This morning, Richard Wagner received a letter from the celebrated
Pasdeloup....
It will be remembered, perhaps, that at this time, Pasdeloup had been
director of the Theatre Lyrique for rather more than a year. He had,
as a matter of course, produced at his theatre, first of all, one of
Wagner's operas, and as he intended to play them all in succession
he had begun with _Rienzi_, the first as to date. The work had been
brilliantly mounted and well received, and the tenor, Monjauze, really
remarkable in the rôle of the Tribune, had had a very decided success.
In his letter of to-day, Pasdeloup wrote that _Rienzi_ was to be given
again at the re-opening of the theatre, but without Monjauze, who had
unfortunately broken his arm.
They begrudged Monjauze and regretted exceedingly that it was
necessary to replace him, for he alone, in that work, was equal to his
part. Pasdeloup did not say who would take his place.
It was on the occasion of that first representation of _Rienzi_ at
Paris, that, urged by Pasdeloup, I had written again to Wagner,--after
the sending of the famous articles which had brought me the beautiful
response from the Master, in which he explained to me certain scenes
from the _Meistersinger_--I wrote this time, to ask if he would not
like to come to Paris to stage and direct this work. He replied to me
with a second letter, equally beautiful and very dignified, intended
for publication and which appeared in _La Liberté_.
"Now that I know your writing," said I to Cosima, "I realise that the
letter was by your own hand."
"That is true, Wagner wrote it first in German. I translated it into
French, then we re-read it and corrected it together, and finally I
copied it again."
"How wrong of us to have given you all that trouble! Pasdeloup was
over-confident. If I had known about this retreat of Tribschen, how
sacrilegious would have seemed to me the idea of asking the Master to
leave it in order to please a Theatre Director!"
"You have seen by the affair of the _Rheingold_, that it is much better
for Wagner not to mingle with the theatrical world. His first duty is
to keep his creative faculty intact, but he is a 'fighter,' and is
always tempted to throw himself into the fray."
"Now that I have the joy of knowing him, he will never again be called
to battle by me!"
"He will return of himself, only too soon, for repose is not for him,"
added Cosima, sighing:
"I am curious to read again that letter that you wrote, you two, when
you believed me to be a very serious old lady.... Do you remember your
surprise, the first time you saw me to find me so different from what
you had imagined? You would not be able to write in the same tone now."
"Certainly, the style of your articles does not at all resemble you,
and we did not in the least foresee the _gamin_ that you are ...
sometimes!"
"Neither could I have known that Wagner climbed trees...."
"But in any case the letter had nothing private in it; it was written
to be published."
Cosima had kept a copy of the text, which she found, and we read it
together:--
"MADAME,
"You are kind enough to ask me for some details relating to the time
of my first stay in France, with the kindly intention of writing an
article by their aid, the publication of which shall coincide with my
arrival in Paris, which you believe to be near. While thanking you for
the interest which you are so kind as to feel for me, permit me to say,
Madame, that it is not my intention to go to Paris. I know that I have
excellent friends, indeed, even numerous friends there, and I hope I do
not need to assure you that I am capable of appreciating the value and
the importance of the testimonies of sympathy of which I am the object.
Nevertheless my presence and my participation in the representation
that is being prepared might very well give rise to a misunderstanding.
It would appear as though I were putting myself at the head of a
theatrical enterprise with the intention of regaining by _Rienzi_ that
which I have lost by _Tannhäuser_. At least it would undoubtedly be in
this way that the Press would interpret my going. Whereas the stage
setting of _Rienzi_ at the Théâtre Lyrique has only been an entirely
personal question between M. Pasdeloup and me.
"After the production of the _Meistersinger_ at Munich, and the
attention it attracted, many propositions were made to me. At first
they spoke of sending a German troupe, to give my six operas, one
after another, in Paris; then some one wished to attempt _Lohengrin_
in Italian, then again _Lohengrin_ in French, and so on. In short,
there were no less than five projects that summer, concerning the
representations of my works in Paris. Yet I did not encourage any
one of them. When M. Pasdeloup told me that he had accepted the
directorship of the Théâtre Lyrique with the intention of giving
several of my works, I did not feel that I could refuse to this zealous
and capable friend, the authorisation for bringing them out; and, as
he desired to begin with _Rienzi_, I said to him that, in fact, of all
my operas, that one had always seemed to me best adapted to the French
stage. Written, thirty years ago, with a view to Grand Opera, _Rienzi_
does not present so many difficulties to the singers, nor will it offer
to the Parisian public so much that is unusual as the works which have
followed it. Both in subject and in musical form, it is closely related
to the operas that have been popular in Paris for a long time, and I
still believe that, if it is richly mounted and given with spirit,
it has a chance of success. That success I wish for it with all my
heart, and still more success to my friend M. Pasdeloup, who, of his
own free will, has valiantly and energetically upheld my cause for a
number of years. But I should be unwise to wish to contribute to that
success by my presence. My nature as well as my destiny have decreed
for me the concentration and the solitude of work, and I feel myself
to be absolutely unfit for any exterior enterprise. Either _Rienzi_
will make its way without me, or, if it is not capable of doing so, my
assistance cannot help it and we can only suppose that the conditions
are unfavourable.
"Such is, in a few words, my point of view and the line of conduct
which I have decided, or rather, which I am called upon to follow,
with regard to the representation of my works in Paris, whichever they
may be. And please, Madame, do not see in this reserve any sign of
unreasonable disdain, which could be assumed to mask a deeper feeling
of rancour. I am very far from pooh-poohing a Paris success, and I even
assure you that I have always considered it one of the numerous ironies
of my fate that _Rienzi_, composed within sight of Paris, was not given
there long ago, when that work of my youth still held for me all its
freshness. But, since you speak of the renown that I have acquired in
Germany, permit me to tell you, Madame, that all such renown has come
without my personal participation, with the help only of a few friends,
in the midst of the howls of the entire Press of the North and of the
South. It has come because of my works alone, and in spite of the
obstacles that my political situation opposed to the extended knowledge
of my operas. It is in the same way that I wish to succeed in Paris,
where I have found very devoted friends, who are too intelligent for
me to fear to leave the fate of my works in their hands. If you were
to say to me, Madame, that a representation ought to conform to my
intentions, and therefore my presence at the rehearsals would be above
all necessary to the success of the enterprise, I should reply to you
that _Tannhäuser_ and _Lohengrin_ have been mutilated by the greater
number of German Capellmeisters, in a way that could not be exceeded
upon the worst French stage, and that is only since the King of Bavaria
has accorded me his protection that it has been possible for me to make
my dramatic and musical intentions known in an important theatre.
"Believe me, Madame, things being as they are, there is nothing for me
to do but devote myself entirely to the writing of my operas, and as to
their fate, in my own country as well as abroad, to leave it to their
guiding star and to my friends. I am not the man for compromises, and
yet these compromises are sometimes indispensable.
"I keep out, then, in order not to render more difficult to my French
friends the rugged path they have chosen in attempting to naturalise in
France an essentially Germanic individuality. If this naturalisation
is possible, it will be accomplished by them without my help; if it is
not possible, I shall deplore their pains, at the same time consoling
myself in the thought that they as well as I have drawn their forces
elsewhere than from the idea of a success, and that their conviction,
like mine, renders them independent of good or of bad fortune.
"Pray, Madame, pardon the length of this explanation, and believe me
gratefully and respectfully yours,
"RICHARD WAGNER."
"The Master was nevertheless, very well satisfied with the success
of the piece," said Cosima, "and above all, with the expressions of
appreciation that it won for him from unknown friends. Then too, in
order to celebrate his birthday, the 22nd May--inspired by one of the
most popular scenes in the opera--I dressed the children as 'Messengers
of Peace' and while an invisible choir sang for them, the little girls,
all four of them, marched, keeping step with one another, into the
drawing-room with travelling staffs in their hands. Wagner thought it a
very pretty idea."
"Eva as a messenger of peace must have been delicious...."
"I also preserved your father's article about _Rienzi_,[1] which was
very good," said Cosima. "Wagner ought to have written to thank him."
"If they represent _Rienzi_ again," said I, "we shall also faithfully
renew our pilgrimage to the theatre. Think of us then, two and a half
weeks from now, as going every day from the heart of Neuilly to the
Théâtre Lyrique, and never failing to be in our places in time for the
Overture!"