He owed his early appointment as permanent Cantonal Secretary (Staatsschreiber), one of the most excellent government posts in the canton of Zurich, to the recently returned liberal party, led by Alfred Escher.  As this party could not employ the more experienced members of the older conservative side in the public offices, their policy was to choose exceptionally gifted young men for these positions.  Sulzer showed extraordinary promise, and their choice accordingly soon lighted on him.  He had only just returned from the Berlin and Bonn universities with the intention of establishing himself as professor of philology at the university in his native town, when he was made a member of the new government.  To fit himself for his post he had to stay in Geneva for six months to perfect himself in the French language, which he had neglected during his philological studies.  He was quick-witted and industrious, as well as independent and firm, and he never allowed himself to be swayed by any party tactics.  Consequently he rose very rapidly to high positions in the government, to which he rendered valuable and important services, first as Minister of Finance, a post he held for many years, and later with particular distinction as member of the School Federation.  His unexpected acquaintance with me seemed to place him in a sort of dilemma; from the philological and classical studies which he had entered upon of his own choice, he suddenly found himself torn away in the most bewildering manner by this unexpected summons from the government.  It almost seemed as if his meeting with me had made him regret having accepted the appointment.  As he was a person of great culture, my poem, Siegfried’s Death, naturally revealed to him my knowledge of German antiquity.  He had also studied this subject, but with greater philological accuracy than I could possibly have aspired to.  When, later on, he became acquainted with my manner of writing music, this peculiarly serious and reserved man became so thoroughly interested in my sphere of art, so far removed from his own field of labour, that, as he himself confessed, he felt it his duty to fight against these disturbing influences by being intentionally brusque and curt with me.  In the beginning of my stay in Zurich, however, he delighted in being led some distance astray in the realms of art.  The old-fashioned official residence of the first Cantonal Secretary was often the scene of unique gatherings, composed of people such as I would be sure to attract.  It might even be said that these social functions occurred rather more frequently than was advisable for the reputation of a civil servant of this little philistine state.  What attracted the musician Baumgartner more particularly to these meetings was the product of Sulzer’s vineyards in Winterthur, to which our hosts treated his guests with the greatest liberality.  When in my moods of mad exuberance I gave vent in dithyrambic effusions to my most extreme views on art and life, my listeners