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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: Ottavio in the old Paris days. Wagner was under great obligations
to the heroes and heroines of 1876; and he naturally said nothing
to disparage their triumphs; but there is no reason to believe
that all or indeed any of them satisfied him as Schnorr of
Carolsfeld satisfied him as Tristan, or Schroder Devrient as
Fidelio. It is just as likely as not that the next Schnorr or
Schroder may arise in England. If that should actually happen,
neither of them will need any further authority than their own
genius and Wagner's scores for their guidance. Certainly the less
their spontaneous impulses are sophisticated by the very stagey
traditions which Bayreuth is handing down from the age of
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