Richard Wagner's letters to August Roeckel

the long version

> IT is curious to observe how much > deeper the French go in their interest > for Richard Wagner than the English. > The English flock to Bayreuth, that is > true, and they flock to Richter's > concerts and to the wretched parodies > of Wagner's operas with which the > metropolis is occasionally gratified; > but even among enthusiasts, hardly one > in a thousand knows anything about > Wagner, the man, nor of the stubborn > battle waged by him during fifty years > against a demoralised and demoralising > stage, and against the perversion of > music — or of what he calls "the > Christian Art" — into a mere > accomplishment, a mere trade and > handicraft. ([Source][1].) [1]: http://www.hschamberlain.net/roeckel/wagner_roeckel.html