《我的生平——第一卷》

Desperate to build real skill, Wagner studied with Theodor Weinlich, the elderly St. Thomas’s choirmaster, a former student of Pater Martini in Bologna known for rigorous teaching. Weinlich made Wagner promise to stop composing entirely for six months and focus only on harmony and counterpoint exercises, a punishment Wagner hated at first, but after his gambling rock bottom, he begged Weinlich for a second chance when the old man tried to fire him for lack of dedication. Weinlich relented, spending hours each morning walking Wagner through fugue writing bar by bar, and within eight weeks Wagner had mastered counterpoint so thoroughly that Weinlich told him he had nothing left to teach him, that he now had the technical independence to compose whatever he wished. Weinlich helped get Wagner’s new F-sharp minor piano fantasia and three overtures published; the D minor overture was performed at a Gewandhaus concert. Now inspired by Mozart’s clear, flowing technical style, Wagner wrote a second C major overture ending with a polished fugue, then a full C major symphony influenced by both Beethoven’s Eroica and Mozart, which his sister Rosalie, the family’s breadwinning actress, criticized for lacking real passion, a comment that stung but pushed him to refine his craft.

Wagner’s political awakening deepened when the Polish War of Independence against Russian rule broke out in 1831. He thrilled to early Polish victories, was devastated by the crushing defeat at the Battle of Ostrolenka, and was disgusted to find his student friends mocked his enthusiasm, caring only for rowdy drinking and dueling. He cut ties with his old associates, spending his evenings at a confectioner’s shop reading newspapers with like-minded radicals, and falling in love with the Polish cause. Through his brother-in-law Brockhaus, who ran a committee to support Polish refugees, Wagner met Count Vincenz Tyszkiewitcz, a noble, dignified Polish exile whose calm, kingly bearing made the posturing of the student “heroes” Wagner had once admired look ridiculous. Wagner became devoted to the count, visiting him daily, and was present when he was reunited with his wife and young son, separated during the fighting. The Third of May, the anniversary of the Polish revolution, was celebrated with a raucous all-night party outside Leipzig, with a brass band playing Polish folk songs, the crowd singing and swearing eternal friendship to the Fatherland until dawn. The experience inspired Wagner to compose an overture he titled Polonia.