Christian Death - Act I - Devine Manifestations: The Great Deception Part B: The Corrupt

In 1868, the premiere of the new Wagnerian opera "Nuremberg Mastersingers" was being prepared on the stage of the Munich theater, and the king expressed the desire that the author be present at the performance. Wagner again arrived in the Bavarian capital - this time not as an exile, but as a triumph. The Munichers themselves, who until recently had threatened almost a revolution if the "evil genius of the king" did not immediately leave their city, now enthusiastically applauded the "bright genius of German music." It was a victory. But this is not the final victory over the vulgarity, inertness and tastelessness of the public that Ludwig and Wagner dreamed about, not the birth of a new person, but simply a reflection of the general upsurge of national identity in anticipation of the unification of Germany in the Second Reich; victory is not spiritual, but political.And if Wagner, after many years of persecution and humiliation, was really intoxicated for the first time with such a clear expression of public delight, then Ludwig with his sensitivity has long understood the futility of the struggle for human souls. His cooling to Wagner was in fact a disappointment in the possibility of the triumph of their common cause, because the king saw in Wagner not a man, but primarily a guide of his own spiritual ideals.