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The name of this monster was Richard Wagner. Everything I have said about him you can findon record—in newspapers, in police reports, in the testimony of people who knew him, inhis own letters, between the lines of his autobiography. And the curious thing about this record is that it doesn't matter in the least.
這位怪杰的大名叫理查德·瓦格納。我所談到的關于他的一切情況都記錄在案——可資查考的有報紙、警方報告、認識他的人的證言，他自己的信函以及他自傳中字里行間透露的情況?？墒?，這種記錄令人奇怪之處，在于它竟無損此公一根毫毛。
Because this undersized, sickly, disagreeable, fascinating little man was right all the time.The joke was on us. He was one of the world's greatest dramatists; he was a great thinker; he was one of the most stupendous musical geniuses that, up to now, the world has ever seen. The world did owe him a living. When you consider what he wrote—thirteen operas and music dramas, eleven of them still holding the stage, eight of them unquestionably worth ranking among the world's great musico-dramatic masterpieces—when you listen to what he wrote, the debts and heartaches that people had to endure from him don't seem much of a price. Think of the luxury with which for a time, at least, fate rewarded Napoleon,the man who ruined France and looted Europe; and then perhaps you will agree that a few thousand dollars' worth of debts were not too heavy a price to pay for the Ring trilogy.
這是因為，這位身材瘦小、一副病態、脾氣乖戾、具有魔力的矮子在任何時候都無可非議。玩笑是跟我們開的。他是全世界最偉大的劇作家之一，他是一位偉大的思想家，他是迄今全世界最了不起的音樂天才之一。世人確實應該供養他。當你掂量一下他的作品時——十三部歌劇和音樂劇，其中十一部仍然占領舞臺，八部無疑可當之無愧地進入世界音樂劇名作之列——當你聆聽他的作品時，他欠債不還也好，傷透人心也罷，這些代價似乎不好算大。想一想命運至少曾一度賜給拿破侖，那個毀滅法國、洗劫歐洲的人的那種奢華吧。這樣一比，你也許會同意，用幾千元的債買來《指環》三部曲并不太貴。
