The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-07

I LONDON. July G.---The fascination
tot the love letter written fot other
/ eyes is akin te tie sweetness OF
i.stolen waters. The privacy and the
! intimacy OF such documents nazc for
! Us lattec-eiay viyi-sectors OF human
i.emo5icns their chief charm.
| In the letter OF Richard Wagner, TO
Matlilde Weseadonk, just published,
the master shows himself, from a
side. familiar perhaps to his intimate
circles, BUT new TO many who know
Wagner only as the Titan whose
brain conceived the Gotterdam
meruns, Tannhauser and Lohengria.
OF Mathi!de Wesendong the master
said:
She is and remains my first and
only love. They We're the zenith
OF my life. those fearful, anxious
beautiful years. which | spent in the
ever-growing enchantment of her
nearness. They hold all
the sweetness OF my life,
Mathilde WesendonIl's relation TO
the master may be very briefly ex-
planned.
Daughter OF a worthy merchant OF
Elberfeld she married ar 90 Otto
Wesendonk. partner in a great New
York silk business. In 1851 the IVES
endonks. with three children. built
villa at Zurich on the Green hill.
In Zurich they met the master at
Marshal Won Bieberstein's house. The
acqua intance, founded on mutual mu-
steal enthusiasm, ripeued into friend
Ninra, his first wife. came to live in
a little house, the Refuge. close to
the Wesendonk's villa.
In Mathilde. young, delicately beau
tiful-"a white, unwritten leaf" she
calls herself Wagner found his spir-
it's mate.
AT Zurich Wagner lived more on
the Green hill than in the Refuge.
Blissfully, peacefully, the days flowed
by. Frau Minna Wagner struck the
first discord.
That she should resent her hus-
bands love for Mathilde was inevi |
table. She had never possessed his |
heart. She was sicl1ly, fretful and |
in music Philistine.
There were scenes. opened letters. |
wild reproaches and passionate re- !
He left the Refuge. He might not
be with Mathilde; Minna's compan-
ionship was uncomfortable.
He became a wanderer From Ven
ice, Lucerne, Paris. Vienna he sent
Mathilde letters, music, leaves from
his diary.
In one of his letters he says;
Who feels it more clearly than I
hat it is this accursed art which eter-
1ally gives me up to the torment of
ife and all the contradictions Of ex-
stence? But for this strange gift,
mis- SO strong preponderance of the
creative fantasy within me, l might
ollow the guidance of the heart-be-
come a saint, and as saint I might
ay to thee, Come; leave everything
hat ties thee, burst the bonds of ma
ure. Sawitri.''
On All Hallows eve at Venice /
TODD on the balcony and loked into
he canals black food; the storm
Wind ragged. My leap, my fall would
lave been unheard. I should be free
rom torment if I sprang.
N thy children? Now 1
now that l am destined to die in
by arms. Now l know it!
His friendship with Mathilde's hus-
and remained of the warmest.
Many cordial greetings to Otto!
ell him that l love him. Farewell. ,
ny dear, noble child. Live peaceful
y. sincerely. and strengthen me {
hereby.
Till the masters death his best his
ruest friends remained at Wesen-
onk. He married again. Beyreuth
ecame an actuality I'VE never
1issed the festival in Beyreuth,' said
'rau Wesendonk. How few of the
lusic pilgrims gathered from Eu-
ope's ends guessed the secret story
:hich now, less than two years after ;
death, is set down in black
nd white for all the world to see.