The Dinner Party

. . . like everyone else, only more so.
George Devereux, Normal and Abnormal.
This phrase startled me.
Irvin D. Yalom, Love's Executioner.
All of a sudden I thought of something. . . . I suddenly remembered. . .
J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.
I have been to—guess whom?—to the master, Richard Wagner!
Hugo Wolf, Letter to His Parents.
Ah, what a day for me, dear gods!
Homer, The Odyssey.
Oh, you should have been there!
But how could you have been?
Charles Kuralt, Horowitz in Moscow.
Very well.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
I will tell you all about it just as it happened. I will copy the words down exactly as I wrote them in my notebook.
Hugo Wolf, Letter to His Parents.
Now to my task.—
George Gordon, Lord Byron, Manfred.
I arrived at the right hour but . . .
Hugo Wolf, Letter to His Parents.
He made us wait. That is probably the way to put it. He heightened the suspense by his delay in appearing.
Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician.
'Where's-------?' said I, naming our host.
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
It was half-past six o'clock and the hands were quietly moving on, it was even past the half-hour, it was getting on toward a quarter to seven.
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis.
Wagner's . . .
Rexford G. Tugwell, The Democratic Roosevelt.
. . . practice, on such occasions, of making dramatic entrances at . . .
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
. . . well past . . .
H.G. Wells, The Door in the Wall.
. . . the appointed hour, and regally offering his arm to the lady who will sit at his right, looks suspiciously like imperial pomp.
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
Wagner himself, . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . .says Henry James, "is distinctly tending—or trying—to make a court."
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
Wagner . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . scoffs cheerfully at such gibes. "They even say I want to be a prince myself! Not I! I've seen too many of them!"
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
At last Wagner appeared in company with Cosima and Goldmark . . .
Hugo Wolf, Letter to His Parents.
. . . Goldmark . . .
Harold C. Schonberg, The Lives of the Great Composers.
He was clearly Jewish, with a wrinkled, sad face. The eyes seemed to say, "I have seen it all. You can't shock me, you can't even annoy me."
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
I bowed to Cosima very respectfully, but she evidently did not think it worth while to honor me with a single glance.
Hugo Wolf, Letter to His Parents.
He had known Frau Cosima Wagner since his visit to Bayreuth, and now he was . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . to be . . .
William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
. . . introduced to the composer himself, a vigorous and powerful man of sixty-six years.

The composer presided over a large and complex enterprise, more like an imperial court than an ordinary household. There was Cosima, . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . once called . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust (Part II).
. . . the Baroness, . . .
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
. . . herself a regal figure, the daughter of Franz Liszt and his mistress, the countess d'Agoult. Cosima was the ruler and manager of the household. There were five children—three of whom Wagner had fathered while Cosima was still married to her first
husband, . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . the Baron . . .
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
. . . Hans von Bulow. There was a nurse, an English governess, and a tutor for the children.
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
The guests stand about the room in groups or round the table at the window or are seated in a circle by the fireplace.
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
Neither then nor later was I at the heart of things, but I did experience firsthand the workings of charisma.
I . . .
Charles B. Strozier, Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst.
. . . sat there a good while: there was a great deal of talk; it was all very friendly and lively and jolly.
Henry James, An International Episode.
As he sat there he . . .
Joseph Conrad, Nostromo.
. . . found in the world without as actual what was in his world within as possible.
James Joyce, Ulysses.
Do you understand? I—
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
I fancied that . . .
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
. . . the actual things . . .
U.S. District Court (Southern District of New York), U.S. v. One Book Called "Ulysses."
. . . about me . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . passed through my mind like the fragments in a kaleidoscope . . .
Eleanor Roosevelt, This I Remember.
. . . while, simultaneously . . .
Henry James, A Round of Visits.
. . . in a penumbral zone . . .
U.S. District Court (Southern District of New York), U.S. v. One Book Called "Ulysses."
. . . I experienced . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo.
. . . residua of past impressions, some recent and some drawn up by association from the domain of the subconscious.
U.S. District Court (Southern District of New York), U.S. v. One Book Called "Ulysses."
Cosima was a woman of beauty and intelligence; Wagner himself, . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
I can describe him to you if you care to hear it:
Homer, The Odyssey.
Wagner, . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century.
. . . aside from being (as . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . Henry James . . .
Charles B. Strozier, Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst.
. . . a young American . . .
Henry James, An International Episode.
. . . noted a little irritably), a fount of wisdom, was a man of immense personal charm.
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
I've heard it said . . .
Richard Wagner, Gotterdammerung.
. . . that Wagner, . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century.
. . . an autodidact with a ferocious literary appetite, . . .
Peter J. Boyer, The Jesus War: Mel Gibson's Obsession.
. . . was always at his best in small select companies of this kind, where he could . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
. . . play the professor . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . do most of the talking and was listened to with respectful admiration, free from interruption by pestilent people, such as . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
. . . the academicians . . .
TIME, Lyndon B. Johnson: The Paradox of Power.
. . . and cynical commentators . . .
Rexford G. Tugwell, The Democratic Roosevelt.
. . . of this wicked world, who presumptuously advanced opinions of their own instead of humbly taking down the tables of the law as they came straight from Sinai.
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
He was obviously, I believe, hiding the weaknesses in his nature, covering the areas which were most vulnerable to hurt, concealing . . .
Rexford G. Tugwell, The Democratic Roosevelt.
. . . above all . . .
David C. Large, "Wagner's Bayreuth Disciples" in Wagnerism in European Culture and Politics.
. . . his need to be accepted by the very people he scorned.
Doris Kearns, Lyndon Johnson & The American Dream.
In the symphony of his public performance these discordances . . .
Rexford G. Tugwell, The Democratic Roosevelt.
. . . the contrarieties within, . . .
Margaret Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets: American Playwright.
. . . sometimes seemed to him intolerable, and control of his resentment was difficult.
Rexford G. Tugwell, The Democratic Roosevelt.
Prof. Nietzsche, the philologist, announces a visit, . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Saturday, June 5, 1869).
. . . Wagner . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . wishes to put him off, . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Saturday, June 5, 1869).
. . . but Cosima, . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
—her conscience not allowing her to assent to this proposition—
Henry James, An International Episode.
. . . would insist . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . in her regal way, . . .
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
. . . that he come.
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Saturday, June 5, 1869).
Cosima, . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . contributing her diplomatic best, . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . .smoothed over all disagreements . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . logically and without undue passion
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court quoting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
It was she who created and maintained the structure of the court, upon which the whole . . .
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
. . . of Wagner's . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century.
. . . great work depended.
Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Young Master.
I hear the sound of steps muffled by the thick carpets. It is the master, wearing his velvet garment with wide sleeves lined in black satin.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Letter to an Unknown Friend.
Wagner and his personal party . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
. . . had emerged from . . .
Henry James, An International Episode.
. . . the library where he had been busy with his old editions . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
. . . and he . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Elective Affinities.
. . . calls for Hebrew wine!
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Saturday, July 2, 1881).
He was continually acquiring old books, first editions, in many languages, costly and crumbling trifles.
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
Wagner had . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . . an extraordinary appreciation for learning; . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
. . . and, like . . .
William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
. . . the faithful Jews with whom the composer surrounded himself . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . . revered the cultural heritage of the past.
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
Nietzsche . . .
Truddi Chase, When Rabbit Howls.
. . . who was dressed entirely in black, . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
. . . with pink vest and green bowtie, . . .
Fantasy Costumes, Neon Bunny.
. . . and seemed to Wagner like some figure out of a tale by Hoffmann, had finally . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
. . . appeared.
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
"Good evening, Professor!"
Sigmund Freud, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.
Hearing him approach, . . .
Edward Field, Excerpt from Three Frankenstein Poems.
. . . Wagner . . .
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
. . . welcomes him:
Edward Field, Excerpt from Three Frankenstein Poems.
It's high time!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
The Professor . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . seizes the fingers of . . .
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
. . . his host, . . .
Joseph Conrad, The Rescue.
. . . and wrings them with surprising power. "It's a very full and very firm grip," . . .
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
. . . said Wagner, . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century.
. . . If you press my hand any harder I won't be able to hold cards for three days. Come on! I'll introduce you! Why do you draw back?
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
"Come in, my friend," and . . .
Edward Field, Excerpt from Three Frankenstein Poems.
. . . the Old Man . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . takes . . .
Edward Field, Excerpt from Three Frankenstein Poems.
. . .the Professor . . .
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
. . . by the arm.
Edward Field, Excerpt from Three Frankenstein Poems.
(He walks on with WAGNER.)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
I glanced casually toward the main door and there stood General Grant. None of the other guests recognized him, but then he is not, to say the least, a vivid-looking man.
Gore Vidal, 1876: A Novel.
Liszt arrived at last . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Work, His Century.
There's papa!
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
. . . embraced his daughter . . .
Gustave Flaubert, Emma Bovary.
. . . and walked on, allowing . . .
Anthony Trollope, The Prime Minister.
. . . Frau Wagner . . .
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams.
. . . to walk by his side.
Anthony Trollope, The Prime Minister.
One of the women murmured:
Guy de Maupassant, The Hand.
There he is. Don't you think he's elegant?
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
"Papa! Come along!"
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary.
An admiring group, huddled by the doorway . . .
Henry Adams, Democracy: An American Novel.
—Papa, viens donc!
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary.
. . . is hushed into admiring awe.
Edna Ferber, The Homely Heroine.
They sat down, they unfolded their stiff table napkins. The immense room was carpeted, the walls were covered with eighteenth-century paneling . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
Frau Wagner . . .
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams.
. . . gestures to . . .
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
. . . her father . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . to sit down beside her.
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
Very relaxed, indeed even very cheerful mood . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Saturday, July 2, 1881).
The family table, with its seven places was lost in the void. It was drawn up close to the large French
window . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
. . . that opened onto . . .
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Out of Time's Abyss.
. . . the Winter Garden.
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
The principal dish at . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . what Renoir later called a "fairyland dinner"
Margaret Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets, American Playwright.
. . . had been croquettes made of turnip greens . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . an entrée of . . .
John Kendrick Bangs, The Enchanted Typewriter.
. . . Newcastle salmon, . . .
Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit.
. . . pink and moist, . . .
Jacques Pepin, The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen.
. . . and spinach Farfalle.
Il Trullo – The Best of Italy.
The entrée was fish, but the wine was red.
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table.
Renoir, . . .
Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.
. . . the French painter . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, January 15, 1882).
. . . said that it was all a lot of nonsense, provided the wine and fish were good; he was certain that the majority of those who upheld the orthodox view could not, blindfolded, have distinguished a glass of white wine from a glass of red.
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table.
The waiter . . .
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
… "Theodore," . . .
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
. . . whose name I had but recently learned—
Jack London, Mutiny of the Elsinore.
. . . bustles in the kitchen, popping in frequently to refill our glasses.
Frank Rich, Conversations with Sondheim.
. . . wine?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
No!
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals.
To drink good wine . . . what is better?
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
Nietzsche!
Cosima Wagner, Letter to Richard Strauss.
. . . come drink a little wine with me. I have here a wine that is exquisite.
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
The Kaiser . . .
Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August.
. . . himself sent it me.
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
No!
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals.
Taste it . . .
Homer, The Odyssey.
Alcohol is bad for me: a single glass of wine or beer in one day is quite sufficient to turn my life into a vale of misery—
Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo.
O Theodor! Here he is, Theodor!
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
Quick, Water here!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nòrnberg.
. . . a glass of water . . .
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
Forgive me . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
(emptying the glass in one go and holding it up in his right hand)
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
. . . around the middle of life, to be sure, I decided more and more strictly against all "spirits": I, an opponent of vegetarianism from experience, just like Richard Wagner, who converted me, cannot advise all more spiritual natures earnestly enough to abstain entirely from alcohol. Water is sufficient.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo.
But friend, . . .
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
. . . The wine is mixed weak and pale.
Richard Wagner, Gotterdammerung.
I shall not say another word.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
(The waiter leaves.)
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
(aside) What does he want here?—
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
—At supper the Jewish problem . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Tuesday, November 14, 1882).
. . . is considered at length.
Jon William Toigo and Margaret Romao Toigo, Review of The Holy Grail of Data Storage Management.
Well, then!
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
. . . to speak of Heine . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
. . . what a memorable phenomenon this artist Jew has been among Germans!
Thomas Mann, Notiz uber Heine.
"He is the bad conscience of our whole era," . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Monday, December 13, 1869).
. . . said Wagner, . . .
Bryan Magee, Aspects of Wagner.
. . . very ironical in tone . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, March 3, 1872).
"the most unedifying and demoralizing matters one can possibly imagine, and yet one feels closer to him than to the whole clique he is so naively exposing."
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Monday, December 13, 1869).
Heine once said that Jews . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron.
Wh-What?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
Heine once said that Jews are like the people among whom they live, only more so.
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron.
What does that mean?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nòrnberg.
. . . the meaning was transparent:
Ken Frieden, Freud's Dream of Interpretation.
Germans and Jews were a serious, sober, thorough people . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
. . . with a . . .
William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
. . . long history of disunity, of uncertain nationhood, . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
—that is to say, . . .
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
. . . their sense of identity was precarious . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
—Go on!
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals.
Have you made anything of this torrent of words?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
—proceed.
George Gordon, Lord Byron, Manfred.
I understood nothing of it!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
Rarely have you understood me, and rarely too have I understood you.
Heinrich Heine, Buch der Lieder.
(aside) I don't like him!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
"I don't like him."—Why?—"I am not equal to him."—Has any human being ever answered that way?
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
What a fuss!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
Freud shook his head.
E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime.
The doctor was the only person in the room who sat normally. All the rest were lolling eccentrically with an air of exaggerated and assumed ease.
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
I glanced over at . . .
Anna Katherine Green, Initials Only.
. . . Nietzsche . . .
T.Z. Lavine, From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest.
. . . who was attired in . . .
Fergus Hume, The Green Mummy.
—did I mention?
Louisa May Alcott, Jack and Jill.
. . . an undertaker-style suit. He was hunched over the table, simultaneously reading and chewing.
Jacques Pepin, The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen (describing Jean-Paul Sartre dining at La Rotonde).
The conversation was lagging.
Joseph Wortis, Fragments of an Analysis with Freud.
as I was listening . . . I felt as if I were falling asleep
Leonard Shengold, Soul Murder.
. . . aware of having been adrift far off in the unknown. What was it that had sent him there, he wondered?
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
Meantime . . .
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.
. . . preoccupied and distracted . . .
Natalie Bauer-Lechner, Recollections of Gustav Mahler.
. . . I had been humming a tune to myself which I recognized as Figaro's aria from Le Nozze di Figaro . . .
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.
Taking no part in the discussion and unmoved by any of the issues raised in it, . . .
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
. . . Doctor Freud . . .
Billa Zanuso, The Young Freud.
. . . neither spoke nor smiled.
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
He knew that they were united against him, that they despised him: for his origins, for the blood which flowed in his veins . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
You are not one of them, said the inner voice; you and your tribe . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
I dont belong here
William Faulkner, Light in August (Chapter 12)
Freud was by this time however deeply immersed in . . .
Joseph Wortis, Fragments of an Analysis with Freud.
. . . the prevailing banality . . .
Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich.
. . . and simply shrugged his shoulders.
Joseph Wortis, Fragments of an Analysis with Freud.
At length . . .
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
Several voices cried out:
Mark Twain, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.
Quiet!
Candide (Excerpt from "Quiet," lyrics by Richard Wilbur).
Enough on this subject.
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
And now . . .
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.
—finally!—
Harold C. Schonberg, The Lives of the Great Composers.
At last!
Embracing Mahler's World: Peter Franklin Welcomes the Arrival in English of the Latest Volume in de La Grange's Epic Biography.
The fish course came on. The servants hurried with it from the sideboard through the length of the room. They handed round with it a creamy sauce and poured out a Rhine wine that prickled on the tongue. The conversation turned to . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
. . . A visit to the opera where I saw . . .
Joseph Wortis, Fragments of an Analysis with Freud.
. . . a production of "Cosi Fan Tutte," . . .
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
. . . Mozart's . . .
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.
. . . "piece de resistance"—
Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint.
Delightful!
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
I have always wondered . . .
Sigmund Freud, The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement.
What on earth has given opera its prestige in western civilisation— a prestige that has outlasted so many different fashions and ways of thought?
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
Yes.
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
Why are people prepared to sit silently for three hours listening to a performance of which they do not understand a word and of which they very seldom know the plot?
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
Bravo!
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
Why do quite small towns all over Germany and Italy still devote a large portion of their budgets . . .
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
More generous than Croesus.
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
. . . to this irrational entertainment?
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
What do you ask?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
No doubt there are many reasons for this, but I think . . .
Bryan Magee, Aspects of Wagner.
Partly, of course, because it is a display of skill, like a football match. But chiefly, I think, because it is irrational. 'What is too silly to be said may be sung'—
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
. . . true but boring, . . .
Matt Ridley, Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters.
—well, yes; but what is too subtle to be said, or too deeply felt, or too revealing or too mysterious—these things can also be sung and only be sung. When, at the beginning of Mozart's . . .
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
I forget. Ah! Ah!
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
Cosima fan tutte.
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Thursday, September 30, 1869).
(looking up, surprised) What's that?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
Cosi fan tutte
Peter Gay, Freud, Jews, and Other Germans.
"Ah, yes— . . . "
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
Frau Cosima . . .
Arthur Rubinstein, My Young Years.
. . . became visibly embarrassed . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
. . . beneath her mask . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, March 24, 1878).
. . . of imperturbability.
W.D. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham.
She sat motionless, with lowered lids.
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
Doctor Freud . . .
Billa Zanuso, The Young Freud.
. . . whose glance . . .
Henry David Thoreau, Walking.
. . . changed to a stare of astonishment and mystification . . .
W.D. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham.
. . . poured out wine into a slender glass . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
. . . his hostess's face!
Natalie Bauer-Lechner, Recollections of Gustav Mahler.
. . . it glowed a dark ruby red.
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
"Cosi Fan Tutte," . . .
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
"Oh, it's glorious! But it belongs to one particular style and time . . . "
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, March 24, 1878).
. . . the 18th century . . .
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
. . . the rococo period, . . .
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
. . . a vanished age . . .
Winston Churchill, My Early Life: 1874-1904.
But there is more than this.
Margaret Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets: American Playwright.
I like the story of Mozart sitting at table absentmindedly folding and refolding his napkin into more and more elaborate patterns, as fresh musical ideas passed through his mind. But this formal perfection was used to express two characteristics which were very far from the Rococo style.
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
"Is that so?"
W.D. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham.
Explain yourself.
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
"What are the characteristics? . . . "
W.D. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham.
Tell me.
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
One of them was that peculiar kind of melancholy, a melancholy amounting almost to panic, which so often haunts the isolation of genius. Mozart felt it quite young. The other characteristic was almost the opposite: a passionate interest in human beings, and in the drama of human relationships. How often in Mozart's orchestral pieces—concertos or quartets—we find ourselves participating in a drama or dialogue; and of course this feeling reaches its natural conclusion in opera.
Kenneth Clark, Civilisation.
In Cosi fan tutte, our disquiet extends to the moral universe, overthrowing traditional expectations of love and fidelity, valorizing irony as the condition humaine.
Maynard Solomon, Mozart: A Life.
. . . revolutionary ideas . . .
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.
Precisely!
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
The social order remains intact, the marriages take place, but the heart is permanently seared. Here the untangling at the close leaves a bitter residue, a sense of love's uncertainty, a universal sense of betrayal and moral instability.
Maynard Solomon, Mozart: A Life.
. . . but the libretto written by da Ponte is frankly a farce—a farce with deep underlying meaning, to be sure, but nevertheless a libretto with an artificially arranged construction.
Harold C. Schonberg, The Lives of the Great Composers.
—one is amazed by the soul he managed to breathe into such a text.
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, May 29, 1870).
The conversation veered and tacked to and fro . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
—but then . . .
William Shakespeare, King Lear.
. . . it circled round a point of purely abstract interest, . . .
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
—namely, . . .
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
. . . the emergence of the English title:
Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time.
"Cosi" is the one about the two lotharios who make a bet that their girlfriends will be faithful, disguise themselves as Albanian soldiers, try to seduce each other's girlfriend and find that the women aren't faithful after all.
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
That . . . seems very familiar to me.
Lorenzo Da Ponte, Don Giovanni.
. . . talk of love affairs . . .
Peter Gay, Freud, Jews and Other Germans.
" . . . Yes, . . . very familiar . . . "
Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time.
I suggested . . .
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
. . . to the others . . .
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw.
. . . that perhaps . . .
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
. . . the conceit of . . .
William Shakespeare, Sonnet No. XV.
. . . Cosi fan tutte . . .
Maynard Solomon, Mozart: A Life.
. . . was hard to reconcile with the sexual double standards of the 18th century, which were central to the plot and reflected in the traditional translation of the title: "Never Trust a Woman."
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
Frau Cosima . . .
Arthur Rubinstein, My Young Years.
. . . as I recall, was wearing a black velvet cape, and she looked at me indulgently with her unblinking eyes. The Italian title, she pointed out, was in the third person plural. "They are all like that" would be a more accurate translation, she suggested. And so, she said, . . .
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
. . . like a judge who is compelled to judge . . .
John Fowles, The Aristos.
. . . there was no reason to assume from the title that Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, approved of male infidelity any more than they approved of female infidelity, or that they thought women inherently more or less trustworthy than men.
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court.
Well now, I hope you followed that.
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
The lady protests too much, methinks.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
Cosi fan tutte le belle!
Non c'e alcuna novita.
Lorenzo Da Ponte, Le Nozze di Figaro.
. . . or translated,
Stanley Maloy, The Central Dogma: DNA Makes RNA Makes Protein.
Every woman's alike!
There's nothing new about it.
Lorenzo Da Ponte, Le Nozze di Figaro.
No matter!
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
In any case, . . .
Mike May, Did Mozart Use the Golden Section?
We know for sure that . . .
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
The little man from Salzburg . . .
Harold C. Schonberg, The Lives of the Great Composers.
. . . Mozart . . .
Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint.
. . . was a miracle.
Harold C. Schonberg, The Lives of the Great Composers.
. . . the light of inspiration . . .
James Joyce, Ulysses.
. . . all that he did is unparalleled, . . .
Gustav Mahler, Conversation with Natalie Bauer-Lechner.
. . . past all parallel—
George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan.
unpar
James Joyce, Ulysses.
. . . certainly one of the most beautiful . . .
Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man.
alleled
James Joyce, Ulysses.
That's most certain!
William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
During the course of the eighteenth century, Western man woke up to the perception, discernment and enjoyment of psychological details of a subtlety and refinement such as the world had not known before. This, I believe, was brought about far more by Mozart's music than by the poetry of the time.
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
Well spoken!
Arrigo Boito, Falstaff.
"The poor fellow, with his broad nose and a mouth (so it's said) literally like a pig's snout, he had a real feeling for beauty! I'm only now learning to appreciate him fully. What aristocracy, what beauty . . . how everything in him was just instinct, not that he couldn't do it any other way."—
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Friday, November 29, 1878).
. . . wherever he reached out his hand, the greatest art arose!
Gustav Mahler, Conversation with Natalie Bauer-Lechner.
. . . he had nothing but scorn for the musician who indulged in cheap or meretricious effects.
Harold C. Schonberg, The Lives of the Great Composers.
"There you see the true German . . ."
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, April 14, 1872).
"Would you believe that Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann are as alive to me as almost anyone I know? It has been true for many years, and there I am talking about men I do not know in life no less!"
Clifford Odets, Letter to Margaret Brenman-Gibson.
But . . . Mendelssohn . . .
Harold C. Schonberg, The Lives of the Great Composers.
My dear, dear Mendelssohn . . .
Richard Wagner, Letter to Felix Mendelssohn.
. . . half-Lutheran, half-Jew . . .
Herbert Kupferberg, The Mendelssohns: Three Generations of Genius.
. . . the marks of his race stood out strong in his face—
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
"He has shown us that a Jew may have the amplest store of specific talents, may own the finest and most varied culture, the highest and the tenderest sense of honor—yet without all these preeminences helping him, were it but one single time, to call forth in us that deep heart- searching effect which we await from Art. . . . "
Herbert Kupferberg, The Mendelssohns: Three Generations of Genius quoting Wagner, Jewry in Music.
On such levels there is, however, no place for the gnat Mendelssohn to vaunt himself.—
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Tuesday, July 6, 1869).
"He exaggerates more than a little," said Freud.
Joseph Wortis, Fragments of an Analysis with Sigmund Freud.
Everyone talked around Freud, glancing at him continuously to gauge his mood.
E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime.
Wagner did not let his denunciation rest; . . .
Herbert Kupferberg, The Mendelssohns: Three Generations of Genius.
. . . but rather, . . .
William Shakespeare, Cymbeline.
Would you believe it?
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
. . . started up once more . . .
Mark Twain, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World.
. . . on the subject of Heine's remark . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Thursday, June 16, 1870).
. . . indeed harangued, like a possessed prophet, as though . . .
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table.
. . . a new world . . .
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
. . . had been revealed to him by Jehovah on Sinai or, rather, by Wotan on Valhalla.
Primo Levi, The Periodic Table.
Something terrible was going on inside him . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . for his . . .
William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
. . . eyes were red and he looked slightly deranged.
Thomas Mann, The Blood of the Walsungs.
It had grown very still in the room.
Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician.
There was a long pause. Then—
Judith Rossner, August.
—who knows what had come into his head!—he suddenly . . .
Natalie Bauer-Lechner, Recollections of Gustav Mahler.
. . . flared up . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century.
. . . quite furious . . .
Natalie Bauer-Lechner, Recollections of Gustav Mahler.
What does that mean?
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
. . . Jews are like the people among whom they live . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
Bah – bah – bah – bah – bah!
John le Carre, The Night Manager.
What useless chatter all that is; as if you could answer!
The Diary of Richard Wagner: The Brown Book 1865-1882.
What?
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
Just see how things look in that respect!
The Diary of Richard Wagner: The Brown Book 1865-1882.
Say it!
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
—"they are drunken ideas." "If one were chemically to analyze this witticism[ of Heine's," Wagner said, "]which seems like a stroke of genius, one would discover at its base the Jewish outsider, who speaks about the conditions of our life as an Iroquois would speak of our railroads. Behind this 'drunken idea' lie experiences in student life, when someone is abused as a scholar, and out of this insult comes a drunken duel; here, too, the Jew is an outsider, he notices what is raw and flat, but he has no feeling for the ideals of our nature."
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Thursday, June 16, 1870).
"Nonsense," says the Professor . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
" . . . Among Germans, his type . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century quoting Nietzsche.
. . . Wagner's type . . .
J. Kucera and M. Hajduga, Measurement of Carbon Diffusion Coefficients in Fe-C-Cr Steels by Chromatographic Method.
. . . is simply alien, peculiar, uncomprehended, incomprehensible."
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century quoting Nietzsche.
The Professor does not succeed in . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . concealing his . . .
Henry James, Hawthorne.
. . . anger and disgust at Wagner's tactlessness.
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
Our host . . .
Henry James, The Death of the Lion.
. . . becomes very, very annoyed
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Monday, December 18, 1882).
Was he to be taught lessons in manners by a man . . .
Franz Kafka, The Trial.
. . . one generation . . .
Erik H. Erikson, Insight and Responsibility.
. . . younger than himself? To be punished for his frankness by a rebuke?
Franz Kafka, The Trial.
The Professor feels an involuntary twinge. Uppermost in his heart is hatred for . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . Wagner's tyranny.
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
He wears a mechanical smile, but his eyes have clouded, and he stares fixedly at a point in the
carpet . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
" . . . May heaven have mercy on the European intellect if one wanted to subtract the Jewish intellect from it."
Friedrich Nietzsche, Letter to His Mother or His Sister.
Attention must be paid!
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman.
Aye, to whom?
O. Henry, To Him Who Waits.
. . . the Jews.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda.
Why the Jews?
Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism.
. . . what is due them?
O. Henry, Schools and Schools.
What Europe owes to the Jews?—Many things, good and bad, and above all one thing of the nature both of the best and the worst: the grand style in morality, the fearfulness and majesty of infinite demands, of infinite significations, the whole Romanticism and sublimity of moral questionableness—and consequently just the most attractive, ensnaring, and exquisite element in those iridescences and allurements to life, in the aftersheen of which the sky of our European culture, its evening sky, now glows—perhaps glows out. For this, we artists among the spectators and philosophers, are—grateful to the Jews.
Fredrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
What does this mean? Is he just mad?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
—that's all gibberish!—
Richard Wagner, The Brown Book: The Diary of Richard Wagner (September 11, 1865).
You should be boiled in oil. Then the oil should be boiled and your skin ripped off with forceps. After that they should rub salt over you and then bake you with a flour coating. Bake till brown and then serve with paprika dressing. You hound!
Margaret Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets: American Playwright (quoting a humorous letter).
Indeed!
Simon Gray, Butley.
This was more than Wagner could stand.
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
"Oh, yes, our German culture would be completely icebound if it were not for this Schmierocco!"
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, January 7, 1883).
Franz Liszt, who . . .
Gerald D. Turbow, Art and Politics: Wagnerism in France.
. . . has entirely succumbed to Herzl's influence, . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . turned to his pupil August Stradel and remarked:
Alan Walker, Liszt and the Twentieth Century in Franz Liszt: The Man & His Music.
. . . because the Jews form a Nation that does not want to, can not, and should not disappear, that Nation must engender a State.
Theodore Herzl, The Jewish State: An Attempt to Solve the Jewish Question.
"This old humbug", . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
. . . my dear father-in-law, . . .
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
. . . rows about the Jews . . .
Hans Christian Andersen, The Shoes of Fortune.
. . . and would have them . . .
Andrew Barton Paterson, White-when-he's-wanted.
. . . reconquer Palestine through their "own efforts."
Gottfried Wagner, Twilight of the Wagners: The Unveiling of a Family's Legacy quoting Liszt.
The whole table stared at . . .
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
. . . Wagner, . . .
Bryan Magee, Aspects of Wagner.
. . . who was embarrassed at finding himself the cynosure of all eyes.
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
Wagner's tactlessness . . .
Robert Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . . would have wrung a reply from a lesser man. But Liszt remained silent.
Alan Walker, Liszt and the Twentieth Century in Franz Liszt: The Man & His Music.
The ensuing cacophony of fulminations . . .
Jon Ralston, When egos take control.
. . . is almost Schoenbergian.
Alan Walker, Liszt and the Twentieth Century in Franz Liszt: The Man & His Music.
The Jews . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
. . . Nietzsche remarked . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner, His Life, His Mind, His Music.
. . . are beyond any doubt the strongest, toughest, and purest race now living in Europe; they know how to prevail even under the worst conditions (even better than under favorable conditions), by means of virtues that . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
Enough! Enough!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
—That really is naive!
Richard Wagner, The Diary of Richard Wagner: The Brown Book 1865-1882.
Virtue . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Mixed Opinions and Maxims.
. . . Nietzsche says . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner, His Life, His Mind, His Music.
. . . has not been invented by the Germans.—Goethe's nobility and lack of envy, Beethoven's noble hermit's resignation, Mozart's charm and grace of the heart, . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Mixed Opinions and Maxims.
Have you finished yet?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
—are these in any way German qualities?
Friedrich Nietzsche, Mixed Opinions and Maxims.
No longer able to control his rage . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . . Richard Wagner, . . .
Albert Rothenberg, Creativity and Madness.
. . . the foremost moral bigmouth today—
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals.
Are you perhaps referring to me?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
. . . unexcelled even among his own ilk, the anti-Semites . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals.
Say on, say on—
George Gordon, Lord Byron, Manfred.
Well then! Wagner . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo.
. . . grieving over what he regarded as Nietzsche's . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
. . . latest defection . . .
Simon Gardner, Argentina Meets Debt Expiry, Fends Default For Now.
. . . turned on him viciously, demanding . . .
Leonard Shengold, Soul Murder.
. . . in a shrill, breaking voice . . .
Arnold Schoenberg, A Survivor From Warsaw.
. . . that he be quiet—how dare he make such a fuss about . . .
Leonard Shengold, Soul Murder.
. . . the Jews . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . . whom Wagner called . . .
M. Owen Lee, Wagner's Ring.
. . . the congenital enemies of humanity and all that is noble in it . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
'Only the Aryan hero, incarnation of the Good, can rescue the world from the threat of destruction, and we Germans could be the nation, before all others, chosen to bring this salvation to pass.'
Joachim Kohler, Nietzsche and Wagner: A Lesson in Subjugation.
Then, incredibly, . . .
Fred McMillin, WineDay.
. . . when somebody said that Jesus was a Jew, . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Wednesday, January 12, 1881).
. . . Wagner . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
(stamping his foot.)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . replied that this was more or less like saying Mozart was a credit to the people of Salzburg.
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Wednesday, January 12, 1881).
Such insolence!
Moliere, Tartuffe or the Hypocrite.
The illogic is patent.
U.S. Supreme Court, Zellman v. Simmons-Harris (dissenting opinion of Justice David Souter).
Nietzsche took his castigation with surprising humility, perhaps because the very thoroughness of it took his breath away . . .
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
I feel the urge to open the windows a little. Air! More Air!—
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
There was instant silence.
Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician.
Freud rose quietly . . .
Joseph Wortis, Fragments of an Analysis with Freud.
Such are the . . .
James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans.
. . . implications in that row . . .
Leonard Bernstein, The Unanswered Question.
. . . Nietzsche contra Wagner . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Nietzsche contra Wagner.
. . . that obviously the whole . . .
Leonard Bernstein, The Unanswered Question.
. . . Night . . .
George S. Kaufman and Morris Ryskind, A Night at the Opera.
. . . is going to be filled with . . .
Leonard Bernstein, The Unanswered Question.
. . . anti-Semitic dogma and agitation . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
. . . as long as that row has anything to say about it.
Leonard Bernstein, The Unanswered Question.
"It's unspeakable," thought the doctor.
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
The time had come, he knew and acted.
Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time.
"I can no longer endure this!"
E.L. Doctorow, City of God.
"It's to show me," he thought, "what would happen to me—"
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
. . . I and my people, . . .
The Book of Esther.
. . . us Jews . . .
Sigmund Freud, Letter to Charles Singer.
"what would happen to me—"
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
And now—now finally, at last—
Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician.
. . . a deathly sense of the superiority of implication and analogy over direct action, and of silence over rash words, closed in on him . . .
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
For Freud, . . .
E. James Lieberman, Acts of Will.
The hour ended here, . . .
Joseph Wortis, Fragments of an Analysis with Freud.
The doctor got up . . .
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
. . . turned to his host . . .
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence.
. . . and tremulously wondered . . .
W.D. Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham.
. . . with amazement, with incredulity, with indignation, . . .
H.G. Wells, The Research Magnificent.
"What must the sleepless nights of such a person be like? What occupied his thoughts?"
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Thursday, July 20, 1871).
He muttered without realizing what he was saying, and completely beside himself:
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
You are not one of them . . . you and your tribe . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
He shook his head.
E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime.
You are not one of them . . .
Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder, and the Building of the German Empire.
And he left, . . .
Emile Zola, Germinal.
. . . clamping his teeth on his cigar . . .
E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime.
Wagner . . .
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
(as though suddenly making up his mind)
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
. . . jumped up from the . . .
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
. . . table, . . .
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
. . . turned on his heel and walked away.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Anyone seeing . . .
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
. . . Wagner's face . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . . at this moment . . .
Wilkie Collins, The Evil Genius.
. . . would have thought that all the painters had failed to portray the face of Mephistopheles.
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
There was a moment's silence. Then the uproar began.
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
"Yes, yes, he's right!"
Emile Zola, Germinal.
Wagner's anti-Semitism? Despicable. Horrible. Unacceptable.
Daniel Barenboim, The Great Composers: Wagner.
"Oh yes, it's terrible, absolutely terrible."
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
As a musician, too, he was only what he was in general: he became a musician, he became a poet because the tyrant within him, his actor's genius, compelled him.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
I prefer to say that the man who has given us what he has musically lies certainly outside my range of understanding.
George Steiner, The Great Composers: Wagner.
. . . could anyone be quite sure of understanding such a man?
Franz Kafka, The Trial.
"What? Doesn't this mean . . . ?"
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
. . . mean it doesn't make me bitterly, bitterly disturbed, ill at ease[?] . . .
George Steiner, The Great Composers: Wagner.
To be sure . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
But that—to put it very vulgarly, if I may: that's my problem, and not his.
George Steiner, The Great Composers: Wagner.
Enough! Enough!
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
You do not know who Wagner is: a first-rate actor.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
Excuse me, but . . . I've often heard it said that an actor could give lessons to a preacher.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
O nonsense!
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
True, a trace of the old idealist tradition of the writer as teacher or prophet and preacher has clung to me. But I . . .
Hermann Hesse, Reflections.
Never mind.
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.
I place this perspective at the outset: Wagner's art is sick. The problems he presents on the stage—all of them problems of hysterics—the convulsive nature of his affects, his overexcited sensibility, his taste that required ever stronger spices . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
On ze contrary . . . !
Otto Rank, quoted in E. James Lieberman, Acts of Will.
To a well-prepared dish each ingredient is important down to the last pinch of salt. But this is not to say that each of the ingredients is of equal importance—
Bryan Magee, Aspects of Wagner.
Wagner's music is one of, as they say in the Law Court—it's Exhibit A.
George Steiner, The Great Composers: Wagner.
It may be time for his admirers to consider rescuing what is valuable in . . .
Gertrude Himmelfarb, Judging Richard Posner.
. . . Wagner's music . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
. . . from the extravagances of the master himself.
Gertrude Himmelfarb, Judging Richard Posner.
—No, wait a moment!
Friedrich Nietzsche, On The Genealogy of Morals.
To say it plainly: Wagner does not give us enough to chew on. His recitativo—little meat, rather more bone, and a lot of broth—
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
Suddenly Wagner came back, red in the face and obviously angry.
Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner.
Why, sir! What are you saying?
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nòrnberg.
To be sure, . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Attempt at Self-Criticism.
. . . as far as the Wagnerian "leitmotif" is concerned, I lack all culinary understanding for that. If pressed, I might possibly concede it the status of an ideal toothpick, as an opportunity to get rid of remainders of food.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner.
General Grant . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Sunday, July 15, 1877).
. . . took his ease, chewed his cigar, looked at the people coming and going like any other war veteran . . .
Gore Vidal, 1876: A Novel.
. . . come home . . .
James Joyce, Ulysses.
. . . to grow old, to sit on the courthouse steps of an evening and watch others live.
Gore Vidal, 1876: A Novel.
"Perhaps the gentleman . . .
William O. Douglas, Go East Young Man: The Early Years—The Autobiography of William O. Douglas.
. . . that, Professor?—
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table.
. . . is right."
William O. Douglas, Go East Young Man: The Early Years—The Autobiography of William O. Douglas.
I doubt it.
Antonin Scalia, A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law.
I well remember my first meeting with . . .
William H. Rehnquist, Foreword to Reason and Passion: Justice Brennan's Enduring Influence.
. . . Nietzsche—what restlessness, what bizarreness, what severe psychopathology!
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
'Is this conflict really necessary?'
Jeffrey Rosen, The New Look of Liberalism on the Court quoting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
I was always of the opinion that in a group like ours we should speak so fully that no opportunity for argument should be provided by overmuch narrowness in the meaning of the things said.
Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron.
Poor woman!
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
Her proposal . . .
Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters.
. . . was met by a few smiles but mostly by stony silence.
William O. Douglas, The Court Years: 1939-1975—The Autobiography of William O. Douglas.
She let it rest with that.
The Niebelungenlied.
What after all was the lady to do?
Harold Bloom, The Book of J.
"As I stood there . . .
William O. Douglas, Go East Young Man: The Early Years—The Autobiography of William O. Douglas.
. . . shredded bits of . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . the wordy wit . . .
Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.
. . . of Goethe . . .
William O. Douglas, Go East Young Man: The Early Years—The Autobiography of William O. Douglas.
—a singularly frivolous and whimsical fellow;—
Henry David Thoreau, Walden.
. . . came . . .
William O. Douglas, Go East Young Man: The Early Years—The Autobiography of William O. Douglas.
. . . murmuring . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . back to me."
William O. Douglas, Go East Young Man: The Early Years—The Autobiography of William O. Douglas.
This casus makes me chuckle.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . said he; —
Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.
I was not surprised when . . .
Howard Zinn, Foreword to Stephen M. Kohn, American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts.
. . . Wagner, . . .
Dresden City Police Commission, Warrant for the Arrest of Richard Wagner for the Crime of Sedition.
. . . restless and . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Tuesday June 8, 1869).
. . .annoyed, . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . jumps up from his chair and . . .
The Electronic Observer Online, Baldwin Screams: "We Would Stone Henry Hyde."
. . . turns to . . .
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
. . . Goethe among others.
DuBois Learning Center, Shades of Black: Bert Williams.
Stop!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
Oh, to have to bear this insanity . . .
The Diary of Richard Wagner—The Brown Book: 1865-1882.
. . . as though I . . .
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams.
. . . was on trial and having a difficult time in court!
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Tuesday, June 27, 1882).
"A queer thing, that . . .
Homer, The Odyssey.
. . . one always has to go on chewing the same thing over and over!"
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Monday, March 6, 1871).
Wagner was beside himself and kept on . . .
Verwandlung: The Transformation Scenes in Wagner's Parsifal.
. . . glaring at the others.
Joe Klein, In God They Trust.
His sharp eyes emitted the contempt and mockery of someone who knows everything better than everyone else but feels that the world begrudges him his success and refuses to acknowledge it out of envy.
Isaac Bashevis Singer, A Rabbi Not Like My Father.
How arrogant they seem, these gluttons, making free here in your house!
Homer, The Odyssey.
Indeed!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
And . . .
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
What a hideous yelling!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
. . . raucous . . .
Franz Kafka, The Trial.
. . . loathsome . . .
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment.
. . . like the tune of a . . .
Joseph Conrad, The End of the Tether.
. . . Rat-Catcher
Richard Wagner, Satirical Poem "To Georg Herwegh."
How these men weary me! They are ridiculous! They are altogether ridiculous!
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
Things are not well with me. My poor nerves!
The Diary of Richard Wagner—The Brown Book: 1865-1882.
". . . though I am accused of something, I cannot recall the slightest offense that might be charged against me. But that even is of minor importance, the real question is, who accuses me? What authority is conducting these proceedings? Are you officers of the law? None of you has a uniform, unless your suit"—here he turned to Franz—
Franz Kafka, The Trial.
. . . Liszt paid no attention.
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century.
"Tut!" says . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . the Abbe . . .
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary.
(to himself)
Lorenzo da Ponte, Cosi fan tutte.
. . . with something like contempt.
Honore de Balzac, Cousin Bette.
Heavens! My dear child married to an old man . . .
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
. . . like this one.
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary.
What is it?
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
Liszt apparently replied that he shared . . .
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, Hic Century.
. . . the opinion of the others . . .
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
. . . but could not, as a man of the cloth, be heard to say so publicly.
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, Hic Century.
Frau Cosima . . .
Arthur Rubinstein, My Young Years.
. . . a deeply pained expression on her face . . .
Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, Arabella.
. . . turned to her father.
H.G. Wells, Soul of a Bishop.
Papa!
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary.
At half past eight the Italian salad will be served; so now is the prescribed moment for the Professor to go out into the wintry darkness to post his letters and take his daily quantum of fresh air and exercise.
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
Strauss joined us—
Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters.
God, Nietzsche! If only you had known him. He never laughed and always seemed taken aback by our jokes.
Cosima Wagner, Letter to Richard Strauss.
Yes, he has a sombre look.
Oscar Wilde, Salome.
One comes across queer ducks sometimes.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.
I realize now that there was something already wrong . . .
Janet Malcolm, In the Freud Archives.
. . . when he first . . .
Henry James, The Pupil.
. . . came to our house, ate nothing, said 'I am a vegetarian,' I said to him, 'You are an ass!'
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Saturday, January 14, 1882).
Actually, you called him Cottontail.
Simon Gray, Butley.
"So I did, so I did."
Edgar B.P. Darlington, The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings.
He had his diplomatic smile on—the one that makes him look exactly like a rabbit.
Simon Gray, Butley.
Raw pompous upstart!
Richard Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.
All the same, the presence of . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Tuesday, July 18, 1882).
George Eliot
Frederick R. Karl, George Eliot: Voice of a Century. A Biography.
. . . pleases him. He jokes with her about their writings: "The whole world reads yours, I read only my own, because in all others I find embarrassing contradictions. But not in mine—I do what the Talmud says about God, who reads the Bible."
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Tuesday, July 18, 1882).
George Eliot . . .
Frederick R. Karl, George Eliot: Voice of a Century. A Biography.
. . . started, half rose, listened a moment, then began to laugh and said:—
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.
A book that is completely without contradictions would be a rare achievement.
K.R. Eissler, Talent and Genius.
R. is vexed . . .
Cosima Wagner's Diaries (Thursday, December 7, 1882).
One wonders whether Miss Eliot, who had recently written Daniel Deronda, discussed it with . . .
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
. . . her host . . .
Henry James, The Ambassadors.
. . . the author of Jewry in Music.
Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music.
Visitors came and went.
Richard Wagner, Die Walkure.
Hermann Levi, the newlywed Gravinas, and the lanky Countess Usedom, who always amused the children by bending down to kiss their father's hand, in return for which she received a peck on the cheek.
Martin Gregor-Dellin, Richard Wagner: His Life, His Work, His Century.
Ivan Herzl, the celebrated young leading man at the Stadttheater . . .
Thomas Mann, Disorder and Early Sorrow.
. . . had