There are men who try in vain to make a principle out of themselves. This was the case with Wagner.
22.
Wagner's obscurity concerning final aims; his non-antique fogginess.
23.
All Wagner's ideas straightway become manias; he is tyrannised over by them. How can such a man allow himself to be tyrannised over in this way! For instance by his hatred of Jews. He kills his themes like his "ideas," by means of his violent love of repeating them. The problem of excessive length and breadth; he bores us with his raptures.
24.
"C'est la rage de vouloir penser et sentir au delà de sa force" (Doudan). The Wagnerites.
25.
Wagner whose ambition far exceeds his natural gifts, has tried an incalculable number of times to achieve what lay beyond his powers—but it almost makes one shudder to see some one assail with such persistence that which defies conquest—the fate of his constitution.
26.