Kennst du der Mutter Künste nicht?
--TRISTAN UND ISOLDE.
I
"I'd rather see her in her grave than as Isolde!" Mrs. Fridolin tightly
closed her large, soft eyes, adding intensity to a declaration made for
the enlightenment of her companion in a German railway carriage. The
young woman laughed disagreeably.
"I mean what I say, Miss Bredd; and when you know as much about the
profession as I do--when you are an older woman--you will see I am
right. Meg--I should say Margaret--shall never sing Isolde with _my_
permission. Apart from the dreadfully immoral situation, just think of
the costume in the garden scene, that chiton of cheese-cloth! And these
Wagnerites pretend to turn up their nose at 'Faust'! I once told dear,
old M. Gounod, when Meg was in Paris with Parchesi, his music was
positively decent compared--"
The train, which had been travelling at a dangerous pace for Germany,
slackened speed, and the clatter in the compartment ahead caused the
two women to crane their heads out of the window.
"Bayreuth!" cried the younger theatrically, "Bayreuth, the Mecca of the
true Wagnerite." Mrs. Fridolin gazed at her, at the neat American belted
serge suit, the straw sailor hat, the demure mouse colored hair, the
calm, insolent eyes--eyes that bored like a gimlet. "Oh, you love
Wagner?" The girl hesitated, then answered in the broadest burr of the
Middle West, "Well, you see, I haven't heard much of him, except when
the Thomas Orchestra came over to our place from Chicago. So I ain't
going to say whether I like him or not till I hear him. But I've written
lots about the 'Ring'--" "Without hearing it? How very American!"--"And
I'm a warm admirer of your daughter. Madame Fridolina always seemed to
me to be a great Wagner singer. Now _she_ can sing the Liebestod better
than any of the German women--"
"Thank you, my dear; one never goes to Bayreuth for the singing."
"I know that; but as it's my first trip over here I mean to make the
most of it. I am a journalist, you know, and I'll write lots home about
Wagner and Fridolina."
"Thanks again, my dear young lady. I'm sure you will tell the truth.
Margaret was refused the Brünnhilde at the last moment by Madame
Cosima--that's Mrs. Wagner, you know--and she had to content herself
with Fricka in 'Rheingold,' and Gutrune in 'Götterdämmerung,' two odious
parts. But what can she do? The Brünnhilde is Gulbranson. She is a great
favorite in Bayreuth, and has kept her figure, while poor Meg--wait till
you see her!"
The train rounded the curve and, leaving behind the strange looking
theatre, surely a hieratic symbol of Wagner's power, entered the station
full of gabbling, curious people--Bayreuth at last.