Letters, Dec. 15, 1941

Wagner v. Meyerbeer

Sirs:

In a recent issue of TIME you made a libelous statement about the "ingratitude" of one Richard Wagner.

If I recall correctly the situation, Wagner may have had no grievance against Jewish people in general, but he had a fair grudge against Meyerbeer in particular. While no specific date was given for the newly published Wagner letter, it probably dates from Wagner's Parisian period—or shortly thereafter, a period when Wagner was under the illusion that Meyerbeer was trying to be of great help. Newman, in his great biography of the...