)
* * * * *
As soon as Wolf was really dead his genius was recognised all over
Germany. His sufferings provoked an almost excessive reaction in his
favour. _Hugo-Wolf-Vereine_ were founded everywhere; and to-day we have
publications, collections of letters, souvenirs, and biographies in
abundance. It is a case of who can cry loudest that he always understood
the genius of the unhappy artist, and work himself into the greatest
fury against his traducers. A little later, and monuments and statues
will spring up all over.
I doubt if Wolf with his rough, sincere nature would have found much
consolation in this tardy homage if he could have foreseen it. He would
have said to his posthumous admirers: "You are hypocrites. It is not for
me that you raise those statues; it is for yourselves. It is that you
may make speeches, form committees, and delude yourselves and others
that you were my friends. Where were you when I had need of you? You let
me die. Do not play a comedy round my grave. Look rather around you, and
see if there are not other Wolfs who are struggling against your
hostility or your indifference.
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