Wagner, Richard, (1813-1883)

informing him that he has sent the vocal score to the trusty Peter Cornelius as he was not sure of the best person to deliver it to, stating that he would like the tenor Alois Ander to find it waiting for him when he arrives, mentioning cuts and alterations which need to be entered in it, relating that Härtel has already lithographed all the string parts and can copy those for the wind on request, discussing the role of Kurwenal, observing that he could not bring himself to rewrite it for bass as its baritone character is too strongly marked, noting that if Mayerhoffer is not able to sing the part as it is then it should be given to Beck, who he hopes will eventually be grateful for this, should he at first be somewhat unwilling, adding that should he remain opposed to the idea the role might be given to Hauser; in the second part of the letter Wagner discusses his need for a bass clarinet in A, noting that one was used in Dresden in the case of Lohengrin, and that it was acquired from some instrument-maker, perhaps in Darmstadt, explaining that he needs it for the final act, describing the tone it should have, ILLUSTRATING ITS APPEARANCE WITH A DRAWING, AND ALSO PROVIDING AN 8-BAR MUSICAL EXAMPLE SHOWING THE NATURAL NOTES IT HAS TO PLAY; Wagner adds that if the instrument-maker is able to make a successful instrument, he will make it a requirement in future for other theatres performing Tristan to have a similar version supplied by the same maker, apologises for talking shop with such 'opera music nonsense', admits to his anxiety on account of the unusually difficult nature of the score, but confessing that he is encouraged by the imminent prospect of their association and that the two previous Viennese performance of his operas gave him the happiest moments of his life

...Zwar blicke ich mit einiger Bangigkeit dem Studium dieser ungemein schweren Partitur entgegen; doch ist es meine einzige Herzstärkung, schon jetzt daran zu denken, dass ich bald wieder mit Ihnen und Ihrem herrlichen Orchester zu thun haben soll, wie denn auch diese beiden Wiener Vorstellungen meiner Opern bisher die schönsten Lichtblicke meines Lebens waren...   



4 closely-written pages, 8vo (21 x 13.5cm), some pencil annotations to the first page, with a typed transcription of the letter and a dealer's printed description, Paris, 15 June 1861, splitting slightly at foot of hinge

Sämtliche Briefe, xiii, no.133 (location unknown): published after A. Holde 'Four Unknown Letters of Richard Wagner' in Musical Quarterly, volume 27 (1941), pp.224-226 (including facsimile).

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A remarkable letter about Tristan und Isolde, Wagner's great opera about love, sex and death, and one of the greatest works of the human imagination.

Wagner had composed Tristan between 1857 and 1859, but seven years were to elapse before it was eventually brought to the stage, in Munich, on 10 June 1865, with Hans von Bülow conducting. In a strange case of art imitating life the opera's central love affair was mirrored by Wagner's own scandalous affair with von Bülow's wife Cosima. But, as the Wagner critic Barry Millington has observed, "Wagner’s opera transcends its scenario of a conventional love story to offer a profound meditation on the nature of the material world, on the metaphysics of subjectivity and on the mysteries of human existence itself". The present letter deals with Wagner's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to have the work staged in Vienna, a project which collapsed after two years' work and 70 rehearsals, the work being regarded as 'unperformable'.