Abstract: In the texts they devoted to Wagner between 1850 and 1860, Nerval, Gautier and Baudelaire came up against the difficulty of translating the artistic novelty. The resistance of the Wagnerian model led the writers to rethink their postures and writing practices. In doing so, they went beyond the mere task of popularisation to revise their own idea of composition in a theoretical and/or practical way, in the light of what they perceived of Wagner.
