Wagner's Letters

Richard Wagner to Franz Liszt

February 7, 1854 · Zurich

Overview

Wagner tells Liszt that he is scoring Das Rheingold directly with full orchestration because he could not clearly sketch the prelude, the Depths of the Rhine, in outline. He notes that this approach will slow completion and that his head is somewhat confused.

Letter

I am now scoring The Rhinegold, straight away, with the orchestration. I could find no way of writing the prelude (the Depths of the Rhine) clearly in outline, so I fell back on doing the full score forthwith. It only means that it will take so much the longer to finish and my head is somewhat confused.

Richard Wagner

Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Volume 1, ed. Altmann/Hull (London: Dent, 1927), No. 257

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