HERMANN HESSE AND THE DIALECTICS OF TIME Salvatore C. P. ...

undramatisch' (letter of 1898 to Helene Voigt-Diederichs, Musik, 131). 43 Despite a
sceptical attitude towards the theatre in general and Wagner's music in particular,
Hesse praised Die Meistersinger, especially in his youth, as noted in the same letter of
1899 to his parents: 'Die »Meistersinger« selber hab ich immer gern gehabt' (Musik,
133). In the fiction of Peter Camenzind (1904), the protagonist expresses a similarly
favourable opinion on this work by Wagner, the music of which Richard (in nomine
omen) plays on the piano:
»Es ist Wagner«, rief er [Richard] zuriick, »aus den Meistersingern«, und
spielte weiter. Es klang leicht und kraftig, sehnsiichtig und heiter, und umflofi
mich wie ein laues, erregendes Bad. 44 (SW 2, 38)
Despite Hesse's early appreciation of Die Meistersinger, he progressively distances
himself from Wagner and his music. Gertrud (1910), Rofihalde (1914), and Klein und
Wagner (1919) capture this transition. In the first novel, 'das ewige Begehren, die
Sehnsucht und Ungeniige' (SW 2, 340) of Muoth, a 'Wagnersanger' (SW 2, 339),
makes this character an incarnation of Wagner's music. Rofihalde indirectly questions
the value of Wagner's music through a comparison of the musical taste of two
generations. While Johann Veraguth, the protagoinist, and his friend Burkhardt,
experienced the music of Tristan und Isolde as 'ein Rausch' (SW 3, 44) in their youth,
Albert, Veraguth's son, holds neutral or even sceptical views on Wagner and, asked
about his opinion on 'das Meistersingervorspiel' (ibid.), plainly expresses his lack of
interest: 'Ich kann wirklich nicht dariiber urteilen. Es ist - wie soil ich sagen? -
romantische Music, und fur die fehlt es mir an Interesse' (ibid.). In Klein und Wagner,
conflicting associations accumulate around the character of Wagner, who is at the
same time a murderer, Klein's polar opposite, and also the genial composer of
Lohengrin:
Derm Wagner war er selber - Wagner war der Morder und Gejagte in ihm,
aber Wagner war auch der Komponist, der Kiinstler, das Genie, der Verfiihrer,
43 Mozart's staged music, on the contrary, appealed to him greatly: 'Die Opern von Mozart sind fur mich der
Inbegriff von Theater [...] Ich habe mich fur das eigentliche Theater ja niemals interessieren kCnnen, das heifit
fur die Schauspieler und die Dramen' (letter of 1929 to Emmy Ball-Hennings, Musik, 153). This difference in
appreciation, or apparent contradiction, is also mirrored in Steppenwolf, where the music of Mozart and Wagner
are presented as antithetical.
44 The radiance and brilliance of this opera, which contrasts with the languid atmosphere of most works by
Wagner, must have been particularly appealing to Hesse's 'undramatisch' nature.
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