present I felt so repelled by the declaration of his artistic
antipathies, as to let my dislike for the theatre as a profession
steadily grow upon me. I still took pleasure in some good
performances which I was able to get up, under favourable
circumstances, at the larger theatre at Mitau, to where the
company went for a time in the early part of the summer. Yet it
was while I was there, spending most of my time reading Bulwer
Lytton's novels, that I made a secret resolve to try hard to free
myself from all connection with the only branch of theatrical art
which had so far been open to me.

The composition of my Rienzi, the text of which I had finished in
the early days of my sojourn in Riga, was destined to bridge me
over to the glorious world for which I had longed so intensely. I
had laid aside the completion of my Gluckliche Barenfamilie, for
the simple reason that the lighter character of this piece would
have thrown me more into contact with the very theatrical people
I most despised. My greatest consolation now was to prepare
Rienzi with such an utter disregard of the means which were
available there for its production, that my desire to produce it
would force me out of the narrow confines of this puny theatrical
circle to seek a fresh connection with one of the larger
theatres. It was after our return from Mitau, in the middle of
the summer of 1838, that I set to work on this composition, and
by so doing roused myself to a state of enthusiasm which,
considering my position, was nothing less than desperate dare-
devilry. All to whom I confided my plan perceived at once, on the
mere mention of my subject, that I was preparing to break away
from my present position, in which there could be no possibility
of producing my work, and I was looked upon as light-headed and