[1040W-{9/28/80}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 903]
[P. 903] “Although conceived in ideal terms, I have had to surrender all of my works to a kind of audience and theatrical practice which I recognize to be deeply immoral, so that I must ask myself in all seriousness whether I should not at least rescue this latest and most sacred of my works from a similar fate, namely that of a common operatic career. I was finally no longer able to deny that the purity of content and subject-matter of my ‘Parsifal’ was the decisive factor here. How, indeed, might it be possible or permissible for a drama in which the most sublime mysteries of the Christian faith are openly presented on stage to be performed in theatres such as ours, side by side with an operatic repertoire and before an audience such as ours?” [1040W-{9/28/80}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 903]
[1041W-{10/7/80}CD Vol. II, p. 548]
[P. 548] {FEUER} “This morning, when I quoted ‘She who kept silent pledges me to silence,’ R. said, ‘That is the realm of poetry, where everything has to be wrapped in cotton wool; the other, where it all bursts out, is music.’ “[1041W-{10/7/80}CD Vol. II, p. 548]
[1042W-{10/10/80}CD Vol. II, p. 549]
[P. 549] {anti-FEUER/NIET} “… I show him a head of the Virgin Mary; it moves us both to tears. I say ‘Isolde.’ He says no, this shows much of the rapture of suffering, which Isolde was spared. Recently he said that ecstasies of this kind were based on sensuality, that is to say, sensuality was one grade, saintliness another, of a sort which gratified sensuality could never provide.” [1042W-{10/10/80}CD Vol. II, p. 549]
[1043W-{11/11/80} CD Vol. II, p. 557]
[P. 557] {FEUER} “ … we talk a lot about the tragic element in ‘Lohengrin,’ which offers no reconciliation. – Love produces faith, life produces doubt, which is punished unatoned. The lovingly faithful Elsa has to die, since the living Elsa must put the question to him. And all the scenic splendor, all the glory of the music, seem to be built up to throw light on the unique value of this one heart.” [1043W-{11/11/80} CD Vol. II, p. 557]
[1044W-{11/12/80} CD Vol. II, p. 558]
[P. 558] “Altogether very agitated, he says in a conversation with Levi that he – as a Jew – has merely to learn to die, but Levi shows understanding.” [1044W {11/12/80} CD Vol. II, p. 558]
[1045W-{11/80}What Boots This Knowledge – First Supplement to ‘Religion and Art’: PW Vol. VI, p. 256]
[P. 256] {anti-FEUER/NIET} “Luther’s main revolt was against the Roman Church’s shameless Absolution , which went so far as to accept deliberate prepayment for sins not yet committed: his anger came too late; the world soon managed to abolish Sin entirely, and believers now look for
