(1) Paper on the “Abolition of the Monarchy,” read before the Fatherland Union, dated 16th June, 1848.
(2) Note to August Roeckel: “Return immediately; a premature outbreak is feared.”--May, 1849.
(3) Letter to Edward Roeckel: March, 1851:
(_a_) “It was no longer possible to endure the state of things in which we lived.”
(_b_) “I was present everywhere, actively superintending the bringing in of convoys, etc.”
(_c_) “I was actively engaged in the revolutionary movement up to its final struggle.”
(4) His active participation, related by himself to me, corroborated by Hainberger’s testimony. (I should add that Hainberger came to London in April, 1851, stayed with me, and that I secured for him lessons and a place in the orchestra of the New Philharmonic.)
(5) Max von Weber, son of Carl Maria von Weber, told me that he was present during the Revolution, and saw Wagner shoulder his musket.
As I have stated, the general drift of Wagner’s references to the Revolution is to minimize his share; I content myself with two extracts only:--
1. From “Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde” (a communication to my friends), vol. IV. of his collected writings, and dated 1851: “I never had occupied myself really with politics.”
2. “The Work and Mission of my Life,” the latest of Wagner’s published writings, written in 1876 for America: “In my innermost nature I really had nothing in common with its political side,” _i.e._ of the Revolution.
The significant omission of “The Abolition of the Monarchy” paper from his eleven volumes of “Collected Writings,” a collection which includes shorter papers written too at earlier periods than the above, may also be noted.
Pursued by a police warrant, Wagner first sought refuge and a home in Paris. The French capital possessed alluring attractions for him, but his reception, in 1849, was no brighter or more promising than it had been ten years earlier. He therefore left Paris, after a few weeks, and went to Zurich. Here he found a true home and hearty friends, and felt, as far as was possible, so contented that in the autumn following he became a naturalized subject. And yet Wagner used to say his forced exile pressed sore upon him, and there is no doubt he did chafe under it, and strove hard to free himself from its galling chains. He could not settle to work. He endeavoured to open communications with August Roeckel, through influential friends in Dresden, but was unsuccessful. When in Paris, and whilst still under the influence of the multitudinous, unsettling thoughts that had pressed him into the ranks of liberty, making him one of its most energetic champions, he endeavoured to negotiate with the editor of a newspaper of standing, for a series of letters, on the interesting and timely topic of “The Revolution, and its Relation to Art.” But the proposal came to nothing. He was told the time was inopportune. “Strange and silly people,” was his comment, and he left the Parisians for the more homely, though heavier folk, of Zurich.