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.

Year

Month

All Years •

—

All Months • Jan• Feb• Mar• Apr• May• Jun• Jul• Aug• Sep• Oct• Nov• Dec

Search letters

Correspondent

Direction

Showing all years in June (76 total)

Date	From	To	Place	Words	Subject
June 16, 1835	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Leipzig	488	From Leipzig, Wagner tells Apel that he has recovered enough to work steadily, while reporting a disappointing performance of the Columbus overture at Gerhardt's concert and blaming both the execution and local opposition. He sketches hopes of taking Das Liebesverbot beyond Germany, notes improved prospects at the Magdeburg theatre, describes travel plans and Minna's devotion, and declares an artistic creed aimed at living audiences rather than posterity.
June 7, 1837	Richard Wagner	Louis Schindelmeisser	Leipzig	255	Wagner urgently asks Louis Schindelmeisser to secure a contract with Holtei for Riga, stressing that he needs a two- or three-year appointment and an advance of 100 thalers for travel. He asks for a reply in Dresden and says a favorable answer would bring him through Berlin to thank Schindelmeisser personally.
June 12, 1837	Richard Wagner	Louis Schindelmeisser	Dresden	142	Wagner thanks Schindelmeisser and says he is sending a divorce petition to the Königsberg courts, while emphasizing that he is destitute and must obtain the Riga post. Staying temporarily with Hermann and Ottilie Brockhaus in Dresden, he asks whether his immediate presence in Berlin is necessary or whether Schindelmeisser can secure the contract without him.
June 27, 1841	Richard Wagner	Count Wilhelm von Redern	Paris	268	Wagner petitions Count Wilhelm von Redern for a Berlin Royal Court Theatre premiere of The Flying Dutchman, describing it as a shorter opera to be paired with another stage work. Acknowledging that his name may be unknown, he cites Meyerbeer as a reference and asks for a late-autumn performance date so he can send the completed score by summer's end.
June 12, 1842	Richard Wagner	Samuel Lehrs	Teplitz	321	From Teplitz, Wagner responds warmly to Samuel Lehrs, praising the independence he sees in Lehrs's turn to paid children's books while mocking his own fruitless journalism for the Dresdener Abendzeitung. He reflects bitterly on social ambition, Laube, theatrical authorities, Paris, Dresden, and Saxon patriotism, concluding that he wants nature and friends more than any particular city or fatherland.
June 13, 1842	Richard Wagner	Cecilie Avenarius	Paris	168	Wagner writes Cecilie Avenarius from Teplitz, delighting in the countryside and saying that his mother and Minna have met there for the first time with apparent happiness. He also reports a visit to Albert in Halle, finding him better than expected, financially secure for the moment, and training Johanna, whose acting and voice give Wagner hopes.
June 14, 1842	Richard Wagner	Karl Theodor von Küstner	Teplitz	315	Wagner tactfully acknowledges Küstner's likely priority of staging Lachner's Catarina Cornaro in Berlin, while proposing The Flying Dutchman as a modest interim novelty. He argues that its brevity, limited ensembles, manageable casting, and relatively light rehearsal demands would allow a first performance as early as late August or September.
June 2, 1843	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	348	Wagner tells Minna that Lipinski has reconciled with him and that Lindenau brought news that the king personally played through and enjoyed his composition. He describes the pressure of organizing the unveiling music, composing for the choral festival, conducting operas, and church duties, while deciding to take a mineral-water cure for his health despite feeling generally restored.
June 3, 1843	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	62	Wagner tells Minna that the ceremony succeeded and that his chorus was judged decisively superior to Mendelssohn's, including by Lindenau and the court. He now must hurry work on The Love-Feast of the Apostles, while dismissing the evening's Norma with Mme. Werthmüller as tedious.
June 14, 1843	Richard Wagner	Albert Wagner	Dresden	250	Wagner sympathizes with Albert's difficulties and says his chief concern is Johanna, whom he believes could soon be useful in Dresden because the women singers and opera forces are weak, especially without Devrient. He reports Minna's stay at the Teplitz baths, a moving birthday serenade from the local choral society, and near completion of his choral-festival composition, inviting Albert to the July performances.
June 14, 1843	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	282	Wagner tells Minna that The Flying Dutchman has won over the famously difficult Spohr, and that this success in Kassel gives him an important advantage. He reassures her about his health, describes heavy duties with opera, the Liedertafel, court and church appearances, and says his nearly finished choral composition should make a thrilling impression.
June 30, 1843	Richard Wagner	Minna Wagner	Dresden	199	Wagner tells Minna that he has finished the instrumentation of The Love-Feast of the Apostles and that its first choral rehearsal already drew enthusiastic applause from about 200 singers. He also describes public excitement around Rienzi in Dresden, with its Peace chorus and overture repeatedly requested and applauded in the Brühlschen Gardens restaurant.
June 5, 1845	Richard Wagner	Karl Gaillard	Dresden	1,336	Wagner tells Gaillard that after his Dresden breakthrough he feels blocked by Berlin's mishandling of The Flying Dutchman, delays around Rienzi, and Dresden criticism that ignores his successes, reforms, Marschner productions, choral festival work, orchestral improvements, and Weber reburial. He sends Tannhäuser as a thoroughly German work that has possessed him creatively, hopes it will win German audiences more fully, and reflects that future operas such as the newly tempting Lohengrin must arise from deeper cultural ripening rather than mere productivity.
June 29, 1845	Richard Wagner	Otto Karl Claudius	Naumburg	372	Wagner writes Otto Karl Claudius that he values much of the music in Der Gang nach dem Eisenhammer, especially passages whose Romantic character he praises highly. For the sake of stage success, however, he urges a major concentration and rearrangement of the libretto, criticizing its excess of characters and scenes and advising a return closer to Schiller's ballad rather than Holbein's diffuse version.
June 17, 1848	Richard Wagner	Breitkopf and Härtel	Dresden	389	Wagner offers Breitkopf and Härtel the publishing concern for Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman, and Tannhäuser, explaining that self-publication has become a burden because creditors now demand capital and he needs peace for his art. He argues that wider theatrical prospects, especially Vienna opening after censorship barriers, make the operas commercially promising, and proposes that the firm take over unsold copies and costs without paying him an author's honorarium.
June 18, 1848	Richard Wagner	Baron von Lüttichau	Dresden	1,067	Wagner asks Lüttichau for leave in Dresden to treat gastric trouble, while explaining and defending his recent political pamphlet and public reading before a progressive association. He says he sought to reconcile republican aspirations with preservation of the monarchy by stripping away obsolete court forms, but now fears both popular radicalization and royal misunderstanding, and apologizes if his attempt at mediation caused offense.
June 19, 1848	Richard Wagner	Edward Devrient	Dresden	172	Wagner tells Edward Devrient that he regrets the heated public presentation of his pamphlet because it has been badly misunderstood and may be damaging his standing with the king. He asks Devrient to use his persuasive presence at court to defend Wagner's intentions and help prevent any harmful action against him.
June 20, 1848	Richard Wagner	Baron von Lüttichau	Dresden	181	Wagner writes emotionally to Lüttichau after receiving reassuring news through Edward Devrient, saying he now sees Lüttichau's nobility and true capacity for reconciliation. He apologetically drops formal address in the intensity of gratitude, explaining that the reassurance has deeply moved him.
June 23, 1848	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Dresden	319	Wagner confesses that he is in a financial crisis because he borrowed money to publish his three operas and can no longer repay his creditors. He asks Liszt to raise or provide 5,000 thalers, even in exchange for the copyrights, arguing that the rescue would free him to live and work as an artist again.
June 5, 1849	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Paris	1,447	Writing from Paris, Wagner pours out homesickness, gratitude, and dependence on Liszt's friendship while praising Liszt's Debats article on Tannhauser as a work of art in its own right. He describes his distrust of Parisian intrigues, his plans for radical writing and a new French project, his hope for London, and his anxiety over money and over news of his wife.
June 12, 1849*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	840	Deeply distressed by separation from his wife, Wagner decides that Paris is impossible for him without domestic peace and resolves to settle in Zurich, where he hopes to reunite his household and work in quiet on both a Paris opera project and The Death of Siegfried. He asks Liszt to help secure a modest annual allowance from German patrons and to send immediate financial aid so that he and his wife can survive and establish themselves there.
June 18, 1849	Richard Wagner	Edward Avenarius	Reuil	157	Wagner writes Avenarius from Reuil in deep anxiety because he has had no news of Minna for nearly four weeks after their separation. Repelled by uselessly remaining in cholera-stricken Paris, he plans a temporary Zurich settlement with Minna, supported by income Liszt is arranging, while using any Paris profits to pay Dresden debts.
June 19, 1849	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Reuil	781	Wagner retracts, or at least qualifies, his request that Liszt seek a stipend for him from royal patrons, since his role in the Dresden uprising would make such an appeal awkward and liable to look hypocritical or cowardly. He insists that his deeper impulse was always artistic rather than doctrinaire, and he asks instead for some immediate money so he can leave Paris, probably for Zurich, and recover enough peace to work.
June 29, 1849*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	616	Liszt advises Wagner not to seek court patronage for now and instead to pursue practical success in Paris, especially by adapting Rienzi for the Paris Opera and cultivating useful allies such as Roger, Viardot, Janin, Vaez, and Royer. He urges political restraint, promises some financial help, approves a temporary retreat to Zurich, and adds that Lohengrin has impressed him deeply even if he worries about its consistently ideal tone onstage.
June 9, 1850	Richard Wagner	Julie Ritter	Zermatt	3,276	Writing Julie Ritter from Zermatt after the collapse of his hopes with Jessie Laussot, Wagner pours out despair over love, separation from Minna, homelessness, and the sense that Jessie lacked the strength to free herself, while recounting the Bordeaux crisis and the possible intervention of Jessie's mother with Minna. He asks Julie to remain true and question him rather than judge him, sends Karl to learn whether Minna has been slandered, abandons Wieland as artistically dead, and turns toward essays on genius and a future Achilleus once he can work again.
June 27, 1850	Richard Wagner	Julie Ritter	Thun	999,999	Wagner tells Julie Ritter in detail how Jessie Laussot's abrupt break has left him feeling ruined, arguing that Jessie lacked the strength to free herself and suspecting that her mother may have appealed to Minna by misrepresenting his intentions. He reviews his sudden departure from Paris, Minna's attempted reconciliation, his decision not to wound her further, and Karl's mission to Zurich to discover whether Minna has been slandered, while abandoning Wieland and contemplating writings on genius and Achilleus.
June 4, 1851	Richard Wagner	Breitkopf and Härtel	Zurich	999,999	Wagner proposes to Breitkopf and Härtel a definitive publication of the poems for The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin with a substantial introduction. He links the project to his forthcoming Opera and Drama, saying it will explain his development as a dramatic composer and clarify apparent contradictions between the operas and his newest artistic theories, while also drawing attention to Lohengrin.
June 29, 1851	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	680	Wagner announces that he has finished the poem of Young Siegfried, regards it as the best thing he has yet done, and urgently asks whether he and Liszt can meet soon so that he may read it aloud and explain it in person before sending a copy. He also asks Liszt's advice about an unexpected publishing offer from Breitkopf and Hartel for the full score of Lohengrin, wondering whether he ought instead to reserve such support for Young Siegfried, which matters more to him.
June 16, 1852	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	387	Wagner asks Liszt to help him obtain an advance of about twenty to twenty-five louis d'or against the expected Weimar honorarium for The Flying Dutchman so that, after finishing The Valkyrie poem, he can travel to the Alps and briefly into Italy for needed recreation. He says ordinary income cannot cover such a journey, reports that The Valkyrie is turning out beautifully, and expects to place the entire poetic tetralogy before Liszt by the end of the summer.
June 26, 1852	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	444	Liszt sends Wagner a bill for one hundred thalers to support his Alpine trip and wishes him both good weather and good spirits while he presses on with the tetralogy, which Liszt already wonders might be performable by 1854. He thanks Wagner for the Lohengrin dedication, confirms a February Weimar production of The Flying Dutchman, reports favorably on recent performances of Liebesmahl der Apostel, the Dutchman duet, and the Tannhauser overture, and notes the enthusiasm these works aroused when adequately performed.
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.
June 1, 1854*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	18	No summary available.
June 2, 1854*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	20	No summary available.
June 3, 1854	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	700	Liszt replies firmly to the Berlin intendant that Wagner's operas cannot simply be mounted like ordinary repertory pieces and that their success depends on special artistic care and his active participation, just as other important works have benefited from direct authorial guidance. He therefore asks the management either to accept the arrangement already proposed, including his presence at rehearsals and performance, or to leave the matter in its present state.
June 3, 1854	Richard Wagner	Princess Caroline	Zurich	235	Wagner writes Princess Caroline in admiration of Liszt, praising his deeds, artistic range, programme writings, symphonic poems, and essays for Brendel's journal as poetic and brilliantly logical expressions of genius. He is moved that Liszt still honors The Flying Dutchman and reports that the Rhine Maidens are progressing, while he longs to begin Die Walküre.
June 7, 1854	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	370	Wagner thanks Liszt for energetically defending his interests with Hulsen, advises that no further reply is needed, and asks him to secure a piano score of Tannhauser for Roger, whom he hopes may become the ideal singer for the title role. He also warmly invites Liszt, the Princess, and the child to join him around the Valais festival and reports that he has put aside copying Rheingold in order to begin work on Die Walkure.
June 8, 1854	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	147	Liszt sends Wagner the latest evasive communication in the Berlin matter together with the outline of his simple answer, remarking that the real obstacles lie deeper than the named intermediaries and that further delays are likely. He adds that he hopes soon to bring Wagner his symphonic poems in person and urges patience and faithfulness in difficult times.
June 14, 1854	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	270	Wagner tells Liszt not to seek a copyist because a golden pen from Madame Wesendonck has revived his calligraphic perfectionism, making him determined to prepare Das Rheingold in an exquisitely written fair score. He says Liszt will see the work only in that worthy form, but that copying must wait because he is eager and full of Die Walküre.
June 16, 1854*	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	554	Wagner dismisses the latest Berlin negotiations as dishonest nonsense, thanks Liszt for his loyal friendship, and says that refusing such prudential compromises is itself a kind of victory even if practical success never comes. He looks forward to Liszt's visit, renounces the search for a copyist, resumes work on Die Walkure while postponing the fair copy of Rheingold, and lapses again into thoughts of death and tears.
June 24, 1854*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	38	In this very brief note Liszt says Wagner's letter has struck him like a thunderbolt and that tears prevent him from reading further. He responds only with an emotional tribute, calling Wagner wholly unique and implying that the letter's full meaning is known best to Wagner himself.
June 2, 1855	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Weimar	1,001	This composite entry begins with Wagner's complaint about the badly arranged four-hand version of his Faust Overture and his request that Liszt help set the publication right with Hartel. It then shifts to Liszt's reply from after the Dusseldorf festival, where he comments on Dante, outlines plans for a Dante Symphony, advises practical patience with Hartel, and urges Wagner to persevere and continue the Nibelungen despite public dirt and Philistinism.
No letters found.

Page 1 of 2