Life, 1895-01-17 · page 5 of 16
Life — January 17, 1895 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation of LIFE Magazine Page 37 This page is NOT a political cartoon but rather a biographical feature on **Anton Seidl**, a Hungarian orchestra conductor. The page includes: 1. **"The Growth of Greatness"** — a portrait series showing Seidl at age two, at Perth in 1861, and at Leipzig in 1873, tracing his career development. 2. **"His Opening"** — a brief comedic dialogue between characters Ada and Jack about wedding invitations, appearing unrelated to the main subject. The text discusses Seidl's controversial history: his association with Richard Wagner, leadership of the Nibelungen Opera Troupe (which "devastated large sections of Europe"), and his subsequent arrival in America, where he continued causing offense. The piece concludes with dark irony: despite his destructive legacy, Seidl remains "allowed to live among us and go about unharmed."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE GROWTH OF GREATNESS. II. ANTON SEIDL. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT THE AGE OF TWO YEARS. TO those of our fellow citizens who place Richard Wagner either among or just above the saints, it will be interesting to observe the evolution of one of the maestro’s most conspicuous disciples, Anton Seid! drifted into this unsuspecting world on the seventh day of May, 1850, having selected Pesth, in Hungary, as the place of his birth. It is not recorded whether he celebrated this important event in his career with any more than the usual amount of noise, but his subsequent fondness for the brass end of the orchestra makes it fair to infer that he did, ‘There is nothing recorded against him until, later on, he made the acquaintance of Richard Wagner and became imbued with his ideas of music, It is true that Herr Seidl was the leader of a Hungarian orchestra, but this was in the days before it was fashionable for those organizations to go out and ravage other parts of the earth, His worst offences were committed as leader of the Nibelungen Opera Troupe, which devastated large sections of Europe. But Herr Seid! finally learned that across the sea was. prosperous and happy republic whose inhabitants had never experienced anything worse than the War of the Rebellion and the existence of Tammany Hall. In 1885 he unloaded German opera on New York city in its most direful forms, and since then has inflicted its woes on the American people at divers times and places as opportunity afforded, One of the highest tributes to American civilization is that Herr Seidl is still allowed to live among us and go about unharmed. ANTON SEIDL. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT PESTH IN 1861, HIS OPENING. DA (pensively) : 1 hope you'll invite me to the wedding when you get married. Jack (boldly): Ml invite you the first one, and if you don’t accept there won't be any wedding. ANTON SEIDL. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT LEIPZIG IN 1873,