" "Die Zauberfloete" is
really a very fine kind of pantomime, to which music lends itself in the
spirit of the thing, yet without condescending to be grotesque. The duet
of Papagenus and Papagena is absolutely comic, but it is as lovely as a
duet of two birds, of less flaming feather. As the lovers ascend through
fires and floods, only the piping of the magic flute is heard in the
orchestra: imagine Wagner threading it into the web of a great
orchestral pattern! For Mozart it was enough, and for his art, it was
enough. He gives you harmony which does not need to mean anything
outside itself, in order to be supremely beautiful; and he gives you
beauty with a certain exquisite formality, not caring to go beyond the
lines which contain that reticent, sufficient charm of the
Mirabell-Garten.
NOTES ON WAGNER AT BAYREUTH
I. BAYREUTH AND MUNICH
Bayreuth is Wagner's creation in the world of action, as the
music-dramas are his creation in the world of art; and it is a triumph
not less decisive, in its transposition of dream into reality. Remember
that every artist, in every art, has desired his own Bayreuth, and that
only Wagner has attained it.
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