part to be nullified by his
approaching deafness and other physical ailments. His letters at this
time to his friend Dr. Wegeler, at Bonn, and to others, are full of
misgivings.

But not alone is this unhappy frame of mind to be attributed to
approaching deafness or any mere physical ailment. The psychological
element also enters into the account and largely dominates it. The
extraordinary character of the First and Second Symphonies seem to have
had a powerful effect on his trend of thought making him introspective
and morbidly conscientious. In a mind constituted as was his, it is
quite within bounds to assume that the revelation of his genius was
largely the cause of the morbid self-consciousness which appears in his
letters of the period, and in the "Will." He recognized to the full how
greatly superior this work was to anything of the kind that had yet
appeared; singularly the knowledge made him humble. What he had
accomplished thus far was only an earnest of the great work he was
capable of, but to achieve it meant a surrender of nearly all the ties
that bound him to life. The human qualities in him rebelled at the
prospect. With the clairvoyance superinduced by much self-examination,
he was able to forecast the vast scope of his powers, and the task that
was set him. The whole future of the unapproachable artist that he was
destined to become, was mirrored out to him almost at the beginning of
his career, but he saw it only with apprehension and dread. There were
periods when a narrower destiny would have pleased him more. "Unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." He at times
recoiled from the task, and would have preferred death instead. This was
probably the most unhappy period of his life. He had yet to learn the
hardest lesson of all, resignation, renunciation. That harsh mandate
enunciated by Goethe in Faust: "Entbaeren sollst du, sollst entbaeren,"
had been thrust on him with a force not to be gainsaid or evaded.

With such a man but one issue to the conflict was possible: obedience to
the higher law. In a conversation held with his friend Krumpholz, he
expressed doubts as to the value of his work hitherto. "From now on I
shall strike out on a new road," he said. He is now dominated by a
greater seriousness; his mission has been shown him. Adieu now to the
light-hearted mode of life characteristic of his friends and of the
time. His new road led him into regions where they could not