Volume I Part 11 (1/2)

The representative of Lohengrin alone appears, according to all accounts, really incapable Would it not be possible to e of persons? To rin enters, instead of which it appears that people were e At thisood spirits you are in!

I will close this long letter, which le points I have hty bundle of prayers

1 Arrange by the intervention of Genast that before the second perfor to the above indications Let no scenic remark remain unnoticed

2 Insist firers perform in decisive and lively tempo what they take to be recitatives in my opera By thisto my experience, be shortened by nearly an hour

3 Further, I desire that, with the exception of the second part of Lohengrin's tale, which I deteriven as it is, without any omissions

If cuts are made, the chain of comprehension will be torn asunder, andto take in, so far fro made more accessible, will be further removed from the public and the actors To capitulate to the enemy is not to conquer; the enemy himself must surrender; and that enemy is the laziness and flabbiness of our actors, who ain the victory, and have to capitulate in spite of o into no further battles Ifits well-calculated and artistic context to pieces, in other words if it has to be cut owing to the laziness of the actors, I shall abandon opera altogether

Weimar in that case will have no more interest for me, and I shall have written my last opera With you, dear Liszt, who have so bravely accepted ain a complete victory for me I do not knohat h To Genast, for whom also this letter is intended, I shall write separately as soon as I know that esar I write tomorrow

In the meantime I post this letter in order not to incur the reproach of delay

Farewell, then, dearest, splendid friend You are as good as refreshi+ng sureet ed

RICHARD WAGNER

ZURICH, Septean and no haran-passage at the end of the second act be played by wind instru the words ”Heil dir, Elsa! nun lass vor Gott uns gehen!” with tender emotion

42

(TO HERR VON ZIGESAR)

MOST ESTIMABLE HERR INTENDANT,

On my return from a little trip to the Alps, I find the copies of the libretto of ”Lohengrin” which you have kindly sent to me, and have every reason to rejoice heartily at the remarkable care hich you have had it done This is another ocular proof of the sy concerning my last opera, and I must not omit to express my warmest thanks to you Your last letter, in which you kindly enclosed the honorariurin,” tells me of the success of all your extraordinary exertions for the perforret from your friendly communication that satisfaction, in the measure desired by you, has not been the result, and that a permanent success appears doubtful to you As with this statement you combine no objection to the work itself, but, on the contrary, assure me that to the best of your intention and power you will try to secure that desired success for ratitude for your kind feeling ht be realized

Most esteee of the matter at stake, you have undertaken by its perforive life to a dramatic work the essence of which is that it is in all its parts a continuous whole, and not soruous, made up of many different parts The author of this work does not wish to shi+ne by the effect of single ether no more than the most exalted and most comprehensive mode of expression of what he desired to express--the drama Even whereacted in accordance with a certain artistic necessity, and each necessary effect was brought about only by the fact that, like the link of a well-forged chain, it derived its significance fro links If this chain were torn asunder by the removal of the whole, or a half, or a quarter of a link, the whole context would be torn along with it, and my intention would be destroyed You admitted to me yourself that in certain cases about which at first you had doubts you had been finally convinced of the necessity of this concatenation, but the iain renewed this doubt, to the extent, at least, that you think it advisable, in consideration of the public, to consent to certain omissions in my opera Permit me to think a little better of the public An audience which assembles in a fair mood is satisfied as soon as it distinctly understands what is going forward, and it is a great mistake to think that a theatrical audience e of ht impression of a musical draht by the fact that in opera ly been made the aim, while the drama was merely a means for the display of the music Music, on the contrary, should do nothe drama clearly and quickly coood--that is, rational--opera, people should, so to speak, not think of the music at all, but only feel it in an unconscious manner, while their fullest sympathy should be wholly occupied by the action represented Every audience which has an uncorrupted sense and a hu as I may be certain that the dramatic action isby thehidden by it In this respect the perforrin” at Weimar does not as yet seem to have been adequate, in so far as the purely musical part was much more perfect than the dramatic, properly so called, and the fault I attribute solely to the general state of our opera, which fro influence on all our singers If during the perforrin” the music only was noticed, yea almost only the orchestra, you may be sure that the actors reth to my incomparable friend Liszt about this, and explained to hied so as to place the perforht If in future the so-called recitatives are sung as I have asked Liszt to insist upon their being sung, the halting and freezing ies will disappear, and the duration of the performance will be considerably shortened If cuts were resorted to, you would gain comparatively little time, and would sacrifice to our h refor and the heraldi them in a lackadaisical, lazy, and slovenly manner, without real utterance, is then the interest of art benefited by curtailing or o these speeches? Surely not Art and artists will be equally benefited only if those singers are earnestly requested to pronounce those speeches with energy, fire, and determined expression Where no effect is made no impression can be produced, and where no iht, in order to shorten that boredom, to remove ith a proper expression would produce the necessary effect? In that case it would be better to drop the whole work, which, for want of proper expression, would be in danger of failing to produce the necessary effect For if we yield in ss, if we make concessions to laziness and incoed to do the saive up every atte a work like the present succeed

It appears to me preferable to find out with the ut evil lies, and then to attack the enemy in his own camp with perseverance and power You will see from this, most esteeain toleration forevils, but to secure for it a decisive success byevils Otherwise I confess openly that the future chances of this opera would have no value for ret the amount of exertion, trouble, and sympathy which you have kindly wasted on this work Fao, and if now I have at last to experience that even ed to make concessions for my benefit where a real victory can alone be of value, I shall lose every wish and every power to be further active inonly by truncating its healthy organis to the best of your power on the diseased organislad if you are rewarded for your pains according to circury with me if I look upon such a success with indifference

What to you is a matter of benevolence towards me is for me, unfortunately, a vital question of s with bleeding fibres

May Heaven grant that you, highly esteemed sir and patron, will take the contents and expression of these lines in good part, and that you will not for a moment doubt that always and in all circumstances I shall look upon you as one of the most sympathetic phenomena that have entered ratitude If I should never be able to show this to you, as from my whole heart I desire, I ask you fervently to attribute it, not to the wish of my inmost soul, but to the position which I, as an artist with a passionate heart,to my firm conviction, take towards the state of deep depravity of our public art-life

With the highest esteem and veneration, I remain yours obediently,

RICHARD WAGNER