m is a scene which is certain to produce
a strong effect, a real _actio_,(10) with a basso-relievo of attitudes; an
_overwhelming_ scene, this he now proceeds to elaborate more deeply, and
out of it he draws his characters. The whole of what remains to be done
follows of itself, fully in keeping with a technical economy which has no
reason to be subtle. It is not Corneille's public that Wagner has to
consider, it is merely the nineteenth century. Concerning the "actual
requirements of the stage" Wagner would have about the same opinion as any
other actor of to-day, a series of powerful scenes, each stronger than the
one that preceded it,--and, in between, all kinds of _clever_ nonsense. His
first concern is to guarantee the effect of his work; he begins with the
third act, he _approves_ his work according to the quality of its final
effect. Guided by this sort of understanding of the stage, there is not
much danger of one's creating a drama unawares. Drama demands _inexorable_
logic: but what did Wagner care about logic? Again I say, it was not
Corneille's public that he had to consider; but merely Germans! Everybody
knows the technical difficulties before which the dramatist often has to
summon all his strength and frequently to sweat his blood: the difficulty
of making the _plot_ seem necessary and the unravelment as well, so that
both are conceivable only in a certain way, and so that each may give the
impression of freedom (the principle of the smallest expenditure of
energy). Now the very last thing that Wagner does is to sweat blood over
the plot; and on this and the unravelment he certainly spends the smallest
possible amount of energy. Let anybody put one of Wagner's "plots" under
the microscope, and I wager that he will be forced to laugh. Nothing is
more enlivening than the dilemma in "Tristan," unless it be that in the
"Mastersingers." Wagner is _no_ dramatist; let nobody be deceived on this
point. All he did was to love the word "drama"--he always loved fine words.
Nevertheless, in his writings the word "drama" is merely a
misunderstanding (--_and_ a piece of shrewdness: Wagner always affected
superiority in regard to the word "opera"--), just as the word "spirit" is
a misunderstanding in the New Testament.--He was not enough of a
psychologist for drama; he instinctively avoided a psychological plot--but
how?--by always putting idiosyncrasy in its place.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Very modern--eh? Very
Parisian! ve