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 July (80 total)

Date	From	To	Place	Words	Subject
July 3, 1834	Richard Wagner	Rosalie Wagner	Prague	591	Wagner writes from Prague after time in Teplitz, describing fine weather, renewed impressions of the city, visits with the Raymann family, and favorable circumstances around Karl Pachta. He plans calls on Prague theatrical figures, praises Stoger's theatre and the singer Lutzer, and says he will give Stoger the libretto of Die Feen while remaining uneasy about affairs at home.
July 6, 1835	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Leipzig	321	Wagner reports weeks of travel, including a visit with Laube at Kosen, and condemns Schlesier's betrayal while admiring Laube's mild judgment of him. He says Magdeburg theatre affairs have turned favorable under committee management and royal support, so he has rejoined on better terms with greater operatic authority and is traveling to recruit singers.
July 25, 1835	Richard Wagner	Johanna Geyer	Karlsbad	1,063	Writing to his mother from Karlsbad, Wagner reflects emotionally on maternal love as his one secure refuge, contrasting it with the diplomatic distance he feels among siblings and other relations. He describes a bitter rupture with Fritz Brockhaus as a turning point toward self-reliance, then reports travel through Teplitz and Prague and plans to continue theatre-related inquiries from Nürnberg.
July 13, 1837	Richard Wagner	Dr. Schellwitz	Dresden	303	Wagner asks Dr. Schellwitz, on Ottilie's advice, to obtain a Leipzig passport for his journey to Riga. He explains that marriage has removed his military-service obstacle and asks to be presented as a twenty-four-year-old Leipzig resident appointed kapellmeister in Riga, with the route still undecided.
July 25, 1842	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	93	Wagner tells Minna that he has won Reissiger's enthusiasm by giving him the operatic subject Die hohe Braut and expects diligence from him in return. He also reports receiving a costly letter from Troupenas in Paris about musical arrangements, which prompted him to work late and finish them.
July 28, 1842	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	438	Wagner writes tenderly and anxiously to Minna, saying Dresden feels empty without her and urging that they should not remain separated. He challenges her suggestion that a longer separation may be necessary by recalling how she stayed with him through far worse dangers after leaving Russia, when she could have sought safety elsewhere.
July 1, 1843	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	80	Wagner tells Minna that before the choral festival he wants to finish adapting Rienzi into a single-evening version, a task he has already begun and hopes to complete quickly. If he receives leave afterward, he wants this work behind him so he can devote himself fully to his new opera, Tannhäuser.
July 12, 1843	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	75	Wagner excitedly tells Minna that Lüttichau has granted his leave and behaved toward him very graciously. He cannot depart until the following Monday or Tuesday because he must conduct an opera again, attend Lüttichau's Sunday invitation, and finish writing out the Rienzi adaptation.
July 13, 1843	Richard Wagner	Cecilie Avenarius	Dresden	481	Wagner explains to Cecilie that two months of overwhelming Dresden duties, Reissiger's absence, royal commissions, and the rushed composition and rehearsal of The Love-Feast of the Apostles have made leave necessary for his health. He celebrates the festival performance by 1200 male voices and orchestra in the Frauenkirche as a triumph, but says news of Lehrs's death left him stunned and darkened his memory of Paris as destructive to noble spirits.
July 27, 1843	Richard Wagner	Breitkopf and Härtel	Teplitz	272	Wagner tells Breitkopf and Härtel that he is surprised they deem The Flying Dutchman worth publishing but not worth their customary opera honorarium. He reads this as proof that German publishers still value even dubious French works above original German opera, and declares he will withhold the score until theatrical success raises its value enough to command substantial payment.
July 28, 1844	Richard Wagner	Cecilie Avenarius	Dresden	241	Wagner tells Cecilie that publication work on the piano scores of Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman has consumed months and delayed Tannhäuser, so he hopes to take country leave in August to finish the new opera. He says he has abandoned complicated French copyright plans, notes Beale's London interest in an English production, and reports that Albert is doing well and Johanna has excelled as Irene in Rienzi.
July 9, 1847	Richard Wagner	Baron von Lüttichau	Dresden	805	Wagner complains to Lüttichau that Gutzkow's growing influence over Dresden theatrical affairs, especially opera, is ignorant, clique-ridden, and destructive of confidence. He asks that Gutzkow be barred from operatic interference and that opera management be restored to Wagner, otherwise he will seek a revised role under the king that uses his artistic capacities without making him responsible for management he cannot conscientiously control.
July 1, 1848	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Dresden	194	Wagner tells Liszt that his financial situation has become desperate and that Liszt's influence may be his last hope of setting his affairs in order. He urgently begs Liszt to come to Dresden in person, offering him eventual ownership of his operas if his intervention can save him.
July 4, 1848	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	94	Liszt reports that he has already written to Herr von Villen to discuss Wagner's matter with Wagner's lawyer and with Meser. He says he cannot come to Dresden at present but is trying to obtain a definite arrangement and answer from a distance.
July 11, 1848	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Vienna	714	Wagner writes Minna from Vienna about an arduous journey through Breslau and a city transformed by revolutionary democratic energy, German colors, National Guard life, and a recently overthrown ministry. He meets Bauernfeld, then finds stronger support in Fischhof, who understands his artistic aims and plans to introduce him to Education Minister Exner so that Wagner's theatre or cultural scheme may gain official recognition and possible funding around the Kärntnertor-Theater.
July 15, 1848	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Vienna	273	Wagner tells Minna that his Vienna plans are advancing well, with a meeting arranged at Fischhof's and support from figures such as Dr. Bacher and Vesque von Püttlingen, who want ministers to see the proposal. He says advisers believe he could obtain the Kärntnertor-Theater only by leaving Dresden to reorganize and manage it, and he contrasts Vienna's unified radical atmosphere with party friction elsewhere.
July 9, 1849	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	963	Now settled in Zurich through Liszt's help, Wagner thanks him and Belloni, explains that he hopes to find peace there for new work, and says he has arranged the outward terms of a Paris collaboration with Gustave Vaez. He rejects the idea of reworking Rienzi for the Grand Opera, defends himself bitterly against charges of ingratitude and worse in Saxony, and asks Liszt to forward the scores and books he needs in Zurich.
July 19, 1849*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	744	Wagner begs Liszt to raise and send money to his wife so that she can leave Dresden, travel to Zurich with her sister, and rejoin him with at least minimal security. He says that reunion with his wife is the one thing necessary to restore his peace and productivity, and he promises renewed work for Paris once this immediate need is met.
July 29, 1849	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	343	Liszt tells Wagner that he has sent one hundred thalers to Wagner's wife through an anonymous admirer of Tannhauser and has also forwarded Wagner's scores to Zurich. He praises Lohengrin enthusiastically, though still with reservations about its stage effect, and suggests adding a dedication of Tannhauser to the Hereditary Grand Duke of Weimar as a tactful gesture.
July 2, 1850	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Thun	1,189	Wagner sends Liszt detailed staging and orchestral instructions for Lohengrin, urges him to perform the opera essentially uncut except for one specified passage in Lohengrin's final narration, and stresses that the work will succeed only if its full conception is respected. He also discusses publication of the libretto and piano score, asks whether he might somehow attend the Weimar premiere incognito despite the danger of arrest, and longs to see Liszt again in Zurich.
July 10, 1850	Richard Wagner	Julie Ritter	Zurich	189	Wagner tells Julie Ritter that recent events have proved Minna's love stronger than her doubts and misunderstandings of him. Even after hearing accusations from Bordeaux, Minna wants only his return and would accept support only from his own hand, making him see her as transformed and compelling him to be truly present for her.
July 11, 1850*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	233	Wagner asks Liszt for a clear answer about the five hundred francs supposedly due for his version of Iphigenia, including whether the money exists, where it has been sent, and how it might be divided between Belloni in Paris and Wagner in Zurich. He adds his amazement that Liszt may have secured such a payment for a mere arrangement and asks again whether he might soon hear from or even briefly see Liszt.
July 20, 1850*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	1,268	Liszt assures Wagner of his practical and intelligent devotion, explains that he could not extract the requested Iphigenia payment from the management, but sends private funds through Belloni and expects further help from Zigesar and from Lohengrin honoraria. He also describes the exceptional preparations for the Weimar premiere of Lohengrin, forbids Wagner to think of returning incognito because it is impossible, and quietly proposes that a successful reception might later justify a commission and advance for Siegfried.
July 29, 1850*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	1,575	Wagner responds with an exalted meditation on friendship, telling Liszt that his practical devotion has made exile bearable and has given him a living example of what true friendship means. He then unfolds his convictions about the death of contemporary art, the primacy of present representation over posthumous fame, and concludes that he will compose Siegfried only for Liszt and Weimar once Lohengrin has been successfully brought to life there.
July 3, 1851	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Eilsen	654	Liszt rejoices in the completion of Young Siegfried and wishes he could hear Wagner read it, but says travel to Zurich is impossible for him this year because of the Princess's health and their slow return journey. He advises Wagner to publish only the piano score of Lohengrin for now and to reserve the full-score arrangement with Hartel for Siegfried after its hoped-for Weimar premiere, while promising continued practical help and mentioning an impending pamphlet of his own on Lohengrin and Tannhauser.
July 11, 1851	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	548	Wagner gratefully accepts Liszt's advice about Hartel and resolves that the coveted full-score engraving should be reserved for Siegfried rather than Lohengrin. He praises Uhlig's quiet fidelity, sends Liszt the requested Monatsschrift numbers with reservations about their fragmentary usefulness, rejoices that Young Siegfried will free him from journalism, and hopes soon to recover enough health to begin the music.
July 25, 1852*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	431	Wagner thanks Liszt for the money but wants assurance that the hundred thalers were truly advanced against the expected Weimar honorarium for The Flying Dutchman and did not inconvenience anyone else. He says the trip comes at exactly the right moment because intense work on The Valkyrie has badly overstrained him, and he asks Liszt to have the Weimar management answer the designer directly about the Dutchman sketches while thanking him again for all he has done to win him new friends.
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.
July 2, 1854*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	116	Wagner thanks Liszt for rescuing him from a serious financial difficulty and says he expects his affairs to improve by the autumn. He mentions his impending trip to Valais, says that work on Die Walkure has begun in earnest, and briefly notes Brendel's surprising behavior.
July 3, 1854	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	61	Writing to Liszt, Wagner says he is leaving briefly for Valais but lacks both money and inclination for extended travel. He reports that Die Walküre has begun and that his only real pleasure is now in the forward movement of his work.
July 10, 1854*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	645	Wagner urgently asks Liszt to use his presence in Leipzig to obtain a temporary loan or advance of one thousand thalers from Hartel, secured against the opera receipts he expects later in the year, because he has exhausted all other resources. He dismisses rumors about a German journey, leaves the Berlin matter entirely in Liszt's hands, describes his disgust with the Valais festival, and says that only continued work on Die Walkure makes life bearable.
July 10, 1854	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Sitten	243	Wagner tells Minna from Sitten that he regrets being drawn away from work in Zurich for what proves to be only a poor local musical festival rather than a true federal event. He complains of bad weather, premature arrival, a small church, inadequate musicians, likely acoustic problems, and says he may hand the affair to Methfessel and leave rather than act as kapellmeister for such wretched forces.
July 19, 1854*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	635	Princess Carolyne thanks Wagner for the autograph, praises Liszt's ongoing articles on him, and urges him to trust Liszt completely with the Berlin affair while remaining confident of their shared loyalty to his art. She also says the Altenburg longs to receive his letters and the score of Rheingold, asks after the progress of Die Walkure, and sends affectionate encouragement from the whole household.
July 28, 1854	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	282	Liszt reports that attempts to secure money have again failed and that Hulsen has now definitively refused a Berlin performance of Tannhauser, though rumors from higher quarters suggest the matter may not be closed forever. He asks Wagner to explain his sudden flight from the Valais festival, mentions his recent travels and work on Faust, and regrets that he still cannot relieve Wagner's humiliation and distress.
July 5, 1855	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,112	Back in Zurich after the end of his London engagement, Wagner reports that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert treated him with marked kindness and that his final concert ended in a public and orchestral ovation that partly vindicated him against the critics. He remains bitter about the artistic vulgarity and exhaustion of the whole enterprise, but is glad it ended honorably, values his new friendship with Berlioz, and eagerly asks when Liszt will finally come to Switzerland.
July 5, 1855	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	462	Writing to Liszt after returning to Zurich, Wagner reviews his London season, gratefully recalling Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's public friendliness toward him despite his status as a political exile. He insists the concerts brought no true artistic triumph, only outward success after degrading programs, but notes a significant new friendship with Berlioz born from long conversation and shared suffering.
July 8, 1855	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	90	No summary available.
July 11, 1855	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	734	Liszt promises Wagner that he will visit Zurich in the autumn, probably after his uncertain Hungarian journey, and says he is pleased by the honorable close of the London season and by Wagner's new understanding with Berlioz. He thanks Wagner for the long Dante letter, explains that he is reworking Prometheus and preparing more material to discuss in person, and closes with family, theatrical, and travel news while renewing his gratitude for Wagner's kindness to Klindworth.
July 22, 1855	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Seelisberg	130	Wagner says he now thinks only of Liszt's coming visit and is glad it was postponed, since the delay will let him prepare more of Die Walkure for their meeting. He asks Liszt to regard the encounter as a climactic moment in both their lives and to arrange ordinary matters accordingly.
July 30, 1855	Richard Wagner	Louis Schindelmeisser	Seelisberg	1,197	Writing from Seelisberg to Schindelmeisser, Wagner reflects on the poor state of tenors and conducting in Germany, sends materials for Tannhäuser and Die Walküre, and asks about piano arrangements for Das Rheingold. He discusses the dramatic weight of Walküre Act II, his renewed confidence in Wotan's great scene, his recovery from London, his circle in Zurich, his interest in Berlioz's scores, and his dread that a lucrative American offer might derail work on The Nibelungs.
July 10, 1856	Richard Wagner	Breitkopf and Härtel	Mornex	640	Writing to Breitkopf and Härtel from Mornex, Wagner argues that the Nibelung works are unprecedented, the fullest work of his life, and impossible to price by ordinary standards or first-performance success. He asks for 2,000 louis d'or to buy a quiet country property near Zurich, warning that without such support he may abandon the Ring and turn instead to a shorter work, Tristan and Isolde, for quicker theatrical income.
No letters found.

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