Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: HI Munich the Moderate In dealing thus pictorially with Bayreuth, I desire, by some shadowing of a very real experience, to show where it lies in point of work and accomplishment. I desire also to compare it, as I have said, with the very fine work of a greatly representative opera house?and to compare it by using very much the same means with regard to Munich. Therefore, for the time I leave Bayreuth. There, two performances of
Parsifal
and
Die Meistersinger
show it at its present best; and I have my conclusions.to draw later upon its position. For the present then, as I have said, I note the relation which it possesses towards the music in Germany which may be understood and received from some representative city, such as I take Munich to be. In doing so, I very sorrowfully feel that the art of music is practically not to be considered as a definite element in England, from the creative point of view. Sir Arthur Sullivan’s more than merely brilliant collection of humorous opera: Mackenzie’s
Rose of Sharon ?that boundary at which he halted in the full flight of what, it seemed, was to be a great creative career: the generous and liberal occasional outbursts of a few younger men; Sir Hubert Parry’s academic and easily forgettable serious work; Stanford’s undoubted occasional inspiration and singular facility of technique: Mr. Edward German’s exquisite but hitherto confined talent: Mr. Elgar’s certain mastery and more assured promise: Mr. Hamish MacCunn’s elegant formalism and not too frequent curve towards the best musical expression: here you have summed up, more or less, an impressionist picture of what England has to offer by way of contribution to the world’s art; and I say so much, perfectly conscious that there are other musicians of merit?Mr. Cowen, fo…
