of the worldly by the spiritual, of suffering by
happiness.

The Mass in D can be said to be the parent of some of the Parsifal
music. Wagner had the discernment to seize on the intellectual
subtleties he found there, and to put them to happiest uses. If we
compare the instrumental effects just noted with the exquisitely
delicate music that opens the Parsifal Prelude after the introductory
_leit motif_, we find a solution to each, as well as an affinity, in the
religious mysticism in which each is enveloped. There is a central
theme, but so shadowy and unreal as to be hardly apparent. Like a nimbus
these shimmerings of sound from the violins surround and permeate it, so
that one is not aware of any particular melody, but rather it is
perceived that the atmosphere is full of a divine melody, as if by
spiritual insight the listener had attained to a state of mind akin to
that of the seer, and had, for the time being, become one with the
composer. The effect is produced of being in the presence of something
holy.

The _Naturlangsamkeit_ necessary to the birth of any great art-work
sometimes extends to its recognition and appreciation by the public.
Beethoven considered the Mass in D his greatest achievement, but it
gains ground very slowly. It is rarely mentioned, and seldom performed.
Similarly Bach's greatest works slumbered nearly a century until brought
to light by Mendelssohn.

It is significant that Wagner was as world-weary from middle-age on as
was Beethoven. Like him he took refuge in creative work. Both were
pioneers, always in advance of their time, cheerfully making the
sacrifices which this position entails, diverging ever more and more
with advancing years from beaten paths and the ideas of others on the
subject of their art. Resignation and asceticism, the goal of mankind,
was Wagner's solution of the problem of existence, a conclusion arrived
at after reading Schopenhauer. Beethoven had also come to it long before
reaching middle-age. Wagner was, in his later years, a mystic, as was
Beethoven; and like Beethoven his most congenial work in those years was
of a religious character.

INDEX

Adagio, the, 62.
Adversity, school of, 6.
Altruism, 43, 164.
American Revolution, 3, 4.
Andante, the, 123.
Antwerp, 4.
Appassionata Sonata, 14, 44, 63, 66, 70, 71.
Archduke Rudolph, 80 et seq., 84, 93, 107, 108, 129, 188, 206,
Appointed Archbishop, 145-146,
Disciple of Beethoven, 81,
Installation of