Cosima Liszt was the illegitimate daughter of the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt and his mistress, Marie, Comtesse d’Agoult. In order to continue his independent lifestyle — he also forbade contact between mother and daughters — Franz placed Cosima,

In many of Wagner’s theoretical writings, such as “Die Kunst und die Religion” (Art and Religion – 1849), “Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft” (The Artwork of the Future – 1849) and “Oper und Drama” (Opera and Drama – 1852), the concept

Giacomo Meyerbeer followed the tremendous financial and artistic success of Robert le diable with another blockbuster. Les Huguenots, five years in the making, dramatically staged the bloody events of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris in August of 1572,

During his tenure in Magdeburg (1834-6) and Riga (1837-8), Richard Wagner rehearsed and conducted the opera La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici). Composed by Daniel François Esprit Auber to a libretto by Augustin Eugène Scribe — one

Having been unceremoniously evicted from Mr. Wesendonck’s Zürich property, Richard Wagner aimlessly wandered around Europe. He was clearly depressed, as none of his grand musical ambitions had yet been realised, and as usual, he had no money. He had also

In the 19th century, Paris was one of the most important music capitals of Europe. Richard Wagner, during his ‘Wanderjahre’ (years of wandering from Riga to London, Dresden and Zűrich – mainly to escape his various creditors), attempted several times

By 1834, Richard Wagner was not only honing his musical and dramatic skills, he was also starting to express himself in a series of essays. In his article Die Deutsche Oper (German Opera), published in Laube’s Zeitung für die elegante

5 Gedichte fur eine Frauenstimme, Op. 91, “Wesendonck-Lieder” The beautiful and talented poet and playwright Agnes Mathilde Luckemeyer married the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck in 1848. The couple moved to Zurich and Otto, having done extremely well in his profession,