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Wagner
is universally cast as an arrogant, cold, and selfish
egotist. The facts often contradict this, however.
A
humble and honest Bayreuth citizen who worked at a local
factory asked Wagner one day to be his child’s
godfather, as the child had been born on the day that the
cornerstone for Wagner’s theatre was laid. Wagner
cheerfully agreed and brought his entire family to spend
the entire afternoon in the man’s house, joking and
telling stories.
One
day while Wagner’s theater was being constructed,
something had been done incorrectly because the builders
had not understood Wagner’s directions correctly. One of
the overseers, though not a builder, saw what was needed
and redid the work. Wagner was so happy that he sought him
out in town, escorted him to a tavern, and drank a bottle
of wine with him.
Praeger
came to see Wagner in Zurich and they went on a tour of
the Rhine Falls. They spent the night at a hotel and
agreed to meet for breakfast in the garden, but at
breakfast time, no one could find Wagner. “Here I am!”
they suddenly heard him call. He was sitting high up on
the back of a plaster lion that decorated the outside
area. He scurried down recklessly; laughing heartily
saying he had gone up there to get his breakfast appetite.
On
July 10, 1852, Wagner began a trek through the Bernese
Oberland of the Swiss Alps and climbed both the Faulhorn
and the Sidelhorn. “The gem of my trip was my march over
the Gries Glacier from Wallis through the Formazza Valley
to Domo d’Ossola, which occupied two days. The Gries is
a stupendously savage glacier-pass, very dangerous, and
crossed but seldom from the Haslithal or Wallis by
peasants fetching Southern wares such as rice, etc. from
Italy.” On July 19th, he trudged down the
Formazzathal to Domodossola and arrived that evening in
Baveno. He was intoxicated with everything he saw and
experienced, the peasants, the goat-herders, the chestnut
groves and glaciers. All was so beautiful, he laughed out
load for joy.
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