reached me respecting a new dramatic poem which I had sketched
out for the coining spring. Liszt's preparations in the late
summer of the previous year for the production in Weimar of my
Lohengrin had met with more success than, with such limited
resources, had hitherto seemed possible. This result could
naturally only have been obtained by the zeal of a friend endowed
with such rich and varied gifts as Liszt. Though it was beyond
his power to attract quickly to the Weimar stage such singers as
Lohengrin demanded, and he had been compelled on many points to
content himself with merely suggesting what was intended to be
represented, yet he was now endeavouring by sundry ingenious
methods to make these suggestions clearly comprehensible. First
of all, he prepared a detailed account of the production of
Lohengrin. Seldom has a written description of a work of art won
for it such attentive friends, and commanded their enthusiastic
appreciation from the outset, as did this treatise of Liszt's,
which extended even to the most insignificant details. Karl
Ritter distinguished himself by providing an excellent German
translation of the French original, which was first published in
the Illustrirte Zeitung. Shortly after this Liszt also issued
Tannhauser in French, accompanied by a similar preface on its
origin, and these pamphlets were the chief means of awakening,
now and for long after, especially in foreign countries, not only
a surprisingly sympathetic interest in these works, but also an
intimate understanding of them such as could not possibly have
been attained by the mere study of my pianoforte arrangements.
But, far from being satisfied with this, Liszt contrived to
attract the attention of intellects outside Weimar to the
performances of my operas, in order, with kindly compulsion, to
force them upon the notice of all who had ears to hear and eyes