My dear Cosima,
I returned here yesterday to find a letter from Hans which shows in what a very bad way the poor man must be - indeed, I always feared it would come to this, given the unnatural over-exertion of his powers.
Am I to regard it as a matter of chance and of indifference that it is precisely now that, for the first time in my life, fate has placed me in the position of being able to look back upon my long-suffering friends, now that all my own needs have finally fully been met? Of course not! - You will have gathered from my behaviour last month that it was only hesitantly and with reservation that I set about offering you my advice. My increasingly clear understanding of the sublime beauty and purity of my relationship with the young King helped me to overcome all my reservations, and what I proposed to you was properly thought through with all the certainty of a mathematical calculation. That this calculation may contain an error is a possibility I must accept: but this would relate only to my estimation of the character of our dear Hans. However - he is very ill. That is why I am turning to you, my sweet child, and leaving it up to you to apprise him at an opportune moment and in a suitable manner of what I have to say to you.
I first made Hans’ acquaintance when he was 12 years old: my affection for him has always had something of the character of an older man’s tender concern for someone younger than himself. More especially since I found occasion, at an early date, to exert a decisive influence upon his life, it has always been a reproachful concern of mine to contribute what I can to his successful progress. How sad it was for me that for so very, very long I was never once in the position of being able to devise or carry out a single plan or a single suggestion that would have been to his advantage, or to intercede on his behalf! Or have I ever communicated some practical project to him? Alas, no, - I was never able to do so. On the contrary, my own life was so dissolute and so indigent that I should only have increased the poor man’s cares, and dragged him down into the maelstrom of my own seething existence. -
Well, a state of perfect happiness has now revealed itself to me for the first time, and revealed itself, moreover, in such abundance and beauty that it would make me sad and miserable to enjoy it, if I could not share its blessings with those whom I love so dearly, but whom I see suffering and on whom I have never been able to exert even the slightest favourable influence.
Hans’s letter and bitter behaviour shall not deter me now from making a sincere attempt to persuade him to trust me. - And so, my dearest child, here is my calculation, - the first I have ever put to Hans! -
I have repeatedly heard tell of attempts in Hans’s past to escape the daily round of giving lessons: he himself told me of his regret at having failed in his attempts to pursue a career as Kapellmeister even as an interim measure (as in Schwerin), a career which even today remains a sad business after all. Finally Hans even spoke to me on one occasion of his plan to retire to Gotha, where the cost of living is particularly low and where he hoped to get by on your own small income and the profits from periodic concert tours, so that he could then pack in having to give lessons. I have now heard the latest news from Berlin, of his quarrel with Stern and his having given up his appointment there; and, on top of all that, his mood of utter torment which the pressure of such circumstances always produces. - At the same time I can see what my dear young King is lacking here: he lacks a musical education, he knows only my works, but nothing by Beethoven, and almost no other music either. He longs to be able to make good this omission: but he himself cannot, at this stage, start to receive instruction in how to play an instrument. It must all be conveyed to him by means of intelligent conversation; I cannot play for him, however. But how divinely and utterly uniquely Hans can do so! I told him of this: he now yearns for refreshment from this font of instruction. The Cabinet Secretary Pfistermeister, who is very much the basis upon which the security of my relationship rests, is urging me to bring Hans here. I know that all that is required here is for the three of us - the King, Hans and myself - to spend a few pleasant hours together, and things will happen as if of their own accord, without my needing to add much more than the odd word here and there; to my mind, and given my knowledge of the situation here, what this means is simply that Hans will remain here, as performer to the King, at a salary of at least 1500 fl. - And that is all. Munich is one of the cheapest places in Germany: it will be a great improvement on your “Gotha”. If he wishes, Hans can continue with his concert tours, but he will give almost no more lessons in future, and need not trouble himself with anything more, but can get on with his work in peace, and - I shall then have you both! - It is all so simple and easy to achieve: only because I have never had anything even remotely like it to offer Hans, nor anything as easy to achieve as this, have I never devised any plans for Hans: but I am doing so now. -
One point to bear in mind. - The King is not master of his time: he is having to spend the greater part of the summer away from here and in the company of others. But he has arranged to be free at present in order to spend almost 2 weeks nearby here, completely undisturbed: every day he sends to enquire whether he may expect my friend. And I (poor fool that I am!) good-humouredly resort to high-spirited shock-tactics and telegraphic despatches, and - the rest we know! - But perhaps calm deliberation may still prove successful. According to the latest arrangements, the King is due to arrive in Berg, close by here, on the 25th inst., and to remain there until the 9th of July. I hope that our poor Hans will draw up his own plans accordingly. If he can devote himself to us during that time, all well and good: if not, he will none the less be welcome here at any other time. -
As far as you yourself and your children are concerned, my dear Cosima, you should be guided in your decision by your doctor and by him alone: if he agrees, you should not allow yourself to be deterred by any other thought from the summer holiday which I am offering you here. Believe me, you will be completely undisturbed here, and will not disturb me in the least: we do not need to see each other for days at a time - indeed - if you wish - not for weeks on end, so large is my house, and so well appointed with servants & all necessities. -
There is nothing else I can say now! Was it enough? - Even this I should prefer to have left unsaid, hence the allusiveness of my remarks, and the appeal to your trust, since I have never yet offered the two of you anything, and was thus never able to betray your trust. -
Now, make up your minds, my dear children, and, whatever happens, remember me with at least a little affection.
Yours,
Richard Wagner
We have a beautiful cowshed here with 40 magnificent Swiss cows. What milk for the children!!!
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 304