Wagner at Home

Cosima called me, by a gesture, near to her, and from there I could see why my hosts were keeping so quietly out of sight. A coach full of tourists had stopped before the steps...

With a coaxing familiarity she makes a strong effort to win me, to inspire me with confidence, but I am haunted by the idea that she is prejudiced against Cosima, that she has b...

I gazed at the sumptuous decorations of that loge, the frame to which the picture was as yet lacking, but which would hold in a few moments the so longed-for figure of the young...

"'With the certainty of the unspeakable importance of Schnorr for my musical creations, a new springtide of hope entered into my life. The medium was at last found through which...

They are the heroes of the Master's works: _Tannhäuser_ touching the strings of his lyre, and singing the passionate song to the glory of Venus. Lohengrin, like an archangel, dr...

RICHARD WAGNER (frontispiece) MADAME COSIMA WAGNER CORNER OF JUDITH GAUTIER'S SALON JUDITH GAUTIER IN BRITTANY WAGNER'S THEATRE AT BAYREUTH JUDITH GAUTIER IN HER GARDEN AT ST EU...

Sometimes we amused ourselves by playing charades. It was undoubtedly I who proposed this kind of diversion, of which I was very fond. It was a pastime that had pleased my fathe...

"They are pasting up new posters!" cried he. "'The orchestra will be conducted by Herr Wülner, the rôle of Wotan will be sung by Herr Betz!' Ha! ha! do they really believe so? W...

Discouragement and bitter despair again overcame him, and he believed that from that hour he should no longer have the force to retrieve himself. In the most sombre humour, he w...

But now a soft radiance stole over the sky. Little by little the outlines of the mountains stood out, very sombre against the lighter background; and, gradually, the magnificent...

"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 giv...

There they are, seated in rows, the two new guests in the front row. They appear to us very solemn and terrifying: two portraits by Franz Hals--a Franz Hals who would have lived...