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 all years in December (69 total)

Date	From	To	Place	Words	Subject
December 16, 1832	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Leipzig	628	Wagner writes after a long silence, describing his isolation, the composition of his Symphony, and travels to Vienna, Pravonin, and Prague. He recounts an unhappy infatuation with Jenny and says that, despite emotional emptiness, he began and then abandoned the libretto of the opera Die Hochzeit.
December 11, 1833	Richard Wagner	Rosalie Wagner	Würzburg	1,370	Wagner tells Rosalie that her letter relieved his anxieties and that he has just finished composing Die Feen, with only the orchestration of the last act remaining. He discusses a coming concert excerpt, hopes for the opera's Leipzig prospects, concerns about singers and roles, and his longing to return to his family.
December 7, 1834	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Magdeburg	905	Wagner praises Theodore Apel's Columbus with unusual warmth, admiring its language, characterization, scenic skill, and emotional effect. He then turns to his own debts and asks Apel for a loan of 200 thalers, promising repayment before spring 1836 and saying the work has momentarily lifted his gloom.
December 13, 1834	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Magdeburg	288	Wagner writes from Magdeburg while ill with facial erysipelas, discussing the delayed production of Theodore Apel's Columbus and urging a less formal approach to soliciting criticism. He also presses Apel for promised financial help against urgent debts, while noting that Das Liebesverbot is finished but that his distress has left him unable to work clearly.
December 24, 1834	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Magdeburg	140	Wagner thanks Apel effusively for relief that has restored his spirits, then reports that Columbus is going to the copyist and may be performed within about two weeks. He says Bethmann supports the project, urges Apel to spend on suitable staging, and promises to finish the overture despite another festival piece due for New Year's Day.
December 27, 1834	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Magdeburg	247	Wagner urges Apel to come to Magdeburg by New Year's Day, partly to settle matters around the casting and preparation of Columbus. He also describes the hurried composition of a festive work by Schmale, boasting that despite receiving the commission only days earlier he has produced an overture, choruses, and allegorical pieces that turned out well.
December 27, 1835	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Magdeburg	419	Wagner apologizes for silence by pointing to heavy theatre duties and the near completion of Das Liebesverbot, which he expects to finish by New Year's Eve. He plans to premiere the opera in Magdeburg in February 1836 because the available singers suit it well, while also describing his life there as imprisoning, defending his love for Minna, and noting changes in Laube's plans and the theatre.
December 3, 1836	Richard Wagner	Robert Schumann	Konigsberg	759	From Königsberg, Wagner tells Schumann that isolation has made him cling to hopes in Germany and asks for practical advice on reaching Paris. He describes Das Liebesverbot, based on Measure for Measure, as ill-suited to German conditions and asks how to approach the Opéra Comique, mentioning that he has also sent Scribe a plan for Die hohe Braut.
December 1, 1840	Richard Wagner	King Frederick Augustus	Paris	1,473	Wagner petitions King Frederick Augustus as a Saxon subject, recalling his Leipzig birth, childhood ties to Dresden through Ludwig Geyer, and early musical recognition. From Paris, where Meyerbeer's support has brought him negotiations with the Académie Royale de Musique, he asks that his grand opera Rienzi receive its first performance at the Dresden Court Theatre and be dedicated to the king.
December 4, 1840	Richard Wagner	Baron von Lüttichau	Paris	488	Wagner writes to Baron von Lüttichau as Dresden court-theatre intendant, acknowledging that he is little known in Saxony but emphasizing his Paris negotiations with the Académie Royale de Musique. He submits the score and libretto of Rienzi for a Dresden premiere, arguing that its roles suit Dresden singers and that its scenic scale would fit the city's new theatre.
December 29, 1840	Richard Wagner	Robert Schumann	Paris	318	Wagner writes Schumann a playful, ironic letter from Paris, joking that he is about to become famous and fantastically claiming that his French setting of Heine's Grenadiers has won him honors from Louis Philippe. He privately rededicates his own setting to Schumann, accepts Schumann's implied dedication in return, and adds a serious postscript asking him not to attack Meyerbeer, whom Wagner credits with crucial support.
December 16, 1841	Richard Wagner	Robert Schumann	Paris	246	Wagner tells Schumann that a notice in the Zeitschrift für Musik has taught him how little publicity arises without direct effort, even for his forthcoming Dresden production. He resolves to keep Schumann informed of important projects and asks for support, while sending an unsigned piece for the journal because Paris circumstances make anonymity useful.
December 3, 1842	Richard Wagner	Albert Wagner	Dresden	999,999	Wagner tells Albert that his Dresden success has made him fashionable, overwhelmed by invitations and business letters, and a possible successor after Rastrelli's death. He weighs the security and artistic resources of a Dresden kapellmeistership against his desire for creative freedom, while asking about Albert's family and Johanna's repertoire in case she might seek notice in Dresden.
December 12, 1844	Richard Wagner	Cecilie Avenarius	Dresden	999,999	Wagner welcomes Cecilie and her family back to Germany with warmth, regretting that duties around Weber's ashes and Marschner's Adolf von Nassau keep him from leaving Dresden. Writing also for Minna, he urges Cecilie to come with both children and, if needed, a nurse, while explaining Minna's silence as dread of letter-writing rather than any lack of affection.
December 12, 1845	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	221	Wagner reports to Minna from Berlin that Kistner wants to stage Rienzi the following September and that Count Redern hopes the king will commission Wagner's next opera, Lohengrin, for Berlin. He explains that no opera of his can be mounted there before Easter, describes Redern's attempt to arrange a royal reading of the new libretto, and notes Mme. Meyerbeer's strong support pending Meyerbeer's return.
December 27, 1845	Richard Wagner	Alwine Frommann	Dresden	174	Wagner tells Alwine Frommann that he has abandoned the idea of writing Lohengrin for Berlin because he doubts the available singers could realize it properly. Persuaded by his Dresden intendant and royal praise, he is writing the opera for Dresden instead, while asking Meyerbeer to help secure a Berlin Rienzi because it is more practical there and would bring needed income.
December 1, 1849	Richard Wagner	Clara Wolfram	Zurich	286	Wagner tells Clara Wolfram that he lives quietly in Zurich among a few sympathetic locals and dismisses rumors about both his Dresden Rising involvement and his Swiss life. For Minna's sake he has asked Dresden to remove the phrase “common criminality” from the warrant, while describing Minna's brave companionship as the bond that still holds him to the world.
December 5, 1849	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,490	Wagner thanks Liszt for his sympathy even when he cannot provide immediate funds, then explains that he has now found a Paris opera subject he can treat in his own way without ceasing to be himself. He asks Liszt to help open London to Lohengrin, to assist once more with travel and living expenses for planned trips to Paris and London, and reports that a possible Zurich benefit concert remains uncertain.
December 27, 1849	Richard Wagner	Theodore Uhlig	Zurich	721	Wagner tells Uhlig that sympathy from women such as Frau Ritter, Frau Laussot, and an unnamed Dresden helper strengthens his sense that freedom comes through loving association, and he prepares to go to Paris with overtures, the plan for Wieland the Smith, and a determination to challenge French grand-opera conventions. He reflects on The Work of Art of the Future as preparation for a revolutionary destruction of obsolete artistic conditions, and argues that the true theatrical revolutionary would unite performer, poet, and composer rather than remain trapped in abstract writing and composing.
December 12, 1850	Richard Wagner	Julie Ritter	Zurich	968	Wagner thanks Julie Ritter for aid and explains that the Zurich conductorship became more complicated than expected: Karl Ritter lacked practical communication skills, Wagner's own conducting drew public attention, and Bülow's quicker executive gifts altered the plan. After resigning and securing a substitute, he sees the St. Gall call as the practical opportunity he wanted for both young men, while judging Karl deeper but harder to develop and still artistically unfocused despite promise in Dietrich of Berne.
December 24, 1850	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,009	Wagner finally sends Liszt the German translation of the Lohengrin article, explaining that his own bashfulness at translating praise of himself caused the delay and that Ritter and another helper prepared the version which he then revised. He warmly endorses publication of the article as a pamphlet with musical examples, thanks Liszt and the Weimar circle for understanding and defending him, reports that he is deep in Opera and Drama, and anxiously urges Liszt to reassure him about his health.
December 27, 1850	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	386	Wagner reports that the Brussels Royal Theatre wants to translate and stage Lohengrin in French after hearing of its success, and he asks Liszt to take complete charge of the matter if he thinks it worthwhile. He especially begs Liszt to see whether a usable score can be obtained from Dresden or elsewhere, since Wagner will not risk his original manuscript and cannot afford to have a copy made quickly himself.
December 1, 1851	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	514	Liszt responds with wholehearted admiration for Wagner's enlarged Nibelung project, saying the task is worthy of him and expressing complete confidence in its eventual monumental success. He urges Wagner to work on without care, encloses a letter from Zigesar as a token of steady friendship, briefly comments on Weimar and Raff's new opera, and asks to keep Young Siegfried until Christmas and for news of Wagner's operatic poems and preface.
December 14, 1851	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	482	Wagner thanks Liszt fervently for receiving the new Nibelung plan with full approval and says that being understood by him in so bold an undertaking is almost as satisfying as seeing it realized. He adds that he is still recovering and will use the winter to clear the ground for the whole poem, tells Liszt to keep the copy of Young Siegfried as his own, asks for a medallion and portrait of Liszt for his household, and reports the imminent publication of the operatic poems, their preface, and the piano score of Lohengrin.
December 18, 1852	Richard Wagner	Robert Franz	Zurich	277	Wagner tells Robert Franz that he has just completed the full Nibelung drama amid an intense but physically punishing burst of work, with his nerves allowing only brief daily efforts followed by long recovery. He has only sampled Franz's songs but expects them to refresh him musically before he begins composing the Nibelung dramas, once he finishes performance introductions for The Flying Dutchman and Lohengrin.
December 22, 1852	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	87	Wagner urgently asks Liszt to send at once to Uhlig in Dresden the corrected score of The Flying Dutchman from which the Weimar copy was revised. He says Breslau has long been waiting for such a corrected copy and promises that his own remarks on the performance will follow the next week.
December 24, 1852	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	97	Wagner writes again to stress the urgency of sending the model score of The Flying Dutchman to Dresden, since a second theatre, Schwerin, is now also pressing him for a copy he cannot provide. He apologizes for burdening Liszt with such business matters but says there is no one else in Weimar to turn to and adds that he longs intensely for a letter from him.
December 27, 1852	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	1,712	Liszt apologizes for his silence, says Wagner's suffering has deeply moved him, and promises a visit to Zurich the following summer while urging Wagner to keep all distractions away from the Nibelung work. He reports a decisive Weimar success with the restored full finale and revised close of Tannhauser, describes ambitious plans for new performances of The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, and especially Lohengrin with Tichatschek if possible, and also discusses Berlin, future festival possibilities, and some practical publishing questions about piano arrangements drawn from Wagner's operas.
December 29, 1852	Richard Wagner	Julie Ritter	Zurich	447	Wagner asks Julie Ritter whether her family's support is temporary or lifelong because only secure independence would let him use opera profits to buy a small plot of land without pressuring theatres for performances regardless of quality. He says Wesendonck has offered to advance the purchase money but that Julie's income is what truly preserves his artistic freedom, while his isolated surroundings force his communicative nature inward and worsen his health.
December 30, 1852	Richard Wagner	Cecilie Avenarius	Zurich	334	Wagner tells Cecilie Avenarius that most of his friendships feel Philistine and false to his true self, leaving him in loneliness and emotional starvation despite his greater receptivity to women. He describes severe nervous exhaustion that limits him to two hours of work followed by enforced rest, yet says he has finished the great Nibelung drama and hopes to begin its music in spring if he can find outside stimulus.
December 13, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Weimar	696	Liszt returns from Leipzig with a cold and the unwelcome task of forwarding Hartel's refusal to Wagner's proposal, explaining that despite his own efforts the publishers would not meet the request and may have been alienated by other tensions and literary alliances. Against this he sets encouraging theatrical news: Lohengrin at Leipzig appears carefully prepared and likely to succeed decisively, Tannhauser at Weimar will soon be given with important restorations, and he urges Wagner in spite of everything to keep his courage and continue work on the Ring.
December 15, 1853*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	94	No summary available.
December 17, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	251	Wagner apologizes for burdening Liszt with the failed Hartel affair and promises that he will hear no more of that Jewish business from him, even though Wagner admits the refusal leaves him in an awkward situation. He asks after Liszt's own composing, says that after five years without writing music he is now deep in Nibelheim and has just sketched Mime's complaint, and confesses that while illness and dark thoughts still trouble him, they do not shake his determination to continue the work.
December 25, 1853	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	151	Wagner thanks Liszt for arriving like a bringer of Christmas cheer and says he has placed the gift on his worktable like an altar because it came to him when he was very lonely. He adds that he can hardly write of the inner events of his life at all, since what matters to him must be felt or acted rather than put into words.
December 29, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	1,107	Liszt reports that his attempt to catch the Leipzig Lohengrin rehearsal and first performance has been thwarted by a chain of illnesses, missing instruments, and shifting plans, though he still hopes to return and report on the eventual performance if possible. He also tells Wagner that two recent Weimar Tannhauser evenings with Liebert were strikingly successful, advises him to keep relations with Hartel and H. workable in the Lohengrin piano-piece matter, and says that Weimar is steadily strengthening its claim to be the theatre most faithfully devoted to Wagner's works while waiting for the impossible to be supplied by the coming Rhinegold.
December 16, 1854	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	328	Wagner tells Liszt that Schopenhauer has become a heavenly literary companion in solitude, bringing him to fuller consciousness of salvation through the negation of the will to live. He says Die Walküre has exhausted him but that he must finish the Nibelung parts for the sake of Young Siegfried, and he sketches Tristan and Isolde as a memorial to the fulfilled love he has never known before imagining death beneath its black banner.
December 12, 1855	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	240	Wagner reports that he has been bedridden for three weeks with repeated attacks of erysipelas in the face and now expects a winter of continued danger from relapse. He says this illness makes Liszt's projected visit impossible for the present, deepens his already dark mood, and leaves him longing for more news from his friend.
December 12, 1855	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	106	Writing to Liszt from Zurich, Wagner reports that he is cautiously rising after three weeks in bed with repeated attacks of facial erysipelas. He expects to remain indoors for the rest of the year and fears winter relapses triggered by even slight excitement or chill.
December 19, 1855	Richard Wagner	Karl Klindworth	Zurich	113	Writing to Klindworth, Wagner asks for a prompt reply on whether he can quickly make the piano arrangement of Das Rheingold, in which case the score and part of Die Walküre will be sent at once. He explains that illness has kept him bedridden for much of two months, halted work, and forced him to postpone Liszt's planned visit until spring.
December 23, 1855	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	472	Princess Carolyne sends Wagner New Year's wishes from herself and her daughter, expresses their longing to see him again in 1856, and says both she and Liszt are saddened by his suffering. She reports Liszt's altered travel plans, his involvement with the Berlin Tannhauser rehearsals and surrounding criticism, and closes by asking Wagner to write more often and send the requested autograph while praising the Siegmund-Sieglinde duet in Die Walkure.
December 24, 1855	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	633	Liszt says illness and travel obligations have again delayed the longed-for meeting, since Vienna, Berlioz's coming visit, and Weimar performances will occupy him for months and may push any Zurich journey into the summer. He reports encouraging prospects for Tannhauser in Berlin and continuing success for Wagner's works in Weimar, while noting that he is postponing publication of some of his own scores until he can present them under his own direction.
December 26, 1855*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	25	No summary available.
December 29, 1855	Richard Wagner	Julie Ritter	Zurich	410	Writing to Julie Ritter, Wagner looks back on 1855 as a bleak year dominated by the misery of London, the death of his old dog Peps after his return, bad weather at Seelisberg, and months of illness in Zurich that delayed Die Walküre. He finds one consolation in Karl Ritter's arrival in Zurich, noting his escape from political homelessness and praising the young man's changed character and unusual promise.
December 6, 1856	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	301	Wagner forwards a letter from Wesendonck's household, asks after Liszt and the Princess, and reports that he is nearing the end of the first scene of a new work whose real inner meaning only becomes clear to him in composition. He says his deepest wish is to come to Liszt soon, asks again for news of the chances, and flatters Liszt as perhaps the greatest musician of all time while begging for more scores.
December 6, 1856	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	92	Writing to Liszt, Wagner says his strongest wish is to see him soon because he lacks music and feels only Liszt can truly provide it. He contrasts his own poor performing with Liszt as the greatest pianist of all time and tells Marie that he has brought his biography up to December 1, 1856.
December 12, 1856	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Munich	825	Liszt reports from Munich on a benefit performance of Tannhauser, praising some features of Lachner's care and the orchestral winds while criticizing the general dramatic feeling, several singers, and the public's lukewarm, merely observant character. He adds further notes on Munich musical life, Kaulbach, and the lingering uncertainty around Lohengrin there, giving Wagner a full artistic and social picture of the city.
December 16, 1856	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	985	Wagner tells Liszt with unusual directness that Liszt's friendship is the central fact of his life and that only periodic living near him can supply the artistic stimulus without which his own musical powers become heavy and infertile. He urgently asks for definite news about Weimar, describes the practical conditions under which he could live there quietly, weighs pension and publishing possibilities, and says that more depends on Liszt's decision and success than Liszt perhaps imagines.
December 16, 1856	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	751	Writing to Liszt, Wagner calls Liszt's friendship the most significant event of his life and proposes visiting Altenburg or Weimar quietly, avoiding public appearances but perhaps reading his poems at court with Liszt playing excerpts. He also explains that a rupture with Karl Ritter threatens his support, urges progress with Härtel or possible Weimar backing for The Nibelungs, and says failure may force him to set the Ring aside for the more marketable Tristan.
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.
December 24, 1856*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	140	Wagner asks Liszt to obtain some kind of safe-conduct from the Prince of Prussia against mistreatment or imprisonment if Swiss political troubles should lead to Prussian occupation. He says the best solution would still be a prompt move to Weimar, but fears that none of the complications of his situation will be spared him.
No letters found.

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