QUOTE OF THE DAY - AUGUST 28, 2016: THREE'S COMPANY, FOUR'S A CROWD: HANS VON BÜLOW, COSIMA & RICHARD WAGNER...AND NIETZSCHE?

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, a one time ardent admirer (and later detractor) of 19th century romantic composer and fellow countryman Richard Wagner:

“And those who were seen dancing
were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

This month^[1] Wagnerites around the globe observed the 146th wedding anniversary of German romantic composer Richard Wagner to one frau Liszt – Cosima: illegitimate daughter of prolific pianist Franz, and adulteress formerly wed to famed conductor Hans von Bülow.

Richard Wagner and Cosima

Wagner and Cosima’s whirlwind romance was truly one for the ages, and possessed just the right kind of panache required for writing a veritably delicious libretto.

The bastard child of an illicit affair and daughter of an often absentee father, young Cosima would find herself, in the flower of her youth, craving the affections of her famous father. The virtuosic pianist and composer Franz Liszt, it seemed, employed only sporadic episodes of devotion to his daughter in her early years – it was a devotion, however, that, albeit infrequent, would prove most fruitful for Cosima – for it would be through introductions to Franz' former pupil Hans von Bülow and fellow composer Richard Wagner, that the daughter Liszt would come to meet husbands number 1 and 2.

Within a year of exchanging nuptials with von Bülow and spending more time within his musical sphere, Cosima would find herself the object of unbridled desire by another married man in Richard. Whilst Hans was busy devoting himself to rendering the operatic works of Wagner, the unlikely trio would become closer, to the point of residing together under one roof at maestro Wagner’s home at Biebrich.

It would be here, during a rehearsal that Wagner would observe of Cosima her charm and allure:

"I felt utterly transported by the sight of Cosima ... she appeared to me as if stepping from another world."

Cosima, by all accounts, shared the affections of Richard – just over a year after Wagner’s epiphany the two would succumb to one another:

"with tears and sobs...we sealed our confession to belong to each other alone." 

By 1868, just five years after issuing this undying pact, and two years before divorcing von Bülow, Cosima would move in with Richard permanently.

This famous love match would produce, much like in the music of the future groom, spectacles of rumor and intrigue of the most grandiose fashion. The union would begat a daughter, Isolde – whilst Cosima was still a von Bülow, no less – and a most unusual display of kinship: the scorned Hans went on, as originally planned, to conduct Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, knowing full well the daughter born by his philandering wife and close confidante shared the opera’s namesake. (The adulterous couple would bear three children in total before exchanging nuptials on August 25, 1870, producing two daughters - Isolde and Minna, and a son, Siegfried).  Hans' dedication to Wagner’s majestic oeuvre is not to be understated – the shafted husband conducted Tristan just two months after Isolde was born!)

Learn more about Wagner's dedication to Cosima here

Wagner’s marriage to Cosima would also go on to produce one of the most legendary operatic anecdotes that remains ever present in musical society even today. I am speaking, of course, of Wagner’s sublimely romantic interlude to his wife on her birthday at Tribschen.  It was here, at the couple’s villa in Lucerne, Switzerland that Richard famously roused his inamorata from her slumber with a beautiful serenade: the Tribschen (now Siegfried) Idyll – he, conducting a small orchestra from the home's stair steps his tender symphonic poem, penned especially for Cosima and for the couple’s three children – and she, at the landing, reduced to a puddle of tears.

It would be a grand romantic gesture that would be often repeated through the ages by many an admirer of Wagner – including by one of the maestro’s most ardent admirers, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose adoration for the composer ran so deep, it was claimed the young German sought to "elevate himself" to the “level” (i.e. the social standing) of his idol by not only attempting to become a composer himself, but also by making his Tribschen debut by issuing a dedication to Cosima just as Wagner had done the previous year!

It would be in the year 1871 that Nietzsche would pen a copy of his piano duet “Echo of a New Year’s Eve” with the dedication to Cosima, which, also much like his hero Wagner, he planned to send to her as a celebratory birthday gift.

Cosima, upon receiving the composition in the post, sat to play the work with the conductor Hans Richter, with husband Richard in attendance. It is said that Wagner was so amused by the young amateur’s oeuvre that he had to make a speedy exit from the room, whereupon he would later be found sprawled out on the floor, clutching his stomach, howling with laughter.

Nietzsche’s later attempts at composition fared little better than his first. A year later the philosopher-cum-composer’s latest work "Geburt der Tragödie" would receive harsh criticism from the conductor von Bülow - yet another member of Wagner’s inner circle with which Nietzsche hoped to ingratiate himself  – and who, after initially perceiving the work to be a joke, flat out told the young amateur musician:

“It's more terrible than you think!”

adding that the entire composition was

“the most undelightful and the most amateursical draft on musical paper that I have faced in a long time,”  

and that the only hope the budding musician had of pursuing a serious career in the composition of music was to limit himself to the production of vocal scores so that the voice could distract from the “wild sea of tones” that was synonymous with Nietzsche’s music.

Was Nietzsche’s music truly awful, or was the aspiring amateur composer a victim of straying from the rigid "rules" of German music established during his lifetime? Listen below to the philosophers' "Heldenklage" (A Hero's Sorrow - L) and "Beschwörung" (Entreaty -R)^[2]  and decide for yourself:



Footnote:

^[1] The Wagners' 146th anniversary was observed Thursday, August 25, 2016.
^[1] Lyrics for "Entreaty" are based on a text authored by famed poet and writer Aleksandr Pushkin. A translation of this lied can be found at this external link: lieder.net

-Rose.

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WAGNER’S LONG LOST BATON, USED BY MAESTRO TO CONDUCT SIEGFRIED IDYLL RETURNS HOME TO BAYREUTH

Richard and Cosima Wagner share an embrace

The Haus Wahnfried museum at Bayreuth has received a priceless acquisition – that of an engraved baton once owned by its esteemed former resident, Richard Wagner.

The long-lost relic was famously used by the 19th century Romantic icon to direct an intimate group of musicians, who had gathered at the foot of the staircase at the Wagner family villa in Lucerne on Christmas morning 1870, to perform a tender orchestral tribute from husband to wife on the anniversary of Mrs. Wagner's birth.^[1] The music: the tender symphonic poem we know today as the Siegfried Idyll.

Originally titled “Tribschen-Idyll, with Fidi-Birdsong and Orange Sunrise,” the famous piece would later become known as “Siegfried Idyll,” after a cash strapped Wagner, frequently surmounted by debts, was forced to sell the score to the German publishing firm B. Schot in November 1877, much to the chagrin of wife Cosima - to whom the piece was dedicated - who reportedly “wept” at the very thought of making public such a private ode to herself and her family. Taking to her diary, she expressed her sorrows: 

“The secret treasure is to become public property – may the pleasure others take in it match the sacrifice I am making!"

One quickly gets an idea of just how personal this piece was to Cosima by examining it’s original name: “Fidi” was the name coined by the couple to address their young son; the “orange sunrise” may have been indicative of the morning son illuminating the family home, known as “Tribschen,”
and the delicate German lullaby, “Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf” (“Sleep, baby, Sleep,”) which the couple frequently sang to their daughter, Eva, also makes an appearance in the piece, represented by an oboe.

The Tribschen Idyll was performed twice that Christmas morning: the first performance, at dawn, which roused Cosima from her sleep, followed by a later encore after the family sat for breakfast.

The Mrs. recorded a play by play of the impromptu birthday surprise in her diary later that day:

“As I awoke, my ear caught a sound, which swelled fuller and fuller; no longer could I imagine myself to be dreaming: music was sounding, and such music! When it died away, Richard came into my room with the children and offered me the score of the symphonic birthday poem. I was in tears, but so were all the rest of the household. Richard had arranged his orchestra on the staircase, and thus was our Tribschen consecrated forever.”

The performance itself, organized in occulto with 17 members of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (each musician hand-selected by Richard), included close family friend, the conductor Hans Richter in attendance, who had taken it upon himself to learn basic fingerings on the trumpet for the occasion, moving Cosima to include a reference to the musician in her famous diary:

“Now at last I understood all R’s working in secret, also dear [Hans] Richter’s trumpet (he blazed out the Siegfried theme splendidly and had learnt the trumpet especially to do it), which had won him many admonishments from me. "Now let me die," I exclaimed to R. "It would be easier to die for me than to live for me," he replied.”

Such tales of romance continue to surround the Siegfried Idyll, even today.

Late last month, it was announced the baton, used by Wagner that fateful morning in 1870, had surfaced in the safe deposit box of a woman living in Nebraska, USA.

That woman is Hannah Jo Smith, a member of the faculty of music at Doane University in Crete.

Smith revealed that it was she who was in possession of the long lost prized relic, and announced to the press of her decision to return the artifact to the Richard Wagner Museum (Haus Wahnfried) at Bayreuth during the 2018 Bayreuther Festspiele, a celebration of the operas of Wagner held annually in the Bavarian city. 

Close up of engraving commemorating the date of the first performance of the
Tribschen (Siegfried) Idyll | Photo by Genevieve Randall, NET

During a brief educational tour, Smith recounted how she came to be in possession of the baton, beginning with it’s remarkable finding by an American soldier, Bob Pearson, who happened upon the treasure whilst rummaging though the rubble of the heavily damaged Haus Wahnfried (which served as the Wagner’s former home.)

Much of the residence at Bayreuth suffered catastrophic damage following allied bombing by USAF forces during the Second World War, including the living area, guestroom and the rear of the residence. It was among these shattered remains - which destroyed many Wagner furnishings, including the maestro’s writing desk – that the baton, still in one piece, and bearing the engraving “DEN 25. DECEMBER 1870.” was espied by Pearson.

According to a passage in Cosima’s famous diary, the engraving was her doing: she noted that she had the baton sent off to be engraved as a token of remembrance for the touching performance – it would return to her some six weeks later.^[2]

Perhaps unaware of the priceless relic’s value, Pearson would later trade the baton for the letters of the English novelist Aldous Huxley. That man, a family friend, gave the baton to Smith, who locked it away in a safe deposit box in Lincoln.

Such has been the 148-year journey of the Tribschen baton. Smith, now 62, her father, and Pearson since passed, made the decision to “divest” after consulting with her family.

The Tribschen-Idyll baton comes full circle, returning from whence it came, to
the Haus Wahnfried at Bayreuth. Pictured here before its return home.
Photo by Genevieve Randall, NET

Alongside Anita Breckbill, Music Librarian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Smith held a conference on the 27th of July at the International Association of Music Libraries in Leipzig, the city of Wagner’s birth. Then, in an especially poignant ceremony at Bayreuth on the last day of the month, the long lost baton came home to rest from whence it came – sat atop a cushion of plush red velvet, the small, wooden ‘instrument’ was welcomed home by maestro Christian Thielemann, who conducted - with the prized relic - none other than the Siegfried Idyll.

The baton is now part of the curated collection of Wagner artifacts at Haus Wahnfried.

And to that, I say, welcome home. 

*Update - 27 November, 2018: This article has been minorly amended to correct the following errors:

• The American soldier Pearson (who discovered the baton) was incorrectly identified as "Ben" - this has been changed to "Bob." 
• The baton was returned to Wahnfried by Smith for its permanent collection (not simply on loan.)
• Maestro Thielemann in fact conducted with the actual baton itself at Wahnfriel Saal. This has been changed from the use of his own baton.

Thank you to Anita Breckbill for the clarifications.

Listen below to maestro Christian Thielemann conduct Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin in a tender performance of the famous Siegfried Idyll:

Did You Know?

• The Richard Wagner Museum and former family home, the “Haus Wahnfried,” was so named by the composer himself. “Wahnfried” is what is known as a German compound word: one which takes two individual words and combines them together to create a new word. In this instance: “Wahn,” which stands for "madness," or "delusion," is paired with “Fried,” which means “peace,” or “freedom.”
  
  An engraving above the entryway greets visitors to Haus Wahnfried – it was coined by Wagner, and translates roughly to “Here, where my troubled thoughts found rest / is this place “Wahnfried" named at my behest."
• Receiving Wagner’s baton is just one of many historical milestones of which maestro Thielemann has bared witness. In 2013, the celebrated German conductor became the first in his field to conduct Wagner’s early operas at Bayreuth, Rienzi, Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot, all of which had previously been banned by Cosima following Wagner’s death – a result of Wagner having expressed his distaste for the works.

Footnotes:

^[1] Cosima was born on December 24, 1837, but chose to celebrate her birthday on the 25th, to coincide with Christmas.
^[2]"Thursday, February 2, 1871...Arrival of the engraved baton from the Idyll" - Cosima Wagner; Cosima Wagner's Diaries Volume I 1869-1877, p. 331, Harcourt Press

Discover more:

• Back story on the baton, Smith: NPR/PBS Nebraska (NET)
• The return of the baton to Bayreuth (auf Deutsch: Nord Bayerischer) 
• Tribschen Idyll at Unraveling Musical Myths

-Rose.

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RICHARD WAGNER & KING LUDWIG II OF BAVARIA

BLOG UPDATE: Don't forget to check out my post on Wagner & the "Siegfried Idyll" : CLICK HERE TO READ "A VERY TRIBSCHEN CHRISTMAS - CHRISTMAS WITH THE WAGNERS"

German Composer Richard Wagner

When it comes to stalwart admirers of Richard Wagner (historically speaking) and his modern dissidents, the name and subject of Adolf Hitler and anti-Semitism, unfortunately, never brew far from the surface. It is a thoroughly uncomfortable topic of conversation that never fails to rear it’s head during any musings on the man Wagner and his works - for both admirers and detractors of the enigmatic composer.

The common cliché shared by many a novice listener to the Romantic Period or to opera itself is one that portrays Wagner as an illusive composer, situated in a critic's no-fly zone, where he and his music exist only in terms of black and white. According to such beliefs, he is either “loved or hated” (this is often further supported by a regaling on the critical musings of composer Gioachino Rossini, who is alleged to have famously declared:* ”Wagner has some beautiful moments but some terrible quarter-hours!”). What is almost always overlooked is the fact that Rossini was not only a contemporary of Wagner’s, but also by default, a competitor. The lush orchestrations pioneered by Rossini and French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz, then considered to be new and innovative nonetheless presented itself to critics as excessive, gaudy..uncouth.

It truly was a rather mixed bag in terms of fans and detractors. (One critic of the latter mentioned composer had famously quipped, “The Chinese, who amuse their leisure moments by the sound of the tom-tom; the savage, who is roused into fury by the rubbing together of two stones, make music of the kind composed by M. Hector Berlioz!” ) By the time Wagner expanded on the concept of an increasingly growing orchestra, both Rossini and Berlioz had already experienced the full melange of public reaction and notoriety, something to be expected when venturing into any uncharted territory. When it comes to these Wagner contemporaries, it's easy to imagine the myriad of emotions they must have felt in dealing with such strong reactions. The innovations of Berlioz and Rossini, after all, were akin to a personal invention - one in which they had not only to endure many a distasteful review, but in contrast, enjoy a feeling of high personal achievement. In spite of the snarky commentary of critics and public detractors, the sense of pride shared by both composers in aggrandizing a ‘new sound’ for the orchestra must have been megalomanic in scope.

But then Richard Wagner came along to steal the thunder, and completely revolutionized the way we hear opera and symphony itself. Wagner’s unprecedented foray into the further expansion of orchestra (without which his operas could not be played) and the implementation of fixed seating (instrumentally speaking) is considered in modern times to be at the contributing forefront of current standardization for the opera house and concert halls in which orchestra can be enjoyed today.

A rather biting critique made famous by Rossini
has since been determined to have been at best
a misquote, and may not have even been of his
authorship. It is believed the comment was made
in reference not to Wagner, but to an ill-equipped
tenor performing in the late 19th century.

*Rossini's alleged quote, said to have been originally submitted to a press journalist at the early period of Wagner's operatic career, has undergone much analytical scrutiny since the 19th century. It has, in fact, been dissected to the degree of uncertainty regarding both authorship of the quote and the content of the quote itself. If it indeed was recorded from the mouth of Rossini, it's earliest appearance in print is now believed to have been published in the early 1860‘s (which would have been late, not early, in Wagner's operatic career) in a London periodical. It is of interest to note that the quote itself made no mention of Wagner. It was in fact directed at a tenor whose coloring Rossini apparently found to be sub-par. Yet, like any good legend, callers on the wrong end of a game of broken telephone will take the quote in the unhinged context in which it exists, and run with it as if it were the gospel truth. Of all of the composers of the Romantic Period, we so often find Wagner to be the target of such unfortunate misnomers.

What is partially true, however, is the 'myth’ that Wagner existed largely as a debtor. Certainly, for the first half of his career, Wagner did indeed toe the breadline. This, however, is not to be interpreted as reflective of the talent with which he was so undeniably possessed, but rather, of the period of time itself. Although the ‘worth’ of a musician was arguably more valued at court than we have previously seen in my posts on Wolfgang Mozart in the preceeding century, one still had to have a whole lot of luck, and a healthy supply of patrons to accompany his talents.

Retired silk merchant Otto Wesendonck
was one of Wagner's most magnanimous
patrons, providing the composer with
many loans and even a sizable Villa. He
was also generous with his wife: Wagner
would compose for Mathilde his famous
five-song series, his most prized collection,
the 'Wesendonck Lieder'.

And patrons Wagner had aplenty. Although remaining largely in debt well after the onset of his career (a result not of a lack of supporters, but rather a penchant for living a lavish lifestyle far beyond his means), Wagner would receive loans through many anonymous and prestigious patrons of note, including future father in law Franz Liszt, Julie Ritter (mother of famed poet Karl Ritter), Jacob Sulzer (a cantonal secretary in Zurich), silk merchant Otto Wesendonck^[1] and from royalty itself - in the form of a King, no less.

The patronage by the latter will be the subject of this post. Future posts to Unraveling Musical Myths will focus on the influence and use of Wagner-related material and Wagner ideology by the Third Reich in the Second World War, but for now, I attempt to divert such inquiring minds to the life and times of another equally enamored - obsessive, even - Ruler - one who actually lived at the time Wagner lived, who actually knew the man himself, and who would, through a series of extravagant wooings and sizable donations of largesse come to fund many of the composers’ infamous master works.

That Ruler - being no stranger to controversy himself - was the former Crown Prince Ludwig II of Bavaria, a descendant of the so-called “troubled” Wittlesbach line of Kings. 

Crowned King of Bavaria at the tender age of 18 following the death of his father Maximilian II, Ludwig would, throughout the course of his reign, experience much inquiry into his alleged insanity - so much so that the controversial ruler would find himself locked away without a key, straitjacketed, and dead by the relatively young age of 40. 

So mystifying was the rumor mill surrounding the mental state of the King and that of the ancestors Wittlesbach, that when Ludwig's bloated corpse was discovered alongside the body of his physician at Lake Starnberg (just on the outskirts of Berg castle, some 16 mi outside of the Bavarian Capital), it was suspected the "madman" had planned - and carried out - a murder-suicide. This was only but one theory in a slew of many. It seemed the illusive Ludwig II, much like his hero since boyhood, Richard Wagner, would himself face the prospect of becoming the subject of an interminable series of legends and myths that continue to confound students of Bavarian and indeed, European History to this day. Conspiracy theories surrounding the King’s demise and the true nature of his relationship with Wagner are legion.

When it comes to the subject of the mental health of the notorious ruler, the evidentiary factors (as will be discussed later in this post) that culminated in the psychological ‘finding’ which suggested a familial madness inherited by Ludwig from the predecessors Wittlesbach is as mysterious as the events surrounding the diagnosis made of the King (schizophrenia) itself.

The highly mystifying King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

Much like the person of his idol Wagner, the biography of Ludwig II of Bavaria is highly suggestive, and open to much interpretation. Of the mostly third-party accounts that survive (only some of which is supported in diaries said to have belonged to the King), it is noted that the young Prince shared a somewhat dysfunctional upbringing at court alongside his younger brother, Otto. 

It is believed that the Prince Ludwig, ignored by his parents and later forced into 14 hour long days of royal studies, was often subject to ‘disconnecting’ with reality and would find comfort in fantasy and extended periods of ‘seclusion’ in which he would daydream. It had been accounted by contemporaries and friends of Ludwig that the future King of Bavaria would often revel in fantasies of valiant knights on horseback, damsels rescued from distress, and of manly, noble, Kingly adventures. In a scene that could be ripped right out of the pages of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, an aide of the young Prince once told of an odd encounter with Ludwig in which, upon espying a common peasant of a drove of sheep in the hills of Bavaria, the young Prince declared him to be “King of the Mountains”, thereby romanticizing the peasants lowly station amongst his loyal flock. Far from the typical boyhood imaginations, these allusions of grandeur for the down-trodden and lust for the romantic ideas of knights, kings, squires and their heroic battles continued into adulthood and would manifest themselves upon his arrival at the throne of Bavaria in 1864.

It was King Ludwig II’s first order of business to send for his hero since boyhood - his idol and muse, German romantic composer Richard Wagner. It would take some time to find the evasive musician. A royal messenger would discover him in Zurich, living in a self-imposed exile, such was the extent of his debts. Of the circumstantial evidence that survives from the Wittlesbach dynasty regarding the so-called 'familial madness' now coursing through the veins of the young Ruler of Bavaria, it can arguably be considered quite appropriate to attribute the monuments and largesse given to Wagner as a sign of an obsessive nature in the newly crowned King. So enamoured with the composer was Ludwig that no form of wooing was too lavish to entice the German virtuoso to his royal court. Upon receiving the messenger sent by the King and hearing out his proposal, Wagner is said to have broken out into hysterics, weeping into the arms of friend and fellow composer Wendelin Weissheimer, for included with the invitation was a lavish object of enticement: an exquisitely cut large ruby set atop a flawless ring of gold. The impoverished Wagner, overcome with emotion, famously declared through a streaming of tears “That this should have happened to me, and that this should have happened now!”

Wagner was overwhelmed at the
generosity of the King.

Ludwig II proved to be Wagner’s most generous patron, immediately setting up for the composer upon his arrival at the Royal court a lavish residence in Munich, an annual income, funding for Wagner’s epic work-in-progress - his "Gesamtkunstwerk”: Der Ring des Nibelungen (the famous ‘Ring cycle’), and most prudent to Wagner, the fanatical King completely paid off the composers outstanding debts.

The nature of the relationship between King and Composer was certainly mutually beneficial, Wagner would receive the funding needed to escape his creditors for good and focus on his behemoth works and unprecedented operatic visions, and the King could have close at hand for himself a confidante who by all accounts appeared to him to share an affinity for mythical Teutonic legends that so often found themselves the basis for the composers epic operas.

Ludwig would even go on to showcase his adulation for Richard in a series of royal shrines in honor of their shared interest in the valiant knights, mythical beasts, elves and fairies, and the heroes and heroines of Nordic folklore through a dedication to the composer - in the form of painted frescoes at the Scloss Linderhof and Scloss Neuschwanstein (the “Swan-on-the-Rock:” the so-called 'fairytale' “castle in the air” ) - just two of many such spectacles of epic proportions on which the King would use as a backdrop with which he could publicly display affection for - and pay homage to - his hero.

By the abruptful end of his time on the throne, and through his patronage of his idol Richard Wagner and the monuments dedicated to him, it is estimated the King himself became a debtor, sinking Bavaria into a deficit of an estimated 14 million marks (over three times the King’s annual income!)

The Linderhof and the Neuschwanstein, respectively.

This stretching of the royal coffers simply would not do for the nobility at court, and indeed, for the Bavarian public, who demanded Richard be ousted from court and banished from Bavaria and the enamored King’s grip. Behind the scenes of idol-worship and public outcry, courtly machinations were already taking place. A royal archivist, one Count Leinfelder, having gotten wind of Wagner’s affair with Cosima von Bülow (wife of conductor and friend to Richard, Hans von Bülow and daughter of prolific composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt), ran to inform the jealous and possessive king of the pregnant adulteress’s plan to wed Wagner in secret. Leinfelder’s plan worked like a charm, with little reservation from Ludwig: the jealous king declared Cosima an enemy of the court and refused to attend performances of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser - eventually refusing altogether an audience with the composer himself.

Wagner, now accustomed to the lavish lifestyle he felt he deserved, and fiscally free to set to work the projects he had only been able to mastermind back in Zurich, was in no mood to be forcibly expelled from the Bavarian Capital or ostracized from the King - and he certainly would not play willing victim to such a betrayal. He went on the counter-attack, going after the Prime Minister (one Ludwig von der Pfordten) in an ill-guided attempt to extract from the kings inner circle any dissenters to his new found fortunes.
 Pfordten was prepared however, and threatened the King with his resignation should Wagner not be immediately expelled from Bavaria.

Cosima von Bülow, "enemy"
of the State.

The boy-like king Ludwig was not accustomed to such threats and reluctantly agreed, delivering the news himself to the couple. Wagner and Cosima would depart for Switzerland in December of 1865.

Much of the biography of Ludwig II travels in a rather haywired direction from this point.

It is said that within seven months of Wagner departing for Switzerland, the lonesome and wounded King himself threatened to abdicate, having sunk into a deep depression at the loss of his beloved hero.

Ludwig would never marry, although he would come close, in 1867 when he was made engaged to the daughter of Duchess Ludovica of Bavaria - a 19 year old princess named Sofie. There is substantial evidence to suggest the king did share a mutual fondness for his intended, professing love at the announcement of his engagement on new years day of that year, and attaching to her the pet name of “Elsa”. Wagner however, was the true object of affection in his heart, and whose influence and person was never far removed from the king’s innermost thoughts: “Elsa” was the name of the heroine in Wagner’s Lohengrin. The fiancées exchanged many letters - of particular note was one in which Ludwig declared “The god of my life, as you know..is Richard Wagner.”

Ludwig and his intended, Princess Sofie.

The stalwart Sofie initially saw this as merely the infatuations of a heroic figure that Ludwig had held since boyhood, but would soon come to question the nature of the King's obsession as their wedding day drew near. It was nearly two months before the nuptials, and the only event in which Ludwig could show excitement was for the return of Wagner, who he had defiantly planned to request a return to Munich. The wedding was twice postponed by the King as he tried to muster the courage to send for his idol - including during the month the nuptials were set to take place - until finally, the reluctant groom called the whole thing off in a letter to this betrothed.

By all accounts, the relationship between King and Composer never recovered. It is said the King attempted to find love in the form of a royal stablehand, appropriately named Richard, and in the design of homosexual persuasion (the King’s sexuality, much like the circumstances surrounding his death and the sanity of both himself and his younger brother Otto, remain hotly contested) as the troubled ruler began an alleged and rapid decent into madness.

So ‘disconnected from reality’ was Ludwig and his younger brother, heir to the throne Prince Otto, both would see themselves declared unfit to rule, and both would be confined against their wills and stripped of all royal power (a humiliation unseen since the pathetic abdication of the grandfather to the kings, Ludwig I of Bavaria, following his disastrous infatuation with socialite and dancer Lola Montez who fatefully interfered in state politics some twenty years prior. There too, an infatuation with a character commonly viewed as unsavory by the public (acting and dancing was akin to prostitution in 19th century Europe) proved to be the undoing of a reigning King). 

History would be far crueler and punishments far harsher to the brothers Wittelsbach. And for posterity’s sake, far more suspect than any scandal previously known to the troubled dynasty.

Prince Otto of Bavaria: a King who never ruled.

Of all of the ‘accounts’ that survive of the royal kin, only two things are for certain:

1) Both brothers were diagnosed by a Dr. Bernhard von Gudden (whose corpse would later be found alongside Ludwig’s), and, in Ludwig’s case, a diagnosis of Schizophrenia was made, appallingly, in absentia, and it’s conclusion only made through the regalings of third hand accounts of various members at court, each with their own potential political agendas.

2) The Austrian Empire was engaged in war (external link; see: wikipedia article on Austro-Prussian War): in short, King Ludwig was a staunch supporter of Austria and the independence of Bavaria, as was his brother Otto, who was so stalwart in his defenses of his motherland and hatred of Prussia that he served in both the current war, and as a colonel in the resulting Franco-Prussian war in 1870, which left him permanently traumatized and unable to get a decent night’s rest until the end of his days.

Far from avuncular: Prince Luitpold of Bavaria,
and later his son, would overtake both of his
Nephews' seat on the Royal throne.

Both brothers shared an arguably duplicitous uncle, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, who, along with family doctor Bernhard von Gudden shared a rather convenient friendship, based in part on an overwhelming support for Prussian advancement and dominance.

It was these two mysterious characters, along with Luitpold’s son (the brothers’ first cousin and the future Ludwig III) who would forever change the Wittelsbach dynasty as the Austrian Empire knew it when von Gudden had both brothers locked up for insanity. It is said that Ludwig, upon hearing his diagnosis, became understandably enraged, decrying “How can you declare me insane? After all, you have never seen or examined me before!” a sentiment he would repeat to anyone who would listen. It was of no use: the social status of von Gudden (renowned by many as a pioneering ‘psychiatrist’ in a then-burgeoning field), when combined with ‘historical’ details of alleged displays of madness said to have been witnessed of the King possessed enough clout in the eyes of the public (sadly, a tradition that continues to carry over to this day) to justifiably declare the King of Bavaria unfit to rule, and carried enough weight to strip him of all powers and privileges awarded his position, and, most exceedingly humiliating to the now former Ruler of Bavaria, enough sway to remove from the ex-Monarch all remaining traces of dignity when Luitpold ordered him imprisoned within his own apartments, forced to witness it’s fortification and finally, had him shackled within a straitjacket - an attempt to thwart any suicidal attempts of the deposed Regnant. In a series of carefully planned machinations that reeked of a Coup d'état, Ludwig’s Uncle Luitpold made himself Regent and ruled in the disgraced King’s stead.

Physician Bernhard von Gudden, along with
Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, was instrumental
in the fates of both deposed Kings in
the brothers Wittlesbach. His methods were
considered controversial even in the
nineteenth century,

Three days later, Ludwig would be found dead.

The popular version of the tragic tale of Ludwig’s demise is one that suggests an emotionally unsettled former King. Having first reacted quite ‘violently’ at von Gudden’s ‘diagnosis’ and his forced abdication, Ludwig slipped into a state of repose, seeming to onlookers to have resigned himself to his fate as a prisoner of his own castle. So complacent was the former King, it was said that Dr von Gudden himself became so satisfactorily convinced of his ‘well-mannered behavior’ that he not only removed Ludwig from the constraints of the straitjacket, but allowed for short walks among the castle grounds at the disgraced former King’s request. Seeing that Ludwig had obeyed all of the physicians orders and maintained a steady appetite, von Gudden unflinchingly agreed to Ludwig’s request to walk with him on the castle grounds, unaccompanied by the policemen who were assigned as guards and hired to watch over him. It would be a fateful decision for the questionable doctor, who, after informing his assistant Dr Müller that the duo would return to the apartments by 8 o' clock that evening, would be found dead by the same guards hired to protect the royal prisoner, who discovered the physician's bloated corpse floating in the lake adjacent to the castle alongside the lifeless body of the very King von Gudden had made imprisoned and deposed by mere word of mouth.

The initial report into the deaths of both men stated that the pair drowned. This is in stark contrast to the findings made by the medical examiner during autopsy, in which no water was to be found in either Ludwig nor von Gudden’s lungs. It may be inconsequential, but dissenters of popular theory at the time found it prudent to note that Ludwig and von Gudden were found in only ‘waist deep’ water; the medical report further describes the doctor as having several contusions: a possible black eye and bruising about the throat. It does not, however, account for these injuries, or the circumstances surrounding the former King prior to his death.

Contemporary Bavaria was aflutter with wild and fantastical theories, ranging from a failed escape attempt by the former monarch who was either in cahoots with von Gudden or engaged with the latter in a fight to the death, to the devious orchestrations of a politically ravenous uncle who had both men killed by assassins (the doctor’s position on the Austro-Prussian war made him the perfect scapegoat for a fatal coup d'état - after all, who would suspect Luitpold of having ordered a hit on a political ally?) Of the many conspiracy theories that exist regarding the fates of these two illusive characters, a murder-suicide orchestrated by an insane king continues to be the most popular, and among the most debated theories to this day.

And as for ‘uncle Luitpold’? The Prince Regent of Bavaria would rule over his nephew Ludwig’s rightful throne until his own death, some 26 years later in 1912.
 His hold on the royal throne and in the minds of the Bavarian nobility did not end even in death. Otto, younger brother to Ludwig and now the rightful King, was still holed up in the prison Luitpold and von Gudden had awarded him before his brothers untimely demise. He too, had been declared by the now deceased von Gudden as a 'schizophrenic unfit to rule'. 
 The public, unsure what to make of the mysterious deaths of Ludwig and his physician almost thirty years earlier, offered no protest when Luitpold’s son, also named Ludwig, succeeded him in Otto’s place. If Luitpold did indeed act out of political aspirations, his plan would have been ingenious. Through his son, Luitpold’s own dynastic aspirations would come full circle when his own offspring - the newly crowned Ludwig III - was quite rapidly allowed to rule in his own right following his accession to the throne.

Not to be outdone by his father Luitpold,
Ludwig III of Bavaria earned the distinction
of ruling in his own right following the death
of the Regent Luitpold in 1912. The 'real' King,
Ludwig II's younger brother Otto, remained
locked up in seclusion - a sentence carried out
by his late father and Dr. von Gudden.

In reading any of the numerous accounts of the life and times of Ludwig II, one is easily overwhelmed by a barrage of contradictory opinion, depending on what side of the war one’s ancestors supported, how much clout they place into the real advancements and very real quackery of a 19th century mental health care system, then still in it’s infancy (and, arguably still somewhat archaic in practice and thought today), and in the political scandal and intrigue that surrounded the royal house and the contemporary Bavarian people. It is in this vein that one must also view Wagner, who, posterity has shown has more in common with the inscrutable former monarch than just a penchant for ancient pagan gods, mythical beasts and tragically heroic figures of legend.

In Ludwig, Richard Wagner had found a fellow man of iconic stature and a seemingly endless controversy that has endured through the ages.

If we can separate the man from the myth, the past from the present, the hyperbole from the rational - and focus on things prolific men like Ludwig and Richard Wagner left behind that we can see, touch, hear and smell..monumental castles that inspire the likes of Walt Disney^[2] and which amass small fortune for the State of Bavaria (Neuschwanstein alone is said to have brought in a revenue of at least 7 million Euros in a one year span in the early 21st century) and such exquisitely lush orchestrations and ethereal mind-body nirvanas as experienced when listening to the Gesamtkunstwerk of a musical genius in the architectural marvel which both King and Commoner built to behold them^[3], and if the modern student of music or indeed European history can approach each subject from a neutral perspective, contrasting the time in which their subjects lived and the state of that subject’s nation, perhaps we can showcase such overwhelming beauty to a wider audience who, because of quotes taken out of context, third-party embellishments and fictions, outdated clichés and one sided viewpoints would never have even given such aural and visual splendours a chance, and never know such intoxicating beauty.


Footnotes:
^[1] It was to the wife of the Patron Otto, Mrs. Mathilde Wesendonck, that Wagner would later compose the
Wesendonck lieder, a set of five German songs for piano with female accompaniment which the composer
considered to be his best work.
^[2] Disney would use the Schloss Neuschwanstein as the model for his 'Sleeping Beauty' Castle and other structures
at theme parks around the globe.
^[3] Ludwig generously donated 100, 000 Thaler to help commence construction of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.




The exquisite "Einsam in Trüben Tagen" from Wagner's Lohengrin. It was this opera
that first captured a young Prince Ludwig's attention, resulting in an adulation that
would last a lifetime. Sung here by the effervescent Austrian soprano Gundula
Janowitz, whose ethereal vocal lustre helps to remind any admirer of the works of
Wagner of the sheer cosmic beauty to be found in his oeuvre.


-Rose. 

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QUOTE OF THE DAY - FEBRUARY 16, 2017: FRANZ LISZT ON MUSIC: "EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL" feat. Did You Know?

A still-dapper Franz Liszt as he would have
appeared not long after Orpheus' premiere in
1854. This likeness of the composer dates
from 1860.

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from 19th century Hungarian composer (and certified “heart throb”) Franz Liszt in honor of the musician’s premiere performance of Orpheus - the fourth symphonic poem in a cycle of 12 - penned by the composer as individual musical character sketches of men of heroic legend, which made it’s debut 163 years ago today at Weimar in Germany:

“Music is the heart of life. She speaks love. Without it, there is no possible good. And with it, everything is beautiful.”

I, like so many, cannot imagine a life without music. It serves as a soundtrack to evolution itself – both individually and all-encompassing – it permeates the psyche; both conscious and unconscious; it infuses the soul with a unique and kinetic rhythm, and infiltrates the many stores of the memory with the most ultimate form of recall for the senses. It is history and the future itself: through enjoying a familiar tune, one recognizes a scent once smelled on the clothing of a beloved; one “sees” in his or her mind a last tender embrace, one yearns for a triumphant return to a site once before seen but still yet unseen – as he or she turns the pages in the Grand Opus of life.


"Everything is beautiful," indeed:  enjoy Liszt’s majestic Orpheus below:


Did You Know?

Princess Carolyne

Liszt’s Orpheus would be conducted by the composer himself to mark the Weimar premiere of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice, and to celebrate the 68th birthday of the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Maria Pavlovna, who was herself an amateur musician and one of Liszt's many patrons.

Pavlovna was not the only royal to have been linked to this work: Liszt dedicated Orpheus to the Polish Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a one time lover (and almost wife) of the composer. Princess Carolyne was very much dedicated to Franz - after several failed attempts at marriage (by Papal powers, no less) beginning in 1860, the couple would resign themselves to platonic companionship for the remainder of their lives. So enamored by Liszt was the Princess, it is rumored she died with a "broken heart" - just 8 months after her beloved - in March, 1887.

Orpheus could also be counted among contemporary classical music royalty as a composition favorite: 19th century Romantic composer Richard Wagner (Liszt’s son-in-law through his marriage to daughter Cosima) listed the symphonic poem as one of his most admired pieces of music.

-Rose.

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BREAKING NEWS: LISZT SCHOLARS FROM UNIVERSITY OF PISA TO REVEAL WEDNESDAY RESULTS OF GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH THAT COULD PLACE COMPOSER'S FIRST SOLO RECITAL IN ITALY

The University of Pisa has announced the occurence of a free-admission roundtable meeting this Wednesday, November 28, 2018 at the Centro Congressi Le Benedettine to discuss 19th century Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Lizst's time in Tuscany's prized city - specifically, the occurrence of a solo recital by the musician that may predate his first known performance of its kind, historically believed to have been held at the Hanover Square Rooms in London in 1840.^[1]

*CLICK TO ENLARGE* Invitation/RSVP infomation for roundtable

Word of a game-changing discovery was first revealed by musicologist Mariateresa Storino in July of this year, who spoke with faculty at the University of “documents related” to the discovery of a Graf fortepiano (containing within hitherto unknown documents) believed to have been played by Liszt, which had been in the possession of one Cardella family. According to her research, the unspecified documents will conclude “for the first time” a clear corroboration with the written testimony of the musician’s one time travel companion and mother to his three children (including Cosima, who would marry Richard Wagner) the Countess Marie D’Agoult, who placed him in Pisa in March, 1839.^[2]

These elusive documents, which have yet to be revealed on the international circuit, are the end result of a two year long research project, set up as a competition (with the granting of a research award as the prize) by the Center for the Dissemination of Culture and Musical Practice at the University. The project was led by Storino and funded by the educational institution and the Agenzia Generale UnipolSAI divisione SAI di Pisa.

Wednesday's panel discussion, which will begin at 9:30, will be led by a four-member committee consitisting of musicologists and Liszt scholars Alessandro Cecchi, Maria Antonella Galanti, Maurizio Sbrana and Mariateresa Storino under the patronage of the Liszt Institute Foundation, Bologna and the Italian Society of Musicology. RSVP information can be found by enlarging the graphic above, or by clicking the PDF file listed at the bottom of this post under "External links."

Unraveling Musical Myths announced the impending reveal in August.

Footnotes:

^[1]The Hanover recital occured on Tuesday, June 9, 1840. According to a contemporary advertisement announcing the impending concert, Liszt performed the following works, in the following order: 1) the Scherzo and Finale of Beethoven's "Pastorale" Symphony; 2) Schubert's Serenade; 3) Ave Maria, by Schubert [sic]; 4) Hexaméron (variations on the Grand March in Bellini's I Puritani); 5) Neapolitan Tarantelles [sic], and 6) Liszt's Grand Galop Chromatique. Tickets were sold for 10s. 6d each, with reserved seats near the pianoforte at 21s.

^[2]What we know so far: According to Dr. Storino's extensive research, the alleged concert which took place in Pisa occurred in the small Teatro della Soffitta (adjacent the Palazzo Mazzarosa in Lungarno Pacinotti) during Liszt's time in Italy. A "random" discovery of the Graf fortepiano, which contained inside writings by various unknown persons - all of them traceable to the concert of 1839 - directly corroborated the written testimonies of the Countess d'Agoult, who accompanied Liszt to Italy and may have been present at the performance in question. Aided by these new documents,  Storino was able to uncover hitherto unknown newspaper articles, manuscripts  and other related documents which support her case, and which will "conclusively" answer questions pertaining to the composer's activities in Italy, of which many aspects have hitherto remained unexplored.

Listen below to the fourth number on Liszt's Hanover programme: the "Hexaméron" - a collaborative composition of variations on Vincenzo Bellini's "I Puritani," written by Liszt, Sigismond Thalberg, Johann Peter Pixis, Henri Herz, Carl Czerny, and Frédéric Chopin. Marc-André Hamelin performs:

External links:

• University of Pisa website (with program schedule)
• PDF infograph with schedule, RSVP and speaker information.
• News article: Il Tirreno

Internal link:

• More on this story at Unraveling Musical Myths

- Rose.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: MAY 22, 2016 - C.S. LEWIS' FIRST IMPRESSIONS ON WAGNER; GERMAN MAESTRO TURNS 203

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from the diary of famed British novelist Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, author of the extremely popular The Chronicles of Narnia, and is in reflection of the Irish-born writer’s first experience with the music of 19th century Romantic composer Richard Wagner.

Writer C.S. Lewis

“…the Ride^[1] came like a thunderbolt. From that moment Wagnerian records ... became the chief drain on my pocket money and the presents I invariably asked for… 'Music' was one thing, 'Wagnerian music' quite another, and there was no common measure between them; it was not a new pleasure but a new kind of pleasure, if indeed 'pleasure' is the right word, rather than trouble, ecstasy, astonishment,'a conflict of sensations without name.' "

The 22nd of May, 2016, marks the 203rd observance of the birth of the megalomanic German composer, who was born this very day in 1813 at Leipzig.

Herr Wagner is an unravelingmusicalmyths composer favorite, and as such, has been much featured on this blog. Subjects range from contemporary to pop culture perspective, the composer’s inadvertent ‘relation’ to the Third Reich (and his anti-Semitism); Wagner’s involvement with the King of Bavaria (including the funding and construction of his much coveted Festspielhaus at Bayreuth), his relationships with his second wife Cosima and her father (Wagner's father-in-law) Franz Liszt, and his various debts and time spent in exile, and, of course, the maestro’s majestic oeuvre. These articles (and more) can be found by perusing the posts found in the Wagner Archives or by clicking on the pertinent link below.

Listen below to the famous Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure’s third act:


Footnotes:

^[1] The event of which Lewis refers is to his first listening of a record of Wagner’s 1870 opera, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) – in specific, the now famous 3rd act battle cry Ride of the Valkyries. Die Walküre is the second of four operas that together comprise Wagner’s famous Ring Cycle tetralogy.

Discover more:

• Internal link: Richard Wagner: Life, Works, Misconceptions & Truths, Influence - (unravelingmusicalmyths Wagner Archives (Posts) + 1 Article)
   
• External link: More about the Ride of the Valkyries: (at Wikipedia)

• External link: C.S. Lewis Life & Works: (at Wikipedia)

• External link: Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia heptalogy: (at Wikipedia)

-Rose.

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