He had done what he wanted: there was the theatre, and there were his
works, and the world had learnt where to come when it was called.
And there is now a new Bayreuth, where, almost as well as at Bayreuth
itself, one can see and hear Wagner's music as Wagner wished it to be
seen and heard. The square, plain, grey and green Prinz-Regenten Theatre
at Munich is an improved copy of the theatre at Bayreuth, with exactly
the same ampitheatrical arrangement of seats, the same invisible
orchestra and vast stage. Everything is done as at Bayreuth: there are
even the three "fanfaren" at the doors, with the same punctual and
irrevocable closing of the doors at the beginning of each act. As at
Bayreuth, the solemnity of the whole thing makes one almost nervous, for
the first few minutes of each act; but, after that, how near one is, in
this perfectly darkened, perfectly quiet theatre, in which the music
surges up out of the "mystic gulf," and the picture exists in all the
ecstasy of a picture on the other side of it, beyond reality, how near
one is to being alone, in the passive state in which the flesh is able
to endure the great burdening and uplifting of vision.
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