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 November (37 total)

Date	From	To	Place	Words	Subject
November 5, 1835	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Magdeburg	413	Wagner answers Apel in a wounded tone, feeling misunderstood and judged too severely by the friend on whom he still depends emotionally. He describes Minna's departure for Berlin as heartbreak that proves his love, then awkwardly presses Apel for promised money whose delay has left him humiliated.
November 25, 1835	Richard Wagner	Theodore Apel	Magdeburg	497	Wagner thanks Apel for his prompt generosity, then turns to Apel's illnesses and contrasts them with his own restless exertion. He exults in Minna's return from Berlin, citing Wolfram's changed opinion and her rejected offers of marriage, while reporting a strong Magdeburg opera company, rapid progress on his opera, and admiration for Laube's new books.
November 1, 1838	Richard Wagner	August Lewald	Riga	1,865	Wagner writes to August Lewald from Riga, thanking him for earlier support and asking for help in renewing his attempt to reach the Paris operatic world. He recounts sending Scribe both the grand-opera subject Die hohe Braut and the comic opera Das Liebesverbot, then asks Lewald for contacts or an address for the Opéra Comique because his French ambitions have revived in northern isolation.
November 3, 1842	Richard Wagner	Robert Schumann	Dresden	1,197	Wagner reports that Dresden now wants to stage The Flying Dutchman immediately after Rienzi, whose extraordinary success has brought full houses, intense public attention, and a disappointing but larger-than-usual honorarium that must first go to debts and necessities. He also reflects on suddenly being in demand, the possible Dresden kapellmeistership after Rastrelli's death, his desire to remain creatively free, and prospects for helping family members and Paris creditors once further income arrives.
November 6, 1842	Richard Wagner	Edward Avenarius	Dresden	999,999	Wagner writes to his Paris friends through Avenarius about Rienzi's sustained Dresden success, emphasizing packed houses, attentive audiences, and singers so devoted that they resist cuts despite exhaustion. He contrasts rumors of large earnings with the actual 300-thaler honorarium, explaining that debts and basic needs consume it while promising that future income from performances, publishers, or score sales should help his Paris creditors.
November 3, 1845	Richard Wagner	Karl Gaillard	Dresden	282	Wagner tells Gaillard that Tannhäuser has triumphed after a precarious start, with delays, hostile talk, and a thin second-performance audience giving way to growing understanding and enthusiastic calls for singers and composer. He regrets that Gaillard attended the unsatisfactory first performance and that his own stunned state made him a poor host, especially since later performances, including Tichatschek's, were far stronger.
November 6, 1845	Richard Wagner	Professor Dr. Lowe	Dresden	260	Wagner informs Professor Lowe that although he expects to be re-elected director of the Liedertafel, he can no longer serve as choir conductor because the society needs more time and attention than his official duties allow. He recommends Ferdinand Hiller, then in Dresden without an appointment, as an artistically capable replacement who could devote himself more fully to the post.
November 21, 1849	Richard Wagner	Karl Ritter	Zurich	151	Wagner writes Karl Ritter about Feuerbach, recommending Death and Immortality and reflecting on the paradox that one must read books to become natural. He praises Feuerbach for emerging as a man rather than merely a philosopher, especially against abstract philosophy, and says he owes him a great debt.
November 25, 1850	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	920	Wagner apologizes for the delayed return of Liszt's manuscript, then says Liszt's article on Lohengrin has moved and elevated him because it shows both men meeting at the core of art from opposite directions. He explains that he will spend the winter clearing away his reflective and theoretical work, especially The Essence of Opera, so that he can enter spring free to compose Siegfried, and he renews his sincere wish that Liszt eventually take up Wieland if it truly inspires him.
November 26, 1850	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Eilsen	283	Recovering from a bout of fever, Liszt asks Wagner to confirm whether Raff's copy of the Lohengrin article has reached him and to judge it frankly as to merit and publishability. He also asks Wagner to thank Ritter for a courteous offer, inquires after Siegfried and the new opera book, and asks for one of Wagner's long letters to cheer his convalescence.
November 20, 1851	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Albisbrunn	3,631	Wagner finally breaks his silence to thank Liszt for the new pamphlet on his operas and to explain that his original promise to write a new work specifically for Weimar has now been fundamentally transformed by the inner logic of the Nibelung material. He says that Young Siegfried and Siegfried's Death have forced him backward into The Valkyrie and The Rape of the Rhinegold, so that the whole myth must become a four-part cycle intended for festival performance over several days, and he adds that recent private support frees him from material anxiety long enough to complete it while also releasing him from the painful thought of demanding its realization from Weimar as it stands.
November 9, 1852	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	1,478	Wagner tells Liszt in deep frustration that Hulsen has refused to invite him to Berlin with the authority Wagner considered essential, and he now sees that the whole Berlin Tannhauser affair has been handled in a spirit of routine that entirely misses what the work requires. The disappointment drives him into one of his darkest confessions of isolation and exhaustion, even as he explains the true nature of the unfinished Faust overture as a solitary Faust without Gretchen and reports that the Nibelung cycle is now fully laid out under the title The Ring of the Nibelung, though he fears he may abandon composition altogether if his life remains artistically starved.
November 9, 1852	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Zurich	710	Wagner tells Liszt that Zurich is destroying him and begs for help securing a return to Germany without humiliating submission to Saxony, because only artistic work still sustains him and even that is starving without a proper environment. He explains the Faust Overture as “Faust in Solitude,” lacking the feminine Gretchen movement he never wrote, and reports finishing the new Ring poems while warning that if Germany remains closed he may abandon art rather than compose the Nibelung music under such conditions.
November 16, 1853	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	Zurich	2,074	Wagner tells Liszt that work is finally going so well and doing so much for both his music and his health that he must free himself from the humiliating uncertainty of irregular theatrical royalties, and he therefore asks Liszt to help persuade the Hartels to buy out the Lohengrin theatrical and related rights for a substantial lump sum payable by Christmas. He supports the proposal with detailed calculations about future theatre fees, separate vocal and piano extracts, librettos, and foreign prospects, arguing that only a decisive financial settlement will protect the next years of his life and labor from the petty anxieties that now constantly threaten his artistic concentration.
November 25, 1853	Richard Wagner	Hans von Bülow	Zurich	315	Writing to Hans von Bülow, Wagner recalls Paris as spiritually elevating, says a child has become a holy blessing over him and his composition, and reports that illness has not prevented him from nearly finishing the first half of Das Rheingold. He also analyzes his troubled dealings with Karl Ritter, regretting his own harsh replies while arguing that Ritter's claim of equality ignores Wagner's deeper experience and leads to repeated misunderstanding.
November 1, 1854	Richard Wagner	Princess Caroline	Zurich	209	Wagner tells Princess Caroline that Die Walküre is progressing much more slowly than expected because music requires a different, more nourishing life than his dreary circumstances provide. The work's sorrows affect him so painfully that they make him ill, and he is currently in Act II at Brünnhilde's death-announcement to Siegmund while longing to reach the lighter momentum of Young Siegfried.
November 15, 1854*	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	681	Wagner tells Liszt that Schopenhauer has become a decisive intellectual companion for him, because the philosopher's doctrine of renouncing the will to live gives conceptual form to Wagner's own longing for death and release from illusion. He links this mood to his artistic plans, saying he will finish the Ring, dreams of Tristan and Isolde and Young Siegfried, asks Liszt to forward Rheingold for copying, and imagines meeting him in Switzerland for future work and companionship.
November 2, 1855	Richard Wagner	Princess Caroline	Zurich	542	Writing to Princess Caroline, Wagner pleads that Liszt be allowed to visit Zurich in winter, saying illness has interrupted work on Die Walküre and that Liszt's presence matters more to him than finishing the score by Christmas. In a mood of despair, he argues that life should be organized around essential human bonds rather than routine, confessing that he feels abandoned and believes living near Liszt would relieve much of his misery.
November 16, 1855	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	152	Wagner thanks Liszt's daughter for her letter and says he is keeping her album until he can write something worthy in it, while also remaining indebted to the Princess for a proper reply. He is still confined indoors, doing a little work, and says he would gladly remain silent until Liszt's arrival because whatever he says or writes now seems foolish to him.
November 1, 1856	Richard Wagner	Karl Klindworth	Zurich	139	Writing to Klindworth, Wagner says Liszt has studied and played through Klindworth's arrangements with great interest and is making small corrections while awaiting the promised third act. Wagner reports improved health after three convivial weeks with Liszt and promises to send remaining Rheingold sketches with the first act of Siegfried during the winter.
November 15, 1856*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	41	No summary available.
November 29, 1856	Richard Wagner	Hans von Bülow	Zurich	252	Writing to Hans von Bülow after Liszt's six-week visit, Wagner describes both the richness and strain of the encounter, including illness and Princess Caroline's exhausting intensity, and welcomes the return of quiet for work. He praises Liszt's new compositions, especially Orpheus as a uniquely perfect masterpiece and Les Préludes as beautiful, bold, and noble despite reservations about its main motives.
November 30, 1856	Richard Wagner	Julie Ritter	Zurich	442	Writing to Julie Ritter, Wagner says he feels essentially dead to the world and wants only undisturbed leisure for artistic work, even after Liszt's recent visit left him both stimulated and exhausted. He laments tension between Liszt and Karl Ritter, affirms Karl's growing importance to him, and asks Emilie for news of Jessie Laussot, whose attempt at independence may allow renewed sympathy after their earlier estrangement.
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.
November 3, 1857	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	—	805	Liszt writes from Dresden with affectionate memories of Wagner, mentions current rehearsals of his own symphonies, reports family and theater news, praises the Tristan subject while raising a small dramatic doubt about Brangane, and asks Wagner's advice about cuts for a planned Weimar Rienzi. The same entry also includes Wagner's ardent message of spiritual solidarity for Liszt's Dante performance, assuring him that his deepest understanding and companionship are with Wagner alone rather than with the surrounding public.
November 5, 1857	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Zurich	140	No summary available.
November 5, 1858	Franz Liszt	Richard Wagner	—	800	Liszt thanks Wagner for a birthday letter whose calm tone pleased him, says he hopes Tristan is progressing well, promises continued help with possible performances of Lohengrin, The Flying Dutchman, and Rienzi, and urges Wagner to reply politely to Dingelstedt so Weimar cooperation can be preserved for Tristan and eventually the Nibelungen. He also reports on current Weimar operatic life, including Sobolewski's Komala and Cornelius's The Barber of Baghdad, while explaining plans and finances for a January performance of Rienzi.
November 21, 1858	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Venice	771	Wagner thanks Liszt for his letter, reports that illness interrupted him through the first half of November, and says Tristan has been delayed because he can only continue it in the right mood, though he has sent proof sheets of the first act and is also reviving the Nibelungen publication question. He then describes his worsening financial situation as hoped-for income from Rienzi falls through in Munich and Hanover, complains bitterly about theater functionaries, and closes with Venetian news about mutual acquaintances, princely admirers, and the quiet solitude he guards for his work.
November 26, 1858	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Venice	355	Wagner sends Liszt an autograph and grumbles that he must now conduct Weimar business through the formal Dingelstedt, which has made Weimar itself lose much of its former charm for him. He explains practical matters about available Rienzi scores and cuts, complains bitterly about the trouble required for small sums of money, reports severe pain from an abscess in his leg, and asks whether Liszt has received the first act of Tristan from Hartel.
November 11, 1859	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Paris	1,183	No summary available.
November 23, 1859	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Paris	740	Wagner tells Liszt that a hurried two-day meeting at Strasbourg would be useless to him because what he longs for is not business discussion but sustained private life together, and he cannot understand why Liszt now refuses a discreet visit to Paris after earlier encouraging that very plan. He therefore declines the Strasbourg proposal, falls silent about many of his deeper troubles, notes that the Carlsruhe Tristan scheme has effectively collapsed under Devrient's excuses, and remarks bitterly on the financial consequences while adding that his wife has arrived somewhat improved in health.
November 29, 1859	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Paris	1,188	No summary available.
November 13, 1860	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Paris	472	No summary available.
November 17, 1860	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Paris	430	No summary available.
November 24, 1860	Richard Wagner	Franz Liszt	Paris	219	Wagner writes from a state of prolonged and serious weakness, saying he has been very ill for four weeks and can scarcely write. In this condition he urgently asks Liszt to procure and send him any available copy of The Ring of the Nibelung poem from Weimar so he can reprint it, and he ends by imploring Liszt to come to Paris and make him happy.
November 24, 1860*	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Paris	405	No summary available.
November 10, 1863	Richard Wagner	Mathilde Wesendonck	Penzing	561	No summary available.
No letters found.