Various arrivals, among them also Herr Lesimple [1], who relates that Herr Hiller [2] was indeed not ashamed, after the concert at which my father had played in Düsseldorf, to mount the platform in a demonstrative manner and stage an embrace, which my father eluded with a solemn gesture. He further tells of Hiller’s machinations to keep the wealthy citizenry of Cologne away from Bayreuth.
[1] August Lesimple (1827 – 1909), music writer and bookseller, founder and chairman of the Richard Wagner Society in Cologne; wrote, among other things, “Richard Wagner – Memoirs” in 1884.
[2] Ferdinand Hiller (1811 – 1885), composer, conductor, pianist, studied with Johann Nepomuk Hummel, among others director of the conservatory in Cologne and of the Lower Rhine Music Festival.
Revised English translation by Jo Cousins [© Jo Cousins | WAGNER Salon]