Wagner mania in Paris dates from early 1860 with the presentation of three concerts of his music, including the newly composed Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, with which Baudelaire, among a host of writers, artists, and musicians, was smitten. In 1869, Catulle Mendès and his wife, Judith—Théophile Gautier's daughter—visited Wagner at Triebschen, returning with reverential tales of the great man's charm and works. With the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, pilgrimages to hear his operas became commonplace among a growing cadre French Wagnerians, such as composers Debussy (though he was soon to repudiate Wagner), Duparc, d'Indy, Augusta Holmès, Chausson, de Bréville, Magnard, Lekeu (who famously fainted during Tristan), and conductors Lamoureux and Chevillard. Chabrier paid a visit in 1889. But a first hearing of Tristan at Munich in 1880 revealed his vocation to him. Duparc attempted to persuade him to make the trip the previous year, but Chabrier was reluctant, perhaps fearing the upheaval that did, in fact, overtake him. D'Indy recalled, "The Prelude was about to begin, and silence and darkness reigned in the theatre when we heard quite near us what sounded like someone trying to stifle a hiccough...it was Chabrier sobbing...The person sitting next to him turned round to inquire whether he was feeling ill, and our good Chabrier replied...'I know it's stupid, but I can't help it...I've been waiting for 10 years of my life for that A on the cellos....'" He handed in his resignation to the Ministry of Interior in November and the following year he became chorus master and secretary for Lamoureux's Nouveaux Concerts—and a dedicated composer. Given his essentially Falstaffian nature, however, it is still an exhilarating shock to encounter the Souvenirs de Munich, a set of five quadrilles for piano, four hands, on themes from Tristan, composed over 1885-1886. Poulenc noted, "He was far gone in Wagner worship, but when it came to having a good laugh, he was the first to enjoy himself." Motifs are given just time enough for recognition as they are swept into an incandescent blaze—even the love music isn't spared. "The strange thing," Poulenc added, "is that what emerges is 100 percent Chabrier, just as Velasquez's court darlings, seen by Picasso, emerge as pure Picasso." The Souvenirs de Munich almost certainly prompted the Fauré/Messager Souvenirs de Bayreuth—quadrilles on themes from the Ring—and looked forward to Clement Doucet's Isoldina, a ragtime sendup of the Liebestod.

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