yet I have said nothing about his acquaintance with Liszt. It began
at this time, and of course was destined to have wonderful results,
but for the moment it was of no importance. Wagner was an unknown
composer; Liszt was a world-famous pianist. Wagner, moreover, had
written only _Rienzi_ and the _Dutchman_, and was unable even to play
them on the piano. He probably made only the slightest impression on
Liszt. The incident is worth noticing in this chapter, because, though
this Paris episode seems to be nothing but a series of disasters, it
is an instance of the good that came of it. Wagner undoubtedly learnt
a lot about the stage; he got to know Liszt; he had the world of
_Tannhaeuser_ and _Lohengrin_ opened out to him. When he went off to
Dresden and touched German soil once more he swore he would never
again leave his fatherland. But he had learnt what his fatherland was
quite unable to teach him. His friends said his character changed
entirely during this period. Undoubtedly it did change: the Wagner who
had aimed only at worldly, commercial success, changed into Wagner the
artist whose sincerity carried him through all troubles to the
crowning triumph--and discomfiture--of Bayreuth. I have referred
before to the fact of the old momentum keeping him going in a certain
direction even after he knew that direction to be a wrong one; and the
same thing was to occur again, as we shall see in a moment. After
writing the _Dutchman_ he actually deliberated as to the wisdom of
doing another _Rienzi_. The claims of his stomach were, naturally
after a two years of semi-starvation, very strong, and another
_Rienzi_ might have meant easily earned bread-and-butter. But the
Paris change was fundamental; and even if he had tried to do another
_Rienzi_ he could not possibly have done it. Without his knowing it,
the artist in him had triumphed over the merely commercial composer.

CHAPTER VI

'RIENZI' AND 'THE FLYING DUTCHMAN'

I

Were _Rienzi_ an opera of the highest artistic importance, I suppose I
should have read ere now Bulwer Lytton's novel of that name. As it is,
I must confess my utter inability to wade through that pretentious and
dreary achievement. And it does not matter. Skimming over the novel, I
have gathered enough of the plot to see that Wagner took only the plot
and nothing else from Lytton. What else he could have taken I cannot
guess, unless it was a copious stream of high-falutin', and at this
period