. Richard Wagner : his life and works . ed the future of his only son. And yet he strove againstthis disquietude, or else he had not an exact presentimentthat the end was verynear; for he employedhimself actively with pre-paring the Parsifal per-formances at Bayreuthfor the spring of 1883,and was in correspond-ence on the subject withthe two of his interpre-ters whom he carried inhis heart, — Scaria andMme. Materna. He had already ex-perienced two attacks,one in St. Marks square,another at the BenedettoMarcello Lyceum, andhe was expressly com-manded to avoid all vio-lent emotion. On Tuesday, F
. Richard Wagner : his life and works . ed the future of his only son. And yet he strove againstthis disquietude, or else he had not an exact presentimentthat the end was verynear; for he employedhimself actively with pre-paring the Parsifal per-formances at Bayreuthfor the spring of 1883,and was in correspond-ence on the subject withthe two of his interpre-ters whom he carried inhis heart, — Scaria andMme. Materna. He had already ex-perienced two attacks,one in St. Marks square,another at the BenedettoMarcello Lyceum, andhe was expressly com-manded to avoid all vio-lent emotion. On Tuesday, February 13, 1883, as he wasabout to step into his gondola, some discussion arose, andhe gave way to a fit of anger ; suddenly he started up fromhis seat, choking, and cried, I feel very badly! He fellfainting. They carried him to his bed, and when his physi-cian, Dr. Keppler, arrived in all haste, he found him dead inthe arms of his wife, who believed him sleeping. In drawinghis last breath he indistinctly murmured a few words, which. LUIGI TREVISAN. Richard Wagners Venetian by Giacomo Favretto. 354 RICHARD WAGNER some have thought to be a last call to his servant, BettyBiirckel; others, a supreme command to his son : Siegfriedsoil. . Siegfried must. . When she was forced to yield toevidence, Mme. Wagner was overcome by grief and insisted upon remaining alone with the body, day andnight, so that it became necessary to almost drag her from theroom at the end of twenty-two hours ; for four days she re-fused all nourishment, and had her hair cut that it might beplaced in her husbands coffin. Not only did she persist inseeing no one, and shutting herself up in an absolute soli-tude which she maintains even to-day, at least for the public;but she objected, as did the whole family, to having a deathmask taken. It was only by ruse that Dr. Keppler succeededin getting the sculptor Benvenuti into the room, where hetook an imprint of the mask which was immed
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