Volume II Part 34 (1/2)
After living in exile for ten years, uarantee of an existence free from care and secure from discomfort for the rest of my life Do not be surprised The return to Gerain would be ether with you The possible perfor me less enjoyment than exertion, care, trouble, and annoyance I never had much pleasure in the performance of one of my operas, and shall have much less in future My ideal demands have increased, compared with former ti the last ten years while I lived in absolute separation from artistic public life I fear that even you do not quite understand me in this respect, and you should believe my word all the more implicitly Your nature and position in life and in the world are so entirely different from mine that you can scarcely realise my sensitiveness in this respect from your own consciousness
Believe me implicitly when I tell you that the only reason fora number of works of art which have their vital force inand co alone satisfies me and fills me with a desire of life, which otherwise I should not understand I can, on the other hand, do quite ithout any chance of a performance I see clearly that before the completion of ”Tristan” my amnesty would absolutely place me in an aard position; no expectation, not even that of producing ”Lohengrin”, could induce me to leave my present place of abode before I had finished s Any offer of a secured and comfortable existence would be of no value tothe a certain services made possible thereby I cannot and shall not accept an appoint it What I demand, on the other hand, is the settlee pension, solely for the purpose of creating ard for external success
Being without property or subvention of any kind, I have to rely for e of the nature of my works, and who feels and estee qualities, must see that I, in ht to be entirely relieved fro commercial articles of my works Any just-minded man must perceive that it would be quite unworthy of ers without stipulating for their artistic interest, without choice, without preference for any particular theatre, or even by being coers This necessity has already filled me with much painful bitterness, and the worst of it is that even if I suppressto me are of such a nature that they placeposition At times those receipts co with the plenty At other tiain quite unexpectedly; and this falling off, just because it could not be foreseen, is followed by want, care, and tribulation If this is to beupon these receipts, and be placed in a position which will enable me to look upon them as an accidental increase of resources, which I can e certain comforts to my existence, and which I a with my sufficient and settled income, as soon as I find it desirable to withhold th or the direction of which does not enable me to credit them with honest zeal for my work In this manner, and by the position towards our abominable theatrical institutions thus attained, I should be protected by my contemporaries, and enabled to continue my creations in accordance with my earnest desire and with the peculiarity of my artistic nature An ample and fully secured pension can alone do this for me, and only a combination of several German princes whom I have inspired with sympathy can accomplish the desired object
On such a combination I should have to insist, for the reason, more especially, that this pension, if it is to fulfil its object and to satisfy ether ordinary wants, must amount to at least 2,000 or 3,000 thalers I do not blush in na such a sum My experience of what I want in accordance with my nature, and, perhaps I should add, the nature of my works, teaches me that I cannot well do with less; and on the other hand, it is well known that artists like Mendelssohn (although he was rich), have received equally large honorary salaries frole quarter
I ask you therefore, definitely and finally, whether you will take the initiative in this matter? At the same time I would draw your attention to the fact that, after mature consideration, I must abide by the character of ht leave me at perfect liberty and even be equal to yours, I could not accept, because the salary would not be sufficient for my purpose It would not help ers of a palliative measure
Once more, I require an absolute settlement of my external circumstances, which will provide for and exercise a decided influence on my future artistic creativeness I shall be forty- six next birthday, and therefore speak of about ten years at the ut intoto concern yourself with it personally, let me know plainly and definitely I could explain those reasons from your peculiar position, and they would not in the least interfere with our friendshi+p Let me know in that case whether you advise me to apply MYSELF to the Grand Duke of Weimar, in order to induce him to place himself at the head of the aforesaid combination of princes If you do not think this advisable, I am determined to ask D whether he will intercede for me with another prince If he also refuses, my last resource will be to apply to that prince myself On the success of this step will depend my further relations to Germany, as to which in such circumstances I have quite made up my mind
My request, whether it be addressed to you, or D, or one of the princes, will be acco exposition of my circumstances, my position towards the artistic world, and my individual qualities, and wants At the same time I shall state precisely what I promise to do in return for such a pension In the first instance, and whether ranted or not, I shall undertake to continue the creation of neorks All iven to the various court theatres gratis Finally, as soon as I am allowed to return to Germany I will, by special desire, undertake to superintend in person the study and production of my operas, and, if it should be wished, of other works, the representation of which would be for the benefit and honour of art
This letter, dear Franz, is the first I have written in this fateful new year 1859 It is addressed to you, and deals with a subject which will be of decisive influence on my future life
May Heaven and our friendshi+p reward it with success!
Answer me soon definitely and decisively, for I repeat that I do not want my request to be in any way connected with the as to the ladies, to whom I shall soon write a pleasant letter
Your
R W
281
DEAREST FRANZ,
Have you NOTHING AT ALL to say to nores me?
Your
R
VENICE
282
MY DEAR FRANZ,
On reading ain, you will probably have discovered as theof my jocular complaint--”You answer me much too pathetically and seriously” You must have seen by the exact terh it was, that by your answer I meant the ard to ”Rienzi” As this part ofwords of explanation My letter about the withdrawal of ”Rienzi” ritten with a view to being shown, because I had referred D to you I thought, however, you would see that I was annoyed by the difficulties he made about the honorarium, and by the remote date for which pay the withdrawal of the opera would help me quickly to the honorarium, and perhaps increase the amount a little I had unfortunately reckoned upon this income before the new year, and relied upon it all the more because I had on a former occasion explained my difficult position to your sympathetic heart When I forwarded D's last letter to you my intention was to complain of his pedantic statement: ”The honorarium will be paid to you after the first perforer accustomed at any other theatre I further hoped to induce you-- as indeed I clearly indicated--to effect at least the immediate payment of the honorarium As my letter about the withdrawal of ”Rienzi” ritten with a view to being shown, it may very likely have puzzled you; but I know that it was intended only to frighten D, and to supply you with a weapon for forcing him into a decent and business-like attitude In consequence, I hoped that the success of this little manoeuvre would secure me the receipt of the wretched twenty-five louis d'or before the new year Upon this suet it for me, while the moneys which I expected froht be delusive
At last New Year's Eve caone; my watch, the snuff-box of the Grand Duke, and the bonbonniere of the Princess, the only valuables I possess, had been pawned; and of the ot for them only one and a half napoleons re my lonely rooh to hope that it would announce to me the imminent arrival of the twenty-five louis d'or, in consequence of the successful deht I had made Instead of this, I found, in reference to this matter, a serious explanation of your relations with D, which, as I see from this letter, have already become matter of bitter and troublesome experience to you I had foreseen this, and h your ed irritation, you were, on receipt of my last letter, in a mood which misled you as to the character of nized in s we meet with, and you overlooked the fact that a poor devil like me cannot afford to be serious Therefore you entered seriously and bitterly into my withdrawal of ”Rienzi,” which, after the insults you had received, elcome to you, and I, for my part, had to witness on that wretched New Year's Eve the destruction ofreat disappointment of that moment would, at any other ti-expected and ardently-longed- for boon of your sympathy for ”Tristan” evoked in me a kind of convulsive exciteht you so near to ht, at such aI expressed, if I rehtly, in the words, ”For ht at 'Tristan' is responsible” Dearest friend, at that moment I could not even think of the possibility of aso certain and infallible between us, I went to the opposite extre you because you had left ard to money matters, and because you had taken ainst D in a much too earnest and pathetic sense,comprised in a little money I further indicated that the various considerations, which to you, being on the spot, and holding an official position, reat moment, did not exist for me at all, the only connection betweensolely that of money
THAT OF MONEY! Yes, so it is; and with that you reproach me You should rather pity ard to the performance of your oorks because money is no object to you? My first letter of this year will have shown you that I also a theh of this Your letter, received today, has affected me deeply, as you will easily understand Yet I a in applying my reproach, that you answer ht at ”Tristan”, must by this time have become clear to yourself I feel quite confident that any unprejudiced friend, to whom you may show our last letters, will persuade you, in spite of your prejudice, that ant reproach referred only to your idea of , to the expectation I had of D