During his sojourn he held a reading of his libretto to “The Ring of the Nibelung” at Mme. Liszt’s before a choice audience, which included Liszt, Berlioz and Von Buelow.  This occurred in the early fifties.  Cosima, who was among the listeners, was at the time fifteen or sixteen years old.  The mere fact of her presence at the reading is recorded.  Whether she was impressed with the libretto or its author we do not know.  It is probable that their meeting consisted of nothing more than the mere formal introduction of the composer to the girl who was the daughter of his friend Liszt, and who was to be one of the small and privileged gathering at the reading.  Wagner soon left Paris, and if she made any impression on him at that time, he does not mention the fact in his letters.

[Illustration:  Cosima, wife of Wagner.  From a portrait bust made before her marriage.]

Whoever takes the trouble to read Liszt’s correspondence, which is in seven volumes and nearly all in French, will have little difficulty in discerning that Cosima was his favorite child.  He speaks of her affectionately as “Cosette” and “Cosimette.”  Like his own, her temperament was artistic and responsive, and she also inherited his charm of manner and his exquisite tact, which, if anything, her early bringing up in Paris enhanced.  In 1857, when she was twenty, Wagner saw her again and describes her as “Liszt’s wonderful image, but of superior intellect.”

Well might Wagner speak of her resemblance to her father as wonderful.  I have seen Liszt and Cosima together, on an occasion to be referred to later, and was struck with the remarkable likeness between father and daughter.  Both were idealists; if he had his eyes upon the stars, so had she.  Here is a passage from one of Liszt’s letters: 

“Une pensee favorite de Cosima:’  De quelque cote qu’un tourne la torche, la flamme se redresse et monte vers le ciel.’” ("A favorite thought of Cosima’s:  Whichever way you may turn the torch, the flame turns on itself and still points toward the heavens.’”)

A woman whose life holds that motto is in herself an inspiration.  Whatever turn fortune takes, her aspirations still blaze the way.  She herself is the torch of her motto.

Although not a musician, although keeping herself consistently in the background during Wagner’s life (much as a mere private secretary would), her influence at Bayreuth was continually felt; and since his death she has been the head and front of the Wagner movement, and yet without seeking publicity.  Her intellectual force quietly assured her the succession.  There have been protests against her absolute rule, but she has serenely ignored them.  She still moulds to her will all the forces concerned in the Bayreuth productions.