Beschreibung:

WAGNER, Richard (1813-1883). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, to Heinrich Esser, Tribschen, 25 October 1869, black ink, referring to Esser's arrangement of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre , resolving that in future he will be silent with regard to his personal matters except to his friends, writing that he no longer wishes to be involved in performances of Meistersinger and attacking Vienna and opera houses abusively, 4 pages, octavo, 186 x 126mm. The letter is to Heinrich Esser (1818-1872), who was Kapellmeister of the court opera in Vienna from 1847 to 1869. He introduced Wagner to the publisher Franz Schott and was asked by Wagner to make the piano arrangement of Die Meistersinger . As this letter makes clear, he also worked on arrangements of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre , which supplemented those of Karl Klindworth. Wagner wishes him luck and some enjoyment in this work. Overall Wagner writes in a sombre and lacklustre mood. In his opening sentence he admits that he is not too well and not in the mood for anything. This sense of ennui permeates the whole letter. He writes that even if he is silent about his personal life he has to accept that this will lead the press to make all kinds of inventions about it. His autobiography, however, will be scrupulously honest. In the third paragraph, Wagner distances himself from performances of Die Meistersinger , first performed in October 1867 in Munich, As far as Meistersinger is concerned may it now go as God sees fit. I have lost all desire any longer to take part in such performances. People will really swallow anything, good performances as well as bad: anything goes, I just don't want to know about it . He ironically suggests that only his absence will ensure that the work is well received in Vienna, a city for which, in this letter, he expresses deep repugnance. He congratulates Esser on having no more to do with opera houses, which he abominates, referring to Esser's retirement from Vienna a few days after the date of this letter. During the autumn of 1869, Wagner was living with Cosima von Bülow and their two daughters at Tribschen. The bleak mood of this letter may be connected with the problems that he had with Ludwig of Bavaria at the time of the first performance of Das Rheingold in Munich, scarcely more than a month before Wagner wrote to Esser. Apparently unpublished.