Cosima WAGNER. 3 L.A.S. "Cosima", [Munich] 1867, [to Claire de CHARNACÉ, her half-sister]; 4, 1 and 4 pages in-8, filled with a small handwriting, the first two on pink paper. On their mother Marie d'Agoult. June 15. On his mother: "with her, impossible, I turn my sentences around and around when I write to her, fearing to hurt her by my harshness, or to mislead her by my expansion. [...] How is it possible that mother is so struck by a ruin that must not have surprised her? The ruin could not have come suddenly, and I do not understand that she is more ruined today than six months ago? Do you think that she has serious enough relations and faithful enough friends (besides Mr. de Ronchaud), not to be left in isolation? It has always seemed to me that in Paris, where everyone wants to be rich, one can do without fortune better than anywhere else. I don't know if I'm mistaken, but I think that people have respect for poverty precisely because of the daily pettiness that they see being done for wealth. This does not prevent me from feeling more and more for Mom the blow she has been hit with; when I read her very excessive letter I said to myself that it is only a loss of fortune. Having always been poor I am only afraid of losing what I love either by death or by separation in space; I could not put myself immediately in mom's place and then I was hurt by her lack of confidence. Now that I have thought about it and all personal feelings have been erased, I understand what you are saying, and that it is not likely that Mom will return to work in a short time. I cannot tell you how much I pity her now! I am afraid to show her too much, which is why I am putting off my letter from one day to the next [...] Has Mama been able to inspire real affection? [...] Apart from Mr. de Ronchaud, I'm afraid not"... Then she talks about Hans von BULOW: "I hardly see my husband because he is so busy; tomorrow we have a performance of Lohengrin under his direction, judging from the dress rehearsal it will be magnificent. In July Hans will go to St. Maurice to take the waters, which he will need after the strain of these days; and in the autumn we plan to open the music school. The more I go, the more I bless the work"... She criticizes the conduct of the Marquis de Charnacé towards Claire and talks about his daughters... July 9. She copies her very dry letter to the Marquis de Charnacé about Claire. 21 November. She congratulates Claire for getting rid of the "toads" that surrounded her. WAGNER "stopped only eight days in Paris, which was horribly displeasing to him, as you can see. Buildings, exhibitions, hotels, shops, everything was hateful to him; and he returned to the desert. She encourages Claire to take up painting again, and asks her for a copy of the portrait of Erasmus, that "great man": "When I say great man I almost always mean an artist, a poet or a philosopher, there are few generals and statesmen to whom I apply the epithet of great"... Then she speaks of their mother: "her "stupidity" passes me by; if there could be a way for her to repair the "inadvertencies" of her life (let's call it that, shall we?) it was by behaving in a way that would not have been possible.) it was by behaving impeccably towards you. To open her house to you, to see only those who behave well towards you, to tell Mr. de Charnacé as a mother; such is the conduct that a little common sense - I do not say heart - would have inspired in her. Of her four children not one good with her, (I having avoided a rupture only because of the 100 leagues where I keep myself at a distance morally and physically), my father [LISZT] the conciliating being par excellence breaking with her one last time, with intention. And you who believed in her, who devoted yourself to her until the sacrifice of your existence, I confess to you that I only calm myself by the thought that you are delivered from any relationship, and by your conclusion that in the end there is nothing as stupid as wickedness "...