I understand nothing
at all about music _(Ich verstehe gar nichts von der Musik_).'
"I asked the master whether I should ever be able really to do
anything, and he said to me: 'When I was your age and composing
music, no one could tell me then whether I should ever do anything
great. You could at most play me your compositions on the piano;
but I have no time to hear them. When you are older, and when you
have composed bigger works, and if by chance I return to Vienna,
you shall show me what you have done. But that is no use now; I
cannot give you an opinion of them yet.'
"When I told the master that I took the classics as models, he
said: 'Good, good. One can't be original at first.' And he laughed,
and then said, 'I wish you, dear friend, much happiness in your
career. Go on working steadily, and if I come back to Vienna, show
me your compositions.'
"Upon that I left the master, profoundly moved and impressed."
Wolf and Wagner did not see each other again. But Wolf fought
unceasingly on Wagner's behalf. He went several times to Bayreuth,
though he had no personal intercourse with the Wagner family; but he met
Liszt, who, with his usual goodness, wrote him a kind letter about a
composition that he had sent him, and showed him what alterations to
make in it.
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