THE LAST DRAMA
"Alles wird mir nun frei."--GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG
In the fall of 1877 Wagner's mind was occupied with a plan to found
at Bayreuth a music school similar in plan to that which he had
once hoped to have in Munich. Delegates from the Wagner societies
were invited to the city to consider the project, but they, alarmed
by the large deficit remaining from the festival of 1876, declined
to further the scheme. At this gathering of delegates the various
societies were reorganised into one general association, having
its headquarters at Bayreuth; and that the members and the other
sympathisers with his aims might have some definite object before
them, Wagner announced that subscriptions would apply to the
production of his new work, "Parsifal." It was at this time his
purpose to produce this drama in 1880, but various causes, including
poor health, combined to prevent the fulfilment of this intention.
Naturally the lack of funds was a prime cause for the postponement.
Wagner announced the change of date in a communication to his
subscribers, dated Bayreuth, July 15, 1879.
Meanwhile a new medium of making known his plans and ideas had been
found. In January, 1878, appeared the first number of a monthly
periodical called the _Bayreuther Blätter_, edited by Hans von
Wolzogen, who is now known to all students of Wagner's scores as the
author of handbooks explaining the leading motives of the music.
Wagner himself was an active contributor to this journal, and wrote
some of his most interesting papers for it. Meanwhile he worked
assiduously at the music of "Parsifal." That he did not finish it
till the beginning of 1882 was due to a variety of causes, among
which was a fresh outbreak of his old enemy, erysipelas. This sent
him, in the last days of 1879, into southern Italy in search of
relief. He was not in a sanguine temper at this time, and he wrote
for the opening of 1880 a querulous article, showing that he still
felt the hostility of criticism and the inability of the public to
comprehend his artistic purposes. He said:
"Nothing, in fact, seems farther from our public situation
of the day than the founding of an artistic institution
whose use, nay, whose whole meaning, is understood of the
veriest minority. Indeed I believe I have done my best to
state both things distinctly: but who has yet heeded? An
influential member of the Reichstag assured me that neither
he nor any of his colleagues had the faintest notion of
what I want. And yet, to further my ideas I can think only
of such as know absolutely nothing of our art, but devote
themselves to politics, trade, or business; for here a ray
may sometimes strike an open mind, whereas among those
interested in our present art I fancy I might seek such a
mind in vain. There reigns the obstinate belief that art
is but a métier, its object to feed its practitioner; the
highest-placed Court theatre Intendant never gets beyond
that, and consequently it does not occur to the State to
mix itself in things that rank with the regulation of
commerce. There one swears by Fra Diavolo's 'Long live art;
above all, the lady artists,' and sends for Patti."
To the casual observer Wagner at this period probably seemed to have
reason to be well pleased with his life. He was rid of the burden
of the deficit remaining after the "Ring" performances, he had a
beautiful home, a devoted wife, and was surrounded by friends who
gave him that ceaseless praise for which his heart ever hungered.
But Wagner could not forgive the world for not taking him at his own
valuation. He resented Germany's reluctance to accept the new gospel
of art which he preached. Nevertheless he laboured away at the score
of "Parsifal," drifting off into that religious mysticism which has
affected so many composers in their old age, and at the same time
realising that now at last he was writing something which would
not be practicable outside of the secluded auditorium of Bayreuth.
Fragments of the work were scored from time to time, and at the
Wahnfried Christmas festival of 1878 the prelude was performed by
the Meiningen Court Orchestra. But it was not till after the trip
to Italy that he was ready to begin active preparations for the
performance of the drama. The piano rehearsals were begun in August,
1881. But in the winter of 1881-82 bad health again sent Wagner
south, and he completed his score in January in Palermo.
He returned to Bayreuth in May. The subscriptions for the "Parsifal"
production arrived very slowly, and at the close of 1881 the amount
subscribed was still lamentably small, but once more King Ludwig came
to the rescue. He offered Wagner the use of the forces of the Munich
Opera House, in return for which that theatre acquired the exclusive
right to the performance of "Die Feen." Nevertheless in the end
Wagner was compelled, in order to meet all expenses, to abandon his
plan of giving the performances for his subscribers alone. The first
two performances were exclusive, but the general public was admitted
to the others with the happiest results.
The final rehearsals began with July, 1882, and the first performance
was given on July 26. Fifteen other performances were given, the
last on Aug. 29. The production engaged the services of a number
of the best singers in Germany, many distinguished principals
consenting to take small parts. The scenery and stage effects again
commanded high praise, and Wagner's skill as a designer of stage
pictures was conceded even by those who refused to allow him genius
as a dramatist. Again, too, there was an unfortunate hitch in the
mechanical devices. The panorama in the first act, showing the
country through which Gurnemanz and Parsifal pass on their way to
the castle of Monsalvat, was mistakenly constructed to move half as
fast as it should have moved, and as there was not time after the
discovery of the error to rectify it, Wagner had to have the music
of the scene played through twice. But the solemn drama created a
profound impression, and many of the critics who had found little to
please them in the "Ring" admitted that "Parsifal" exercised a potent
spell on their minds.
The exertions necessary for the production of "Parsifal" had told
severely on Wagner. It is said that at one rehearsal he fainted,
and, on recovering, exclaimed, "Once more I have beaten Death." Dr.
Standthartner, one of his firm Viennese friends, examined him in the
course of the summer, and found that a heart affection, from which
the composer had long been suffering, had made dangerous progress.
Wagner was not told of his exact condition, but he was warned that
immediate rest and relief from care was absolutely essential. He
was a man of sixty-nine and he had done an enormous amount of work.
Furthermore he had taxed the resources of his system by indulgence in
passionate moods, which were naturally followed by periods of intense
depression.
After the "Parsifal" performance he went with his family to Venice,
where he took up his residence in the Vendramin Palace on the Grand
Canal. The household consisted of Wagner, his wife, Siegfried, the
Count Gravina and his wife (daughter of Von Bülow), her sisters,
Liszt, and the Russian painter Joukowsky, who had designed the
scenery of "Parsifal." Perl[28] gives a most interesting account of
the domestic life of the family in the last days of the master's
life. He lived in the greatest seclusion, receiving no visitors
and making almost no calls. He arose early and occupied himself
with writing, no one being allowed to disturb him while so engaged.
The products of his pen were chiefly articles for the _Bayreuther
Blätter_. About noon his wife joined him and gave him the substance
of the morning's mail, sedulously concealing anything which might
excite him. In the afternoon, after a nap, he went out with his
family, if the weather was pleasant, in a gondola, and frequently
made excursions of some length. In the evening the old palace (it was
built in 1481) was brilliantly lighted up, and Wagner listened to one
of his family reading aloud.
[Footnote 28: "Richard Wagner in Venice," by Henry Perl. Augsburg,
1883.]
Liszt arrived in the middle of November, and Wagner began to be
reminiscent. He suddenly remembered his juvenile symphony, and
decided that on Christmas, 1882, it should be performed, not as
a Christmas festivity, but in honour of his wife, whose birthday
was Dec. 25. The concert-room and orchestra of the Liceo Benedetto
Marcello were lent to him for the purpose, and he rehearsed the
composition himself with the greatest ardour. Wagner afterward wrote
a report on the performance of this youthful work, which he said
went extremely well, owing to the natural disposition of the Italian
musicians for tone and phrasing, and also owing to the large number
of rehearsals which he was able to have. The symphony, too, "really
seemed to please," and some Italian critics spoke well of it. Wagner
himself did not overrate his boyish composition, but its revival was
a pleasant occasion. At the end of the performance Wagner laid down
the bâton and declared that he would never conduct again. He had felt
the strain of the physical effort. But his words, read in the light
of subsequent events, acquired that appearance of prophecy which
men's latest utterances so often gain from their propinquity to the
end.
Dyspepsia had tortured him for years, and the irregularities
of digestion had finally developed the heart affection, before
mentioned, to a serious condition. Wagner was attended in Venice
by Friedrich Keppler, but he disobeyed the physician's directions
constantly. He was especially careless about exertion, and was not
wholly observant of the necessary caution in the matter of eating.
He fell faint several times in the course of the winter, but always
strove to conceal the fact from his family. After Liszt's departure
on Jan. 13 he became even more careless, and entered with great
avidity into the preparations for the Bayreuth festival of the
following summer. On Feb. 13, 1883, he rested till late. At noon
he called the maid, who sat outside his room, and ordered a light
luncheon. It was his intention to go out in his gondola at four. Soon
after the luncheon had been brought the maid heard Wagner call for
her in a faint voice, and running into the room found him in agony.
"Call my wife and the doctor," he said. The wife reached his side in
time to witness his last struggle. When the doctor arrived he was
dead.
King Ludwig sent Adolf Gross, a Bayreuth banker, who had long been
an ardent supporter of Wagner, to Venice as his representative.
Venice offered a public funeral, but the widow declined it. Silently
through the canals on Feb. 16 went a draped gondola with the body.
A special mourning car carried the remains to Bayreuth. That city
had indeed been stricken in the loss of him who had made it famous.
At the railway station on the arrival of the funeral train a public
ceremony took place. After Siegfried's funeral march had been
played Burgomaster Muncker and Banker Feustel spoke. The Bayreuth
Liederkranz sang the chorus arranged by Wagner for the burial of
Weber in Dresden. The funeral procession then moved to Wahnfried,
where the remains of the poet-composer were interred.
Feustel had said in his speech at the station that Bayreuth's most
dignified tribute to the memory of the dead master would be the
"Parsifal" performances in the coming summer. These were given, but
without the presence of the widow. She secluded herself even from
Liszt, her father. But the following year she took up the task of
continuing the festivals, which have lately reflected her ideas as to
the proper method of interpreting her husband's masterpieces.
What embryonic works Wagner left is not known. He had written
an extensive autobiography, but his family has not yet seen fit
to publish it. Probably it will not see the light till Cosima
is laid beside him in the garden of Wahnfried. The rumour that
he left sketches for a drama on a Buddhistic subject rests on
slight foundation. The materials for this drama, "The Victors,"
were absorbed in the plan of "Parsifal." He left some minor prose
writings which are included in the ten volumes of his works and
which may be found by the reader of English in the last volume of
Mr. Ellis's translation. Gross, the Bayreuth banker, guaranteed the
"Parsifal" performances of 1883, and superintended the settlement
of the dead man's financial affairs. The consolidation of all the
Wagner societies continued the work of supporting the festivals till
their aid was no longer needed. In later years the receipts from
the festivals and the royalties from the numerous performances of
Wagner's works have enabled his family to live in luxury. Siegfried
Wagner has become a musician and a composer. He shows no evidence of
inheriting his father's genius, but he works assiduously and with
effect in preparing performances at Bayreuth, which, in spite of many
changes, continues to be the Mecca of all worshippers of Wagner's
genius.