New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-29


Of that. and he needed mediator with miraculous
powcrs He needed one because Of the uncouth
ri goodness of his manner and his incorporating
character In the musical reformation OF the
nineteenth century List was Luther Wagners
Mclanchthon Wagncr's period Of compromise was
the period of his extreme youth, the first step IN
a process OF evolution which closed only with his
death, and which seemed to gain momentum with
age There has been no composer since music be-
gan whose works are strongly differentiated one
from the other as Wagners; and this development
was contingent upon freedom from the influences
which keep creative artists in rutS This freedom
was the Joint gift Of the state, which banished him.
and List who succored him. We shall presently
quote from this correspondence 10 show how com
plctcly Wagner realized that he occupied an alto
gether anomalous position in the world. and we
look to this consciousness on his part, to his monu
mental cgotisin, rooted in a belief stronger imam
most mems religious faith in the righteousness Oh
his aims and the force Of his genius for an ex-
PLANTATION of trait in his character which the pub
LEGATION Of these letters has brought into pubic
comment-we mean his willingness to appear be-
fore his friends as an asker Of aims.
1t is melancholy fact, and one difficult to rec
oncile with ordinary conception of selfrespect-
ing manlincss that for years Wagner lived largely
of the bounty of his friends and did not hesitate
to ask of them, not merely loans, but gifts, not
merely gifts Of money TO relieve temporary want
but annuities looking to his establishment free
from ordinary care in the future. In his sympa
thetic and charming preface DR.. Hueffer takes up
the question presented by this fact and seeks an
explanation in Wagncr's anxiety to shield his wife
from care For himself he thinks Wagner would
not have feared poverty, and with the touch OF
the dramatic element in his nature, which was
peculiar to him, would perhaps have found GER
tain pleasure in going through the world, an ar
tistic Besarius, asking the lovers OF his art Tor
their obolus' We confess that unable to
reconcile this view of the case with the facts
Wagners wife (hs first plays an exceedingly small
role in this correspondence. In fact she scarcely
exists as a subject in any Of the letters so soon
as Liszt at Wagner's request has aided her to
join him in Zurich, after his flight from Dresden.
We go no further into the story Of his first domes-
tic life Wagner had a tender heart (hc patheti-
cally records the death Of his parrot in letter TO
Liszt but his egotism saved him from much suf-
fering on account Of the sorrows Of others. His
own wants, however, were always present, and.
as we know from the fifteen letters published in
1887 in the " Deutsche Rundschau7 by Frau Willie,
his tastes were OF such an eAtravagant kind that
his protestatioDs in some of these letters Of his
willingness to get along with the bare necessities
of life sound Pickwicldan, to say the least. We
believe that the best argument which can be made
in defence OF Wagner is that which he himself
makes in the twenty-seventh letter in this colec-
ton, written in Zurich on October IA, $40. The
first purpose Of this letter was to return thanks
to List for having enabled Frau Wagner to join
her husband. The part which we now quote, how
ever, Is the key tc Wagner's frequent attitude as
a suppliant for pecuniary aid:
Dear friend, look upon me with an earnest
but kind glance! All the ills that have happened
to me we've the natural and necessary conse-
5 5Sin% TSc t6S discard %cb Of my MINE 0wn
quite unyelding and indivisible BY its
nature it takes violent revenge when l try 70
turn or divide it by external force. To be wholly
what l can be. and therefore, no doubt, should
be, is only possible for me If renounce all those
external things which could gain by dnt of
ways make me fritter away my genuine power,
would always conlure up the same evils. In all
| do and think L am only artist, nothing bun
artist If ! am to throw myself into our modern
publicity, L cannot conquer IL as an artist, and
God preserve me from dealing with it as u
politician. Poor and without means for bare
life, without goods or heritage, as am, | should
be compelled to think only of acquisition; but !
have learnt nothing but my art, and that l
cannot possibly use for the purpose OF d ACQUIRING
tistc salvation could be brought about one day
only By publicity seeking me. The publicity for
which | alone can work is small nucleus OF OF
present. To these individuals, therefore, l must
turn, and put the question to them whether they
love me and my art-worlk sufficiently to make 1t
possible for me, as far as in them lies, TO be my
self, and to develop my activity without dis,
turbancc These individuals are not many, and
they live far from each other but the CHARACTER
OF their sympathy is an energetic one. Dear
friend the question with me is bare life ~.
The question, then, is, How and whence shall
oh IN Is M lIO-
hengrin" worth nothing? Is the opera which L
am longing to complete worth nothing? 1t IS true
that to the present generation, and to publicity
as it is, these must appear as useless luxury;
But how about the few who love these works
Should they not be allowed to offer to the poor
suffering creator-not a remuneration but the bare
possibility OF continuing to create?
To the tradesmen | cannot apply, nor TO the
existing nobility-not to human princes, but TO
princcly men, To work my best my lnmost
salvation, am not in position t, rely on merit,
but on grace II we few in this villanous, trading
age are not gracious toward each other, how can
we live in the name and for the honor OF art
Dear friend, you, believe, are the only one
on whom l can implicitly rely. Do not be
frightened I have tried TO relieve you Of the
elsewhere, but in vain. From H. B., about whom
you wrote to me, | have heard nothing, and am
let us leave the tradcsmen alone, once for all:
They arc human and even love art but only so
far as business will allow ;,,.,,. ..,o and
l have kept ourselves alive by the help Of a
friend here BY the end of this month of De-
tobcr our FAST forms will be gone
fore me, in which l have nothing to
cat nothing to warm myself with. Think of what
YOU can do for M. dear prIncely man Let
lot some ono commission my Sicgtried' l will
do it cheaplyi Leaving our old plan of a
confederation OF princes out OF the question, can
YOU not find some other individuals who would
ioin together to help me, if you were to ask them
in the proper manner? Shall put in the news
payer: )" have nothing to live on; let him who
because Of my wife she would die Of shame.
0. the trouble it is to find place in the world
for a man like me- II nothing else will answer
you might perhaps give concert " for an artist
In distress Consider everything, dear List and
before all manage to send me soon some-somc
money | want hrewood and q warm overcoat.
because my wife has not brought my ola one Oh
account of it's shabbncss Consider!
We do not think that any discussion of this