Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1

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May God bless you, not the "god of Buckeburg." You are right in
retiring into solitude now and then; without that men like us
cannot exist. Greet the Princess most cordially. I hope she will
soon be well again.

Farewell, dearest of friends. I press you to my heart!

Your

RICHARD WAGNER.

ENGE, ZURICH, May 22nd, 1851.

62.

DEAREST FRIEND,

Short news from me today.

I have quite finished the poem of my "Young Siegfried". It has
given me great joy; it is certainly what I was bound to do, and
the best thing that I have done so far. I am really glad about
it. With my violent way of working, I am always considerably
tired at the end. I must take some time to recover. I cannot just
yet make up my mind to copy it out for you, for many reasons, too
long to tell. I feel also some bashfulness in submitting my poem
to you without further explanation--a bashfulness which has its
reason in me, not in you. I therefore ask you whether there is
not a chance of my seeing you soon. Some time ago you made me
think so. How is it now? Can you visit me, or at least appoint a
place, accessible to me, for meeting? Please answer this question
at once. My longing to see you, dear, splendid friend, again
after two years, during which you have been more to me than I can
describe, and to spend a few days with you, is greater than I am
able to express. Can you fulfill this longing? If we could meet
shortly, I should keep my "Young Siegfried", in order to read it
to you. This would add to my peace of mind considerably. The
written word is, I fear, insufficient for my intention; but if I
could read it to you viva voce, indicating how I want to have it
interpreted, I should be quite satisfied as to the desired
impression of my poem upon you. Write to me at once what my
chances are. If, alas! you cannot come, I shall have a copy made
at once and send it you.

One thing more: in my last letters I entirely forgot to mention
the Hartel affair to you. By a certain impulse, I applied to
Breitkopf and Hartel about "Lohengrin". I owed them from of old
two hundred thalers for a grand pianoforte, and proposed to them
to wipe out this debt and to take the copyright of "Lohengrin" in
return. At first they entertained my offer as to the pianoforte
score, but I insisted again on the full score being engraved,
telling them that something might be done by subscription, and
referring them to your influential help. For a long time I heard
nothing, but today I have a letter from the H.'s, saying that
they accede to my wish and are prepared to print the full score.
How has this happened? Now that my demand has been granted, it
almost appears fabulous to me that they should publish the full
score of an opera which has only been given at Weimar.

What do you think? Can I expect this of them? This, in my
opinion, is a nobility of conduct which makes me feel ashamed. I
should almost like not to accept the H.'s offer for "Lohengrin"
on condition that they engrave the full score of my "Young
Siegfried". This child, which I have engendered and should like
to give to the world, is naturally even nearer to my heart than
"Lohengrin", for I want it to be stronger and healthier than he.
If the H.'s publish the score of "Lohengrin", it may be assumed
to a certainty that the sale will be so small as to make them
wholly disinclined for the engraving of the full score of "Young
Siegfried"; and this latter is of course of much greater
importance to me. What do you think? Advise me, dear Liszt! Shall
I hold their offer over for "Siegfried" and give up "Lohengrin"
instead? To get both appears almost impossible to me. Advise me!

Farewell for today. My pen will not obey me any longer; I am too
excited by many things.

Farewell, and write to me how you are and whether I shall see
you. Are you well? Greet the Princess! Farewell.

Your

RICHARD WAGNER.

ENGE, ZURICH, June 29th, 1851.

63.

DEAREST FRIEND,

The news of the happy birth of "Siegfried" pleases me much, and I
thank you for letting me know at once. How I should like to hear
you read it and to visit you at Zurich! But, alas! this year it
is quite impossible for me to think of any journey whatever. At
the end of this month I hope that the health of the Princess will
allow her to start; and in order to make the journey less
fatiguing, we shall return slowly by Dusseldorf, Cologne,
Frankfort, and Eisenach. You, dear friend, must need rest and a
little country life after the completion of your work. Please do
not trouble yourself on my account by making at once a copy of
"Siegfried"; you will send it me on occasion later on at Weymar,
where, locked up, still remains "Wiland", which, to my regret, I
have not been able to send you, not having the necessary keys at
hand. I have explained this to Uhlig. If he is with you, remember
me kindly to him, and excuse me to him once more for my
involuntary negligence.

The Hartels are quite comme il faut in their personal and
business relations. Dr. Hartel came to Weymar to hear
"Lohengrin", and I am delighted to hear that his impression has
been confirmed by an imprimatur. As you ask my advice about what
you had better do, accept his proposition or hold it over till
"Siegfried", so as to make him publish the score of a new work
for you, I have no hesitation in saying that, for all manner of
reasons, I should think it preferable to publish now only the
pianoforte score of "Lohengrin", and to make arrangements with
Hartel that the pianoforte score and full score of "Siegfried"
should appear soon after the Weymar performance, which probably,
and at the latest, will take place in February, 1853, for the
fete of H.R.H. the Grand Duchess. "Lohengrin" will lose nothing
by waiting chez nous.

As I wrote to you before, it will take some time before this
glorious work meets with the swans which are to draw its barque
to the banks of the Spree and the Elbe. Ganders and turkeys would
like to lead it to shipwreck, but do not lose patience, and have
confidence in the moderate amount of practical knowledge which
your friend places loyally at your service and disposal. In the
early days of August my pamphlet "Lohengrin et Tannhauser" will
appear; it was written for a purpose which neither you nor your
friends have hitherto been able to guess, and which it will take
me some time to attain. I am far, however, from despairing of
that attainment, but shall not let you know till the moment of
success, in order to avoid unnecessary words--a habit which is
growing upon me more and more. If you follow my advice, dear
friend, write to H. in the sense indicated by you; that is, ask
him to keep his good intentions for the engraving of one of your
full scores till after the first performance of "Siegfried", and
to publish for the present only the pianoforte score of
"Lohengrin". Send to me here, please, if you possess them, the
numbers of the "Monatsschrift" of Kollatschek containing your and
Uhlig's articles. Heine in the same number has thought it
necessary to make some of his rhymed jokes at my expense with his
usual spirit. More than a fortnight ago I subscribed to that
magazine through my bookseller, but as yet it has not reached me.
Farewell, dearest friend. Believe me that I am truly vexed at not
being able to attend the rendezvous which you propose, and which
would have given me great pleasure--the pleasure of seeing you
again and of having plenty of talk with you.

Always rely upon your

F. LISZT.

EILSEN, July 3d, 1851.

64.

MY BEST FRIEND,

I had just come down from the Alps when I found your letter,
which again has given me the greatest joy. I thank you with my
whole heart for your advice, so speedily given. You agree with me
as to Hartel's offer; I expected so much, and it is a
confirmation of my right sense in the matter. The full score of
"Siegfried" it is to be, then. I feel as safe with you as a child
in the mother's bosom; you take such care of me, dearest friend.

Uhlig is here. He has taken every trouble and made every
sacrifice to save enough for a visit to me in Switzerland.
Considering his cool, quiet, and passionless nature, the faithful
attachment and friendship of this young man are of great value to
me. As a very young musician he attracted my attention in the
Dresden orchestra by his uncommon musical certainty and
circumspection. Being struck by traits of unusual force of
character and of a firm, manly disposition, I admitted him to
intimate intercourse, and found a man who in the poorest
circumstances had developed himself entirely out of himself. Thus
I gained a friend who subsequently from a distance made it the
task of his life, as far as his power extended, to serve me in a
manner which,--the inclination being equal in both cases,--has
been surpassed only by your brilliant genius.

You wanted to have some numbers of the Deutsche Monatsschrift. I
happen to possess them, and send them to you, although I do not
quite see of what use they can be to you. My book "Oper und
Drama," in which I certainly express myself in a decisive, firm,
and detailed manner, is passing through the press very slowly,
and will probably not be ready before two months. Out of this
book I have, by special desire, communicated some articles about
modern dramatic poetry to the Monatsschrift, but am now sorry for
it, for, torn out of their context, they are not particularly
clear. I send them to you all the same, although I should almost
like to ask you to ignore them. As you will not get the
Monatsschrift, because it will be discontinued, I send you
another number with an article entitled "Wir," by Solger; it is
written so prettily that I should almost like you to read it. So
many stupid things have appeared in that Monatsschrift that the
detached good bits really deserve attention. As to Heine's stupid
joke you will probably not be in need of comfort. Lord, how
delighted I am with my "Young Siegfried"; he will deliver me once
for all from all literature and journalism. This month I require
fully to recover my health in order to rush at the music next
month. The copy of the poem I shall send you by Uhlig, if not
sooner.

May the god who dwells in both of us keep you healthy and happy.
With pleasure I see from your letter that the Princess also is
recovering. I hope you will both get safely back to Weimar, which
is more and more becoming my real spiritual home.

Farewell, and be greeted from the full heart of your

RICHARD WAGNER

ENGE, ZURICH, July 11th, 1851.

65.

I am much obliged, dearest friend, for your sending me the
Monatsschrift of Kollatschek, which I had been unable to get
previously. As soon as I have read the articles which interest me
I shall return them to you, and perhaps you might send me the
numbers which contain the continuation of Uhlig's articles on
instrumental music.

To my regret, I shall probably miss Uhlig's visit to Weymar, for
I shall not be able to leave here till between the 26th and 30th
of this month, and shall travel very slowly by Dusseldorf,
Cologne, Frankfort, to Weymar, which I shall not reach till about
the 10th of August. But in any case I shall go to see Uhlig at
Dresden in the course of the autumn, for I attach real value to
the continuance of my friendly relations with him, and I ask you
to assure him of this as well as of my sincere and loyal
sympathy.

I send you today the letter of M. Philipront, of Brussels, and
the draft of my answer, by which you can regulate your subsequent
correspondence with those gentlemen. For many reasons, I ask you
specially not to give way on the two conditions of your
collaboration in the adjustment of the French words to the music
and of your presence at the general rehearsals, which I have
mentioned distinctly to M. Philipront as necessary, and without
which, entre nous, "Lohengrin" would run a great risk of being
abominably cut and slashed.

I am delighted that you agree with my opinion about the
publication of the score of "Lohengrin." In this, as in other
matters, the Hartels have behaved with a tact and good taste for
which one ought to be truly thankful, and I feel convinced that
the scores of both "Siegfried" and "Lohengrin" will appear at
short intervals, and in the course of two years. But, all things
considered, I think it advisable to begin with the pianoforte
score of "Lohengrin", to be followed by the full score of
"Siegfried", and finally that of "Lohengrin", in 1853 or perhaps
sooner.

If Uhlig leaves you before the end of the month, he might inquire
at Buckeburg whether I have left Eilsen, for he is obliged to
pass through Buckeburg if he takes the railway from Cologne or
Dusseldorf, which will be the shortest route to return to
Dresden. I have written this to him in my last letter, which
should have reached him. I should like very much to see him here,
and you will oblige me by giving him a pressing invitation on my
account. What has become of your disciple Ritter? Remember me to
him when you see him. The manuscript of "Wiland", which is still
locked up in a chest at Weymar, will be sent on demand to Uhlig
immediately after my return there.

The Princess, who, God be thanked, has been perceptibly better
these last days, charges me with her admiration for you, to which
I add only the simple expression of my friendship and true
devotion.

F. L.

Draft of my answer to M. Philipront, which, I hope, will draw the
question of the "Lohengrin" performance at Brussels out of
confusion:--

"Sir,--As your letter of July 6th did not find me at Weymar, you
will kindly excuse the delay of my answer. When Herr Wagner
informed me of the proposal of M. Hanssens to perform "Lohengrin"
at the Brussels theatre and asked my opinion of the matter, I
advised him to thank M. Hanssens for the hospitality he had
offered to that beautiful work and to accept it on two
conditions, which seem to me indispensable for its full success.
They are that the author should collaborate in the adjustment of
the French words to the music, and that the last two rehearsals
should take place in his presence. "Lohengrin" belongs by no
means to the ordinary run of operas, but is in all respects an
exceptional and sublime work; and it would therefore, in my
opinion, be dangerous to attempt a performance which would not be
completely identified with the ideas and intentions of the poet-
composer. In another fortnight I shall have an opportunity of
sending you a copy of my pamphlet on "Lohengrin", which will
appear at the beginning of August (in French, Brockhaus,
Leipzig). If, after having read it, you continue in your
intention of giving "Lohengrin" at the Brussels theatre and of
rendering a double service to dramatic art and the author, you
can easily communicate direct with Herr Wagner as to the
arrangements for carrying out the two conditions made and
insisted upon by him.

"I am, Sir, etc.,

"F. LISZT

"EILSEN, July 16th

"The theatre of Weymar not being able to part with its one copy
of the score of "Lohengrin", in consequence of the frequent
performances of that work, it is out of my power to send it to
you; but Herr Wagner will, no doubt, send you either the original
manuscript or a copy, specially made for Brussels.

"The address of Herr Wagner is 'Abendstern, Enge, Zurich.'"

66.

DEAR LISZT,

Two words only. You have understood "Lohengrin" aright; Stahr has
not. I withdraw my consent to his opinion; it was given in haste.
You will soon hear more from me, best of all men!

Your

RICHARD WAGNER

August 23rd, 1851

67.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

At last I am able to break my long silence. The contents of this
letter will show you with regard to how many and comparatively
important matters I had to come to a clear decision before I
could write to you in the definite manner which has now become
possible.

My silence was to a large extent caused by my weak state of
health. For more than two months I have been using a water cure,
and during that time I found it quite impossible to write to you
at such length as I felt more and more every day that I ought to
do. A most cogent reason for writing to you arose to me from
reading your pamphlet on my two operas, which I received at the
hydropathic establishment. Your rare friendship for me, your
energetic love of my works, your restless zeal in making
propaganda for those works, and, before all, the splendid
enthusiasm, the spirit, the subtlety, and boldness with which
your zeal inspired you, moved me too deeply and powerfully to
allow me to express my gratitude in the excited state in which I
was. I had to leave this to a time when better health and a more
collected mind would make it possible for me to communicate with
you at greater length. I hope now to have got so far, and must
tell you first of all that the sacrifice of the most beautiful
affection which you have again offered me has moved me to the
heart and has made me very glad and happy. You have moved me most
deeply in all those parts where you had come to a perfect
agreement with me, for the reason that this agreement was not a
ready-made thing, but a discovery new to both of us. Most
specially were my attention, sympathy, and eagerness awakened
when I saw my original intention newly reflected in the mirror of
your individual conception; for here I was able to realize fully
the impression I had been fortunate enough to produce on your
fertile artistic receptivity.

What you have been to me I tried recently to explain in a public
manner, and having to write for publicity, I did so as soberly as
possible, limiting myself entirely to the facts of our relations
which I wanted to explain to those who perhaps could not
understand such a friendship nowadays. I did this, being
irresistibly impelled by my heart, in a "Mittheilung an meine
Freunde," which I prefixed as an introduction to my three
operatic poems. In the same place I stated plainly that I had
despaired of ever again undertaking an artistic task, and that to
you and your active sympathy it was solely due if I once more had
gathered sufficient courage and energy for an artistic
enterprise, which I should dedicate to you and to those of my
friends comprised in "the local idea: Weimar." The timidity of
Messrs. Hartel, the publishers of the book, has taken exception
to certain passages in that preface to which I did not wish to
have any demonstrative intention attributed, and which I might
have expressed just as well in a different way; and the
appearance of the book has in consequence been much retarded, to
my great annoyance, for special reasons.

For the public declaration as to the intended destiny of my next
dramatic work would, owing to my latest resolution, require an
essential modification if it were to be quite in accordance with
actual circumstances. But, although the preface, written at the
beginning of last August, appears in the present circumstances
too late, the aforesaid declaration will be given to the public
without any change; and if I cannot fulfill the promise given in
it in the manner there stated, it may at least serve you and my
Weimar friends as a proof of the genuine sincerity of the
intention then held by me. I should also be glad to think that in
that public declaration I have furnished a sign of my gratitude
for the sympathy they have shown to me, even if, as I said
before, I cannot prove that gratitude in the exact manner there
promised.

To you, my dear Liszt, I am now compelled to confess that my
resolution of writing a new opera for Weimar has been so
essentially modified as scarcely to exist any longer in that
form.

Hear then the strictly veracious account of the artistic
enterprise in which I have been engaged for some time, and the
turn it had of necessity to take.

In the autumn of 1848 I sketched for the first time the complete
myth of the "Nibelungen", such as it henceforth belongs to me as
my poetic property. My next attempt at dramatizing the chief
catastrophe of that great action for our theatre was "Siegfried's
Death". After much wavering I was at last, in the autumn of 1850,
on the point of sketching the musical execution of this drama,
when again the obvious impossibility of having it adequately
performed anywhere prevented me in the first instance from
beginning the work. To get rid of this desperate mood, I wrote
the book "Oper und Drama." Last spring your article on
"Lohengrin" inspired me to such a degree that for your sake I
resumed the execution of a drama quickly and joyously; this I
wrote to you at the time: but "Siegfried's Death"--that, I knew
for certain, was in the first instance impossible. I found that I
should have to prepare it by another drama, and therefore took up
the long-cherished idea of making the young Siegfried the subject
of a poem. In it everything that in "Siegfried's Death" was
either narrated or more or less taken for granted was to be shown
in bold and vivid outline by means of actual representation. This
poem was soon sketched and completed. When I was going to send it
to you, I for the first time felt a peculiar anxiety. It seemed
as if I could not possibly send it to you without explanation, as
if I had many things to tell you, partly as to the manner of
representation and partly as to the necessary comprehension of
the poem itself. In the first instance it occurred to me that I
still had many and various things to communicate previous to my
coming before my friends with this poem. It was for that reason
that I wrote the long preface to my three earlier operatic poems,
of which mention has already been made. After this I was going to
begin the composition, and found, to my joy, that the music
adapted itself to these verses quite naturally and easily, as of
its own accord. But the very commencement of the work reminded me
that I should ruin my health entirely if I did not take care of
it thoroughly before yielding to my impulse and finishing the
work at a stretch and probably without interruption. When I went
to the hydropathic establishment, I felt compelled at last to
send you the poem; but, strangely enough, something always seemed
to restrain me. I was led to hesitate, because I felt as if your
acquaintance with this poem would place you in a certain awkward
position, as if you would not exactly know what to make of it,
whether to receive it with hope or diffidence. At last, on mature
consideration, my plan in its logical sequence became clear to
me. Listen to me:--

This "Young Siegfried" also is no more than a fragment, and as a
separate entity it cannot produce its proper and sure impression
until it occupies its necessary place in a complete whole, a
place which I now assign to it, together with "Siegfried's
Death," in my newly designed plan. In these two dramas a number
of necessary relations were left to the narrative or even to the
sagacity of the hearer. Everything that gave to the action and
the character of these two dramas their infinitely touching and
widely spreading significance had to be omitted in the
representation, and could be communicated to the mind alone. But,
according to my inmost conviction since formed, a work of art,
and especially a drama, can have its true effect only when the
poetic intention in all its more important motives speaks fully
to the senses, and I cannot and dare not sin against this truth
which I have recognized. I am compelled therefore to communicate
my entire myth in its deepest and widest significance with the
greatest artistic precision, so as to be fully understood.
Nothing in it must in any sense be left to be supplied by thought
or reflection; the unsophisticated human mind must be enabled by
its artistic receptivity to comprehend the whole, because by that
means only may the most detached parts be rightly understood.

Two principal motives of my myth therefore remain to be
represented, both of which are hinted at in "Young Siegfried",
the first in the long narrative of Brynhild after her awakening
(Act III.), the second in the scene between Alberich and the
Wanderer in the second act and between the Wanderer and Mime in
the first. That to this I was led not only by artistic
reflection, but by the splendid and, for the purpose of
representation, extremely rich material of these motives, you
will readily understand when you consider the subject more
closely. Think then of the wondrously fatal love of Siegmund and
Siegelinde, of Wotan in his deep, mysterious relation to that
love, in his dispute with Fricka, in his terrible self-contention
when, for the sake of custom, he decrees the death of Siegmund,
finally of the glorious Valkyrie Brynhild, as, divining the
innermost thought of Wotan, she disobeys the god, and is punished
by him; consider this wealth of motive indicated in the scene
between the Wanderer and the Wala, and at greater length in the
above-mentioned tale of Brynhild, as the material of a drama
which precedes the two Siegfrieds; and you will understand that
it was not reflection, but rather enthusiasm, which inspired my
latest plan.

That plan extends to three dramas: (l) "The Valkyrie"; (2) "Young
Siegfried"; (3) "Siegfried's Death". In order to give everything
completely, these three dramas must be preceded by a grand
introductory play: "The Rape of the Rhinegold". The object is the
complete representation of everything in regard to this rape: the
origin of the Nibelung treasure, the possession of that treasure
by Wotan, and the curse of Alberich, which in "Young Siegfried"
occur in the form of a narrative. By the distinctness of
representation which is thus made possible, and which at the same
time does away with everything of the nature of a lengthy
narration, or at least condenses it in a few pregnant moments, I
gain sufficient space to intensify the wealth of relations, while
in the previous semi-epical mode of treatment I was compelled to
cut down and enfeeble all this. I mention only one thing:--

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