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.

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Showing letters involving Otto Wesendonck (22 total)

Date	From	To	Place	Words	Subject
March 10, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	22	No summary available.
June 20, 1853	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	78	Wagner writes Otto Wesendonck that he is repaying an old debt before entering a new indebtedness to him in a trustworthy spirit. He asks Wesendonck to give his wife the accompanying Sonata, which Wagner identifies as his first composition since completing Lohengrin six years earlier.
June 20, 1853	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	80	No summary available.
July 13, 1853	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	298	Wagner tells Otto Wesendonck that Liszt's recent eight-day visit was intensely stimulating, full of conversation and extraordinary playing, and has left him unable to tolerate Zurich before leaving for a St. Moritz cure and possibly Italy. He plans to draft the music of Das Rheingold before year's end and says he and Liszt have agreed on a future Zurich dramatic festival with a provisional theatre, specially engaged performers, and funds Liszt will seek internationally.
October 15, 1854*	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	69	No summary available.
March 21, 1855	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	London	1,167	Writing Otto Wesendonck from London, Wagner says the Philharmonic recognizes his conducting but offers no real artistic future for his operas or a German theatre, and he is frustrated by inadequate rehearsals, shallow concert customs, copyright losses, and the humiliation of presenting Lohengrin only in excerpts. He doubts he can ever become financially independent through art, contemplates abandoning artistic activity, yet values the devotion of the orchestra and especially Sainton, whose advocacy brought him to London, along with Klindworth as a promising young musician.
April 5, 1855	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	London	455	Wagner tells Wesendonck that any London applause for his music means little to him because he finds the public indiscriminate, the press corrupt, and English concert and oratorio culture dominated by conventions he despises, especially the Mendelssohn cult. London has also damaged his creative memory for Die Walküre: he has only laboriously finished Act I, hopes to complete Act II there, and regrets leaving Zurich because Act III and Young Siegfried must wait for Seelisberg.
May 22, 1855	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	London	406	Writing to Otto Wesendonck from London, Wagner confesses intense homesickness and restlessness while insisting that he alone bears responsibility for accepting a trip that has pulled him away from creative work. He contrasts his vocation as a creator with the world's money-making demands and mentions a tentative invitation from New York that threatens to become a second London-like expedition.
April 18, 1856*	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	40	No summary available.
August 7, 1856	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Mornex	131	Writing to Otto Wesendonck from Mornex, Wagner reports major health improvement under Dr. Vaillant and says he now feels more confident about managing his condition. He asks Wesendonck to keep caring for him because he still has much work to do, naming Tristan and a newly absorbing subject, The Victors.
August 31, 1856	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Paris	165	Writing to Otto Wesendonck, Wagner reports confidential news that the Grand Duke of Weimar may try to draw him to Weimar by offering the quiet dwelling he has long sought, perhaps at the Wartburg or another residence. He weighs this against his attachment to Zurich and its few irreplaceable friends, reflecting that seemingly small practical circumstances can govern the life of an artist.
September 1, 1856	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	366	Writing to Otto Wesendonck, Wagner confesses deep discouragement and resignation, saying he asks the world only for a quiet place and leisure to work but doubts the world has any reason to provide it. He reflects on the flawed history of princely patronage and responds to Wesendonck's offer to act in place of publisher and prince, framing such giving as a morally elevating act for them both.
September 10, 1856	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	541	Writing to Otto Wesendonck, Wagner thanks him for extraordinary support but doubts that his contradictions and needs can truly be relieved. He says Zurich has become oppressive except for his bond of gratitude and friendship with the Wesendonck household, and weighs whether future financial and practical relief should center on Weimar, on refuge with Wesendonck, or on dividing his year between both.
November 30, 1856	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	252	Writing to Otto Wesendonck, Wagner reports that Liszt judged their St. Gall concert a success and praises Orpheus as an incomparable tone poem, though the public preferred and encored Les Préludes. He says conducting the Eroica exhausted rather than delighted him, but Liszt's visit strengthened their friendship and Princess Caroline's kindness helped him moderate his excitable temper.
December 22, 1856	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	60	Writing to Otto Wesendonck, Wagner says his mood has moved beyond Siegfried and can no longer fit the work's emotional world, which now seems stale and superficial to him. He also stresses the loneliness of his present life and the leaden heaviness of his health.
January 31, 1857	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	194	Writing to Otto Wesendonck, Wagner says Wesendonck's confidential news interrupted him while composing Siegfried's smithy music, but gladly sacrifices the day because it promises future days of freer work. He responds with intense gratitude, saying the gift matters less as property than as proof of friendship and care that suddenly lifts his burdens.
October 1, 1857	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	78	No summary available.
March 31, 1858	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	59	No summary available.
October 24, 1860	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Paris	274	No summary available.
June 6, 1863	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Penzing	797	No summary available.
October 17, 1863	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Penzing	61	No summary available.
September 9, 1864	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Munich	428	No summary available.
No letters found.