『我が生涯 第1巻』

The Royal Orchestra’s 300th jubilee arrived that fall, marked by a big concert festival where conductor Reissiger was knighted for his loyalty to the court, greeted with thunderous applause, while the excerpt from Lohengrin Wagner conducted got only a lukewarm reception, a clear sign of his unpopularity with the court crowd. At the post-concert dinner, Wagner gave a speech about his aspirations for the orchestra’s artistic development, only to be warned by Marschner that he was just confusing and angering the uneducated musicians. The next morning, they laid a wreath on Weber’s grave, and when Marschner gave a dry, trivial memorial speech, Wagner stepped in to give heartfelt, earnest words for the departed master.

Political tensions boiled over after the October Uprising in Vienna was crushed by reactionary troops, and the execution of democratic leader Robert Blum sent shockwaves through Dresden. Huge mourning processions filled the streets, Viennese refugee students poured into the city, and Wagner was on his way to conduct Rienzi one night when six strangers, including a hunchback he’d met at the Vienna radical club, showed up at the theater, called him a brother democrat, and begged for free tickets. He handed them the tickets, and that night was greeted with more applause after every act of Rienzi than he’d ever received before, though he knew the theater officials were watching him closely. Lüttichau suddenly proposed to stage Lohengrin soon, and Wagner agreed, excited for a chance at a real production of his latest work, but a few days later the young scene painter Wilhelm Heine told him the order for Lohengrin’s scenery had been countermanded, no reason given. Lüttichau later told Wagner’s wife he’d tried to push the production through but the court was completely hostile to the work, but the damage was done: Wagner gave up all hope of reconciling with the theater authorities, decided he would never work with modern theatrical institutions again. He immediately started writing the full Siegfrieds Tod poem, corresponding with Eduard Devrient about it, who helped him tweak the structure to make the conflict between Siegfried and Brunhilda more understandable for audiences. Wagner attended Devrient’s private dramatic readings, found a sympathetic ear for his frustrations with Lüttichau, but tensions between the conductor and director only grew: the Queen criticized Wagner’s conducting of Norma and Robert the Devil, Lüttichau passed the complaints along, and their working relationship was irreparably broken. When Lüttichau found out Wagner had submitted a theater reform plan to the ministry, he confronted him, and Wagner calmly told him he’d given up all hope of working with him, and would discuss his grievances directly with the King if necessary. Lüttichau enlisted Devrient to mediate, but Wagner refused to budge, finally cutting ties with the director who had made his Dresden life so miserable.