Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-09-10
SCHoPENHAUER AND WAGNER.
Some Marginal Notes Made by the Phi.
IisOpher in the First Edition OF THE
NfbeIung's Ring"
From The London Musical World.

FROM me LOndon -huSicdt WOfN.
The Musical World has revived u very
curious affair between Schopenhauer
and Wagner, who is fond of quoting
Schopenhauer. 1t is well known that
in the wear 1854, Richard Wagner sent
copies, printed mt his own expense, OF
his poem, der Ring DIES Nibeiungen, D."
a. a confidential communication" to
certain friends au,i ,u,h pei suiIs as he
Snnnn.aa ~-.ecrtained feeling of SYM.
paatRy for his project. Thi. .aditi4r
never came into the hands of the pub
fishers. One copy was forwarded by
Wagner to Arthur SchOpenhauer. Many
years subsequently it was said that, in
this copy, after the stage direction ut the
end of the first act of Die Walktire"-
"Siegmund draws Sieglinse to himself
with furious and ardent passion; she
sinks, with a shrek, on his breast; the
curtain falls neutrality-suspicious.
had written the pugent marginal COM
mentary: High time il should" As
Wagner, not merely without reserve,
avows his adhersiOn to SchOpenhauer's
views of music, but claims to have in
corporated, POLITICALLY, Schopenhauer's
philosophy in der Ring DIES Nibe-
fungen," the presumption that in his
copy the great philosopher had written
many "A critical opinion of the tetralogy
could not fail to excite curiosity.
| have at length seen the copy in
question, in the possession of Herr Leo
LipmannSsOhn, to whose Kindness am
indebted for the opportunity of examin-
ing it. On the blank page, before the
title, we see written in Schopenhauer,s
hand: Arthur Schopenhauer," and,
under the title, in Wagner's, "ln token
of admiration and gratitude" The
book, an octave of l59 pages, contains
all the four pieces Of the "Nibelungen'
poem, but the third piece, afterward
called "Siegfried," bears the title DER
Junge Segfried," while the fourth,
afterward called "Die G6tterdam-
mcrrung," is denomiDated "Siegfried's
Tod" Schopcnhauer has enriched the
book with numerous marginal notes IN
pencil. The handwriting is everywhere
vigorous, broad, and legible. In the
first act of"Die Walkfire," in the great
love scene between the sister and
brother, Sieglinde and Siegmund,
Cpage 42,l Sieglinde yearns for the man
Of her wishes. To this Schopenhauer
remarks, continuing the speech with
double hyphen: "Go and murder thy
husband" On the same page we find:
"Sieglinde thrusts back the curls
from Siegmund's brow, and, plunged
in amazement, gazes on him with the
words: How open is your brow, the
temples, &c.w On this Schopenhauer
remarks at Is infamous. With re-
ference to the scene, generally, between
Siegmund and Sieglinde, Schopen-
hauer writes across the entire margin at
the top of the page: ave may for once
in a way forget morality, but We have
no right to slap it in the face" Much
marginal space is taken up by the phi
losopher's quaint remarks on the pur-
port and inflated language of the text.
The sharpest bit in this valuable au-
tographic treasure trove IL the exciama-
ton, Ears! Earsw which Schopen-
hauer always employs whenever Wag-
ner makes false and inharmoniouy YER
bal combinations. With his we'll
known genial roughness, SchOpen-
bauer, at one such tortured word forna-
ton, even says: "He has no ears, the
deaf cat-gut scraper" This literary
historical discovery will cause great
commo,ion in the Wagnerite camp"