commercial speculation with all its paraphernalia of advertisement and
other sordid abominations. Never once did his courage falter; no
thought of any concession, however small, however seemingly
reasonable, which he held to be dishonourable to his art ever found a
place in his mind. The surrender of _Die Walkuere_ alone would
probably have turned the tide in his favour, and he was pressed for it
by most of the great theatres, but in vain. To mutilate the
_Ring_ was in his opinion to dishonour it and prepare the way for
its being misunderstood. So far from adopting any one of the many
courses which could not fail to lead to success and popularity we find
him occupied during this time in coaching singers personally, in
building his theatre, and devising schemes for a school of technique
where musicians, and especially singers, could learn the true methods
of their art, naturally--though perhaps imprudently--believing that
before his works could be understood as he meant them they must be
rightly represented. Without funds! without patronage! with nothing
but his own determined will! Can we wonder that the world's head was
turned by such a gigantic personality?

Let those who call Wagner self-willed and perverse because he could
not conform to _their_ notions of what is right for an artist,
who attempt to measure an infinite mind by the paltry canons of
self-interest, reflect upon the harvest that we are now reaping from
his unswerving loyalty to his art. To him alone, and to the conductors
whom he trained, do we owe the almost perfect performances of our
modern orchestras. It has been truly observed that Wagner's own
immensely difficult works are better performed at the present day than
were the far easier works of his predecessors before he came. The
Richters and Mottls and Schuchs of our day are a very different race
from the Reissigers and Lachners and Costas of a past generation. It