Richard Wagner His Life and His Dramas / A Biographical Study of the Man and an Explanation of His Work

by W. J. Henderson

"The malicious reports which certain Vienna and Munich papers have been publishing for some time concerning my husband compel me to declare that I have received from him up to date a pension which amply suffices for my support. I seize this opportunity with so much the more pleasure since it enables me to destroy at least one of the many calumnies which people are pleased to launch against my husband."

This statement is indisputable evidence that there was no harsh feeling in the heart of the wife who had parted from him.

Mme. von Bülow with her children joined Wagner at Triebschen, while Hans was obliged to go to Basle to teach. In his place he left Hans Richter, who thus became intimately associated with the creative work of Wagner. The separation between Von Bülow and his wife proved to be final, and the daughter of Liszt imitated her illustrious father by recognising the supremacy of the claims of love over all other obligations. In 1866 the public feeling against Wagner had somewhat declined, and the King decided to have model performances of "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin" at Munich. Von Bülow was made Kapellmeister and devoted himself, heart and soul, to the preparations for these performances. In March, 1867, Wagner went to Munich to supervise some of the rehearsals, and again he visited the capital in May for the same purpose. A general rehearsal took place on June 11th, and everything went to the satisfaction of the master.

To his intense surprise, the next day the King sent away Tichatschek and Mme. Bertram-Mayer, who had been especially engaged, and announced that their places would be taken by Heinrich Vogl and Therese Thoma, afterward his wife. This was the result of a new intrigue against Wagner, and he, despairing of a perfect performance in these conditions, at once left the city. The first of these "model" performances took place on June 16 and was successful in spite of the sudden changes. But it was not what Wagner would have called an ideal performance, and some of the customary cuts were made. Despite the continued opposition to Wagner the King retained his love for the "music of the future," and he determined that "Die Meistersinger" should be produced in the year 1868. Public feeling against Wagner still further diminished, and he was able to visit Munich frequently to superintend the rehearsals, which were under the direction of Von Bülow as conductor and Richter as chorus master. The best obtainable artists in Germany were secured, and no pains were spared in the preparation of the troublesome but essential details of nuance and stage business. On June 21, 1868, the opera was produced, and its success was most decided.

And now Wagner returned to his magnum opus, "Der Ring des Nibelungen." But the King could not wait. He was eager to hear at least a part of it, and so he gave orders that "Das Rheingold" should be prepared. Again there were troubles of all kinds. The composer's directions were so inadequately followed that the machinery for the first scene was almost worthless. Richter, who had succeeded Von Bülow as Kapellmeister, was so displeased with the preparations that he refused to conduct, and finally Franz Wüllner was secured in his place. After several postponements the work was produced in a bungling style on Sept. 22, 1869. Wagner made a feeble effort to save the performance from disaster, but the result was practically a fiasco. The King, however, was bound to hear more of the trilogy, and accordingly, on June 26, 1870, "Die Walküre" was performed, the Vogls appearing as the lovers. The audience was somewhat better pleased with this work than with the "Rheingold," but the production could not be called a success. These performances were premature, and they may be said to have flashed in the pan.

It was at this period that an event occurred which Wagner's friends had for some time expected. The marriage of Cosima Liszt and Hans von Bülow had not been happy, and the estrangement between them was accelerated by the woman's quick conception of a passion for Wagner. When Von Bülow went to Basle to teach, the beginning of the end had come, and it was not long after that when the relations between Wagner and Mme. von Bülow could no longer be kept secret. "If it were only someone whom I could kill," said Von Bülow, "he would have been dead before this." The great conductor could not think of slaying the great master. In the autumn of 1869 the Von Bülows were divorced. In July, 1870 Wagner wrote to Praeger:

"My dear Ferdinand, you will no doubt be angry with me when you hear that I am soon to marry Bülow's wife, who has become a convert in order to be divorced."

A little later Praeger received the wedding cards announcing that they had been married on Aug. 25 at the Protestant Church of Lucerne. The attitude of Liszt toward this union may be understood from Wagner's statement that he was more annoyed by his daughter's change of religion than by her divorce. That the divorce and the marriage had to come about, however, may be inferred from the fact that in the summer of 1869 Mme. von Bülow had borne to Wagner a son.[27] The existence of this child was first definitely mentioned by Wagner in a letter to the Zurich friend, Mme. Wille, dated June 25, 1870, accepting an invitation to visit her, but deferring the date till he and Mme. von Bülow could go as man and wife. In November of the same year Wagner wrote to Praeger, and closed the letter with these words:

"Often do I now think of you because of your love for children. My house, too, is full of children, the children of my wife, but beside there blooms for me a splendid son, strong and beautiful, whom I dare call Siegfried Richard Wagner. Now think what I must feel that this at last has fallen to my share. I am fifty-seven years old."