Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, vol 2 | Page 4

AND LISZT, Volume 2 INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT
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BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

The German musical genius Richard Wagner (1811-1883) could be
considered to be one of the ideological fathers of early 20th century
German nationalism. He was well-suited for this role. Highly
intelligent, sophisticated, complex, capable of imagining whole systems
of humanistic philosophy, and with an intense need to communicate his
ideas, he created great operas which, in addition to their artistic merits,
served the peculiar role of promoting a jingoistic, chauvenistic kind of
Germanism. There are things in his operas that only a German can fully
understand, especially if he would like to see his country closed off to
outsiders. It is unlikely, however, that Wagner expected these ideas to
achieve any popularity. Time and again he rails against philistines,
irrational people and politicians in his letters. With great exasperation
and often depression he expressed little hope that his country would
ever emerge out of its "philistinism" and embrace "rational" ideas such
as he propagated. Add to this the great difficulties he had in getting his
works performed, and one might assume that he felt himself to be
composing, most of the time, to audiences of bricks. Yes, his great,
intensely beloved friend Liszt believed in, fully understood, and greatly
appreciated Wagner's works, but Liszt was just one in a million, and

even he, as Wagner suggested, associated with a base coterie incapable
of assimilating Wagnerian messages. Considering the sorry state of
music and intellectualism in Wagner's time and setting, he surely would
have been surprised if his operas and his ideas achieved any wide
currency. That he continued to work with intense energy to develop his
ideas, to fix them into musical form and to propagate them, while
knowing that probably no sizeable population would ever likely take
note of them, and while believing that his existence as an
underappreciated, rational individual in an irrational world was absurd
and futile, is a testimony to the enormous will-power of this
"ubermensch."

CORRESPONDENCE OF WAGNER AND LISZT, VOLUME 2

143.
DEAREST RICHARD,
Yesterday (Saturday, January 7th) first performance of "Lohengrin" at
Leipzig. The public, very numerous in spite of double prices, displayed
much sympathy and admiration for this wonderful work. The first act
went tolerably well as far as the artists were concerned. Rietz
conducted in a precise and decent manner, and the ENSEMBLES had
been carefully studied. The second and third acts, however, suffered
much from the faults and shortcomings of both chorus and principals.
Further performances will, no doubt, show an improvement, although
the Leipzig theatre does certainly not possess the proper singers and
scenic artists. The flagging in the second act, which I previously took
the liberty of pointing out to you, was felt very much on this occasion,
and the public seemed painfully and unmistakably tired. The tempi of
the choruses seemed to me considerably too fast, and there was more
than one break-down in this scene. Altogether, without self-conceit, I
may say that the Leipzig performance is inferior to ours, as you will
probably hear from other quarters. On the other hand the Leipzig public
is in many respects superior to ours, and I feel convinced that the

external success of yesterday's performance will prove very
considerable indeed. The grand success of this work can no longer be
denied; of that we should be glad, and the rest will follow sooner or
later. The actors, Rietz and Wirsing, were called after the first act, and
after the last the representatives of the principal parts had to appear
again. T., who had come from Paris for this performance, was very
dissatisfied with it. I toned him down, not thinking it advisable to
impair the chief thing by detailed criticism. Before all, let it be stated
that "Lohengrin" is the grandest work of art which we possess so far,
and that the Leipzig theatre by performing it has done credit to itself.
If you have to write to Leipzig show yourself, to please me, friendly
and appreciative of their goodwill, and of the success which cannot be
denied. The only remark you might make concerns the quick tempo of
the choruses in Act II., Scene iii., and of the "Lohengrin" passage in the
third act
[Here, Liszt illustrates with a 4-bar musical score example where the
words, "Ath----mest Du nicht die su--ssen Dufte" are sung.]
as compared with YOUR METRONOMIC INDICATION. This is the
more necessary as the chorus practically broke down, and these
passages failed to produce their due effect.
On the next birthday of the Grand Duchess (April 8th) "Lohengrin" will
be given here, with Gotze (at present professor of singing at the Leipzig
Conservatoire, late first tenor of this theatre) and Frau Fastlinger, and
about the middle of May Tichatschek will sing