still in Dresden on account of her various personal charms. She
had now entered upon the career of prima donna at Hamburg, but,
judging from all the reports I had received, and especially from
the attitude towards me that she openly adopted in her letters to
her family, I could only conclude that my modest hopes of
enlisting her talents on my behalf were doomed to disappointment.
I was, moreover, confused by the fact that a second Dresden prima
donna, Mme. Gentiluomo Spatzer, who had once enraptured Marschner
with Donizetti's dithyrambics, kept hovering perpetually before
my mind as a possible substitute for Johanna. At last, in a rage,
I sprang up from the piano, and swore that I would write nothing
more for these silly fastidious schoolgirls. Whenever I saw any
likelihood of being again brought into closer contact with the
theatre I was filled with an indescribable disgust which, for the
time being, I was unable to overcome. It was some little
consolation to discover that bodily ill-health might possibly be
at the bottom of this mental disorder. During the spring of this
year I had been suffering from a curious rash, which spread over
my whole body. For this my doctor prescribed a course of sulphur-
baths, to be taken regularly every morning. Although the remedy
excited my nerves so much that later on I was obliged to adopt
radical measures for the restoration of my health, yet in the
meantime the regular morning walk to the town and back,
surrounded by the fresh green and early spring flowers of May,
acted as a cheerful stimulant on my mental condition. I now
conceived the idea of the poem of Junger Siegfried, which I
proposed to issue as a heroic comedy by way of prelude and
complement to the tragedy of Siegfrieds Tod. Carried away by my
conception, I tried to persuade myself that this piece would be
easier to produce than the other more serious and terrible drama.