CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY MUSIC Cornell University Library ML 410.W2J13 The Bayreuth of Wagner 3 1924 022 487 940 Cornell University Library The original of tinis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022487940 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER KICHARD WAGNER. (Taken in 187S.) THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER BY JOHN P. JACKSON ILL USTRA TED. NEW YORK JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 150 WORTH ST., COR. MISSION PLACE Copyright, i8gi, BY UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Richard Wagner — taken in 1S7S, . . Frontispiece BiRDSEYE VIEW OF Bayreuth .... Page 6 Map of Bay'reuth ......." 9 Pleasure Grounds of the Hermitage . . "13 Interior of Old Opera House . . . • " 15 Castle and Grounds of the Fantasie . . "22 Rollwenzel House, where Jean Paul wrote . " 27 Jean Paul Richter "29 Jean Paul's writing room in Rollwenzel House " 30 Jean Paul's first residence in Bayreuth . " 31 Jean Paul's Monument "33 Jean Paul's Statue "35 King Ludwig II. of Bavaria "40 Interior of Opera House "43 Franz Liszt Page 45 Bayrkuth Opera House "50 Opera House, Bayreuth — King's Entrance . " 52 Soiree at Wahnfried "S3 Wagner IN HIS "Walther" Costume . . -"55 Wagner's Library at Wahnfried ... "56 The Market Place in Bayreuth . . . . " 58 Wahnfried "60 An Evening with Wagner "63 Wagner, last picture taken, 1883 ... "64 Wagner's Birthplace in Leipsic . . . . " 67 Palazzo Vendramin, Venice . . • . "69 The Funeral Procession THROUGH Bayreuth . "71 Wagner's Grave "72 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. THE present year mil see a new pilgrimage of musical people to the ancient capital of Fran- conia, the home of the " Music of the Futui-e," and the site of the Nibelung Theatre. Distant about three hours by rail from Nuremberg, Bayreuth is situated in the northeastern comer of Bavaria. It is a quiet little city of scarcely twenty thousand inhabitants, and before the year 1872 was rarely visited by tourists ; indeed people had almost forgotten that such a city existed within the boundaries of the German empire ; and when AVagner first announced his intention of making there a home for the "Music of the Future," several French and more than one Eng- lish newspaper displayed a not inexcusable ig- norance when they informed their readers that 6 THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. the great composer had finally decided to banish himself and his music to Beyroot, in Syria ! The history of Bayreuth may be embraced in a few paragraphs. The HohenzoUems in their progress " Vom Fels zum Meer," touched BIRD S-EYE VIEW OF BAIREUTH. the old Brandenburg Mai'graYiate of Bayrenth- Ansbach ; the forefathers of the present Emperor of Germany proceeded thence westn'ard ; and here the White Lady of this royal house still goes on her mysterious wanderings. The older portion of the city is mentioned in documents of the twelfth century. In the year 1400 it had a population of scarcely two thousand souls. In THE BATIiEUTJI OP WAONER. 7 1438 it was beleaguered by the Hussites. It suf- fered frequently from fire and pestilence, espe- cially from the latter, in the years 1495, 1533, 1534, 1585, 1595, 1602, 1634, ia which year near- ly two thousand persons were carried off. It suf- fered severely duriag the Thirty Years' War, and was twice plundered by command of Wallen- stein, in 1632 and 1634. Afterward we are told that the city was made so desolate that " wolves lurked within the city walls." Still greater trials did the city suffer on its defence of the outlawed MargTave Albrecht Alcibiades against the con- federated cities, when citizen Christopher Sturm fought at the head of the guild of weavers until compelled by hunger to capitulate, and the place was given up to pillage and the flames. Then the city came under imperial adminis- tration, and on March 27, 1557, received a lawful agnate, Margi-ave George Frederick, of Onolzbach, the first of the line of rulers who did so much for Bayreuth. He made the commence- ment and built the old castle, which was for a long time the residence of the margraves, and wherein the last scion of the house of Bran- denburg-Bayreuth — Elisabeth Frederika Sophia, Duchess of Wurtemberg, died. The old struct- 8 THE BAYREUTU OF WAGNER. tore was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1753. It is still a strong, stately edifice, marked by a peculiar octagonal tower, and is at present used for government oflices. George Frederick's successor, Margrave Christian Ernst, who aided Max Emanuel agaiast the Turks, surrounded the city with new walls and ravelins, and built a gymnasium. Christian Ernst's successor, the luxury-loving George William, turned his atten- tion more to beautifying the city and the sur- roundings, and he built one of the most inter- esting palaces there, and transformed a large, shallow sheet of water that existed in the suburb of St. George into a large, navigable lake. He had a ship built by a local carpenter, Evickdeschel of Muenschberg by name, and this specimen pleas- ing the prince so well, he ordered other vessels to be constructed, which should bear cannon and afford accommodation for crews. The larg- est vessel of the flotilla was a hundred feet long, twenty-two feet wide, had masts sixty feet high, bore twelve cannon, and was manned " by a large crew." With these toys the prince and the Bay- reuth court amused themselves. In 1749, on the occasion of a great birthday festival, all the grand paraphernalia of lake aod fleet were called into BATEETJTH. THE BAYREUTH OF WAONER. 9 requisition. History tells us that on this mem- orable occasion a "sea-fight" took place which lasted until three o'clock of the following morn- ing, when the largest ship of the fleet caught fire, causing a loss of fifteen thousand florins. In 1755 the lake was dried up and transformed mto fields and meadows — an event commemorated hi verse by a local slater who had succeeded in placing a weather vane on a church steeple of St. George's: " The Brandenburger Lake, wliicli once much fish did yield, We see transformed to meadow and to fruitful field ; We thank Thee, Lord and God, who o'er us ruleth well — For all about us doth of Thy great goodness tell I " Bayreuth's period of splendor falls in the reign of Margrave Frederick (1735-65), Margravine Wilhelmine's husband. The two entertained the idea of making Bayreuth a miniature Versailles, and they accomplished much with their annual expenditure of fifty thousand fiorins for monu- mental structures and beautifying the city. Most of the important edifices of the city date from their time. They built the new castle, the orna- mental fountain in front, the beautiful opera- house, and when the Margrave died the city pro- 10 THE BAYBEUTH OF WAONEB. duced the impression of a true " city of princes," and Frederick the Great complimented his brother by telling him that "he was unable to imitate him," even with Sans Souci. In the days of Frederick the city must have presented a lux- viriant appearance, when the numerous castles and palaces were inhabited, when lights blazed from hundreds of windows every night ; when the court held its numerous festivals, and the Italian opera and French drama were cultivated — to say nothing of the palaces, gardens, and waterworks of the Hermitage, which cost over a million of dollars. So many visitors did the Bayreuth court have, that Frederick felt the necessity of building a new castle for their reception, and so Das neue Schloss in the Liidwigs - Strasse was built in 1753, which was only used for the reception of passing princes and royalty. On May 13, 1812, and on August 13, 1813, Napoleon I. lodged in it, when passing with his troops through the city. It is a roomy old palace, but gloomy enough, both outside and in, and is connected with a fine park at the rear, which is now a beau- tiful promenade for the citizens of Bayreuth. On the large square in front is a fountain, chiefly TIJE BAYREITTII OF WAGNER. 11 interesting for tlie curiovis character of its water monsters. Four figures are said to symbolically represent the four rivers rising in the Fichtelge- birge — the Main, the Eaab, the Saale, and the Eger — but wherein the symbolism consists it is difficult to say, and the local guide-books do not help us out. The figure on horseback represents one of the valiant ancestral margraves — Christian Ernst — who died in the year 1712. Under the horse's hoofs lies a vanquished Turk — a reference to the heroic deeds of said Margrave against the Turks in 1683. Beside the horse is the statue of this Margrave's favorite dwarf, who in the year 1714 was killed by falling off his hoi-se. With Margrave Frederick "William, who died in 1769, the Bayreuth line of ralers ceased to exist. The land then fell to the related house of Ansbach. On December 22, 1791, Margrave Alexander of Ansbach ceded the government and land of Bayreuth to Prussia, in lieu of an annual pension. From 1806 to 1810 the margraviate was under French rule, and then it was trans- ferred by France to the kingdom of Bavaria. From the 1st to the 4th of July, 1860, the fiftieth anniversary of this event was celebrated at Bay- reuth amid great festivities. The King and Queen 12 THE BATREUTH OF WAONEB. of Bavaria were present. To the former, Maxi- milian II., a monument of bronze had been erect- ed, and this was uncovered on the first day of the festivities. On the second day there was a grand Volksfest at Buergerreuth, a prettily situated pleasure-place about half an hour's distance from the city. The great attraction was a procession, composed of twelve peasant wagons, one from each district of the circuit, each attended by peasants clad in their primitive characteristic costumes. Great interest was excited by the peasants of the Mistlegau, called there the Hum- melbauern, when they executed their charac- teristic dance before the King and Queen. The Bayreuthers are still loyal Bavarians. They barely escaped being " annexed," however, by Prussia, after Bavaria's defeat in 1866 ; but Bis- marck chose rather to make of King Ludwig a friend than to embitter him by taking away a rich portion of his territory. So much for the outlines of Bayreuth's history. For the modem visitor to BajTeuth the most interesting structure is undoubtedly the old opera-house, with which we bridge over the in- terval from the past to the present, from the ex- travagant di-amatic and operatic era of the mar- THE BAYBEUTH OF WACrNER. 13 graves to the national music - drama of Rich- ard Wagner. About the time when the Bran- denbui-g fleet ruled the lake of St. George the Boyal Opera-House was built by Margrave Fred- erick in the year 1748. The theatre is for the artist a gem of the Eenaissance ; for the cult- ure-historian interesting on account of the posi- tion it occupies in the development, or rather the decay, of German dramatic and operatic art — for when this theatre flourished French comedy and Italian opera ruled the German court stages almost entirely. The exterior of the structure is plain and substantial ; the inte- rior sui'prises us with its extravagances, its ex- cess of gilt and gilded figures. It has three rows of boxes, and is capable of holding about a thousand persons. The court-box was in the centre and was overbinrdened with gilt and gold- lace curtains. The theatre was so constructed that the Margrave's carriage could be driven in- side the edifice and clear up to the court-box. As soon as the prince took his seat, the musi- cians and buglers stationed in the herald's boxes, on either side of the proscenium, gave him a blast of welcome. In a gallery extending under- neath the first row of boxes, a company of the 14 THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. Margrave's body-guard stood in immovable array during the entire performance. The old Bayreuth chroniclers furnish us with some curiously interesting information about the festal performances given in this theatre on state occasions. On May 16, 1752, the birthday of the reigning Margrave, we are told that an opera entitled "Deucalion et Pyrrha" was given. The commencement was a baUet of giants, who carried large blocks of [cloth] stone to a heap and built thus a mountain. Not content with this feat the giants then carried large stones to the top of the moimtain and slung them at the heavens. The gods grew angry at the impu- dence of the giant race. A thunderstorm gath- ered about the summit of the mountain, the lightning descended, and mountain and giants were destroyed, both sinking into the bowels of the earth. Then a large, brilliant cloud ap- peared, on which the gods sat. Then followed a smaller one, with Jupiter, Merciu'y, and Cupid. Venus, represented by a favorite singer — Maria Turcotto — descended from heaven in the midst of a large mass of "particularly brilliant" clouds. AVlien Frederic the Great was in Bayreuth, in June, 1754, a new opera, entitled "L'huomo" was INTERIOK OF OLD OPERA HOUSE, THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 15 given " with unparalleled grandeur," at an ex- pense to the court of twenty thousand florias — a sum which seems insignificant, however, if we consider the cost of producing modern opera. The era of dramatic and operatic extravagance ceased with the life of Margrave Frederick. When Napoleon I. was at Bayreuth he was captivated with the appearance of the brilliant little theatre, and as a memento carried with him to Paris the drop curtain — said to have been a masterpiece of art. The stage was of very large proportions — being a hundred and ten feet deep, eighty-fom* feet broad, and forty-two feet wide at the pro- scenium. The size has since then been gTeatly reduced. The theatre is now used only during a few months of the year, when the court dramatic company from Gera, or the Coburg opera troupe give a limited number of performances. When Wagner first visited Bayreuth, in 1871, he had an idea that he could make use of the old opera-house for his performances of the " Ring of the Nibelungs," but on examination he found it totally unfit for his purposes. The beautiful surroundings of the city, however, so charmed him that he at once exclaimed, " Here is the site for the Nibelung Theatre ! " Situated on in THE BATREUTII OF WAONER. the Eed Main, in the midst of a broad and fruit- ful valley, to the north and east the summits of the Fichtelgebirge, to the south friendly wooded hills, certainly Eichard Wagner could not have chosen for his guests a city with more delightful surroundings. The first thing a Bayreuther will ask you is : " Have you seen the castles and parks of Fantaisie and Hermitage ? " In the latter we are transported amid the memories of the lux- urious, ease-loving, extravagant past ; at the for- mer we find a natural paradise, where artifi- cial ornamentation completes, but does not in- crease, the charm. The palace and park of Fan- taisie is a good hour's walk from the city, is reached after passing the cemetery and the bridge, either by way of the linden alley up the hill, or along the valley to the lake at the foot of the palace. The valley is one of the most charming, secluded bits of earth imaginable — " a vale of pleasure, and roses and flowers," as Jean Paul called it. He styled Hermitage the second heaven in the vicinity of Bayreuth, "for," he said, " Fantaisie is the first, and the whole coun- try around is the third." Jean Paul has described the beauties of the THE BATREUTII OF WAGNER. 17 valley leading to the Fantaisie in all moods and colors. Thus he describes it in the poetical garb of night: "What a sparkling world! Through branches and through fountains, over mountains and over woods, flowed flashing the molten veins of silver, which the moon had separated from the di'oss of night. Her silver glance glided over the broken wave and the trembhng, smooth apple-leaf, and closely embraced the white mar- ble pillars and the shining birch -tree stems. The lovers stood still before they entered the magic valley, as into an enchanted cavern, play- ing with Night and Light, into which all the fountains of Ufe, which in the daytime had thrown up sweet odors, and voices and songs, and transparent and feathery wings, had now again fallen back and fiUed a deep, silent gulf." Then he describes the valley in its morning dress : " Fermian entered alone into the valley, as into a holy, mysterious temple. Every bush seemed to him transfigiured by light, the brook as if flowing from Arcadia, and the whole valley spread open to him as a transplanted vale of Tempe." And this poetic picture does not by any means overdraw the natural beauties of the val- 18 THE BATREUTII OF WAGNER. ley leading to the Fantaisie, of the charming scene of wooded vale and mount, of murmuring brook and of the artificial beauties of lawn and lake. The palace and park of the Fantaisie are now the property of Duke Alexander of Wur- temberg, a liberal-minded prince who enjoys the beauties of nature and is willing to permit others less favorably situated to participate. The palace was originally built in the year 1758, and five years aftei-ward was presented by Mar- grave Frederic Christian to his niece Elisabeth Frederica Sophia, who gave the park and schloss the attractive name they now bear. The palace stands on a plateau overlooking the valley and the lake, in view of a spire-crowned village on the opposite hill. The private gardens about the palace are tastefully laid out into lawns and winding and mysterious ways ; and beautiful statues, among which the Amazon by Kiss, is the most interesting, are met with at almost every turn. The palace contains some noteworthy works of sculpture and painting. Near by the palace is a prettily situated hotel. In summer it is a favorite place of sojom-n for strangers. On my first visit to Bayreuth Eichard Wagner occupied, with his family, the upper story. Here THE BAYREUTH OE WAONEB. 19 it was where the two thousand guests who at- tended the ceremony of laying the foundation- stone of the Wagner Theatre, in 1872, assembled with torches and lanterns and brought the com- poser enthusiastic serenade. Exactly on the opposite side of the city, and about the same distance therefrom as the Fan- taisie is Jean Paul's " second heaven " of Bay- reuth — the palace and park of the Hermitage. It is a delightful walk thither, under the long avenue of stately trees, where Jean Paul wander- ed every day to the " EoUwenzel House." " In the afternoon," says Richter, " the lovers entered the green pleasure-grounds of the Hermitage. The avenue that led to it seemed to their joyful hearts a jDath cut through a fragrant shrubbery. The young bird of passage. Spring, had settled upon the plains around them, and her ualaden treasures of flowers lay scattered over the mead- ows and floated down the streams, and the birds were drawTi upward by long sunbeams, and the ^vinged world hung intoxicated in the sweet odors that were poured around." Across the fields from Frau Eollwenzel's House, and through a long and delightful lover's archway of foliage, we emerged suddenly upon the little paradise, 20 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. with its foimtains and lawns, and shaded walks and groves, its hermits' huts, and the curious structure called the Temple of the Sun. The latter edifice is the first to attract attention. It is a peculiar, many-sided structure, with pillars of crystal mosaic, having two wings forming a semicircle and partly embracing the large basia and fountains in front. The little temple is ornamented inside with pillars of Corinthian marble ; the two side Avings have fifty-eight pillars of stone mosaic, and over the capitals are heads of German emperors by Petrozzi. The edifice was built from 1749 to 1753, and is said to have cost a ton of gold. There is nothing particular to be seen in the rooms except a por- trait of the supposed White Lady and her mother. The fountains in front, with ciu'iously carved water-monsters, are weak imitations of Versailles. The palace of the Hermitage is a remarkably plain, one-storied structure, and was commenced in 1715 by Margrave George William, whose de- scendants biiilt the Temple of the Sun and the many water-fountains. The palace itself is chiefly interesting on account of the historical reminiscences connected with it, its peculiarly THE BATREUTH OF WAONER. 21 furnished rooms, its collections of curiosities, its frescoes and portraits. In it Margravine Wilhel- muie, the sister of Frederic the Great, wrote her " Memoirs ; " and in the large marble hall Mar- grave Frederic William founded, about the mid- dle of the past century, the order of the Red Eagle. The portraits are especially interesting. Among them are Frederic the Great as a boy, and as regent, his father and mother, his sister Wilhelmine, Gustavus Vasa, Maria Tlieresa, the Empress Catharine II. of Russia, and other prominent persons. Some of tlie rooms are pe- culiarly interesting. The walls of one consist of square tablets of Chinese porcelain — relief-pict- ures richly inlaid with gold corns — a present to the Margravine Wilhelmine by her brother Fred- eric the Great. The purchase and transportation of these tablets cost the gi-eat Frederic not less than half a million of thalers. Another room is " papered," if we may use the expression, with pieces of broken looking-glass, of all sizes and shapes. This curious whim was carried out by Margrave Frederick to commemorate an act of his own carelessness. In 1763 he was sitting at his room window with a lighted candle, which he placed incautioi;sly too near the curtains. These 22 THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. caught fire and a great portion of the castle was destroyed. Afterward he had all the pieces of the mirrors, which had been cast out of the win- dow, gathered up and formed into this strange ornament. The last royal sojourners in the castle were King Max of Bavaria, in Jime and July, 1851, and King Otto of Greece, in 1865. The late King of Bavaria, when he visited the Hermitage, lived in one of the wings of the Temple of the Sun — certainly a fitting residence for such a poetic and musical monarch. At every step we take in this little paradise we are reminded of the past grandeurs, of the endeavor on the part of the margraviate court to render life pleasant and to while away the ennui of a pampered existence. The very name of the place and the presence of a number of little hermits' huts remind us of the peculiar ex- istence which the court led. Tired of the brill- iant life and show around them, they sought amusement and excitement in playing at hermits. About the beautiful grounds they built them- selves small huts, in which the members of the court dwelt during the summer months, wearing hermit's garb and doing mock penance. The Mar- grave was the president of the body, and called THE BAYBEUTE OF WAONEB. 23 his brethren together by ringing a little bell on his own hut. At certain hours of the day the ladies of the coiu't could take part in the recrea- tion. Thus did they seem to have grown tired of the luxm-ies they had created around them. The gushing foimtains, the temple-like retreats, the charming walks, the graceful statues, the paintings and riches of the interior of the pal- aces, no longer satisfied them, and they sought pleasure in contrast. They even studied classic history for their amusement. In 1744 they built a Roman theatre, as a ruin, and while the princely audience sat under the shade of stately trees, Italian operas and French comedies were performed for their amusement. The theatre looks to-day as it must have looked a century and a quarter ago, excepting, of course, the in- fluence of weather and time on the structui-e. It was open from all sides, and, scenically con- sidered, was sufficient for the Italian operas and French plays of the times, for which but little scenery was required. Let us transport ourselves back to the year 1743. The Margravine has distinguished vis- itors — her brother the victorious Frederick the Great, her brother Prince August William, and 24 THE BAYREUrn OP WAONEK the youngest of the family, Ferdiaand of Prussia. With Frederick comes, of course, Voltaire. An old picture, now at the Hermitage, represents a scene that occurred on the last day of August in the above-mentioned year. Frederick has gone to Ansbach on political business ; and to amuse his favorite, Voltaire, his sister exerts all her in- tellect and skill, providing him with everything he can wish, and with drama or opera. The Mar- gravine-hostess sits with her face toward him, and is engaged in conversation with several cour- tiers, perhaps Kayserling, her brother's favorite ; perhaps her confidant and friend and body phy- sician, Von Superville, her adviser in scientific and artistic matters, to whom later she gave the manuscript of her " Memoirs." The principal figure is Voltaire, seated in conscious dignity in his fauteuil immediately before the stage. The lady standing to his left, with her left hand caressing a poodle, is the Duchess of Wurtem- berg, a woman of courageous manners and morals. To the left again of the Duchess is a young lady of the court, Fraulein Albertine von der Mark- witz, the favorite of Margrave Friedrich himself, who is one of the party. The relationship of these two is stiU called to memory by an inscrip- THE BAYREUTII OF WAGNER. 25 tion hewn in the stone of the first inner arch of the Eoman theatre : " Albertine de Markwitz, mieux gravee dans mon coeur que sur cette pien-e." Such is an interesting picture of dra- matic life at that time. Margravine Wilhelmine is the true creator of most of the curious structures about the park. She even built a ruin copy of Virgil's tomb, as a monument for a dead lapdog ! It is still in a pretty good state of preservation. But classici- ty, like religion, was with the Bayreuth court but a plaything. The Margraves are long for- gotten, but the beautiful paradises they created still remain. Under the shady trees where once sat the margraviate court listening to, or rather gossiping, during the dramatic or operatic per- formances, now sit on Sunday afternoons the good people of Bayreuth, and drink beer and coffee in their quiet, good-natured fashion. A little chapel, wherein Margravine Wilhelmine is said to have spent much of her time in writing her " Memoirs," is now a ruin, from the centre of which a large tree spreads its foliage as a shady roof. Everywhere ruins — memories of past splendor and extravagance — everywhere the beauties of nature triumphant, justifying Jean 26 THE BATREUTII OF WAGNER. Paul in designating the Hermitage as Bayreuth's "second heaven." But we cannot leave the beautiful paradise without a word on the Mar- gravine herseK. Here she wrote those bright, witty, attractive "Memoirs," in which the man- ners and history of the past century are reflected so faithfully that the historian cannot find any better som-ce. A portrait of the Margravine is unfortunately not found at the Hermitage ; but in the Military Hospital, in the subm-b of St. George (formerly the Brandenburg Schloss), there is a picture of her. She is represented as an attractive lady, with a small mouth, high fore- head, and large, deep, intellectual eyes, the feat- ures strongly reminding us of those of Frederick the Great. Memories of Jean Paul clinging to Bayreuth make the city exceedingly attractive to lovers of German literature. The places where great men have lived, where they wrote their immortal works, will always have a peculiar charm for their admirers. In Bayreuth we have every- where pleasant reminiscences of Jean Paul Friedrich Eichter, usually styled Jean Paul, one of the greatest of German humorists, the con- temporary of Goethe and Schiller and Wieland. THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNEB. 27 The house No. 384 Friedrichsstrasse bears the inscription : "In this house lived and died Jean Paul Friedi-ich Richter." Half an hour's dis- tance from Bayreuth is a little inn, styled the "EoUwenzel House," and it bears the inscrip- tion : " Here wrote Jean Paul." Opposite the Gymnasium stands the monument to Jean Paul, modelled by Schwanthaler, and erected in the year 1841 by King Ludwig I. of Bavaria. In the cemetery is the poet's last resting-place, marked by a simple, noble monument. Indeed every important place in and around Bayreuth has memories of Jean Paul, of whom Boerne could say in his enthusiasm : " Ask ye where Jean Paul was born, where he lived, and where rest his ashes ? From heaven he came, on earth he dwelt, our heart is his grave ! Will ye hear of the days of his childhood, of the dreams of his youth, of his mature years? Ask the boy Gustav, ask the youth Albano, and the true- hearted Schopper. Search ye for his hopes? Ye will find them in the Campanerthal. No hero, no poet has given such truthful informa- tion of his life as Jean Paul. His life is gone ; but his word remains." Jean Paul was a native of Wunsiedel, but 28 THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. the best years of his life^nearly a quarter of a century — were spent in Bayreuth, where he set- tled permanently after his marriage, in 1804. As a guest he had visited the city nine years earlier, and had even found a Bayreuth bookseller, named Liibeck, ready to publish one of his works. In 1795 he wrote : " Bayreuth is my valley of May." Another time he wrote: "In Bayreuth my minutes are made into rosettes, my hours into brilliants ; but in proportion my memories of Hof grow up like gravestones around me." When he finally removed with his family to Bayreuth it was to him hke returning home to an old circle of acquaintances. The city and the neighborhood were already famihar to him. Years before he had wandered in the beautiful valley of the Fantaisie, and in the charming park of the Hermitage, and among the neighboring mountains, pictures of which he had woven in his " Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces." In the mist-world of the Fichtelgebirge he says he erected for himself a new moming-world. Nowhere could he have selected a city with sur- roimdings better suited to his disposition. The beauties and charms of nature were necessary to inspire him. Though roughly moidded he ■ JEAN PAUL KICUTER. THE BATREUTH OF WAONER. 29 was a lovable soul, a passionate friend of free natm-e, influenced and carried away by the beauty and fragrance of the world of plants, the ever-changing colors of the skies, and the mani- fold impressions of rural existence. After passing the winter in the city he seemed to acquire new life and enthusiasm for labor with the return of spring. Then on every fine morning, as early as six, he might be seen wan- dering out beneath the noble avenue of elms to the little inn kept by his friend Fran Eollwen- zel. Clad like a robust farmer, with his shirt- collar open, a satchel containing books and papers and a bottle of wine slimg over his shoulder, and followed by his favorite poodle, he left his family every morning, and remained at the KoUwenzel House all day long. There he wrote and drank his wine until one; he worked again until five without further stimu- lant; from five to seven he drank beer and gos- siped with Frau Eollwenzel, or read and made extracts for the morrow. Frau Eollwenzel felt justly proud of her distinguished guest, and al- ways kept one of her upper rooms in good order for his use. Here, or in the little garden, or on an elevation near by, Jean Paul would sit over 30 THE BATBEUTH OF WAGNER. his beer until dusk, or until his children came to fetch him home, or until Frau B£)llwenzel herself reminded him that it was time to be get- ting toward Bayreuth. Frau Eollwenzel's house is still standing, in the same condition as in Jean Paul's time, and the poet's work-room is kept in the state in which he left it. It is ex- JEAN PAUL. 3 WRITING-KOOM IN KOLLWENZEL HOCSK. ceedingly plainly furnished, and besides a num- ber of manuscripts contains a portrait of Frau EoUwenzel and a portrait and bust of the poet. Jean Paul's life in Bayreuth was pleasant to him. His first residence was over an apothe- cary's store on the Market-Place, in the house No. 384 Friedrichsstrasse, with his friend Von Donecke, the author of a work on " German Mediaeval Folk-lore and Heroic Legends." He THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. 31 was ererywhere hospitably welcomed. In the evenings he visited the Harmonie Club, where he read the newspapers, and chatted with his acquaintances. He visited the theatre, the con- certs, and enjoyed the Marionette theatres at fair-times. He took an active interest in chai-i- table affairs of the city. Once he wrote to a lady friend : " Imagine me in winter, clad in a mantle, standing near the great soup caldron (in the soup kitchen), and my dog beside me. We both try the soup — I alone deal out the portions, and am very careful about it. But, alas, the hungry, starving misery about me ! " Noted literary and princely visitors were fre- quently announced at Jean Paul's house. Fichte visited him in the spring of 1805, and on Oc- tober 23, 1808, Vamhagen von Ense, v/ho of course made a note of the event in his intermin- able " Correspondence." " Jean Paul," he says, " is a pure, noble man ; no deceit, nothing mean in his life : he is just as he writes, affectionate, cordial, strong, and good. After supper he gave me his hand, saying : " Pardon me ; I must go to bed. But it is very early yet : stay, in God's name, and gossip with my wife. I am a Philis- tine and the hour is come when I must sleep." 32 THE BATREUTU OF WAONEB. In September, 1822, Friedrich Perthes, the book- dealer, visited him, and spent two evenings with him, but does not appear to have taken such agreeable impressions away with him as did Vamhagen. He says that the poet used inter- minable heavy sentences in his conversation, and dilated half an hour on the best means of getting to sleep. "Nothing of the quick flashes, the intellectual sparks, the excellent comparisons, the brilliant pictures of which his works are full appeared in his conversation." He de- scribes him as a man of large, bony frame, more like a forester or a farmer than a poet. Very different was the impression made by Jean Paul on the natural philosopher Steifens, who after- ward wrote to him : " Yesterday evening I rev- elled in the world of your imagination and of your dreams, and I was carried away by your pictures of living and dying and youth and courage." Jean Paul wrote over liaK a dozen of his books while residing at Bayreuth, besides pre- paring an edition of his collected works. He commenced writing an autobiogxaphy in 1818, but did not get beyond the account of his boy- hood. He wrote and read and made extracts THE BAYREUTII OF WAGNER. 33 partly in his own house, partly in the little room at Fran RoUwenzel's house, and partly in other favorite places which he searched out for him- seK. Thus before the Hermitage Gate of the JEAN PAUL'S MONUMENT. city he had the use at all times of Kammerrath Miedel's garden and the summer-house, from which he could command a view of the lovely Maienthal, of the subm-b of St. George, of the neighborhood of the Hermitage, and of the Fich- 34 THE BATBEUTH OF WAONEB. telgebirge. Before the Friedrich's Gate the poet had a. second favorite garden, belonging to Herr von Hagen, where he wrote, inspired by the charming landscape about him. Jean Paul died on November 14, 1825. His grave in the cemetery at Bayreuth is marked by an immense block of granite, which bears, on a copper plate, the inscription : Jean Paul Friedrich Eichter, bom March 21, 1763, at Wunsiedel, died November 14, 1825, at Bayreuth ; and his son. Max Emanuel Eichter, bom November 9, 1805, at Coburg, died September 25, 1821, at Bayreuth. Sixteen years afterward, on the anniversary day of his death, a bronze statue of the poet, pre- sented to the city by King Ludwig I. of Bavaria, was uncovered with fitting ceremonies. Sehwan- thaler has wonderfully incorporated in the bronze the genius and character of the poet ! With pencil in hand he stands before us, thoughtful and creating, as if inspired with the highest ideas of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. The high brow announces the great THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 35 mind that worked behind it ; the eye, the mild, gentle character of his Kfe ; the comers of the mouth reveal to us, even in bronze, the humor. JEAN PAULS STATUE. the repose, and the earnest truthfulness that he recorded on every page of his works. Truly "his dreams were full of Springtime, and his Springtimes were full of dreams." RiCHAKD Wagnkr's intention was originally not only to build tlie Nibelung Theatre, ■wherein should be performed his own great music dramas, but to make Bayreuth a nursery for the culture of national German opera, and the city of amiual musical dramatic festivals for Germany. In his selection Wagner was influenced more perhaps by his obligation to his friend King Ludwig to erect his theatre within the boundaries of Bavaria, than to any connec- tion of the city or neighborhood mth the Nibe- lung legend. Had he adopted the ideas of Eduard Devrient for the fotmding of German dramatic festivals in Germany, he would have chosen as the site for his theatre the city of Worms, the ancient seat of the kings of Bur- gundy, described so minutely in the "Nibehmgen- Ued," where Siegfried wooed Gudrun, after forget- ting his valiant conquest of Brunnhilda in her charmed, fire-siuTounded retreat, and where he TSE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 37 received his death-wound from the giim, re- vengeful Hagen. The story of the Nibelungen belongs to the Rhine as much as the story of the Reformation does to Wittenberg, of St. Eliz- abeth to the Wartburg, of Barbarossa to the Kyffhauser. Wagner had in mind when he made his selec- tion of Bayreuth not only the roomy palaces for the reception of princely guests and patrons, but the beautiful surroundings of the city. For nature was a part of Wagner's musical creed; the festal gatherings which he proposed were to be periods of esthetic enjoyment ; the days were to be spent in excursions to the beautiful re- treats of the vicinity; the evenings devoted to the musical-dramatic entertainments, to witness- ing the beauties and grandeurs of the great Ger- man " Iliad," musically and dramatically given in its connection with Scandinavian-Teutonic my- thology. On the occasion of laying the founda- tion-stone of the Nibelung Theatre, in 1872, he said that, i£ iu his opera of the " Meistersiiiger" he had praised Nuremberg as being the centre of Germany, he would admit that Bayreuth de- served equally well that title of honor. As to the name " Bayreuth," he said the most accepta- 38 THE BATREUTH OF WAGNEB. ble explanation was that the Bayem or Bavarians, whose dukes received the land from the Fran- conian kings, had there a settlement, a rod or reuth, which signifies a " clearing," a " place wrung from the wilderness and given over to culture." The land was originally the Franco- nian boimdary of the German empire against the hostile Czechs, some of whose more peaceful brethren had early settled near by, and had given names to settlements and villages all around. Wagner accepted the word reuth, there- fore, in its full significance, as a clearing, a place wrung from the wilderness. So, he said, should Bayreuth become a city wnxng from the wilder- ness of the prevailing operatic extravagances! II. It is not necessary at this time to tell the story of "Wagner's life and the many reasons that led him finally to select Bayreuth as the site of the Nibelung Theatre. King Lud- wig n., the poetic-minded monarch of Ba- varia, wished that the poet-composer should take up his residence in his capital, Munich, and before the latter 's banishment to Switzer- land plans had been submitted to the young ruler, and approved by him, of a theatre to be built on the heights overlooking the Isar. King Ludwig tells himself, in some most charming letters which he wrote to a beautiful Bavarian girl, "Fraulein von Rebach," and which have been published in a little volume entitled " Al- penrosen und Gentianen," how he first became acquainted with Wagner through his opera of " Tannhauser " and by reading his brochures on " The Art-Work of the Future " and " The Music of the Future." 40 THE BAYREUTH OE WAGNER. " I read and re-read," writes the King, " and felt as if transported. Yes : so I had myself dreamt of the influence of Musical Art. From such a blending with Poetry must surely arise the completed Art- Work of the Future. And here was a man who felt within himself the power to create something so elevated and so glorious ! One could feel in the words, that seemed to have poured forth from his soul like a stream of lava, that he would be able to carry out what he had set himself to do, and that he possessed the inexpressible consecration of genius through which the Ideal is enchanted into palpable reality. . . . And the wings of this heroic spirit were bound. Miserable hindrances prevented his heavenward flight, chained him to the ground ! He sought a hu- man being who had the power and the wiU to help him. If he could find a priuce, 'suffi- ciently inspired by striving for the Ideal, who could understand him, with a mind grand enough to enable him to assist him with his power,' the future of his Art would be assured. " Can you blame me, Elizabeth, when I held such words to be a call of fate addressed to me ? Shortly after I heard ' Lohengrin.' KING LUDWIG II. OF BAVARIA. THE BATREUTH OF WAONEB. 41 What was there lacking to complete the enchant- ment, after the glory of those magical strains ? Having spent my boyhood in Hohenschwangau, the legend of the Swan Knight, with its irre- pressible poetic magic, had, so to speak, grown into my flesh and blood. . . . On the fol- lowing morning, nay, the very same night, I wrote to Richard Wagner and called him to me. My Cabinet Council sent the invitation to Lu- cerne and my ardent wish was quickly filled — the Poet-Composer came to Munich. How his wonderful creations, the magic of his personal- ity, took me captive, how we became friends, friends in the highest ideal significance of this much-abused word, the world knows all. And those whom I never loved drove me more and more within myself and to the few chosen ones, because of the despicable manner in which they interpreted this friendship. What, in this re- spect, should I not have to experience and to endure from this venal, despicable world, if I were not King, if I dared not set my foot upon its neck as often as I wished ? " But that even my sweetest friend Elizabeth did not approve of this friendship, that she should have to warn me against this friend, filled 42 THE BAYBEUTH OF WAONEB. me with pain ! "Will it always be so ? Are there no means by which you can be drawn within this blissful, magical circle? . . . So it is from ' Tristan and Isolde ' that your aversion came. I can weU imderstand that this creation can wound and repulse a pure maidenly nature. . . . How clever you are, Elizabeth. You compare my love for Wagner's music with my passion for the scent of the jasmine, which latter you yourself struggle against in vain. There is something related in the two: sultry and in- toxicating, the one as well as the other. So it is not my friendship for Wagner that you blame, but what you call its excess, and my disposition to clothe men bom of dust with divine attri- butes. You think with fear and trembling of Wagner's influence upon me, and stiU more on the impression which the waning of this friend- ship will make upon me. As regards the lat- ter you are right. There is nothing to com- pare Avith such an impression. In that case something irreparable would break in my soul, and the bright sun of existence would for me be darkened. God in his grace will save me from such an event, and let me keep the joy I find ia promotiag and carrying out the plans of the THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 43 dear friend, and to be to him in a slight measure what he is to me in so infinite a degree." After all, the King had to let "Wagner go or brave a revolution, such as his grandfather, Lud- wig I., had met and succumbed to in a less pure enthusiasm. But the monarch never withdrew his favor from the great composer, and he it was who furnished nearly two hundred thousand dol- lars of the money wherewith the Nibelimg The- atre in Bayreuth was eventually built. I was present when the foundation-stone of the struct- ure was laid on May 22, 1872, amid great festal harmony and enjoyment. Two thousand guests, among them many of Germany's most emiuent musicians and singers, had assembled at Wag- ner's call, and the three days' sojourn and festiv- ities in Bayreuth will long be remembered by those who participated in them — the excursions to the charming places around the old city, the torchlight procession to the Fantaisie, where Wagner then resided, and the serenade there to the composer himself. The ceremonies con- nected with the laying of the foundation-stone were unfortunately marred by a pouring raia, but were nevertheless a most interesting event. After the musicians had played the Huldigimgs- 44 THE BAYBEUTH OF WAONER. marscli, which the composer had written in. honor of his royal patron, Wagner struck the stone thrice with the hammer, saying : " Blessed be thou, O Stone ! Stand long and hold fast ! " In a zinc encasement was placed a telegram received that day from the King, which read : " To the Poet-Composer, Richard Wagner, in Bayreuth : To you, dearest friend, I send, from the inner- most depths of my heart, my warmest congratu- lations, on this day so auspicious for the whole of Germany. Blessing and success to the grand enterprise greet you. To-day I am, more than ever, united in spirit with you. (Signed) Lud- wig." Among other things buried beneath the stone was a poetical enigma, written by Wagner himself, which read : "Hier scliliess ich ein Geheimiiiss ein, Da ruh' es viele hundert Jahr ! So lange es verwahrt der Stein, Macht es der Welt sich offenbar. Richard Wagner." Bayreuth, May 23, 1873. The translation being, " A secret great I here enclose ; many hundred years here let it rest ; so long as the stone guards it well, to the world it will itself reveal." Then guests and musicians FKANZ LISZT. THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. 45 assembled in the old theatre of the margraviate days, to complete the ceremony which the rain had marred on Nibelung Hill. Singers and mu- sicians filled the immense stage, and the large house was crowded with guests. In front of the singers the composer took his place, and beside him sat his wife, the daughter of Franz Liszt, surroimded by her children.* After words of welcome by the burgomaster of the city, Wagner, deeply moved, read an address iu which he ut- tered the aims and hopes he entertained in regard to the new theatre and his grand visions of the future. "The eternal God," he exclaimed, "lives assuredly within us before we build a temple to his glory : and this temple of ours re- veals externally the existence of the art-spirit within us that shall build it. Let this temple be consecrated by your love, by your blessing, by the deep thanks I feel toward you — to you all who worked for me, granted, gave, and helped. Let it be consecrated by the spirit that induced you to follow my invitation, which fills you with the courage to defy every scorn and to trust in * Wagner's first wife died in January, 1866, after five years' separation from liim, and in August, 1870, lie was married to Cosima Liszt the divorced wife of Hans von Bulow. 46 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. me." With the last words Wagner raised his hands and evoked, as if by magician's wand, from the three hundred singers and musicians aroimd him the beautiful strains of the "Wach Auf!" choral of the last act of "Die Meister singer," to the words with which Hans Sachs, the cobbler- poet and Mastersinger of Nuremberg greeted the appearance and labors of Luther as the Witten- berg Nightingale : " Awake, the dawn of day is near, I hear singing so loud and clear, A wondrous throated Nightingale, Whose voice is heard o'er hill and dale. The Night sinks to the Occident, The Day mounts from the Orient, And morning's purple glories loom Up from the realm of night and gloom." Wagner himseK was ^dsibly affected. He em- braced his wife and children tenderly, and even the burgomaster and the banker Feustel, who stood near by. Wagner thanked his guests, and the ceremony was over. In the afternoon AVag- ner directed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the singers, Niemann, Betz, Frl. Lehmann, and Frau Jachmann - Wagner taking the leading parts. In the evening there was a banquet at the Hotel THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 47 zur Sonne (renowned as the place where Jean Paul was fond of kneiping), when Wagner deliv- ered a heartfelt toast to his great benefactor, King Ludwig, giving interesting scraps of auto- biography. " When I was finally permitted," he said, " to return to Germany, and the official musical in- stitutions did not know what to do with me, the great-hearted voice which penetrated to my soul called to me and said : ' I will take care that thou, Man of Music, whom I love, whose thoughts I wish to be carried out, shall in future be freed from all material cares.' " We know how well Ludwig kept his word. While the world at large was ridiculing Wagner and the music of the future, this young King, who was gifted with a higher, purer nature than most other Em-opean monarchs, took the compos- er under his wing, gave him a pension, ordered his operas to be given at his court theatre, and never afterward, till the day of the composer's death, hesitated to give him his friendship and sup- port. "It is a miracle," once wrote Wagner, referring to King Ludwig's friendship. "I remember a dream which I had as a youth. I dreamed that 48 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. Shakespeare was living, and that I sfiw him ajid spoke to him in person. I have never forgotten the impression which this made upon me, and which aroused in me the desire to see Beethoven (who, too, was no longer among the living). Somewhat similar must be the feelings of this young King toward me. He tells me that he can hardly believe that I am really his. His letters to me no one can read without astonishment and delight. Liszt remarked that his reciptivity, as shown in them, was on the same lofty plane as my productivity. Believe me, it is a mir- acle." Poor Ludwig ! On June 13, 1886, Whit-Mon- day, the world was startled by the news that he had committed suicide by drowning in beautiful Lake Stamberg. A royal life, that had been wonderfully beautiful in its beginning, thus came to an unexpected close. Wagner's music had exercised its enchantment upon him to the end. A strange, unfathomable seduction lurked in it. It was the musical apotheosis of love. It painted in ravishing colors the mission of humanity. Heard in the " storm-and-stress " period of hu- manity it surges upon its victim like a raging fire. It seized upon the King in its voluptuous, THE BAYBEUTH OF WAONEB. 49 emotional magic. Ludwig could understand, but would not realize, the poetry of " Tristan and Isolde." " So let us here together blend, Living, loving, without end. No awaking, No forsaking, To each other mated, Forever consecrated." m. The Nibelung Theatre was at last completed, and the first performances of " The Eing of the Nibelung " were given. That was the summer of 1876, when I had the pleasure of seeing much of the poet-composer and learning a great deal about his life and his methods of work. From sketches made at the time I may be permitted to make a few extracts. Wagner was then over sixty years of age, and though far from being majestic in per- sonal appearance, I always felt with him that I was in the presence of an extraordinary man. In conversation he was fluent, but it was always ex- tremely difficult to follow him in his flights of ideas, for his sentences were almost interminable, and he illustrated his remarks by comparisons and illustrations from the most abstruse realms of thought and philosophy. In Bayreuth he was monarch supreme. Inside the Festal Theatre his rule was despotic. His spirit pervaded every- thing and everybody, from the scene-shifter to the THE BAYBEUTH OF WAGNER. 51 most famous singer. At the rehearsals, seated in an armchair in a corner of the proscenium, he looked a mere speck in the landscape revealed on the stage. Every note, every bar of the instru- mentation, every dramatic movement, every atti- tude or position of the singer upon the stage, every idea expressed in painting or music, every line of poetry, every imitation of nature's grand- est effects, was the expression and work of his unaided intellect. Permit me to quote what I wrote at the time from Bayreuth : " Suddenly something goes wrong with the scenery ; he springs up from his chair, darts to the back of the scenes; you hear the stamping of feet, the sound of sharp words; but the man who returns to the front of the scene has a face calm and unruffled as before. Then a singer has to be corrected. A line or a passage is not interpreted aright, and the composer walks quietly across the stage, takes Siegfried's shield and spear, and silently shows Herr Unger the proper dramatic gesture. The composer will frequently sing and act a passage as he wishes it given, and it is an in- finite pleasure to see how cheerfully such great artists as Betz, Niemann, Gura, Hill, and the 52 THE BAYREUTH OF WAONER. rest carry out the Meister's suggestions and in- struction. Nothing can escape Wagner's eye or ear. The orchestra is repeatedly stopped, and the good-natured Hans Eichter looks up inter- rogatively from his ' mystic abyss,' otherwise called the ' conductors' grave,' where he conducts in shirt-sleeves and open vest. 'Mein lieber Richter, just repeat that passage ; but the bass more subdued ! ' . . . ' So ! Gut ! Gut ! that is better ! ' and the Meister settles down again in his chair at the comer of the stage, and the rehearsal proceeds. Take your eyes away from the stage for a while, and you will be surprised to hear a voice not far away from you in the auditorium. It is Wagner's ; he is examining the perspective. After all the troubles and vex- ations of rehearsal are over, about seven or eight in the evening, the more genial side of Wagner's character is revealed. In the restaur- ant close to the theatre, a large table is reserved for the composer and his wife, his ministers or ' Verwaltungsrath,' and the principal singers. Wagner is received with royal honors, those al- ready seated around the table rise, cigars are placed on one side for the moment, and greet- ings are given and received. If the Meister has THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 53 been particularly annoyed in the theatre, and hard words have been uttered, he heals at the ta- ble all wounded susceptibilities. 'Mein lieber Freund Betz,' or ' Meine liebe Fran Materna ' are cordially embraced, and champagne is ordered by the Meister to drown all the recent annoy- ances in forgetfulness. At nine the Meister is driven home, and the artists seek the classic vaults of Angermann's, where foaming Bayrisch is handed by the gentle-faced Marie until one or two o'clock in the morning." " More interesting than those at the theatre were the rehearsals held at Wagner's house in the year 1875, before the composer had begun to feel the burden of theatrical management, as he did in 1876. Betz, Niemann, Scaria, linger, Schlosser, Hill, Yogi, Madame Matema, the sis- ters Lehmann, and others had responded to his call, and gathered during the summer of 1875 in Bayreuth, for the purpose of studying their vari- ous roles. These pianoforte rehearsals lasted usu- ally from eleven in the morning till one, and ia the afternoon again from five until seven, after which " Abendessen " was announced for master and artistes — cold meats, salads, beer, Avine, or tea; sometimes served in the dining-room, but 54 THE BATREUTU OF WAONEB. more frequently, when the weather permitted, in the garden. Here the composer could be seen in his most genial mood ; he would relate anecdotes and incidents of his student-life and early thea- trical wanderings, with many a curious trait of his earlier migratory existence ; and once he spoke of his courtship days and his marriage with his first wife. Occasionally he would read chap- ters from a bulky manuscript autobiography, which he keeps carefully stowed away somewhere in his library, for the benefit of the world when he shall be no more among the living. When the weather was unpropitious, the little company would retire to the large salon, and the evening would be devoted to music and singing. Wagner himself would sometimes play the pianoforte ac- companiment; then, as a change, he would de- claim an act from one of Shakespeare's dramas, of which he is a devoted admirer. Once he promised to read his poem of " Parsifal," the subject of his forthcoming opera, but something interfered to prevent this. Many a singer looks back with pleasure on the days spent in Bay- reuth during the '75 rehearsals, and the evening gatherings in the salon and garden of the Villa Wahnfried. In ordinary times, when the singers THE BAYREUTII OF WAONER. 55 are not assembled round the master, Bayreuth and the Villa Wahnfried are very quiet places indeed." Wagner was an early riser and a hard worker. WAQNEK IN BIS " WALTHER " COSTUME — HIS FAVORITE DRESS WHEN AT WORK. The young secretaries, Mottl and Seidl, who as- sisted him to prepare his scores, could tell inter- esting stories of the poet-composer's life. When writing the " Goetterdaemmerung " he was up at five o'clock in the summer and six in 56 THE BATBEUTU OP WAQNEB. the winter. He began work at once, and did not allow himself to be interrupted till two in the afternoon, by which time the. floor would be streivn half an inch thick with manuscript. Sometimes for days at a time he woidd not put pen to paper imtil he felt the inspiration to work ■waonee's librakt at wahnfeied. again. He usually wrote in the grand salon of Villa Wahnfried, where the light and sunshine and fresh air could enter without hindrance. During the periods of his mental repose he would rise at a later hour and pass the day idly, read- ing his letters and looking after his dogs and his chickens. Dinner was at one, and from three to THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 57 four was devoted to sleep, and then, after a cup of coffee, he would take his two big Newfoundland dogs and wander either along the avenue of lin- den-trees to the Bollwenzel House, or across the fields to the little paradise of the Hermitage, or to the castle and park of the Fantaisie. It al- ways seemed to me, when I saw the forest scene in " Siegfried," for instance, or the moonlight scene outside Siegmund's hut in the " Valkyr " (the Munich and Bayreuth settings, by the way), that Wagner had copied bits from the charming vaUey leading to the Fantaisie, and that the danc- ing effect of the sunlight falling through the foli- age upon the greensward, in the second act of "Siegfried," came from watching similar effects under the grand old elms of the Hermitage. But this was imagination only. " Siegfried " was thought out and written in Switzerland long before Wagner went to Bayreuth, and as a mat- ter of fact, the poetic sketches, the scenes, and the principal leading musical themes or motives — that is, the whole poetical, dramatic, and scenic structure of his great music dramas — were invent- ed while he was writing the poetic sketch of his works, and in the case of the Bing, nearly a quarter of a century before he completed them 58 THE BAYREUTH OF WAG NEB. in the musical form in which they are to-day published. Wagner could not draw inspiration from noth- ing. His music came from his subject and his words ; he did not write the words after he had invented his musical ideas. The greatest trouble that Kichard AVagner ever had in his life, perhaps, was after he had accepted the commission to THE MARKET PLACE IN BAYREUTH WHERE WAGNEK CONCEIVED THE IDEA OF A MOTIVE FOR HIS CENTENNIAL MARCH. write the Centennial March for the Ladies' Com- mittee of the Philadelpliia Exhibition. He wan- dered, puzzled to distraction, about the streets of Bayreuth for days and days, trying to think of a leading phrase on which to build his musical structure. He often expressed his regret that he had undertaken the commission. He would never have done so, indeed, had not his financial needs been so ^Dressing, for "Wagner was always THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. 59 terribly in debt, and remained so until the day of his death. Finally, at the end of two weeks, he appeared in radiant mood among his friends. " I have it," he exclaimed. " Wh&i 1 " was the inquiry. " My musical idea for die Americaner." It was a phrase from some of the older compos- ers, which constantly recius in the Centennial March. Wagner admitted frankly that he bor- rowed the leading theme which he used in the March. Now, had the Ladies' Committee taken the trouble to write out a musical sketch of the history of the United States, illustrated it with characteristic songs, airs, and marches, and sent some one with this to explain to the Master at Bayreuth, we might to-day have had a Centennial March of which we should be proud. Wliat dif- ferent results AVagner achieved in the Huldi- gangs March, written in honor of King Ludwig II., and in the Kaiser March, written after the conclusion of the Franco-German war, in which he utilizes the melody of Luther's grand old cho- ral, " Ein feste Burg," in such an effective man- ner. The visitor to Bayreuth will not leave the old capital without going to Villa Wahnfried, which Wagner had built from his own designs, where he 60 THE BAYEEUTH OF WAGNER. lived, and whither he was brought home for bur- ial. Villa Wahnfried is a plain, symmetrical, admirably arranged structure, of dignified archi- tecture, and is surrounded by a few acres of gar- den and grounds, laid out with taste and simpli- city. Over the portal is a large encaustic picture, beneath which is inscribed, in conspicuous capi- tals, the name which the composer gave to his home — "Wahnfried." There are two lines of German, in gold letters, on either side of the name, explaining to us the meaning of the some- what curious designation : Hier wo mein Wahn Sey dieses Haus ■ J Wahnfried Frieden fand — ■ Von mir genannt. "Wahnfried," translated, means, literally, "Peace to the Ideal," and the entire inscription reads in English thus : "Here, where I found the fulfilment of my Ideal — Wahnfried- -So shall this house be named." Over the entrance is a large allegorical fresco by Krauss, of Dresden, with the figure of Wotan, as representing Ger- man mythology ; two female figures, " Tragedy " and " Lyric Ai-t," and young Siegfried, as sym- THE BATEEUTH OF WAGNER. 61 bolizing the " art-work," the music of the future, that fresco has really an historical interest. The central figure is that of Betz, the Berlin basso, in the character of Wotan ; the female fig- ure representing Tragedy is a portrait of Mme. Schroeder-Devrient, whose dramatic impersona- tions had a great influence upon "Wagner's ca- reer; and the other figure, representing Lyric Art, is an idealized portrait of Mme. Cosima Wagner herself ; while the boy is the portrait of Wagner's little son, Siegfried, costumed like the operatic hero. The interior of " Villa Wahnfried " is fitted up with great elegance. We enter a broad, spacious hall, something like the central apartment of an old Pompeiian dwelling, from which all the rooms of the house are approached. It is light- ed through a colored glass window in the roof ; a gallery encircles it at about two -thirds of the height from the groimd, and leads to the sleeping apartments of the family. It can be used as a general reception- or smoking-room, and contains a large grand piano and small ta^ bles for coffee. Aroimd about it are miniature copies of Professor Echter's frescoes, represent- ing scenes from the music-drama of the " Pang," 62 THE BATREUTII OF WAONER. and tastefully placed marble statuettes by Pro- fessor Zumbusch, of Vienna, representing the various heroic figures of Wagner's operatic crea- tions — Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Van der Decken, Siegfried, Tristan, and Walther von Stolzing. The lobby leads into the large salon, which is at the same time the composer's study and sanc- tum, and consequently of considerable interest to us. It occupies the entire width of the house and receives its light through a large bay-win- dow, in the centre of which a door takes one to the lawn and garden in front. The large salon was Wagner's study and library ; handsome cases, fiUed with well-selected, and in some cases very rare, books extend completely around the room. The collection of musical literature is very rich. The master's own operas and music-dramas have a wide shelf to themselves, close to the works of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Handel, Gluck, Weber, Palestrina, Halevy, Liszt, and other composers. Above the bookcases are portraits of King Ludwig, the philosopher Schopenhauer, Franz Liszt, Beethoven, Wagner, and Madame Wagner. A large grand piano occupies one comer of the salon. Tables and stands are loaded with albums, photogTaphs, presentation THE BAYREUTII OF WAGNER. 63 copies of books, art-treasures, presents, plants, and flowers. There are marble busts of King Ludwig, of Wagner himself, of Madame Wagner, and on one of the tables lies the death-mask of Wagner's great master — Beethoven. In the midst of all this artistic confusion, at a large marble table near the window, and seated in a comfortable armchair, Wagner composed the " Goetterdaemmerang," the last music drama of the " Ring of the Nibelung." WTien I was in Bayreuth the Villa Wahnfried was filled with the glad laughter of children — four girls and a boy, ranging from four to fifteen or sixteen years of age — Senta, Elisabeth, Eva, Isolde, and the little boy Siegfried. The latter only was Wagner's own child. The former were bom to Cosima Liszt while she was still the wife of Von Bulow. Siegfried was then a manly little fellow, and the very image of the composer. Madame Wagner bore a striking resemblance to her father, Franz Liszt. To her, to Franz Liszt, and King Ludwig the world owes much. With- out them, Wagner's ideals would probably have remained unfulfilled. We only need to read the lately published correspondence between Liszt and Wagner to find the most interesting revela- 64 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. tions in this respect. Without Liszt's devotion and assistance, which were given before King Ludwig's, "Wagner would perhaps never have had the courage to proceed with the musical com- pletion of the King, and it is sure that without the splendid support given to him by Mme. Cosima, he would have wearied on his hercule- an task, and have sunk under the burden he had imposed upon himself. Mrs. Cosima Wagner is a woman of great in- tellectual force. She was not only wife to Wag- ner, but his most ardent admirer, supporter, and worshipper. For many years before his death she was of great assistance to the poet-composer, transacting most of his business and attending to his con-espondence, receiving his visitors, and taking care that he should not be unnecessarily disturbed in his artistic life. And in return Wagner idolized her. A writer from Bayreuth recently described her as she is now, in words that seem to demand a place here. " The wom- an whose hand I grasped, whose lofty, calm, marvellously winsome imperiousness, and im- passiveness, and her supreme loyalty to her hus- band, converted all enemies to friends. Her shining faith in the dead master's deification WAGNER. (Last picture taken — 1S83. ) THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. 65 and in her o^vn final reunion with him, would transform the whole world to Wagnerian dis- ciples coidd it be brought within her influence. This one woman was as necessary as life itself to the complete development of Wagner's pur- pose to create for the world an absolutely new standard in lyric music. " Probably now sixty years of age, ' Madame Cosima ' is a head taller than was the poet- composer. Quaint and odd in dress, spare and gaunt in figure, the startling effect is heightened by the longest and scrawniest neck ever connect- ing woman's head and frame. She is as sallow as was her venerable father. Deep but phenom- enally bright and piercing eyes gleam out imder heavy brows. Her nose is long and hawked. Her mouth is large, with lips firmly set, \vith an expression of rmconquerable will-power ; and all this is intensified by iron-gray hair hooding the sides of the face almost to the chin, which is then gathered in a huge knot at the top of the head. There never lived so homely and yet so fascinating a man as was Liszt, whose grotesque face I have studied in parlors and at pianos by the hour. Cosima Wagner is his prototype in woman. I believe her to be what Wagner ever 66 THE BAYBEUTH OF WAG NEB. insisted she was, the most intellectual woman in Germany. Not this alone. Her intellectuality was even surpassed by her matchless devotion. It did not make her his enemy. It made her make him. No flattery ever tempted her into the weakness of vanity regarding her own majes- tic part in what the world got from "VVagner. Hence, and because of this royal abnegation only, she must ever be known as luminously as he who would not have gained immortality with- out just that power from her and just that abne- gation which devoutly holds to this hoiu". " No, the world is wrong," she said. " It was all his mighty genius. I could help but little." Then, with great spirit, this remarkable assertion : "It is the eternal principle that the male shall cre- ate ; that the female shall nurture. Few women ever created. They were ' derelicts,' wandering forces, when so striving. Had these known the master-power of mated genius in man, their con- tribution to the world's good would have been infinitely greater ! " Cosima Wagner not only gave her own magnificent powers to Wagner, but she made Liszt his endless and all-powerful slave. These two tremendous forces, with access to a king's treastxry, gave him power to realize his THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. 67 idea fully; a fortune no composer before him had ever possessed." Close beside Villa Walmfried, in the garden at the side of the house, Richard Wagner lies buried. It is one of the many graves in WAGNEltS BIUTUl'LACE IS LEIPSIG. Bayreuth to which pilgrimages will be made for generations to come. There are two in the cemetei-y, one the immense bowlder or granite block which marks the last resting place of Jean Paul Frederick Ricliter, the other of Franz Liszt, who died ui Bayreuth, cared for tenderly 68 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. by his daughter, in whose arms he breathed his last. That Wagner was born in Leipsic, on May 22, 1813, is brought to mind by the fact that over the house in which he first saw the light a memorial tablet has just been placed recording the fact that : " In this house was bom Richard Wagner." His death day is also brought to mind by the announcement that the eighth anni- versary of the composer's death day (February 13, 1883, was duly remembered and commemo- rated at Venice, where he died, by a concert in Avhich only excerpts from Tannhauser, Lohen- grin, and Pdenzi were performed; when "the work of the orchestra is said to have been excel- lent and the audience listened with rapt atten- tion." Wagner died in the Vendramin Palace, which looks out upon the Grand Canal. Aiter the Parsifal performances of 1882, the poet-com- poser had gone to Italy to reciiperate from the exhaustion caused by his arduous labors in Bay- reuth. The cause of death was heart failure. On the Monday before he had visited his bank- ers, from whom he received money for the pur- pose of making an excursion with his little son THE BATREUTH OF WAGNER. 69 Sieg-friecl. The next day, Tuesday, he remained in his study tmtil two in the afternoon, when he suddenly came out and comijlained to the ser- vant " that he did not know what was amiss with him." At three o'clock dinner was an- novmced. The family sat down to the table. Suddenly the composer rose from his seat ex- PALAZZO VENDKAMIN, VENICE. claiming, " Mir ist sehr schlecht " (I feel very ill), and sank senseless to the floor. Mrs. AVag- ner and her daughters, with the gondolier Luigi, raised him up and carried him to his work-room. At half-past four the great composer was dead. He had had premonitions of death. A few weeks before, he conducted the jjroduction of his Sym- phony in the Venice Conservatory. As he laid 70 TEE BAYBEUTH OF WAGNEB. down the baton he said, sadly, " I shall never conduct again." " Wliy?" someone asked him. " Because I shall 'soon die." On the Ash Wednesday he bade Luigi take him in his gon- dola to San Michele, the cemetery-island of Venice. When he was getting out he said to Luigi, " How long will it be before I shall find my last resting-place ? — " ' Wie lange noch — und ich werde auch meia stilles Plaetzchen iiaden ? " Five days after death, the remains of the poet- composer, accompanied by Mme. Cosima, his children, and representatives from the whole musical world, arrived in Bayreuth. As mourn- ers, were representatives from the Wagner Soci- eties of Berlin, Yienna, Frankfort, Mannheim, Rotterdam, Brussels, Dresden, Leipsic, Dussel- dorf, Munich, Prague, Venice, Bremen, Bruns- wick. Every theatre of importance, every Wag- ner society, every art-loving German prince, the King of Bavaria foremost among them all, had sent their musical and military representatives. Wreaths and garlands filled two capacious wag- ons. The richest were sent by King Ludwig and the city of Venice. To the sorrowful strains of the Siegfried fimeral march the open hearse, drawn by four black steeds, left the railway sta- TSE BAYREUTH OF WAONER. 71 tion. The crowd uncovered, and strong men wept, for "a great man was dead and the world was poorer." There were few dry eyes. "I never beheld such a child-like display of unaffected grief," wrote an eye-mtness. " To-day I saw men THE FL'NERAL PROCESSION THROUGH BAYREUTH. whose names are as household words in the ar- tistic world of Europe, sobbing and embracing each other in sympathetic sorrow before the bier." The procession formed, and, amid the tolling of bells, slowly moved away through the quaint old streets of Bayreuth. First came a detachment of the fire brigade, followed by two death heralds and a military band ; then the two 72 THE BAYREUTH OF WAGNER. wagon-loads of evergreen wreaths and immor- telles ; then the hearse, flanked by torch-bearers, and followed by the clergy ; then the representa- tives of the King of Bavaria, with Siegfried, the son of the dead composer, and the family rela- tives ; then the various musical and artistic mourners and deputations, officers of the garri- WAGNER S GRAVE. son, the municipality, and a band playing the Funeral March. Half an hom- brought the pro- cession to Villa Wahnfried. The coffin was borne to the grave by eight men who had been of Wagner's most intimate friends and disciples in life, prominent among them being Albert Nie- mann and Hans Eichter. Brief religious services were held, and the coffin was lowered into its vault. The big Newfoundland dog, that used to THE BATREUTH OP WAGNER. 73 follow his master about in the old days, on those wanderings around Bayreuth, fawned upon the various members of the sorrowing family, as if he really understood their grief. The bright day was ending. Darkness was beginning to fall, and as each moiu-ner left the tomb he plucked a laurel leaf or a snow-drop from the wreaths that lay piled around in affectionate memory of the world's greatest genius. So was Wagner borne to his last resting-place.