Minna Wagner: A Life, with Richard Wagner

376 Pages·2022·14.986 MB·English

by  Eva Rieger, Chris Walton (trans.)

Minna Wagner
Ernst Benedikt Kietz: Minna Wagner, drawing, 1840. Nationalarchiv der Richard-
Wagner-Stiftung, Bayreuth.

The University of Rochester Press gratefully acknowledges support from the Mariann
Steegmann Foundation.
Translation copyright © 2022 Chris Walton
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no
part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2022
Original German-language edition: Eva Rieger, Minna und Richard Wagner: Stationen
einer Liebe © Georg Olms Verlag AG, 2., überarbeitete Auflage Hildesheim 2019,
Germany.
University of Rochester Press
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-64825-045-3 (hardback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-80010-607-9 (ePDF)
ISSN: 1071-9989 ; v. 185
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rieger, Eva, author. | Walton, Chris, 1963– translator.
Title: Minna Wagner: a life, with Richard Wagner / Eva Rieger; translated by Chris
Walton.
Other titles: Minna und Richard Wagner. English
Description: Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2022. | Series: Eastman studies in
music, 1071-9989; 185 | Includes bibliographical references and index
Identifiers: LCCN 2022002074 (print) | LCCN 2022002075 (ebook) | ISBN
9781648250453 (hardback) | ISBN 9781800106079 (ebook other) | ISBN
9781800106086 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883—Marriage. | Wagner, Minna, 1809–
1866—Marriage. | Composers—Germany—Biography. | Composers’ spouses—
Germany—Biography.
Classification: LCC ML410.W11 R5413 2022 (print) | LCC ML410.W11 (ebook) |
DDC 782.1092/2 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022002074
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022002075
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
Cover image: Karl Alexander Otterstedt: Minna Wagner, oil painting. Nationalarchiv
der Richard-Wagner-Stiftung, Bayreuth | Design: Toni Michelle
Contents
Illustrations vii
Abbreviations ix
Notes on this Translation xi
Introduction: “He could not breathe without her” 1
1 “I have become her despot”: From Love to Marriage 12
2 “Deprived of incipient motherhood”: Riga, London, Paris, 1836–42 38
3 “Home for me is you alone”: Dresden 1842–47 70
4 “My knucklehead of a husband”: Revolution and Its Aftermath,
1848–50 99
5 “This ridiculous, amorous intrigue”: The Jessie Laussot Affair,
1850–51 127
6 “That good, foolish man …”: Exile in Zurich, 1852–54 155
7 “I’m a poor, stupid woman to have let you go …”: Zurich and
London, 1854–56 186
8 “Alas, now all our happiness is gone …”: The Wesendonck Scandal,
1857–58 212
9 The Bitter End, 1858–59 246
10 “In love and fidelity, your Emma”: Emma Herwegh 272
11 “Neither wife, housekeeper, nor friend”: Dresden, Paris, Biebrich,
1860–62 289
12 “That weak, blind man …”: The End of a Marriage, 1863–66 318
References 347
Index 353

Illustrations
Frontispiece. Ernst Benedikt Kietz: Minna Wagner, drawing, 1840. ii
1.1 Richard Wagner, silhouette, 1835. 23
1.2 Marriage announcement of Richard Wagner and Minna Planer. 34
2.1 Ernst Benedikt Kietz: Wagners Land und Luftsitz (Wagner’s Air
and Country Seat). 55
2.2 Ernst Benedikt Kietz: Minna zügelt Wagner in der Kutsche (Minna
harnesses Wagner in the Carriage). 61
2.3 Richard Wagner: apologetic poem and drawing for Minna, 1841. 63
3.1 Ernst Benedikt Kietz: Richard Wagner, drawing, 1842. 83
3.2 Franz Hanfstaengl: Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, lithograph. 87
3.3 August Röckel, Wagner’s colleague and fellow revolutionary in
Dresden. 93
3.4 Gottfried Semper: architect, revolutionary, and Wagner’s friend in
Dresden and Zurich. 94
4.1 The Court Theater in Dresden, ca. 1840. 101
4.2 Henri Lehmann: Franz Liszt. 104
4.3 The Escherhäuser on the Zeltweg in Zurich. 122
5.1 Jessie Laussot, at an advanced age. 129
5.2 Franz Hegi / Salomon Brunner: The Albisbrunn Water Institute,
ca. 1845. 149
6.1 Clementine Stockar-Escher: Minna Wagner with Peps the dog,
watercolor, Zurich, 1853. 159
6.2 The Zurich Municipal Theater, ca. 1840. 171
6.3 Theodor Uhlig, relief. 184
viii illustrations
❧
8.1 The “Asyl” where Minna and Richard lived in Zurich, 1857–58. 213
8.2 Mathilde Wesendonck, ca. 1850. Wille Archive, Mariafeld. 216
8.3 Cosima von Bülow, photograph by Louis Held, Weimar, 1857. 219
8.4 The Brestenberg Spa, mid-19th century. 239
9.1 Minna Wagner in Paris, 1859. Nationalarchiv der Richard-
Wagner-Stiftung, Bayreuth. 257
10.1 Friederike Miethe: Emma Herwegh as an Amazon. Dichter- und
Stadtmuseum Liestal. 274
11.1 Clara Wolfram, Richard Wagner’s sister. 312
12.1 Mathilde Maier, photograph by Wilhelm Rudolph. 320
12.2 Anton Pusinelli and his wife, photograph by Ch. Hahn,
Dresden, 1871. 325
12.3 Cosima and Richard Wagner, photograph by Fritz Luckhardt,
1872. 331
Abbreviations
BB Richard Wagner. Das braune Buch. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen 1865–
1882. Edited by Joachim Bergfeld, first published 1975. Munich and
Zurich: Atlantis Musikbuch Verlag, 1988.
Burrell Richard Wagner. Letters of Richard Wagner. The Burrell Collection.
Edited by John N. Burk. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951.
CWT Cosima Wagner. Die Tagebücher. Edited by Martin Gregor-Dellin and
Dietrich Mack. 2 vols. Munich and Zurich: Piper, 1976–77.
ML Richard Wagner. My Life. Translated by Andrew Gray, edited by Mary
Whittall, first published 1983. Cambridge, New York etc.: Cambridge
University Press, 2009.
RWA Richard Wagner Archive, Nationalarchiv der Richard-Wagner-
Stiftung, Bayreuth.
SB Richard Wagner. Sämtliche Briefe. 26– vols. Vols. 1–9 edited by Hans-
Joachim Bauer, Klaus Burmeister, Johannes Forner, Gertrud Strobel,
and Werner Wolf. Leipzig: Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1967–2000.
Vols. 10–25 and 27 edited by Martin Dürrer, Margret Jestremski,
Isabel Kraft, Andreas Mielke, and Angela Steinsiek. Wiesbaden:
Breitkopf & Härtel, 1999–.
SSD Richard Wagner. Sämtliche Schriften und Dichtungen. 6th edition
(Volksausgabe). 16 vols. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, [1911].