COSIMA WAGNER
Daughter of Franz Liszt, formerly wife of Hans von Bülow, who now as Wagner’s widow manages the affairs at Bayreuth
RICHARD AND COSIMA WAGNER
From a photograph taken about 1872
A leading motive may be defined as a characteristic melody, or succession of chords like the majestic strains of the Walhall music, the heavy clumsy musical tread of the giants, or the virile, heroic motive of Siegfried, which is sounded by the orchestra whenever in the course of the drama the personage or the dramatic idea with which it is associated comes forward or is referred to in the text.
Today Wagner’s early operas seem simple to all; but the German audiences that first heard them, more than sixty years ago, found them hard nuts to crack. His “Rienzi,” being in the flashy Meyerbeer style much admired at that time, won great favor, although it is the poorest of his works. His next work, “The Flying Dutchman,” was so novel in style that the audiences did not know what to make of it. “Tannhäuser” was still more Wagnerian; while his “Lohengrin” seemed so far beyond the possibility of public approval that he could not get it accepted for performance, even in Dresden, where he was conductor!
This was only one illustration of the hard set conditions of the operatic situation. Wagner had so many reasons for dissatisfaction that he joined the revolutionary uprising in 1849. This uprising was soon crushed, and Wagner, with the aid of Liszt, escaped to Switzerland, the great asylum of political fugitives. Twelve years elapsed before he was allowed to return to Germany.
