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He determined to turn his back on all the intrigues and hardships he had endured for over two years, and set out for the homeland, which seemed the only desirable spot on earth. The rehearsals for "Rienzi" began in Dresden in July 1842. Wagner had now finished "The Flying Dutchman," and had completed the outline of "Tannhäuser," based on Hoffmann's story of the Singers' Contest at the Wartburg.
The point in this popular pamphlet which had so much weight with me was that it brought 'Tannhauser, if only by a passing hint, into touch with 'The Minstrel's War on the Wartburg. I had some knowledge of this also from Hoffmann's account in his Serapionsbrudern.
But we shall find her when approaching seventy still writing on, without a trace of the weakness of old age. The charge of "unreality" so commonly brought against her novels it may be well briefly to examine. Such little fantasy-pieces in Hoffmann's manner as Le Château des Désertes, Teverino, and others, making no pretense to be exact studies of nature, cannot fairly be censured on this head.
The suppression of most of Herr Hoffmann's speech in the Prussian Diet in January, 1917, is another important case in point. This is in striking contrast to the British Parliament, which is supreme, and over whose reports the Press Bureau has no control. The German Press Bureau, on the other hand, revises and even suppresses the publication of speeches.
In Hoffmann's own devout consciousness there had been response, since his childhood, to every item which the creed alleged. Therefore these items must have objective truth. One is reminded of an English parallel in Newman's Grammar of Assent. Yet another group, that of the so-called mediating theologians, contains some well-known names. Here belong Nitzsch, Rothe, Müller, Dorner.
And yet, the worthy man did justice to the great masters of our day; a masterpiece finely rendered brought tears to his eyes; but his religion never bordered on mania, as in the case of Hoffmann's Kreislers; he kept his enthusiasm to himself; his delight, like the paradise reached by opium or hashish, lay within his own soul.
We resembled, to a certain extent, the mysterious personage in one of Hoffmann's fantastic tales the man who lost his shadow. After we had walked about a mile farther, we came to the edge of a vast forest not, however, one of the vast mushroom forests we had discovered near Port Gretchen. It was the glorious and wild vegetation of the Tertiary period, in all its superb magnificence.
In Germany, where 'Les Contes d' Hoffmann' is still very popular under the name of 'Hoffmann's Erzählungen, it is usually performed in a revised version, which differs considerably from the French original as regards plot and dialogue, though the music is practically the same.
We have managed wonderfully well for a few months with only Mademoiselle, but we certainly miss Herr Hoffmann's and Monsieur Guizet's classes, to say nothing of drawing and dancing lessons. Visiting masters cannot arrange to come so far away from town. There are no proper educational advantages to be had in the depths of the country."
Hoffmann's widow, who seems to have returned from Basle after the death of her husband, was there, but so aged and infirm as to be confined to the house. The inmates of the establishment were therefore convened in some apartments adjoining her chamber, so that she could partake in the spiritual repast.
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