Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1

F >> Francis Hueffer (translator) >> Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1

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Alberich ascends from the depth of the earth to the three
daughters of the Rhine; he persecutes them with his loathsome
wooing; rejected by one, he turns to the other; laughing and
teasing, they all refuse the gnome. Then the Rhinegold begins to
glow; Alberich is attracted; he inquires as to its meaning; the
girls tell him that they use it as a bright plaything, and that
its splendour lights up the depth of the waves with blissful
glow, but that he might work many wonders, might gain power and
strength, wealth and dominion, through means of the gold, who
could weld it to a ring. But only he who renounces love can do
this. They tell him that to prevent any one from robbing the gold
they have been appointed its warders, for he who approaches them
would certainly not desire the gold; Alberich at least is not
likely to do this, as he is so much in love with them. Again they
laugh at him. Then the Nibelung grows furious, he robs the gold,
and takes it with him into the depths.

But enough of these particulars. Let me tell you my plan for the
practical execution of the whole.

Of a separation of the materials of this great whole I cannot
think without destroying my object at the outset. The entire
cycle of dramas must be represented in rapid sequence, and their
external embodiment can be thought of only in the following
favourable circumstances. The performance of my Nibelung dramas
will have to take place at a great festival, to be arranged
perhaps especially for the purpose of this performance. It will
have to extend over three consecutive days, the introductory
drama to be given on the previous evening. If a performance in
such circumstances has been accomplished, the whole may in the
first instance be repeated on another occasion, and after that
the single dramas, being complete in themselves, may be given
separately ad libitum; but in any case the impression of a
continuous performance must have gone before.

Where and in what circumstances such a performance may become
possible I must not for the present consider, for first of all I
have to complete my great work, and that will take me at least
three years if I have any regard for my health.

A fortunate turn in the affairs of my intimate friends the R.
family has had the effect that for that time and for the rest of
my life I may attend to my artistic creations quietly and
undisturbed by material cares. When once I have finished my great
work, means will, I hope, be found of having it performed
according to my design. If Weimar is still standing then, and if
your efforts at doing something fine there have been more
fortunate than at present, alas! seems likely, and more than
likely, we shall see how the matter can be managed.

However bold, extraordinary, and perhaps fantastic my plan may
appear to you, be convinced that it is not the outgrowth of a
mere passing whim, but has been imposed upon me by the necessary
consequences of the essence and being of the subject which
occupies me wholly and impels me towards its complete execution.
To execute it according to my power as a poet and musician is the
only thing that stands before my eyes; anything else must not
trouble me for the present. Knowing your way of thinking, I do
not doubt for a moment that you will agree with me and encourage
my purpose, although it will frustrate for the moment your
flattering wish soon to produce another work of mine.

After this I may confess that the definite alteration of my plan
relieves me of an almost painful difficulty: the difficulty of
having to demand the performance of "Young Siegfried" of the
Weimar theatre. Only now, together with this explanation, do I
send you the poem of "Young Siegfried" with a light heart, for I
know that now you will read it without the anxiety which the
thought of its completion and of its performance at the Weimar
theatre, such as it is and cannot help being, would necessarily
have caused in you. Let us have no illusions on this subject.
What you, and you alone, have done for me at Weimar, is
astonishing, and was all the more important for me, as without
you I should have been entirely forgotten. Instead of this you
have used all the means which you alone could have brought
together in drawing towards me the public attention of lovers of
art with such energy and such success that your efforts on behalf
of me and my reputation are the only thing which enables me even
to think of the execution of such plans as the one I have just
communicated to you. This I see with perfect clearness, and I
call you openly the creator of my actual position, which may
perhaps lead to great things in the future.

I further ask, What expectations have you still of Weimar? With
sad candour I must tell you that, after all, I consider your
trouble about Weimar to be fruitless. Your experience is that as
soon as you turn your back the most perfect vulgarity springs
luxuriantly from the soil in which you had laboured to plant the
noblest things; you return, and have just ploughed up once more
half of the soil, when the tares begin to sprout even more
impertinently. Truly I watch you with sadness. On every side of
you I see the stupidity, the narrow-mindedness, the vulgarity,
and the empty vanity of jealous courtiers, who are only too sadly
justified in envying the success of genius.

But enough of this disgusting matter. For my sake I care no
longer about it, for I have quite made up my mind as to it, but I
care about it for your sake. I hope you will arrive at my opinion
before it is too late for your good humour.

It is quite touching to me to have in a manner to take leave of
our amiable Zigesar; I must write to him and at the same time pay
my debt to him. This last is one of the most painful features of
the explanation which will be necessary.

You are aware that I had determined upon writing a new work for
you before the pecuniary arrangement between Zigesar and me was
made. That such an arrangement was made and was offered to me by
our friend with such obvious pleasure and satisfaction was of the
greatest value to me.

This I have confessed to him candidly. It would appear almost
trivial, mean, and in a certain sense offensive on my part to
repay the sum already received on account of that agreement, for
it was given to me, not in order to place me under any
"obligation" towards you and Zigesar, but with the friendly
desire to relieve me as far as possible of domestic cares during
the composition of an opera. Nevertheless this agreement has
still another meaning, which appears all the more serious at this
moment because Zigesar has, temporarily at least, a successor in
the management of the theatre. Towards this successor I am simply
in the position of a debtor; and as I am not able to execute the
commission I had accepted, I am bound formally and materially to
dissolve a contract which cannot exist any longer. Fortunately I
am in a position not to cause you any disagreeable difficulty as
to this point.

After all these explanations, I send you, my dear friend and
brother, the poem of my "Young Siegfried", such as I designed and
executed it when I still thought of its separate performance. In
connection with the other dramas it will naturally have to
undergo many alterations, and especially some beneficial
abbreviations in the narrative portion. Many things will strike
you in it, notably its great simplicity and the few characters
amongst whom the action is distributed; but if you think of this
piece as placed between the "Valkyrie" and "Siegfried's Death",
both of which dramas have a much more complicated action, you
will, I have little doubt, in accordance with my intention,
receive a peculiar and sympathetic impression from this forest
scene, with its youthful, fearless solitude. As I told you
before, I can now send you this poem willingly and without fear,
for you are no longer required to glance from it anxiously
towards your public. You need, for example, no longer trouble
about what will be thought of the "woman" by people who see in
"woman" only their own wives, or at the outside some girl, etc.,
etc. From this anxiety also I know you to be free, and am glad
that I can disclose to you my artistic intention without fear of
a real misunderstanding. Could I but succeed in engaging your
favour and sympathy for my plan whenever and wherever it may be
accomplished! I firmly hope for a future realization, for there
is too much creative impulse in me not to nourish hope along with
it. My previous continual anxiety about my health has also now
been relieved by the conviction I have since gained of the all-
healing power of water and of nature's medicine; I am in the way
of becoming and, if I choose, of remaining a perfectly healthy
man. If you wretched people would only get a good digestion, you
would find that life suddenly assumes a very different appearance
from what you saw through the medium of your digestive troubles.
In fact, all our politics, diplomacy, ambition, impotence,
science, and, what is worst, our whole modern art, in which the
palate, at the expense of the stomach, is alone satisfied,
tickled, and flattered, until at last a corpse is unwittingly
galvanized--all this parasite growth of our actual existence has
no soil to thrive in but a ruined digestion. I wish that those
could and would understand me to whom I exclaim these almost
ridiculously sounding but terribly true words!

But I notice that I am straying from one thing to another, and
therefore will conclude at last. I ask you fervently, my dear
Liszt, to write me soon and fully what you think of this letter
and parcel. May I always find in you the kind friend and
protector that you have been and are to me, and whom at all times
I shall embrace with grateful, fraternal love.

Your deeply obliged

RICHARD WAGNER.

ALBISBRUNN, November 20th, 1851.

When you receive these lines, I shall be back in Zurich, where my
address will be "Zeltweg, Zurich."

68.

Your letter, my glorious friend, has given me great joy. You have
reached an extraordinary goal in your extraordinary way. The task
of developing to a dramatic trilogy and of setting to music the
Nibelung epic is worthy of you, and I have not the slightest
doubt as to the monumental success of your work. My sincerest
interest, my warmest sympathy, are so fully secured to you that
no further words are needed. The term of three years which you
give to yourself may bring many favourable changes in your
external circumstances. Perhaps, as some papers state, you will
soon return to Germany; perhaps by the time you finish your
"Siegfried" I shall have other resources at my disposal. Go on
then and do your work without care. Your programme should be the
same which the Chapter of Seville gave to its architect in
connection with the building of the cathedral: "Build us such a
temple that future generations will be obliged to say, 'The
Chapter was mad to undertake so extraordinary a thing.'" And yet
the cathedral is standing there at the present day.

I enclose a letter from Herr von Zigesar, the contents of which I
know, but have by no means inspired. Zigesar is a sure,
excellent, sterling character, and you may always count upon his
friendship in that capacity. I hope that as soon as his painful
disease of the eyes will allow him he will resume the management,
probably by next spring.

Your well-accounted-for and justified fears as to my Weymar
activity I pass by without reply; they will be proved or
disproved by facts during the few years that you dwell amongst
your Nibelungs. In any case I am prepared for better or worse,
and hope to continue quietly in my modest way. Raff has finished
a thick volume of preparatory studies for the composition of his
new Biblical opera "Simson" (pronounce Schimmeschon), The opera
itself will be finished next year. Cordial thanks, dear friend,
for sending me "Young Siegfried". Unfortunately I was last week
in such a turmoil of business that I could not find a quiet hour
to read the book. Can you let me keep it till Christmas? When
will your three dramas "Flying Dutchman", "Tannhauser", and
"Lohengrin" appear? Have you rewritten the preface? H. promised
it to me, but up till now I have received nothing. Have you
perhaps changed your publisher? Let me know about it on occasion
through B., who is writing to you at the same time with this.
Farewell, and live, if possible, in peace with the upper world
and with your lower stomach, to which in your letter you
attribute many things not quite pertaining to it. People may
think as they like, I cannot get rid of the definition "L'homme
est une intelligence servie par des organes," and that your
organs serve you excellently well is proved by your writing the
Nibelung trilogy with prologue.

May the living God bless you and have you in His keeping!

Your cordially devoted friend,

F. LISZT.

WEYMAR, December 1st, 1851.

69.

MY DEAREST FRIEND,

Today only a few lines of thanks for your last letter, which has
rejoiced me unspeakably. I showed it to every one who is in the
least near to me, and told them, "Behold, I have such a friend!"

The full and unconditional approbation with which you receive my
new plan is the best proof to my mind that I have hit upon the
right thing. To be understood by you, and in the peculiar
circumstances, in an undertaking which, besides thwarting your
personal wish, can, on account of its unmeasured boldness, be
understood by almost no one but him who is impelled to it by
inward necessity--this, my dearest Liszt, makes me as happy as if
my plan had been successfully accomplished. To Herr von Zigesar
also I ask you to express my most cordial thanks for the very
kind manner in which he has received and replied to my last
communication. He has by that means laid me under a new
obligation, and I can only wish that I may be able to show my
gratitude.

As far as I am concerned, I am still occupied in resting from the
finally somewhat powerful effect of my cure. I shall not
undertake much this winter, but shall get everything out of the
way, so that the whole poem may be ready by the beginning of
summer.

How could you think that I had sent you "Young Siegfried" only to
look at? The copy which you have has been made specially by me
for you, and I ask you to accept it, although it is not written
as beautifully as might be. One thing I must ask you to do for
me: send me your medallion, so that I may give it to myself as a
Christmas present. I had wanted a long time to ask you for this;
and now that, after a prolonged fugitive state, I begin to be a
little settled in my small but cheerful dwelling, I want you
amongst my Penates in one form or another. If you have a really
good portrait, I should like to have that too. You need not be
ashamed of hanging on my wall; at present I have there only
Beethoven, besides the Nibelung design by Cornelius.

"Oper und Drama" has long been published, as you probably know.
The three operatic poems, with a communication to my friends,
will appear at the end of this month, together with the
pianoforte score of "Lohengrin." Please order a copy at once; you
are nearer to it than I. I bet that the preface will interest you
very much. The conclusion I have recently altered a little, but
in such a manner that everything referring to Weimar remains
unchanged.

Farewell, dear friend, and let me very soon again hear from you.

Your

RICHARD WAGNER.

ZURICH (ZELTWEG), December 14th, 1851.

70.

DEAREST FRIEND,

I am very late in telling you how we have all been delighted and
enlivened by your splendid work. How can we thank you for it? How
can I more especially express my gratitude? B. and Br. have
written to you that the sixth performance of your "Lohengrin" has
been, comparatively speaking, a satisfactory one. What I wrote to
you at once after the very feeble and faulty first performance
has actually happened. The comprehension and interest of the
actors, together with those of the public, have increased with
every performance; and I feel convinced that the seventh
performance on Saturday, January 24th, will be even more
successful. Next season we shall without delay attack your
"Flying Dutchman," which, for local reasons explained to B., I
did not propose this winter. We shall then probably be able to
add and improve several things in regard to the scenery, etc., of
your "Lohengrin." You may firmly rely upon me for bringing your
works at Weymar more and more up to the mark, in the same measure
as our theatre in the course of time gets over divers economic
considerations, and effects the necessary improvements and
additions in chorus, orchestra, scenery, etc. Excuse my bad
German style; I am better at doing a thing than at writing about
it.

Cordial thanks for your splendid gift of "Siegfried." I took the
liberty of arranging a recital of it for the Hereditary Grand
Duke and his wife at Zigesar's. Zigesar, who had previously read
your poem, is in a state of enthusiasm about it, and the small
circle of about fifteen persons whom he assembled on that evening
was selected exclusively from the most zealous Wagnerites--the
real creme de la creme. I am very curious as to how you are going
to execute the work musically, what proportions the movements
will have, etc.

Go at it as soon as possible. Perhaps you will be able to
complete the whole work in less than three years. As regards the
performance, we shall manage to arrange it somewhere by strictly
observing your orders and indications. With all the genius of
your fancy, you are so eminently experienced and practical that
you will of a certainty write nothing unpractical. Difficulties
are necessary--in order to be overcome. If, as I do not suppose,
you should not be back in Germany by that time, I charge myself
with the whole thing, and shall only trouble you to give me an
exhaustive programme of all that you desire and expect in the
performance of this gigantic work. To that I shall strictly
adhere. Persons and things shall be provided somehow. But I look
forward to the pleasure of enjoying your Nibelung trilogy more
quietly from a stall or a seat in the balcony, and I invite you
for four consecutive days to supper after the performance at the
Hotel de Saxe, Dresden, or the Hotel de Russie, Berlin, in case
you are able to eat and drink after all your exertions.

Of the conclusion of the preface to the three operatic poems I
say nothing. It has hit me in my heart of hearts, and I have shed
a manly tear over it.

My portrait I shall send you through H.; the medallion I must
order from Paris, as there are only galvanoplastic copies in
Germany.

The Princess has written a few words to you after the performance
of "Lohengrin," which I enclose.

Farewell, and live as tranquilly as possible, my glorious friend.
Let me soon hear something of you.

Your

F. LISZT.

WEYMAR, January 15th, 1852.

71.

Just returned home, with my eyes still moistened by the tears
brought to them by the moving scenes of "Lohengrin," to whom
should my thought turn at this moment but to you, sir, with the
desire that you could have witnessed the effect produced by your
beautiful work, better understood as it is every day by
executants and spectators? I cannot tell you with how much zeal
the former endeavour to respond to the efforts of Liszt for the
worthy interpretation of your drama. Having been ill and absent
from Weymar for a year, I was this evening able to judge how
indefatigable Liszt has been in his instruction, recommenced
again and again, and becoming ever more fruitful. You would
certainly be satisfied with the progress they all make at each
new representation.

Fraulein Fastlinger having left our theatre, Frau Knopp Fehringer
takes the part of Ortrud. The former having been generally
successful, both as a singer and an actress, opinions are divided
as to the latter; and you, as the creator of the part, can alone
decide which of them is really preferable. The former had the
undoubted advantage of eighteen years, a pretty face, a slim,
tall figure, which qualities, as they placed her in age and in
beauty near to Elsa, suggested the idea of secret rivalry between
woman and woman. One thought that she not only desired to win the
throne of Brabant, but was also jealous of Frederick and of the
charms of her from whom she had torn him away. The timidity
natural to so young an artist gave to her movements the restraint
which is characteristic of youth and of the instinct of a rival.
Frau Knopp has over Fraulein Fastlinger the advantage of
consummate and very impressive dramatic talent, but she is not
very beautiful, in spite of regular features, and not in her
first youth, besides which her figure is rather thickset. Her
action indicated every nuance with admirable eloquence; she
rendered the disdain, the hatred, the rage, which alternately
inspire her with gestures and pantomimic actions of such striking
reality that she might be compared to the greatest artists in the
most famous parts. But she could not be more than an ambitious
woman. Between her and Elsa the spectator's mind could not see
any comparison or rivalry, and this has no doubt put out many of
the audience without their being able to account for the reason,
for nothing could have been more admirable than the acting of
Frau Knopp, infinitely more energetic, more richly coloured, more
living, more certain, more bold, than that of Fraulein
Fastlinger.

It is then for you, sir, to say whether in general it is better
to give the part to a young and beautiful artist, whose acting is
naturally less experienced and more subdued, or to a woman of
mature talent, who gives us an Ortrud less young, but more
inflamed and devoured by the secret flames of the hatred of one
who is vanquished and the revenge of one who is oppressed. As to
myself, I cannot say which of these two conceptions produces the
greater impression; the second has certainly something more
sombre, more inexorable, about it. One trembles in advance for
Elsa on seeing that such hands will fashion her destiny; one is
inclined to say that the premeditation of a whole life gives more
grandeur to the struggle between ambition and innocence.

Pardon, sir, this long digression; it will show to you how much
your poetic conceptions occupy us here. I must not close these
lines without telling you how I have been touched by the manner
in which you speak of him whose glorious name I am soon to bear.
Who could fail to speak of his spirit, of his genius, of his
intelligence? But one must have a high-toned and delicate soul to
understand the infinite tenderness of his soul, which so few can
feel or divine. He will, no doubt, write to you soon. This
evening, after the close of the performance, he accompanied some
people who had come from Leipzig to hear your "Lohengrin". Good-
bye, dear sir. Permit me to thank you for all the rare pleasures
we owe to you by the contemplation of your beautiful works, and
accept the expression of my distinguished esteem.

CAROLYNE.

WEYMAR, January 4th, 1852.

72.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Accept my cordial thanks for your last kind letter, and for the
beautiful performance of "Lohengrin" which you have again
accomplished; according to all accounts, it must have realized my
wishes in a high degree. In such circumstances my longing
increases to enjoy my work, of which hitherto I have only felt
the pains of giving birth to it; and my grief at being condemned
to the fate of a blind and deaf man towards my own artistic
creations begins to have a more and more depressing effect upon
me. The existing impossibility of seeing and hearing my works
makes the inspiration for new creations so grievously difficult,
that I can only think with sorrow and with an unspeakably bitter
feeling of the execution of new works. I tell you this for the
sake of truth, and without accompanying my complaint by wishes
which, as no one knows better than I, must remain unfulfilled.

As regards my "Nibelung" drama, you, my good, sympathetic friend,
regard my future in too rosy a light. I do not expect its
performance, not at least during my lifetime, and least of all at
Berlin or Dresden. These and similar large towns, with their
public, do not exist for me at all. As an audience I can only
imagine an assembly of friends who have come together for the
purpose of knowing my works somewhere or other, best of all in
some beautiful solitude, far from the smoke and pestilential
business odour of our town civilization. Such a solitude I might
find in Weimar, but certainly not in a larger city. If I now turn
to my great work, it is done for the purpose of seeking salvation
from my misery, forgetfulness of my life. I have no other aim,
and shall think myself happy when I am no longer conscious of my
existence. In such circumstances my only joy is to know at least
that I may benefit my friends by my art; in their sympathy with
my works lies the only enjoyment I find in them. For that reason
I am very pleased that you are thinking of performing the "Flying
Dutchman", and I hope that those who love me will reward you for
your trouble. As to the representation, and especially the
scenery, I shall come to an agreement with you in due time; in
Kassel it is said to have been not unsatisfactory, and some
communication with the scenic artist there as to the arrangement
of the ships, etc., would therefore seem desirable. Do not begin
the copying of the orchestral parts until I have sent to you from
here a copy of the score, in which, in accordance with my more
recent experiences of orchestral effect, I have revised the
instrumental parts.

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