he master, profoundly moved and impressed."

Wolf and Wagner did not see each other again. But Wolf fought
unceasingly on Wagner's behalf. He went several times to Bayreuth,
though he had no personal intercourse with the Wagner family; but he met
Liszt, who, with his usual goodness, wrote him a kind letter about a
composition that he had sent him, and showed him what alterations to
make in it.

Mottl and the composer, Adalbert de Goldschmidt, were the first friends
to aid him in his years of misery, by finding him some music pupils. He
taught music to little children of seven and eight years old; but he was
a poor teacher, and found giving lessons was a martyrdom. The money he
earned hardly served to feed him, and he only ate once a day--Heaven
knows how. To comfort himself he read Hebbel's Life; and for a time he
thought of going to America. In 1881 Goldschmidt got him the post of
second _Kapellmeister_ at the Salzburg theatre. It was his business to
rehearse the choruses for the operettas of Strauss and Milloecker. He did
his work conscientiously, but in deadly weariness; and he lacked the
necessary power of making his authority felt. He did not stay long in
this post, and came back to Vienna.

Since 1875 he had been writing music: _Lieder_, sonatas, symphonies,
quartets, etc., and already his _Lieder_ held the most important place.
He also composed in 1883 a symphonic poem on the _Penthesilea_ of his
friend Kleist.

In 1884 he succeeded in getting a post as musical critic. But on what a
paper! It was the _Salonblatt_--a mundane journal filled with articles
on sport and fashion news. One would have said that this little
barbarian was put there for a wager. His articles from 1884 to 1887 are
full of life and humour. He upholds the great classic masters in them:
Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, and--Wagner; he defends Berlioz; he scourges
the modern Italians, whose success at Vienna was simply scandalous; he
breaks lances for Bruckner, and begins a bold campaign against Brahms.
It was not that he disliked or had any prejudice against Brahms; he took
a delight in some of his works, especially his chamber music, but he
found fault with his symphonies and was shocked by the carelessness of
the declamation in his _Lieder_ and, in general, could not bear his want
of originality and power, and found him lacking in joy and fulness of
life. Above all, he struck at him as being the head of a party that was
spitefully opposed to Wag