May 27th, 1857.—­Wagner’s is a powerful mind endowed with strong poetical sensitiveness.  His work is even more poetical than musical.  The suppression of the lyrical element, and therefore of melody, is with him a systematic parti pris. No more duos or trios; monologue and the aria are alike done away with.  There remains only declamation, the recitative, and the choruses.  In order to avoid the conventional in singing, Wagner falls into another convention,—­that of not singing at all.  He subordinates the voice to articulate speech, and for fear lest the muse should take flight he clips her wings; so that his works are rather symphonic dramas than operas.  The voice is brought down to the rank of an instrument, put on a level with the violins, the hautboys, and the drums, and treated instrumentally.  Man is deposed from his superior position, and the centre of gravity of the work passes into the baton of the conductor.  It is music depersonalized,—­neo-Hegelian music,—­music multiple instead of individual.  If this is so, it is indeed the music of the future,—­the music of the socialist democracy replacing the art which is aristocratic, heroic, or subjective.

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December 4th, 1863.—­The whole secret of remaining young in spite of years, and even of gray hairs, is to cherish enthusiasm in one’s self, by poetry, by contemplation, by charity,—­that is, in fewer words, by the maintenance of harmony in the soul.

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April 12th, 1858.—­The era of equality means the triumph of mediocrity.  It is disappointing, but inevitable; for it is one of time’s revenges....  Art no doubt will lose, but justice will gain.  Is not universal leveling down the law of nature?...  The world is striving with all its force for the destruction of what it has itself brought forth!

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March 1st, 1869.—­From the point of view of the ideal, humanity is triste and ugly.  But if we compare it with its probable origins, we see that the human race has not altogether wasted its time.  Hence there are three possible views of history:  the view of the pessimist, who starts from the ideal; the view of the optimist, who compares the past with the present; and the view of the hero-worshiper, who sees that all progress whatever has cost oceans of blood and tears.

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August 31st, 1869.—­I have finished Schopenhauer.  My mind has been a tumult of opposing systems,—­Stoicism, Quietism, Buddhism, Christianity.  Shall I never be at peace with myself?  If impersonality is a good, why am I not consistent in the pursuit of it? and if it is a temptation, why return to it, after having judged and conquered it?