[855W-{12/22/74} CD Vol. I, p. 812]
[P. 812] {FEUER} {SCHOP} “We talk about Der Ring des Nibelungen, and R. remarks how curious it was that he designed it as he did without knowing the philosophy of Schopenhauer: ‘If I had known it, I should have been less uninhibited in my choice of expressive means.’ He says, ‘When I first read Schopenhauer, I did not understand him at all, because I was no longer armed with the strength with which I wrote the poem.” [855W-{12/22/74} CD Vol. I, p. 812]
[856W-{6/26/75}Letter to Johannes Brahms: SLRW, p. 848-849]
[P. 848] “I have sometimes been told that my music is like theatrical scenery: the Rhinegold must suffer grievously under the weight of this reproach. None the less, it may not be without interest for you to follow the remaining scores of the Ring of the Nibelung and see how I have been [P. 849] able to base all kinds of musical themes upon the foundations of the theatrical scenery that has been set up here. In this sense the Rhinegold may perhaps be found worthy of your kind attention.” [856W-{6/26/75}Letter to Johannes Brahms: SLRW, p. 848-849]
[857W-{9/6/75}CD Vol. I, p. 861]
[P. 861] {FEUER} {SCHOP} “ … how can one speak of a national work of art? What does a stonemason … get from the Ring Des Nibelungen? … only individuals, the chosen few, can enjoy art.” [857W-{9/6/75}CD Vol. I, p. 861]
[858W-{1/26/76}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 852-853]
[P. 852] “He who wishes to know his age and the spirit of that age should make the same demands upon it as I myself made when I undertook my work! I have recognized our age for what it is, and at the same time have lost all my illusions as to its worth. For how is it possible to go on deluding ourselves as to the shameless wretchedness that lies all around us when every attempt [P. 853] to point out the way to salvation is met by open and undisguised abuse? We want to be worthless: this has been our motto ever since the Jesuits handed over this world of ours to the Jews.” [858W-{1/26/76}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 852-853]
[859W-{2/9/76} Reminiscences by Hermann Ritter of a visit to Wagner on 2/9/76: WR, p. 240]
[P. 240] “The large salon at Wahnfried looks out over the garden and houses Wagner’s library. I inspected its contents and, prompted by my high opinion of Ludwig Nohl, asked the Master whether he had Nohl’s writings among his collection of books. ‘Nohl?’ he said curtly. ‘Listen, I find him a strange person.’ ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Because he writes so much about my work. He should stop. Far too much is written and said about it. People should just come and see it and hear it. A single bowstroke is worth more than all this useless twaddle.’ (…) I considered it my duty to befriend my teacher, Professor Nohl, and responded to Wagner’s outburst by saying that Nohl was one of his chief admirers and supporters and that he championed his artistic ideals even in the lecture theatre at the university. Wagner exploded in anger: ‘That’s just what I don’t want,’ he
