You play with ace and diamond, bat and ball, horse and track, gun and fowl, but, frolicsome Americans, is there not a finer game to be played? You exalt brief shows of strength or cunning but sigh impatiently at any talk of wisdom or grace. And from the wild new-world grandstands with their sunlit […]
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In a letter addressed to Otto Wesendonck, written in 1882 after his return from summering in the Salzkammergut, Meingast announces his vision for a new form of musical theater, the Nichtvölligaberfastgesamtkunstwerk (the ‘ever-so-slightly-less-than-complete-artwork’). He writes: “In Wagner the leveling tendency consumes itself. How he oppresses [schlägt nieder] the bassoon! In halting the flywheel one becomes part […]
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