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7/19/2025, 5:20:36 PM
>>24563108
>We pressed forward as closely as possible, and could now clearly recognise a voice which spoke with a decided Saxon accent. That must be he!—for we knew that Wagner had never shed the characteristics of his native dialect. A tall, slim lady—apparently Frau Cosima—emerges from the theatre and at once steps into the carriage, accompanied by a gentleman. Him we recognise as Josef Rubinstein, one of the master's intimate friends and the compiler of the 'Parsifal' vocal score. He exchanges a few words with the lady in the carriage. Suddenly a remarkably short man comes through the door with rapid steps, and approaches Rubinstein. 'Well, good-bye, my dear Rubinstein!' he says, 'Au revoir, and remember me to your father.' It is Richard Wagner!—the clear-cut features are unmistakable. A pair of spectacles rests on his prominent nose, and he is wearing a top hat. Over his shoulders is slung the light yellow coat to which, according to hearsay, he is so attached that he is deaf to his wife's most earnest entreaties to exchange it for a new one. Hardly have I had time to absorb the impression of this long-awaited moment before the carriage with its precious burden moves away and is lost in the darkness. I follow it with my eyes as in a dream. What an embodiment of tremendous vitality and titanic strength is being wafted away in an insignificant looking conveyance.
>We pressed forward as closely as possible, and could now clearly recognise a voice which spoke with a decided Saxon accent. That must be he!—for we knew that Wagner had never shed the characteristics of his native dialect. A tall, slim lady—apparently Frau Cosima—emerges from the theatre and at once steps into the carriage, accompanied by a gentleman. Him we recognise as Josef Rubinstein, one of the master's intimate friends and the compiler of the 'Parsifal' vocal score. He exchanges a few words with the lady in the carriage. Suddenly a remarkably short man comes through the door with rapid steps, and approaches Rubinstein. 'Well, good-bye, my dear Rubinstein!' he says, 'Au revoir, and remember me to your father.' It is Richard Wagner!—the clear-cut features are unmistakable. A pair of spectacles rests on his prominent nose, and he is wearing a top hat. Over his shoulders is slung the light yellow coat to which, according to hearsay, he is so attached that he is deaf to his wife's most earnest entreaties to exchange it for a new one. Hardly have I had time to absorb the impression of this long-awaited moment before the carriage with its precious burden moves away and is lost in the darkness. I follow it with my eyes as in a dream. What an embodiment of tremendous vitality and titanic strength is being wafted away in an insignificant looking conveyance.
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