Roger Allen, ‘On the Destiny of Opera’: The Musically Conceived Drama or ‘Deeds of Music made Visible’

At 10pm on Tuesday 25 April 1871, Wagner and his wife Cosima arrived for a stay in Berlin. The appearance of the by now celebrated composer in the capital of the newly founded German Reich caused something of a sensation. Wagner was fêted wherever he went: on 29 April a banquet was given in his honour at which, true to form, he took the opportunity to make a speech on the now familiar theme of the regeneration of German art in line with the rebirth of the national spirit; on 5 May he conducted a concert at the Royal Opera of extracts from his own works and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony before a celebrity audience that included Kaiser Wilhelm I and Kaiserin Augusta. He was especially gratified on this occasion by the warm reception and level of cooperation he received from the orchestral players. Cosima records how ‘before the performance the first violinist came to him and begged his forbearance, saying “You have no idea how these things are rattled off here”’.