WAGNER. 243 WAGNER. came siicccssively for brief periods conductor at Magik'burg, Konigsl)erg, and Jiiga, composed the operas Die Fvcn anil Uiis Licbcsvcrbot (based on Shakespeare's MeuHurc for Measure), and the overtures Colnmhiis and liuJe liriiannia ; wrote a libretto sketc-li l)c hohc. liraul, whieli he sent to Scribe, who took no notice of it; and added to his financial burdens, already critically heavy, by marrying, in 1830, Minna Planer, an actress in Kilnigsberg. As Kapellmeister at Riga (1837-39) Wagner completed the libretto and the first two acts of liienzi. With his wife he took passage in a sailing vessel from Pillau to London, and during the tempestuous voyage gained his first inspira- tion for Dcr flictiemlc Hollander. After pass- ing eight days in London and four weeks in Boulogne, he arrived in September, 1830, at Paris, where he remained until April, LS42, passing through some of the bitterest ex- periences of his career. At one time he was so impoverished th.at he offered himself as a chorus singer at a small Boulevard theatre, but was refused for his lack of voice. The first version of A Faust Overture was finished in 1840 (re- modeled in 1855), and, through Meyerbeer's in- fluence, he sold to Fillet, director of the Opera, his Flyhiij Dutchman sketches, for which, how- ever, Fouclier and Revoil were commissioned to write the libretto and Pierre Louis Philippe Dietsche the music. The result, the Vaisseau funtome, soon disappeared from the stage, but, by an irony of fate, Dietsche conducted nearly twenty years later the Tannhiiuser performances which made such a colossal and famous fiasco at the Opera. After selling his Filling Dutchman sketches Wagner at once set to work on liis own version. He had sent the score of Ricnzi to Dresden, where it had aroused the enthusiasm of the chorus master, Wilhelm Fischer, and of the tenor, Tichatschek. It was accepted and produced Oc- tober 20, 1842. Schroeder- Devricnt was the Adriano, and Tichatschek the Eienzi. Ricnzi's success led to the production of Z)e" fliegende Hollander, January 2, 1843, Avhich was re- ceived w'ith only moderate favor. Plainly this sombre but beautiful work was ahead of the times. Spohr, who produced it at Cas- sel the following June, was the only eminent musician who then approached Wagner with cor- diality. Had Wagner not been as true as steel in all matters relating to art. he would have taken his cue from the ill success of the DutcJi- man and reverted to the brilliant style of Ricnzi. But Tannhiiuser was his answer to the public that had failed to appreciate The Flying Dutch- man. Meanwhile, in January, 1843, he had become one of the conductors of the Dresden opera. His revival and revision of Gluck's Iphigenia in Aulis attracted much attention, as did also his per- formance of the Ninth Symphony, with new- and striking readings of the score. Tannhiiuser was produced at Dresden, October 19, 1845, and proved even a greater puzzle to the public than the Flying Dutchman. Liszt, how- ever, brought it out at Weimar late in 1848. an achievement which led to the now historic Wag- ner-Liszt friendship, in which Liszt played one of the noblest and most self-sacrificing roles ever taken by genius. "I once more have courage to suffer," wrote Wagner after liearing of the Weimar performance; while Liszt replied: "So much do 1 owe to your bold and higli genius, to the fiery and magnificent pages of your Tann- Imuser, that I feel quite awkward in accepting the gratitude you are good enough to exjiress with regard to the two performances 1 had the honor and happiness to conduct." Lohengrin was finished in 1848, but Dresden was afraid to produce it. Undaunted, however, Wagner took up other subjects. Sketches for an opera on the Saviour are interesting in view of his allegorical treatment of the subject more than thirty years later in I'arsifal. The story of Barbarossa also was considered, hut abandoned for the Nibelung mj'th. The drama Megfrieds Tod, in alliterative verse, which formed the basis of the (Uittcrdunnncrung, was written in the autumn of 1848. More than a quarter of a cen- tury and nuich heart-breaking storm and stress were to intervene before Wagner's ambitions re- garding the work into which this drama devel- oped were realized. A venture in publisliing his scores resulted in great pecuniary embarrassment. Believing that political changes might lead to mon- advanced ideas in art. he joined in the revohitionary agita- tion of 1848-49. When the revolution failed he lied first to Paris and then to Zurich. He was so impoverished that Liszt was obliged to fur- nish Frau Wagner with the means of joining her husband, and in spite of the moral grit which came to Wagner through his passionate devotion and loyalty to his art, it is questionable if he could have stood the strain without the aid which his brother artist so generously extended to him. An even greater solace was Liszt's produc- tion of Lohengrin at Weimar in August, 1850. It acted as a tonic on Wagner. He became all activity. For, though at a distance, he directed the production as well as he could through nu- merous written instructions. This performance was one of the most important events in Wag- ner's career. It started the now historic 'Wag- ner question,' which was fought out in a fierce war of words, with vituperation almost imheard of in art matters, on the part of Wagner's enemies, covering many years; the Wagner cause, however, forging steadily ahead and becoming finally triumphant. A letter from Wagner to Liszt, November 20, 1851, shows that the ibe- lung dramas were written backward. Finding that certain narrative epi.sodes in (liitterdam- merung needed to be set forth on the stage, he wrote Siegfried. Finding that even this did not wholly clear up matters, he wrote Die Wallciire, and as a further explanatory prelude to these three. Das Rheingold. The same letter proves that he also appreciated the impossibility of producing the work except "at a great festival, to be arranged perhaps especially for the purpose of this performance." Wagner finished the composition of Rheingold in May, 1854, but there is evidence that the music of the "Ring" had been in his mind some time before he penned the score. Dr. William ;Mason visited Wagner in Zurich in .June. 1852. and the composer gave him in autograph the Dragon Motive essentially as it is found in the first act of Siegfried. Yet the music of this act was not sketched out until several years later. In 1855 he was somewhat relieved financially by an en-
