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Cosima Wagner was the wife of the composer Richard Wagner and director of the Bayreuth Festivals from his death in 1883 to 1908. Cosima was the illegitimate daughter of the composer-pianist Franz Liszt and the countess Marie d’Agoult, who also bore Liszt two other children.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jan 6, 2015 · During her directorship, Cosima opposed theatrical innovations and adhered closely to Wagner’s original productions of his works, an approach continued by her successors long after her retirement in 1907.
Dec 14, 2012 · When Wagner retreated to his villa at Tribschen, Cosima followed him there with her husband in tow, “even if it is difficult to imagine how this remarkable ménage à trois actually functioned.” (p. 98) After they returned to Berlin, Cosima herself did an about-turn and took up residence at Tribschen.
Chronicler of Richard Wagner, director of the Bayreuth Festival and opera director Cities an countries Cosima Wagner, née de Flavigny was the illegitimate daughter of Countess Marie d’Agoult (née de Flavigny) and the composer and pianist Franz Liszt. She grew up in Paris, living with Liszt’s mother. After a period of resi-
- Family Background and Early Childhood
- Schooling and Adolescence
- Marriage to Hans Von Bülow
- With Wagner
- Building The Festspielhaus
- First Festival
- Parsifal
- Venice and Widowhood
- Mistress of Bayreuth
- Transfer of Power
In January 1833 the 21-year-old Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt met Marie d'Agoult, a Parisian socialite six years his senior. Marie's antecedents were mixed; her German mother, from a prominent Frankfurt banking family, had married a French nobleman, the Comte de Flavigny. Marie had been married since 1827 to Charles, Comte d'Agoult, an...
Cosima and Blandine remained with Anna Liszt until 1850, joined eventually by Daniel. Cosima's biographer George Marek describes Anna as "a simple, uneducated, unworldly but warmhearted woman ... for the first time [the girls] experienced what it was to be touched by love". Of the sisters, Blandine was evidently the prettier; Cosima, with her long ...
As his daughters approached womanhood, Liszt felt that a change in their lives was called for and in 1855 he arranged (over their mother's bitter protests) for them to move to Berlin. Here they were placed in the care of Franziska von Bülow, whose son Hans was Liszt's most outstanding pupil; he would take charge of the girls' musical education whil...
Munich and Tribschen In 1864 Wagner's financial position was transformed by his new patron, the 18-year-old King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who paid off the composer's debts and awarded him a generous annual stipend. Ludwig also provided Wagner with a lakeside retreat at Lake Starnberg, and a grand house in Munich. At Wagner's instigation, von Bülow acc...
Wagner's deception over his relationship with Cosima had seriously damaged his standing with Ludwig. Matters were worsened by Ludwig's insistence, over Wagner's objections, that the premieres of the two completed Ring operas, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, be given at once, in Munich, rather than as part of a complete Ringcycle on some future date ...
In March 1876, Cosima and Wagner were in Berlin when they learned that Marie d'Agoult had died in Paris. Unable to attend the funeral, Cosima expressed her feelings in a letter to her daughter Daniela: "There is nothing left for me to do, except to grieve for the woman that brought me into the world". From June onwards, Cosima's journal entries con...
After the conclusion of the festival and the departure of the guests, Wagner and Cosima left with the children for Venice, where they remained until December. The festival had accumulated a large financial deficit; this, and Wagner's deep artistic dissatisfaction, precluded the possibility of any repeat in the near future. Wagner's mood was such th...
At the conclusion of the festival the Wagner family departed for an extended stay in Venice. To accommodate the large party of children, servants and expected guests they took a spacious apartment in the Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, overlooking the Grand Canal. The principal concern during the autumn and winter months was Wagner's declining health; h...
Interregnum Wagner had left neither a will, nor instruction on the management of the Bayreuth Festival after his death. He had written of the future: "I ... cannot think of a single person who could say what I believe needs to be said ... there is practically no one on whose judgement I could rely". The festival's uncertain outlook was aggravated b...
On 8 December 1906, having directed that year's festival, Cosima suffered an Adams-Stokes seizure (a form of heart attack) while visiting her friend Prince Hohenlohe at Langenburg. By May 1907 it was clear that her health was such that she could no longer remain in charge at Bayreuth; this responsibility now passed to Siegfried, her long-designated...
Jul 25, 2024 · In the hands of director Rex Ryan, no serious questions are asked regards the rehabilitation of Cosima’s tawdry reputation, her links with Nazism dismissively glanced over. Instead, Ryan takes a theatrical defibrillator to Lambert’s tale and sends thousands of theatrical volts coursing through it.
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Francesca Gaetana Cosima Wagner (née Liszt; 24 December 1837 – 1 April 1930) was the daughter of the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt and Franco-German romantic author Marie d'Agoult.
