Complete Letters

SKU: BA.BVK02301

ISBN 9783761823019. 23.5 x 16 cm inches. Preface: Seidel, Wilhelm.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as letter-writer: at the heart of 19th century European culture

As one of the most important letter-writers of the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy maintained an extensive correspondence. With great style and eloquence he wrote letters to friends and family, letters from his travels and he also wrote to leading composers, musicians, artists as well as publishers. He corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Alexander von Humboldt.

The correspondence begins in 1816 and ends in 1847 with the composer’s death. These letters are invaluable documents shedding light not only on the genesis, publication and revision of his musical works, but also on a period when relations between Christians and Jews still had a chance to become harmonious, as Moses Mendelssohn, the imminent scholar and grandfather of the composer had advocated.

This edition will therefore be of great interest far beyond the circles of musicologists and music specialists. It will appeal to those who are interested in the history of culture and ideas and to those who perceive Mendelssohn and his family as representatives of a unique, diverse cultural epoch.

The complete correspondence shows that Mendelssohn not only went on to become one of the leading figures of German musical culture in the 1840s, but that he also maintained a network of musical contacts throughout Europe.

The edition of the complete letters
This scholarly-critical complete edition comprises 5,855 letters by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Previously only a small part of his correspondence had been published and made accessible to the public. The complete edition is based on Mendelssohn letters which have been compiled over decades by Rudolf Elvers as well as on international research carried out by an academic workgroup in Leipzig spearheaded by chief editors Helmut Loos and Wilhelm Seidel. They determined 500 additional letters hitherto unknown.

Versions of the letter texts have been compiled from a scholarly-critical analysis of the sources, their historical context has been discussed and comments on all points in need of explanation have been made.

This edition of the complete letters consists of 12 volumes and a CD-ROM. Each volume contains indices of mentioned individuals and institutions, compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel as well as a register of place names and currencies. In this way one obtains an all-encompassing view of this unique historical cosmos.

The Complete edition has been produced to the highest standards in terms of layout, cover and binding. It is an ideal collector’s item for bibliophiles, providing an excellent means for studying the composer and the period in which he lived.

The CD-ROM forms a valuable addition to the printed volumes. It offers the complete printed edition in the form of pdf. files, thereby making its approximately 9,500 pages digitally accessible and enabling letters and the corresponding commentary to be read in parallel. All terms can be located quickly and conveniently via a full text search.
(The 12 volumes as well as the CD-ROM can only be purchased complete).

- German text only


The Editors
Helmut Loos is Professor of Musicology at the University of Leipzig. He specialises in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the reception of Beethoven, sacred music and links between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

Wilhelm Seidel was professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg and Leipzig. His publications are devoted to the temporal structure of music, music aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries and music of the 16th to 20th centuries, currently on Mozart and Mendelssohn.

SKU: BA.BVK02303

ISBN 9783761823033. 23.5 x 16 cm inches. Preface: Helmut Loos.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as letter-writer: at the heart of 19th century European culture

As one of the most important letter-writers of the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy maintained an extensive correspondence. With great style and eloquence he wrote letters to friends and family, letters from his travels and he also wrote to leading composers, musicians, artists as well as publishers. He corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Alexander von Humboldt.

The correspondence begins in 1816 and ends in 1847 with the composer’s death. These letters are invaluable documents shedding light not only on the genesis, publication and revision of his musical works, but also on a period when relations between Christians and Jews still had a chance to become harmonious, as Moses Mendelssohn, the imminent scholar and grandfather of the composer had advocated.

This edition will therefore be of great interest far beyond the circles of musicologists and music specialists. It will appeal to those who are interested in the history of culture and ideas and to those who perceive Mendelssohn and his family as representatives of a unique, diverse cultural epoch.

The complete correspondence shows that Mendelssohn not only went on to become one of the leading figures of German musical culture in the 1840s, but that he also maintained a network of musical contacts throughout Europe.

The edition of the complete letters
This scholarly-critical complete edition comprises 5,855 letters by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Previously only a small part of his correspondence had been published and made accessible to the public. The complete edition is based on Mendelssohn letters which have been compiled over decades by Rudolf Elvers as well as on international research carried out by an academic workgroup in Leipzig spearheaded by chief editors Helmut Loos and Wilhelm Seidel. They determined 500 additional letters hitherto unknown.

Versions of the letter texts have been compiled from a scholarly-critical analysis of the sources, their historical context has been discussed and comments on all points in need of explanation have been made.

This edition of the complete letters consists of 12 volumes and a CD-ROM. Each volume contains indices of mentioned individuals and institutions, compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel as well as a register of place names and currencies. In this way one obtains an all-encompassing view of this unique historical cosmos.

The Complete edition has been produced to the highest standards in terms of layout, cover and binding. It is an ideal collector’s item for bibliophiles, providing an excellent means for studying the composer and the period in which he lived.

The CD-ROM forms a valuable addition to the printed volumes. It offers the complete printed edition in the form of pdf. files, thereby making its approximately 9,500 pages digitally accessible and enabling letters and the corresponding commentary to be read in parallel. All terms can be located quickly and conveniently via a full text search.
(The 12 volumes as well as the CD-ROM can only be purchased complete).

- German text only


The Editors
Helmut Loos is Professor of Musicology at the University of Leipzig. He specialises in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the reception of Beethoven, sacred music and links between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

Wilhelm Seidel was professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg and Leipzig. His publications are devoted to the temporal structure of music, music aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries and music of the 16th to 20th centuries, currently on Mozart and Mendelssohn.

SKU: BA.BVK02304

ISBN 9783761823040. 23.5 x 16 cm inches. Preface: Seidel, Wilhelm.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as letter-writer: at the heart of 19th century European culture

As one of the most important letter-writers of the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy maintained an extensive correspondence. With great style and eloquence he wrote letters to friends and family, letters from his travels and he also wrote to leading composers, musicians, artists as well as publishers. He corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Alexander von Humboldt.

The correspondence begins in 1816 and ends in 1847 with the composer’s death. These letters are invaluable documents shedding light not only on the genesis, publication and revision of his musical works, but also on a period when relations between Christians and Jews still had a chance to become harmonious, as Moses Mendelssohn, the imminent scholar and grandfather of the composer had advocated.

This edition will therefore be of great interest far beyond the circles of musicologists and music specialists. It will appeal to those who are interested in the history of culture and ideas and to those who perceive Mendelssohn and his family as representatives of a unique, diverse cultural epoch.

The complete correspondence shows that Mendelssohn not only went on to become one of the leading figures of German musical culture in the 1840s, but that he also maintained a network of musical contacts throughout Europe.

The edition of the complete letters
This scholarly-critical complete edition comprises 5,855 letters by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Previously only a small part of his correspondence had been published and made accessible to the public. The complete edition is based on Mendelssohn letters which have been compiled over decades by Rudolf Elvers as well as on international research carried out by an academic workgroup in Leipzig spearheaded by chief editors Helmut Loos and Wilhelm Seidel. They determined 500 additional letters hitherto unknown.

Versions of the letter texts have been compiled from a scholarly-critical analysis of the sources, their historical context has been discussed and comments on all points in need of explanation have been made.

This edition of the complete letters consists of 12 volumes and a CD-ROM. Each volume contains indices of mentioned individuals and institutions, compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel as well as a register of place names and currencies. In this way one obtains an all-encompassing view of this unique historical cosmos.

The Complete edition has been produced to the highest standards in terms of layout, cover and binding. It is an ideal collector’s item for bibliophiles, providing an excellent means for studying the composer and the period in which he lived.

The CD-ROM forms a valuable addition to the printed volumes. It offers the complete printed edition in the form of pdf. files, thereby making its approximately 9,500 pages digitally accessible and enabling letters and the corresponding commentary to be read in parallel. All terms can be located quickly and conveniently via a full text search.
(The 12 volumes as well as the CD-ROM can only be purchased complete).

- German text only


The Editors
Helmut Loos is Professor of Musicology at the University of Leipzig. He specialises in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the reception of Beethoven, sacred music and links between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

Wilhelm Seidel was professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg and Leipzig. His publications are devoted to the temporal structure of music, music aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries and music of the 16th to 20th centuries, currently on Mozart and Mendelssohn.

SKU: BA.BVK02403

ISBN 9783761824030. 18.9 x 14 cm inches. Preface: Seidel, Wilhelm / Loos, Helmut.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as letter-writer: at the heart of 19th century European culture

As one of the most important letter-writers of the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy maintained an extensive correspondence. With great style and eloquence he wrote letters to friends and family, letters from his travels and he also wrote to leading composers, musicians, artists as well as publishers. He corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Alexander von Humboldt.

The correspondence begins in 1816 and ends in 1847 with the composer’s death. These letters are invaluable documents shedding light not only on the genesis, publication and revision of his musical works, but also on a period when relations between Christians and Jews still had a chance to become harmonious, as Moses Mendelssohn, the imminent scholar and grandfather of the composer had advocated.

This edition will therefore be of great interest far beyond the circles of musicologists and music specialists. It will appeal to those who are interested in the history of culture and ideas and to those who perceive Mendelssohn and his family as representatives of a unique, diverse cultural epoch.

The complete correspondence shows that Mendelssohn not only went on to become one of the leading figures of German musical culture in the 1840s, but that he also maintained a network of musical contacts throughout Europe.

The edition of the complete letters
This scholarly-critical complete edition comprises 5,855 letters by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Previously only a small part of his correspondence had been published and made accessible to the public. The complete edition is based on Mendelssohn letters which have been compiled over decades by Rudolf Elvers as well as on international research carried out by an academic workgroup in Leipzig spearheaded by chief editors Helmut Loos and Wilhelm Seidel. They determined 500 additional letters hitherto unknown.

Versions of the letter texts have been compiled from a scholarly-critical analysis of the sources, their historical context has been discussed and comments on all points in need of explanation have been made.

This edition of the complete letters consists of 12 volumes and a CD-ROM. Each volume contains indices of mentioned individuals and institutions, compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel as well as a register of place names and currencies. In this way one obtains an all-encompassing view of this unique historical cosmos.

The Complete edition has been produced to the highest standards in terms of layout, cover and binding. It is an ideal collector’s item for bibliophiles, providing an excellent means for studying the composer and the period in which he lived.

The CD-ROM forms a valuable addition to the printed volumes. It offers the complete printed edition in the form of pdf. files, thereby making its approximately 9,500 pages digitally accessible and enabling letters and the corresponding commentary to be read in parallel. All terms can be located quickly and conveniently via a full text search.
(The 12 volumes as well as the CD-ROM can only be purchased complete).

- German text only


The Editors
Helmut Loos is Professor of Musicology at the University of Leipzig. He specialises in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the reception of Beethoven, sacred music and links between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

Wilhelm Seidel was professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg and Leipzig. His publications are devoted to the temporal structure of music, music aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries and music of the 16th to 20th centuries, currently on Mozart and Mendelssohn.

SKU: BA.BVK02308

ISBN 9783761823088. 23.5 x 16 cm inches. Preface: Seidel, Wilhelm.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as letter-writer: at the heart of 19th century European culture

As one of the most important letter-writers of the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy maintained an extensive correspondence. With great style and eloquence he wrote letters to friends and family, letters from his travels and he also wrote to leading composers, musicians, artists as well as publishers. He corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Alexander von Humboldt.

The correspondence begins in 1816 and ends in 1847 with the composer’s death. These letters are invaluable documents shedding light not only on the genesis, publication and revision of his musical works, but also on a period when relations between Christians and Jews still had a chance to become harmonious, as Moses Mendelssohn, the imminent scholar and grandfather of the composer had advocated.

This edition will therefore be of great interest far beyond the circles of musicologists and music specialists. It will appeal to those who are interested in the history of culture and ideas and to those who perceive Mendelssohn and his family as representatives of a unique, diverse cultural epoch.

The complete correspondence shows that Mendelssohn not only went on to become one of the leading figures of German musical culture in the 1840s, but that he also maintained a network of musical contacts throughout Europe.

The edition of the complete letters
This scholarly-critical complete edition comprises 5,855 letters by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Previously only a small part of his correspondence had been published and made accessible to the public. The complete edition is based on Mendelssohn letters which have been compiled over decades by Rudolf Elvers as well as on international research carried out by an academic workgroup in Leipzig spearheaded by chief editors Helmut Loos and Wilhelm Seidel. They determined 500 additional letters hitherto unknown.

Versions of the letter texts have been compiled from a scholarly-critical analysis of the sources, their historical context has been discussed and comments on all points in need of explanation have been made.

This edition of the complete letters consists of 12 volumes and a CD-ROM. Each volume contains indices of mentioned individuals and institutions, compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel as well as a register of place names and currencies. In this way one obtains an all-encompassing view of this unique historical cosmos.

The Complete edition has been produced to the highest standards in terms of layout, cover and binding. It is an ideal collector’s item for bibliophiles, providing an excellent means for studying the composer and the period in which he lived.

The CD-ROM forms a valuable addition to the printed volumes. It offers the complete printed edition in the form of pdf. files, thereby making its approximately 9,500 pages digitally accessible and enabling letters and the corresponding commentary to be read in parallel. All terms can be located quickly and conveniently via a full text search.
(The 12 volumes as well as the CD-ROM can only be purchased complete).

- German text only


The Editors
Helmut Loos is Professor of Musicology at the University of Leipzig. He specialises in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the reception of Beethoven, sacred music and links between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

Wilhelm Seidel was professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg and Leipzig. His publications are devoted to the temporal structure of music, music aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries and music of the 16th to 20th centuries, currently on Mozart and Mendelssohn.

SKU: BA.BVK02305

ISBN 9783761823057. 23.5 x 16 cm inches. Preface: Helmut Loos.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as letter-writer: at the heart of 19th century European culture

As one of the most important letter-writers of the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy maintained an extensive correspondence. With great style and eloquence he wrote letters to friends and family, letters from his travels and he also wrote to leading composers, musicians, artists as well as publishers. He corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner as well as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter and Alexander von Humboldt.

The correspondence begins in 1816 and ends in 1847 with the composer’s death. These letters are invaluable documents shedding light not only on the genesis, publication and revision of his musical works, but also on a period when relations between Christians and Jews still had a chance to become harmonious, as Moses Mendelssohn, the imminent scholar and grandfather of the composer had advocated.

This edition will therefore be of great interest far beyond the circles of musicologists and music specialists. It will appeal to those who are interested in the history of culture and ideas and to those who perceive Mendelssohn and his family as representatives of a unique, diverse cultural epoch.

The complete correspondence shows that Mendelssohn not only went on to become one of the leading figures of German musical culture in the 1840s, but that he also maintained a network of musical contacts throughout Europe.

The edition of the complete letters
This scholarly-critical complete edition comprises 5,855 letters by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Previously only a small part of his correspondence had been published and made accessible to the public. The complete edition is based on Mendelssohn letters which have been compiled over decades by Rudolf Elvers as well as on international research carried out by an academic workgroup in Leipzig spearheaded by chief editors Helmut Loos and Wilhelm Seidel. They determined 500 additional letters hitherto unknown.

Versions of the letter texts have been compiled from a scholarly-critical analysis of the sources, their historical context has been discussed and comments on all points in need of explanation have been made.

This edition of the complete letters consists of 12 volumes and a CD-ROM. Each volume contains indices of mentioned individuals and institutions, compositions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel as well as a register of place names and currencies. In this way one obtains an all-encompassing view of this unique historical cosmos.

The Complete edition has been produced to the highest standards in terms of layout, cover and binding. It is an ideal collector’s item for bibliophiles, providing an excellent means for studying the composer and the period in which he lived.

The CD-ROM forms a valuable addition to the printed volumes. It offers the complete printed edition in the form of pdf. files, thereby making its approximately 9,500 pages digitally accessible and enabling letters and the corresponding commentary to be read in parallel. All terms can be located quickly and conveniently via a full text search.
(The 12 volumes as well as the CD-ROM can only be purchased complete).

- German text only


The Editors
Helmut Loos is Professor of Musicology at the University of Leipzig. He specialises in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the reception of Beethoven, sacred music and links between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

Wilhelm Seidel was professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Marburg and Leipzig. His publications are devoted to the temporal structure of music, music aesthetics in the 18th and 19th centuries and music of the 16th to 20th centuries, currently on Mozart and Mendelssohn.

SKU: BR.BV-423

ISBN 9783765104237. 5.5 x 8.5 inches. German.

Thanks to the edition Complete Letters , one can - where possible - draw on an authentic and also reliably commented text for the first time. This edition is a centenary edition in the best sense. For a better understanding of the letters, the thematic commentaries are helpful, and the reader is advised to read those first; with their necessary conciseness they provide an overview over the time span each volume is covering. (Werner P. Seiferth, Der Neue Merker) The Complete Edition for Subscription With the publications of Volume 10 and 11 in 1999 and 2000, Werner Breig's fundamentally new scholarly concept of Richard Wagner's complete letters begins to make itself felt more strongly. The meticulously annotated volumes are illustrated with facsimiles and little known photos. Further enhancing the value of this edition are a number of letters, which were hitherto practically unavailable and are published here for the first time. The commentaries are based on many previously unpublished documents.

SKU: BR.BDV-138

ISBN 9783370002300. 0 x 0 inches. German.

With the publication of Volume 11 in November 1999, Werner Breigs fundamentally new scholarly concept of Richard Wagners complete letters begins to make itself felt more strongly. The meticulously annotated volumes are illustrated with facsimiles and little known photos. Further enhancing the value of this edition are a number of letters, which were hitherto practically unavailable and are published here for the first time. The commentaries are based on many previously unpublished documents.

Concerning Volume 10 (published one year later than Volume 11) we have obtained the following fax by the English Wagner expert Stewart Spencer, who wittily praises Werner Breig's fundamental new concept:

There is a general problem of reviewing such magnificent volumes. They are the yardstick by which all other writings on Wagner will be judged. It is like sending someone to inspect the standard metre rule in Paris and asking them to review it. All one can say is that it exists and that it is in a class of its own. I'd like to congratulate you on its publication and thank you most warmly for picking up this edition. (Stewart Spencer, October 11, 2000)

SKU: BR.BDV-629

ISBN 9783370003611. 5.5 x 8 inches. German.

With the publication of Volume 11 in November 1999, Werner Breigs fundamentally new scholarly concept of Richard Wagners complete letters begins to make itself felt more strongly. The meticulously annotated volumes are illustrated with facsimiles and little known photos. Further enhancing the value of this edition are a number of letters, which were hitherto practically unavailable and are published here for the first time. The commentaries are based on many previously unpublished documents.

Concerning Volume 10 (published one year later than Volume 11) we have obtained the following fax by the English Wagner expert Stewart Spencer, who wittily praises Werner Breig's fundamental new concept:

There is a general problem of reviewing such magnificent volumes. They are the yardstick by which all other writings on Wagner will be judged. It is like sending someone to inspect the standard metre rule in Paris and asking them to review it. All one can say is that it exists and that it is in a class of its own. I'd like to congratulate you on its publication and thank you most warmly for picking up this edition. (Stewart Spencer, October 11, 2000)

SKU: BR.BDV-257

ISBN 9783370002317. 5 x 8.5 inches. German.

With the publication of Volume 11 in November 1999, Werner Breigs fundamentally new scholarly concept of Richard Wagners complete letters begins to make itself felt more strongly. The meticulously annotated volumes are illustrated with facsimiles and little known photos. Further enhancing the value of this edition are a number of letters, which were hitherto practically unavailable and are published here for the first time. The commentaries are based on many previously unpublished documents.

Concerning Volume 10 (published one year later than Volume 11) we have obtained the following fax by the English Wagner expert Stewart Spencer, who wittily praises Werner Breig's fundamental new concept:

There is a general problem of reviewing such magnificent volumes. They are the yardstick by which all other writings on Wagner will be judged. It is like sending someone to inspect the standard metre rule in Paris and asking them to review it. All one can say is that it exists and that it is in a class of its own. I'd like to congratulate you on its publication and thank you most warmly for picking up this edition. (Stewart Spencer, October 11, 2000)

SKU: BR.BDV-539

ISBN 9783370002515. 5 x 8.5 inches. German.

With the publication of Volume 11 in November 1999, Werner Breigs fundamentally new scholarly concept of Richard Wagners complete letters begins to make itself felt more strongly. The meticulously annotated volumes are illustrated with facsimiles and little known photos. Further enhancing the value of this edition are a number of letters, which were hitherto practically unavailable and are published here for the first time. The commentaries are based on many previously unpublished documents.

Concerning Volume 10 (published one year later than Volume 11) we have obtained the following fax by the English Wagner expert Stewart Spencer, who wittily praises Werner Breig's fundamental new concept:

There is a general problem of reviewing such magnificent volumes. They are the yardstick by which all other writings on Wagner will be judged. It is like sending someone to inspect the standard metre rule in Paris and asking them to review it. All one can say is that it exists and that it is in a class of its own. I'd like to congratulate you on its publication and thank you most warmly for picking up this edition. (Stewart Spencer, October 11, 2000)

SKU: BR.BDV-382

ISBN 9783370002386. 5.5 x 8.5 inches. German.

With the publication of Volume 11 in November 1999, Werner Breigs fundamentally new scholarly concept of Richard Wagners complete letters begins to make itself felt more strongly. The meticulously annotated volumes are illustrated with facsimiles and little known photos. Further enhancing the value of this edition are a number of letters, which were hitherto practically unavailable and are published here for the first time. The commentaries are based on many previously unpublished documents.

Concerning Volume 10 (published one year later than Volume 11) we have obtained the following fax by the English Wagner expert Stewart Spencer, who wittily praises Werner Breig's fundamental new concept:

There is a general problem of reviewing such magnificent volumes. They are the yardstick by which all other writings on Wagner will be judged. It is like sending someone to inspect the standard metre rule in Paris and asking them to review it. All one can say is that it exists and that it is in a class of its own. I'd like to congratulate you on its publication and thank you most warmly for picking up this edition. (Stewart Spencer, October 11, 2000)

SKU: BR.BV-420

ISBN 9783765104206. 5.5 x 8.5 inches. German.

On 21 June 1868, Wagner celebrates a sensational success in Munich with the premiere of his opera Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg . The nerve-racking performance preparations are the main topic in the correspondence of that year. For months Wagner has been negotiating the options for performing Lohengrin and Rienzi in Paris, where no other Wagner operas have been given since the Tannhauser scandal of 1861. Many letters provide information about quite private matters. Wagner is designing the interior of his house; Cosima von Bulow is deciding to separate from her husband and moves to Wagner in Lucerne. Volume 20 of the series of letters contains about 350 letters, including several first publications.

SKU: BR.BV-425

Documents of a Critical Year

ISBN 9783765104251. 5.5 x 8.5 inches. German.

1873 was a critical year in the life of Richard Wagner. Expectations were high when construction began on the theater. And now, even though the ambitious festival enterprise was threatened with failure, Wagner single-mindedly drove his collaborators and fund raisers on, mercilessly. Most of the approx. 320 ascertainable letters edited by Angela Steinsiek testify to his attempts to raise funds: through increased concert activity, selective publications, even through the convocation of an assembly of patrons. Other adversities he faced are found in the numerous letters from publishers which document the publication of the Rheingold score; the completion of Wagner's first book of collected writings; and the hindrances constantly preventing him from orchestrating Gotterdammerung, which kept stalling because of everyday chores. Moreover, a series of letters also clearly illustrates the process of the construction of Haus Wahnfried, whose luxurious interior decoration had to be dropped for lack of funds.

Documents of a Critical Year.

SKU: BR.BV-419

Documents of a significant year

ISBN 9783765104190. 5.5 x 8.5 inches. German.

Up to now, many of the over 300 Wagner letters from the year 1867 were not published or known only in excerpts. They document a year that was of great artistic and personal significance for Richard Wagner. Next to the completion of the Meistersinger von Nurnberg, the composer witnessed standard-setting performances of Lohengrin in Munich, which was performed unabridged for the first time, and of Tannhauser in the revised 1861 version for Paris. Wagner kept his personal life rooted in Tribschen near Lucerne at this time. This is where Eva von Bulow, the daughter of Wagner and Cosima, was born in February 1867.

Documents of a significant year.