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THE ORCHESTRA Anton Seidl
ANTON SEIDL was a magnetic leader, beloved by all that were associated with him. He was born in Budapest, Hungary, on May 6, 180. This was the year when Liszt, in affection for Richard. Wagner, brought out the latter's three year old opera "Lohengrin," which no one dared to touch because it was considered then "an impossible opera."
Seidl was intended by his parents to be a priest. He liked, as a boy, to assemble his playmates about him, read mass, dispense blessings, and generally carry out church forms as he had seen them. But even then he was accustomed to beat time as he sang rhythmically, and to say, "I want to be a conductor." H was a boy prodigy, playing the piano in public at six years of age, and playing the organ at school. His chief delight was opera. He would go as often as he could, and on returning home, he would stay up late at night playing what he could remember and imitating the gestures of the orchestra conductor. The first time that he heard "Lohengrin," he determined to become a musician—and his parents consented. Young Seidl accordingly went to Leipsic in 1870 and studied at the famous Conservatory there. He had heard of Hans Richter and his leading of Wagner music, so when he learned that Richter was to be conductor at Budapest he asked that he might go to him as a pupil. Richter consented, and in the course of teaching him he became so interested in Seidl that when Wagner asked Richter for a talented young man to help him at Bayreuth, Richter recommended his young pupil. This was a stroke of luck for Seidl, for he proved to be exactly the sort of young assistant that Wagner wanted. He lived in Wagner's house six years while Wag-ner's great work was going on. He had the honor and advantage of being one of only four real pupils of Wagner—Hans Von Bülow, Karl Ritter and Hans Richter being the other three.
Seidl became Wagner's right hand, especially at rehearsals, and the great master was often heard to say, "What would I do without Seidl?" He assisted at the first Bayreuth festival in 1876, and was ever present, watching that Wagner's ideas were faithfully carried out. In 1882 the manager, Angelo Neumann, got up a travelling Wagner company to carry the message of Wagner opera through the great cities of Europe, and Seidl was the leader selected. In the company was a• beautiful young soprano, Fraulein Auguste Kraus, with whom young Seidl fell in love. After an artistic and romantic association of two years, they were married on February 29, 1884. They came to New York in 1885, and then for a number of years Anton Seidl presided at the .Metropolitan Opera House in the production of great Wagner performances. Under his direction "Tristan" and "Die Meistersinger" were performed for the first time in America. The four dramas of the Nibelung series were given, singly at first, then finally as one great festival. In 1891 Seidl was elected conductor of the New York Philharmonic Society, Theodore Thomas having accepted a call to Chicago. Seidl then established himself in the public esteem as a conductor in concert as he had already in opera. The directors of the Metropolitan Opera House decided, in 1891, to return to Italian opera, so for a few years Seidl was occupied only in orchestral concerts. However, the day came when a monster petition signed by thousands begged that Seidl be brought back to the Metropolitan Opera House; and Jean de Reszke, the celebrated tenor of the opera, who wanted to sing in Wagner's operas, demanded that Seidl should conduct them. "One must be blind and deaf," said de Reszke, "not to perceive how the public adores Seidl," and Albert Niemann, the famous herQic tenor, said "Half the labor and responsibility of singing is taken from one's shoulders by such a leader." Then followed years of great things in music in New York, Seidl being the central figure. In 1898 he was invited by Cosima Wagner to go to Bayreuth and conduct the one hundredth performance of "Parsifal," and it was the last opera he led. He returned to America worn out and in reduced health. He died suddenly on March 28, 1898. The funeral services took place at the Metropolitan Opera House, where Seidl had so long been an idolized figure. Thousands crowded the temple of music and the streets adjoining. Distinguished men of many professions were there, and the musical societies with which Seidl had been identified took part in the services.- On the afternoon of March 31, 1898, Anton Seidl was borne by loving hands slowly down the orchestra pit, and there, on the self-same spot on which he had stood so often in life, for one solemn hour he took his place again.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 5. No. 1, SERIAL No. 125
COPVRIGHT, 1917, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC.
