Heaven help me!" For a year he had been working
at the ceiling of the Sixtine chapel.
This is something more than a burst of modesty. No one had more pride
than Michelangelo or Wagner; but both felt the defects of their work
like a sharp wound. And although those defects do not prevent their
works from being the glory of the human spirit, they are there just the
same.
I do not want to dwell upon the inherent imperfections of Wagner's
dramas; they are really dramatic or epic symphonies, impossible to act,
and gaining nothing from representation. This is especially true of
_Tristan_, where the disparity between the storm of sentiment depicted,
and the cold convention and enforced timidity of action on the stage, is
such that at certain moments--in the second act, for example--it pains
and shocks one, and seems almost grotesque.
But while admitting that _Tristan_ is a symphony that is not suitable
for representation, one also recognises its blemishes and, above all,
its unevenness. The orchestration in the first act is often rather thin,
and the plot lacks solidity. There are gaps and unaccountable holes, and
melodious lines left suspended in space.
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