Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

206 Joakim Tillman
reaction. In a relatively balanced way most of the critics pointed out what
they considered the merits and the flaws in the work. Albert Anderson-
Edengren’s report for SDS (K 11/11 1895) reveals a change in the tone of
the debate since 1887: there were no longer any fights about the artistic
value of Wagner’s music, and he found it surprising that the conflict was
once so serious and bitter. Thus, according to Anderson-Edengren, with
time and continuous development taste changes in a commendable way,
“increasingly opening the gates of understanding.” Magnus Josephson (PIT
8/11 1895) claimed that the enthusiastic reception from a full house of interested
music lovers representing different layers of society finally proved
that even in Stockholm the time of Richard Wagner had arrived.
Like the negative critics in 1887, Josepson voiced some criticism of
Wagner’s “peculiar technique or system, used with iron-hard consistency .”
However, he did not let this influence his experience and evaluation of the
man’s work:
“No, it is possible to enjoy the creations of Richard Wagner […] immediately
and profoundly without tying up your impressions in the straitjacket
of a system. And – above all – you don’t have to admire everything
in its entirety.”
It is clear from Josephon’s review that he had profound knowledge and experience
of Wagner and his works. Among other things, his writing about
the style of Die Walküre is highly informed: he notes that Wagner’s style
completely changed during the long gestation of the Ring:
“His later style with its stern polyphony, symphonically handled orchestra,
and predominantly declamatory singing parts, appears fully developed
in the third act of Siegfried. The previous acts in Siegfried, though,
together with Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, are written in what you
could call a modified Lohengrin style. There is an abundant use of leitmotifs
[…] but you also find the same lushly flourishing melody and the
same lucid, although richer use of the orchestra as in Lohengrin.” (PIT
13/11 1895)
Josephson was not alone in this opinion. Adolf Lindgren (AB 8/11 1895)
expressed similar views: “The composition of die Die Walküre is so close in
time to Lohengrin that the style has not essentially changed, although the
declamatory singing has been stretched out considerably.” The predominant
view in modern Wagner research is that there is a wide gap between
Lohengrin and Das Rheingold in terms of style and compositional tech-