. Richard Wagner : his life and works . othing about it. Certain people have tried to do it by means of poetic am-plification, and have had only a negative result. I have onthis point the avowal of numerous converts, who wouldhave reproached me some time ago for defending Wagner,when they were quite ignorant of him, and who, now, haveno ears for any music but his ; they never weary of admiringhim, but confess that they do not know how to impart theirdelight to the generality of amateurs. What would Berlioz have said of the Nibelungen and ofParsifal, he who so loudly disparaged Ta?mhduser and w
. Richard Wagner : his life and works . othing about it. Certain people have tried to do it by means of poetic am-plification, and have had only a negative result. I have onthis point the avowal of numerous converts, who wouldhave reproached me some time ago for defending Wagner,when they were quite ignorant of him, and who, now, haveno ears for any music but his ; they never weary of admiringhim, but confess that they do not know how to impart theirdelight to the generality of amateurs. What would Berlioz have said of the Nibelungen and ofParsifal, he who so loudly disparaged Ta?mhduser and whodeclared the prelude of Tristan an undecipherable enigma?Ah ! poor Berlioz ! it was his greatest mistake as a man andhis gravest fault as an artist, to have misunderstood Wagner,to have worked against him with a bitter animosity. Blinded 412 RICHARD WAGNER by the spite which he felt at seeing his rival, his junior, aforeigner, bar to him the way to the Opera, where Tannhduserseemed to take the place of the Troy ens, he did not under-. REPRESENTATION OF AN OPERA IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MASTER.(Oberlander, Fliegende Blatter, Munich, 1880.) stand that for the ignorant and imitative masses there was nodifference between the two operas, between the two musi-cians, and that both would have much the same fate. In RICHARD WAGNER 4l3 working for the ruin of Tannhauser he was preparing thedefeat of the Troyens. This was a short-sighted and dishon-orable act on his part. It is on him and his rancorous articlethat Wagners last enemies still lean for support, whereas Wag-ner, in his writings, has never judged Berlioz sharply. It istrue that Wagner, when he was ten years younger, hadprofited greatly from the innovations introduced by Berlioz inorchestral technique; but it was his right, and Berlioz, in-stead of injuring him, would have done much better if hehad studied, investigated and turned to profit the admirablereforms attempted in the opera by a rival, who, if he hadmade himself his d
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