There is still further evidence of this in the following letter which has only recently come to light. It was written in the year 1849, when Wagner had been compelled to be a fugitive, and was bargaining for “Lohengrin,” and is addressed to one Herr B., in Paris, but not Berlioz. “Dear B.,” it says, “Richard Wagner, Capellmeister of Dresden, has been here since yesterday. He is a man of astonishing genius, of a genie si trepantique, as befits this country, a new and brilliant appearance in art. Recent events in Dresden have forced him to a plan in the execution of which I am determined to help him with all my power. Meanwhile I have had a long interview with him. Listen to what we have planned and what must be realized from it. First, we will create a success for some grand, heroic and fascinating music, the score of which was finished a year ago. Perhaps it will be in London. Chorley, for instance, can be of great service to him in this undertaking. Then if Wagner comes, with his success in his pocket, to Paris in the winter, the doors of the opera, at which he has always been knocking, will open to him. It is unnecessary to trouble you with any further explanations. You understand and must learn whether there is at this moment an English theatre in London—for the Italian opera would be of no service to our friend, and whether there is any prospect that a great and beautiful work by a master-hand could make a success. Reply as soon as possible. Later, that is, toward the end of the month, Wagner will pass through Paris. You will see him, and he will speak with you personally about the direction and extent of his plan, and will be royally thankful for every favor. Write soon and help me as ever. It is a noble purpose for the accomplishment of which all this must be done.”
Richard Wagner himself, in confirmation of what we have said, relates the most beautiful thing of all. At the close of his brief Paris visit, in 1849, when, sick, miserable and despairing, he sat brooding over his situation, he happened to espy the score of his almost forgotten “Lohengrin.” It suddenly struck him with a sense of pity, that the music on this death-pale paper would never be heard: “I wrote two words to Liszt and he replied that extensive preparations were being made for the performance of the work. Whatever men and circumstances could accomplish there (in Weimar,) should be done. Success rewarded him and after this success he approached me and said: ‘See, thus far have we come. Now create us a new work, that we may go still further.’”
Wagner created it. It was the “Nibelungen.”
And what occurred, when in the summer of 1876, this colossal work, the glory of modern art as well as of modern culture, one might say of all the culture of the world, for every nation was represented there, was at last produced in an artistic manner worthy of it?
“Here is one who first gave me faith in my work, when no one knew anything of me,” said the artist, in the midst of a joyful company, at the close of the first performance. “But for him perhaps you would not have had a note from me to-day. It is my dear friend, Franz Liszt.”
All this shows that what he did was only the fulfillment of duty. With him, as with one of the greatest spirits of all the centuries, it was his pride to be of service in his art. The proud words apply to him who truly feels the greatness which he himself helps to create, beyond and above all else in universal service, “genie oblige.”
CHAPTER V.
REFLEXIONS.
Goethe’s Criticism on Winckelmann—The Poetical Necessity—Winckelmann and the Plastic Art—Has Music a Language?—Musicians and Musical Writers—Gluck’s Writings—His War in Paris—A fierce Struggle with the Theorists—Luther’s Indebtedness to Bach—Heinse and his Writings—His Italian Visit—Reichardt, Rochlitz and Schubart—Their Literary Characteristics—A criticism of Marx—Liszt’s Contributions to Literature—His great Literary Ability—The Place of Artists—List of his Works—Goethe and Beethoven—Bettina’s Phantasies—Jean Paul—Schumann—Liszt’s Criticism of the “Swan Song”—Tribute from the “Gazette Musicale”—Selections from his Writings.
Goethe writes in 1805, of Winckelmann, the author of the “History of Modern Art”: “He sees ineffable works with the eye, he comprehends them with the sense, yet he feels the unmistakable difficulty of describing them in words and characters. The complete majesty, the idea whence sprang the form, the feeling which aroused the sense of beauty in him, he would communicate to the hearer or reader, and while he musters the entire arsenal of his abilities, he realizes that it is demanded of him to seize upon the strongest and worthiest he has at command. He must be a poet, whether he realizes it or not.”
Thus Winckelmann became the originator of the reflective style of statement in our language, which had not previously existed, and what Goethe himself learned from it is shown very clearly in the poetical description of the Greek myths, like Leda and the Swan, in the second part of “Faust.”