to see. Although his good intentions did not altogether succeed
with Franz Dingelstedt, who would only commit himself to a
confused report on Lohengrin in the Allgemeine Zeitung, yet his
enthusiastic eloquence completely and decisively captured Adolf
Stahr for my work. His detailed view of Lohengrin in the Berlin
National-Zeitung, in which he claimed a high importance for my
opera, did not remain without permanent influence upon the German
public. Even in the narrow circle of professional musicians its
effects seem not to have been unimportant; for Robert Franz, whom
Liszt dragged almost by force to a performance of Lohengrin,
spoke of it with unmistakable enthusiasm. This example gave the
lead to many other journals, and for some time it seemed as
though the otherwise dull-witted musical press would
energetically champion my cause.

I shall shortly have occasion to describe what it was that
eventually gave quite a different direction to this movement.
Meanwhile Liszt felt emboldened by these kindly signs to
encourage me to renew my creative activity, which had now for
some time been interrupted. His success with Lohengrin gave him
confidence in his ability to execute a yet more hazardous
undertaking, and he invited me to set my poem of Siegfried's
Death to music for production at Weimar. On his recommendation,
the manager of the Weimar theatre, Herr von Ziegesar, offered to
make a definite contract with me in the name of the Grand Duke. I
was to finish the work within a year, and during that period was
to receive a payment of fifteen hundred marks (L75).

It was a curious coincidence that about this time, and also
through Liszt, the Duke of Coburg invited me to arrange the