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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Date	From	To	Place	Words	Subject
January 23, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	541	Liszt accepts with deep emotion Wagner's gift of the three scores, saying they moved him to tears and now rest beside him like treasured relics until they can be worthily performed. He reports that all the Flying Dutchman corrections have been copied into the parts and expects that work to go especially well in Weimar, updates Wagner on Tichatschek and other casting matters, promises the Dutchman honorarium after the first performance, and says he remains ready to justify Wagner's confidence in the Berlin affair whenever the chance comes.
February 11, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,770	Wagner sends Liszt a privately printed, luxurious edition of the completed Ring poem to distribute among a small circle of friends and patrons, reserving special copies for Liszt, the Grand Duchess, and the Princess of Prussia, and he says he will never again write poetry because he now longs only to set this final poetic work to music. At the same time he confesses that he cannot begin the music before somehow hearing Lohengrin, asks Liszt to explore whether a temporary, court-sponsored visit to Weimar might be safely arranged despite Saxon prosecution, and pours out bitter disappointment over the wider theatrical world, his failing health, and the deep isolation from which only Liszt's friendship still seems to sustain him.
February 18, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	479	Liszt reports that the first Weimar performance of The Flying Dutchman was warmly and sympathetically received, with especially successful performances from the two Mildes and an overture so effective that even a court-festival audience broke custom to applaud. He sends Wagner the score honorarium, notes the distinguished princely audience, asks what titles should be given to his piano arrangements from Tannhauser and Lohengrin, and asks Wagner to leave any possible Coburg-Gotha business in Liszt's hands for now.
February 19, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	165	Wagner tells Liszt that Prague has suddenly forbidden a planned performance of Tannhauser after it had already passed censorship, and he suspects some personal stupidity lies behind the reversal. He asks Liszt to consider whom he might approach, especially in Vienna, so that some influential person may help get the absurd prohibition withdrawn.
February 20, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	611	Liszt praises the Nibelungen poem as perhaps the most incredible thing Wagner has yet done, confirms that he has distributed the special copies as requested, and asks for a few more. He says he is still working cautiously but actively on the possibility of Wagner's return, believes Wagner handled the Berlin matter rightly by leaving it entirely to Liszt, and offers at once to intervene in the Prague prohibition once Wagner provides fuller details and the manager's letter.
February 28, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	103	Wagner anxiously asks Liszt to confirm whether the parcel of Ring copies sent on February 11 ever reached him. He had hoped it would arrive before the 16th and is distressed that Liszt's last letter made no mention of it, since that has spoiled a particular pleasure for him.
March 3, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	572	Wagner sends Liszt the Prague manager's letter about the ban on Tannhauser and asks him to try to get the prohibition lifted, partly for the manager's sake after his energetic support. He also supplies titles for Liszt's piano pieces, lays out a large Zurich concert program drawn from Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, and Lohengrin as a substitute for hearing a true performance, thanks Zigesar for the rich Dutchman honorarium, and allows that cuts could have been made in the Dutchman's ghost scene if necessary.
March 4, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	485	Wagner asks Liszt not to misunderstand his hopes for a return to Germany: he wants only temporary visits to Weimar and similar short appearances so that he can witness and support important performances of his works, while keeping Switzerland as the true place of his life and labor. He says such intermittent artistic excitement is as necessary to him as rain to a plant, even adds that Berlin performances should still be entrusted to Liszt rather than to himself, and closes by dreaming of Liszt's visit to Zurich and hoping soon to begin musical sketches for the Ring.
March 10, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Otto Wesendonck	Zurich	22	No summary available.
March 13, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	51	No summary available.
March 16, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	17	No summary available.
March 17, 1853	Richard Wagner	Theodore Uhlig	Zurich	999,999	Wagner writes to Uhlig's widow that Theodore's death has left him ill, orphaned, and still unable to believe his friend will not visit, depriving him of the one heart that answered his most intimate thoughts. He asks how he can help her and the children, reserves Theodore's copy of the Nibelungen poem for little Siegfried, requests privacy for his letters to the deceased, and offers assistance while suggesting any money of his be sent to Minna's poor parents if she will not keep it.
March 17, 1853	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	135	No summary available.
March 25, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Leipzig	429	Liszt says he has forwarded Wagner's letter to the Duke of Coburg and received a friendly answer hinting that something might perhaps be done later, a prospect Liszt means to pursue when the occasion allows. He also advises Wagner to preserve himself against the malice surrounding him and explains that the Prague prohibition looks confused and perhaps theatrical rather than official, so he is having Laub investigate further while suggesting that Wagner write a friendly inquiry directly to the police director St. to clarify who actually issued the ban and how it might be removed.
March 27, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	80	No summary available.
March 30, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,056	Wagner pours out a bleak picture of his dreamlike, isolated existence in Zurich, saying that even Liszt's extraordinary efforts now seem to help only his fame and not his actual life, and that paper correspondence can no longer sustain him. He therefore urgently begs Liszt to force the Weimar court to obtain a definite answer about whether a temporary return to Germany is possible without any degrading confession, declaring that if the answer is no he must change his life entirely, travel by any means, and perhaps even face self-destruction rather than continue in this joyless state.
April 8, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	1,026	Liszt answers Wagner's despair by urging him toward faith and resigned suffering, saying that Wagner's greatness and misery are inseparable and can find salvation only in a higher religious submission. At the same time he insists that he has been neither negligent nor lukewarm about reopening Germany to Wagner, reports that the Hereditary Grand Duke has promised active intercession, asks Wagner to write him a heartfelt letter, updates him on Prague and other musical news, and promises that when he comes to Zurich in early June they will go through the Ring together in full.
April 11, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	95	Wagner forwards the Prague manager's latest answer with fuller details about the ban on Tannhauser and asks Liszt, if he has the time and inclination, to continue helping in the matter out of friendship. He also says he longs for a letter from Liszt and wants to know directly whether there is any truth in rumors of a breach between Liszt and Weimar.
April 13, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	1,190	Wagner assures Liszt that he would never scoff at the forms in which Liszt seeks consolation, then sets out his own faith in a future humanity redeemed through love rather than in abstract dogma, insisting that Liszt's life itself proves a similar faith in action. He looks forward ecstatically to Liszt's coming visit as the real life and healing his nerves require, says that S.'s negative judgment of the Ring poem only confirms his own expectations of mere litterateurs, and asks Liszt again not to mistake his cries of pain over Germany for any reproach against him.
April 24, 1853	Richard Wagner	Robert Franz	Zurich	348	Wagner tells Robert Franz that Franz's songs have renewed his longing for a visit because they reveal the essential thing in art: the individual human being behind the work. Rather than technical criticism, Wagner wants to know the man who made the songs, saying they have broken his loneliness and given him the fresh living impression he could not find in local society or literature.
April 26, 1853*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	163	Liszt greets the Kroll theatre Tannhauser plan with approval, saying that Schoneck's goodwill and musical intelligence give the undertaking a favorable turn. He tells Wagner he will not discourage the project, provided the roles can be tolerably cast, and says he has written Schoneck himself to encourage him and advise prudent handling.
April 29, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	44	No summary available.
May 9, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	280	Amid the turmoil of preparing his Zurich performances, Wagner rereads Liszt's pamphlet on his operas and breaks into renewed gratitude, saying that Liszt alone has kept him from despair during the last four years. He begs Liszt not to frighten him with uncertainty about leave, reports the huge effort and expense of assembling a seventy-player orchestra from across Switzerland and beyond just so that he might finally hear the Lohengrin prelude, and implores Liszt to come at the beginning of June.
May 19, 1853*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	660	Liszt says Wagner's splendid Zurich concert program has made him sad because he cannot possibly leave Weimar before late June, owing to court concerts, ceremonies, family duties, and travel with his mother, though he promises to reach Zurich by mid-July at the latest. He also reports on conversations about Tannhauser in Berlin, says the Nibelungen has now been read aloud at the Altenburg and that he wholly approves of it, mentions likely future performances in Prague, Wiesbaden, and Schwerin, and urges Wagner to get seriously to work on the music.
May 29, 1853	Richard Wagner	Louis Schindelmeisser	Zurich	737	Wagner tells Schindelmeisser that Lohengrin must be staged according to his preface, with Lohengrin himself appearing as a miraculous savior, and warns from Weimar's example that cuts or weak staging destroy the work's intended effect of terror and pity. He also urges Schindelmeisser to support Schöneck for the Wiesbaden post over Lux, since Wagner fears an unsympathetic successor who dismisses Tannhäuser could mishandle the newly prepared Lohengrin.
May 29, 1853	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	11	No summary available.
May 30, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,140	Wagner reports that his Zurich musical performances went brilliantly and that finally hearing the Lohengrin prelude overwhelmed him, confirming his own and the audience's sense that Lohengrin is the best thing he has yet done. He describes the enormous practical effort and expense behind the concerts, the strong public and especially female enthusiasm they aroused, and then turns back to his loneliness, asking how long Liszt can stay, whether he might follow him to St. Moritz, and lamenting once more the Berlin frustrations and what he sees as Liszt's wasted strength at Weimar.
June 1, 1853	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	68	No summary available.
June 8, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	458	Liszt forwards fresh material from Prague, asks Wagner to write a few lines to Apt, and asks him to send a Ring copy to Louis Kohler, whom Liszt describes as an able and honest new ally in the press. He also notes a new friendship with Marx, reports a recent court concert for the Saxon royal couple, and says that although earlier steps toward Wagner's return now look doubtful, one further hope remains in the Hereditary Grand Duke's promised intervention at Dresden before Liszt leaves on his journey.
June 8, 1853	Richard Wagner	August Rockel	Zurich	192	Wagner tells Röckel that his fame is growing amid pamphlets and articles that mix ignorance and admiration, but he feels indifferent because his writings and deepest views remain misunderstood. His consolation is that some people love him beyond criticism, though this love remains distant from his actual life, leaving resignation as the way to preserve his integrity.
June 14, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Zurich	540	Wagner says he has little to write except that he longs for Liszt's arrival and has now adjusted his expectations, since a stay of only about ten days would not allow the planned trip to the Grisons. He assumes Liszt will not come before July, plans meanwhile to visit part of the R. family at Interlaken, and is pleased that Franz and Joachim also intend to come.
June 20, 1853	Richard Wagner	Breitkopf and Härtel	Zurich	83	Wagner asks Breitkopf and Härtel to omit his name as librettist from the piano arrangement of Kittl's The French at Nice. He says he had specifically required Kittl not to publicize his authorship and wants to avoid feeding already confused opinions about it.
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.
June 23, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	475	Liszt tells Wagner that he will leave on June 28, stop briefly at Karlsruhe for festival preparations, and expects to reach Zurich on July 2, perhaps with Joachim and Franz, for a short but deeply desired visit. He also encloses disappointing news about Wagner's case, asks Wagner to arrange introductions and perhaps a sculpted medallion during the stay, and appends a copied notice showing that the old Saxon warrant has been publicly revived with instructions that Wagner be watched for and arrested if found in Germany.
June 29, 1853*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	83	Liszt confirms that, unless an official obstacle delays him by a day, he will leave on Friday, July 1, for Basel and reach Zurich by mail-coach on Saturday morning, or at the latest on Sunday morning. He expects Joachim to join him, but says Franz unfortunately cannot come until later.
June 30, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	133	Wagner replies at once with pure delight that Liszt is coming so soon and says he will meet him at the Zurich mail office on Saturday, July 2. He suggests that Liszt may be more comfortable at the Hotel Baur, especially if Joachim and Franz travel with him, and promises to notify Kirchner and Eschmann.
July 3, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Konigsberg	1,068	Liszt reports new possibilities for Wagner's operas through various singers and theatres, including a promise that one singer will take Ortrud and Elizabeth at Weimar next winter and further Wiesbaden interest in Lohengrin, Elsa, and Senta. He also dismisses London as premature until Wagner's position is firmly won in Germany, presses again for Tannhauser where he can, delivers Wagner's letter to the young prince, and sends him off to the Grisons with affectionate encouragement to keep Liszt present in spirit while working on the Ring.
July 5, 1853	Richard Wagner	Louis Schindelmeisser	Zurich	855	Wagner writes Schindelmeisser to clear up ill feeling over the Schöneck recommendation and to explain that his anxiety about the Wiesbaden Lohengrin is not distrust of Schindelmeisser's musical abilities but fear of inadequate staging and resources. Drawing on Weimar's failures and Liszt's efforts, he stresses that Lohengrin requires unusually rich scenic means, a strong orchestra and male chorus, and discoveries in production that even Wagner himself has not yet fully made.
July 12, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Frankfort	715	Liszt writes from the midst of plans for the Karlsruhe festival, asking Wagner to send the altered Lohengrin passage from the Weimar score and, if possible, to lend the Zurich Tannhauser and Lohengrin orchestral parts for use at the September concerts so that correct material will be available. He outlines the intended scale and partial program of the festival, passes on several theatrical and personal bits of news, notes the continuing political suspicion still attached to Wagner's name and even to Liszt's gift of a hat, and closes by remembering the bright days at Zurich with gratitude.
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.
July 15, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Coire	651	Writing in desolate solitude after Liszt's departure, Wagner says that everything has turned grey and that only the memory of Liszt's visit and a moving torchlight serenade in Zurich have brightened the emptiness he now feels. He then answers the practical question by promising the Karlsruhe festival the Zurich Tannhauser and Lohengrin parts, explains when the copied materials and revised score can be sent, and closes by saying that Liszt has left ennobling traces behind him and must come back for a longer stay.
July 24, 1853	Richard Wagner	Louis Kohler	Konigsberg	932	From St. Moritz, Wagner thanks Louis Köhler for his sympathy and discusses Köhler's The Melody of Speech, praising its search for melodic accent in words while urging a more technical investigation of the relation between spoken verse and musical melody. He argues that criticism should focus on learnable technique rather than subjective content, says modern literary verse and modern melody arise from incompatible impulses, and insists he must stop theorizing because only artistic production can restore his health.
July 25, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	472	Liszt says Wagner's rosy letter has cheered him in the stifling atmosphere of Weimar, reports that he has delivered Wagner's letter to the young Grand Duke and spoken warmly of him to the Princess of Prussia, and notes the local interest in the Zurich serenade for Wagner. He then turns to practical matters around Carlsruhe, thanking Wagner for the loan of the Tannhauser and Lohengrin materials, fixing the timetable for their delivery, promising a spirited performance, and proposing a reunion at Basle in late September for a few shared Lohengrin days.
July 25, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	779	Wagner thanks Liszt for his cheerful letter and confesses that shame at his own gloom has long kept him from writing. He says life in the Grisons has been solitary and charm-less despite the grand setting, that the cure has not really suited his restless nature, and that he now burns to go to Italy at the end of August, though he does not know how long he will be able to bear the journey alone.
July 26, 1853*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	459	Liszt warmly approves Wagner's idea of going on to Paris and settles on a meeting there at the end of September after the Karlsruhe performances, suggesting a route through Genoa and Marseilles so Wagner can first see the Mediterranean. He also says T. will be welcome in Weimar despite some doubts about his character, shares a strikingly resigned and practical passage from Berlioz about the millionaires needed for modern art, and promises further details later while he also keeps an eye on the Leipzig Lohengrin matter.
July 26, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	448	Wagner writes chiefly out of longing, saying that since Liszt's departure nothing occupies him but sorrow at the separation and the desire to meet again in Paris after the Karlsruhe festival, perhaps sending his wife first to Carlsruhe for a taste of Liszt. He also asks Liszt to forward a letter to Louis Kohler, insists that theory now physically sickens him and that he wants no more speculation about art, presses again for Liszt's medallion, and waits for practical instructions about sending the Karlsruhe parts and score.
August 7, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Carlsbad	758	Liszt writes half-jokingly from Carlsbad that men like them should hardly write at all, yet says Wagner's rosy letters have genuinely cheered him amid the cure and the local spectacle of orchestras, actors, and exotic entertainments. He also reports seeing B. in Leipzig and hearing of a coming book with a chapter on Wagner, and says that on his travels he has renewed contact with friends of Wagner's in Dresden, taking comfort in this little church of mutual admiration.
August 13, 1853	Richard Wagner	Louis Schindelmeisser	Zurich	867	Wagner thanks Schindelmeisser for reports of excellent Lohengrin performances, but regrets printing The Ring of the Nibelungs before the music because readers discuss hypothetical technique instead of receiving the poem as the basis for new music and staging that must remain his secret. He describes a revised Tannhäuser ending, reports progress on Das Rheingold under the blessing of recent Paris experiences despite illness, and reflects uneasily on his volatile relationship with Karl Ritter and the imbalance between Ritter's capacity and Wagner's painful experience.
August 16, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,288	Wagner says he has returned from St. Moritz earlier than expected and was especially pleased by the good humor of Liszt's last letter and by the news of Liszt's triumphant day with the R. family in Dresden, which felt to him like a continuation of the Zurich days. He adds only that he must wait on the K. matter, though George now seems favorably inclined to it, giving Wagner hope that the enterprise might succeed even without his personal presence.
No letters found.

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