egan the score of _Siegfried_
towards the end of 1856, while the thought of Tristan was stirring
within him. In _Tristan_ he wished to depict love as "a dreadful
anguish"; and this idea obsessed him so completely that he could not
finish _Siegfried_. He seemed to be consumed by a burning fever; and,
abandoning _Siegfried_ in the middle of the second act, he threw himself
madly into _Tristan_. "I want to gratify my desire for love," he says,
"until it is completely satiated; and in the folds of the black flag
that floats over its consummation I wish to wrap myself and die."[109]
_Siegfried_ was not finished until 5 February, 1871, at the end of the
Franco-Prussian war--that is fourteen years later, after several
interruptions.

Such is, in a few words, the history of this heroic idyll. It is perhaps
as well to remind the public now and then that the hours of distraction
they enjoy by means of art may represent years of suffering for the
artist.

* * * * *

[Footnote 109: The quotations from Wagner are taken from his letters to
Roeckel, Uhlig, and Liszt, between 1851 and 1856.]

Do you know the amusing account Tolstoy gave of a performance of
_Siegfried_? I will quote it from his book, _What is Art_?--

"When I arrived, an actor in tight-fitting breeches was seated
before an object that was meant to represent an anvil. He wore a
wig and false beard; his white and manicured hands had nothing of
the workman about them; and his easy air, prominent belly, and
flabby muscles readily betrayed the actor. With an absurd hammer he
struck--as no one else would ever strike--a fantastic-looking
sword-blade. One guessed he was a dwarf, because when he walked he
bent his legs at the knees. He cried out a great deal, and opened
his mouth in a queer fashion. The orchestra also emitted peculiar
noises like several beginnings that had nothing to do with one
another. Then another actor appeared with a horn in his belt,
leading a man dressed up as a bear, who walked on all-fours. He let
loose the bear on the dwarf, who ran away, but forgot to bend his
knees this time. The actor with the human face represented the
hero, Siegfried. He cried out for a long time, and the dwarf
replied in the same way. Then a traveller arrived--the god Wotan.
He had a wig, too; and, settling himself down with his spear, in a
silly attitud