Art And Revolution

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The INTRODUCTION translated on the opposite and following pages was written by Richard Wagner as the Preface to Volumes III. and IV. of his "Gesammelte Schriften," or Collected Writings, for the Edition of 1872; and applies not only to "Art and Revolution," but also to "The Art-Work of the Future" and "Opera and Drama," &c.

THOMAS CARLYLE, in his History of Frederick the Great, (1) characterises the outbreak of the French Revolution as the First Act of the "Spontaneous Combustion" of a nation "sunk into torpor, abeyance, and dry-rot," and admonishes his readers in the following words:-

"There is the next mile-stone for you, in the History of Mankind ! That universal Burning-up, as in hell-fire, of Human Shams. The oath of Twenty-five Million men, which has since become that of all men whatsoever, 'Rather than live longer under lies, we will die! '-that is the New Act in World-History. New Act,-or, we may call it New Part; Drama of World-History, Part Third. If Part Second was 1800 years ago, this I reckon will be Part Third. This is the truly celestial-infernal Event: the strangest we have seen for a thousand years. Celestial in the one part; in the other, infernal. For it is withal the breaking-out of universal mankind into Anarchy, into the faith and practice of No-Government,-that is to say (if you will be candid), into unappeasable revolt against Sham-Governors and Sham-Teachers,-which I do charitably define to be a Search, most unconscious, yet in deadly earnest, for true Governors and Teachers. . .

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