"I am satisfied that the English-speaking world is little aware at present of the immensity and importance of the work Wagner has done for art. Plato declared that the true musician must have poetry and music harmonized in himself; and the world has waited twenty-five hundred years for that combination to appear. Having carefully read the poems all written by himself which Wagner has set to music, or rather which incarnated themselves in music, and costumed themselves in scenery as he wrote them, I venture to affirm that none can so read them without the conviction that their author is a true poet. In the first place, the general conception of his chief operas, taken together, is in the largest sense poetic, and I might even say Homeric. This man has transmitted an entire religion to poetry, and then set it to music. And it is one of the greatest of religions,—what Nature engraved on the heart of our own Teutonic ancestors. It is all there,—its thousand phantasmal years, from the first cowering cry of the Norse savage before the chariot of his storm-god to the last gentle hymn that rose to Freya under her new name of Mary,—all. It is interpreted as a purely human expression; and, I repeat, no man has done so vast and worthy an artistic work in our time."
While America has perhaps produced as yet no great composers, it has several of very high merit, such as J.K. Paine, Dudley Buck, and others. In the United States there are many remarkable vocal and instrumental artists, a large number of classical musical clubs and societies; while several of its great vocalists, male and female, accept and decline engagements in Europe. Perhaps no finer orchestra exists anywhere than that of Theodore Thomas of New York; while nearly as high praise may be given to the Mendelssohn and Beethoven Quintette Clubs of Boston, and to others in different parts of the country.
Music is quite generally cultivated in this country; and there are many excellent critics, musical writers, and periodicals devoted to this beautiful and elevating science.
A very startling late American musical invention is the "telephone," a description of the working of which is given below:—
"MUSIC BY TELEGRAPH.
"A most interesting field for the musical student is the progress that is being made in telegraphing musical sounds.
"This is done by means of the telephone, which transmits simultaneously several different tones through one wire by means of steel forks made to vibrate at one end of the line, the pulsations passing through the wire independently of each other, and reappearing at the distant station on vibrating reeds.
"Some very interesting tests were made in the Centennial Main Building a few days ago in the presence of about fifty invited guests, among whom were noticed the Emperor and Empress of Brazil, Sir William Thompson, and quite a number of eminent electricians.
"The experiments were of a very interesting and successful character.
"The inventor, Mr. Gray of Chicago, asked his assistant, Mr. Goodridge, to transmit musical sounds, which were received very distinctly amid hearty applause from those present.