Chapter XII: Act I: of Tristan, which he wanted to send to Frau Wesendonck: but (4)

[257] _Briefwechsel_, ii. 216, 217. This and several other passages in the letter were suppressed in the first edition of the correspondence. The Countess d'Agoult--the mother of Liszt's daughter Cosima--was visiting Wagner at the same time as Cosima and Hans. Apparently there had been some gossip as to Wagner's behaviour with her; and in this letter he indignantly protests against Liszt's "suspicions."

[258] _Briefwechsel_, ii. 222. The passage relating to the Countess d'Agoult was at first suppressed.

[259] _Briefwechsel_, ii. 294. The first part of the sentence, as far as "fell to my lot," was suppressed in the first edition of the letters, as well as the succeeding sentences,--"The love of a tender woman has made me happy: she can throw herself into a sea of sorrows and torments in order to say to me 'I love you,'" &c. &c. This was the lady with whom his relations were "merely friendly." The first edition of the Wagner-Liszt correspondence was systematically manipulated so as to keep from the reader all knowledge of the Wesendonck affair.

[260] The English version (p. 687) makes nonsense of this passage.

[261] _Mein Leben_, p. 674.

[262] Letter of 20th October 1859 (Paris), in _Briefwechsel_, ii. 275.

[263] Letter of 23rd November 1859, in _Briefwechsel_, ii. 276, 277.

[264] Glasenapp, vi. 139.

[265] See the poem _Siegfried-Idyl_, in the _G.S._, xii. 372.

[266] Seraphine Mauro. See p. 106.

[267] Cornelius, _Ausgewählte Briefe_, i. 640 ff.

[268] The gentle and honourable Cornelius--whom it obviously pains to have to say a word in disparagement of Wagner--knew that his only chance of developing his artistic nature along its own lines was to avoid coming too much under the influence of the much stronger personality of the older man; he should, he says, "hatch only Wagnerian eggs."

[269] Letter of 31st May 1854, in Peter Cornelius' _Ausgewählte Briefe_, i. 767.

[270] _Ausgewählte Briefe_, i. 770, 771.

[271] _Ibid._, i. 774.

[272] _Ausgewählte Briefe_, i. 784. At a later time Cornelius did yield to Wagner's solicitations and take up his abode for a time in Munich.

[273] All testimonies agree as to the extraordinary expressiveness and dramatic vivacity of his reading--as indeed of his conversation also. See Cornelius, _Ausgewählte Briefe_, i. 623, Weissheimer, _Erlebnisse_, pp. 89, 90, and Liszt's letter to the Princess Wittgenstein, in _Briefe_, iv. 145. His tumultuous conversation used to give King Ludwig a headache.

[274] He writes thus to Cornelius from Paris, at the end of January 1862: "Listen! On Wednesday evening, the 5th February, I am to read the _Meistersinger_ at Schott's house, in Mainz. You have no idea what it is, what it means for me, and what it will be to my friends! You must be there that evening! Get Standhartner at once to give you, on my account, the necessary money for the journey [from Vienna]. In Mainz I will reimburse you this, and whatever may be necessary for the return journey." See the letter in Cornelius' _Ausgewählte Briefe_, i. 643.

[275] Glasenapp, vi. 161.

[276] See p. 129.

[277] Edouard Schuré, _Souvenirs sur Richard Wagner_, p. 76.

[278] Röckl, _op. cit._, p. 133.

[279] Schuré, _op. cit._, pp. 54, 57.

[280] Liszt, _Briefe_, iv. 140, 145.

[281] Hanslick, _Aus meinem Leben_, ii. 11.

[282] _Ibid._, p. 12.

[283] Weissheimer, _Erlebnisse_, p. 128.

[284] Weissheimer, _Erlebnisse_, p. 392.

[285] _Ecce Homo_ (Eng. trans.), pp. 41, 44, 122, 97.

[286] Liszt's reply of the 22nd runs thus:

"DEAR AND NOBLE FRIEND,--I am too deeply moved by your letter to be
able to thank you in words. But from the depths of my heart I hope
that every shadow of a circumstance that could hold me fettered may
disappear, and that soon we may see each other again. Then shall you
see in perfect clearness how inseparable is my soul from you both,
and how intimately I live again in that 'second' and higher life of
yours in which you are able to accomplish what you could never have
accomplished alone. Herein is heaven's pardon for me: God's blessing
on you both, and all my love."

These are the first letters that appear in the correspondence between the two since 7th July 1861. _Briefwechsel_, ii. 307-8. The two letters are given in a slightly different form in Liszt's _Briefe_, vi. 350.

[287] _Aus meinem Leben_, ii. 12.

[288] Weissheimer, _Erlebnisse_, p. 391.