Often
described as Wagners "muse" during Parsifal - as Mathilde Wesendonk
is supposed to have been his muse during the creation of Tristan - it is
certain that Judith Gautier and Wagner were close. So close that Wagner
named his chaise-longue after her!
Both this and her Richard Wagner and his Poetical Work can be found below. It can be read on your Kindle, other ebook reader or in your web-browser. If you have never put a book on your kindle that you have bought or got elsewhere, the easiest way to do so is to connect your kindle to your PC and use a free program called Calibre - follow this link to download it. Its very simple to use.
Wagner at Home by Judith Gautier
Introduction to chapter one
To our little company of impatient French people within the compartment this slow progress was very trying. A feverish excitement possessed us; we could not sit still; from time to time we thrust our heads between the curtains to gaze in advance of the train. Villiers de l'Isle-Adam was one of us and most enthusiastic of all, his emotion continually bubbling over into spasmodic laughter and disjointed phrases.
On an ordinary excursion this slowness of the train would not have troubled us—but to-day—to-day we were going to Lucerne to see for the first time—Richard Wagner!
The swiftest "Express" would have seemed slow to us, yet we half dreaded 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 difficult to make clear to those who were not of us, at that time when only a little group of disciples stood by the Master upholding him against the jeers of the masses who failed to comprehend him. Even to-day, when the triumph of the cause we supported has surpassed our hopes, it is not easy to explain our exaltation. We had the fanaticism of priests and martyrs—even to the slaying of our adversaries! It would, in fact, have been impossible to convince us that we should not be entirely justified in annihilating all those scoffers—blind to the new radiance which was so clear to us.
Each Sunday, when Pasdeloup played selections from Wagner, Homeric defiances were hurled between the opposing camps in the body of the concert hall and the interference of the town-guard was often required to prevent actual hand-to-hand conflict.
We had never dreamed that one day we should look upon the face of the Master. He was for us as inaccessible as Jupiter on the heights of Olympus or Jehovah behind the flaming triangle, yet now we were going to him!
Wagner at Home by Judith Gautier
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Judith Gautier
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