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Richard Wagner's National Utopia, Second Edition

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Richard Wagner's National Utopia, Second Edition Part II “TOWARDS THE POWER OF GERMANY”: WAGNER’S POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY, 1864–1871 Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/25/2021 07:57:09PM via free access Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/25/2021 07:57:09PM via free access Chapter Four Wagner in Munich, 1864–1865 Looking for a German Community The guiding principle in the previous analysis of this study was to throw light on the foundations of Wagner’s concept of the German ideal from the perspective of cultural and intellectual history. This national myth clearly incorporates a striving from political disunity towards unity, “zur Grösse Deutschlands”.1 This objective is also recognizable in the con- ceptual structures of Wagner’s’ texts, where positive political features and emotions are constantly connected with a lost past, the present be- ing conversely beset by un-German decadence. These structures could be interpreted as a strategy the purpose of which was to reveal the deteriora- tion of the German spirit and to proclaim a new national renewal. In view of this, it appears that the purpose of Wagner’s ideological and literary ac- tivities was to reduce and alleviate the breach between political dissolution and cultural integrity. At the same time, the creation of a German national identity would facilitate the analysis of the domestic native culture, and provide a new means to re-examine “the reality of nationalities”. From this angle, it became a “weapon” against the other national identities, with the goal of helping the German nation to rediscover its lost state of happiness, “die deutsche Herrlichkeit”. As has been pointed out, Wagner regarded his own art as true German art, through which the German people could understand their own identity.2 Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/25/2021 07:57:09PM via free access 88 “Towards the Power of Germany” In his writings, Wagner constantly intertwined his own art with the fate of Germany. This was explicitly stated in a letter to Count Karl von Enzenberg, dated 15th June 1866: I have long been convinced that my artistic ideal stands or falls with Germany. Only the Germany that we love and desire can help us achieve that ideal.3 A little earlier, Wagner had used almost the same words in his letters to Constantin Franz (19th March 1866), Julius Fröbel (11th April 1866), and to King Ludwig II (29th April 1866).4 In these letters, the idea of an in- separable connection between Wagner’s art and the destiny of Germany is represented as a climax. The significance of this idea is seen in his constant employment of the same lexical items in his letters, as if they were the cruxes of his entire thinking. Since the defeat and victory of Wagner’s ideal art was thus linked to Germany’s destiny, only a propitious political system and a cultural ad- ministration favourable to art could make the cultivation of his art pos- sible. Without a firm collective establishment, true Wagnerian art could not exist. This collectivity is self-evident in the light of Wagner’s total theory of art; only art as a total experience could transform Germany into the new realm of Classical Antiquity. Ever since the Dresden period, Wagner had attempted to achieve social conditions more favourable to his art. At the Dresden Court Theatre, Wag- ner had to abandon his reformist programme, and from this he concluded that it was impossible to change the structures of the institution of opera without changing the structures of the entire society, and he rose to the barricades alongside Michael Bakunin, August Röckel, and Gottfried Sem- per. After 1849, however, Wagner’s political activities came to a halt for fifteen years. “His brave participation in the struggle of May”5—as The Meyer Encyclopedia stated in 1852—would have ended in capital punish- ment, but a quick escape saved his life. Despite this, Wagner did not give up his interest in politics. On returning to the political stage in 1864, he limited himself to acting behind the scenes. The time of open struggle was over. Already, well after the 1848 revolution had ended, Wagner had writ- ten to Liszt that he would no longer seek publicity without the certainty of a favourable and collective response: “I cannot seek publicity, and my artistic salvation could be brought about one day only by publicity seeking me.”6 Even at a later date, Wagner’s circle of acquaintances included many revolutionaries from 1848: not only Röckel and Semper, but also Lothar Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/25/2021 07:57:09PM via free access Wagner in Munich, 1864–1865 89 Bucher, Julius Fröbel, Georg Herwegh, and Mathilde von Meysenbug. The revolutionary explosion forced Wagner and Herwegh to flee to Switz- erland; Bucher and Meysenbug fled to England, and Fröbel to the United States. In the 1860s, all of these expatriates were allowed to return to Ger- man soil. At the same time, the nature of their political activities clearly changed. Lothar Bucher was to come to Berlin, where he became the right hand of Otto von Bismarck, whereas Julius Fröbel acted as a political ad- viser to the government of the Austrian Empire, and in the 1860s–70s as a consul of the German Empire. The revolutionaries were integrated into society, as also happened with Wagner. On receiving Ludwig’s invitation in 1864, Wagner raised no objections. It is interesting to try to identify the period of Wagner’s life in which this political re-evaluation took place. It is a particularly relevant question, as the later parts of this study will concentrate on a scrutiny of Wagner’s life after 1864. A decisive step in Wagner’s thinking was Über Staat und Religion, dedicated to Ludwig II and published in July 1864. His idea of a national utopia is further illuminated in the entries in his diary, and in his series of articles Deutsche Kunst und deutsche Politik (1867/68). As has been pointed out, Wagner’s world view during these years forms a coherent whole: it was principally his relationship to political power that changed, as his ideological attention turned from Bavaria to Prussia. It would be a mis- take, however, to see Wagner as an anti-statist anarchist prior to his arrival in Munich. Signs of the change in his thinking can already be found in the earlier period. Another cause contributing to the shift in his thinking was his migratory life, which seemed to have brought him to a dead end. Wagner, after all, longed to find a distinguished patron for his work. The dream of a free relationship between the artist and the people evoked by the Dresden period no longer appeared possible. During the spring of 1863, a new per- spective emerges in the preface to the libretto for The Ring of the Nibelung, which shows that Wagner was coming to terms with the idea of being em- ployed by a wealthy prince.7 There is clear evidence supporting the hypoth- esis that even before his arrival in Munich, Wagner had moulded his think- ing into a new faith, notwithstanding the frequently repeated misconception that it was the sudden appearance of Ludwig II that made the chameleon change its colour. On the contrary, it was the previous change in Wagner’s thinking which made it possible for him to seize the opportunity offered. It is also evident that Wagner could not be satisfied merely by an ideological reorientation; die deutsche Herrlichkeit could be achieved only through an Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/25/2021 07:57:09PM via free access 90 “Towards the Power of Germany” active influence. This was the project which Wagner consciously under- took during 1864–1871. The preface to the libretto for The Ring shows that Wagner was al- ready a monarchist before he came to know Ludwig II. According to Frank B. Josserand, Wagner was never interested in the ordinary political games; his goals always surpassed the narrow views of politicians.8 Wagner’s thinking was integrally related to his function as an artist: he engaged in politics solely because he was an artist, and because he was dreaming of a world where the artist would be given special status. He wrote to Count Enzenberg that artists could advise the monarchs far better than diplomats: “… may our princes see them as such; far better than all their diplomats, the bard will be able to address their appeal to the people.”9 After May 1849, therefore, although Wagner no longer rose up on the barricades, he did not relinquish his political influence; it was the nature of his influence that changed. He was writing much more, and attempted to give his political thoughts a literary form. Prior to 1864, his liter- ary activities were mainly focused on art, on the political nature of art (Gesamtkunstwerk), and on revolution; after 1864 on politics, in a wider and a more reformist sense. At the same time, he increasingly set out di- rectly to influence the decision-makers. The change needed in society was no longer to begin bottom-up from the barricades, but from the very summit of the hierarchy. Wagner hoped that his own thinking and art could contribute to the future unification of Germany and to the administration to be established for the newly created state. Again we find that Wagner, like other romantic thinkers, was strongly committed to Herder’s concept of the people (Volk) as the standpoint of all theorizing and the unconditional spiritual foundation for all art.
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