As early as
1850, he complained to Liszt about his friend Dingelstedt, who, in his
article on the first performance of "Lohengrin," had expressed a
similar opinion. And many years later, in writing of Schnorr von
Carolsfeld's wonderful impersonation of _Tristan_, he begs the reader
to note that the last act of this work contains "an exuberance of
orchestral devices, such as no simple instrumental composer has ever
had occasion to call into use. Then assure yourself," he continues,
"that this complete gigantic orchestra, considered from an operatic
point of view, is, after all, only related as _accompaniment_ to the
'solo' part represented by the monologue of the vocalist, who lies on
his couch; and infer from this the significance of Schnorr's
impersonation, if I call to witness every conscientious spectator at
those Munich performances, that, from the first bar to the last, the
attention and interest of all was centred on the vocalist actor, was
chained to him, and never allowed a single word of the text to escape
through a momentary absence of mind; and that the orchestra, as
compared with the singer, completely disappeared, or, more correctly
speaking, seemed to be a constituent part of his song.
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