WAGNER AND OUR GENERATION
IF ever there was a man in this world who might be called the antithesis of the mystic, it was surely Richard Wagner. No doubt it may be said that any artist is the opposite of the mystic ; but that is to contemplate the mystic in -the purest sense of the word, as a man looking upon the spiritual world in , all its Order, and being content, and indeed complete, with silence. But with Wagner the instinct towards expression was • so much more emphatic : his utilitarianism within the rich experiences of the mind so much more exaggerated than with artists who effect some compromise about the privacy of their souls.
He had no privacy. He was the acme of the Romantic Movement, the great age of self-expression. From his childhood this passion for exterior was remarkable. He must approach his sisters' wardrobes, touch the silks and velvets therein, and immediately fall into an epilepsy of self-expression that was prophetic of his mature being. How curious it is that the mind of Romanticism, of which he was the crown, should be considered as subjective in its working, in contrast to the objectivity of the Classical mind. But closer inspection shows that division to be one merely of locality. Who is really more objective than, the man who externalizes and uses the. most secret processes of his senses, mind, and soul ? And would not one feel that if that man moved to a closer intimacy with himself he would find the necessity for certain reticences )which would force him to the impersonal expression which we recognize as objective and classical ? Viewing the matter psychologically, therefore, we see that so-called objective expression to be in reality a more intense subjectivity, a nearer approach to silence—and to mysticism.
This has much to do with Wagner. Like all other good artists, he developed from the personal outcry of youth towards the more perfect self-consciousness of maturity ; but he did it so tremendously—even in that age of giants—that to-day we are in danger of under-estimating his qualities. For now we are in reaction against the idea of the Great Man, and all the paraphernalia of egotism, self-isolation and glamour, which during' the nineteenth century was elaborated almost into a professional technique. There was then actually a voca- 1 tion as a Great Man, and, those who had the necessary equip- ment might fulfil it. Most notable of all, perhaps, were Goethe and Wagner ; and in a less degree were Tennyson in this :country and Whitman in America.
But the revolution in our idea of man's place in the Kosmos, with its powerful effect on our ethics and on the integration of our social life, has made the conception of the Great Man almost impossible. That conception also has been damaged by the too rapid vulgarization of reputations which our Press affords, so that some morbid noVeliit is blown into a publicity wider than that given to an Einstein. Our intellectual and social environment, thereforfe,, makes us sniff - warily, at the Great Man ; and we find critiOsnowidays dismissing Wagner
as merely a giant in the expression of erotic fervour. Such criticism, however; is 'tainted with fashion and prejudice.. Wagner's eroticism may prove to be merely a manifestation of his enormous nervous energy—an energy whose main achievement was to drive his mind always towards structural unity, towards that synthesis of dettill which marks the highest form of creator. We are apt to judge him now by our observation of the Twilight of Bayreuth. We forget that so large a part of Wagner's genius consisted in his power of con- tact, his ability to inspire the most diverse people with a singleness of mission. To establish Bayreuth, after all, was a wonderful achievement, apart altogether from the art-work for which it was instituted.
From our own point of view, of course, it may be a healthy sign that we are toppling down the gods whose shadows lie across our path. But our purpose in so doing is notyet clear. It may be that our democratization of the treasures of the mind is endowing a- new type of intelligence which fears the oracular and egotistic art that creates and supports a morality of individualism. The " man in the street," in his mass instincts, may be exerting his baleful influence into aesthetics ; and so the Titans fall not before a young Olympus who must have their place : they may rather be starving at the hands of a generation of conscious mediocrity that is too anaemic to support them.
So Wagner seems to be languishing. But one must conclude that it is because we have not the energy to visualize the whole man. Our generation does not tread the hills of the epic. We are tired ; we have no time ; so we stay in our lyrical gardens, and cultivate the flowers of mood and sensibility. Our need for form is satisfied with the automobile, the business organiza- tion, and the buildings which house our giant emporiums.
Mr. Hight's new Life of Wagner, therefore, will seem to us to be too partial, too subservient to the personality of the Master. Survivors of the older generation, however, will. welcome it as a valuable commentary on the autobiography, and a very concise and sensible critique of the music dramas. It has given the present reviewer deep enjoyment to return to the Age of the Giants by means of these two well written and
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