taking place at Weimar, in Lucerne, at the Schwan inn, watching
the clock as the hands went round, and marking the various times
at which the performance presumably began, developed, and came to
a close.

I always felt somewhat distressed, uncomfortable, and ill at ease
whenever I tried to pass a few pleasant hours in the society of
my wife.

The reports received of that first performance gave me no clear
or reassuring impression of it. Karl Ritter soon came back to
Zurich, and told me of deficiencies in staging and of the
unfortunate choice of a singer for the leading part, but remarked
that on the whole it had gone fairly well. The reports sent me by
Liszt were the most encouraging. He did not seem to think it
worth while to allude to the inadequacy of the means at his
command for such a bold undertaking, but preferred to dwell on
the sympathetic spirit that prevailed in the company and the
effect it produced on the influential personages he had invited
to be present.

Although everything in connection with this important enterprise
eventually assumed a bright aspect, the direct result on my
position at the time was very slight. I was more interested in
the future of the young friend who had been entrusted to my care
than in anything else. At the time of his visit to Weimar he had
been to stay with his family in Dresden, and after his return
expressed an anxious wish to become a musician, and possibly to
secure a position as a musical director at a theatre. I had never
had an opportunity of judging of his gifts in this line. He had