WAGNER AT HOME
FROM THE FRENCH OF
JUDITH GAUTIER
BY
EFFIE DUNREITH MASSIE
WITH NINE ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
JOHN LANE COMPANY
MCMXI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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 EUOGAT
PART OF SCORE OF THE FIRST ACT IN "PARSIFAL"
PART OF SCORE OF THE SECOND ACT IN "PARSIFAL"
PART OF SCORE OF THE LAST ACT IN "PARSIFAL"
WAGNER AT HOME
PART FIRST
I
The train moved slowly, as becomes a well-conducted Swiss train thatwinds through beautiful country, and has no intention of blurring theviews by undue haste. At each station there was a long stop, a slowrenewal of leisurely motion.
To our little company of impatient French people within the compartmentthis slow progress was very trying. A feverish excitement possessed us;we could not sit still; from time to time we thrust our heads betweenthe curtains to gaze in advance of the train. Villiers de l'Isle-Adamwas one of us and most enthusiastic of all, his emotion continuallybubbling over into spasmodic laughter and disjointed phrases.
On an ordinary excursion this slowness of the train would not havetroubled us—but to-day—to-day we were going to Lucerne to see forthe first time—Richard Wagner!
The swiftest "Express" would have seemed slow to us, yet we halfdreaded the moment of arrival—when we should see the Master, hear him,speak to him!
What this wonderful genius meant to us it would have been difficultto make clear to those who were not of us, at that time when only alittle group of disciples stood by the Master upholding him against thejeers of the masses who failed to comprehend him. Even to-day, when thetriumph of the cause we supported has surpassed our hopes, it is noteasy to explain our exaltation. We had the fanaticism of priests andmartyrs—even to the slaying of our adversaries! It would, in fact,have been impossible to convince us that we should not be entirelyjustified in annihilating all those scoffers—blind to the new radiancewhich was so clear to us.
Each Sunday, when Pasdeloup played selections from Wagner, Homericdefiances were hurled between the opposing camps in the body of theconcert hall and the interference of the town-guard was often requiredto prevent actual hand-to-hand conflict.
We had never dreamed that one day we should look upon the face of theMaster. He was for us as inaccessible as Jupiter on the heights ofOlympus or Jehovah behind the flaming triangle, yet now we were goingto him!
"It is to you, my dear Judith, that we owe this incredible goodfortune," exclaimed Villiers, throwing himself upon t