『我が生涯 第1巻』

(Word count: 1098)

Part 61 / Part 64

Wagner’s high-stakes push to establish himself in Berlin ended in total, bitter failure, colored by critical hostility and the King of Prussia’s dismissive evasiveness: when Wagner appealed to him for support for Rienzi, the monarch cut him off with the infamous line, “Oh bother! have you come to me again with your Rienzi?” The only bright spot in the city was the Crown Prince (the future Emperor William I) and his wife: after the second act of Rienzi, the Crown Prince steadied Wagner when he slipped on the smooth parquet on his way to the vestibule, and invited him to the royal box, where the newly arrived Crown Princess effused about how much she’d enjoyed the opera, thanks to positive reports from their mutual friend Alwine Frommann. For months, Alwine had been Wagner’s lifeline in the gray, unforgiving city, meeting him most evenings for conversation that bolstered his spirits against daily setbacks, and she’d held out hope the Crown Princess might sway the King in his favor, but no word ever came before Wagner’s forced departure.

Even old casual acquaintances turned on him after Rienzi’s premiere: H. Truhn, who used to share wine with Wagner at Lutter and Wegener’s Hoffmann-themed haunt and chat animatedly about opera’s future, joined the ranks of scoffers. The only steady, if useless, ally was his old friend Gaillard, whose music shop and journal had both failed, who was in the late stages of a wasting disease, and who spent their rare meetings begging Wagner to support his terrible original plays, leaving Wagner only with a sense of melancholy. Wagner’s attempt to win over critic Rellstab by pointing to Rienzi’s clearer structure (a rebuttal to Rellstab’s old complaints about The Flying Dutchman’s “nebulousness”) fell flat: Rellstab insisted no new art form was possible after Gluck, that the best any composer could do was meaningless bombast, and that Meyerbeer was the only figure who’d ever mastered Berlin’s musical scene. A chance meeting with Meyerbeer ended with Meyerbeer’s servant packing trunks, the composer claiming he was leaving the city and unable to help; Wagner only learned weeks later Meyerbeer had never left Berlin, and was behind rumors that Wagner was angling for a court theatre directorship and special privileges, rumors Wagner had to solemnly deny to conductor Taubert to preserve their working relationship. All his entreaties to reach the King via Count Redern came to nothing, until Redern finally confessed the King had flatly refused to attend any Rienzi performance, tired of being pestered about the opera.