Richard Wagner
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Falun Great Copper Mountain | In 1819 ETA Hoffman wrote a story titled "Les Mines de Falun". In 1842 (After Fleigender Hollander and before Tannhauser) Wagner produced a sketch for an opera to be called "Die Bergwerke zu Falun" but never progressed it. See | |
| Great Spa Towns of Europe | "one of the most significant guests of the nineteenth century was Richard Wagner, who kept a diary on his stay and even dictated notes from Mariánské Lázně to his autobiography, later published as "My Life". His operas "Das Liebesverbot" (The Ban on Love), "Tannhäuser", "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" (The Master-Singers of Nuremberg), and "Lohengrin" are related to the composer's stays in Mariánské Lázně." Bad Ems was also a summer residence for Wagner, where he stayed at the Schloss Balmoral "during his spa break in 1877, working on his opera "Parsifal"".(Nomination File, p. 168, 198) | |
| Margravial Opera House | Supported by Ludwig II of Bavaria, Wagner went to Beyreuth to investigate the possibility of using the Margravial opera house with its large stage to for performing his operas. But he rejected it as unsuitable - though he did conduct Beethoven's 9th there on the occasion of the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for the Festspielhaus (22 May 1872)! "The orchestra pit could not accommodate the large number of musicians required, for example, for the Ring of the Nibelung" and the ambiance of the auditorium seemed inappropriate for his piece" (Wiki) | |
| Riga | Richard Wagner lived in Riga from 1937 to 1939, and served as the chief director of Riga's City Theater | |
| Upper Middle Rhine Valley | Das Rheingold | |
| Venice and its Lagoon | Having been exiled from Dresden in 1849, Wagner first lived in Zurich before moving to Venice for 6 months in 1859. There he rented part of the Palazzo Giustinian ("a palace in Venice, northern Italy, situated in the Dorsoduro district and overlooking the Grand Canal next to Ca' Foscari. It is among the best examples of the late Venetian Gothic" Wiki). and wrote Act 2 of Tristan and Isolde there. In later life Wagner stayed in Venice a further 5 times - in Sept 1882 he rented another palace, the Ca' Vendramin Calerg,. and lived there with his wife, 4 children and retinue until his death there in Feb 1883. "The Wagner Museum (Museo Wagner) opened at the palace in February 1995. It holds the Josef Lienhart Collection of rare documents, musical scores, signed letters, paintings, records, and other heirlooms. The holdings constitute the largest private collection dedicated to Wagner outside of Bayreuth The museum is open to the public on Saturday mornings by appointment." | |
| Wartburg Castle | Towards the end of the 12th century, a literary court developed at Wartburg castle, attracted by Landgrave Hermann I, who surrounded himself with poets and musicians. The poetry of Walther von der Vogelweide describes the brilliant society life which gave rise to the episode of the singers' tourney at Wartburg Castle, a romanticized version of which inspired Richard Wagner's opera, Tannhäuser. (AB ev) |
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