Richard Wagner's letters to August Roeckel

Description

> IT is curious to observe how much
> deeper the French go in their interest
> for Richard Wagner than the English.
> The English flock to Bayreuth, that is
> true, and they flock to Richter's
> concerts and to the wretched parodies
> of Wagner's operas with which the
> metropolis is occasionally gratified;
> but even among enthusiasts, hardly one
> in a thousand knows anything about
> Wagner, the man, nor of the stubborn
> battle waged by him during fifty years
> against a demoralised and demoralising
> stage, and against the perversion of
> music — or of what he calls "the
> Christian Art" — into a mere
> accomplishment, a mere trade and
> handicraft. ([Source][1].)

[1]: http://www.hschamberlain.net/roeckel/wagner_roeckel.html