In this country, where I have now lived for an unbroken period of fifty-one years, I was Wagner’s first and sole champion, and, notwithstanding all the calumny with which he was persistently assailed (which even now has not entirely ceased), stood firmly by him.
It was through my sole exertions that the Philharmonic Society in 1855 offered Wagner the post of conductor. His acceptance and retention of the post for one season are now matters of history.
Wagner returned to London in 1877 to conduct the “Wagner Festival” concerts at the Albert Hall. As his sixty-fourth birthday fell during these concerts, some ardent friends promoted a banquet in his honour at the Cannon Street Hotel on the 23d May. To that banquet I was invited, and great was my amazement when Wagner, the applauded of all, spontaneously and without the least hint to me, warmly and affectionately said:--
“It is now twenty-two years ago since I came to this country, unacknowledged as a composer and attacked on all sides by a hostile press. Then I had but one friend, one support, one who acknowledged and boldly defended me, one who has clung to me ever since with unchanging affection; this is my friend Ferdinand Praeger.”
My Lord, I have felt it desirable to address these preliminary remarks to you as indicative of the manner in which I propose to treat my friend’s life and work. Wagner was extremely voluble, and, with his intimate friends, most unreserved. He was a man of strong affections and strong memory, and to those he loved he freely spoke of those whom he loved, and thus I believe I am the sole recipient of many of his early impressions and reminiscences, of his thoughts and ambitions in after-life. Therefore shall I tell the story of his life and work, as he made me see it and as I knew him, keeping back nothing, believing as I do that the world has a right to know how its great men live: their lives are its lawful inheritance.
It is with deep affection that I undertake a work prompted by your Lordship’s love for the true in art, and it is to you that I dedicate the result of my labour.
“The child is father to the man”--Musician, poet, and dramatist--Stage reformer--His grandfather a customs officer--His father, Frederick Wagner, an officer of police, student, and amateur actor--Death of Frederick, 1813--His mother--Eldest brother, Albert, a tenor singer--Sisters Rosalie, Louisa, and Clara, actresses of repute--Ludwig Geyer, a Leipzic actor--Marries Widow Wagner--Family removes to Dresden--Affection of his step-father and mother for him--The girls receive piano-forte lessons--Richard receives a few lessons in drawing from Geyer--Beyond this, up to his ninth year, no regular education is attempted with him--Geyer not of a robust constitution--Wagner plays the bridal chorus from “Der Freischütz” by ear--Geyer’s prediction and death.....1
