Mid-day Saturday [Apr. 30, 59]. The timorous sun gives me no heart for the Rigi ; wan t It is rather curious that this excerpt should be given as " something new," just four days after the passage which in Tristan it directly precedes. It will be recognised, with a faint difference, as the accompaniment to the hero's words, " Wen ich gehasst, den hasstest du ; wen ich geminnt, den minntest du " (vocal score p. 204), thus proving that nearly a third of the music of act iii had already been sketched within a fortnight, for all the composer's self-reproaches of " inertness."— Tr. vapours cloud the sky, and I now shall save myself the witches' expedition for the 1st of May. I'm very sorry for Wesendonck's telegraphic headache ; as it fares so ill with him, it's only fair that the Rigi should vanish into smoke, this time, for me as well. I hold firm to his acceptance for next week, however, and beg to be given a word of notice the day before. Best thanks for the Tasso ; it shall compensate me for the Rigi. — I also owe thanks for the American letters, and beg you for the present to convey to Herr Luckemaier my heartiest recognition of his efforts. For that matter, I feel somewhat Londonish again about it ; I have determined nothing, and at bottom could almost have wished Herr Ullmann's counter-offer had relieved me of all doubt I really am to get a sight of this man, however, and therefore will not split my head till then.* The war's a nuisance to me ; I still lack that box from Venice ; strangely enough, I have been unable to obtain any news of Ritter either. In hypochondriacal fits I often think I ought to have gone to Paris sooner, to avoid getting the war between me and my future quarters. On the whole it is interesting that, upon an outbreak between Germany and France, I should be seeking refuge in the enemy's capital ; I'm much afraid of losing all my patriotism and being secretly delighted if the Germans received another sound thrashing. Bonapartism is an acute, a passing ailment for the world, — but German-Austrian reactionism a chronic, an abiding one. Yet more : of late I've felt a longing to give some newspaper an " unpolitical view '' of Italy, which is criticised by our politicians with a stupidity verging on impudence, — as soon as the weather improved a bit, though, those notions took flight. If only I were well into my work again ! But that " well into," I fear, will never return : 'tis a memory of youth ! Apropos, if you leave me in the lurch much longer, I shall get Kirchner to come to me.* Your sending me the Schiller [to Lotte] letters was a very happy thought of yours. Converse with that sort of people is what I like best, even better than politics. Their tiniest billets I read with interest ; they are just what make one enter the dear creatures' life. And that's the very thing one seeks; one wants to be quite intimate with such people. — I have absolutely nothing new to tell you ; from nowhere have I had a letter all the week. — Farewell ! The month of May will help, and refresh yourself too ! Your R. W.
Richard Wagner
Source: Richard Wagner to Mathilde Wesendonck, translated by Ellis, No. 71