, but brought
few returns, except in Russia. Wagner became despondent and almost
convinced he ought to give up trying to be a composer. People called
him a freak, a madman and ridiculed his efforts at music making.
And yet, during all this troublesome time, he was at work on his one
humorous opera, "Die Meistersinger." On this he toiled incessantly.

And now, when he was in dire need, and suffering, a marvelous boon was
coming to him, as wonderful as any to be found in fairy tale. A fairy
Prince was coming to the rescue of this struggling genius. This Prince
was the young monarch of Bavaria, who had just succeeded to the throne
left by the passing of his father. The youthful Prince, ardent and
generous, had long worshiped in secret the master and his music.
One of his first acts on becoming Ludwig of Bavaria, was to send for
Wagner to come to his capital at once and finish his life work in
peace. "He wants me to be with him always, to work, to rest, to
produce my works," wrote Wagner to a friend in Zurich, where he had
been staying. "He will give me everything I need; I am to finish my
Nibelungen and he will have them performed as I wish. All troubles
are to be taken from me; I shall have what I need, if I only stay with
him."

The King placed a pretty villa on Lake Starnberg, near Munich, at
Wagner's disposal, and there he spent the summer of 1864. The King's
summer palace was quite near, and monarch and composer were much
together. In the autumn a residence in the quiet part of Munich
was set apart for Wagner. Hans von Buelow was sent for as one of the
conductors; young Hans Richter lived in Munich and later became one of
the most distinguished conductors of Wagner's music.

The Buelows arrived in Munich in the early autumn, and almost at once
began the attraction of Mme. Cosima von Buelow and Wagner. She,
the daughter of Liszt, was but twenty five, of deeply artistic
temperament, and could understand the aims of the composer as no
other woman had yet done. This ardent attraction led later to Cosima's
separation from her husband and finally to her marriage with Wagner.

The first of the Wagner Festivals under patronage of the King, took
place in Munich June 10, 13, 19, and July 1, 1865. The work was
"Tristan and Isolde," perhaps the finest flower of Wagner's genius,
and already eight years old. Von Buelow was a superb conductor and
Ludwig an inspired Tristan. Wagner was supremely happy. Alas, such
happiness did n