rather Ernst1 translation
Sweet child, who seeks dispute,
Neither horse nor nightingale
Did he ever know. Here of yore
Established by the Runes.
Most holy of treasures,
Virgin and pure,
Caught unawares by von Mumm.2
Brief quotation from a Wagner pastiche in a letter to Lucien Daudet, some time after 3 June 1915. "When I was writing to your brother [...] I forgot to mention that I had done a pastiche of Wagner for him. When Reynaldo returns he can hear it. But you can quote him a few words of the rather Ernst libretto translation".
1. Alfred Ernst, French music critic, had translated the Ring and the Meistersingers.
2. Proust is making fun of Léon Daudet's bizarre
claim that Hermann von Munn, the champagne manufacturer, was a
well-known spy who had taken the plans of the Soissons mushroom beds
where various munitions and provisions had been concealed in
anticipation of the war.
Created 22.02.17