’ is too | much after the pattern of “Giax’s Baby.” “In- | gram Place’ is too ferocious and aristocratic. So | tar as we have been abie to examine them there | has not been one really great novel—not even An- thony Troiiope’s “Lady Anna’’—published in Eng- land in the last turee months out of tue 100 or more which have appeared during that time. “Lady Anna’ has been republished by the Harpers, but, notwithstanding their house reissues more Engi ovels than any other in the country, | their book list just now is very meagre in this re- spect, Besides Trollope’s latest novel, we believe | they have recently printed only Payne’s “At Her Mercy” and Robinson’s “Second Cousin Sarah.” Mr. F. W. Robinson is a very prolific novelist, | and his novels, to say the least of them, are aiways “Second Cousin Sarah’ ig not unlike | thoge which preceded it. The characters geuer- | ally are commonplace enough, but most of them have the characteristic obstinacy of Mr. Robinsou’s | creations. Reuben Culwick and his father have disagreed because the son refused to marry the girl whom his father designed as his wiie. The father is a retired business man and very rich, so that the son by contrast may be hard worked and very poor. Reuben earns & scant livelinood by writing for the press. At the end of five years he visits his father, but there is no reconciliation, ana while on the journey be makes the acquaint- ance of Sarah Eastbelli—“Secona Cousin Saran”— whom he afterwards marries, and to whom it sub- Sequently turns out that the elder Culwick has left all his money. The book deals with low life but not with the real life which Dickens was accus- tomed to portray, and its interest is due in a great measure to its intensity. The characters are all overdrawn, and herein is the meric of the novel. Ii the author had kept within the bounds of truth and reality his work would have been without in- terest; in overstepping it ne has made a readable Dovel. Anew American novel, dealing with Kentucky life in the times before the war, when slavery was sacred, has just appeared from the press o! Les & Shepard. Itis entitled “Lord of Himself,” and is from the pen of Francis H. Underwood, well known from his connection with the Atlantic Monthly in its early days. AS mere novel writing, the book 1s not a very great success, but as a de- scription of men and manners in the slave States before rebellion was deter- mined upon, it is a singularly valuable contribution to our literature. Its fault is that it is too descriptive, but ite merits far overbalance its faulta. It isalove story; but many of iis best Scenes are in no way connected with the loves of its hero and heroine. An example of this ts seen | Kentucky fox hunt is sketched without any neces- sary relation to the plot. 1t may be doubted, how- ever, whether so excellent an insight into the life it portrays could have been afforded had any other method been adopted. Tne plot is heid together by a very slight thread, but every chapter presents afresh picture, a sketch of an old and proud bat decayed Kentacky family, the account of the tox- hunt, a description of a big meeting at Papaw Creek—one of those great outdoor religious gath- erings which nowhere else were so wonderful as of manumitted human chattels, a shooting affray, @ slave auction, and many similar scenes follow- ing each other in rapid succession like the shifting | views of a kaleidoscope. But the great merit of | the book 1s not in the reproduction of scenes like | | these—known only at this early day by actual ex- | Mr. Underwood for the pleasure of its perusal, while the future historian will find in it the mate- Mia! for that truthiui coloring without which all history is fat, staie and unproftabie, LITERARY CH!T-CHAT. Mr. J, HAMMOND TRUMBULL has printed for pri- vate circulation a monograph on the “Origin and Early Progress of Inadian Missions in New Eng- Jand,”’ with a list of books published in the Indian language at Jamuridge and Boston trom 1633 to 1721, Two FRENCH SCHOLARS have recently devoted themselves to the discovery of the site of the island of Atlantis, Uniortunately their conclu- sions are diametrically opposed. M. Roisel proves to lis Own satisiaction, in a work entitled “Les Atlantes,” that that favored isle bes many fathoms deep beneath the mid-Atlantic. M. Moreau de Jounes, oD the otuer hand, places Atlantis beneath the waters o! the Sea of Azof, and holds that the Black Sea was tne cradie of the modern world, THE Saturday Review calls M. Octave Feuillet’s novel, “Julia de Trécwur,” a terripie story, in- credible and merely absurd, Mr. J. R, PLANCHE bas written an historical work in two volumes, entitled “The Conqueror ana His Companions.” It has a good deal of tntorma- tion about the early Norman tamilies in England, and deserves attention asthe workof a herald and genealogist, although rather deiicient in au- tuorities. ON MILLION CoprEs, !t 18 said, of a Sunday School music book, entitled “Pure Gold,’ have been soid in the past Jour years, : M. ALEXANDRE Dumas’ “L’Amis des Femmes” has been a second time condemned by the censor- ship. The author is about to reprint his first vol- ume of verses, printed 1m 1847, and called “Péchég ae Jeunesse.” Only fourteen copies of the titst edition were sold. ‘M, DE VILLEMESSANT’s “Mémoires d’un Journal- iste are unique in iiterature. The his.ory of the Paris Figaro und other journals, the price paid to Henri Rochefort and others for articles, and all Kinds of literary and personal gossip figure in them. ‘There are to be ten volumes of the work. THE FORTHCOMING CORRESPONDENCE of Proud- hon will form a gallery of portraits of modern celebrities. THR CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY are about to publish a reprint of the “Noticias de ja Nueva California,” by the Rev. Father Francisco Paiou, who was the first priest of the mission at San Francisco. The author was a caretul observer and historian, and his work, which is now very rare, contains many valuable papers, journals, oficial documents and records of early explorations, ‘THE FIFTEENTH ISSUE of the Spenser Society con- sista of Timothie Kendal’s “Flowers of Epi- grammes,” reprinted from the original edition of | 1577. The contents are taken from Martial, the Greek anthology, Sir Thomas More, Rovert As- cham, Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich, Theodore Beza and other writers. DB. RICHARDSON, Whose researches on the Influ- emce of overwork, of alcohol, of tobacco and of Oceupation on the physical and mental life, are well known, has in the press @ volume entitled “Diseases of Modern Life.” Ir 13 STATED that M. Farjeon has been especially engaged to write a story tor Frank Lestie’s Illus- trated Newspaper. Loxp HovuauTon’s ode on Dr. Livingstone, in the London Times, shows how feeble even noble bards May get in wooing an unwilling muse. Witness this sample, whicn forms the first verse:— The swarthy followers stood aloof, Unled—antathered He lay beneath that grassy root, Fresh guihered. In CANADA the government has undertaken the publication and supply of school books, much to the disgust of the book trade. It is declared that under this system schools are worse supplied and | at s higher cost than they would be if the basiness | were leit to private enterprise, Octavk FRUILLET was very intimate with Na- | poleon I1I., who made him itbrarian of the Palace | ronne de Fer was second, than the Italian, and better adapted than the | ated. tone es of Kote palates Lu oe | vehi | Other lives, are the essential ramatic succe Ttallan as a vehicle of transmitting my ideas. A | The wonderful play of this woman revealed to me | century ago and even we Germans despised ourown | the true secret of the ee art. She ue pid tongue in favor of the Italian. I have never found | restrain her emotions; her play was a part of her h lije. Despising applause, she always lamented that In our German language any hindrance to operatic | she was hot silted with the genius of her mother, beauty, and there will be no bindrances in the | the great Lepr eg eto It boar apie of | i 4 | music which made her of equal rank and power renin rine boeiyies = fashion, simply @ | With her mother. Without ‘music she would not lon, nothing else. The Itallans are talented | have heen so.” Wagner referred me for more ‘ingers indeed, but we cannot produce a healthy, | information on this great woman to one of is nu vital, dramatic opera if we refuse to produce it in | Merous pamphiets—the one on “‘Actors and Sing- the language of our nation.” Wagner spoke in } gre bich since my interview I have read with terms of great praise of a translation of Rhein- | THE MUSIC Frag ro © tie dieeee Wagner accepts a8 a fact the decay 0 rama, gold, pablished in England, and thought that | ,. Voeheny and in Engiand. He endeavors to call alliteration empioyed by him in that and other | Up in his music dramas @ new genre of opera—a | once and observation to the men of the last Portions of the “Nibelungen” could not be pro- | national German drama, which we style music | pel duced in any other language than the English, | drama, since he starts out on the proposition that | generation and fast passing out of recoliection— | Ana I think honest critics will agree with Wagner in the | RCESSITY OF VERNACULAR OPERA. Two years ago Wagner made the remark to me that he fully betieved that English opera would at some time develop and flourish, but it would Wake root and develop in the United States, Wagner referred several times further to Ameri- can subjects, shown to his intentions vy the Germans across the Atlantic—by Mr. Thomas aud by native Americans. He did not seem to expect many Amencan “patrons” (or the Nibelangen performance. Some, he thought, might come out of “curiosity.” There Would be to him even sometuing of humiliation in the thougnt of having his audience made up of Strangers, because he nad projected his theatre as national German urdertaking. The fact that Wagner can count ug his royal and princely “patrons” the Sultan o/ lurkey and the Khédive of Egypt does not give lim any delight for the simple Teason that they have no interest in the matter and simply subscribe because they have been asked | by some German prince or other. ing very natural. the growing sympathy for his cause in the United States. Chicago had offered to build hima theatre at her own expense. The grand, whole-souled generosity of the Americans pleased him. Indi- Viduals give there a million dollars for colleges and I find this feel- universities. This f ine was only one flel ; in opel ‘ This trait of in a generosity is pire fhe ‘Sy French influences, by the clutching lacking in Germany. Wagner has generous opin- | r effects, grand ensembles and ‘culini- fons about us. We are still im the period of nating in Meyerbeer, who in “Robert le Diable” | aggiomeration. ‘The nation has first to develop out | Causes dead nuns to come to life again in order to Of itself; to tree \tseir from foreign influences con- Stantly thrown upon it, “Wait until we are a Ration,” said Minister Bancroft to me (Wagner) “and then you will see what We are | The jack of good dramatic texts has been, felt by | S2@¢- This talk is all through tne county, and what we can do.” We are still learn. | nearly ali modern Composers, and there Wil goon | SUG if the youn man recovers—as eR Al imbibia, ree | be nothing left either of Shakespeate or Schiller | re oe Sigh Phares lane oy ing, ig, ceiving, and the good | not used up for operatic purposes. In this very off and live with his Northern friends, takes time to ferment. ‘The Romanic ele- | fact ‘Wagner finds proof of the decay of | Where color is no objection. I dare say ment there gravitates so naturally towards | the drama. If, says he, Goethe's “Faust” % 1 4 | Over this, Lt’s too open and shameiul. The Yankee the rejated element on this side of the water, and Cowld be brought to the proper delineation by our | 4 anout the only man that stands up for him. This Paris has hitherto been the great operatic and dra- matic source not only for America but for Germany too Sosoon as the great Paris bell is sounded the whole world rushes Pariswards. But wait ‘until you shall have become 4 nation, in the Ban. croft sense, said Wagner in @ facetious spirit, and Germany shall have come to the consciousness ‘that her strength lies in the retarm to herself, to Haturalness, and then we shall rule the world in Matters intellectual and artistic. Thus philoso- Phized the composer. LOW STATE OF OPERA IN GERMANY. Wagner spoke frequently of the low state of the Grama and the opera at the present time in Ger- Many. Both were thoroughly French; all traces of @n independent national characteristic had long Bince disappeared. He wished to have it under- Btood that his own operas were composed ona Gramatic basis, and asa uistinctive name he had He felt grateful for the appreciation | Nevertheless Wagner rejoices in | the strong point of the German is music, the weak oint drama, and by combining the two he idealizes the former and thus elevates it to a standard hith- | erto reached only in exceptional instauces, where the genius of single mien, like the Devrients in | Germany and Garrick tn Engiand, have el-vated ' yhe theatre through theirown exertions and nius. It 1s an eevation of the drama ner strives for first of all; not an elevation of mu- sic, Which in Beethoven he says reached ite high- est possibie development. ‘agner’s estimate of Beetnoven, in his essay on the deaf com- joser, 18 concentrated in @ few sentences:— | ‘at ‘is considered to be a physiological | axiom for high intellectual capacity, that | a large brain should be enclosed in a thin, deii- cate skull, as if for the easier and immediate per- ception of external things. But when, several years «go, the remains of bol Ped composer were examined, it was Jound that the skull, correspond- ing to extraordinary strength of the bony struc- ture, Was of vnusuai thickness and density. Thus | did nature protect in him @ brain of extraordinary sensitiveness, so that he could gaze into himseif | and into his own great heart in undisturved calm. For Beethoven, Mozart, Gluck, Weber, W: ner hag only words of true appreciation. Said ner to some friend not long ago:—“Cultare came to Germany earlier from the Latin iands. A hundred years ago the Latin language was that of the servants; the French that of iashion. Music alone maintained itself German, in the names of Sebastian Bach, Gluck, Beethoven, Mozart, Weber. They all worked on Germany's musical develop- nt., es ait WAGNER'S FIELD. est has already been attained. Beethoven left only a single opera, “Fidelio,” in itself a gem, pointing to the true ction which German opera had to take. For development, for creation, ib fact, tnere leit for Wagner. He found the dance ballet. Wagner's first great reform was \ wndertaken with his operatic texts. This he deems the first requisite. The text must be dramatic and | poetic—not the mere sitpshod work of a scribe, Tie fundament of his music drama is the drama, dramatists, Gounod’s opera of “Faust” would not nd appreciation. This very decay of the drama jas enoouraged the growth of the so calied grand opera. Goethe and Schiller, says Wagner, were deen!y “nehanted on hearing Gluck’s “Iphigenia’’ and Mozart's “Don Juan.” Through the effect of the music they felt themselves raised into tne sphere of ideality, they saw the pictures of life ap- peur with the sympathetic trathfulness as In a world of dreams, And Sebiller said:—‘Pernaps out of the opera the true drama can arise.” Wagner | wants to give fulfillment to this gh aang ad re | form and elevate and idealize the drama through the power of music, combined with the scenic ef- } fecga. The Wagner “Music Drama” is a combination | ofdvatma painting, word and mmsic, made in one | and the same mould—a correspondence of one wjtn | | the other, of music with spoken word and the dramatic action, of the drama and word with Music. So simpie, 40 grand, so natural—and yet In | Germany Wagner'ty not understood. The sum and | substance of Wagner's reforms, then, is areturn | TO naturalness and the ideal! | through music. We cannot compare him with ation of drama any other modern composers. He is working in a totally reut Geld, ra | but in the faithful preservation of the thoughts | of Fontainebleau, The Kmperor preferred the | and ideas which prevailed in that peculiar epoch | dreamy mysticism of the Jeune Hoinme Pauvre to In the field of orgtorios and symphonies, the nigh- | | marked by the Missourt compromise. It being | premised that Beauchamp Kussell and Miss Shel- | burne are the lovers of tle story, the following which Wag- | letters will show, better than any extract we could | German sentimentality of the Emperor’s character \ make, the spirit of the narrative and the fatthiul ness with which Mr. Underwood has reproduced the feelings of people to whom belief in slavery | ‘was religion :— FROM SQUIRB HAMILTON TO MISS SHELBURNE, — —, Jan. —, 184, My Deaz Nigcr—I promised, when you left, that | Lwould write to you if anything of importance happened, and 1 now sit down to give you ap | account of @ fatal and murderous affray, in which | my Pd tit) Beauchamp Russell, was a principal actor. colored girl that once belonged to nis jather’s estate and was to be soid for debt, | escaped trom custody and kept out of sight, Sne | Was young, nearly white, and, they say, verv handsome— though I don’t like to use @ word for a | wench that only belongs to a lady. Mr. Wynd. | Dam was to have the price she fetched, and he, of course, was anxious to recov Property. He had information that she was hid by | the Russells, ana 50 he got 8 Warrant hod had the | Sherif go with a lawiul posse to séarch the house. As some of them came nigh, Master Beauchamp and | his trend, the Yankee schoolmaster, fired at them, | one or boy, Ype iY they shot dead, another ac bifiiel oe is arm, and the third was iin the body and won't live long. Tne school | master got a Wound on the side of his face and Beauchamp was knocked over by a ball id | him tn wl forehead. He has been operater on, but he has no sense, [’m told, and is likely to go Off with brain fever, is to come, and some folks foane man had been killed outright it would have en quite as well. The by Wench was in the house and was hid in Beauchamp’s chamber. She had been there for 4 month or two. It has most kilied his mother, Who has done nothing but take | On ever since. The wench was sou 7esterday for @ great price to @ Southerner, and | saw her laugh- | Ing when she was bid off. She is @ pert, bold bi y | people may be civil to him, but he can’t ever get |-and Three Russians in Sonth Alrica.’” | ig the consequence of hearing to abolitionists, of | whichI warned lim long ago. [ am surry so likely | a young man should have so completely lung him- | pelt away. ] bought a little brother of this girl Sally, named Tim. He is the peartest ana liveliest litte monkey Tever saw. He’s a little too yaliow, but he may be @ good boy ff he hasn’t got any notions in his My respects to your uncle Shelburne. Your | affectionate uncle, JNO, HAMILTON, FROM MISS BETTY HAMILTON TO THE SAME. —— —, January, 184-. My Dear Covusrn—As I know pa has written to you, he has most likely told you of the dreadial Bhooting aifair, It seems like there's no end of fights, and it most makes me trembie to have | county court come, for somebody gets drank and shoots somebody, or takes ont a kniie and cuts their jaces, pa thinks this will go hard with Beecuam, | for if he gets weil, he aud the schoolmaster will have to stand trial; and pa says somebody must be made examples of. They had a doctor from Louts- ville for Beectam, and his uncie paid $50 ior cut- ting @ peace out of bis head, He'll logk like a | Atak a tne | ; the intellectual strength of Saimte Beuve ana | Merimée. Feuillet and Napoleon used to take | long evening drives in the forest, when the vague | proke forth in quotations | speeches to the setting sun. A OvuRious COLLECTION of letters will shortly be | sold in Paris—the love correspondence of the Duc de Richelteu. “HEARTH aND HOME,’ the interesting weekly | hitherto published by the Orange Judd Company, has been absorbed by the Graphic Company. A BuENS CALENDAR and bibliography of every- thing relating to Burns is soon to appear io Kil- | marnock. from Schiller and BOOKS RECEIVED. “Second Cousiv Sarah.” Pp. 148. Harper & Brothers. “Lord of Himself.” A novel, By Francts H, Underwood. Pp. 612. Boston: Lee & Shepara, “Prayer and the Prayer Gauge.” By Rev. Mark | Hopkins, D. D. Pp. 48. New York: Dodd & Mead, “Under the Trees,’’ By Samuel Iren@us Prime. Pp. 313. New York: Harper & Brotners. “A Comparative History of Religions.” By James | O. Moffatt, D. D. “Life and Public Services of Oharles Sumner.” By ©. Rdwards Lester. New York: United States Publisning Company. Anovel. Dlustrated. | “Richfield Springs and Vicinity.” Pp. 227. By W. 8. Bailey. New York: A.S, Barnes & Co. | «Oar Fred; or Seminary Life at Tourston.” By Martha Farguharson. | & Mead, | “My Miscellantes.” By Wilkie Collins, Pp. 426, | New York: Harper & Brothers, | “Meridiana; the Adventures of Three Englishmen By Jules | Verne. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co, “fluider; or, The Deliverer; a Romance aiter the German of F. Leuold. Sy Mrs, A. L. Wister. Pp. | 394. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincow & Co, “Cassy.” By Hesba Stretton. Pp. 236, York: Dodd & Mead. “Gold and Dross.” By Edward Garrett. Pp. 306. New York: Dodd & Mead. “Morford’s Short Trip Guide to America.” Henry Moriord. Co, “The Great Ice Age, and its Relation to the An- tiquity of Man.’ ByJames Geikle. Pp. 545. New York: D. Appleton & Co. “Fetich in Theology; or, Rituaiism.” By Join Miller, New York: Dodd & Mead, “Anatomy of the Invertebrata.’ from the German by Waldo I, Burnett, M. D, ton: Jai Campbell, | Pp. 335, New York: Dodd | \ | New By Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Doctrinal Twin to | Princeton, N. J. Translated Bos- | the Newmarket second October meeting, | mial a few weeks ago, were all behind. ENGLAND The Latest Events in the Sporting World, in Parliament and at Court. THE “DERBY” AND THE “OAKS.” Two Princesses Reeonciled—How the Prince of Wales’ Money Goes. Lonpon, June 6, 1874. In my last letter I discussed coaching and teams, and the first portion of my present theme must be equally horsey. For during the week just over has taken place the great Epsom summer meeting, which, to Londoners at least, is the carnival of the turf. Some racing men give the preference to Newmarket and Doncaster, which are more busi- nesés-like gatherings, attended only by those who have @ practical interest in the sport; but it is generally allowed that, as a sight, there is nothing in the world equal to the enormous gathering on Epsom Downs as the parti-colored jockeys, hke a flock of birds, come round Tattenham Corner. I have seen a@ considerable number of Derbys; for the last twenty years | have only missed twice being present—once when on @ yachting expedition on the Devonshire coast, and last year, when in the service of the HERALD I was stewing at Versailles watcning M. Thiers being turned out by Marshal MacMahon, I have seen the Derby runin a snow Storm and in the thickest rain, but I uever recol- lect in my experience of the Downs such a hot day as last Wednesday. I guessed that towards noon the heat would be terrific, and being an old stager im such matters, and not wishing either to be baked on the outside of acoach or to be hustied by the crowd which besets the midday trains, L started off early in the morning with a party of Iriends and quietly “railed’ down to Epsom, where, in @ private room of a snug little tavern (“The Marquis of Granby,” a name well known to ali Pickwickians), we found & comfortable break- fast awaiting us. Then, after a pleasant smoke, we were driven up to the course, where we had se- cured places and luncheon on a friend’s dwg, and where we found THE ARISTOCRATS JOST ARRIVING, Here, driving:his team of four bays, comes Lora Londesborough, and with him a distinguished party. They are imnround hats and light over- coats, and have apparently suffered from the dust ofthe road (which would have been dreadful but for a drenching shower on the previous night), for On descending from the coach they proceed quite calmly to change their coats, waistcoats and hats, Lord Londesborough himself finally appearing in the cutaway brown coat and gilt buttons of the Four-in-hand Club. Here is Mr, Eaton, M. P., who ig a good whip, as he ought to be, for rumor has it that he commenced life as an omnibus driver; now he sells ribbons and buys pictures and is im- mensely wealthy, but his aspect is not patrictan, and he is no more like an aristocrat than a waiter at an oyster stall in Fulton Market is like M. Constant at Delmonico’s. Here are Lord Car- Tington’s drags, the Blues drags and a score of others; here are the barouches containing the very full flavored ladies, with the beautiful com- Plexions and the blackened eyelids, and the silly fellows who have brought them there. Down be- low, in the triply serried rauk of vehicles, close by the course, where the company is less select, they have begun luncheon already. ‘THE GRAND STAND. Crossing the course and going into the Grand Stand I find the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh, just arrived, both “blowing their bacca like men,” as a very queer looking customer standing by remarks. LUNCH IN THE ‘FIELD. There is not much wagering im the ring, and though I am pleased to find that Glenalmond, a horse which I have drawn in a sweepstakes, is sweeping { land, but had started five times in freland an first favorite, I do not go into the paddock, for I bave to make my way back to the drag where lancheon will be going on. Pleasant it is to dive into the Strasbourg pie and to quai the well iced Perria-Jouet, and, looking up, to see | your fellow mortals pushed and harried by the police, who are striving to cicar the course. Just as one is in the midst of a delicious chicken salad there is a roar of “THEY’RE OFF!" followed by another of “Hats off!” and, looking at the grand stand opposite, you see that the huge | demand at 4 to 1, the piace of honor being he! won every race from large fields, and great num- bers of enthusiastic Irishmen now came across the Channel to give her thetr support. she is a greas, powerful and symmetrical mare, and was much fancied by a large division of English sportsmen. Princess Theresa won nothing last year and only One small stake this season, but she was heavily invested on, though good judges dia not at all like her. Blanchefleur has already been referrea to ag having been beaten several times by poth Apology and Miss Toto, and how could she turn the tables on them now—but mares are at this period of the year so uncertain, and the form at Newmarket ia 80 frequently REVERSED AT EPSOM that @ good deal of money was put on her, especially as she was looking very fit and cool, Memoria showed fair form last season, for out of Six races in which she started she won four, an@ On one occasion beat Organist, who lately carried off the Chester Cup, and Trent, who was close up with Atiantic, third in the Derby, and on another She again overthrew Organist at a less difference of weight. She had not previously run this season, The Vertumna Mlly was first brougnt into notice by the style in which her stable companion, Kaiser, won the Rous Stakes on Tuesday, and she was backed heavily for the Derby, in which, however, she ran badly. Lady of the Lake nad not previ- ously appeared in public; Aventurigre ran many times last year without taking a race, but secured @ small stake at Bath last week, The following ta a summary :— - THE OAKS STAKES Of 50 sovs. each, half forfeit, fo three-year-old fillies, 8 st. 10 Ibs. each; the second received 300 sovs. and the third 150 sovs, out of the Stakes; about a mile and a half, starting at the new high level starting post; 182 subscribers. Mr. Launde’s ch, 1. Apology, by Adventurer— Mandragora (J, Usborne) ......+++6 . M. Lelevre's ch. f, Miss ‘Loto, by Lord Clifden— Baroness (FOrdvam) ......seeeeesees - Mr. East's b. f. Lady Patricia, by Lord Olifden— Lady Langford (J. Gouter) ......06.s.ce..seeee Ford Falmouth’s b, f. Bianchefleur, by Saun- terer—Queen Bertha (F. Archer).... 5 Mr. R. Wright’s ch. f£ Princess Theresa, by Y. Birdcatcher—Queen Emma (Heslop) Mr. Savile’s b. f. Sister to Ryshworth, by Sk misher—Vertumna (Maidment).. Mr. G. S. Thompson’s ch. f, Memoria, by Specu- lum—Remembrance (GrifMfths).. Lord Ailesbury’s b. f. Aventuriere, turer—Cantine (Chaloner)..... Mr. Bowes’ b. f. Polonaise, by Adi rinska (Morris). Sir J. Hawiey’s br. f. feniier—Wave (Cannon) Mr. Bennett’s vb. 1. Lady Broomiciaw—Lady Hungerford (Castan ce). BETTING AT THE START. 7 to 4against Miss Toto (taken); 5 to 2 against Apology (taken); 6 to 1 against Lady Patricia (taken) ; 10 to 1 against Princess Theresa (taken) ¢ 100 to é against Blanclefleur (taken); 100 to 6 against Memoria (taken) ; 20 to 1 against Vertumaa filly (taken); 33 to 1 against Lacy of the Lake (taken) ; 33 to 1 against Aventuriére (taken). The flag fell at the first attempt to an excellent Start—so good, indeed, that for about fifty yards the fielc ran almost in a straight line. At that point Lady Patricia went to the front, followed by Lady of the Lake and Princess Theresa, next to whom came Aventuritre and Devastation; the last two, however, soon giving way to Polonaise and Miss Toto, M. Leievre’s mare, while Apology, @ little further on, dashed forwara to Lady Patricia, the last two being Memoria and Bianchefleur. At the mile post Apology assumed the ocom- mand, Lady Patricia being next and Mise Toto third, the next lot consisting ef Aventuritre, Memoria and Blanchefeur. In this order they went down the hill towards Tottenham Corner, with the exception that in tha progress downwards Miss Toto fell back into fiftm place, being greatly interfered with by Princess Theresa, whose jockey (Heslop) deliberately tried vo force the French filly on to the rails in the inter- ests of some bookmakers to whom the Princess be- longs. The race, however, was never afterwards in doubt, and though some slight slterations of position occurred at Tottenham Corner, Apology had 60 decided a lead that it was clear’ nothing could catch her. Miss Toto rapidly made up her leeway as she got fairly into the line for home, and passing Lady Patricia she made @ desperate effort to reach Mr. Launde’s filly, who, however, won with the greatest case by three lengths, A length behind Miss Toto came Lady Patricia; Blanche- fleur was fourth, Aventuriére was fifth, the Ver- tumna filly sixth, Memoria seventh and Princess Theresa last. Time, 2:4344. Net value of stakes, £4,825, OF $21,625. Apology BELONGS TO A CLERGYMAN of the Church of England, who resides in the north of England, and races under the name of “Mr. Launde.” He appears to think that the ownersnip of racehorses’ is not quite in accordance with his sacred calling, for he sent round to all the sportin; papers requesting the editors not to give is re name, as some of them had done when nis mare won the One Thousand Guineas. Apology is engagéa in the St. Leger, for which she is now in (Pp the Derby winner, George Frederick, at 5 to 2, | ts to be remembered that she beat’ him fatr and black mass has now become a sea of living faces. | There were no false starts, and from Tattennam | Corner, where they first came into my range, George Frederick nad it all bis own way. There ‘was very little popular excitement about the race, though among the upper ten there was a general Tegret that Lord Roseberry, who is deservedly @ great favorite, and whose horse Cou- Couronne de Fer was beaten oadly in a small race on the Oaks Day, and some of Lord Roseberry’s best friends are not sorry for it, as non-success on the turf may probably decide the young nobleman to enter the political arena, where he will be heartily welcome. He woula be a loss to the turf, however, for it is said that he ran his horse without having a single bet on it, to show that racing and gambhng are not synony- mous. THE OAKS, Tne second of the great features of the Epsom meeting, the Oaks, was decided yesterday. There are in England two important races tor three-year- old fillies—the One Thousand Guineas, on New- market heath, and the Oaks, on the Surrey downs. Apology has won the former, by half a length, from M. Leievre’s representative, La Coureuse, to whom Lora Falmouth’s Blanchefleur was third, and the question now was whether she could beat a still better mare in Mr. Lefevre’s stable— Miss Tow. Taking the CANDIDATES in the order in which they appear in betting. Miss Toto, who was made the favorite at 7 to 4, was one of the 'o-year-0l of Jast season, when she started (or five fades Aid won them all. They in- cluded the Two-year-old Plate at the Newmarket first spring meeting, when she beat, among others, Napoleon IL, Quantock and Tomahawk, the last of whom carried off the Lincolnshire Handicap this year; the Fern Hill Stakes, at Newmarket, for which Spectator (afterwards second for the Mtdale Park Plate) was defeated three-quarters of a length; the Bretby Stakes, at the Newmarket second October meeting, when she easily over- threw Blanchefleur; and the Criterion Stakes, at when Aquilo, who was sO great a favorite or the Derby, George Frederick, who won tne Derby, and Rever- beration,@ dead heater for the Newmarket Bien- This was @ splendid record, and might weil entitle her to the place of FIRST FAVORITE; had not won. | square out of a place in the Criterion Stakes, and that, while Miss Toto also defeated him easily for the Newmarket Biennial, APOIORS, ia turn deieated Miss Toto still more easily. Lord Dudley and Ward never allows the Oaks to pass over without having some heavy bets on tt. This year he had with Steele, the bookmaker, the PRODIGIOUS TRANSACTIONS Of £12,000 to £4,000 about Apology and £10,000 to £4,000 abous Miss Toto. Of course he lost his £4,000 over Miss Toto, but he won his £12,000 over A, ogy; balance in his favor £8,000. This was the very sum he won last yéar when he had equally enor- mous bets over Reine, who won, and Georgie, wn@ ‘was “nowhere.” Tne “LADIES? RACE”? attracted an enormous attendance, including, as on the Derby aay, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. The weather was perhaps the hottest ever experienced in England, and persons who had lived long in tropical climates asserted that they had never felt anything like it, PARLIAMENT, Last night the House of Commons held the longest sitting in which i¢ has mdulged this session, the subject ander debate being the eternal and inter- milable Licensing bill. There was a sharp discus- sion on the question as to what time taverns should be kept closed on Sunday ajternoon. The govern- ment proposed that the hours should be (rom four to seven, but there seems to be a disasen- sion in the Cabinet on the question, ag Mr. Ward Hunt supported a proposition’ for fixing the hour at six. In discussing the mater the House sat till nearly two o’clock. As 4 curions proof of how little political atfuirs are cared about this session I am told that the ladies’ gallery, | which for some years past has been so attractive | while that she was in form seemed to be proved by the fact that for the Newmarket Bienuial it was | She who ran the dead heat already re/erred to with Reververation, who had greatly improved in the meantime, and that in @ trial which took place recently she had easily disposed of her stabie com- panion, Ecossais, the best two-year-old of last se son. ‘Though mares are aifected at this season from sexual causes she looked perfectly well, but was not cantered along with the others, The career of Apology jast sea- son Was by no means so distinguished, tor while she had run five times at that age she had secured only one race, the Homebred sweepstakes, at tne Newmarket Houghton meeting, when ale peat among others Blancheflour and Aventnetéte, two runners here. Her iorm, however, in WINNING THE ONE THOUSAND GUINBAS ‘Was excellent, and showed that she was ® greatly improved animal, bat she went verv unsteadily in the betcing, owing to her showing symptoms of sexual derangement, which, however, happily passed away, She was, therefore, backed heavily at the finish, and left off at6to2 Lady Patricia, who was third in demand, had never run in Eng. very oiten seriously — that admissipn into it was diflicult, has been com- pletely deserted since the opening of Parliament. lembers are lax enough in their atiendance, and this heat will render them even less tnclined to face the stifing atmosphere and the doll debates, A NOBLE TOURIST. The Earl of Dufraven, who sailed two weeks ago in the Scotia and who is probably vy this time quartered at the Brevoort House, 18 @ brother of the pen. Before he succeeded to the eark dom and while he was Lord Adare he was one of the correspondents of the Daily Telegraph in the Franco-Prussian w: a he has written a good deal about Spiritualism, It is his intention, | betieve, to make @ tour in the Rocky Mountains, and his published account of it will be illustrated by his travelling companion, Mr. Vaientine Bromley. ‘A COMING MAN. When Mr. Disraeli formed his Ministry I told you that one of his cleverest selections was that of the young Kurl of Pembroke for tne position of Under- secretary of State for War. Recent events have Justified my praise, and the other night, in replying to the veteran Lord Strathnairo, who was very grim and doielul over our army matters, the young peer spoke so weil as to call forth the approbation of Lord Cardweil, who, though be now sits on the opposite benches, was the old friend and colleague o! Sidney Herbert, Lord Pembroke’s father. ‘rhere are to be no more INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS at South Kensington; they have been dead, flat faiiures, and the present is to be the last of them, ARTISTS AND PIOTURES, From the exhibition of Edwin Landseer'’s pie- tures, ot which! wrote you a full account, the Royal Academy, after paying all expenses of every kind, cleared upwards of £4,500. And yet, whem these pictures were sold, the Academy, lgnot the fact that some of them would have been priceless value to futore students, did not attemps | to bid for one. Many of the best were purchased by picture dealers, who, during last month, spent the sum of %102,000—equal vo more than $660, | go dee | mottt to im the purchase of pictures, JOY REIGNETH AT COURT. It.is understood that the squabbles about prece- dence which have been recenty troubling the Court are happily setued, and yesterday the Princess of Wales and the Ducness of Edinburg! who are said to be desperately jealous of ei over, were driving in the Parkin the same car- riage, laughing heartily and apparently on the best of terms. A silly journal the other day printed a preposter- ous story to the effect that the Prince of Wales was ly in debt that he was about to ask Pariia. O pay his outstanding encumbrances grant him & larger allowance, There is not the remotest truth in this story; though many are o¢ opinion that the Prince would have good grounds jor such an appeal, a8 an enormous amount of State duty and ceremonial which, under other ctr. cumstances, wouid nave been riormed by the Queen, have been thrust upon him, and has neces. sarily entailed upou him vast expense. The Prince is just now so popular with all classes that I be- lieve he has only to ask and have.