Wagner's Letters
Correspondence by, to, and around Richard Wagner
Wagner’s letters form one of the great documentary records of nineteenth-century artistic life. They reveal the practical, intellectual, emotional, and ideological world behind the works: artistic plans, financial crises, theatrical battles, friendships, quarrels, patronage, exile, revolution, Bayreuth, family life, philosophical reflection, and the shifting circle of figures who helped shape Wagner’s public and private destiny.
This archive is organized chronologically, but it is also designed as a map of Wagner’s relationships. The letters may be browsed by year and month, by sender and recipient, or by major correspondents such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor Uhlig, and Franz Liszt.
Letters from Wagner should be read beside letters sent to him. The outgoing letters often show Wagner fashioning his own cause, defending his works, pleading for help, or advancing his vision of art. The incoming letters reveal how that vision was received, resisted, misunderstood, supported, or transformed by those around him.
Because the collection contains thousands of letters, the table below is intended as a finding aid rather than a replacement for the individual letter pages. Use the filters to narrow the archive by year, month, correspondent, or direction, then open a letter to read the full text.
Note: An asterisk (*) next to the date indicates an exact date for the letter was unavailable and a date has been interpolated from context and ordering.
| Date | From | To | Place | Words | Subject |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 29, 1843 | Richard Wagner | Breitkopf and Härtel | Dresden | 101 |
Wagner asks Breitkopf and Härtel for a prompt reply to his inquiry about publishing the full score of The Love-Feast of the Apostles. He needs to know soon because he must decide the title and, if they publish the work complete, make a small alteration to the harp part in good time.
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| October 28, 1852 | Richard Wagner | Breitkopf and Härtel | Zurich | 535 |
Wagner offers Breitkopf and Härtel his modernized arrangement of Gluck's Iphigenia in Aulis, explaining how he revised text, form, instrumentation, transitions, and the ending to restore the opera to living theatrical effectiveness rather than antiquarian interest. He also proposes publication of a revised Faust Overture, which Liszt has revived successfully and which Wagner now sees as one of his best purely instrumental works for reaching the German concert public.
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| No letters found. | |||||