Cosima Wagner: The Lady of Bayreuth »

Oliver Hilmes is the author of Cosima's Kinder, a study of the Wagner dynasty, and a best-selling biography of Alma Mahler. Stewart Spencer is an acclaimed translator and editor (with Barry Millington) of Wagner in Performance.

In this meticulously researched book, Oliver Hilmes paints a fascinating and revealing picture of the extraordinary Cosima Wagner—illegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt, wife of the conductor Hans von Bülow, then mistress and subsequently wife of Richard Wagner. After Wagner’s death in 1883 Cosima played a crucial role in the promulgation and politicization of his works, assuming control of the Bayreuth Festival and transforming it into a shrine to German nationalism. The High Priestess of the Wagnerian cult, Cosima lived on for almost fifty years, crafting the image of Richard Wagner through her organizational ability and ideological tenacity.

The first book to make use of the available documentation at Bayreuth, this biography explores the achievements of this remarkable and obsessive woman while illuminating a still-hidden chapter of European cultural history.

Wall Street Journal

“Absorbing.”--Norman Lebrecht, Wall Street Journal

— Norman Lebrecht

List of Illustrations

Prologue

1 A Childhood Without Parents (1837-55) 1

Ann b1 ses de P b4 slerinage 1

The Joys of Love 2

The Sorrows of Love 4

Years of Happiness 10

The Princess 14

Brainwashing 18

Changes 27

2 A Marriage of Convenience (1855-64) 34

From Bad to Worse? 34

Self-deception 37

A Journey into the Future 43

Coffee Mornings in Berlin 47

Storm Clouds 53

On the Run 60

Redemption 66

Last-minute Panic 70

3 Wagner (1864-83) 77

Tristan and Isolde 77

Power and Influence 84

Intrigues in Munich 91

Involuntary Exile 93

Decisions 101

Guilt and Atonement 104

Human, All Too human 112

The Early Reich 120

Daily Life in Wahnfried 127

First Night 132

An Uncertain Future 140

Mephisto Waltz 146

Death in Venice 150

4 The First Lady of Bayreuth (1883-1900) 157

Trials and Tribulations 157

Friends and Assistants 164

Light and Shade 169

Crocodile Tears 178

A Change of Direction 182

The Year of the Three Kaisers 186

The Bayreuth Circle 195

Family Planning 201

Oedipus Rex? 205

La Grande Dame 211

Gone to the Dogs 217

5 A New Era (1900-14) 224

Parsifal Mania 225

Iconoclasm 237

Regime Change 243

Rabble 254

Escalation 263

Dusk Falls on the Royalties 272

Tate le Corde 275

6 The Long End (1914-30) 285

World Conflagration 285

Life During the First World War 290

An Austrian in Bayreuth 300

A Living Monument 304

Finale Lamentoso 310

Epilogue 312

Acknowledgements 315

Notes 317

Bibliography 349

Index 355