it never occurred to richard wagner that he and his doingwere not of the most intense and fascinating interest to anyone withwhom he came into contact.he had theories of almost any subjectunder the sun，including vegetarianism，the drama，politics，andmusic；and in support of these theories he wrote pamphlets，let－ters，books… thousands upon thousands of words，hundreds uponhundreds of pages.he not only wrote these things，and publishedthem— usually at somebody else's expense — but he would sitand read them aloud.for hours，to his friends and family.
he wrote operas，and no sooner did he have the synopsis ofa story，than he would invite— or rather summon — a crowd ofhis friends to his house and read that it aloud to them. not forcriticism，but for applause.when the complete poem was written，the friends had to come again， and hear that read aloud.then hewould publish the poem，sometimes years before the music thatwent with it was written.he played the piano like a composer，inthe worst sense of what that implies，and he would sit down at thepiano before parties that included some of the finest pianists of histime，and play for them，by the hour ，his own music，needlessto say .he had a composer's voice.and he would invite eminentvocalists .to his house， and sing them his operas，taking all theparts.
理查德·瓦格纳压根儿就没有想过，与他有过交往的人，并不感到他这个人和他所做的事最富有情趣、为之倾倒。他几乎对世间的一切问题都有自己的见解，包括素食主义、戏剧、政治以及音乐。为了证实自己的观点，他写了小册子、信、书……连篇累牍，好几百页。他不仅写这些东西拿去出版——所需费用往往是别人支付—— 而且常常一连好几个小时坐着读给他的朋友和家人听。
他写歌剧，常常是刚有一个故事梗概就邀请——或者更确切地说召集——一群朋友到他家来，把故事梗概读给他们听。不是为了批评，而是为了掌声。整出戏的歌词写完后，朋友们得再来听他朗诵。然后他就送去发表。有时歌词发表好几年，配词的乐曲才创作出来。他弹钢琴只是象个作曲家弹得那样（从这句话所能隐含的最糟糕的意义上讲），弹得糟透了，然而，他却常常坐在钢琴旁，面对包括他那个时代最杰出的钢琴家在内的一群人，一小时接一小时地为他们弹奏个不停。不用说，弹的都是他自己创作的音乐作品。他有一副作曲家的歌喉。他常常把著名的声乐家请到家里，亲自为他们演唱他的歌剧，并且包揽所有角色。