Cosima Wagner : The Lady of Bayreuth

by Oliver Hilmes; Translated by Stewart Spencer

• ISBN13: 9780300152159
• ISBN10: 0300152159
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2010-06-08
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

In this meticulously researched book, Oliver Hilmes paints a fascinating and revealing picture of the extraordinary Cosima Wagnerillegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt, wife of the conductor Hans von Bulow, 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.

Author Biography

OLIVER HILMES studied history, politics and psychology in Marburg, Paris and Rotterdam. He is the author of a best-selling biography of Alma Mahler.

Stewart Spencer is an acclaimed translator, and editor (with Barry Millington) of Wagner in Performance (1992), published by Yale.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Prologue	p. xi
A Childhood Without Parents (1837-55)	p. 1
Annéees de Pèlerinage	p. 1
The Joys of Love	p. 2
The Sorrows of Love	p. 4
Years of Happiness	p. 10
The Princess	p. 14
Brainwashing	p. 18
Changes	p. 27
A Marriage of Convenience (1855-64)	p. 34
From Bad to Worse?	p. 34
Self-deception	p. 37
A Journey into the Future	p. 43
Coffee Mornings in Berlin	p. 47
Storm Clouds	p. 53
On the Run	p. 60
Redemption	p. 66
Last-minute Panic	p. 70
Wagner (1864-83)	p. 77
Tristan and Isolde	p. 77
Power and Influence	p. 84
Intrigues in Munich	p. 91
Involuntary Exile	p. 93
Decisions	p. 101
Guilt and Atonement	p. 104
Human, All Too human	p. 112
The Early Reich	p. 120
Daily Life in Wahnfried	p. 127
First Night	p. 132
An Uncertain Future	p. 140
Mephisto Waltz	p. 146
Death in Venice	p. 150
The First Lady of Bayreuth (1883-1900)	p. 157
Trials and Tribulations	p. 157
Friends and Assistants	p. 164
Light and Shade	p. 169
Crocodile Tears	p. 178
A Change of Direction	p. 182
The Year of the Three Kaisers	p. 186
The Bayreuth Circle	p. 195
Family Planning	p. 201
Oedipus Rex?	p. 205
La Grande Dame	p. 211
Gone to the Dogs	p. 217
A New Era (1900-14)	p. 224
Parsifal Mania	p. 225
Iconoclasm	p. 237
Regime Change	p. 243
Rabble	p. 254
Escalation	p. 263
Dusk Falls on the Royalties	p. 272
Tutte le Corde	p. 275
The Long End (1914-30)	p. 285
World Conflagration	p. 285
Life During the First World War	p. 290
An Austrian in Bayreuth	p. 300
A Living Monument	p. 304
Finale Lamentoso	p. 310
Epilogue	p. 312
Acknowledgements	p. 315
Notes	p. 317
Bibliography	p. 349
Index	p. 355
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