Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:26:07.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - 1866–1867: Tribschen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2017

Christopher Fifield
Get access

Summary

During the summer of 1866, having completed Act I of Die Meistersinger, Richard Wagner wrote to his publisher Schott to complain about the dirty, ink-stained condition in which the manuscript of the orchestral Prelude was returned to him by the engravers. On completion, the full score of the opera was destined to be donated to his patron King Ludwig of Bavaria, and so Wagner decided he needed a copyist to make a fair copy of what he had written and to keep pace with him as he composed and scored the remaining two acts. Schott could not help, but Wagner sent a letter on 16 August 1866 to Hofkapellmeister Heinrich Esser in Vienna which produced a different result. He specifically asked for:

a very intelligent copyist with a perfectly complete understanding of music. If you are able to recommend an individual from among the many younger or older needy musicians of Vienna, you would do me a favour by letting me know; I would then take this adjutant, initially for half a year, with full board and expenses paid, so that under my supervision … he could make an exact copy. Accordingly I would be glad to know his terms: this engagement would begin in October.

Esser recommended Hans Richter, but, as he told Schott, he ‘hoped in so doing for no retribution from heaven and prayed for forgiveness from God for sending such a young and unblemished soul to Wagner.’ Towards the end of October, Wagner wrote a letter to King Ludwig in which he informed him of the impending arrival from Vienna of

an able musician I have engaged as my secretary, because I need a very gifted, thorough person with enough understanding of a score to enable him to copy it correctly and at once. I have seen at first hand how disgracefully my original manuscript was treated by engravers and copyists, and as I now view my own handwriting with quite different eyes than before, because it all now belongs to my gracious king, I take the minutest precautions that it shall reach him in the purest state.

Type
Chapter
Information
Hans Richter , pp. 10 - 24
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×