My Life, vol 1 | Page 2

youth.
My father, whom I had lost so early, was, as I discovered afterwards, a
great lover of poetry and literature in general, and possessed in
particular an almost passionate affection for the drama, which was at
that time much in vogue among the educated classes. My mother told
me, among other things, that he took her to Lauchstadt for the first
performance of the Braut von Messina, and that on the promenade he
pointed out Schiller and Goethe to her, and reproved her warmly for
never having heard of these great men. He is said to have been not
altogether free from a gallant interest in actresses. My mother used to
complain jokingly that she often had to keep lunch waiting for him
while he was paying court to a certain famous actress of the day
[FOOTNOTE: Madame Hartwig]. When she scolded him, he vowed
that he had been delayed by papers that had to be attended to, and as a
proof of his assertion pointed to his fingers, which were supposed to be

stained with ink, but on closer inspection were found to be quite clean.
His great fondness for the theatre was further shown by his choice of
the actor, Ludwig Geyer, as one of his intimate friends. Although his
choice of this friend was no doubt mainly due to his love for the theatre,
he at the same time introduced into his family the noblest of
benefactors; for this modest artist, prompted by a warm interest in the
lot of his friend's large family, so unexpectedly left destitute, devoted
the remainder of his life to making strenuous efforts to maintain and
educate the orphans. Even when the police official was spending his
evenings at the theatre, the worthy actor generally filled his place in the
family circle, and it seems had frequently to appease my mother, who,
rightly or wrongly, complained of the frivolity of her husband.
How deeply the homeless artist, hard pressed by life and tossed to and
fro, longed to feel himself at home in a sympathetic family circle, was
proved by the fact that a year after his friend's death he married his
widow, and from that time forward became a most loving father to the
seven children that had been left behind.
In this onerous undertaking he was favoured by an unexpected
improvement in his position, for he obtained a remunerative,
respectable, and permanent engagement, as a character actor, at the
newly established Court Theatre in Dresden. His talent for painting,
which had already helped him to earn a livelihood when forced by
extreme poverty to break off his university studies, again stood him in
good stead in his position at Dresden. True, he complained even more
than his critics that he had been kept from a regular and systematic
study of this art, yet his extraordinary aptitude, for portrait painting in
particular, secured him such important commissions that he
unfortunately exhausted his strength prematurely by his twofold
exertions as painter and actor. Once, when he was invited to Munich to
fulfil a temporary engagement at the Court Theatre, he received,
through the distinguished recommendation of the Saxon Court, such
pressing commissions from the Bavarian Court for portraits of the royal
family that he thought it wise to cancel his contract altogether. He also
had a turn for poetry. Besides fragments--often in very dainty verse--he
wrote several comedies, one of which, Der Bethlehemitische
Kindermord, in rhymed Alexandrines, was often performed; it was
published and received the warmest praise from Goethe.

This excellent man, under whose care our family moved to Dresden
when I was two years old, and by whom my mother had another
daughter, Cecilia, now also took my education in hand with the greatest
care and affection. He wished to adopt me altogether, and accordingly,
when I was sent to my first school, he gave me his own name, so that
till the age of fourteen I was known to my Dresden schoolfellows as
Richard Geyer; and it was not until some years after my stepfather's
death, and on my family's return to Leipzig, the home of my own kith
and kin, that I resumed the name of Wagner.
The earliest recollections of my childhood are associated with my
stepfather, and passed from him to the theatre. I well remember that he
would have liked to see me develop a talent for painting; and his studio,
with the easel and the pictures upon it, did not fail to impress me. I
remember in particular that I tried, with a childish love of imitation, to
copy a portrait of King Frederick Augustus of Saxony; but when this
simple daubing had to give place to a serious study of drawing, I could
not stand it, possibly because I was discouraged by the pedantic