Volume I Part 35 (1/2)

Kohler will visit you next year; you will be satisfied with him

I forwarded your letter to him at once

PS--Try, if possible, to be back from your intended journeys by the end of September, so that we may meet after Carlsruhe I hope to be quite free on September 24th

125

DEAREST FRIEND,

I returned froht; of my intention to that effect, I believe I wrote to you before

Your last letter was forwarded to ood humour and the fact that you spent your day at Dresden with the R's, of which they had already infor their accounts, I felt as if I had been therehad only been a continuation of the Zeltweg days It was splendid and kind of you As to K I e promised me yesterday that he also would write to you today From what he says, he is well inclined towards the lad if it is taken in hand seriously, for then I shall have hope for a possible success of the enterprise even without me

My dear Franz, once for all do not reckon upon o in for that kind of thing Just as soo it was an absolute necessity to me to express my revolution in the fields of art and of life in perfect continuity, even so, and for that very reason, I have at present no inclination for such er a necessity to me Of this you must be aware, for you know and prove by your own deeds that ”quand on agit, on ne s'explique pas;” and I aer for explanation You seem to be of opinion, however, that for the sake of the cause I ht conquer my inclination a little and in my oay exert myself It is just this point which I have made clear to reat, and I can only be and do soood when I concentrate all those faculties on one impulse and recklessly consume them and myself for its sake Whatever part that i as necessary, be it musician, poet, conductor, author, reciter, or what not In that manner I at one time became a speculative art philosopher But apart fro except under extre very bad and expose the smallness of my special faculties in a deplorable manner What you want of me, or rather, as I know very well, what X wants ofI have spoken about the theth that I ah X and his friends and enes as they should be read in order to be understood Otherwise it would be quite impossible that this wretched ”separate art” and ”universal art”

should be the upshot of allwith stupid people things which they can never take in, because there is in them not a trace of artistic or really huels once htened people than against the intentionally retrograde Jesuits of literature, hom one need not trouble one's self unless one wants to talk for victory as a litterateur, which has never entered lad to know that I had been rightly understood by lad to see and to hear that clever, instructive, and enlightening things ritten and laid down in a journal devoted to such an object; this, indeed, would be the reward of ood heavens! there is surely no need that I should write, that I should help, again; these things should come to me from another quarter It cannot possibly suit ain on the chance of being at last understood, besides which I should probably only puzzle people worse and worse

Therefore if, in your opinion, the review cannot be started without me, I simply say, Very well then; leave it alone, for in that case it has no object and no value I still have hopes of G; he is certainly lazy, but, at any rate, I know that he knohat is at stake and what should be done Moreover, his whole nature at present i in the direction necessary for us; if he once is in the proper swing, I hope he will persevere It is of course understood that my advice, my views, and my opinions are always at his disposal, and in very special cases I o to work myself; but I must first see that others commence and initiate the work

Before all, keep that unfortunate ”Universal Art” out of the title!

Enough of this!

I areat difficulty in persuading o on like this, and that it would not really be raceful kind of life Solitude and disconsolate loneliness froht--such are the days that follow each other and make up life

To cure ive up taking snuff altogether; for the last six days I have not taken a single pinch, which only he can appreciate who is hiin to perceive that snuff was the solitary real enjoyive that up too My torture is indescribable, but I shall persevere; that is settled Therefore no more snuff-boxes; in future I accept only orders of ust 24th I start from here, and arrive in Turin on the 29th at the latest You can address Poste restante, unless you write to me here first, from where all my letters will be forwarded to me Genoa, Spezzia, Nice, will detainis to be In the ”Carlsruhe Gazette” it was announced that the Musical Festival had been postponed till October; will ourhave to be postponed too? If you cannot come to Paris, I will of course come to Basle; that is understood As you happen to be in Leipzig, very kindly remember me to Brendel; I wish he could have visited ot further in many ways (Devrient was here when I and my wife too were absent!) Frau Steche recently wrote to me; she shall have an answer before I start Could you lend her a copy of the ”Nibelungen”? B is not to read it out Altogether I am very sorry that I ever had the poem printed; it is not to be pulled about like this; it still is rin” at Leipzig?

Hartel has leftI hope I shall hear soon how the matter stands

Farewell; ah, farewell How I envy you your whole existence

Greet your esteee so that you both co may still become of me Adieu, dear, unique friend

Your

R W

ZURICH, August 16th, 1853

126

”Sancte Franzisce! ora pro nobis!”

I write to you today froe of my Italian journey, because, as fate would have it, I was unable to answer your last letter fro else is thrown into the shade by our rendezvous in Paris, to which you have given your consent in so splendid a manner But now youit possible Listen